UPDATE:  It is with deep sadness that I have to report I’ve just learned on our evening news that my belief this was death by suicide was correct. The “victim” was an 18-yo girl who plugged her ears and deliberately stood on the tracks with her back to the oncoming train. She was suffering from depression. May she rest in peace.

On July 13, WBNG-TV,  what I consider our primary local television news station, noted the death of a person in a small community just south of the New York State line into Pennsylvania. The person, whose gender was not identified, was struck by a train and killed.

As local news people do from time to time with unique events, the anchor mentioned the time, and I grabbed it for a look toward this article while I suspected it would be very unlikely we’d hear more about the story. This is literally all I have heard from the news story itself. On the other hand, I had the time and the place and, obviously, the date so I cast the chart to see what might be revealed within.

An Eastern fourth quadrant above-the-horizon dominance points to the time in which this individual seemed to have made this single, no-turning-back moment a final choice between life and death. The chart itself initially seems unremarkable save for the likelihood that the person wanted to make sure there was no change of heart. Take note of the 20-minute partile square between the placement of Mars-ruled Uranus at the apex and the 12th house Sun while Mars–with Mercury not too far behind–was already making a tight aspect in its approaching opposition to Pluto in the 6th house.

Now as I enter into some of my considerations of the Solstice Points–the Antiscia–please note: The Antiscia chart I’m using has been generously provided by astrologer John Davenport. My own program appears to have developed a glitch, rendering my program’s Solstice Point views useless. (The calculations have never been a problem for me since I’ve always calculated these by hand, but it’s nice to be able to use charts to show these points.) John, however, uses Koch houses, so you’ll note a difference in house calculations in his renderings.

Which houses an astrologer uses are based on preference. Each has validity in use. I have noticed, however, that John’s program has calculated Neptune at 9 Pisces 33 Rx in contrast to my program’s 9 Pisces 35 Rx. Several other bodies differ also by one or two minutes of calculation between the two charts, and I can’t account for the reason behind that. I won’t try to defend or negate why. However, I plan to move to Sirius software in the not too distant future.

Saturn was sitting in the 4th house in Pluto-ruled Scorpio, and Neptune completed the 4/8/12 trio (not a Grand Trine, however) with its 8th house position. I’m riveted by Neptune’s position, however, since its Solstice Point falls at 20 Libra 25, in a stunning one-minute partile opposition to Uranus, forming a dramatic Cardinal T-square with that 12th house Sun as the arm. Remarkably, the Antiscia for Uranus is also making a 2-minute partile opposition to Neptune!

We look for confirmations of the indicators to any event in the analysis of the chart, and this one seems to offer plenty of those. The Mercury-Mars midpoint at 10 Cancer 46 makes a 21-minute partile conjunction to the Moon’s Solstice Point. I might not have bothered to take notice of this, but the Sun is, after all, ruled by the Moon in this chart.

The heartbeat of the chart points to Neptune in its own sign, the mutual reception of Saturn and Pluto–and then there’s Mercury, sitting on the Moon’s Antiscia in its simultaneous mutual reception with the Moon. Normally this latter pairing might start the run of the heartbeat, but the decision itself seems to have been one in which the individual had been torn between rationale and emotion.

I’m less convinced that this was a “mere” act of a desperately depressed individual than I am that this person had given consideration to the spiritual, the financial and the potential for health concerns in this decision. In fact, it seems to imply the decision to commit Death by Train came from the ultimate question: What were the ramifications–the cost and post-attempt health–if s/he survived?

The Moon at Gemini 20 sits on the Sabian Symbol, “A CAFETERIA WITH AN ABUNDANCE OF CHOICES,” an appropriate point for one at the time the Moon is sitting on this degree. Could it be that this individual was actually thinking of what alternatives were possible? It seems like that could have been the case.

With Neptune on Pisces 10, “AN AVIATOR IN THE CLOUDS,” the individual might be seeing him/herself as somehow different from those around him/her. But it’s also possible that the person can be perceiving the situation as the complete opposite from what it truly is. Lynda Hill‘s 360 Degrees Of Wisdom: The Sabian Oracle (©2004 Lynda Hill) suggests what I call, “turning the prism,” seeing the situation in a different light: “There may be a need to transcend what’s going on and to rise above difficulties. You may find that you have to rely on your intellectual or emotional skills to take you above and beyond your current situation. Just be aware that you may not be seeing the complete picture very clearly at the moment. Alternatively, you may be actively evading the real truth.”

Perhaps the answer, however, lies on Scorpio 29, “AN INDIAN WOMAN PLEADING TO THE CHIEF FOR THE LIVES OF HER CHILDREN.” I had to wonder whether the individual had decided to be judge and jury against whatever acts s/he committed prior to this single final act. It seems as if this person had been completely relentless in his/her having judged these deeds so harshly.

Sadly, we will never have any answers to the questions this person had. With the Jupiter-Venus conjunction still in play in the first house at the time this terrible moment arrived, I had the feeling that the individual genuinely seemed to have tried to do what s/he felt was ultimately the best thing for all involved. For those who knew the person, I suspect they might have seen this act as a selfish one based on the dominances showing, but that mutual reception of Mercury and the Moon just inclines me to suspect this was a very intelligent individual who was probably far more sensitive to the needs of those close to him/her than we might otherwise give credit to the person for having been.

While I can’t be sure this was a male, I’m inclined to say it probably was because males seem to employ the more dramatic, violent methods of suicide–like leaping before oncoming trains–but please note, I used the word seem to since I’m well aware I can be a bit off-base on that thought. I also can’t refer to this person as “him’ or “her” since we don’t know the gender, nor can I use “victim” here since this really appears to have been a very conscious, convicted act.

I can’t point to the news as a source of my having called this a suicide. In fact, there was a complete lack of additional comments about this particular incident. But the moment of his/her death indicates a likelihood of suicide. What a sharp final punctuation to a life that surely held promise at one time. Whomever that person was, may s/he rest in peace.

Namaste, I love you.

©2015 Michelle Young