Carlos Santana
 

Years before anyone had heard the expression “world music”, he was already playing it. While English rock groups conquered the world, he dared to create an original mix of passion and feelings, powerful guitars, rock with elements of blues and a sensual Afro-Cuban rhythm. Then, as the public always comes to recognize the truth, Carlos Santana quickly took hold of their hearts.

Carlos Santana is one of Jose and Josefina Santana’s seven children. He was born on July 20, 1947 in Autlan de Navarro, in Mexico. He was born under the sign of sensitive and family-oriented Cancer, his ascendant is found in the sign of artistically-gifted Taurus and his Moon in that of proud Leo. Right from his birth, the stars destined him to be different from typical Cancerians, cowardly and introverted. More precisely, energetic Mars is found in the house of self (1^st) in his natal chart. This is the reason why Santana emits such intense energy. Creative Neptune is found in the sign of artistically-tempered Libra, in the house of love and creativity (5^th). This gives him an exuberant imagination that is always channeled through themes related to love. The Sun, indicator of the ego, is located in the house of communication (3^rd). Jupiter, planet of happiness, is located at the entrance of his house of public and marriage (7^th). All this reveals that Carlos Santana was predestined to be a leader who would conquer the public through his creative work and travel across the entire world.

This prophecy becomes all the more true if one realizes that Santana was born into a family that had a lot of trouble making ends meet. His father perhaps could not guarantee his family’s comfort through his violin, but he taught little Carlos to play at the age of 5.

“My father tried to teach me to play mariachi music for years, he would say later, but despite all of my efforts, I played like Jack Benny. Unlike Jack Benny, who really played, I sounded like Jack Benny when he was acting like an idiot.”

Thus, attracted to rock and roll, B.B. King and John Lee Hooker, Carlos Santana’s talent revealed itself. He took his first guitar in hand at the age of eight. One year later, he already played guitar, violin and clarinet. This was his way of channeling his enormous energy and feeling accomplished.

Over the course of 1958, unpredictable Uranus cut through his house of home (4^th), thus bringing an omen of change in this area. This lasted until 1965. In 1958, his family moved to Tijuana, a small border town between Mexico and the USA. At the same time, Jupiter, planet of happiness, transited his house of work (6^th). This is why, even though he was only eleven years old, little Carlos began to work in nightclubs. This was when something terrible happened. He was sexually abused by a rich American, and this lasted for two years. This was already in a way written in the stars. More precisely, deceptive Neptune is located in the house of love of his horoscope. In this place, Neptune has a particularly negative influence on the events of his love life. It provokes strange romantic experiences, perversions, and makes the individual attractive to eccentrics in all genres. All the more reason that in Santana’s chart, Neptune has disharmonious relations with Venus, planet of love. This reveals that little Carlos had an unreal conception of love that made him easy prey for different types of manipulators. Such an experience filled little Carlos with anger. Nevertheless, healing his wounded soul would not be possible until Carlos came into contact with his deepest secrets and needs, and when he directed his energy into creative work. This took place in 1995, after long years of intense therapy and work on himself. Until then, Carlos would have to escape from the reality that hurt him through using alcohol and drugs.

However, whenever Destiny closes one door, it opens another. During the early 1960’s, when Uranus again traversed his house of home, he led his family to San Francisco in search of a better life. The right place at the right time. There was a ripening atmosphere of political and artistic change, and Santana continued to develop his original style there. In San Francisco, he discovered blues, the music of the African-Americans. Santana would one day say of this period in his life:

“Coming to the United States was a shock for me. I loved the blues but I could not imagine how people didn’t listen when you spoke.”

Probably unable to attract people’s attention with his words, he tried to do the same through his music. In 1967, he formed his group, the Santana Blues Band, practically unknown until they played at Woodstock in 1969. That was when charismatic Neptune cut through his house of public (7^th). At the same time, Jupiter, planet of expansion, and original Uranus in transit met in his house of love and creativity. All his suppressed feelings began to break free through his music. The public could identify with his music, and that’s what made him popular.

