The Astrology of Death & Our Fear of Death and Dying

As an astrologer, I am sometimes asked about the appropriateness of discussing/predicting death using a horoscope. The interesting thing is that most people who challenge me on this point are not astrologers themselves, and in fact disbelieve in astrology entirely. I suspect that the reason for this profound discomfort with death stems from such people's physicalist and reductionist outlook.

The fear of death is not confined to the topic of astrology, of course. Socrates himself addressed this problem when he said: "To fear death is no other than to think oneself wise when one is not; to think one knows what one does not know." Later, Socrates reproaches his companions for fearing death, as such fear betrays their lack of faith in the eternal nature of the soul. As astrologers, we must of necessity believe in an eternal organizing principle of the universe, of which the soul is but a fragment. Therefore we must not fear death, or be afraid of speaking of it. This is the most profound implication of the astrology of death: memento mori, or the continual remembrance of death.

We live in a time when most people, including many of those who style themselves pious, deeply believe that we are nothing but flesh and blood. If there is no soul to speak of, there can only be the ego. This is why the physicalists fear death so much: the ego, being their only nonmaterial attribute, will be extinguished at death. Then, nothing of them shall remain. The annihilation of the self is the deepest fear of the ego.

As a result, the reductionist mindset encourages the care and feeding of the ego at the expense of the soul. The ego is deeply invested in things remaining as they are, betraying the fear of change as the root cause behind such fear of death. "Timid people are absolutely unfit for the spiritual life," said Swami Sivananda, and yet this is what our world is rapidly becoming. Our distrust of the spiritual comes from our cowardice, an unwillingness to encounter the universe on its own terms, which is the cardinal rule of continual change.

Astrology and Death

The discussion of death is therefore a key component of astrology. From a practical standpoint, no natal horoscope should be cast before finding out the length of the person's life. After all, there's no point in predicting anything, if the person will die tomorrow. This does not mean that we need to tell a person exactly when they will die, if they haven't asked us. But it does mean that we should bring the awareness of death into our own spiritual practice, into our astrology practice, and even into public discourse (as I try to do).

The most important of these spheres is the first: the awareness of death in our spiritual practice. This awareness is very simple, though in practice, it is difficult to maintain at all times. As to the actual method, Sister Consolata said: "As regards the community, I try to consider myself as already dead. In this way everything becomes indifferent to me and I remain in peace."

All traditional societies have this deep reverence and acceptance of death. The Lakota spiritual and military leader, Tasunka Witko, known to the West as Crazy Horse, led his men into battle with the words: "Today is a good day to die.” At once a reminder of our tenuous hold on life and an exhortation to "die hourly," we would do well to remember these words always.

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