The Life & Death of Princess Diana (2)
Diana’s Chart
Diana Spencer was born July 1, 1961, 7:45 pm GMD (British Summer Time, -01:00), Sandringham England 00E30, 52N50. Source of the birthtime is an annoucement by Buckingham Palace. Another birthtime of 2:15 pm has been used by several well-known astrologers. I’m using the 7:45 pm birthtime here, Tropical system, Koch houses.
Degree / Sign / House – Dwad
Ascendant 18.24 SAG [CAN dwad]
MC 23.03 LIB
Sun 09.40 CAN in 7. [LIB dwad]
Moon 25.02 AQU in 3. [SAG dwad]
Merc Rx 03.12 CAN in 7. [LEO dwad]
Venus 24.24 TAU in 5. [AQU dwad]
Mars 01.39 VIR in 9. [VIR dwad]
Jupiter Rx 05.06 AQU in 2. [ARI dwad]
Saturn Rx 27.49 CAP in 2. [SAG dwad]
Uranus 23.20 LEO in 9. [TAU dwad]
Neptune Rx 08.38 SCO in 10. [AQU dwad]
Pluto 06.03 VIR in 9. [SCO dwad]
NNode 29.43 LEO in 9. [CAN dwad]
SNode 29.43 AQU in 3. [CAP dwad]
Part of F 03.46 LEO in 8.
Chiron Rx 06.28 PIS in 3. [TAU dwad]
Ceres 10.38 TAU on 4/5. [VIR dwad]
Juno 26.44 PIS in 3. [CAP dwad]
Pallas 25.38 PIS in 3. [CAP dwad]
Vesta 13.19 TAU in 5. [LIB dwad]
While there’s controversy over Diana’s birthtime, I feel the Sagittarius rising is correct and workable, owing to the long coltish legs, athletic ability, she was often seen in motion, the frank and open manner of expression, much world travel, and her interest in spirituality and intuitive prediction.
Diana was a Cancerian, Sun 9 degrees Cancer in the 7th house. The Cancerian nature is caring and sympathetic, very emotional, psychic, maternal, very attached to those she loves, especially family, quite private and inside her shell.
The Sabian symbol for the 10th degree of Cancer [9 degree Cancer Sun] is: “A large and beautiful diamond, in the hand of the lapidary, is now to be cut to its full perfection.”
PROMISE is the keyword.
Sun in the 7th house suggests that the soul’s primary desire for experience in this lifetime turns on: 1) the dynamics of one-on-one relationships, 2) the significant other, and possibly 3) the public in general. While the sign Cancer is very private, the 7th house can be very public, so here is a fundamental conflict and push-pull for Diana all of her life since her engagement to Charles. Relationships are often unusually challenging for the 7th house Sun person. Close relationships may burn out fairly quickly under unusual circumstances, and the person may find himself frequently atircumstances, and the personhe effect of “others,” rather than feeling he can call his own shots in life. Diana was married at the young age of 19 to Prince Charles,whom many would see as one of the most prestigious eligible bachelors in the world, indeed the future King of England!
Diana married into the royal [Sun] family [Cancer], and a beautiful and gracious princess she was [Libra dwad under the Sun]. [Dwads* are underlying influences to a particular degree.] A shy Cancerian who did not know fully how to handle the public’s attention and interest in her, Diana learned only later in her life how to deliberately harness public attention for her Cancerian charitable causes – the homeless, hospitals, AIDS, and victims of landmines. Her public reputation was one of care and compassion. With Mercury in Cancer in the 7th house as well, Diana became a hardworking spokesperson and champion for many worthy causes. The circumstances leading to her engagement were naive on the part of both Diana and Charles. Charles the Scorpio was already and still in intimate relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles [another Cancerian], and did not make much effort to hide photos and mementos of Camilla from Diana. Diana, being naive, was instinctively [Cancer] bothered, but could not get a reality check or interpret the signals that led to her confusion and upset. The bulemia eating disorder [Cancer], signaled somaticized stress [emotional stress turned inward toward the body], the stuffing down of feeling and emotion into the body, and compulsive purging [Pluto] as a temporary relief from stress. Extreme weight loss and lack of nutrition [Pluto in Virgo] signaled a silent yet visible cry for help, a statement that Diana felt not accepted and overwhelmed by the royal family. Her marriage situation was upsetting and not fulfilling, and Diana felt generally out of control, all the while having to appear perfect in public, as if nothing were wrong.
