Traditional astrologers seem to like to predict death. Because traditional astrology is based in prediction and the concept of fate, the question of when a person will die becomes a subject of inquiry and analysis in the traditional modalities, whereas modern branches of astrology and certainly what I call "transformational" 'astrology is more concerned with the evolution of the personality and the soul and our ability to transform our karma and create our destiny. (You might be interested in my earlier article on this topic as well.)
In my personal theology, the chart is the karma that we are given, and our dharma, or soul work, is to maximize the potential of the chart and integrate the individual pieces that are often in conflict. As we begin to make conscious choices rather than using reactive impulses in our day-to-day life, we are able to change our destiny and create a magnificent life. This has been my experience as someone who has Saturn conjunct the Sun, Moon conjunct Pluto squared by Venus and Jupiter, and lots of other "bad" stuff in my chart, and this is what I teach my clients and students.
Theo White is a classical astrologer who has a new article out regarding the sudden rise of celebrity deaths over the past week, with the loss of major icons of popular culture (including Ed McMahon, Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Billy Mays within a 5-day period in June).
I have talked in these pages about the association of Jupiter with death. Although I do not believe we can predict death from the birthchart (the "malefiic" planetary cycles that are said to predict death are experienced by people every day without resulting in death), we can often look back at the transits at the time of death and see what the quality of the death experience would have been for that individual. Pluto can show a violent death; Saturn can bring a difficult one. Jupiter in the death chart often shows a liberation of the soul, and when Uranus is present there can be a surprising event that causes sudden death.
Theo makes an interesting connection to the nodes of the Moon and this cluster of celebrity deaths:
These rising death rates often accompany the transits of Jupiter, and are also associated with the transiting Nodes of the Moon at this time, are along the Aquarius/Leo axis and reducing towards changing quality onto the Capricorn/Cancer axis in late August 2009.
During the month of June 2009, the Lunar Nodes are at their strongest along the 0-1 degrees along the Leo/Aquarius.
The Leo/Aquarius axis is ruled by the Sun, Saturn, and Uranus, and is often associated with congestive heart failure, and accidents. Many of the notable deaths have been reported as involving those who suffered heart attacks.
The lunar Nodes (these are actually points where the Moon's orbit intersects with the orbit of the Sun) travel at a variable rate of speed but they slowed down to a crawl in June, making an effective station (standstill) at the zero point on the Leo/Aquarius axis. The Nodes will remain at the zero point into the middle of August, coinciding with the strongest linkage of Jupiter, Chiron and Uranus.
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