This Too Shall Pass

Can Astrology Save Lives?

The news that Chris Cornell had killed himself (in my hometown of Detroit) on May 18, 2017 came as a shock.¹ The news saddened me but – maybe because I’ve talked to so many people who have been going through bouts of deep despair – it didn’t feel totally surprising.

If Chris Cornell had known a little bit about his natal chart and about astrology in general, would he still be alive today?

As Christine C. points out in this week’s podcast, not only was Mars ‘out of bounds’ in Gemini at the time of Cornell’s death — his natal Mars was also out of bounds in Gemini.

Natal Mars out of bounds seems to be a signature for people who embody the drive for freedom. But ‘out of bounds’ also carries the ideas of “out of control” or “beyond the pale”. It’s a wild card energy.

So transiting Mars out of bounds from May 15 – June 30 would ramp up Mars’ aggression and anger throughout the entire collective consciousness. Judging from my own experiences and my conversations with other highly evolved humans, this period has been rather challenging for the empaths among us.

Mars in Gemini is naturally going to bring an increased potential for anxiety, because it stimulates the dualistic or egoic mind (Mars – high energy; Gemini – thoughts). Chris Cornell suffered from anxiety through much of his life and with Mars in the 12th House of his solar chart, those thoughts would have tended toward the self-destructive.

Chris Cornell: July 20, 1964, Seattle, WA. Noon chart (time unknown).

Chris Cornell: July 20, 1964, Seattle, WA. Noon chart (time unknown).

For someone as gifted as Cornell was — he was a prolific, thoughtful lyricist and possessed a nearly four octave vocal range — he seemed disarmingly genuine and down to earth. With his Sun at 28 Cancer he was undoubtedly an empath. In fact, he was often described by those who knew him as “kind” and a “gentle soul”.

As we can see when we superimpose the chart for his death onto his birth chart, Mars, Saturn, the Moon and Black Moon Lilith – would all have been potential triggers for high anxiety in the days leading up to his suicide. Transiting Neptune conjunct natal Chiron in Pisces was also activating a Grand Cross with the aforementioned planets in the month of May, prior to his death .

Chris Cornell + transits at time of death: May 18, 2017, 12:30 am, Detroit, MI.

Chris Cornell + transits at time of death: May 18, 2017, 12:30 am, Detroit, MI.

This Too Shall Pass – If We Let it

One of the things I love most about astrology, after all these years, is its ability to remind me that “this too shall pass.” I’ve been feeling the waves of grief and despair over the last few weeks, too. I remember times when I felt — in my pre-astrology days — that suicide was the only logical solution.

I still go through times of intense darkness, but what a relief to be able to look at what’s being triggered in my chart by the current transits and realize: “Oh, the Sun and Saturn are in opposition and both of them are squaring my natal Pluto. That aspect will complete on Friday. I can make it three more days.”

I don’t know if that understanding would have saved Chris Cornell’s life. But I wish it would have.

 


Notes

1 – When Lupo (my guitar player and co-writer in Stand & Deliver) texted me Thursday morning to let me know about Chris’s death, he mentioned that Cornell’s last song at the Soundgarden show on Wednesday night was a rendition of the old folk blues classic “In My Time of Dying”.

2 – We don’t know Cornell’s birth time so his natal Moon could be anywhere in the middle ten degrees of Sagittarius.

4 thoughts on “This Too Shall Pass

  1. Fran says:

    Thanks for this post, DK. I know astrology has saved me more than once. Having my chart done for the first time , right after my first Saturn return, (and a suicide attempt) was like 10 yrs of therapy in an hour. I have a bundle pattern in the 12th – Venus Mars Pluto Sun all conjunct within 2 degrees, so I kinda live there. Learning to reach for the “light” side of that house has made all the difference, but still. yeah. I too go thru those times, & it takes a conscious choice, & the words of teachers like you, to keep from getting lost in the dark. And astrology….like this last full moon was on the exact degree of my Black Moon Lilith. Knowing that made it easier even tho it was really challenging.
    Anyhow, thanks for sharing your own experiences with this, it makes me so much more accepting of my own.

    • DK Brainard says:

      Hi Fran, wow that’s nuts. What were you thinking, pre-incarnation? Thank you for sharing – and glad you stuck around! I spent much of the day before the Sag Full Moon in a dark, hateful mix of rage and hopelessness. I kept working to shift the thoughts and…they wouldn’t shift. And then in the evening, I just felt that ‘mood’ leave me. One minute it was there, the next minute: poof! Gone. I noted the time and when I could I went and looked looked at the chart. The Moon was building to a conjunction with transiting Lilith at around 12 Sag throughout the day. I was surprised that when the darkness lifted the conjunction had not yet completed. What I had forgotten was that my natal Nessus (rage, hate and revenge around power and money) is at 10 Gemini. As soon as the Moon completed that opposition, I felt ‘normal’ again. Glad you made it through the FM too.

  2. Scott Daris says:

    I have the same birthday as Chris, July 20th! Though I’m a ’66 guy. My 3rd birthday was the historic moon landing and I had astronauts and a rocket on my cake. I’m also filled with anxiety 24/7. And yes, a total empath too. I’m in the worst phase of my life now, unlike any other. I had my natal chart done last year and it seemed to explain a lot. I’m also French Canadian Indian and am completely feeling the torment of my epigenetics. My sister got worried in January and put me on suicide watch (she went too far with that one). One day one of my car’s tailights was out and when I got pulled over I uncorked and the cop put my name in the computer and saw the suicide watch. They then said I HAD to follow them to the psychiatric hospital and I was kept against my will for almost 24 hours. Terrible experience mainly because no one would listen to me. Anyways, just thought I’d let off some steam since you always say at the end of your podcast that people can shout out to you anytime as a fellow tribe member. I hope I didn’t make you nervous. I’m actually a fairly together nice guy. Also an overskilled underemployed Graphic Designer if anyone needs one. 😀

    • DK Brainard says:

      Hey Scott! Dude, I totally hear you. And the way you shared your experience was totally righteous. You might have just saved someone’s life – someone who feels too messed up to share. That’s totally jacked about the enforced psychiatric stay! (I could tell you a story about being in a straight jacket before going to jail – all while tripping on acid – but it would take too long. And that was a long time ago.)

      Hang in there and shout out any time it helps. I wish I had the answer because I can think of so many empaths right now who are somewhere near the brink and would agree about this last couple years being absolutely brutal. Many of us born in the 1960s, too.

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