Keith Urban has a lovely video on his website today, thanking his fans for their support during his stint in rehab and explaining what happened to encourage him to seek help and talking about the recovery process. In the video he says that during the first 30 days he learned that abstinence is only the ticket to the movie, not the movie itself. Evidently he chose to stay longer in order to learn more about himself and what led to his problems that made his life “unmanageable.”

Back in October when Urban entered rehab I wrote that he was beginning a challenging transit of Pluto, the planet which pushes us to transformation, to Chiron in his chart. Chiron is the “wounded healer,” and a transit of Pluto to that sensitive point brings up old painful emotions and feelings. This is a difficult process, since we typically hide from our feelings of discomfort and push them away to a place where they won’t bother us. Pluto can be rather ruthless when it hits a sensitive point in our chart and demands that we give up whatever is holding us back from our evolutionary process. The transit of Pluto to Chiron that began for Keith Urban in October demands that he face the demons of his pain and work through the healing process. Surrender is required, and it appears that he is facing the challenge: he says “Thirty days became 60. Sixty days became 90 and, with each week that passed, I found myself really learning to surrender.” He also talks about how much he is learning about himself, which is the key to this planetary cycle.

I had never seen him before, and was struck by the obvious sincerity and sensitivity he displays in this video, thanking the fans for their support and explaining why he failed to go on tour after his album was released. Keith has a strong sense of responsibility to those that love him, with Mars (his drive) in Capricorn (responsibility and hard work) and Venus (relating to others) in Virgo (service and usefulness).

The Pluto cycle that has created this pressure on him to heal his inner wounds has eased off but he will face the second phase of the cycle this year. Pluto will make what’s called a “station” on this sensitive point in his chart between June and November, a critical time in his healing process. Hopefully he will be able to continue his journey of healing and recovery and gain a greater sense of peace within.