Playing Chicken
Zip Dobyns
Fran McEvoy has provided data for another striking chart, which again reached me thanks to Lois Rodden. According to his birth certificate, Kyle Wentworth was born in Methuen, MA on July 20, 1976 at 1:29 A.M. EDT. Kyle was reportedly a “devil-may-care” lover of fun who was sitting on the railroad tracks in North Andover, MA, drinking beer with six male friends just three days before his birthday in 1996. According to his friends, he suggested playing “chicken” as they listened to the noise of an oncoming train, seeing who could stay on the tracks the longest. The engineer tried to brake the train, and Kyle’s friends tried to pull him off the tracks, but it was too late. The police were called at 1:02 A.M. and Kyle’s dead body was delivered to the local hospital.
As our readers have heard repeatedly, the traditional idea that harmonious aspects are always “pleasant” in the life or conflict aspects always “painful,” shows a failure to understand the psychological principles of astrology. Contradictory desires are inherent in life, but we can handle them with compromise, by making a place in our life for all sides of our natures. Harmony aspects warn against the danger of excesses. Though some may be delightful, more may lead to trouble. Fire is the “fun” element: “I know what I want. I have the right and the power to do it. Here I go. Watch my smoke!” Since planets are the most important form of our different ways to symbolize the twelve primary desires, exact aspects between the fire planets, Mars, Sun, and Jupiter, are the strongest form of fire in a chart. When progressed aspects remain in a one-degree orb for years, it shows the basic foundations of one’s character (habits). Kyle had an exact sextile of P Jupiter to his Sun for years, adding to several factors in Leo, with other factors, including Mars, in the Leo house in a wide octile to the Sun. Jupiter was also in a wide conjunction with his Ascendant at birth, and in the twelfth house to repeat the danger of over-confidence. The Gauquelin research found Jupiter in the twelfth house significantly often in the charts of actors and politicians, which are not vocations chosen normally by shrinking violets.
Additional aspects in Kyle’s chart which pointed to the danger of questionable judgment include his T-squares in fixed signs in mutable houses. The configuration becomes a grand cross when we include the MC. The fixed signs show the potential for power struggles, which can be constructively handled in sports, games, business, etc. The mutable houses bring in the capacity to handle the world around us with the “natural” houses of Mercury, 3 and 6, versus our subconscious faith in the twelfth house. Chiron in the latter reinforced the message of Jupiter there, while the south lunar node warned of a lesson. The inclusion of both Saturn and the MC, which carries the same meaning as Saturn, adds to the warning, spelling out a conflict between the Chiron, Jupiter, twelfth house faith and the realistic limits which we have to handle to survive in a physical world. Since Saturn rules the ninth house of conscious faith, it is also included as part of the lesson, along with the twelfth house of our less conscious faith. Neptune in Sagittarius repeated the emphasis on faith, and its quincunx to the East Point (an auxiliary Ascendant) and square to Mars (another key to identity) repeated the confrontation between faith (as in over-confidence) and realism about limits. The mutable sides of life are the keys to our mental capacity to deal with the world around us versus our beliefs, values, goals, including our faith in a power greater than ourselves or our fellow humans. With too little faith in a protective Higher Power, we live anxious and/or depressed. With too much, and/or too much faith in our own power (letters one and five in our astrological alphabet), we can be rash and foolhardy.
It is tragic when a bright and capable person who could have contributed to society and had a good life is cut down through a moment of personal hubris. Of course, one of the asteroids I looked for was Hybris, a version of hubris. It was natally in 3 Scorpio with P Uranus in a lifetime conjunction to it, while P Hybris in 6 Scorpio had just ended a square to Saturn but remained square to the MC and Venus as well as conjunct the P north lunar node. The other asteroids associated with “overreach” were also prominent, with appropriate aspects. N Icarus in 5 Capricorn was quincunx Saturn and P Icarus retrograding in 25 Sagittarius was on the eighth house cusp (a key to endings along with the IC) in a quincunx to Jupiter. N Phaethon, who crashed like Icarus, was retrograding in 22 Gemini conjunct Pallas and Vesta. The latter two asteroids were square Juno, a Plutonian asteroid in 21 Virgo, and the P lunar nodes formed octile/trioctiles to them plus squares to the MC, Venus, and P Saturn. To hammer in the message, the P Ascendant was also in the configuration in 22 Gemini, and all four factors were conjunct the midpoint I have mentioned repeatedly as a potential key to a major life lesson—the midpoint of Saturn and the south lunar node!
