Testing Demi-Solars

[Jim Eshelman]

I lost my confidence in Demi-Solar Returns years ago. I can't find, though, that I ever did or published a serious study of them. So, since today is my Demi-SSR (a minor-looking chart of no particular consequence regardless), I thought I'd take my 50 favorite Violence & Accident cases and see how many fell under the Demi-SSR and whether it has any clear showing. (Accident and violence cases are the best to study since they're notoriously good at showing in valid, workable chart techniques.)

I won't know how many fell in the last half of the personal year until I finish... so here we go.

[Jim Eshelman]

I'll use flexibility in picking which factors to list, but generally it will be Class 1 angularity where present and Class 1 Moon aspects.

{-2} Pres. William McKinley (shot & killed). t Jupiter on IC 0°29' (violence factors were less angular).

{0} Whitney Houston (death). t Jupiter exactly on EP sq. s Moon 19'; but t Saturn stationary and sq. MC 1°34'. Natal Venus-Neptune on angles All quite mixed and uneven, leaning slightly more positive; I'll call it a draw.

{+1} Pres. Warren G. Harding (death). Uranus 3° from MC, Pluto 6° from rising, r Jupiter; but a mundane Moon-Mars conjunction. Since this likely occurred while he was still in Washington, I relocated it, but it got worse with a Sun-Jupiter opposition sq. Asc even though Neptune rose. Because of the location-specific mundane Moon-Mars opposition, I'll give it slightly positive.

{-2} Virgil Grisson (death in Apollo 1 fire).t Moon-Mercury paran on angles, t Jupiter on WP.

{-1} Rep. Sonny Bono (death in ski accident). Nothing but a widish natal Venus on MC.

{0} Roger Chaffee (Apollo 1 fire, death). s Moon rising. Neutral at best.

{+2} Sen. Robert Kennedy (murdered). t Venus op. r Saturn on EP axis. t Mars 2°47' from Asc, Sun-Neptune 4-5° off horizon. Our first good one.

{+1} Richie Valens (died in plane crash). t Saturn co. r Moon 1°16' but not very angular - about 6° off IC. Mercury also widely foreground. The symbolism is right though the orbs are frustratingly large; I'll give it a point.

{-1} Prince (death). Both Venuses closely angular, s Moon foreground. Natal Pluto 1°10' from Nadir. The Pluto is fitting, the others aren't.

{0} Murdered police office (murdered). Mix of planets, with nothing quite coming through. There's an acutely background Moon-Neptune mundane op., but I won't let that carry the event by itself.

{-2} Michael Jackson (death). t Jupiter sq. MC 45' + t Mercury.

{-2} Marie Antoinette (executed). t Jupiter on IC 0°21'. Natal Mercury-Uranus next most angular. t Moon sq. r Jupiter 3°+. This is terrible!

{+2} Margaret Edens (killed by train). t Saturn 3°09' from Dsc. A few other moderate angularities. t Moon op. r Pluto 1°08' helps sharpen it. It's probably a +1 due to Saturn's orb, I'll give it benefit of the doubt at +2.

{+1} John Denver (died in plane crash). t Jupiter 3°08' from IC, Moon-Pluto op. 2°57', r Pluto 7°+ from MC. It's really Jupiter's chart for the location; OTOH, Moon conjoins NATAL Mars-Uranus within a few minutes so, despite the Jupiter, I have to give it a positive score.

{+1} Jimi Hendrix (death). t Venus setting (t Mars wider). MC sq. r Pluto 0°21' gets it a point.

{+2} Janis Joplin (death). t Pluto on Dsc 0°43'. A few other things that disagree, including a mundane Moon-Venus op. and a moderately foreground Jupiter, but that Pluto nails it. Either +1 or +2, I'll give it benefit of the doubt.

{0} Pres. James A. Garfield (shot & later died). I'm not going to count Mars 7° from Dsc, even if it's the only foreground planet. Nothing else. Dud.

{0} Jack Parsons (died from explosion). Again, I'm not going to count Mars (this time) 6° from MC even if it's the only foreground transiting planet. Natal planets include Uranus and Neptune - conceivably fitting (especially Uranus, especially if you think he was the one who had the accident). I just don't like this chart. (Since I've "benefit of the doubt" upscored several others, I'm going to take the opportunity to downscore this one to "nothing happening here.")

{+3} Harvey Milk (murdered). t Pluto on MC 0°19'. Moon-Saturn co. 2°47'. Natal Mars 3°24'. Quite exceptional.

{0} Elvis Presley (died). Moon-Uranus op. with nothing angular.

{+2} Cass Eliot (death). s Moon Asc 2°28, sq. r Mars 0°09'.

[Jim Eshelman]

+3: 1
+2: 4
+1: 4
0: 6
-1: 2
-2: 4

There were some really good ones. There were also some really bad ones. Of 21 cases, only 5 were at least +2 and less than half made the "barely adequate" +1 cut-off (even when I rounded up in several cases to give benefit of the doubt, compensating for my negative bias as the start). I don't think this is a good showing.

However, solar returns aren't usually expected to show as well as lunars, so how did the full SSR show for exactly the same events? (If the Demi is valid, you would think it would have a better showing since events occurred in the second half of the year.) I'll do the SSRs for the same events and see.

[Jim Eshelman]

{+2} Pres. William McKinley (shot & killed). t Pluto MC 1°58', t Uranus IC 2°45' (op.). Moon-Neptune co. 0°34' but op. r Venus 0°57'.

{+2} Whitney Houston (death). Sun-Venus on IC (2-4°). Moon-Pluto co. 0°48', just over 3° op. Mars. Natal Saturn 2° off MC. This is great, at least +2!

