The sad tale of child singing phenomenon Lena Zavaroni is the subject of a new BBC documentary. She shot to fame aged 10, winning the TV talent show Opportunity Knocks and was whisked off to London by agents away from her family to entertain on TV shows on both sides of the Atlantic. She sang with Frank Sinatra and at the White House. By 13 she was diagnosed as anorexic, almost certainly a result of outside pressure to lose weight. At 15 she weighed four stone and was diagnosed with depression as well. She eventually died from pneumonia, exacerbated by her condition aged 35.
Born on 4 November 1963 12.45am Greenock, Scotland, with musical parents who ran a chip shop, she had a chart riddled with quincunxes giving her an internal unease as if she could never quite pull together the contradictory sides of her personality. She had a quick witted and intense 3rd house Sun, Mercury, Neptune in Scorpio inconjunct a 10th house career-oriented, restless Gemini Moon formed into a yod by Moon sextile Jupiter. She had another yod of Uranus Pluto sextile her Sun, Neptune inconjunct her 8th house Jupiter. And her Jupiter sextile her 6th house Saturn was inconjunct a highly-strung and erratic 1st house Uranus Pluto.
Her Gemini Moon was widely opposition a 4th house Mars square Uranus Pluto in Virgo in her 1st house further emphasizing her chaotic, nervy, high-octane approach to life.
In her twenties her mother died of a tranquilliser overdose and Lena had a fire in her home which destroyed all her showbiz memorabilia. Her short-lived marriage broke up after 18 months. She was unable to work and had ended up on state benefits. Towards the end of her life she underwent electroconvulsive therapy and threatened suicide if doctor’s didn’t attempt brain surgery to alleviate her depression. She did undergo “psychosurgical” operation but contracted pneumonia and died.
Her global superstar 22nd Harmonic was notable; as was her creative 5th H. Her ‘victim’ 12H had a trapped, frustrated, destructive Mars square Pluto tied into the Midheaven.
Talent and early success often comes at a great price.
Lena Zavaroni’s story is very sad, chiming with many other show business tales – and some in competitive sports too.
“Her Gemini Moon was widely opposition a 4th house Mars square Uranus Pluto in Virgo in her 1st house further emphasizing her chaotic, nervy, high-octane approach to life.”
I had a look at two famous child stars of the past – one who came through very successfully, Shirley Temple, and the other who did not – Judy Garland. Taurus Shirley Temple had a Gemini Moon and Jupiter in Aries, like Lena. Her Pisces Mars squared a Sagittarian Saturn.
Judy Garland, Gemini, who was drugged to wake up and go to sleep as a young girl in Hollywood, had a Sagittarian Moon and Libran Jupiter – a mirror for Shirley Temple’s placements. Her Sagittarian Mars squared Uranus in Pisces, making a t-square with the Gemini Sun. Curiously, Mozart also had Uranus in Pisces, square his Sagittarian Moon/Pluto. He was certainly exploited by his father as a young musical prodigy. Michael Jackson, another very young child star who unravelled in adult life, was Virgo, with a Pisces Moon square Sagittarian Saturn.
Perhaps mutable sparks and tensions added to the appeal of these individuals when they were children, or even meant they were easy to exploit in some way? Gemini can be “forever young”, Sagittarius and Pisces carry Jupiter’s expansive qualities, and perhaps add some humour and a twinkle in the eye too. Quite horrible how that energy can be turned against a child or adolescent.
Background: Morton is the indicator for anorexia nervosa. English physician,
Richard Morton gave earliest description of this malady. The term is
attributed to Sir Wm Hull, a doctor, in 1873.
Edo is an indicator for eating, eating disorders. Edo, the Latin word for
“I eat”. The term is useful for diseases or treatments that affect the ability
or desire to eat.
Asteroids Ceres and Demeter mean food, nurture, mom/child. Notice in
Karen Carter’s chart how tranit Chiron aspects both her tr Ceres and tr
Demeter….she was suffering ‘cuz the wouldn’t eat.
Here is Karen’s biwheel for date of death, showing how all the above indicators, were present when she died from anorexia nervosa.
https://ibb.co/0mHrJcS
Didn’t Karen Carpenter have a very strained relationship with her mother (Agnes Carpenter 5th March 1919, Baltimore)? Because her Moon, ruler of her ascendant is conjunct Pluto in Leo in the 3rd and trines Chiron, her Sun is in the 10th opposing a chilly Saturn in the 4th and according to her therapist, Karen was desperate for her mother’s love but there was no validation and Agnes openly favoured her brother, Richard. I have Moon in the 3rd in Scorpio and my mother’s attention was focussed my brother due to his behavioural problems. Though my mother didn’t have favourites, it was just how things were. I feel so sad for Karen.
re: Karen C. No matter how successful she became, Karen was always overlooked in favor of her brother. A well-known sad story.
@larryc, I had just learnt to read when she died. The Carpenters were very popular in Europe, and the weeklies in Finland wrote about this a lot. I also have quite a few friends born in the 1960’s whose childhood idol and/or first crush Karen was.
