Transits for Serious Illness

My mother-in-law is almost 84 and is in an advanced stage of Alzheimer's. Lately she has been experiencing a variety of health problems. This evening she was rushed to the hospital with a possible intestinal blockage. I wanted to see how this would play out, so I took a look at my ephemeris and noticed that transiting Pluto will go retrograde on next Tuesday, April 14, exactly square her natal Uranus at the same time transiting Uranus will conjunct its natal position within 5 minutes of perfection, applying to the first hit of the Uranus return. There were a few other things happening so I cast a transit chart for noon of that day. I'm not able to post charts, but here is a transit listing:

Natally, Sun rules the MC, Venus rules the Asc and the 12th House, Mars rules the Desc and the 6th House, and Saturn rules the IC; the Placidus chart has a Cancer-Capricorn intercept, 9th and 3rd Houses
Natal Sun is in its fall in Libra, natal Mars is in its fall in Cancer
Moon and Mars(r) will conjunct natal Sun in the 12th (possibly a timing factor)
Sun will conjunct natal North Node in Aries in the 6th and oppose natal Ascendant
Sun will square natal Mars and Pluto, intercepted in Cancer in the 9th
Uranus will conjunct natal Uranus in Aries in the 6th (Uranus return)
Pluto in Capricorn in the 3rd will square natal Uranus
Neptune in Pisces in the 5th opposes natal Neptune and is separating
Mercury in Aries will conjunct natal Uranus in the 6th
Jupiter in Cancer in the 9th will square natal Uranus
Saturn(r) in Scorpio in the 2nd will trine natal Jupiter-Pluto-Mars conjunction in the 9th
Neptune in Pisces in the 5th will sextile natal Saturn in the 3rd

The majority of these aspects will be partile, and those that aren't are within less than 2 degrees of exactness. The Moon-Mars conjunction, the Uranus return, the Sun conjunction and opposition, the Pluto square and the Neptune sextile will all be partile. The slower-moving planets have obviously been in range for some time, but everything seems to be coming close to exact on the same day. Because the Uranus return is involved and very close to perfection, this may be one chart where the outer planets have something to say. This looks like a high-risk time to me. What do you think?

It's easier for me if you can post her natal details, so I can add in other factors. Especially as some natal positions seem to be missing. If you don't want to make them public then pm me.

The Uranus return applies to a fair amount of elderly people born around the same time and the Pluto square will therefore apply to all of them too. The 'good' thing is that Uranus is in the sixth....using Placidus. However I don't like interceptions and never have. I could never explain it, till I started on Hellenistic Astrology and found that there's a strong view (for example by Schmidt and Hand) that the use of quadrant houses for topical issues is based on a medieval error.

I'm assuming her Ascendant is late Libra....if so on Whole sign houses things are a little different. That would put Uranus in her Seventh and Jupiter would rule her sixth. I still won't dismiss Uranus/Pluto because I don't know what other aspects and transits are involved

Minderwiz said:

It's easier for me if you can post her natal details, so I can add in other factors. Especially as some natal positions seem to be missing. If you don't want to make them public then pm me.

The Uranus return applies to a fair amount of elderly people born around the same time and the Pluto square will therefore apply to all of them too. The 'good' thing is that Uranus is in the sixth....using Placidus. However I don't like interceptions and never have. I could never explain it, till I started on Hellenistic Astrology and found that there's a strong view (for example by Schmidt and Hand) that the use of quadrant houses for topical issues is based on a medieval error.

I'm assuming her Ascendant is late Libra....if so on Whole sign houses things are a little different. That would put Uranus in her Seventh and Jupiter would rule her sixth. I still won't dismiss Uranus/Pluto because I don't know what other aspects and transits are involved

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I took another look at it this morning. Venus rules the 12th and the 8th, and there are no important aspects to Venus. Saturn rules the 4th, and the only transiting aspect to it is the Neptune sextile. I noticed that 23 Libra (natal Ascendant and MSN) is the degree of Spica, which is viewed as strongly fortunate. Nothing is going on with the natal Moon except a quincunx from transiting Moon-Mars, not something I would pay a lot of attention to. I realize that a large number of people are experiencing the Uranus return with Pluto square, which is why I was looking at the Moon-Mars-Sun activity for possible timing. All things considered (or at least as much as I can see right now), it doesn't look like a recipe for calamity. I still think something important may be coming into focus, but it doesn't appear to be a "mortality" picture. Note, though, that every time she goes under anesthesia, her mental state (Alzheimer's) gets noticeably worse and stays that way.

I tried a horary chart and got a "stricture against judgment" (29 Pisces 52 rising). Supposedly there is an exception to this if the degree of a natal planet is exactly rising in the horary chart. Well, natal Mercury is almost exactly setting at 29 Virgo 03; not sure if there is an "exception to the exception," though. This chart is also in Placidus; Frawley recommends Regiomontanus but I haven't seen a huge difference when I've tied that previously.