In previous discussions of the murder trial of O.J. Simpson, I mentioned that he had a series of progressed angles going over his Saturn/south node midpoint. In other cases, I have seen the same pattern in the charts of people who murdered, or were murdered, or committed suicide. Obviously, most people will not be dealing with such extreme lessons, but these midpoints should be taken seriously when they are involved in conflict aspects. P Mars was square the natal midpoint and octile N Saturn—a confrontation between the self-will of Mars and the limits of personal power symbolized by Saturn. Also, N Mars was quincunx the MC, an equivalent to Saturn, so Kyle had the one-ten issue featured in another article in this issue, though, of course, all of the subjects manifested it in their own unique ways. P Saturn had maintained octiles to both the Saturn/node midpoints of course, since it remained square the progressed nodes. P Saturn had also opposed Kyle’s MC for most of his life. With oppositions, we need to work out a partnership, to do justice to both ends of the polarity. His chart was screaming the need to be realistic, grounded, practical, the requirement for continuing to function in a physical world.
We have still only begun to deal with the dramatic aspects in Kyle’s chart. If any reader still needs to be convinced of the value of secondary progressions, this chart should do the job. Kyle’s P Moon was on his MC, opposite P Saturn, quincunx Mars, square the N Moon and P nodes, and trioctile the stellium in 22 Gemini including Phaethon, Pallas, Vesta, Saturn/node midpoint, and P Ascendant. P Mercury was on N Mars, so it became part of the configuration. P Pluto had reached a one-degree trioctile to Jupiter in recent years, and P MC was square Jupiter as additional warnings about faith and the judgment which is based on our faith. The P Part of death in 27 Taurus was on N Hel and the midpoint of N and P Jupiter. In addition to its sextile to the Sun, P Jupiter was conjunct the death goddess, Hel, trioctile Karma in 13 Libra, and opposite P Themis, divine justice. P Hel was on the N Ascendant and square N Hela and P Venus in 1 Virgo. P Hela in 7 Virgo was on N Mars. Hel and Hela are different asteroids named for the same Norse goddess. With one death goddess on his Ascendant and another on Mars, did Kyle really want to die? Sometimes, individuals with strong fire express the desire to leave in the prime of life rather than risk becoming old and decrepit. The Roman goddess of Death, Libitina, was in 16 Aquarius, so Kyle’s P Sun opposed her as well as P Bellona, a war goddess. The Sun, Mars, and the Ascendant are the primary keys to the life force! P Libitina was retrograding in 11 Aquarius octile P Icarus. P Karma in 19 Libra was square the N Part of Death in 18 Capricorn. The P eighth house cusp in 12 Capricorn was trioctile N Hel and P Part of Death.
Many other asteroids could be mentioned. Adding to the fixed cross, P Atlantis (often associated with the abuse of power) was in 7 Leo on P Saturn opposite P Moon and square N Moon and the P nodes. P Psyche was also in orb in 8 Leo. I have often seen Psyche featured when people are so self-absorbed they are oblivious to others and ineffective in handling life or relationships. Kyle was popular and seemingly had everything going for him. His death seems senseless and absurd. Yet, with the patterns we have just listed, it can hardly be called an accident or meaningless. I fall back on my belief that the primary urge of life is to do more than we have done before, and that in attempting that, we risk overreaching, going too far, biting off more than we can chew. But, I believe that life continues, and there is always another chance to test our skills against the limits. Stevenson’s evidence suggests that individuals who die young tend to be the ones who come back sooner and initially retain some memories of the preceding life. So, enjoy your vacation, Kyle, and next time, try to make peace between your fire and your earth.