Here is Lena’s biwheel, natal inside, diagnosis at age 15, outer, for
depression and anorexia nervosa. Notice aspects to natal Sun and Natal Asc.
https://ibb.co/r7HMwfW
I’m thinking that Black Moon Lilith in location and aspect would be significant with an eating disorder. In Lena’s chart, Sun is con. Lilith. Karen Carpenter’s Lilith is retrograde, in the 10th and opposite Neptune in the 4th. I suspect that Mars might also be involved. And possibly something about the 3rd house… “putting your voice out there”….. or the struggle to do that.
And good heaven’s, Karen had FIVE retrograde planets plus Lilith is retro! Her south node in Aries is flanked by 3 retro planets.. Closely by Mars and widely by Saturn and Neptune.
Hmmm… both of these women have Uranus in the 1st house.
I have Sun in 7th in a tight square to BML in my 3rd. BML is widely conj Mars. Chiron in the 2nd (the body).
I struggled in my 20’s with binge eating and if I could have taken it to bulimia, I would have. Tried but my body seemed to want to keep the food! At 29, I had a scary “aura” sensation of death wash over me and that motivated me to go into therapy. However, in my later 30’s, I became anorexic… an emotional response to a divorce and deep shame. One day, after I weighed myself, I heard a voice in my head saying, “… hmmm… you could lose even more..”… a seductive voice. THAT woke me up and I realized I needed to get on track.
I was intrigued with trying to understand the difference and/or sameness of these 2 experiences. One thing I came up with was that putting ON the weight was some part of me trying to ground, to be solid somehow, albeit a misguided path!. With the anorexia?… I just wanted to float away… to leave… to disappear. The anorexia experience was hugely seductive.
At the core, I’d say an eating disorder is related to a struggle to Be… to take up space.. to have a voice… to matter. A food addiction issue is challenging to work with.. you can’t stop eating!!
Have added Karen Carpenter’s chart
@Sandra, Sun, Lilith + Ceres in Lena’s case seems almost fated.
I also think there are many reasons for eating disorder to emerge. But it’s mostly about control. Anorexia seems to be control issue, but there is some sort of brain chemistry involved, there are studies on this. There are famous examples of boys partaking “weight controlled” sports who get hooked to weight lost, most famously ski jumper Sven Hannawald, who, at 1.84 m was exceptionally tall for the sport, and was thus encouraged to lose even more weight than an average jumper.
I have a eating disorder and Uranus (conj Venus) in 1st house (whole sign, behind the AC). I see Uranus in the 1st as potential discomfort or disconnection with/in your body. For anorexia a strong Saturn is also likely to be able to sustain the deprivation, mine is in Virgo conj my MC. I see Lena is a Saturn ruled chart with Saturn in its traditional rulership and 6th house, fixed sign. I hadn’t considered Lilith much but mine is tightly conjunct my (Cancer) Moon. Ceres isn’t that prominent for me.
and I meant to say that Karen has a south node in Libra!!…. can get mired and tangled in other people’s needs, wants, demands… difficult to pull away to be oneself. Plus the SN and 3 planets, all retro and all in her 4th house. I read somewhere that she never really wanted to sing… she loved being a drummer. Sheesh.
Her Fixed Star Parans: Alycone rises as Mercury sets…”Insightful & brilliant,
but struggling with the darker side of human nature.”
Alcyone rises as Sun sets…”A ruthless, passionate & aggressive person.”
Alpheratz rises as Merc. culminates…”Outspoken & thinking in different ways.
El Nath rises as Mars sets….”Takes physical action in face of strong opposition
Altair culm. as Mars sets….”Bold and at times rash.”
Alpheratz on IC as Moon sets…”A loner.”
She has a stellium of 6 planets. 3rd H. Let’s look at it in groups of 3.
Mercury-Sun-Neptune…POSITIVE: “Mental idealism enhances the meaning
of life.” NEGATIVE: “Confused thinking dissipates vitality.”
Neptune-Venus-Mars…POSITIVE: “Idealistic values are expressed
forcefully and constructively.” NEGATIVE: “Confusion concerning
self-worth values and love, causes the individual to be dissatisfied &
destructive.”
Reminds me of Karen Carpenter, also a child/teenage sensation, and died of anorexia complications in her earlier 30’s in 1983. Her faith may have done something to make the condition better known, but hardly contributed to understanding on treatment. I was a teenager/young adult in the 1990’s, with the “heroine chic” look dominating fashion magazines and popular culture, and 2/3 of my friends developed an extremely unhealthy body image. What was interesting is that while experiments with bulimia were common, but very few became anorectic. This made me think reasons for anorexia are deeper, psychologically and astrologically, even back in the day.
One thing I’ve heard mentioned as an astrological marker is asteroid Ceres. I haven’t looked up Karen Carpenter’s Ceres, but Lena Zavaroni’s is absolutely into face re. the disease. My own is aspected too, but in a way I think would indicate a deeper than usual interest in understanding nutrition, food, and health in Virgo.