Solunars by Aldebaran Sidereal Academy

A good friend lost her grandfather this week. I spent a few hours compiling all of the factors and came to some interesting conclusions, and I received her permission to post his info here. He lived to 102 and died (presumably peacefully) in his sleep just after recovering from a fever.

I’m filing this under Solar Arcs since I think that those are definitely the primary indicators here, and the biggest surprise for me is one of the Solar Arcs, but I’m including transit and Solunar info here for completeness. (There are a huge number of miscellaneous transits and progs going on; most seem very run of the mill.)

Charles Bonanno
Born May 26 1921 2:30am in Timblin, PA
Died Nov 26 2023 1:28pm in Santa Maria, CA

2023 SSR
r. Venus on Asc -3°53'
r. Sedna on Asc -4°04'
t. Venus on Nadir 1°31'
t. Jupiter on Asc -6°34'
r. Pluto on IC +8°17'

Moon sqr Sun 2°08'
Moon opp Saturn 3°04' (but partile mundanely)
Moon sqr Sedna 4°01'

t. Saturn sqr Sun 0°55'

In general, this looks like it’s more pleasant than unpleasant, although there are definitely harsh indicators for health here with the Sun-Moon-Saturn T-square. I’m including Sedna here because she shows up elsewhere as well. Moon is somewhat background (6°13').

Heavy transits and progressions
I believe the handful of Pluto transits, plus this big pileup of directions, shows the event quite well (in this order of importance, I believe):
d. Saturn oct r. Neptune 0°05'
local d. Asc sqr s.p. Jupiter 0°02’ - This is quite a good fit for “relief and also attention.”
d. Moon oct r. Saturn 0°19'
t. Pluto sqr r. Venus 0°25' - "Leaving loved ones behind"
t. Pluto oct s.p. Sun 0°41'
local d. Asc sqr s.p. Saturn 0°26 - Not super close, but still relevant.
s.p. Moon oct r. Saturn 0°33'

To me, this looks like “it was just his time to go,” like his death arose naturally out of the unfolding of his natal (which I think is true even on a surface investigation anyway).

At the time of his death, transiting Neptune was also partile conjunct local Ascendant, which is interesting.

There are a few minor factors that are worth mentioning as well:

t. Venus oct r. Sun 0°06', and t. Venus sqr r. Venus 0°14' - Shortly before his death, he had a phone call with loved ones, and was actively being spoken about when news of his death arrived.
- t. Sun sqr s. Moon 0°34' - "Important contact."
- s.q. Sun sqr s. Saturn 0°27' - Showing the Sun-Saturn square in his SSR tightening over the course of the year rather than loosening.
- t. Uranus cnj s. Uranus 0°34'

And now for the very interesting TNO stuff that I don’t understand:
- d. MC cnj r. Sedna 0°00' - the fact that this is exact is kind of shocking to me, and is probably half of the reason I'm posting this.
- t. Saturn oct r. Sedna 0°16'
- s.p. Neptune oct r. Eris 0°06' - One of the closest of a huge number of secondary progressed aspects to natal. Eris is pretty absent from transits at play at the time of his death, so I note this.
- s.q. Moon oct s Eris 0°14' - This as well.

I also looked at tertiary progressions, which have never impressed me before. Most of them aren’t thrilling, but these two catch my attention:
- t.p. Pluto square r. Asc 0°00'
- t.p. MC square r. Pluto 0°30'

Active Solunars
I don’t think these are as impressive as the Solar Arcs, but on balance they’re good. A very interesting thing to note is just how much Venus shows up in these: I think he was feeling a lot of emotions leading up to his death.

Anlunar Nov 6 2023: Saturn-Mercury, Neptune, Mars, with some other bits. Pretty accurate. Seems like "communicating about feeling bad" and illness descending in general.

KLR Nov 11 2023: transiting Sun-Mars-Uranus, with Moon and then other weaker factors: explosive, arduous, intensely straining. Good fit, especially for fever (IMO).

SLR Nov 17 2023: Sedna, with Moon-Pluto and Eris-Venus. Once again, feeling things very deeply; serious events touched him profoundly.

