Image from https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weeknd
Happy Valentine’s Day! My gift to you is the birth-chart reading of a man who glamorizes toxic love affairs in his catchy tunes. After all, the real meaning of Saint Valentine’s Day is the undying faith in Divine love which was set against the backdrop of the bloody massacre of Christian folk, so I thought it makes sense to focus on a sensual artist who is not afraid to sing about the nastier side of love. So here is the second instalment in a string of birth-chart analyses which I randomly decided to create last month after I astrologically fan-girl-ed over David Lynch and his film work. Now for Aquarius season, I picked Aquarius Sun Abel Tesfaye also known as ‘The Weekend’ to sit under my astrological scalpel. My choice is odd because for some reason or the other I actually don’t have very strong feelings for The Weekend; if anything, he fascinates me, the kind of fascination you feel if you would look at an alien life-form unfolding in front of you from a relative safe distance. I don’t necessarily enjoy what I see but I can’t look away. Then again, the experience of feeling alien-like and emotional detached from others is peak Aquarius energy, so what I might be feeling when I listen to him and see his videos could be just his Aquarian uniqueness on display, or a carefully manipulated spectacle of weirdness, soulfulness, poetry, drama and depression. So, despite not being a big fan of The Weekend I really enjoy some of his songs and can appreciate his unique vibe.
Before I dive into the many interesting things which color his Airy Aquarius Sun in dark and deep emotional shades, I wanted to share with you a personal memory that links me to his music. He always seemed to me to be the kind of artist which men tend to listen to more than women, even if women (and especially the models he sleeps with) figure prominently in his lyrics and his entire artistic imaginarium. So, I ended up associating The Weekend with a steamy love affair I had a couple of years ago, via the Internet, with a man who was obsessed with Abel. I met this man (a Taurus Sun) right before taking a work-trip to Barcelona. Because he couldn’t come with me, he tried to establish a sensual and emotional connection with me via music, or said more precisely he sent me lyrics from Abel’s repertoire. The Taurus would also send me photos of the way he styled himself to look like Abel. It was a random, passionate affair that lasted the entire duration of my 2-weeks trip to Barcelona and I didn’t take it too seriously; sometimes it’s just nice to feel wanted and searched for, because back in the day romantic escapades would relax me and take the edge off my work-related stress. I thought it was funny that the Taurus I was involved with believed Abel was his masculine alter-ego. The obsession was funny and fascinating and I quickly understood that if a man you date had him as an idol, well the relationship will most likely be short-lived. This is because Abel is not only peak Aquarius but also peak Millennial (being a member of the Pluto in Scorpio generation or those individuals born between 1983 and 1995 – yes, this includes me too so I’m calling myself out).
In spite of his talent, voice and showmanship, Abel is known for being the poster boy for suave seduction artists, with his penchant for glamorizing secret hook-ups with models, an obsession with work, fame and power and his excessive drug use and tortured soul allure. Don’t get it twisted though, I don’t fault him at all for choosing to live an intense life-style. He has a Moon in Scorpio and a Sun in the 8th house. I get it, believe me. On top of this he is a fixed Air sign, so he needs to move, explore and bend the minds of others through his erm… ‘personal and deeply intimate’ research. I believe that each one of us is given a body and a life and to use as we please, as long as we don’t intentionally harm others (even if in some cases this harm is subtle and difficult to assess in the moment). In Abel’s case I guess with talent comes a level of emotional disarray and relationship chaos, as all artists tend to experience in their lives; and for most of this energy, there is of course an astrological explanation. I like for example how candid he can be about experiences that people deem to be shameful or scandalous, and how he seamlessly draws inspiration in his music from the darker experiences of love, sex and fame. And when you have a natal Moon conjunct Pluto and Lilith in the darkest sign of the zodiac (Scorpio) you are drawn to human darkness, sexuality taken to extremes and experimenting with risk and self-destruction, like a moth to a flame. Based on his astrological markers, Abel’s life is the embodiment of basic instinct. I personally think it will take a while before Abel learns to appreciate that love can be tender, peaceful and subtle and that a lack of passion or drama doesn’t necessarily equate to a loss of heart or excitement in love. We often need time to process such life lessons.
