Death, Mercury in Darkness, and playing with spheres

I said I wouldn’t just share Quora answers here anymore, but I’d show some of them from time to time.

Here’s one I’d like to talk about:

“Can anyone astrologically predict the death year of a sick person?

Yes. And some would even predict it right. But that’s a very complicated question — not technically: in your life. Do you really want to know that?”

This is something we — weird creeps that look at night skies or computer screens and say random things about people we don’t know — tend to forget: we’re dealing with people.

And, as annoying as people tend to be, they are paying our bills, so we should care about them. A little.

At least, enough to wonder what would be the result of having a decent guess on their date of death. Many years ago, when people were more accustomed (and exposed) to the Grim Reaper, this information could help organizing one’s life; put some projects before others, splitting things among the heirs, etc.

Now? I can easily see people freaking out, obsessing about it, killing themselves, killing others… I’m not saying no astrologer should ever predict something like that; but I’m saying it should never be done lightly.

Not to mention this is not an easy prediction. I implied it’s not “very complicated technically” in my answer, but I was thinking about horary, and I was exaggerating. It can become a bit complicated.

And in natal astrology, it’s too much work. Forget about that beautifully simple and elegant technique of Anareta and Alchocoden. It doesn’t work. You have to check progressions, directions, profections, returns, whatever you like to check when advancing the natal chart, year after year. Even thinking of it made me tired.

It’s a real shame for the medical profession in Poland, in Russia, and in the entire world that Joseph Conrad does not have a timed birth chart.

The Heart of Darkness is so full of symbolism (most of which, according to what I’ve read of his life and inclinations, totally unintentional) it’s impossible not to wonder where these things would fit in Conrad’s horoscope.

Aside the abundance of alchemical descriptions of waters, rivers, and nature in general, the book presents a textbook definition of a mercurial character (the Russian), who appears shortly before Marlow meets the twisted Sun of the narrative, Mr. Kurtz.

“I looked at him, lost in astonishment. There he was before me, in motley, as though he had absconded from a troupe of mimes, enthusiastic, fabulous. His very existence was improbable, inexplicable, and altogether bewildering. He was an insoluble problem. It was inconceivable how he had existed, how he had succeeded in getting so far, how he had managed to remain — and why he did not instantly disappear.”

He has other mercurial traits: his most prized possession is a book, he double-crossed Kurtz’s plan while being loyal to him, he is always around Kurtz, but sometimes he has to make himself invisible to him…

Conrad had Mercury at the limit of combustion. Close to the Heart of the chart.

He also has Mars very closely conjunct Neptune by Antiscion — but this is not surprising.

It’s also a pity that there is no birthchart for Mr. Koji Kitao, the Sumo fighter. Only Yokozuna to be promoted without actually having one a championship, the only one to have fought in the UFC, not long after having been expelled from the Sumo world (again, he was the only one to have been fired like he did); did some professional wrestling, some coaching, even acted in a Jean-Claude Van Damme film, and died at 55 due to diabetes complications.

Shame on you too, Japan.

I said once, when this Newsletter was published in Substack, that I intended to start teaching a course on Basic Celestial Mechanics.

The idea is still tempting me.

Would you be interested in something like that?

I’d explain about the traditional view of the Cosmos — the concentric spheres, how many are they, how they were thought to move; the circles (the Ecliptic, the celestial Equator, the Horizon, the Meridian) and their relations; the houses and the signs.

Nothing technical or trigonometric, of course.

Please let me know whether it sounds nice.

That’s it. Thank you for reading, and see you soon.

PS. Here’s another Quora answer that I am still proud of.

“What is the percentage of astrology’s truthfulness?

87.38%. (I know this answer will probably be deleted, but I couldn’t help it).”