Her natal information is October 10, 1930, 6:30 AM EST, at Fort Kent, ME. The Placidus chart I have was run in Halloran's software, and I haven't cross-checked it yet in any other software.

Thanks

Yes I get the same natal Ascendant. Delphic Oracle puts Spica at 22, 52 Libra but it would have been a degree further on when she was born, due to precession. Nevertheless it's a close Conjunction.

A quick look at her Zodiacal Releasing from Fortune (which is relevant to health issues) shows that she experienced a significant change around the end of last month (29th) On April 2nd she moved into a Virgo Level 3 sub period. Virgo rules the intestines It's also her 12th Whole Sign House and the twelfth has signification for things that oppress the Native. Transiting Mercury made an opposition to it's natal position in Virgo on 7th April. This Transit should be effective because Virgo is active and Mercury is active. One level further down (Level 4), Libra became active on 6th April. Libra is of course is her Ascendant and transiting Libra is Mars, applying to a conjunction with her Ascendant. I'm not surprised she was hospitalised and I'm guessing the key issue now is how to clear the blockage - at her age and condition surgery (Mars) would only be a last resort but I would imagine the pain is acute (Mars)

I've added her natal chart in WSH format and her Transits for the 7th April, Level 3 Virgo and Level 4 Libra

Minderwiz said:

Thanks

Yes I get the same natal Ascendant. Delphic Oracle puts Spica at 22, 52 Libra but it would have been a degree further on when she was born, due to precession. Nevertheless it's a close Conjunction.

A quick look at her Zodiacal Releasing from Fortune (which is relevant to health issues) shows that she experienced a significant change around the end of last month (29th) On April 2nd she moved into a Virgo Level 3 sub period. Virgo rules the intestines It's also her 12th Whole Sign House and the twelfth has signification for things that oppress the Native. Transiting Mercury made an opposition to it's natal position in Virgo on 7th April. This Transit should be effective because Virgo is active and Mercury is active. One level further down (Level 4), Libra became active on 6th April. Libra is of course is her Ascendant and transiting Libra is Mars, applying to a conjunction with her Ascendant. I'm not surprised she was hospitalised and I'm guessing the key issue now is how to clear the blockage - at her age and condition surgery (Mars) would only be a last resort but I would imagine the pain is acute (Mars)

I've added her natal chart in WSH format and her Transits for the 7th April, Level 3 Virgo and Level 4 Libra

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On a side note, I ran her natal chart in Whole Sign Houses. I had to go to Morinus to do this, since Halloran doesn't support it. Interestingly, I got a 19 Libra Ascendant (square natal Jupiter) and the MC moves to 24 Cancer. That puts Mars in the MC. On February 26, she fell down the stairs at her managed care facility and broke her wrist and her leg. At the time, transiting 1st-House Mars at 27 Libra was separating from a square to the MC, transiting 2nd-House Saturn at 23 Scorpio was applying to a trine to the MC (which was probably why the breaks were not as severe as they might have been) and transiting 4th-House Venus at 23 Capricorn was applying to an opposition to the MC (and to Mars). Rex Bills gives "bodily falls" to Saturn and Capricorn. This looks like some corroboration for the Whole Sign chart, at least as Morinus calculates it.

Barleywine said:

On a side note, I ran her natal chart in Whole Sign Houses. I had to go to Morinus to do this, since Halloran doesn't support it. Interestingly, I got a 19 Libra Ascendant (square natal Jupiter) and the MC moves to 24 Cancer. That puts Mars in the MC.

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I tried Morinus and I got the same 23+ Libra Ascendant and Leo 0 degrees 5 Minutes MC as with Delphic Oracle, so I'm guessing you must have made an small error on data entry.

Barleywine said:

On February 26, she fell down the stairs at her managed care facility and broke her wrist and her leg. At the time, transiting 1st-House Mars at 27 Libra was separating from a square to the MC, transiting 2nd-House Saturn at 23 Scorpio was applying to a trine to the MC (which was probably why the breaks were not as severe as they might have been) and transiting 4th-House Venus at 23 Capricorn was applying to an opposition to the MC (and to Mars). Rex Bills gives "bodily falls" to Saturn and Capricorn. This looks like some corroboration for the Whole Sign chart, at least as Morinus calculates it.

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The whole of the period since September 2001 has been a Mercury Virgo period - a twelfth house period. That sets the background 'ambient music' so to speak. Since just after her birthday last year she moved into a Gemini Level 2 period, (double Mercury) throughout. This will continue till into June 2015. The fall occured in a Scorpio Level 4 period - right at the end looking at it. The 2nd April switched her into the Virgo Level 3 period.