“There were 550,000 people at that concert, Santana said thirty years later, and I was so scared that I prayed to God: My God, give me the strength to conquer my fear and get through this, give me the strength... and I repeated this like a mantra.”

God not only gave him the strength to get through it, but also to begin speaking through his music. This is when transcendental Neptune, antenna of Universal Love and protector of music but also planet of illusions and drugs, located in his house of love and inspiration, put him to the test again. Dissatisfied with reality, he sought divine love and oblivion in the wrong place, with drugs. However, Jupiter, planet of happiness, located on the cusp of his house of marriage, as well as the close contact between Saturn, the Universal Professor, and Pluto, the god of the underworld and transformations, in the house of the psyche (4^th), indicate that he needed to reach the bottom in order to find the light. What’s more, enlightenment would not take place until after his marriage. In fact, his peers Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison all died because of drugs. Santana became afraid and tried to change the course of his life, and began to follow a religious path. This was the right choice at the right time, and it showed that he had learned Neptune’s lesson.

Although today he says that he is in favor of spirituality, and not religion, which has become a corrupted business, it was his guru at the time, Sri Chinmoy, who pulled him out of drug hell in August 1973. Four months later Santana married Deborah King. This took place at the moment when Jupiter in transit crossed his Zenith and announced changes in his marriage situation. Saturn then crossed his house of self (1^st), giving him a chance to reach emotional maturity. Santana showed that he had learned that lesson. Thus, he opened himself to the woman who loved him, and connected with the higher vibrations of Neptune, located in his house of creativity, which opened to him the path to the Divine and to inspiration. Conscious of all of this, many years later, he would acknowledge in a typical Cancerian manner:

“I get my inspiration from my mother, my four sisters and my wife. However, I am also in contact with the feminine side of my personality. You know, it’s good when one knows that everything in life must be balanced. In my opinion, harmony comes from marriage of melody and rhythm. Whereas the melody is the woman, the rhythm is the man. Then, sooner or later, they go to bed. Nevertheless, the latter isn’t important. It can be reggae, classical, jazz or blues. The important thing is that the melody and the rhythm go together.”

Truly a very philosophical reflection and imbued with spirituality, for a man with practically no education. He, sensitive like most Cancerians, sensual thanks to his Ascendant in Taurus and passionate because of his Moon in Leo, tries to make his music a bridge between spirituality and sexuality.

“For a long time, people have avoided accepting this, says Santana, but I noticed that when they make love and reach ecstasy, they always say Oh my God. Even atheists say Oh my God. Nobody says Oh, me. This indicates that the divine is present in these moments.”

Although the public embraces his music passionately, like every Cancerian, he embraces his family.

“Everything that happens to me is good, but nothing is more important than my wife and my children, he said. If I had to choose between glory and career and my wife, my two daughters and my son, I would not hesitate to choose them. They are the center of my heart.”

However, his heart is big enough to collect all of the adversity of the world. Although Cancerians are linked to their home country and nation, liberal Aquarius at the Zenith as well as dominant compassion in his chart make him a true philanthropist, who cares about the good of his neighbor and not his nationality or the color of his skin. Thus, Santana spends a large part of his time with children who are victims of social or domestic violence, with refugees and single mothers.

“We do not need pimps, politicians or preachers to find God, he said. Those only manipulate us. Every man knows in his soul that he came from light and will return to light. People must simply be responsible for their thoughts, their words and their actions.”

While Black Magic Woman, Oye Como Va and Maria do not require words because the feelings that gush out of the music are those that unite people across the world, Carlos Santana is concerned about the future of humanity. Since many saints were born from the ashes of their own sins, he prophesizes:

“It is time for us to raise ourselves to the fifth dimension. In the third dimension, we have good and bad, truth and lies. In the fifth dimension, we vibrate with light. This is the only way that we can avoid the terrible prophesies of the Aborigines, the Indians, Nostradamus and the Bible about the end of the world. We have the strength and the divine grace to be able to change the course of history. At the beginning, this can be done in two ways: with the help of sound and colors.”

 

 
 

 
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