Suicide Part One

I explored 20 charts of people who committed suicide, it was a very small study. According to Wikipedia. "Suicide (Latin suicidium, from sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the intentional taking of one's own life. Many dictionaries also note the metaphorical sense of "willful destruction of one's self-interest" (e.g., "political suicide"). Suicide may occur for a number of reasons, including depression, shame, guilt, desperation, physical pain, emotional pressure, anxiety, financial difficulties, or other undesirable situations. The World Health Organization noted that over one million people commit suicide every year, and that it is one of the leading causes of death among teenagers and adults under 35. There are an estimated 10 to 20 million non-fatal attempted suicides every year worldwide." The charts I have are the suicides that are successful, and the act of self-murder has been realized. The statistics are pretty shocking and reflects upon our society as a whole.

According to Nils Retterstol, in his book Suicide:

" In addition to suicide attempts, many, and perhaps most , of us have had suicidal thoughts on one or more occasions in our lives. Many threaten to take their own lives. It is said that many marriages have been made under the threat of suicide from one of the partners, and many are kept going by such threats. Suicide is probably the most personal act anyone can perform. Few acts have such deep roots in social and human conditions, or have such far reaching consequences for oneself. Suicide affects the single individual who takes his life, it affects this persons immediate circle and it affects the local community and the wider community. It is of interest to people of very different categories: doctors, psychologists, social workers, nurses, sociologists, lawyers, clergymen, teachers, the police, writers, philosophists and politicians, but it is also of interest to all ordinary members of the public.

Many of us have known people who commit suicide or have attempted to do so. It may be anticipated that everyone at intolerable and difficult moments in his or her life will entertain the idea that it might be best to put an end to it all. Suicidal thoughts, threats, and attempted suicide are common general human phenomena. I do not know of any culture in which suicide does not occur. Suicide is a human phenomena it is not known among other animals."

In the Suicide book by Pamela Ray and Jon Klimo " There are many reasons why people kill themselves, regardless of their stated motive (real or imagined), they feel they have reached a point in their lives where they: (1) have no other options, (2) are exhausted by the constant pain and struggle, (3) believe it will garner them sympathy, or emotion from those left behind, and/or (4) think they have nothing to live for. People may feel sad or hopeless or overwhelmed. Often there is a component of physical and emotional pain. This pain is so deep, so severe, that it simply becomes unbearable. However, even beyond this private suffering, and sometimes violent and painful method of their deaths, is the issue of damage left in their wake. In addition to the usual sense of a hole being left in their lives, friends, co workers, and family all have to wonder whether they are guilty of not having done enough. Psychiatrist kay Jamison eloquently concludes, "Suicide carries with it the aftermath of confusion and devastation that is, for the most part, beyond description."

Astrologically Suicide has been researched and studied to some fair degree. The object of Astrology is to use it as a psychological tool, that can open up the individual psyche and reveal what elements a single human being is working "with" or "against" in many of these tragic circumstances. I will be using astrology to see if there are any "answers" or astrological pattern that explains why a human being would take his own life.

According to the late astrologer C.E.O Carter, suicidal tendency can be seen in the following ways.

Suicidal Tendency is usually shown by violent malefic afflictions to one or both luminaries, to the lord of the 3rd, and often, to Mercury as well, while as a general rule Saturn afflicts heavily, and Jupiter is often ill placed, being also very often in Saturn signs or in aspect to Saturn. The principal afflictor in all cases, however, is Uranus. The mutable signs are the most frequent Ascs. Neptune is usually in some relation to the the 8th. Obviously the motive for the act of self-destruction must be carefully considered. The commonest zodiacal areas are about the 15th degree of cardinals (often tenated in the nativities of murdered people irrespective of suicide) about 25 degrees of the fixed, a notably violent area in many respects, and about 26 degrees of the mutables.

The depth of this study could not possibly cover all of the aspects in the astrological survey of the natal chart i.e signs, aspects, houses, rulers, dignities, degrees, mid-points, fixed stars, arabic part of suicide. There is a lot of ground to cover, and there are many variations of astrological configurations. I have never used arabic parts, or fixed stars, but for this small study I may include them. I will also look at the transits in relation to the natal birth planets. In part two I will start listing my results, and please note that these can vary depending on the amounts of charts added, and I have no control group.