The bulemia had already begun during the courtship and was in full swing even the day before the wedding. To hear Diana tell the story in recent times, she was unusually calm on her wedding day itself, and rather emotionally numb and detached, considering this was the biggest “fairy tale” wedding of all time – her own wedding. Unusual detachment is the way that people with Moon in Aquarius often handle stress, but overdone and in the extreme, it is emotional dysfunction and a complete violation of the integrity of Diana’s Sun in Cancer in the 7th, and violation of the Moon that symbolizes emotional needs, feeling, nurturing, instinctive gut-level intuition. When Diana became so thin from bulemia, psychologists were called in to help. Along with her visits to psychics and astrologers, Diana’s psychological work on herself was probably the beginning of a crash course in Feelings 101.
So Diana began to pay attention to her feelings and emotions as valid intuitive information [Moon]. She began to realize her own natural psychic abilities [Moon]. She began to learn more about who she was at a deeper level, not just at a superficial personality level. She became more of a spiritual seeker. She became less inhibited and began to have more ordinary and extraordinary fun, including speeding and making wild turns in her car, spying on paparazzi with powerful lenses, and stealing keys from paparazzi motorcycles. She passed much of her new awareness regarding the importance of feeling and emotion, common people and common pleasures to sons William and Harry.
Ironically, the wedding chart of Charles and Diana (July 29, 1981, 11:17 a.m. GMD, London England) had Moon at 13 degrees Cancer in the 10th, very close to the MC, and the highest planet in the chart, so the result of the marriage was much more awareness of feeling, emotion, intuition, mothering, nurturing, especially for Diana, whose natal Sun in Cancer on the MC of the wedding chart, shone beautifully for all the world to behold.
Diana lived up to her name and became a “goddess of the Moon.” But no ordinary lunar goddess! Diana’s Moon was in Aquarius, so her reach and mission extended to all of humanity, encompassing the whole planet. When Diana had been through something emotionally [Moon], she would often speak frankly and openly [Sagittarius Ascendant] of her experiences in public or in an interview, so others would become more aware, know they were not alone, and bring unpleasant emotional issues such as bulemia out of the closet, with a hope for resolution. She did not want others to suffer.
Oddly enough, Diana’s Moon in the 3rd house seemed to support and protect her in traffic, even when she was driving with crazy antics, and despite the tricky asteroid Chiron also in 3. But her 9th house held four “heavies” – Pluto, Mars, Uranus, and the North Node – fostering extremely volatile, challenging and even violent travel situations in foreign countries and/or when another person was driving. Thus she was unusually accident prone, even in the most expensive, armored, black luxury cars [Pluto] such as Mercedes S class.
These same four 9th house planets reflected her maverick role within the royal family – outspoken, revolutionary, rocking the royal boat, and shaking up traditional belief systems at nearly every turn. Diana was just the catalyst historically, in life and in death and through her sons, to prod a detached and stuffy monarchy into the ’80s and ’90s, to say nothing of the 21st century! I wonder if Charles had had Diana’s chart analyzed before he married her, whether he would have had the courage to go forward with the royal marriage?!
Diana’s Moon in the 3rd [Sag dwad] opposed Uranus in the 9th, and was squared by Venus in Taurus in the 5th [Aquarius dwad – multicultural relationship?], suggesting that her security [Moon] could be compromised by the erratic or unusual behavior or driving of others. The Sag dwad under Diana’s Moon may have emphasized the 9th house connection.
Dodi got caught in the crossfire as the love-interest represented by Venus in Taurus in the 5th. Venus also represents the very romantic and expensive [engagement?] dinner at the Paris Ritz Hotel, and let us not forget the $200,000 ring presented that evening [all Venus in Taurus]. It is interesting to note that in a graph of Ptolemaic dignities*, we can see that Diana’s Moon, Mars, Uranus, and Pluto were all “fast,” and were the only planets in her chart that were fast [vs. slow or average].
After Diana’s death, it became known that she had secretly [Pluto] given care and solace to seriously ill individuals in hospitals and to the homeless, and had demonstrated an ongoing personal interest in their welfare. It is this fact especially that would incline historically toward what I will call “a compassion cult of Diana” based on a non-sectarian spirituality and universal ideals of love and caring, not unlike Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity. With regard to her charitable projects, Diana is even more powerful [Pluto] in death [Pluto] than she was in life, which could also be part of her soul’s agenda for achieving her life goals and dreams for humanity [Moon in Aquarius]. Diana’s campaign against landmines was probably given at least a tenfold boost by her death, and millions of dollars have been donated toward support of Diana’s charitable causes.