Demi-Anlunar Nov 20 2023: transiting Saturn exactly on Ascendant, closely tied up with solar Mars, Mercury, and Moon, along with transiting Jupiter-Uranus. I don’t care for Anlunars, but Saturn (plus some Mars) is extremely accurate. It looks like acute health hardship and strain on the nervous system, felt extremely acutely - and yet with that mundane Jupiter-Uranus conjunction seeming like relief breaking through, via change.

NSR Nov 18 2023: transiting Jupiter square natal Neptune in the foreground, plus solar Moon and natal Venus (along with solar Moon-Pluto). This chart mostly seems like relief, along with (once again) feeling things very strongly.

Demi-KLR Nov 24 2023: A mundane natal Saturn-Pluto square, with other stuff. Seems very mortality-centric, and this fits very well if you consider it in the context of the transit-heavy, acutely explosive KLR.

NLR Nov 26 2023 10:36am: natal Neptune, transiting Pluto, natal Venus, natal Moon... mostly the stuff we've been seeing already cast as a day-chart. It's a reasonable fit, and once again points at having tremendous feelings.

Somehow I missed this when you posted it, Mike. The Venus doesn't surprise me at all: It seems a natural flow of "What am I going to do with this fine day?" He'd long said he wanted to die i his own bed with his belly full, and that's precisely what he did (having breakfast, sitting outside a bit, then going in to take a nap from which he never woke). - His daughter, who had cared for him, died six months or so ago IIRC, so there may also have been a sense of reunion.

The SSR is indeed pleasant, with transiting Venus and Jupiter plus natal Venus most angular. However, the single closest important factor is Moon opposite Saturn (partile in mundo), both square his Sun. (Moon also aspected his Jupiter and Uranus.)

1°21' H2 - Sun - 10°51' Tau
5°23' H12 - Saturn - 11°47' Aqu
6°07' H6 - Moon - 8°43' Leo

The SLR is primarily Pluto conjunct his Moon on Descendant and, even more closely, square his Venus. near MC.

local d. Asc sqr s.p. Jupiter 0°02’

Does this mean Solar Arc Ascendant square secondary progressed Jupiter? I'm confused. Progressed Jupiter was 2°01' Virgo, local Solar Arc Asc 24°33' Aries (birthplace Solar Arc Asc 25°04' Gemini). What am I misunderstanding?

Local directed Asc does have one interesting "altered reality" picture if we credit transits to Solar Arcs (on which I'm still agnostic):

24°33' Ari - d L Asc
25°49' Lib - d Neptune
25°27' Ari - t Uranus

Besides the striking Pluto and Saturn directions you mentioned, there are the intriguing d Jupiter-Uranus square r Saturn and d Mars sq r Mercury.

The exact Mars-Saturn square in space had just contacted his MC for the given birth time (which would be sharper if he were born slightly after the half-hour).

I didn't realize we had full birth data for him. On seeing it (thank you very much) I wanted to see how it compared to the recent small productive longevity study I did (that's part of the Health and Illness chapter of CSA Vol 1). The study was of celebrities who continued to be productive and working past 80 and past 90. Your example had full faculties and was mental active and physically able to the end.

The overarching conclusion of the study is that Saturn and Mars further survival and endurance. Mars is not strong by angularity or luminary aspect, but Saturn is moderately foreground. (I'm used to seeing it closely foreground.) More interestingly to me, Moon is in Capricorn.

Despite Sun's connection to vitality, in the study Sun was foreground least often of all the planets. This man has a non-foreground sound.

The biggest discrepancy from the study is that I found Sun in Taurus least often, and he has Sun in Taurus in the 90+ group. Of course Sun in Taurus likely does not block longevity; at most, it doesn't contribute to it. The Bradley study showed Earth sign Suns peaking for longevity, but he didn't break them out by sign (and I saw Capricorn and Virgo excesses).

For aspects, the second most common were Mercury-Mars, which I opined likely showed an active mind (which he had). He has only a wide Mercury-Mars, one I wouldn't likely ever count on. He has the often long-lived Mars-Neptune, but it's a sextile and those were not seeming to have a strong voice in longevity.

One really clear match between his chart and the productive long-lived celebrities is that near absence of Neptune. It's background, away from the luminaries, with no Pisces influence. It does have an exact Mercury square. The absence of core Neptune elements likely aligns with not getting foggy and not having prolonged dependence or convalescence, which certainly fits him. (Neptune seems antagonistic to productive longevity, and his is weak.)

