Amy Winehouse - dead at age 27- Does Saturn return contribute?

No, she isn't or wasn't under the Saturn return but close. Her problem was more with Neptune and the illusion it offered through drugs and alcoholism. Her Moon probably played an important role in her death since, by progression, it takes 28 years to return to its natal position. I also think Pluto may have contributed somewhat. That planet destroys but gives a chance for rebirth. She never took the chance or miscalculated herself. I didn't see her chart so I can't extrapolate.

No .. because she is about a year away from feeling the first effects of her Saturn return. Her Saturn is at about 2 Scorpio, and transiting Saturn is only at 11 Libra right now. You only use an orb (distance) of 4 degrees for a transit, so she wouldn't have started feeling her Saturn return until transiting Saturn was at 28 Libra, and would have felt it until Saturn was past 6 Scorpio. And this would have been only the initial contact ... transits become stronger as they near the end, so the full effect wouldn't have been felt until about 2 years from now

She had drug problems and made a miscalculation.

Specifically: As a planet enters the 4-degree orb, the transit starts to be felt. It is felt until the planet is (and remains) 4 degrees beyond the planet ... sometimes the effect is felt for as long as the departing 5 degrees or orb.

The strength the transit grow exponentially over time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exponential_growth

Looking at this chart (the green line), you would put "Time" on the horizontal axis, and "Strength of Transit" on the vertical axis.

Why is it exponential? This is because the transit indicates an inner pressure for change and growth. At first the pressure is minor. If we are very self-aware, we might notice the pressure and might start to consciously create that inner change. This defuses most of the impact of the transit, although we don't always see ourselves are clearly as we hope to think we do. If we do not consciously make these changes, the pressure will only grow, and the longer we resist the change, the more the pressure builds up ... to the release point at the end of the transit.

Over the course of the transit, it will be stronger than it's usual strength at that point in the curve, when it is either partile (exact), or when there is a station (either retrograde or direct).

As a matter of fact, the strongest points of the transit are the next-to-the-last station, the last station, and the final departure out of orb.

Minor trigger points also occur when transiting Sun or Mars conjuncts, squares, or oppositions, the natal planet that is being transited. But these are minor compared to the stations and final departure.

The Saturn return has nothing to do with weakness or strength. It is a time of self-evaluation, and a setting or new directions if your evaluation shows you that you are not heading in directions you want to head in. I would suggest you get a copy of "Planets in Transit" by Robert Hand. He does an excellent job of laying out the meaning of the various stages in the cycles of planets, as well as covering the Saturn return.

The Saturn return (the return of Saturn to it's natal place) occurs about age 29 not 27. Her Saturn return wouldn't occur until Dec 2012. She would have been 29 then.

No, her Saturn is Scorpio 1 degree..

She has Sagittarius Moon, Neptune, south node.. The Node transit conjuncts that area and Mars transit was or is opposite that area..

The Aries moon transit was opposite her Saturn/Pluto Libra yesterday..

Today they have her her birth time available, it wasn't posted yesterday.. http://www.astrotheme.com/portraits/CdL6S84jz7c3.h... So I'd be able to do a solar return chart now..

but prior to knowing this, her birthday showed the Moon transit was conjunct her Jupiter/uranus Sagittarius and the Uranus/Jupiter Pisces transit was squaring her natal Moon/Neptune/Node area in Sagittarius..

But actually in a way yes, maybe Saturn was involved in some way because the Aries moon had passed over in opposition to her natal Saturn/Pluto Libra yesterday..

Her addictions and creativity, relating back into doo wop style, a good part of that has to do with her Moon/Neptune conjunction.. Her South node is there too so..

A natal Jupiter/Uranus conjunction probably helps her trait of being prone to excess..

I wonder if her addiction got out of hand more or less when Pluto transit conjunct her Moon/Neptune area.. That's more like a statement though. It obviously did get out of hand, when you see the pictures of how healthy she looked before.

Age 27, Progressed Moon returns to its natal place. http://starcats.com/age.html

EDIT: to add to the answer, she has many planets in 6th regarding her health. Uranus/Jupiter is in 6th, opposite chiron 12th.. Saturn/Pluto is in 6th, and the Aries moon (was transiting her 12th and) passed over in opposition to her Saturn/Pluto that day...

This Aries moon transit that day would turn her chart into a kite, with Saturn/Pluto 6th house as Apex.. and the Moon transit as the tail.

It's worth noting that her infamous lover Blake Fielder civil, has his Aries sun 26 degrees- opposite Amy's Pluto/Saturn.. (Libra 27 degrees, Scorpio 1 degree.)

Yes, you are right. There is an approaching effect, and while this approaching effect was going on (natal Saturn in the 5th), transiting Saturn was also conjuncting her Pluto in the 5th. Her 8th house is in Capricorn (ruler being Saturn) so it was a double whammy there for Amy. So, given this set-up, you can see how easily her lifestyle of entertainment and indulgences would have caught up with her during her 1st and only approaching Saturn return as it just passed her natal Pluto - it's not a matter of weak or strong, really.....it is just what is. - so sad to see the tortured life of this talented woman cut short.

well her saturn was 1.57 degrees scorpio, while the current transit saturn in 11.50 degrees libra. i don't think it begins that early does it.

Chain is a jerk but his first sentence was correct. This has no astrological base. She's been an addict for a long time, it just finally caught up to her. Nothing to do with the planets if it's something you do to yourself.

Maybe her saturn is was afflicted

the weak will cower while the fittest will survive

Can't be the lifestyle and the drugs. It must be that damn Saturn! How many more must suffer from the retrograde illusion because astrology is geocentric. After the fact evidence (especially with celebrities) always shows how true astrology is.

The part of many famous people dead at a certain age is just confirmation bias.