So based on the personal experience I had with the Taurus and occasionally dancing to The Weekend’s catchy tunes and randomly keeping track of his on-and-off relationship with the beautiful Bella Hadid, I started wondering about his natal chart. When I had a look into his inner cosmos I thought it was too good to miss out on an astrological analysis. Here is his chart, courtesy of astrodienst.com:
Astrological Chart of Abel Tesfaye born on 16th of February 1990, to be found on https://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/The_Weeknd
I guess you can quickly spot the weird particularities of Abel’s chart. First of all, he has a lot of concentrated energy in one part of his chart which covers his 6th, 7th and 8th houses. This means that those are the areas of his life that he needs to focus the most on in this lifetime, in order to fullfil his destiny and pay off any karmic debts incurred from previous lifetimes. The 6th house is the house or everyday routines, health and work done in the service of others. We see there a stellium of 5 luminaries in the most karmic sign of the zodiac Capricorn. We also see that he has his Venus perfectly conjunct his Descendant line, which is one of the major points of anchor in a person’s chart denoting a need to work at love, to understand what it is and how he can give it and receive it from other people; that is because the 7th house, which often carries the Descendant, is all about equal and fair arrangements, contracts and long-term personal commitments. This is also known traditionally as the house of love and marriage. However, with so much Saturnian energy present there for Abel, love is a chess game that will test his patience, one which he will gain access to in the second part of his life, after he gathers some relational experiences and overcomes some powerful karmic challenges. In the process of achieving this he will encounter poverty, loss, separations, disease and drama. He will have to deal with people of low quality before he is able to experience true love, or if he finds his true love there will be many things blocking and delaying the fulfillment of their life together and some of these things will also be self-sabotaging behaviors and beliefs regarding self-worth and keeping the faith in unconditional love (some voices speculate that Bella is his true love, although Bella has a delaying aspect of her own, a karmic Saturn in the 7th house which blocks her access to romantic love and fulfilling relationships until the later part of her life; people are not able to see Bella’s true worth as a human being no matter how beautiful and intelligent she might be, but I wouldn’t discount a potential memorable get together of these two in their 50s).
The Weekend with Bella Hadid in Givenchy at the Met Gala in 2016. More here: https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/met-gala-2016-the-weeknd-and-bella-hadid-go-matchy-matchy-in-gi_n_9825436
Coming back to the Weekend, his North Node – his growth zone – is in Aquarius in the 8th house conjunct his Sun and Mercury, an aspect which automatically places his South Node – his comfort zone – in the 2nd house and in the sign of Leo. His destiny is placed in the house of healing, magic, sexuality and power and I can see that with a Sun touched by the North Node, he isn’t in control of his confidence levels and personality because this is something he is slowly growing into in this incarnation. This aspect can also show somebody who is frequently overcome by his Shadow Self and he has to learn how to develop self-awareness (see for example my analysis of Amber Heard who shares this placement in common with the Weekend: https://youtu.be/bNJFuDs8QKI). All this being said, is it any wonder that he is projecting a bad boy image, when his entire life path is about integrating his inner demons, sexual obsessions and meeting his Shadow Self through intense transformational experiences?
Not only that, but with a 2nd house South Node, Abel is a natural born star, since Leo – the sign ruled by the Sun, the astrological vortex of charisma, strength and sexuality – resides in his house of physical pleasure, creature comforts, work and money. People with karmic 2nd house placements usually have beautiful bodies and sensual voices and they are artistically talented. However, I see that Abel needs to expand beyond this comfort zone as he is learning how to communicate his needs in an emotionally detached way, and to learn how to respect other people’s opinions and to work with them as part of social groups of support. He is also becoming a person who could easily shock others with his personal transformations. Abel will need to figure out who he is and how to lead and teach others without force or domination but through knowledge, by being humble and by including others as part of the artistic empire he is building. This placement also shows how Abel got his big breakthrough which happened on Youtube as he started uploading songs in 2010. So, his music and natural talent (South Node in the 2nd house) spread because a group of subscribers on a social media platform enjoyed his music and shared it (Aquarius in the 8th house).
