David Bowie – The Diamond Dog

Although I’m a big fan of rock music, especially from the golden age, 70s, and 80s, I discovered David Bowie rather late, when his fame already peaked. I guess I was initially turned off by his extravagant appearance, which didn’t fit my standard rock ‘n’ roll brackets ;-), but once I started to dig into his work and persona, I became very fond of him.

Recently I watched two documentaries about his life, one covering early beginnings and the other one following the last five years of his life. David Bowie was an extremely driven person, and in those early days, he was very clear about his goal, which is to become globally famous through his art and performance. First 6-7 years, he struggled a lot, changed many bands, tried a lot of different music styles, but he finally got his big break with Space Oddity song in 1969, which gave him confidence and one kind of clarity about his artistic direction. After that single, his popularity took off, and by the mid-70s, he became one of the biggest rock stars in the world.

David Bowie was born as the Yin Fire Master Element. His artistic abilities came from a rather robust Earth Element, which acted as Output Component. Artist and Performer Talents were highly active, turning this chart into a creative powerhouse. Another impressive Talent is Pioneer, which brought him a curious and energetic personality. Pioneer Talent was David’s main driving force; he was collecting various styles of expressions, putting them together, always trying to reinvent himself, which he did, many times in his career.

He also had excellent leadership abilities through his Leadership Talent Bridge. He liked to be fully in control, so he preferred to have flexible band members, which David would hire whenever he needed them. He was a man with the plan and ability to execute it at any given time.

David had one special feature, the combo between Yin Metal and Yang Fire, which gave him charisma and strong sex appeal. We explained the significance of this combo in this post.

David’s chart is not a smooth one; weak Wood was problematic for him. The Wood Element represents his mother. He got very little support and affection from her, which bothered him a lot. From what I saw in these documentaries, it’s possible that his family had mental problems, through generations, especially from the mother’s side. He was aware of it, so he used art and music to release it out, not get locked into it, which was a very smart thing to do.

He was going through a Wood Dynamic Luck during his most productive years, which confirms that Wood was indeed rather crucial for him. The Wood Dragon pillar, from 1976 to 1986, was especially useful, this was the period where he created his best, or at least the most famous work.

David Bowie was craving fame in the early days, but slowly he realized the downsides of such popularity. In 2006 he entered a very challenging period, Fire Goat, which clashed his month pillar, Metal Ox. This clash created chaos in his chart, disturbing his career, creativity, and combo between Yin Metal and Yang Fire. In 2006 he stopped doing concerts and removed himself entirely from public life as a result of this clash. During this time, he developed liver cancer, which is most likely caused by the hidden clash between Yin Wood and Yin Metal.

After several years of inactivity, he secretly put a band together and created two more albums. In these albums, one could easily see the influence of the clash on his creativity. The themes were much darker, more retrospective. He was consciously distorting and destroying his image, carefully built through years. He wanted to make his face ugly and unrecognizable, subconsciously undoing his fame and public image, which became a burden for him. 

One interesting detail; the Diamond Dogs album, published in 1974, was a game-changer for David Bowie. This album cemented him as one of the greatest performers and showcased what we could expect from him in the future. Bowie is born in a Dog year, while the combination between Yin Metal and Yang Fire, on top of the Dog, creates an image of a beautiful, shiny diamond.

The Diamond Dog indeed.

Coincidence? It could be, but in our research, we saw many cases where people intuitively figured out their chart Elements and Animals, without knowing anything about BaZi. Considering how well connected with his inner feelings David was, it wouldn’t surprise me that he figured it out on his own. 

Or he simply knew his chart, which is another theory, but in those days, BaZi was not very known in England, so I doubt that was the case.

Also published on Medium.