Shadows of the Past

Sometimes the past insistently makes itself known in the present, staring intently into our eyes and souls, silently gazing, waiting for a mute response. A light touch of the long gone and forgotten. Beyond the threshold of eternal reality, appearing before our eyes every moment of existence. A reminder, seemingly an integral part of the past. Of a life gone by.

Nothing disappears without a trace. Whether it is an episode of life, a fleeting thought or feeling, or something larger that changes our lives at some point, disappearing after a moment of eternity. Only memory and shards of memories can tell the story. Like the moonlight in which we see the ghosts of the past. Shadows of the past.

Life is like a two-way road. Leaving the past behind, the future is always moving towards it. Sometimes it's a barely recognisable shape. Sometimes familiar faces. Sometimes long-forgotten.

When we encounter questions of death in astrology, they are most often related to the future - whether someone will die, and if so, when. This is always a touchstone of our skill, which fortunately has never yet cracked. However, not all questions of this nature bear the imprint of the future. Sometimes it's questions about the past. The unknown past connected to someone else's life.

In the last month we twice had to face questions in which the querent was interested in whether this or that person is alive or not. The question is about hindsight - the past, which can be reflected in the question chart just as much as the future. And this makes our art not just predictive, but something much more profound, able not only to illuminate the present or the future, but also to clarify the past.

Is my teacher alive?

The first question about the past was received by us in November 2024. Querent, who graduated from university more than ten years ago, began to wonder about the fate of some of her fellow students and favourite teachers. She managed to contact many of them, however, no one knew anything about the fate of one of the teachers, who left the university some time after the querent graduated. For the querent, she had played an important role in her student years, and her fate was something she cared about. At the time we received the question, according to the querent's words, her teacher must have been over 70 years old. Of course, anything could have happened in ten years. She wanted to know if she was alive and if so when she would be able to contact her.

10.11.2024 08:18 (GMT +2), RIGA, LATVIA

We always have to take the context into account. And we must be able to relate astrological symbolism to reality. We're talking, in this case, about the houses of the horoscope. It is no accident that William Lilly points out that the first thing an astrologer must master is the meaning of the houses of the horoscope. If we misunderstand them, we will be prone to make many errors in our judgement. Fortunately, this question does not conceal some subtext due to which our judgement should consider the chart in some other perspective. The querent is interested in the fate of her teacher, and this is the 9th house, which in this question chart is ruled by the Moon. The fact that the cusp of the 9th house is in the last degree of the sign means exactly nothing. Even if it were in the last minute of the sign, we would still use its ruler and not the ruler of the next sign - a distorted idea of modernity that some astrologers, usually often mistaken and fond of using florid phrases for their ‘sophisticated’ judgements, try to bring into their consideration in general words that say nothing specific. The only case when we can use this or that ruler of the next sign - in questions about something ‘next’, in the affairs of the house, unless the latter is not shown in some other way, as well as in some medical issues, when we have to relate a particular part of the body, with this or that ruler of the house. And even then, not always. Unfortunately, what we observe at amateurs of techniques represents a rigid closed system which does not consider context, as well as symbolism and correlations. Astrology is not maths, as some of our colleagues like to claim. They are too ignorant of the essence of astrology, preferring to focus on form rather than purpose. An attempt to unify everything, reducing it to a strict system that knows no exceptions, is akin to Hitler's attempt to create a single race, leaving the whole world aside. Failure is always inevitable, because it is an attempt to go against the diversity of manifestations of life itself. After all, astrology is a reflection of life - a living predictive art - not a dry mathematics of formulas. If it were otherwise, the formula of life would have been found long ago, and questions about the future would have fallen away for needlessness.

But let us return to the consideration. So, the querent's teacher is represented in the chart by the Moon. And we have a question, which can be simultaneously connected both with the present and the future and the past. If the teacher is alive, then we turn to the future in the chart and will take a look whether there'll be a meeting between the querent and the teacher. If not, then by default the latter is not necessary. Therefore, we must start with the past, trying to see if the teacher has had recent contact with death in the question chart or not. If there has been contact, then the answer is obvious - she is not alive. Thus, we must pay close attention to the teacher's planet, as well as what has recently happened to it.

The Moon is in the 2nd degree of Pisces, having recently changed sign. This may suggest a change, in the context of the question. But what kind of change?

In the context of considering such questions, in accordance with standard techniques, we would be interested in an aspect with the ruler of the house of death, radical or turned, or an aspect with a malefic planet - by essence or by reception - but the Moon has had no such aspects since changing sign. Does this mean that she is necessarily alive? Absolutely not.

We must not only understand why exactly the Moon changed her sign, but also what being in another sign means. After all, in concert with her humoral nature, we would conclude that all is well - the cold and moist Moon has changed the hot and moist sign of Aquarius to the cold and moist sign of Pisces. It has entered her natural water element sign. But of course this means nothing. What is more important is that she has come under the rulership of Jupiter. What is Jupiter in the chart?