Alzheimer's has the effect of debilitating the mind, and of course Mercury is the planet of the rational mind. Natally Mercury is in its domicile and exaltation but it's in the twelfth house and it's in the 29th degree - a cadent house, not configured to the Ascendant and a bad degree.

Can I take a stab in the Hellenistic dark and guess that her Alzheimer's can be dated back to around age 68 to 69?

Minderwiz said:

Can I take a stab in the Hellenistic dark and guess that her Alzheimer's can be dated back to around age 68 to 69?

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Alzheimer's can be insidiously slow to develop in some people until later stages. Although it wasn't medically diagnosed until around five years ago, it's been obvious for the last ten years that she's become increasingly "challenged." But we don't live near her so haven't been routinely exposed to its progress. One of her other daughters has been talking about odd behavior for longer than that. Her husband has been in denial, saying that she's just "ditsy." So the answer is "Yes, highly likely."

By the way, I have no frame of reference for the cycles you're talking about. Is it from Culpepper's medical stuff? I know it's not Cornell, but I'm not familiar with any other specific health-related material.

Minderwiz said:

I tried Morinus and I got the same 23+ Libra Ascendant and Leo 0 degrees 5 Minutes MC as with Delphic Oracle, so I'm guessing you must have made an small error on data entry.

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You are correct. Chalk it up to my unfamiliarity with Morinus. I used LMT since using the "Zone" option gave a wildly different chart. But then I realized I forgot to change the "+/-" adjustment factor to "-"; doing so gave me the right angles. That hasn't tripped me up since the days of hand-calculating charts

Barleywine said:

By the way, I have no frame of reference for the cycles you're talking about. Is it from Culpepper's medical stuff? I know it's not Cornell, but I'm not familiar with any other specific health-related material.

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I used two techniques, both Hellenistic. Zodiacal Releasing from Fortune and Triplicity Lords of the Sect Light. Both techniques make use of the Lesser Years of the Planets. The Triplicity Lords technique also makes use of the ascensional times of the signs.

In your Mother-in-Law's case, The Lot of Fortune lies in Taurus and so is ruled by Venus. Venus takes the first 8 years of her life and then gives was to Mercury (Gemini) Mercury rules the next 20, the gives way to the Moon (Cancer) which rules the next 25, before giving way to the Sun who rules the next 19 before giving way to Mercury (Virgo) who will rule the next 20. Each of these Level 1 periods can be subdivided into shorter periods,. For example the First Taurus period can be subdivided into months, starting with a Taurus period of 8 months before giving way to a Gemini period of 20 months, etc. These in turn can be subdivided into even smaller periods. The maths are quite complex as the year in question is the Egyptian year in terms of twelve 30 day months ignoring extra-calendrical days. Luckily Delphic Oracle has the calculations built in and can translate them into modern time periods. There's also a freebie called Aphesis which does a lot of what DO can do, as it's written by the same guy.

Read about it here:

http://www.astrology-x-files.com/x-files/zodiacal-aphesis.html

Dowload here:

http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Zodiacal-Releasing-Download-42242.html

The program can deal with ZR from any lot, all you need to know is what sign it's in. The most used though were from Fortune and Spirit. Fortune is a significator of what befalls you for good or bad. It's therefore one of the significators of health and or lack of it.

I've used the technique several times and I'm impressed with the number of hits. If you're familiar with Dashas in Jyotish then this is a similar kind of technique. There were a lot more than this in terms of Time Lord techniques used by the Hellenistic Astrologers.

Our only source for this particular technique is Valends but with the Triplicity or Trigon Lords it was a common technique, also using the planetary periods (most of which are related to one or more Synodic conjunctions with the Sun, using the Egyptian year of exactly 365 days. The interesting and indeed hairy thing is that it was often combined with Ascensional Times of the signs, of the Trigon Lords. So here I took Saturn (the first Trigon Lord and ruling the first part of her life) added the Period for Jupiter to get 30+12=42 and then I added the Ascensional time of Capricorn, where Saturn is placed. The ascensional arc is just over 27 degrees, which converts to 27 years giving me a total of just over 69 years - Hairy or what!! I've not really tried this very much and I'm sure that this technique can lead to cheating. Valens will even divide his totals to make things fit.

Minderwiz said:

Our only source for this particular technique is Valends but with the Triplicity or Trigon Lords it was a common technique, also using the planetary periods (most of which are related to one or more Synodic conjunctions with the Sun, using the Egyptian year of exactly 365 days. The interesting and indeed hairy thing is that it was often combined with Ascensional Times of the signs, of the Trigon Lords.

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I just downloaded a free translation of Vettius Valens' Anthologies in three books (a total of 172 pdf pages). It appears to be everything that is available of his astrological writing. Is that what you're using?