An important part of any astrologer’s job is to forecast the future. The psychological element of astrology may be important, but one of the advantages astrology has over mainstream psychology is that it can also predict future events. You may already know that your relationship is strained because of X, but it helps to know that this will come to the fore next month, or will settle down in the Spring. Likewise, your finances may be tight now, but you can plan ahead better if you know that sales will be slow in the second quarter, or that your boss will be applying additional pressure for the next three weeks, and so on.  Astrologers are often asked about major life events: Will I have children? When will I find a new job? And so on. One of the things that is most useful about astrology is its ability to spot major life events before they happen.

Surely, “death” is a major life event, isn’t it?

A lot of professional astrologers shy away from questions about death, and I can’t say I blame them. The techniques involved are complex and (frankly) a lot of work. There is always the possibility of  getting something wrong, and even though we wish the best for our clients, it would be particularly bad form to say something like “you’re going to die next August” and then have the client contact you again that September — without the aid of a Ouija board, that is — to let you know you’ve dropped the ball, big time. That, and there is always the concern that delivering bad news will be a self-fulfilling prophesy. Astrologers may deliver bad news sometimes, but we don’t want to be the cause of it.

Nonetheless, there are techniques available that, if applied properly and diligently, can pinpoint times when there is a high risk of expiring. One of the main reasons for doing this is to avoid the things that could kill us at those times. It’s like a weather forecast that way: if there’s a high risk of rain tomorrow, the weatherman has warned you — so take an umbrella.

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Paul Walker (born September 12, 1973, time unknown, Glendale CA) died in a car crash on the afternoon of November 30th. Even without a known time of birth (calculating a specific risk period of actual death should only be done with a known time of birth) there were some obvious risk factors in play, astrologically speaking.  He died in a car crash — apparently involved in an illegal street race — so we shouldn’t be surprised that there were transits at work increasing his impulsiveness. The Sun was finishing a pass at conjuncting his Neptune, and was quincunx his Mars, which is a bad time for both deluding oneself and for awkward or ill-advised acts of aggression or risk-taking. Further complicating this was Mars conjunct his Mercury: prime time for rash thoughts and strong impulses. And to top it off, the transiting Moon was opposite his Mars: another indicator of impulsive and potentially dangerous decision making.

These were all relatively fleeting transits, and not the sort of thing one would normally be looking at in a consultation, unless the client was specifically worried about such matters. But there were also a couple of major warning signs that it could be a risky period for Paul… most notably, the last two Eclipses. The October Lunar Eclipse was opposite his Venus. We don’t know Paul’s time of birth, but whatever House his Venus ruled could well have been an indicator of a potential accident. It’s also noteworthy that the Moon at the time of the accident was exactly conjunct the Eclipse Point for the November 3rd Solar Eclipse, and again the House placement likely told a story. That particular Eclipse carried a specific risk of “overdoing it” or “pushing your luck,” as you may recall. Further: the Moon at the time of the accident was exactly on that Eclipse Point at 11 degrees Scorpio. To top it all off, Pre-Natal Eclipses are a factor in predicting death too… and transiting Uranus was exactly square the Solar Eclipse of June 30, 1973.

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I admit that I am unfamiliar with Paul Walker’s work… all six of the “Fast And The Furious” movies (for which he was best known) have passed me by. I also admit that the astrological signs of death are obviously a lot easier to spot after the fact — as is the case with most things in life that could have been predicted. Even so: if Paul Walker had been a client and I was provided with a time of birth, I believe I could have (at the very least) warned him about danger near the end of November.