Alan Arkin

[Jim Eshelman]

March 26, 1934, 4:17 AM EST, New York, NY (AA)

The great Pisces-Cancer actor Alan Arkin died yesterday (June 29, 2023) at his home in Carlsbad, CA. Earlier today, I wrote the following about him on Facebook:

RIP Alan Arkin. Besides his remarkable, brilliantly crafted acting, his 1979 book Halfway Through the Door: An Actor's Journey Toward the Self was probably THE most important book on meditation and its unraveling inner journey that I've ever read - it put ALL the rest into perspective. (And I've read, and in some cases retranslated from the original language, some pretty big deal things.) I probably should read more of his later memoirs, but this one book anchored him forever as an important contributor to my life.

Let me say that differently: I knew Ram Dass a bit back in the day, saw him many times, hung around him a couple of times, loved receiving teaching from him - and reading Arkin's book had more immediate and enduring impact than all that.

I wish I'd seen him on stage. As it is, we still have Catch-22, Little Miss Sunshine, Glengarry Glen Ross, Argo, The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming, The Kominsky Method, dozens more that deserve to be listed with them, and over a hundred all together.

Bon voyage, sailor.

[Jim Eshelman]

I don't know if he had specific health concerns beyond the erosion of aging. His broadest transit was Neptune sesqui-square his Moon (so he felt today's station). But the main transit was Sturn (recently past his third Saturn return) exactly conjunct his EP-a. If he'd lived a few more days, Mars would have crossed his Descendant and opposed his exactly rising Saturn, so this was still in wide opposition.

Progressed Venus was square his natal Saturn-Ascendant conjunction. We may find that the terminal health issue was connected to this aspect. (Solar arc Saturn was 18' from square natal Venus, doubling the occurrence.)

His final SSR was pleasant with two Venus conjoined on Descendant square his Moon on Zenith (t Ve - r Mo 0°02').

His SLR a week ago is also pleasant with Moon at MC conjunct Venus, both of them (mundane) square (paran) an exactly setting Jupiter. One gets the idea this was as pleasant a death as death can be.

[SteveS]

RIP sir.