The news has come out that Hollywood actor Michael Douglas has cancer of the throat and I thought I’d take the opportunity to look at his horoscope.
To start off, there are a number of questions to ask:
Is the cancer shown by the horoscope?
Will he survive?
Can astrology help him beat the cancer?
There is also the ethical dimension. While I’m sure Michael Douglas or his family will never read this article, I must nonetheless consider what impact my words might have. Put another way, if I was unable say anything positive or life-affirming, I wouldn’t publish this article.
From an astrological point of view, it’s clear that he’s going through a bad patch. He is a Libran, born on September 25 1944, with his Sun at 2 degrees and 23 minutes of the sign. His Sun is closely conjunct Neptune, which is at 3 degrees 35 minutes Libra. Furthermore, he has the Moon at 3 degrees 36 minutes Capricorn, which is making a 90-degree aspect to his Sun-Neptune conjunction.
In the Autumn of last year Saturn entered Libra, and on and off this planet has been triggering his Sun-Moon-Neptune line-up. Also, Pluto has been rumbling through early Capricorn, hitting the line-up from a different angle.
It’s certainly been a difficult time for Michael Douglas, not just because of his health problems – in April his son Cameron was given a five year prison sentence for drug dealing.
As far as Michael Douglas’ throat cancer is concerned, it’s likely that his previous smoking and drinking had a role to play, and this links with the symbolism of the Sun and Neptune. The Sun is the life force, while Neptune is the planet of drugs and intoxication. The conjunction points to a physiological weakness, which becomes manifest when Saturn roles over it.
Looking at Michael Douglas’ Indian horoscope, he is currently in a sixteen year period, that’s ruled by Jupiter. It started in March 2007. This period can be broken down into sub-periods, and his current sub-period, ruled by Saturn, runs from May 2009 through to November 2011.
We therefore have Jupiter ruling the main period, Saturn ruling its sub-period. In astrology Jupiter and Saturn are a natural pair, and the period when they coincide can be important. And very often Saturn’s sub-period can be unfortunate.
The problems with his son are certainly flagged, because in his Hindu chart Saturn rules his Fifth House of children. And from early May onwards the situation became even more difficult, because transiting Jupiter and Saturn were in opposite signs to each other, using the Eastern Zodiac. One was in Eastern Pisces, the other in Eastern Virgo.
However going back to Western astrology, I am not convinced the Michael Douglas’ life is in danger. In his horoscope his Sun is the ‘giver of life’, and although it’s being aspected by transiting Saturn and Pluto, it’s not currently affected by any primary directions. I haven’t got the space to go into details about primary directions, but in traditional Western astrology these were the main system of prediction, and it’s only very recently that they have started coming back into fashion.
According to the theory, if the Sun, as Michael Douglas’ giver of life, received a bad direction, then death could result, though even then it’s a matter of judgement – there are no certainties, and one cannot, and shouldn’t, try to predict death using astrology.
I now come to the question of whether Michael Douglas can do anything, astrologically, to improve his chances of beating the cancer. I would argue that he could, if he was ready to embrace the symbolism of his Hindu horoscope.
It’s all about honouring Jupiter, the planet that will rule his life until 2023. This can be done in a number of ways. For example:
Leading a virtuous existence on Thursdays, because Thursday is the day of Jupiter. Health permitting, Michael Douglas shouldn’t eat meat on Thursdays, and ideally his charitable activities should be focused on this day.
Michael Douglas should consider wearing a yellow gemstone, because from a Hindu perspective yellow is the colour associated with Jupiter. The prime example of such a gemstone is a yellow sapphire.
We can go further with this colour. Wearing yellow clothes, having yellow flowers around the house, even eating yellow food, such as bananas and saffron rice.
On the surface these measures might sound silly, even tastelessly silly – after all, you’re talking about someone with a serious, life-threatening illness. However if you accept the logical of Hindu astrology, and you believe that different parts of our lives are ruled by different planets, my suggestions make perfect sense.
But astrology or no astrology, I wish Michael Douglas a speedy recovery.
Copyright © 2010 Archie Dunlop
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