Neil Armstrong the first man ever to walk on the surface of the moon has died aged 82. Neil had recently undergone heart surgery with a coronary heart problem just a few weeks ago, however it seems whatever problems he had then resurfaced and he passed away yesterday. In this article I look at the man, his character and an amazing coincidence of the timing of his birth.
Neil was born on 5th August 1930 at 00:31hrs in Saint Marys, Ohio in the United States. He was a Sun sign Leo with a very appropriate Sagittarian Moon and a Gemini Ascendant.In these three significators we have a mix of fire and air, the signs of travel and adventure (Gemini & Sagittarius) as well as the the proud, sitting in the limelight sign of Leo. There is enough enthusiasm, energy and get up and go here to fire one off to the Moon without the need of a rocket but as I will show, Neil in person wasn’t like that at all.
For all Neil’s great achievements, and I mean great, this was a quiet private man. His Leo Sun sat in his 4th house with Mercury and Neptune, showing that he much preferred a gentle home life to the adulation that came his way. The 4th house Sun does not want to go out and mix with people, it prefers the company of one’s partner and one’s family, the simple things in life. Neil’s Mercury in Virgo was closely conjunct to Neptune also in the 4th showing someone who had a love of books and history, someone who was very detail orientated with a wonderful imagination; the trine to Saturn tempered this conjunction adding a human touch, somebody who was incredibly down to earth, modest and unassuming, completely at odds with the fire and air elsewhere in the chart. Neil was softly spoken with Mercury and Neptune together square to the ascendant (the physical body);I wonder if this is an indicator of a physical trait in others too – I’ll need to investigate. The Moon in the 7th house square to Venus in the 5th in Virgo indicates that the women in Neil’s life were hugely important to him and he would have been quietly devoted to them; Neil I am sure would have been a big romantic with a huge heart. Not that it would have been plain sailing along the way though. The square from Venus shows that his relationships would not have been easy to deal with, and so it proved as he married twice in his life.
The careful and dutiful Mercury and Neptune which opens the mind to endless possibilities as you can see above made a trine connection to the Moon in pioneering Sagittarius. I find Sagittarius a fascinating sign, and one that maybe more than any other matures as one gets older. The fire of Sagittarius stars off with a rush of energy, one wants to go out and explore and see the world, and more often than not you get into trouble, yet that exploration and those chastening experiences allow you to learn, and as you get older and the fire dims in intensity those experiences and wisdom gained comes into play and one changes into a far more philosophical and gentle being. Often this brings the urge and the wish to spread your knowledge with others. With Neil’s Sagittarian Moon you can see that pattern. The desire and need to explore encouraged by the openness of one’s imagination (trine to Mercury Neptune) and then after he had achieve his ultimate goal and could go no further, those internal fires dimmed and he used the wisdom of his experience and the ambition of Saturn conjunct to the Moon to teach and to lecture. This 8th house Saturn is also really interested in finance and the running of big business and Armstrong took up directorship roles in several major corporations as well.
Saturn which shows huge ambition sits in Capricorn in the 8th house of extremes conjunct to the Moon as well as being opposed to Jupiter. Again this opposition highlights his career path, the expansive nature of Jupiter over time (Saturn) matured and kept his feet firmly planted on the ground. Jupiter in Cancer has a way of making those around you feel at home and accepted and I suspect when Neil did teach and meet people, he was a warm and genuinely friendly guy. Jupiter in the 2nd house attracts money and a good lifestyle, and he would never have wanted for anything if he desired it. Pluto in the 3rd house showed that this was a man who was a deep thinker and a convincing speaker when he made his few and far between appearances and he spoke, people listened.
I don’t know if you notice but this chart seems to go off in three directions. I have already looked at one focus point, the Saturn Moon conjunction. There are two others which are linked, the Aquarian Midheaven and Uranus in the 11th house of groups. The Aquarian Midheaven which receives multiple aspects from Mars Jupiter and the Sun shows that his career path was going to be unusual, and scientifically based. Uranus and Aquarius rule the stars and space. Uranus in the 11th house was in Aries, the sign of the pioneer. It also received dynamic squares from Jupiter and Pluto – you can see the idea of pushing back scientific boundaries beyond the known limits and of extreme risk taking. Uranus was also a part of a mini grand trine connecting his Sun and Mars in Gemini in the first house. This is a hugely energetic mini grand trine giving a feeling of movement and speed. Mars represents the military and Neil with his excitable Mars in Gemini in the first house of the self combined with Mercury in Virgo was someone with dexterity, speed and accuracy of thought; perfect for a military fighter pilot. Notice that Mars was making a trine to that independent Aquarian Midheaven, so Neil would have been someone who within that group structure (11th house) who wanted to be unique and special. During his military career, as much a team environment as you can get, he was an outstanding fighter pilot and within the NASA team of course as an astronaut, achieving all those 11th house aims.
Looking at Neil’s fixed stars, did he have any significant planetary connections to them? Of course he did. Neil was born with Menkar rising, almost precisely on his ascendant (0.05 degrees from exact). Menkar sits in the mouth of Cetus the whale, the monster of the underworld which is symbolic of the human collective. This fixed star rising at birth was indicating someone who would either be famous, or infamous. That day the 21st July 1930, Jupiter was in it’s Sulpha’e phase, rising across the horizon before the Sun, so this was an auspicious day, blessed with good fortune and so Neil was also similarly bestowed with Jupiter’s riches. His rising star was Sirius, the brightest star in Canis Major, “the scorcher” bringing with it the possibility for him to shine like a beacon to the world for a brief moment in his life. Rising on the day of his birth were Hamal and Facies connected to that Sulpha’e Jupiter, the stars of pioneering and of taking on danger, hugely focused and risky but if you are successful giving a promise of huge achievement. Mars was rising in paran with Denebola the tail of the lion in Leo and with El Nath and Aldebaran, the point of the horn and the royal star in the eye of Taurus the Bull. Mars with Denebola was a link that Armstrong shared with Yuri Gagarin, men who both achieved the feats of fame by being out of the mainstream, out of the restricting atmosphere of earth gravitational pull. Mars with those Taurean stars showed bravery and maybe a foolhardy side, but success and glory if one kept one’s ethics and kept humble.
And now for an amazing coincidence. The Sun rose in paran with the star Phact in the constellation Columbae, the dove which carries an olive branch through the heavens. Amazingly, the Apollo 11 mission official insignia had an eagle representing the United States also carrying an olive branch. The paran connection symbolizes an explorer of places and ideas, a headstrong individual who does not need to take any advice. Is a coincidence, or was it a heavenly sign that Neil Armstrong would go to places no other man had gone before?
Neil passed away as his chart ruler Mercury was under severe pressure from opposing Neptune, a trine from Pluto and a square from the nodal axis. It didn’t help also that his South Node in his 6th house of health was starting to receive a final conjunction from Saturn too. As ever when somebody passes away, Jupiter is involved somewhere and the Pluto Uranus square in the heavens were connecting his natal Saturn Jupiter opposition.
You can see the end of cycles here denoting the end of his life. Neil was born under a Uranus Pluto square and he passed away under one too. Neptune had made an exact half cycle of his chart and the Nodal axis was also crossing his ascendant starting a new cycle. Maybe for the next great achievements of mankind, we should be looking to someone who has been born under this current Uranus Pluto cycle, indicating the pushing back of unlimited boundaries and of human endeavour, and in the process revealing the greatest of the secrets of the universe and of the space that surrounds us here on earth.
Neil Armstrong, I salute you for your bravery, your pioneering spirit and for your humble attitude. May you rest in peace.