There's a set of least-common aspects for productive longevity. He has none of them.

So, overall, the fit to the study isn't strong. The most important matches are that he had a non-foreground Sun (but a strong Moon-Sun square that does add high vitality) and he had an absence of Neptune presence. The biggest mismatch is that his Taurus Sun was the least common Sun sign in the study.

Looking outside the study, I have to wonder what effect his closely angular Pluto had in staring down death so long. In general (if I didn't have the small study for comparison), I'd say the chart shows endurance, with foreground Pluto and Saturn, Taurus-Capricorn luminaries, and a neartly partile Moon-Sun square. There is also much softness.

As for the granddaughter, we have an opportunity to look at one of the few remaining mysteries of location and return charts. She lives in the same state but several hours away. Was the impact on her where she lived or, as sometimes seems, stronger for the location of the event affecting her?

Indications for her residence (where she was when she got the news) are quite strong. In her SLR:

t Mercury on Z -1°22'
r Mars on IC -1°13'
-----------------------------
t Saturn on Asc + 1°01'

t Saturn sq r Mars 2°14'

The Demi-SLR, queued up for a day later, was similarly clear:

t Sun on MC -8°04'
t Mars on MC -2°30'
r Venus on Dsc -1°24'
--------------------------
t Saturn on EP +0°04'
t Pluto on Asc +6°43'
r Saturn on Dsc +8°04'

t Mars sq r Venus 1°06' M
t Pluto op r Saturn 1°21' M
t Mars-Saturn sq 1°25'
t Sun-Mars co 2°52'

Recalculating for Santa Maria - she wasn't there, but the event was there - we lose that kind of precision. In the SLR, Saturn and natal Mars remain the closest (Saturn wider at 2°39' above Asc, natal Mars closer at 0°20' past IC_ - still quite strong, just not with the 100% smack of her residence. The Demi-SLR, though, was comparably strong - not the 0°04' orb of Saturn for residence, but so close that one barely knows the difference. Taking only Class 1 angularities,

t Mars on MC -0°53'
r Venus on Dsc -0°23
--------------------------
t Saturn on EP +0°53'

Mars' mundane square to natal Venus is only 0°30'.

Jim Eshelman wrote: Tue Dec 05, 2023 6:53 am

local d. Asc sqr s.p. Jupiter 0°02’

Does this mean Solar Arc Ascendant square secondary progressed Jupiter? I'm confused. Progressed Jupiter was 2°01' Virgo, local Solar Arc Asc 24°33' Aries (birthplace Solar Arc Asc 25°04' Gemini). What am I misunderstanding?

This square shows up for me when I set up secondary progressions like this:
1. Relocate the natal to Santa Maria, CA
2. Set "Angle Progressions" to SA in Longitude
3. Calculate secondary progressions for Nov 26, 2023 1:28pm (so the planets are secondary progressed but the angles are solar arcs)

That gives me Ascendant at 1*58' Gemini and s.p. Jupiter at 2*00' Virgo.

In your next post, you mention not seeing the full birth data at first, so maybe we calculated this with differing birth times? (Or maybe my setup is nonsensical?)

As... semantics (and a bit confusing).

This isn't the solar arc Ascendant (which is as far ahead of natal Ascendant as progressed Sun is ahead of natal Sun. For example, your Solar Arc Ascendant as I type this is 20°48' Virgo.

What you described is technically the primary Ascendant calculated by the SA in Long rate" (though astrologers not mindful of quotidians often think of this as the secondary progressed Ascendant). Yes, that can contact secondary progressed planets. Yours as I type this is 15°48' Virgo.

I see; what setting should I use for the proper Solar Arc angles in that case? (And should I use that setting for all Solar Arcs? I had thought that SA in Longitude was the intended setting for all of this stuff)

Mike wrote: Tue Dec 19, 2023 4:55 pm I see; what setting should I use for the proper Solar Arc angles in that case? (And should I use that setting for all Solar Arcs? I had thought that SA in Longitude was the intended setting for all of this stuff)

Just select Solar Arc Directions as the predictive method instead of Secondary Progressions.

Ohhhhhhhh, duh. Thank you