I do believe that Mother Teresa and her missionaries were a great inspiration to Diana, even an initiatory inspiration, when Diana visited Mother in Calcutta. Both shared the awareness that what is missing for many people in the world today is to feel loved. Something so basic and simple, costing nothing but genuine caring. That loving connection, which is fundamentally spiritual, is essential to the quality of life, and everyone deserves love. Diana, who as the Cancerian child had longed for more love and expression of affection from her parents, then later from her husband, Diana who was one of the wealthiest women in the world, who had everything money could buy, could not buy the love, warm and personal expressions of genuine affection, and emotional peace of mind that were so important to her well-being.
Toward the end of her life, Diana had realized much of the love she craved, both personally with her sons, also with Dodi al-Fayed, and globally [Pluto] in her world charitable projects. Such a love and fulfillment had been a major goal for a long time and, having achieved that goal, in many ways she was complete. If she had said to herself, ” I feel that I can make a positive difference in the world by harnessing public attention for worthwhile projects. I feel so loved by Dodi. This is almost too good to be true. I can’t believe this is actually happening. I must be dreaming,” then this would show her conscious-mind incredulity at what had been her heart’s desire all along, a desire that would be fulfilled in her lifetime. Her soul would see to that.
Tightest Natal Aspects *
The tightest aspect in Diana’s natal chart was Ceres semi-square [45 degrees] Pallas Athena, with an orb of 0 degrees 0 minutes, suggesting that a major focus was the challenge of finding strategies [Pallas] for care annd nurturing [Ceres] of others and herself, as well as the role of intuition [Pallas] in care and nurturing of others and herself.
Diana’s Ascendant was bi-quintile [36 degrees] Vesta, a very subtle and exquisite aspect that heralded Diana’s own “particular brand of magic” as Earl Spencer put it, as well as her image [Ascendant] as being on a mission [Vesta] of compassion with her charitable projects.
A third tight aspect was a septile (51.5 degrees) between Jupiter and Juno, showing a fairy-tale wedding, almost unimaginable riches and social advantages, yet much naivete, confusion, and ungroundedness going into the marriage. Marriage to the very wealthy Dodi al-Fayed was to be only a dream.
I am more and more impressed with the tightest aspects* in a chart, even if these are “esoteric” and hair-splitting aspects that I would not otherwise consider except they are so very tight. How tight ARE these aspects? Normally the tightest aspects in a natal chart are some slight variation off of a 0-degree orb, well under a 1-degree orb – very tight in other words. There are about 12 tight aspects under 1 degree in a natal chart. Of those aspects, perhaps 3 or 4 will stand out as being especially remarkable, seeming to rise above others as keynotes in the life, like the melody line in an orchestral composition or the topnotes in a perfume, and may offer special gifts and brilliance – hence the unique contribution to the whole that each of us makes. Every chart has a set of tight aspects, so I believe astrologers will find “tightest aspects within a 0 degree orb” to be a fruitful area of research.
Progressions and Solar Arc
Of note in Diana’s secondary progressions is that Uranus had progressed to 25 Leo, exactly opposite her Moon at 25 Aquarius, 9th and 3rd houses. This progressed aspect would be in effect for several years, making virtually any kind of transportation an accident looking for a place to happen. My earlier comments on the Moon/Uranus/Venus T-square are re-emphasized here.
Diana’s progressed Moon was moving through her 7th house, and this is a classic aspect for marriage, which was just about to be publicly announced, had Diana and Dodi lived. Diana’s solar arc Moon was at 29.34 Pisces, the last degree of the zodiac, a degree of completion, compassion, universality, possibly martyrdom. August-October ’97 were not the month to be starting something new like a marriage.
Diana would have been well advised to wait at least 3-4 months, when her solar arc Moon would have become established in Aries. However, what got completed was her sense of being loved, her public reputation for compassionate world service, and even Diana’s lifetime itself.
Transits
First we will look at the luminaries (transiting Sun and Moon) and see what they were “lighting up” in Diana’s natal and progressed chart. At the time of the crash, transiting Moon, which is an event trigger, was in a 1 degree separating conjunction to Diana’s
Progressed Sun in Leo in her 8th house [of death]. Opposite this conjunction in the 8th was transiting Jupiter, the planet that I’m hereby terming “the angel of death.”* The opposition suggests not only a very wealthy and religious suitor, but perhaps also overconfidence and poor judgment in circumstances involving other people [opposition].
Transiting Sun was in a 1 degree separating conjunction to Diana’s natal Pluto in the 9th, lighting up Pluto in the 9th on the Sun’s annual sojourn around the chart.