{+1} Pres. Warren G. Harding (death). Moon-Sun op. with Moon < 3° op. r Saturn. Nothing super-close to angles (r Jupiter widely foreground). The Moon-Saturn is worth a point.

{0} Virgil Grisson (death in Apollo 1 fire). Moon-Jupiter sq. 2°29'. Natal Pluto on Dsc fits the event, though, so I'd call it a draw.

{+1} Rep. Sonny Bono (death in ski accident). t Mercury, Jupiter, and Uranus closely angular but also natal Mars-Uranus. The accident combo has to take the cake. The positive Jupiter-Uranus is mundane square his Mars, and this was during athletic events. It's all close - too positive in some clear ways, but with exactly the one aspect, so I'll give it a point. (Even a 0 would have been better than the Demi.)

{+2} Roger Chaffee (Apollo 1 fire, death). t Saturn 0°34', t Uranus 1°37', t Mars and Pluto moderately foreground with Saturn-Pluto op. 0°42'. Saturn-Pluto is atop natal Venus-Neptune. It would be a +3 but for t Jupiter stationary and widely on WP-a.

{0} Sen. Robert Kennedy (murdered). Natal Sun exactly rising (and it was the location that had just handed him a critical primary win). Natal Saturn + t Jupiter & Neptune more widely angular (mentioned because Neptune was on his Saturn). Moon to natal Jupiter-Pluto. With all this happening, I don't know if it's a fit - the primary win shows best. (Irt probably set up in Washington where Mars was exactly angular.)

{+2} Richie Valens (died in plane crash). t Pluto 2°46' from Asc, Sun on Zenith, Moon op. r Neptune.

{+2} Prince (death). t Venus exactly rising. t Pluto sq. MC 1°16'. Moon-Saturn sq. 3° (as part of Moon-Mercury-Saturn). r Neptune on Nadir.

{+1} Murdered police office (murdered). t Mars Asc 2°21' (sq. Uranus 0°04'). t Jupiter 1°28' from Zenith.

{+2} Michael Jackson (death). Asc sq. r Neptune (1°13'), r Mars on IC, other minor things.

{+1} Marie Antoinette (executed). The only thing super close is natal Neptune near MC (tied into natal Sun, t Mercury, t Jupiter). Sufficient for the feeling of going to the guillotine, maybe alleviated just a bit too much (though Jupiter to Neptune can also be the show biz aspect of it all). Several planets in the mix. - On balance, two Neptunes most foreground, t Saturn-Neptune op., seems to outweigh the rest.

{-1} Margaret Edens (killed by train). t Venus Asc 2°28', t Uranus wider, r Uranus exactly Dsc. The r Uranus is good (and I know the transits to this SSR were great) but, on its face, this is tipped by Venus to be too positive.

{+2} John Denver (died in plane crash). t Pluto 0°55' from Asc mundane co. r Venus rising &c. s Moon sq. r Saturn 0°17'. (Two details keep it from making +3.)

{+1} Jimi Hendrix (death). Benefics and Pluto were closest (Jupiter on WP-a, Venus 0°26' from Dsc) with Pluto 1°10' from Dsc opposite Saturn rising. Saturn and Pluto also aspected natal Mars (1°42' below Dsc), so that's the cincher. The Venus-Jupiter pertained to surrounding activities but I'll degrade a point.

{+3} Janis Joplin (death). 0°16' Moon-Mars-Pluto square exactly on Dsc and natal Mars. All very tight.

{+3} Pres. James A. Garfield (shot & later died). t Saturn sq. MC 0°39', Mars-Neptune op. across horizon, natal Neptune precisely MC (sq. t Saturn 0°20'), r Mars setting. It's loaded!

{-2} Jack Parsons (died from explosion). s Moon rising is closest, natal Jupiter-Uranus ties in, other planets are more widely foreground. With rising Moon square natal Jupiter 18', I have to decide against it.

{0} Harvey Milk (murdered). Full Moon across horizon (on natal Neptune and Mercury). I'm not impressed. It is very minimally suggestive and I'm inclined to round that down.

{+2} Elvis Presley (died). t Mars IC 0°11' + Mercury-Pluto. The Pluto is on r Mars 0°45'. Moon-Jupiter keeps it from being perfect, but the various Mars-Pluto aspects are exactly right for the "strain" conditions that killed him.

{+2} Cass Eliot (death). Moon-Saturn-Pluto all within 0°22' in widish foreground, plus angular Mercury.

{0} Buddy Holly (death in plane crash).

[Venus_Daily]

I would say they're operative for huge events. Otherwise, they're useless, and may just reflect an emotional state that is incongruent with what's going on around you.

[Jim Eshelman]

+3: 2
+2: 9
+1: 5
0: 4
-1: 1
-2: 1

The full SSRs did much better. There were more really excellent ones and only one that was bad. Of 22 cases, half (11) were at least +2 and nearly three-fourths made the +1 cut-off.

The Demi-Solar performances really were bad. The small percentage that were good were likely random coincidence.

[Jim Eshelman]

I would say they're operative for huge events. Otherwise, they're useless, and may just reflect an emotional state that is incongruent with what's going on around you.

Hi, Venus - good to see you.

As you may have noticed, I used only huge events - mostly the person's death.

[Venus_Daily]

Thanks Jim,
I guess I'm soo used to looking at them regularly that I forget not everyone else does.
Good to see you too.

I must say though, the two Demi SSRs that hit the hardest for me were in 2007, which featured a total lunar eclipse closely aspecting Uranus. And again in 2012 with an exact Pluto Moon opposition. It may be that the luminaries are some very important factors in activation.