There comes a time in every young astrologer’s life when she starts to notice that her astrological interests are not a coincidence. That inevitably, if there is astrological significance in anything else she cares about, it will eventually show itself. It happened earlier this year with Herculine Barbin, and it’s happening again right now with Mia Zapata, former frontwoman of Seattle punk band The Gits. The Gits formed at Antioch College in Ohio in the late 1980’s and relocated to Seattle to be part of the city’s growing music scene. Their home and workspace The Rat House was a major hub for emerging Seattle bands, including DC Beggars and 7 Year Bitch. The Gits enjoyed great underground success, due in no small part to singer Mia Zapata’s dynamic stage presence and spine-tingling blues-y voice. They had just been signed to Atlantic Records and were optimistic about their future when tragically, on July 7, 1993, Mia Zapata was savagely beaten, raped and murdered while walking home from a friend’s house. She was a little over one month away from turning 28.
Mia Zapata, 1965-1993
The Gits were actually a punk band, but they are often incorrectly classified as grunge (due to their connection with Seattle grunge bands Nirvana and Soundgarden) or as part of the riot grrrl movement. It’s true that the horrible circumstances of Mia Zapata’s death were exactly the kind of thing that riot grrrl bands like Bikini Kill and Bratmobile were writing about, and seemed to drive home the grisly reality of violence against women- that even punk women and riot grrrls were not impervious to sexual violence, that it is a serious problem that needs addressing. (The non-profit Home Alive was founded by members of the Seattle music community in memory of Mia Zapata.) But Mia Zapata herself never explicitly wrote about political issues in her songs. They primarily have to do with addiction, with loneliness, with loss- but it’s hard to say exactly what she was thinking when she wrote them. In a recent documentary The Gits by Kerri O’Kane, guitarist Joe Spleen describes what an extremely private person Mia Zapata was. Onstage, her former bandmates say, she was raw and abrasive, and commanded respect. Offstage, however, she was “modest, affectionate, private, and gentle.” They describe a somewhat awkward and badly-timed sense of humor; the name “chicken woman” in the title comes from a college friend’s description of her gawky posture. But there is nothing awkward or gawky about the “heavy angel” voice and energy that came out onstage, and it’s easy to see why she was seen as a welcome ally to a movement that was all about female empowerment.
Mia Zapata was born August 25, 1965 in Louisville, KY. I don’t have a birth time for her, but the chart I generated is for noon. As such, my analysis is pretty limited; I’m sure if I had angles, I could analyze for days. It came as no surprise to me, though, that the two sides of Mia Zapata- the charismatic, powerful punk singer and the more solitary poet- were pretty apparent right away.
Mia Zapata's natal chart, no birth time (courtesy of astro.com)
It may seem as if these two sides are total opposites, but in fact, they’re incredibly well-integrated. Mia’s Virgo Sun and Leo Mercury (which is conjoined almost exactly with her Moon and exactly squaring her Neptune) are in mutual reception. All that raw power that could overwhelm the average Virgo has a voice- literally, an enviably rich and throaty voice. Even if she had wanted to suppress the energy she had, she probably would have been unable to. Being a singer in a punk band provided a fortunate outlet for this intensity, where she could successfully command well-deserved attention and her most intimate thoughts could take on a fiery edge- although, as quoted in the documentary, she could have sung any genre she wanted and done so incredibly. For that reason, it’s also worth noting that making punk her genre of choice was no accident- she has Saturn retrograde in Pisces opposing Uranus conjunct Pluto in Virgo. This outer-planet conjunction is part of the reason that music from the early 90’s is so awesome, because you have intensity, darkness, and a completely original sound funneled through perfect musicianship. (Kurt Cobain and Billy Corgan, among many other rock heavyweights, were also born during this conjunction.) Her Venus is dignified in Libra, but unaspected; it’s not clear if Mia ever had any serious romantic involvements, but guitarist Joe Spleen refers to her as his “music soul mate.” However, at age 20, her progressed Venus went into Scorpio, which underscores the rawness of her Leo-Mercury conjunction; this probably prompted, if not an actual sexual awakening, an awareness of the incredible magnetism she possessed and an openness to using it.
Still, though, with all of that perfect rock star material, that’s not all there was to Mia Zapata. Her Saturn in Pisces is retrograde, and would probably have stayed that way all her life. People with Saturn retrograde, if not actual loners, tend to see the world quite differently from everyone else; in fact, it’s fair to say that they’ve created their own world. Not only is Mia’s Saturn retrograde in Pisces, but it is the handle of her bucket chart and widely conjunct Chiron. It wasn’t her dynamic stage presence that really drove her to be who she was; it was her sensitivity, the hidden part of her that no one could really know. Her wide Saturn-Chiron conjunction makes an inconjunct to her Moon-Mercury conjunction, which is probably what drove her to express feelings of loneliness and inner conflict in a way that sounds empowered and proactive. It’s interesting that her lyrics dealt with self-effacing material, as one thing among many that Mia was noted for was her (Virgo-Pisces) modesty and total lack of pretense. More reserved than ego-driven, she made it a point to make herself and her bandmates available to other up-and-coming bands. She actively mentored 7 Year Bitch at The Rat House as they were forming, and remained friends with the band even as they commercially surpassed The Gits. Her father is quoted as saying that “Mia had a complete and total social conscience. She cared about people.” And this social conscience came back to her, even after her untimely death. The remaining Gits released a posthumous album, Enter The Conquering Chicken, in Mia’s memory, and the entire Seattle music community, with the help of major figures like Joan Jett and Kurt Cobain, pulled together to fund their own investigation of her murder and to start up Home Alive.
Mia Zapata’s murder remained an unsolved mystery for ten years, until a DNA profile was able to be matched from a saliva sample on her body. The saliva was traced to Jesus Mezquia, a fisherman who had been living in Seattle at the time of the murder and had a history of convictions for violence against women. The unanimous guilty verdict that put Mezquia in prison for more than 36 years was not only a major breakthrough for Mia’s family and friends, but it was legally significant as well- it was one of the first incidences of DNA evidence being instrumental in a conviction.
At the time of her death, Mia had just had her progressed lunar return, putting her in the “27 Club” of musicians who died on or around their progressed lunar returns at age 27. She was still a year and a half away from her Saturn return, but it was already starting to create a stir- and transiting Jupiter was exactly conjunct her natal Venus. Mia was getting excited about the new direction her career was taking, and the amount of mainstream spotlight she would soon be enjoying (and no doubt her Saturn return would have had her reconciling her private side with this seriously different kind of celeb-reality). The frightening astrological part about her murder comes with (who else?) Pluto: transiting Pluto was trining her natal Chiron and squaring her Moon-Mercury conjunction. I have to wonder: what did her killer see when he descended upon her? Did he see a woman who appeared strong and charismatic, and was therefore some kind of “threat” to him? Or did he see a vulnerable, awkward-looking woman, who was clearly “easy prey”? Did he see both? Or ultimately, did it even matter? Clearly, though, the love for this incredibly talented woman outweighs the savagery of what was done to her. She (like so many other victims) was so much more than her death.
From one of The Gits’ last shows, about a week before Mia Zapata’s murder:
