David Bowie – The Diamond Dog

Although I’m a big fan of rock music, especially from the golden ages of the 70s and 80s, I discovered David Bowie relatively late, when his fame had 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 his early beginnings and the other following the last five years of his life. David Bowie was highly driven, and in those early days, he was clear about his goal: to become globally famous through his art and performance. In the first 6-7 years, he struggled a lot, changed many bands, tried many different music styles, but he finally got his big break with the song Space Oddity in 1969, which gave him confidence and a kind of clarity about his artistic direction. After that single, his popularity took off, and by the mid-70s, he had become one of the world’s biggest rock stars.

David Bowie was born as the Yin Fire Master Element. His artistic abilities stemmed from a relatively robust Earth Element, which served as the Output Component. Artist and Performer Talents were highly active, turning this BaZi Chart into a creative powerhouse. Another impressive Talent is Pioneer, which has given him a curious, energetic personality. Pioneer Talent was David’s primary 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 flexible band members whom he would hire as needed. He was a man with a plan and the ability to execute it at a moment’s notice.

SENSIBLE COMBO: YIN METAL & YANG FIRE

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 smooth; weak Wood has been problematic for him. The Wood Element represents his mother. He received very little support and affection from her, which bothered him deeply. 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, not get locked into it, which was a brilliant 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 when he created his best, or at least the most famous work.

CHALLENGING DECADE

David Bowie craved fame in the early days, but he slowly came to realize the downsides of such popularity. In 2006, he entered a very challenging period, Fire Goat, which clashed with 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 performing and withdrew 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 over the years. He wanted to make his face ugly and unrecognizable, subconsciously undoing his fame and public image, which had become a burden.

YIN METAL AND DOG

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 most outstanding performers and showcased what we could expect from him in the future. Bowie was born in a Dog year, while the combination of Yin Metal and Yang Fire, atop the Dog, evokes 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 identified their Chart Elements and Animals without knowing anything about BaZi. Considering how well connected David was to his inner feelings, it wouldn’t surprise me that he figured it out on his own.

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