Jupiter rules the 5th radical house in the question chart. However, for the quesited, it is the 8th turned house of death. The last thing the Moon did before changing sign was aspect Venus, which rules the 6th house of disease. The conclusion is obvious if we consider not only astrological factors but also common sense, namely age.

We have surmised that the querent's teacher was most likely ill lately, which was the reason for her passing away. When exactly? Given that the Moon is in the second degree of Pisces - more accurately, at 1 degree and 20 minutes of Pisces - we can assume that she passed away a year and a half or two years ago. Why exactly two? Not so much because we can't always be very precise about timing - although this is often the case - but because the Moon is in a mutable sign, which tend to delay the events. Therefore, about two years ago. That was our answer.

The querent called us two weeks later, telling us what she had managed to find out about the fate of her favourite teacher. She had been living alone in retirement for the last few years and was seriously ill. She passed away in early 2022, more than two and a half years ago.

As you can see, despite the fact that we saw quite accurately that the teacher of the querent is not alive, as well as the reason for her passing away, the term in this case could not be precisely determined. And this is quite natural in this kind of question, where the context has to do not so much with the timing of events as with life and death in general. It is quite possible that if the querent had known that her teacher was dead and decided to ask us a question about when exactly she was gone, we would have seen the exact time frame, because the question chart would have been different, reflecting the answer in the best possible way. This is important to understand in our predictive art. Context is the driving force behind the question, as is consideration.

«And now you're just a stranger's dream.

I took your picture from the frame

And now you're nothing like you seem

Your shadow fell like last night's rain

For the last time...»

«Shadow», Chromatics.

Is the ex-husband's mum alive?

We received the second death question just a few days ago, given that this article was written on 11 December 2024. The querent was divorced from her ex-husband, with whom she had a child. According to her, the relationship between them was quite difficult, especially for the last year, as her ex-husband tried to constantly blackmail and threaten her because of the child who lived with her. They did not communicate with each other for several months and then he reappeared in her life with the news that he was offered to adopt the children of his sister, who had abandoned them several years ago by going abroad, cutting all ties with her relatives and leaving the children in the care of their mother. The querent, being our close acquaintance, asked us whether her ex-husband's mother was alive, as usually the guardianship authorities look for the nearest relatives only when children are taken away from their parents or caregivers for some reason or in case of death of the latter. As in the previous example, the querent asked to consider when exactly her ex-husband's mother might have passed away, if she is not alive, as the ex-husband himself did not say a word about the reason why he was offered to adopt the children.

09.12.2024 18:04 (GMT +2), RIGA, LATVIA

The question is asked about another person, who is represented by the ruler of the 10th turned house from the radical 7th - the mother of the ex-husband. She is not the mother of the querent, in a symbolic sense, which could also be the case in some matters and with certain attitudes. Just as children from another relationship can become related to someone, even though they are not blood relatives.

The ex-husband's mother is represented in the chart by Mercury, which is in Sagittarius, in the 10th degree. The fact that Mercury is retrograde is irrelevant when evaluating its condition. Retrogrades in general do not indicate anything good or bad, only in the proper context and when considering the dynamics of the chart in question.

As in the last chart, we are interested in the last thing that happened to Mercury. And yes, retrograde plays a role here, in the sense that it allows us to see an aspect that Mercury might not otherwise have if it were direct. A separated square to Saturn, the natural ruler of death and more importantly the ruler of the 8th radical house of death in this chart. Death as a part of life that the quesited comes in contact with. In simple words, ex-husband's mom is dead.

Is there anything else in the question chart that supports our judgement? Yes. Mercury has not only made an aspect with Saturn, but is itself in conjunction with the death star, Antares. But that's more of a confirmation than the only evidence. And that's the final point. She is definitely dead.

When exactly could this event have occurred? Given that Mercury made an exact aspect to Saturn just over 3 degrees ago and it is in a mutable sign, we can assume that the event occurred 3-4 units of time ago. And it could be days or weeks, but definitely not months, which is known from the words of the querent. For a couple of months ago ex-husband's mother was alive, though she had not been in contact with querent for the last few years. It's hard to say more definitively than that.

A day later, after asking a question and receiving an answer, the querent told us that she had managed to find out through the acquaintances of her ex-husband's relatives about the fate of his mother. She had indeed died in the second half of November. Unfortunately, she was not able to find out the exact date, but she promised to let us know as soon as she had some accurate information about it.

As you can see, as in the previous example, it is not so much the date that is highlighted here either, but the answer itself - whether she is alive or not. Because that is the essence of the question being asked. And the chart of question reflects the answer in the best possible way.

We should always remember that with the help of horary astrology we can see a lot of things and very accurately. Including the timing of events, if that is what the question is asked about. But... we won't see everything about any given person. Horary astrology has its limitations, which also need to be well understood when working in this predictive field. After all, this is not modern astro-psychology, where you can say anything and to anyone, without taking responsibility for this or that answer, without putting your reputation on the line, but talking rubbish about the past, childhood and relatives. In our case, particularly in matters like this, we are either accurate or wrong. And if we are wrong, we are the ones who are wrong. That's the reality. And it's not to everyone's liking.

CHROMATICS - SHADOW

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