Another fascinating part of his chart is his Ascendant, which is in shy and emotional Cancer (an aspect which I believe contributes strongly to his artistic talent). The downside of this placement is that people with strong Cancerian energy tend to associate love with pain, as much as they are incurable romantics. In addition to this, his Ascendant is conjunct the asteroid Chiron, or the Wounded Healer Archetype. This means that he attracts a fair amount of painful experiences in his life, but also opportunities to heal others with his emotions, even if he might feel like he is not emotionally nourished by those very people he attracts and is attracted to. Moreover, his Chiron and Ascendant are loosely conjunct Jupiter which is placed in the 12th house the house of self-undoing, sacrifice, bed pleasures and secrets. This is also the house of creativity and the imagination, and whoever has Jupiter placed here always gets second chances from the Universe, from spirits and unseen benefactors. It’s almost as if the Weekend has this strong magnetic forcefield around him that attracts all sorts of dark experiences but he is offered spiritual protection as long as he keeps creating art from said experiences. To be honest, with a Saturn in the 6th house he will be continuously pressured into working in the service of others, while also being kept in stable health in spite of his self-destructive tendencies. So, I see an individual who needs to make sense of life in some form through the use of entertainment and his romantic liaisons. I see that he carries within a tendency to serve his romantic partners while not truly understanding his personal boundaries. He wears his heart on his sleeve but he does it too quickly and much too intensely. This could breed resentment in his close partnerships, because if his needs are not met as fast as he meets those of others, and if he doesn’t learn to communicate clearly with others, he might become emotionally explosive due to build-ups that could destroy his long-term relationships in a matter of seconds.
Abel also has a Moon in Scorpio in the most solar light of the zodiac, the 5th house! In essence, a Scorpio Moon is dark enough but this darkness is amplified by the fact that his is also conjunct Pluto (the natural ruler of Scorpio) and the asteroid Lilith, which represents the Wild Feminine Archetype (for a deeper explanation, check out my work on Lilith here:https://youtu.be/k67DRDLVxo0). Not only that but his Moon is squared by his North Node in Aquarius. Usually any aspect between the North Node or Rahu (considered by many Vedic astrologers to be a malefic energy) talks about emotional chaos, frequent ups and downs in his mood, and a certain internal chaos that pushes one into difficult emotional experiences. This is also contained within his moody Cancer Ascendant, which can often make him seem like he contains two very different personalities inside of him (and one of them could especially come out when he is intoxicated or inebriated). So, when The Weekend (aptly named after this 5th house lush and leisure-bound energy) croons that he is ‘Heartless‘ and when he says that “I don’t know why I run away, I make you cry when I run away” I tend to believe him. Although it’s my impression that in ‘Save your tears’ he’s actually telling himself to preserve his tears, and not his jaded lover. This is not just art and entertainment but a clear mirror held up to his psychological landscape. No wonder that his videos are creepy and bizarre as much as they are glamorous and entertaining, because Abel is dealing with an inner conflict between his inner light and dark tendencies, on the path towards learning how to unconditionally love himself and thereby love others.
Furthermore, I see how Abel manages to combine his Leo South Node with his 5th house Moon in a spectacle which is reminiscent of the polarizing energies found in David Lynch’s chart (which I analyzed last month). A Moon in the 5th house shows an individual whose heart lies in well…partying. This is a man who enjoys the drama, who revels in the opportunity to celebrate romance and short-term affairs. But the higher vibration of this energy is seeking God through the depths of his feelings, because this solar house contains a direct link to Divine inspiration. Since Abel’s Moon is enhanced by Pluto and both are in the secretive, magnetic and sexually fearless sign of Scorpio, you can clearly understand why a man who does not necessarily have classic good looks pulls in so many love affairs and lewd sexual relationships and why he might enjoy singing about having sex with a model on the kitchen floor while her boyfriend is out of town. He’s letting us know how indescribably erotic fatal attractions can be and that there is something utterly alluring about seeing your self blow up the pressure of social expectations rather than living up to them. This is after all the myth of Lucifer’s fall from grace & why we can’t get enough of bad boy stories. Becoming a hero and saint could be an exclusive experience which only a few of us can tap into in a lifetime, while fucking up is something we can all identify with.
His planets also make some interesting aspects. In spite of all these karmic, emotionally dark and spiritually intense energies, his aspects are not as bad. We see a good number of oppositions between his stellium and his Ascendant, which describe a focus in his life on the relationship between understanding who he is and how other people relate to him. He’s also tasked with doing a lot of Shadow work in this lifetime, seeing that he is destined to make some personal mistakes due to the improper use of his Ego (Sun conjunct North Node). Conversely, he can resolve all of these mistakes by thinking and communicating (Mercury conjunct North Node).
