I was hoping that some of you might offer your insights on this horary which I am finding rather difficult to interpret.

I found out recently from my mother that my uncle had died. When I asked how, I discovered that nobody knows the answer to this question, as he died alone, so I was inspired to cast a horary in order to see if I can explore in it the chart. His funeral is tomorrow and the manner of his death cannot be known for sure until the coroner has produced a report. This horary was set for the exact time at which I discovered that he was dead and wondered exactly how this had come to pass as nobody knew. It is something that can be confirmed in the near future, so I want to test myself on this.

I suppose there is a margin of likelihood in how he may have died, as he was an alcoholic of many years, so perhaps he died of a heart attack or his liver was wasted, then again he may have tripped and fallen, or even perhaps committed suicide. As yet, no one knows.

What I know about him from my mother is that he was very depressed having not so long since split from his wife, was living alone and by all accounts looked absolutely terrible, but then alcoholics usually do, so no one suspected he was terminally ill, if indeed he was and his death was not in fact accidental or deliberate.

Please don't laugh at my feeble attempt at interpreting this horary!

Here is the data:

25th October, 2006
22:01 (-1)
3-W-2 / 53-N-45

In this chart Cancer rises at 18.31, consequently Saturn rules the DC, so I am warned of potential difficulties in ascertaining judgement.

There is no need for me to be interpreted into this chart as querent, I only seek to find the significator of the uncle and the significator of his death, and see how they are interacting in order to try and determine with some degree of confidence the manner of his death before it is confirmed.

As my mother's sister's husband, he takes the sixth cusp, which is ruled by Sagittarius making him Jupiter at Scorpio 23.34 in the radix fifth. Jupiter in a water sign may show excessive drinking, especially in the fifth of indulgence. The fixed nature of the sign, and Jupiter in his turned twelfth of addiction, is a fitting description of his alcoholism, also of his isolation as Jupiter is peregrine and so lost, but trapped in the midst of his circumstances.

Significator of his death is the Moon, as ruler of the ascendant, his turned eighth. The Moon waxes into it's first quarter at Sagittarius 13.37, just into the cusp of the radix sixth which is his first house. The Moon at the sixth suggests illness rather than accident, as the young Moon waxes into his turned first, suggesting the physical development of some recently spreading disease.

There is a mixed reception between Jupiter and the Moon, he and death, he is in death's fall, and death in his domain and triplicity. In that death has a strong interest in him, might show how his demise was inevitable, and yet in the Moon's fall, he had contempt for death, he was aware of it's approach and perhaps feared it. I am suspecting that he was aware that his death was encroaching, but had kept quite about it. So it seems that death was not sudden. For it to have been so, such as an accident, I would expect no receptions and an applying harsh aspect from death to him, for suicide, strong reception and an application from him to death.

Further indication that he was aware of his encroaching death comes from the fact that Jupiter is just two minutes separated from a square with Saturn in Leo, an uncongenial and detrimental combination, suggesting again that he was recently aware that he was to die, although it would have come as a heavy blow, as squares are hard and the square is fixed, bringing inevitable doom. Saturn is the ruler of the radix eighth of death and of fear, and also rules his turned fourth, so knew he was approaching the end.

I feel that his death would have been rather unpleasant, because Regulus, associated with a violent demise, is conjoined with the Part of Fortune, or in this case Misfortune. The star is affiliated with Jupiter, him, and with Mars, his despositor. So he would not have passed away in sleep but rather have suffered.

As for the cause of his death, then as the Moon is in strong dignities of Jupiter, which he himself is signified by, so I reckon that death's interest is in his liver, which would make sense as an alcoholic.

This might seem a statement of the obvious, but he may have died accidentally, suicidally or by some other disease or organ failure, and indeed, I may be wrong anyway.

There is one aspect of this chart which I feel that need to factor in but I cannot work out what it may be and it bugs me. Mercury has just separated from Jupiter, and in just having passed over him should also give some information as the the manner of his death, but I cannot work out what this might represent. Mercury is the ruler of the radix twelfth, but I can't seem to factor it in in a way that makes any sense, and I don't feel the reading is complete without doing this because it stands out so much.

I wonder what insights anyone else can offer on this chart, particularly concerning Mercury.

Sorry to have depressed you with such a grim horary, but I wanted to know if others feel that I have interpreted this in the most significant manner, or are there things that I have misinterpreted or overlooked?

Hi Draco,

For starters, I would take the ASC ruler to be your uncle as someone about whom you have a personal concern. As you say, you don't have to be represented in the chart at all. In which case the Moon signifies your uncle in the 6th house of illness which suggests right off the bat that he died of an illness and not suicide. However, he did cause his own ill health, as shown by the ASC ruler in 6th house.

I would look at the 8th house to discern manner of death. Saturn is L.8 in 3rd (perhaps showing his mental depression) and tightly square Jupiter, L.6 peregrine in 5th house of dissipation from excesses (Jupiter) of self-indulgence (5th). Jupiter also rules the liver which is so often a factor in the death of alchoholics. Neptune, widely associated with addiction, is also in the 8th.

On another note, the Moon is separating from a square to Uranus, which suggests that his death may have come as a surprise to him, or even that it was precipitated by an accident of some kind.

As far as Mercury is concerned, it is L.12 so maybe signifies details you'll never know about his death. Mercury is also L.4. Did he die at home?

My sympathies for your loss. Please do let us know what the coroner has to say.

Tara