Tuesday, September 23, 2008

An Astrologer Eclipsed

eclipse

Astrologers often debate the rights and wrongs of predicting death. Most avoid it if at all possible, reasoning that it is ethically and morally wrong. Yet like ghouls we pick over the pieces of major disasters to see if it could have been foreseen. So we can be said to be guilty of double standards because when dozens die in a disaster each and every one of those deaths is an individual death.

So where do I stand in all this? I certainly wouldn’t offer any such prediction unasked. But what if I am asked? And what is more, what if it’s a fellow astrologer asking me? This happened a few years ago, a friend who is an astrologer found that she had cancer. She bravely decided to deny all treatment so she could concentrate on her quality of life rather than quantity. She put her chart out to some astrologers in the community and suggested they use her chart as a way to learn about death.

Unsurprisingly most astrologers backed off. But this is my friend asking and it is her way of dealing with her impending death. So I didn’t back off. We kept up a correspondence for long after the initial two-month prognosis she was given. We looked at various upcoming significators that could have meant her death, but each turned out to be a step on the way.

By the beginning of this year my friend was in a lot of pain. She couldn’t sit at a PC or even lay with a laptop, but I offered to print off various charts and send to her. Like a true astrologer she said yes, she still wanted to be thinking about things astrological. We discussed the charts during a phone call, she felt that she wouldn’t make it far past the August Solar eclipse and she certainly wouldn’t see her next birthday in October. In this case she was right, less than 6 weeks after said eclipse my friend was released from her pain.

Although I’m not going to publish her chart details I will post this one last look at her chart. She wanted astrologers to learn about death from her chart.

The Solar Eclipse on August 1st reflected the same natal angles as my friend’s chart, though the degrees were not the same. The eclipse itself was opposing her Moon with a two-degree orb. Eclipse Jupiter, ruler of her 6th house of illness (in both the eclipse and natal chart) squared her ascendant by just 16' of arc, and eclipse Uranus squared natal Venus, ruler of the eclipse and her own 8th house of death.
Note too that eclipse Mars is just within the 12th house and is ruler of the 7th. Some ancient astrologers connect the 7th cusp with death. astrology x-files The eclipse chart seems to be clearly setting the stage for what is to come.

This eclipse also closely contacted many of my friend's antiscia points, with the following three being within 5'of arc Eclipse Mars sextiled her Antiscia moon, Eclipse MC sextiled Antiscia Pluto and Eclipse Pluto trined Mars. Hopefully those sextiles and trines indicated the freedom from the shadow of pain she had lived under for so long.

On the day she died the transiting Uranus square natal Venus of the eclipse chart was still in orb and transiting sun, was conjunct the eclipse mars, ruler of the eclipse setting 7th.

Other transits to my friend’s chart at the time of her death were a Mercury/Mars conjunction on her Ascendant/south node/Neptune, here is Mercury come in his mythological guise come to conduct her on the next part of her journey, as also shown by transiting moon square natal mercury whilst transiting Neptune trined Mercury.

Even the transiting angles reflect the significance of this moment. In "Working With Astrology" by Michael Harding and Charles Harvey, Mike says of the transiting angles, "....it requires only a few precisely-timed charts to demonstrate the power of these seemingly unimportant aspects; for they are the catalysts of our inner destiny and can act as triggers to our most profound experience."

A close look at the transiting angles in relation to my friend’s chart shows that transiting Midheaven was trine her Jupiter, thus showing her release from the material world Whilst transiting ascendant was contacting her Moon/Saturn midpoint, within 3 minutes of arc. Amongst other things this midpoint is the point of mourning and bereavement.

Finally transiting Moon was on her IC, thus taking her home.


This post is dedicated to my good friend who was a fine astrologer.


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2 comments:

Kitty said...

I have the book 'The Astrology of Death' by Richard Houck ( http://www.amazon.com/Astrology-Death-Richard-Houck/dp/0964161257 ) and found it fascinating.

In it, he asserts that Eclipses are the most powerful significators of death - interestingly, that they often tie in with eclipses that took place whilst we were in the womb.

He also espouses the use of Tertiary Progressions - not something of which I have had much experience. But I did have a look when I'd read this book.

I'm sure your friend is now out of pain, and I hope all the things she taught others will stand them in good stead. I have some of her notes - the ones you copied for me - so I know she was a very good astrolger.

x

sasastro said...

Thanks for your comment Kitty. I'll have to add that book to my astrological library.
You are right in that my friend is free of pain. She taught me everything I know about Lunar Returns. She would be glad to know that I passed that knowledge on to you :)