RIP Gene Hackman

[Jim Eshelman]

Lauded actor Gene Hackman, per his birth certificate, was born January 30, 1930, 7:45 AM PST, San Francisco, CA. With both luminaries rising in Capricorn, his aspect pattern and natal angularities burst with theatrical talent at every turn: Mercury conjunct Mars (opposite Pluto mundanely), Sun conjunct Venus, Jupiter square Neptune on angles - which becomes mundanely a foreground Moon-Jupiter-Neptune T-square.

Yesterday afternoon (2/26), Hackman, his wife (classical pianist Betsy Arakawa) and their dog were found dead together in their Santa Fe home. Police discovered them when responding about 1:45 PM to a third-party call requesting a wellness check. Cause of death is not yet known, though police reported there was no evidence of foul play. Lab work for such investigations usually takes four to six weeks.

[Jim Eshelman]

Hackman's secondary progressions have several strong, mixed indications. I suspect that at age 95 he was losing some cognitive function, simply based on solar arc Pluto aspecting his Mercury (and the fact that they had stopped making public outings about a year ago). Bringing this to the progressions, progressed Mercury conjoining first progressed and now natal Neptune gives a similar idea.

But these were not the only aspects. Progressed Mars squared natal Saturn over the last few years but has been past it for a year or more. Progressed Mars was closely (12') conjunct natal Uranus, which could mean all sorts of things: Because it's a progression, it isn't likely an environmental action such as an attack. It could be more accident prone, or an attack on health (or being more adventurous, though the couple had seemed to be doing the opposite). He also had progressed Venus conjunct natal Jupiter within 0°01' so he was likely at a peak of happiness. (One suspects the conditions of his death were much entwined with love.)

Then, within the last two weeks, he had an exact progressed Sun-Moon square, which usually means a significant turning point.


No major transits are obvious at first impression, except that transiting Mars' retrograde loop had been crossing and recrossing his Pluto. Mars had not made it back to the final conjunction, but this suggests negative health impact in someone of advanced age.

Where transits become most interesting is when we take them to his natal chart relocated to Santa Fe. For the nearby city of Santa Fe, his MC was 26°33' Scorpio: Transiting Saturn was about 1° from square it.

Since Hackman's birthday was about a month ago and the bodies were found less than a day after his SLR, I suspect it is in the solunars that we will find the most interesting correlations with this event.

[Jim Eshelman]

Hackman's January 30 SSR is not overly obvious for his passing (unless you take the focus on Descendant alone as a factor), but I'll cover it for completeness. Presuming he was in Santa Fe (since they appeared not to be getting out much in the last year or so):

t Pluto WP-a -2°21'
r Moon Dsc -6°16'
--------------------------
t Mercury WP +0°15'
r Sun Dsc +1°31'
r Venus Dsc +3°39'

t Moon-Uranus sq 0°19' M
t Moon op r Neptune 3°08'

r Sun-Venus co 1°42'
t Mercury-Pluto co 2°44'

Though not foreground, transiting Mars was exactly (0°56') conjunct his Pluto. (There were also a lot of highlighted Haumea foreground aspects, mentioned in case it becomes a theme somehow.)

This is a generally pleasant, interesting chart of not great drama except, perhaps, that Mercury-Pluto aspects typically mean no-nonsense confrontation of unavoidable facts.


Hackman's final SLR occurred February 26, 10:18 AM MST. (They were found only a few hours later, though we don't know for sure when they died.) FWIW, transiting Haumea was 0°07' from WP-a. Every foreground aspect involves either Haumea or Eris, including transiting Haumea square natal Haumea 0°42'. Though we don't know what this means any more than we know the circumstances of these deaths, it does seem that this trans-Pluto planet is thematically connected to the event quite strongly.

r Jupiter Asc -8°00'
r Sun MC -5°27'
r Venus MC -3°18'
-----------------------
t Uranus Asc +2°26'

r Sun-Venus co 1°42'
r Sun-Jupiter sq 2°33' M

The chart seems quite lovely. Definitely with surprises lurking... but altogether lovely. Among non-foreground partile aspects, transiting Sun also squared natal Jupiter (0°41') and we find an intriguing transiting Mercury-Saturn conjunction 0°01' in mundo, background.

I think we have to wait for forensic reports to know what went on here.

[alinda]

Evidently they died some time ago but I don’t think they are saying how long yet. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/ge ... r-AA1zVrpY

[Jim Eshelman]

Thanks. Based on this, they probably died one to two weeks ago (the bodies were already mummifying, which takes a week or two - perhaps less in the Santa Fe climate). Workers on the property noticed that they hadn't see the couple in about two weeks.

This rolls back to almost exactly when Hackman's progressed Sun-Moon were in exact square.

It also means: Ignore the SLR above. It's hard to see what might apply until we learn when they actually died.

[Venus_Daily]

Venus and Jupiter, and the inclusion of the dogs, it was most likely a planned suicide.

[Jim Eshelman]

They weren't in the same part of the house. He was collapsed where it looked like he fell.

It's all theory right now, of course. The most common theory right now is CO2 poisoning.

[Jim Eshelman]

Gene Hack man's pacemaker showed his last heartbeat on February 17. - More news will be forthcoming, of course.

[SteveS]

They left this world for the spirit world as a family unit-- at their age kinda a blessing.

[Jim Eshelman]

Returning to look at Hackman's chart for February 17...

This was indeed within about a day of his exact progressed Moon-Sun square. At noon on the 17th. progressed Moon was less than 2' past square to his 20°42' Aries progressed Sun. - This is along with the other progressions mentioned earlier: p Mars conjunct r Uranus (11'), p Mercury conjunct r Neptune (40'), and p Venus co r Jupiter (1').

Transits:
t Uranus oc r Saturn 0°01'
t Saturn sq L MC 0°17'
t Jupiter oc r Mars 0°44'
t Venus sq r Saturn 0°14'

The primary operative lunar return was his Demi-SLR from February 12. The one partile foreground aspect is a Sun-Uranus square (0°30'), which is quite fitting if this was a heart attack (and they average 0°02' from angles). The New Moon also signifies a pivotal, life-changing time. - If remarks by the medical examiner didn't suggest his pacemaker was continuing to operate, I'd interpret the Sun-Mercury-Uranus as some sort of electrical-mechanical event such as a failed pacemaker.

r Neptune -6°55'
t Uranus Dsc -3°58'
-------------------------
t Mercury IC +0°58'
t Sun IC +3°55'
r Moon IC +5°01' [t Moon Z -1°31']

t Sun-Uranus sq 0°30'
t Sun co r Moon 1°07' M p [t Moon-Sun co 1°48' M]
t Sun-Mercury co 1°11'
t Uranus sq r Moon 2°35'
t Mercury-Uranus 2°41'
t Uranus sq r Neptune 2°57' M

OTHER PARTILE ASPECTS
t Mars co r Pluto 0°48' [extreme background]