What makes Madonna unique among entertainers is her staying power and her sphere of influence. When Madonna rose to fame in the early-to-mid eighties, very few purveyors of pop music believed that she had the talent or ability to sustain a career over the course of the decade, let alone over a few albums. When Madonna and Cyndi Lauper debuted concurrently on the pop charts and on MTV, most critics believed that Lauper's sanitized-for-mainstream version of new wave punk would ultimately have more longevity over Madonna's hyper-eroticized funk-influenced dance music. However, it would be Madonna, over the course of two decades, that would continually stretch herself and grow as an artist and entertainer, ultimately towering over the other kings and queens of pop that emerged in the 1980's. As Madonna's career and biography branched out into new terrain year after year, her cultural significance and meaning continued to extend beyond the definitions of the typical pop star. Like a multi-armed Hindu Goddess growing new limbs, the various faces of Madonna infiltrated regions previously held off-limits for an entertainer: feminism, cultural studies, philanthropy, political activism, spirituality, art, and business.

Madonna makes a good case study for astrology for three reasons: one, her ability to transform herself and her constant progression into new and varied terrain; two, her honesty and self-transparency; and three, her ability to mediate the gods and goddesses, or more appropriately, the archetypal forces, for an entire culture. On Madonna's shape-shifting and constant growth as an entertainer, biographer Mark Bego wrote, "Whenever we get used to one look, sound, or career path, an unpredictable Madonna simply shows us a new side to herself. Not since David Bowie has a pop star been more of a chameleon." (1) As an artist, she fully manifests her desires, moods, experiences, and attitudes in the moment into her fashion, aesthetic choices, lyrics, and stage presence. It is this constant genesis of the "new Madonna" that allows astrologers to see—often with striking clarity—how astrological influences are inflecting her psychology and manifesting through her.

Although Madonna is very much a political animal, she rarely allows the politics of the entertainment industry to effect her opinions or how she communicates them. From the beginning of her career, Madonna established herself as direct, straightforward, and often shockingly and brutally honest. Like her protean shape-shifting, it is this uncharacteristic honesty that allows followers of astrology to see how planetary alignments are persuading and operating upon her being, inflecting her opinions, interests, and outlook.

Finally, entertainers of Madonna's stature must have more than talent, ambition, or charisma. They must have an extraordinary ability to mediate and translate energies that are larger-than-life and tremendously difficult for most individuals to be in possession of; they must be an intermediary of archetypal forces of the collective psyche. Madonna is in the long lineage that would include Elvis Presley and the Rolling Stones, entertainers that were able to arbitrate the erotic and taboo elements for a society and contain them for generations. It this is unusual ability to translate archetypal forces that makes Madonna such a striking canidate to study from an astrological perspective.

The following essay tracks Madonna's evolution, from early childhood to her Ray of Light release. Selecting distinct chapters of her life, the essay tracks how particular astrological transits* manifest through her biography. In a remarkable career that never ceases in experimentation, controversy, and creativity, the planets are there to mirror every step along her path.

* transits are an astrological predictive technique whereby one charts planetary movements relative the positions of the planets at one's birth.