Marco nacional vigente

The great thing with this question is that the event is certain, so we know that there must be a timing in the chart somewhere. This means we can set aside many of the usual rules. We can ignore prohibitions: they can be taken to show events along the way. We can push our significators as far as we need through sign after sign. There are only two barriers that we cannot allow our significators to pass:

* conjunction with the Sun

*

Conjunction with the Sun is a pass-not. At station a planet's speed slows to nothing. As, when timing, we must adjust the time if the planet is significantly faster or slower than usual, a planet at zero speed would give us infinite time. This might please the querent, but is unlikely to prove accurate.

Well-behaved charts have an applying aspect between LordsI and 8. As ever, it does not matter which applies to which. Any aspect can kill: there is no differ- ence between trines and oppositions. Any planet can kill: even if Lord 8 is a strongly dignified benefic, the person will still die. I would be most reluctant to judge death from an antiscion. Death cannot have the sense of the covert or hidden that anriscia carry: even if the death is unknown to others, it is clear enough to the person who dies.

LordI on the 8th cusp is not a testimony in this question: it shows only that the querenr is thinking about death. Similarly with Lord 8 applying to conjunct the Ascendant: it shows the idea of death weighing down on the querent, but it does not show Death himself paying a call. But these can be taken as testimony of death, and as such give us the timing, in questions where death within a short period of time is regarded as certain ('I've been told I have only weeks to live; when will the end come?'). But while in such circumstances Lord I entering the 8th can show death, LordI already in the 8th does nor: the querent is not already dead.

In those charts where there is no applying aspect between Lords I and 8 (remember: the aspect must perfect) we must find another significator for one or

the other. As there can be only two reasons for the lack of aspect - as above - find a replacement significator for whichever planet is either conjuncting the Sun or passing through station. This is the significator that is being uncooperative, so change this one and keep the other. So if Lord1turns retrograde before aspecting Lord 8, keep Lord 8 as significator of death and find an alternative for Lord1.

If the Moon, as is usual, is cosignificator of the querent, it can be used instead. If that too is ruled out, the Sun is a good alternative, in its role as Lord of Life. If it is Lord 8 that is ruled out, use either Saturn, as natural ruler of death, or the dispositor of the Part of Death.

There are several versions of the Part of Death. I use Asc +8th cusp - Moon and 8th cusp +Saturn - Moon. Neither reverses by night. Don't get carried away with these Parts, though! They are useful in emergencies, when the planets are not cooperating and we know there must be a death. In any question where death is not certain, do not take the Parts as providing it: if death is not shown by the planets, the person is most unlikely to die.

If you are turning the chart, because the querent is asking about someone else's death, you must consider the ruler of both the radical and the turned 8th house. You will usually find that one or other of them is in play; sometimes both.

When you have found the aspect showing death, time it in the usual way, bearing in mind the querent's age. This is a time when the astrologer crosses his fingers and hopes for the best result: predicting early death is not pleasant. If, however, you are not prepared to do it, you should not be judging such questlons.

Will I

Odd though some horaries are, I have yet to be asked 'Will I die?' as a general, long-term question. I deal here with death from a particular illness or a particular situation ('Is it safe for me to go back to my country?'). I will treat this as if the querent is asking about himself and refer to Lord1; if the querent is asking about somebody else, use the ruler of the appropriate house instead. Remember that the Moon does not become cosignificator of the person the querent is asking about. An applying aspect between Lords1and 8 is the prime testimony of death. Time it in the usual way. A separating aspect must be judged according to the situation. Death has presumably not already happened, or the question should not be asked, so it is usually a positive testimony: the person has come into contact with death; he is still alive; he will survive. Unless there is other killing

SIXTH AND EIGHTH HOUSE QUESTIONS I85

testimony coming up. If, however, the person is in a coma this separating aspect usually means that death, in any meaningful sense of the word, has already occurred: see the chart below for an example.

Keep your eyes open for translations or collections of light.

Remember that if the querent is asking about someone else, you must consider the Lords of both the radical and the turned 8th houses: either can kill.

Entering combustion or being combust and still applying to the Sun is testi- mony of death. Being combust and separating from the Sun is testimony that the worst has passed. With the usual rider of 'all things being equal' this can be taken as testimony of survival.

If the situation is serious enough, any major deterioration in the condition of the main significator can be taken as fatal. In one chart, the person asked about was in a coma, his significator the Moon in Cancer. All might seem fine: lots of essential dignity and a cold/ moist planet in a cold/moist sign. But the testi- monies must be judged within the context of the question. The Moon was in the 30th degree of Cancer, on the point of leaving the sign, on which it would enter hot/dry Leo and lose all its dignity. The person's condition was about to deterio- rate dramatically. He was in a coma: how much worse could he get? This was testimony of death.

Most important: mutual reception between the significator of the person and the significator of death saves. As Lilly says, 'after desperation, there will be recov- ery' Yes, this works, even with a clear applying aspect between Lords I and 8 - although it works only with reception by major dignity. Be aware of what is happening in the chart, though: in the example in the last paragraph death was signified by Jupiter in Cancer. With the person's significator being the Moon in Cancer, there was powerful mutual reception between person and death. But with the person's significator changing sign and losing that mutual reception, death was certain.

"Surely if Death and person love each other (mutual reception) they will want to be together, so the person will die?" No. The idea here is that Death and the person are friends, so Death leaves the keys on the table and turns his back, letting the person escape from his clutches.

Death is an event of some significance: you will not find it shown by a minor testimony in some dark corner of the chart. If there is no clear testimony for death, the person will live.

A close aspect, especially conjunction, between Lord r and either Venus or Jupiter in major dignity is a positive sign - unless this helpful planet rules the 8th house or is significator of the illness.

The person's significator close to the 7th cusp is testimony of death. Although being angular is strengthening, by primary motion (the apparent movement of the planets around the Earth) a planet on the Descendant is setting, which is an obvious indication of dying. This is all the more true if this the Sun. The person's cusp or signif1cator falling on Antares, with its sense of the ending of cycles, is a bad sign.