by Lynn Hayes
Corey Haim, the1980s child star who made a career out of attempting a comeback, died the other night from what coroners say was an enlarged heart and fluid in the lungs. Haim had a long history of drug addiction and was apparently admitted to rehab on fifteen different occasions, but it wasn’t drugs that killed him, at least not directly, but the devastation of 20 years of drug abuse had already taken their toll.
Haim had the Sun in achievement-oriented Capricorn, in a nearly exact square (challenging aspect) to Pluto, planet of death and renewal. With the Sun in Capricorn his desire for success and to make a mark on the world was a driving force in his life, but he also had Jupiter, the planet of good luck and optimism, in its own sign of Sagittarius where it is particularly powerful. Jupiter in Sagittarius is the party boy – the Fool in the Tarot deck that operates through blind faith, ready to step off a cliff because he is looking at the sky, but nearly always landing on his feet. His Mercury was in Sagittarius as well, suggesting that there was a big part of him that didn’t want to be serious or focus on the future, in spite of the Capricorn Sun.
That Sun/Pluto square nearly always signifies great potential, such as in the charts of Jon Stewart, Maya Angelou, Sally Field and Barbra Streisand; but it can also signify great tragedy and self-destruction, such as Tiger Woods, Mark David Chapman (John Lennon’s murderer), and occasionally have a transformative effect on the world for good or for evil, such as L Ron Hubbard (founder of Scientology). The intense pressure that Pluto puts on the Sun to surrender and let go of the past and allow oneself to emerge from the fires unscathed can be overpowering, or it can build tremendous resilience and personal empowerment.
It complicated matters for Corey that Mars in his chart was opposed by Pluto and in a challenging square formation to his Sun. This is a dynamic system called a “T-square” in which Mars, in Pisces and therefore already weakened, was opposed by Pluto which sapped his energy and his vitality but also provided a challenge that could have provided opportunities to build inner strength through adversity. Over the past couple of years transiting Pluto had been squared his Mars, restricting his abilities to achieve his goals, and then square Pluto in the natal chart and the Sun, creating an intensity of experience that would have required some sort of outlet. Last fall when Saturn entered Libra it conjoined his Pluto and squared his Sun, setting off this whole dynamic once again. Haim didn’t suffer from chronic depression but he was depressed in the period before his death as a result of the Saturn transit.
Though Corey Haim’s chart was “lucky,” with Jupiter exalted in Sagittarius and an exact Grand Trine in air between Venus, Saturn and Pluto, the ease offered by these astrological influences may instead have made it too easy to rely on his luck instead of apply the diligence of his Capricorn Sun. Haim’s career began early at the age of 11, but like so many other child stars he was unable to parlay that early success into a lasting career.
Like all of the recent deaths of young Hollywood stars and personalities, this is a terribly sad story. But it is also a lesson in the limits of luck, and why it is important to face our demons and transform them into our allies.
posted March 12, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Good post, Lynn. I have seen other charts with an abundance of “easy” aspects where the individual turned out to be their own worst enemy. Very sad to witness.
diane~
posted March 12, 2010 at 1:21 pm
Thank you for this insightful article. I’d like to hear more about the T-square of Sun to Mars opp Pluto as I have this configuration in my chart.
posted March 12, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Thank you for your insight. It was a very interesting and insightful sumation of a sad tragic life. I appreciate the detail in which you explained his astrological chart.
posted March 13, 2010 at 1:42 pm
My own cildren, who have their own children, Has agreed to help me in my sponsership of the children, They also would like to become a sponser,They will be contacting the sponser a child. I am trying to get all that will listen to read the adds of sponsering a child so they to, can become a sponser of children all over the world. My children are already sponsers of a lot in our local community, My hope is to get all they know to become a world wide sponser of children, And old alike, What ever comes or go,s, I will keep my pledges, God approves of something, That mountain will be moved. This comes from my heart. Arthur thompson artlee11617@yahoo.com
posted March 13, 2010 at 4:37 pm
Excellent post, Lynn!
posted March 22, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Corey also had a mystic rectangle and three talent triangles with apexes in the eighth, tenth, and I think fifth houses. You just don’t see a chart like that every day. I rectified based on his SN placement, which I think was on his ascendant, making it an early Leo ascendant and putting the sun in the fifth.
When he died Pluto was on the sun squaring a natal moon destroyed by natal planets and in Pisces with Venus also in pisces. When you don’t know how you feel its hard to control your emotions.
Corey’s drug problems started with intense anxiety attacks starting the day he got to LA when he was fifteen years old. Most of the prescription meds he was on were downers — benzodiazepines for anxiety and sleep. I think it’s actually the t square that kept him alive as long as it did. He was not built for Hollywood but that crazy luck and exuberance had to spend itself somewhere.