Death Chart for Angela Addeo

DEATH CHART FOR ANGELA ADDEO:  9/15/2023, 5:30 am, Somers, NY. I have the privilege of having the exact time for my mother’s passing. She had an aide/caretaker that was extremely attentive and loving. She was with my mother constantly towards the end and most importantly was present when she took her last breath.  I received a phone call from her at 5:40 am and knew instantly when her name appeared on my phone screen that the news was not good.  I answered immediately. She was crying and said, “Angela has passed.”  My first instinct was that of an astrologer and I asked, “what time did she die?”  She immediately answered, “she took her last gasp of air at exactly 5:30.”  I said, “are you sure?” and she responded, “yes, 5:30 because I was looking at the clock.”  It is an accurate time, and to an astrologer that is golden. You will see when looking at the chart how wonderfully descriptive it is in a mystical, almost eerie way.  

I talk about this not from the perspective of being able to predict the exact time of one’s death for anyone, but having a chart like this is descriptive of the event at that precise moment and place in time. It provides meaning, comfort, and explanation and with exactitude one gets deeper revelations and answers. This is the spiritual aspect of astrology. 

The most striking thing immediately evident when first looking at the chart is the exactitude of Mercury stationing direct on the Ascendant at 8.01 Virgo alongside the first house placement of the Virgo New Moon. The Sabian Symbol for this ascendant degree is, “A man making a futurist drawing.”  My mom is moving into the future and starting a new chapter. The Virgo stellium in the first house describes a health situation and is about the physical body and its purification. There is a ritualistic motif associated with the time of death.  A new moon is a new beginning.  Virgo is a sign of cleansing.  The Sun/Moon are the spirit and the soul, the luminaries, the eternal father/mother.  I can envision Mercury riding up in his chariot doing his job to whisk my mother away as he guides her soul into the renewal of the next life.  Virgo will continue to rise for two hours after her transition and there are many legal and medical protocols, procedures, and formalities to follow when registering a death.  

Mercury has a very profound function in astrology and mythology. To quote Liz Greene from The Mythic Tarot, “In death he wears the guise of psychopomp, guide of souls. Here he represents a powerful underworld deity and is an emissary of Pluto, lord of the underworld. He summons the dying gently and eloquently by laying his golden staff upon their eyes.”  I find this tremendously profound that my mother chose to take her last breath as Mercury was rising coming out of its retrograde providing the service (Virgo) of ushering her into the hereafter, whether we interpret that as heaven or a positive version of the underworld. I take the meaning of the underworld to be a burial, final rest or a place of mystery and profound arcane meaning.  He is taking his time with this person because the station draws things out in a slower, more careful, caring, and precise way. The Florence Nightingale and nursing symbolism is very strong. I am reminded of the Judgment card in the Mythic Tarot deck.  

In the planetary joys scheme Mercury rejoices in the first house and is at the helm. He is the rudder and guide of our ship and vessel here on earth.  He brings us to life with the first breath and guides us back home at the expiration of our last breath.  Mercury has its joy in the first because he can travel between two worlds and that is exactly what the Ascendant marker denotes.  There is a duality about the planet and its function.  The trickster also rules the MC and tenth houses which are associated with one’s destiny and reputation.  Her life has peaked as its placement in the first brings everything full circle. 

Chris Brennan states in his book, HELLENISTIC ASTROLOGY, page 340, “.....it is interesting in and of itself that the joys may be traced back to a text in the first century BCE (or slightly earlier) attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, for in the joys scheme we find Mercury or Hermes prominently located in the first place, acting as an intermediary between the upper and lower hemispheres of the chart, a bridge between the celestial and terrestrial realms which are united at the degree of the Ascendant.” 

Jupiter, the planet of long journeys, is in the ninth house of long-distance travel and death is the final, most long-distance trip we experience. Jupiter overcomes Venus placed in the twelfth house while she applies by square and receives him in her own sign. She also rules the ninth.   

The north node is in the eighth house of death and inheritance and the south node is in the second of worldly possessions, also known in ancient time as the gate of hades. The south node is about letting go of the body and all earthly possessions while the eighth represents meeting her destiny in the face of death, its final judgment (however one might interpret that) and being reborn into the next life.  The rulers of the nodes are Mars and Venus sextile each other and placed in the twelfth and second, houses that are in aversion to the ascendant and therefore suggesting have nothing more to do with the wants and desires of the physical body. 

The earth grand trine between the Virgo New Moon, Pluto and Uranus represents an easily facilitated last journey of the body from its earthly vessel (the Moon and Sun) by the sky god (Uranus) and the God of the underworld (Pluto).   

Saturn conjuncts the descendant on the sixth house side. According to Hermes Trismegistus (one of the founders of the Hellenistic tradition), the descendant or setting place and planets here can have an affinity with death because in the diurnal rotation of the houses the planets are moving downward towards the sixth house into the nether regions of the Earth.  Many associate this area with death because this is where all planets lose their light as they sink below the horizon and are not reborn again until they cross the ascendant.  Saturn in the sixth house is in the place of bad fortune having to do with injury, sickness, health, and suffering.  Saturn placed here in a death chart makes total sense due to the subject matter and the end of her pain and suffering.  The grim reaper is placed in the hemisphere associated with fortune and the body.  It opposes Mercury, the chart ruler, another indication of affliction to the first house ruler of the physical body.  It is the end of her journey here on earth and the beginning of a new journey elsewhere, hidden from our view.   

When placing the death chart over Angela’s birth chart we get some interesting synastry. My mom has Mars, south node, Neptune, and Jupiter in Virgo in the whole sign twelfth house. The death chart eerily echos those placements with transiting Mercury, Ascendant, Sun, and Moon in Virgo. Transiting Ascendant on her south node/Neptune is the release of the physical body and transiting Saturn on her north node in Pisces suggests a new spiritual structure awaiting. Neptune has been transiting her Mercury for almost two years and there has been a slow deterioration, sacrifice and surrender of her mind and body. It would have been a suitable time to seek spiritual counsel. This transit is concluding its final conjunctions. Jupiter transits her eighth house of death and overcomes all her twelfth house Virgo planets. Transiting Venus is exactly opposite natal Saturn. Transiting Mars opposes the Sun extinguishing her light. It is also approaching a conjunction to her 20-degree Libra ascendant which is the point of the upcoming solar eclipse of October 14, 2023. Transiting Chiron conjuncts her descendant represents the wonderful, angelic healer in the guise of her aide/nurse having entered her life the last few months to tenderly care for her.  

There were many friends that offered support and comfort but quite a few of my Jewish friends and colleagues stated repeatedly something that provided profound insight and tremendous peace. My mom died on the morning of Rosh Hoshana, a high holy day in the Jewish religion.  I was told that in the Jewish tradition when a person dies on a holy day it means they were a righteous person, an extraordinary person.  The 10 Days of Awe between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur (the day of Atonement) are when the Book of Life is opened.  Jews say at this holiday time, “may your name be inscribed in the Book of Life.”  It is a very auspicious day to leave. I was informed many luminous souls crossed over on the same day, one of them being Justice Ruth Ginsburg.  These words brought me great spiritual comfort that she is well taken care of.  One of the more awe-inspiring things that can be said is she passed on September 15, 2023, the morning of Rosh Hashanah and her Funeral (Mass of Chirstian Burial) took place on September 23, 2023, the day before Yom Kippur.   

 It does not get any more synchronistic than that.   
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