However, Madonna was able to emerge from the Saturn Return with her passion, rebelliousness, and wild creativity in tact, if in fact it did not strengthen. Nowhere was this more in evidence than with the firestorm she created with the Like a Prayer video. After signing a multi-million dollar deal with Pepsi allowing the soft drink corporation to use Like a Prayer for endorsement, Madonna would film her most hotly debated video of her career to that point.

Populated with burning crosses, an African American Christ figure, and erotic innuendo and nuance juxtaposed against an unassuming chapel, the Like a Prayer video stirred up fanatical reaction from groups as diverse as the KKK to the Moral Majority. Pepsi would ultimately bow out of its deal with Madonna and discontinue their popular ad utilizing Like a Prayer. Madonna publicly displayed shock at how her artistic vision was inciting such controversy, however, commonsense dictates that Madonna had more knowledge of what she was doing than what she disclosed.

But Madonna's video was not the only controversial cultural statement that was stirring debate, censorship, and uproar over religions at this time. Quite the contrary, there appeared to be a significant clustering of controversial pieces and events that were shaking the foundation of world spirituality and religions. A year prior to Madonna's video release, Jimmy Swaggart publicly apologized for his adultery, a confessional broadcast to millions and permanently etched in the collective American consciousness. Months after, Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ goaded boycotts from Christian groups across the nation. Concurrently, due to notorious pieces such as Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ," the NEA under the leadership of Jesse Helms, pulled funding from artist's they deemed objectionable. Finally, in 1989, the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini threatened to sentence to death Salman Rushdie, British author of "The Satanic Verses" for allegedly desecrating Islam.

As usual, there was a celestial signature that correlated with the heated controversies surrounding spirituality and religion. In 1988 and 1989, there occurred a rare triple conjunction of the planets Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus. (see chart) The Saturn-Uranus combination, as witnessed earlier in this essay, is one known for its tempestuousness and volatility. However, it is equally known for its controversial aspects because Saturn, representing conservatism and tradition is forced to contend with the progressive freedoms and shocking nature of Uranus. If we add Neptune, affiliated as it is with image, spirituality, and religion, the controversial heat of Saturn and Uranus sparked controversy in spheres associated with the divine impulse of mankind.