Early this month Prince Philip Mountbatten died, Queen Elisabeth’s husband, it was very sad to see the Queen alone in church with that horrible face-mask. Prince Philip was 99 years old and had had some health problems this year, so as the Court Astrologer you would take a look at what the charts are saying this year. There are two versions of Prince Philip’s natal chart, one is based on data from an official document so we will use that one (10 June 1921, Mon Repos, 19e56/39n26, in Greece, Asc 18.36 Leo, natal chart not shown here).
According to the tradition, a man gets a number of years at birth and when these have been used up he dies, unless it pleases God to give the person more time for some reason. This means that most often it is possible to see death in the chart, if this is a clear possibility with a view to the context many tense positions could point to death. In the case of prince Philip the context certainly gave us reason to think of the end and the solar return clearly confirm this (click on the link below to see the chart).
Our attention is immediately drawn by the descendant, where the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter and Pluto are found. In itself this would be a sign that a special event can be expected, and it will not be good for him, after all cusp 7 opposes the Ascendant. On top of that, the Descendant is the place where the Sun, the source of the life energy, sets and in the context this is relevant of course. The Moon is Lord 1 in the return chart, so the person this year and it is in the sun-set place on Altair, the Eagle taking Ganymede up to Mount Olympus to the banquet of the gods. Saturn conjuncting the Moon is not only the General Significator of death but also Lord 8 of death in the return chart. Moreover, Jupiter is Lord 8 in the natal chart, it is placed on fate star Terebellum and it conjuncts Pluto, the Lord of the Underworld. In fact, it could hardly be more clearly indicated.
The Janus Head
Other traditional techniques confirm these indications, the lunar mansion in the solar return is Al Baldah, the City also called the Janus Head (two faces looking in opposite directions), pointing to a border between two worlds, endings is one of the key-words in this mansion. The antiscion of the Part of the Sun, the essence of the solar vital energy, conjuncts the Ascendant in opposition with Jupiter, natal Lord 8 on Terebellum of death conjunct Pluto. The Part of Death – Saturn + Cusp 8 – Moon – is found exactly on the MC. According to Johannes Angelus the picture connected to the return Ascendant degree is a hanged man.
All these traditional techniques have been and are being recovered and they show – provided that they are used on the basis of a clear understanding – how rich and precise traditional astrology was. It also illustrates how astrology can once more become the sacred science it was, by tracing how our every breath depends on the divine source through the medium of the signs and the planets.