The man of the week is airline pilot Chesley Sullenberger. After his plane had its engines damaged by a bird-strike, he was able to land in the Hudson River, with all passengers being safely evacuated. Apparently ditching an aeroplane in water is incredibly difficult to get right, and in most cases it breaks up – usually leading to deaths and injuries.
Chesley Sullenberger was born on January 23 1951, which makes him an Aquarian, with his Sun in the third or fourth degree of this sign. In astrology Aquarius is often seen as the coolest and and most logical sign of the Zodiac. A typical Aquarian won’t allow emotion to interfere with his or her judgement, and they can do very well in crisis situations.
In astrology Aquarius is categorised as an Air sign, so many Aquarians will quite literally be in their element when they’re airborne. For example Charles Lindbergh, America’s most famous aviator, was an Aquarian, born on February 4 1902.
Sullenberger’s Aquarian Sun is conjunct Giedi, a fixed star in the constellation of Capricorn. Giedi is connected to luck, but also to sacrificial slaughter – so its influence is somewhat mixed.
Vivien Robson nailed Giedi on the head, when he wrote the following about its conjunction with the Sun:
Peculiar events, unexpected losses and gains, sometimes great good fortune.
Sullenberger, through the influence of Giedi, was certainly attracting unusual events, and this might have been reflected by his choice of career. He isn’t just a pilot, but also a safety consultant, whose job is presumably to look at all possibilities, however unlikely.
On the day of the accident Jupiter was in the third degree of Aquarius – so it was very close to Sullenberger’s Sun. Jupiter is a planet that’s associated with both luck and death, and it released the full potential of his Sun-Giedi conjunction.
This gives us an image of Fate tossing coins, heads everyone dies, tails everyone lives. As the engines failed, the outcome could of gone in two, quite different ways.
However at some level, perhaps unconscious, Chesley Sullenberger may have been preparing for his date with destiny. He knew about safety procedures, and when the unexpected happened he was ready. So perhaps all of us can draw a valuable lesson from the incident. We’re given the equipment to deal with future challenges and if we understand which way our fate is leading us we can sometimes save ourselves, and perhaps other people as well, from what seems to be certain disaster.