I’ve found that transits-to-natal separating* hard aspects of 1-3 degrees – especially the conjunction – show when events are most likely to happen. There’s a tension in an approaching aspect that culminates in the exact aspect, then the tension dissipates on separation, at which time the person relaxes, may get complacent, overconfident, or releases, then the aspect manifests. This can be desireable or not, depending on the planets involved and at what level they play out in the circumstance.
Transiting Mars was making a separating conjunction of 2 degrees to Diana’s natal Neptune, suggesting a time of high romance and ecstasy, but also possible drug- and alcohol-related violence. Neptune rules the tricky* Chiron in Pisces in Diana’s 3rd house of traffic and communication. This Mars transit was a classic astrological “red flag.” Who gave the order to go so fast? Who failed to speak up in order to counter the speed?
Transiting Uranus was tightly conjunct Diana’s natal Jupiter at 5 degrees Aquarius. Diana was in an exhilarating and freeing period of her life, possibly the most exciting and stimulating time of her life. The downside risk, coupled with other factors, could be sudden death, death by accident, or accidents through poor judgment. A Jupiter aspect is nearly always involved in death, at any age, of whatever cause, suggesting that there is a hand of God, a blessing, an expansion, and a freedom involved in death, as I believe Diana herself demonstrated in the days following her death.
Transiting Neptune was tightly conjunct Diana’s natal Saturn at 27.49 Capricorn [Sag dwad], in retrospect shows alcohol-related tragedies, and implicates the 9th house again via the Sag dwad.
A summary of the key transits [T] to natal [N] and progressed planets [P]:
- T. Moon conj. P. Sun in Leo in 8th.
- T. Sun and Mercury Rx conj. N. Pluto and Mars in 9th.
- T. Mars conj. N. Neptune.
- T. Uranus conj. N. Jupiter.
- T. Neptune conj. N. Saturn.
The transit chart of the crash itself (August 31, 1997, 12:25 am CED, Paris France) shows not only the Moon-Jupiter opposition in the 3rd and 9th, but also Neptune in the 8th squared by Chiron in the 5th at the last degree of Libra. Had “fate” played a cruel trick [Chiron] on the lovers? Or was the crash the dramatic denouement of heartfelt longing and world service already fulfilled?
*Note: The asteroid Chiron has been viewed as a bridge between the old and new worlds, a bridge between the physical and metaphysical, representing mavericks, wounded healers and spiritual teachers and mentors. On a more mundane level, Chiron can be very tricky, and can bring about highly challenging and confounding circumstances in which you get the reverse of what you would normally expect and create, especially when a person contacts the darker elements of reality that involve ego, power plays, domination, cruelty, and neglect, and the people who operate in those realities deal strongly in reversals of our normal and workable social expectations that are based in mutual care and respect.
Diana’s Solar Return
The solar return is the chart formed when the Sun returns to its natal position exactly each year, giving a forecast for the year ahead. Of special interest to me when I do a solar return are the house positions of the luminaries, angular planets, and house positions of the other planets. Diana’s solar return for 1997 is especially telling. The Sun radiates fame and public attention in the 10th. In no year did Diana receive so much fame and public attention as in 1997.
Mercury conjoined Juno in the 10th suggests Diana’s attention was on her public influence and marriage, and that she would make her intentions about marriage public this year. Venus in Leo on the cusp of the 11th suggests a year of unusual social popularity and joy, wishes fulfilled.
Mars rising suggests a year of high energy, adventure and sports, but to watch out for speed, fire, guns, knives, anger and other Martian mishaps (another classic astrological indicator). Recall that in July, Diana had attended the funeral of her friend Gianni Versace who was gunned down at the gate of his home. Diana was in a very Mars vibration this year, which accentuated her volatile natal Mars in the 9th. Diana’s 1997 birthday year should have been a year of special cautions involving anything symbolized by Mars, and excessive speed should have been verboten. Saturn conjoined Vesta in the 7th, which in this case resulted in the loss of a partner.
Pluto in the 3rd in Sagittarius, coupled with the Mars in the 1st, could have further accentuated Diana’s natal Pluto and Mars in the 9th, and warned of intense and possibly deadly local and international traffic situations. This is a combination of factors that might, regretably, be easier seen in retrospect than in advance.
Diana’s solar return Moon was at 29.57 Taurus on the cusp of the 9th. This final degree of Taurus has a long reputation for being especially negative and “fateful,” and suggests more completion than new beginnings this year, especially being in the last whisper of the last degree. The solar return Moon was on the cusp of the 9th – “lighting up” situations involving foreign travel and others’ driving.
Last updated on November 22, 2014 at 12:22 am. Word Count: 3334