Remember that easy-on-the-eyes 1980s actor Jan-Michael Vincent? He was in “Lassie“, “Bonanza” and “Gunsmoke“, starred in “Hooper” with Burt Reynolds and with Kim Basinger in “Hard Country“, was on screen again in “White Boy” and most recently, he was in a TV show as Stringfellow Hawke, a pilot, on “Airwolf“.
Cocaine did his career in after he rose to the top in “Airwolf“, and one might wonder if that was also related to the infection leading to his coming close to death in 2012. He lost his right leg instead.
He too has died. For whatever reason, news of his death at an Asheville, North Carolina hospital from cardiac arrest didn’t get released until this week. Amazingly, what little has been published on his death included the death certificate and the time.This is what made me decide to write this perspective.
I haven’t found any quality articles on his death, so I’m offering a bit more simplicity and perhaps justice. He had a timed birth chart apparently. Astrodatabank shows an AA Rodden Rating as quoted from the BC/BR with the collector listed as Gauquelin. The Source Notes, however, point to the Gauquelin Book of American Charts, which I believe would give it an A rating, not an AA unless perhaps the actual birth certificate had been shown.
Without any intention to disrespect his memory, I’m actually more interested in how the death chart placed against the natal showed in huge part because the late Lois Rodden, founder of AstroDataBank, had told me when she would make her departure. Lois had a rectified chart since it was impossible to get an accurate birth time. Yet sure enough, as she had said, she left when Jupiter connected with one of her angles.
Would the death chart show Jupiter on the angles? I tried that first; but no, that wasn’t the case at all. Lois had appeared to be referring to the Jupiter transit. Against Jan-Michael’s birth chart we see Jupiter had just moved into his 4th house, completing a stunning natal to transiting Grand Cross.
Natal Jupiter sits inside the 1st house, 6°58′ from the Ascendant in the natal chart, of course (inner wheel) while natal Uranus forms a precise 2° conjunction to the Midheaven. But take note of Uranus in its 17-minute partile square to transiting Neptune at the 7th house cusp (28-minutes of orb) and transiting Jupiter in opposition to natal Uranus squares the natal Jupiter-transiting Neptune opposition–a mutable Grand Cross that includes both natal and transiting Jupiter!
Vincent had a natal 11th house Sun-Saturn conjunction although some might see it as a bit wide. I work with luminary (Sun and Moon) conjunctions with an ease of 10° and sometimes even wider. I wanted to see what astrologer Deborah Houlding’s Skyscript site would have to say about some of these orbs. Deborah is a traditional astrologer; I am not, but traditional teachings offer historic reference to consider as well. I wasn’t disappointed. It didn’t take long to find the following in “Notes & References” as follows:
“Traditional sources claim that planets go ‘Under the Beams of the Sun’ at either 15 or 17 degrees. Lilly mentioned both limits, claiming on p.113 of Christian Astrology that a planet goes under the Sun’s Beams at 17 degrees from the Sun, but later contradicting himself in an editorial note to Henry Coley’s translation of Guido Bonatus’s Anima Astrologiae. He claims there that a planet is more correctly termed ‘Under the Sun’s Beams’ when it is less than 12 degrees from the Sun; and said to be ‘going Under the Sun’s Beams’ when the distance is between 12-15 degrees. (Consideration 53, p.25.)“
Deborah makes note of this 17° reference several times on her site, for those who would like to follow up with this perspective. It’s well worth the exploration for more knowledge about the reasoning and the observation that even in traditional astrology, orbs were not set in stone. Back now to Jan-Michael’s last Lunar Return, the morning of January 25, 2019, about 16 days before his death.
I often see the incidence of potential cardiac arrest in a chart where Saturn is opposing the Sun. I didn’t see it in his Solar Return, which wasn’t really all that surprising. Such a thing may or may not show up. But his Death Certificate had indicated cardiac arrest had taken place in the hospital, so I looked at his last Lunar Return.
Drawing up the Lunar Return for the same reason I wanted to see the Solar Return, I again checked to see whether there was an angular Jupiter besides the one we know was in his first house close to the Ascendant.
The Lunar Return (LR) on the outside showed the presence of LR Jupiter in the 4th, forming a 3° conjunction to the IC, the cusp of the fourth house, one of the terminal houses, in opposition to natal Uranus and in square to LR Neptune conjunct the 7th house cusp (1°01′ orb) and in opposition to the natal Ascendant and Jupiter in the 1st house. In fact, it looked uncannily like the chart I pulled up today for his death with the angular mutable Grand Cross! But I was looking for signs of the cardiac arrest so I wasn’t even close to being done with this examination.
When I turned the charts so the natal was outside and the LR was inside, I finally spotted the Sun-Saturn conjunction from his natal chart sitting in the 6th house of health while LR Saturn formed a 1°17′ orb in opposition to natal Saturn–and LR Pluto was sitting in 1°22′ opposition to the natal Sun. In the 2nd house, LR Mars establishes a T-square with a 2°16′ orb in square to 12th house LR Saturn and in square to natal Saturn as well by 59 minutes. In this particular case, where his Sun is natally conjunct Saturn, the presence of LR Saturn in opposition to natal Saturn is going to be the same as if it were more tightly opposed to the Sun.
I wonder, however, whether Jan-Michael might have been in the midst of surgery when he died. Mars in hard aspect to Saturn serves as a cutting aspect. While Mars is in the 2nd house, the Moon sits in the 8th in 11°27′ opposition to Mars. Ohhh I can hear people exclaiming, “What!” with that one; but remember, Jan-Michael Vincent had his Sun and natal Saturn in Moon-ruled Cancer. I won’t ask you to accept it as a blanket conclusion, but remember the traditional reference I offered earlier: The Moon also takes the wider orbs from the traditional astrologers and begs the question then whether we who work with modern astrology have a similar consideration. I would like to believe we do. I’ve been working with wide luminary orbs for many years, and they’ve yet to break down in the analysis. The 11°27′ opposition falls well within the consideration even of traditional astrologers . A quick look at the astrologers whose orb references are listed, one can easily see Al-Biruni’s name. He worked with at least 12° of orb, noted in the first link I offered for Skyscript. So while there will be those of you who may disagree with my belief in this 11°27′ orb and its validity in relation to the Moon-Mars opposition, especially with these ties to the natal Sun-Saturn conjunction in Cancer, I have to stand by my view on this one.
I spent most of the day thinking about what might have led hiim down the paths he took. Jan-Michael Vincent seemed to have it all going for him, and yet the very thing he craved in success led him to the destruction of his career. I thought about that and remembered hearing once how a strong Scorpio influence in a chart might result in one’s self-destruction. His chart didn’t seem to display a strong Scorpio influence at all. The heartbeat of his chart gave a constant path of Sun, Moon, Venus, Mercury. He was independent, focused on his career, a likely rebel with Uranus conjunct his Midheaven.
Ironically, we saw the death of Luke Perry this week and likened his life to that of James Dean’s. Yet while I don’t remember ever seeing a movie of James Dean’s, as I’ve written about Jan-Michael Vincent’s death, a single movie came to mind: James Dean’s “Rebel Without a Cause“. Somehow, it seems to fit.
Jan-Michael Vincent’s life was much like the masks of Greek tragedy. I hope he’s finally found his peace.
