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I was recently asked by a relative and friend who reads my blog whether a chart drawn up for the time of a person's death says something about the person, or the life they've lived.
My response was "No", and that as I see the natal chart, a death chart, or any astrological chart, they provide a kind of time-stamp which carries within it the qualities of a single moment, supposedly identifiable by the position of the planets at that moment - but there could well be other things involved. The moment of death might disclose a tight conjunction or aspect between a transiting planet and a planet in the natal chart of the deceased, but in the charts I've studied it seems not always to have been the case. Referring to an ephemeris (a book containing tables of planetary positions during a century (or more, or less) one could trace backwards and find likely periods when the path of life might well have changed for the native, but these would have no bearing on how the native actually responded during these periods.
I'm aware that my chosen view of astrology is a minimalist one. I believe that at some point in the future discoveries will be made which can validate the barest bones of astrological doctrine, but will leave much of the peripheral stuff and fine detail at best still in doubt, at worst completely discredited. That is my own feeling, driven by my personal astro-makeup though. I could be totally wrong about it all.
I wonder whether anyone passing through Learning Curve on the Ecliptic might have a theory on the matter of death charts which they'd be willing to share?
My response was "No", and that as I see the natal chart, a death chart, or any astrological chart, they provide a kind of time-stamp which carries within it the qualities of a single moment, supposedly identifiable by the position of the planets at that moment - but there could well be other things involved. The moment of death might disclose a tight conjunction or aspect between a transiting planet and a planet in the natal chart of the deceased, but in the charts I've studied it seems not always to have been the case. Referring to an ephemeris (a book containing tables of planetary positions during a century (or more, or less) one could trace backwards and find likely periods when the path of life might well have changed for the native, but these would have no bearing on how the native actually responded during these periods.
I'm aware that my chosen view of astrology is a minimalist one. I believe that at some point in the future discoveries will be made which can validate the barest bones of astrological doctrine, but will leave much of the peripheral stuff and fine detail at best still in doubt, at worst completely discredited. That is my own feeling, driven by my personal astro-makeup though. I could be totally wrong about it all.
I wonder whether anyone passing through Learning Curve on the Ecliptic might have a theory on the matter of death charts which they'd be willing to share?