And then we reach the core of his chart and main opportunity of growth through trauma. We could just write a whole article about his Venus in Capricorn, which means that his love life is ruled by Saturn and amplified in its karmic energy by the conjunction made to his natal Saturn in Capricorn, sexed up by his Mars, electrified by his Uranus and romanticized by his natal Neptune. A Venus in Capricorn brings a struggle to know one’s worth and to recognize it in others. This is the classic case of a person who either loves others so much and get frequently abandoned or deceived or used by them, or the reverse a person who only cares about money, sex and pleasure and ends up using others and thereby blocking their chances to feel love and have a spiritual life. A Saturnian Venus helps one build stamina and it gives you ‘love homework’: you can learn how to set boundaries, refuse poor quality sex, focus on the spiritual aspects of your relationships, be giving even during difficult financial times, stay patient and focused on your personal commitments. A higher vibrational Saturnian Venus says “I will never give up on love and my person no matter how hard things get” while a lover vibrational one thinks that “What’s the point? Everything I love always hurts me, so I might as well just stop caring”. The important thing to remember is that Saturn dries up things, so inherently it brings with it stunted emotional growth.
The person with such a trait can do themselves the favor of admitting they are on some level immature in their emotional expression and in light of this awareness they can humbly open themselves to learning about love, beauty, relationships, money, worth and how to create equal give-and-takes in connections. Once they do so they can become the love and wealth teachers of many. But of course, the learning takes time and diligence, and the results once worked at can be splendid. A fully formed and matured Venus in Capricorn demonstrates unbreakable energy in love. They are there to stay and nothing can shake them of their throne. They make excellent parents, loyal co-workers and dependable lovers. Now having 5 planets in one area of the chart creates a vacuum effect for the Weekend, overwhelming any of the other areas and bringing imbalanced energy in his life. So he is left to come up with ingenious solutions to all this karmic distress that he tends to experience from other people (both work-mates, relatives and sexual crushes – he gets all this drama from all of them since his 6th, 7th and 8th houses are so active). So, when The Weekend sings ‘there’s so much trauma in my life’ and “say I’m there for you but I’m out of time” I also nod and point to this part of his chart.
Not only that but he also has an aspect which is infamously magnetic in personal relationships: a Venus conjunct Mars! No wonder that he can’t feel his face when he’s with her because love and violence are intertwined in his life. This aspect by itself, gives Abel such a strong personal charisma and creates a romantic forcefield around him, helping him pull in effortlessly the sexual interest and loving energy of both men and women (remember that his Moon placement and Jupiter conjunct the Asc are already doing this for him too). However, because Saturn is present there, I see that he attracts people that could be superficial and spiritually empty, driven by material and financial goals only, people that could be either be too young or too old and he will undergo a significant amount of loss in his connections. Yes, this is also the placement of someone who most likely will find love and true fulfilment with an older, wiser and wealthier partner since Saturn rules over old age, wisdom and material successes and describes an older spouse. I hate to say it, but The Weekend’s energy will only darken once Pluto will begin transiting his 8th house from March of 2023 and up until 2044. I genuinely hope he will survive this transit since Pluto-Sun transits are known to bring about death and painful loss.
Lastly, I want to mention that Abel has a Midheaven in Aries. So, his public image is associated with everything Mars and Aries-related: sexual conquests and stamina, being the best in his field or at least the most productive and dynamic, being a role model for other men, being quite selfish and the prototype of the lone wolf and truly a pioneer in his area of activity. He also has his Part of Fortune conjunct his Midheaven and this means that he actually benefits by being seen in this way, even if unfortunately, he tends to put out this ‘bad example’ energy. In addition, these natal energies in his chart are activated by the transit of the Great Benefic, Jupiter which is taking place at the moment and up until the month of May 2023. I guess this is why I am writing about him! (as a side note I’m also having my Jupiter return in Aries at the moment and it’s taking place in my 6th house; so I am working on an article about The Weekend’s public role which is also ruled by Aries – hope this makes sense, because I just think astrology is amazing and its little synchronicities like this that make the work so enthralling).
Jupiter pulls in a lot of attention and popularity regarding his public image. So it’s not a surprise that he released a hugely popular song from the soundtrack of the second Avatar movie in this period. But Jupiter could also enhance his Ego and create some exaggerations related to his image, especially since his soft, Cancerian and baby-faced Ascendant sits at odds with this rebel, bad boy, public role. As a funny side note his hair might also look especially good and voluminous this year (and judging by his Leo South Node, I don’t think he ever had issues with loss of volume to his hair). And on this note, I think I’ll stop here since this analysis is extensive enough. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite songs of his, which is a collaboration he created with Lana del Rey who is a Cancer Sun/Leo Moon/Capricorn Ascendant. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Abel worked with her judging by their strong synastry: his South Node on her Moon, his Ascendant on her Sun and her Ascendant on his Capricorn stellium. As always, I remain firmly convinced that coincidences are just astrological magic in action:
With universal love,
Lexi
spiritualsocial.wordpress.com 