Astrology Articles

Hermes Leads the Lamenting Souls, by Jan Styka. Public domain

Mercury as Psychopomp

Psychopomps (from the Greek word ψυχοπομπός, psychopompós, literally meaning the ‘guide of souls’)^[1] are creatures, spirits, angels, demons or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afterlife^[2].

The impetus for this article arose from examining charts of famous people who had passed on to try and gain some insight into what had enabled them to shine so much more brightly than the rest of us and to understand what had drawn them – often, it seemed, prematurely – away from our material world. In so doing, it became clear that, at the time of death, Mercury was often active by transit or progression and that its mythical role as psychopomp (the neuter pronoun seems appropriate for the hermaphrodite nature of this god), escorting souls to the other world was apparent.

It is, perhaps, my natal 8^th house Pisces Sun, that offers me an intuitive understanding that the moment of death is as important as the moment of birth. It completes the circle of our time on this planet and gives us a sense of a life as a whole, an entirety. Just as the first breath is a moment of connection, yoking us to the material plane, the final breath is a moment of disconnect and must surely be of equal importance.

I am interested in exact transits and progressions where possible. Unfortunately, accurate times of death seem to be even more elusive than accurate times of birth.

Vincent van Gogh

The brilliant and troubled painter Vincent van Gogh whose birth chart³ is dominated by intuitive Fire and imaginative Water, is our initial example. Van Gogh’s Sun sits at 9°39’ Aries in his natal 9^th house, unaspected apart from a challenging square to 6^th house Chiron in Capricorn. The Aries Sun with its urgency and vision, is thus not well integrated and is largely unaided by any other planetary energies making his life feel like a desperately lonely quest for faith and meaning. The Chiron square also suggests ‘the outsider’, someone who may have felt himself set painfully apart from others, and in 6^th house it is perhaps a pointer towards the painter’s lifelong difficulties both with his health and with the mundane nature of material reality.

Van Gogh’s sensitive and imaginative Cancer Ascendant is ruled by a 5^th house Sagittarius Moon which conjuncts both Jupiter and the South Node again suggesting the search for meaning and also a deep need to express himself. All of these trine outspoken Mercury in Aries, highlighted by being just one day from a retrograde station, and conjunct forceful Pluto in 10^th in Taurus, showing that this powerful need for self-expression must find its outlet in the world. This man was a visionary and the need to convey what he ‘saw’ and intuitively ‘knew’ must often have been overwhelming.

Additionally, Mars in Pisces adds imagination and spirituality to the Aries Fire and Mercury rules both the 12^th house and the North Node linking Van Gogh’s vision to something greater than himself. He was thus a channel for the collective and his mind and mode of thought must sometimes have been submerged by the wave of his intuitive understanding and the urge to express it.

Much more could be said about Van Gogh’s natal chart but the aim here is to understand something of his tragic death. It has been the subject of considerable interest to the extent that Wikipedia accords it an entire page⁴. The general assumption is that it was a bodged suicide. This seems compatible with other events in his life such as the dramatic severing of his ear and the fact that he regularly acknowledged his own fragile mental state and wrote of his depression as a disease.

At the time of his death, Van Gogh was staying at an inn in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, a place popular with painters. Years after the event, in 1956, the innkeeper’s daughter, Adeline Ravoux, wrote a detailed account of the fateful days around the painter’s death⁵. She recounts that on 27^th July 1890, Vincent left the house after breakfast as usual. It appears he was a man of regular habits as might be expected from someone with Saturn in Taurus. However, that day he left more hastily than usual. Glancing at the birth chart we see that at 7.41am on 27^th July, Mercury, ruler of the North Node, was transiting Van Gogh’s 1^st house at 9° Leo making an exact trine to his natal Sun. In other words, the Psychopomp is transiting the house of his ‘approach to the world’ and trining the lonely Sun in the house of meaning and long journeys, perhaps offering, with this flowing transit, the possibility of release.

On the other side of the chart, transiting Jupiter, ruler of the natal 9^th, is retrograding through Van Gogh’s 7^th house and forming a tight square to n.Uranus (ruler of 8^th). Finding meaning though transformation and unexpected events are themes which come to mind. Transiting Uranus had recently entered Van Gogh’s 4^th house of endings and is itself trine/sextile the natal nodes. The painter is also within days of a nodal return, suggesting the completion of a cycle.

Adeline Ravoux reports that Van Gogh returned to the inn at around 9pm on 27^th July clutching his stomach and in obvious pain. A doctor was called but he didn’t hold out much hope and the following morning a telegram was sent to Van Gogh’s brother Theo who arrived that same afternoon. That evening, with Theo by his side, Vincent fell into a coma and died early the following morning.

Van Gogh’s death certificate records 1.30am 29^th July 1890 but Adeline Ravoux explains how ‘Theo and my father kept watch on the casualty until his death which occurred at one o clock in the morning.’⁵

The exact moment of death is unknown, then. However, the Moon can act as a timing trigger and as chart ruler it’s especially important here. If we examine the transits, we see that at 0.52am on 29^th July the t.Moon perfects a trine to natal Mercury, perhaps activating its role as guide of souls to the afterlife. At this moment too, t.Mercury forms a yod with n.Chiron and n.Neptune in 8^th house. The quincunx is an awkward and complicated aspect which can be associated with loss. According to ancient-symbols.com it ‘…signifies the ability of an individual to ascend from the four physical elements to the exalted and enlightened fifth one’⁶. Moreover, within 15 minutes of time, the local Ascendant is conjunct the n.North Node in Van Gogh’s 12^th house.

In the secondary progressions for 0.52am 29^th July we also see a prominent p.Mercury in 9^th forming an exact trine to the n.Moon (chart ruler), whilst the p.Moon is just seconds from an exact conjunction with natal Pluto.

We can clearly see that Mercury, Psychopomp and ruler of the North Node, formed aspects by transit and progression at the time of Van Gogh’s death, and that the Moon, the natal chart ruler, was also prominent.

Matthew Perry

On 28^th October 2023, the day of the partially eclipsed Full Moon in Taurus and the last eclipse of this Taurus/Scorpio series, the world lost Matthew Langford Perry, a brilliant comic actor, known and loved for his role as Chandler Bing in Friends.

Perry’s birth chart⁷ shows a Leo Ascendant with a generous and expressive Leo Sun in the first house. He approached the world with a big heart, shining warmth and light on all around him. For all their big personalities, Sun Leos can be fragile underneath and often need plenty of attention and reinforcement to believe in their own worth. In this chart, the Sun is alone and isolated in the 1st house making just one close aspect to Neptune, planet of dreams, imagination and illusion. Neptune and Jupiter co-rule 8^th house and the North Node.

Interestingly, both Perry and Vincent van Gogh, men who arguably left us too early, had fiery Suns, isolated but for one square aspect to a planet that ventures beyond the boundary of Saturn, beyond the personal and into the realm of the collective. This suggests that both had the lonely challenge of expressing something of the collective psyche through their individual Solar journey. Perry spoke this Leo Sun in an interview with the New York Times in 2002 when he said;

“I wanted to be famous so badly…’⁸

Perry’s almost crippling Leo desire for recognition confronted by the aspect to Neptune in intense and sensitive Scorpio suggests struggles around direction and focus and the challenge of realising one’s dreams. There is also the probability of a profound longing for true spiritual connection and a loneliness stemming from the eternal elusiveness of becoming one with the ideal.

Drugs and alcohol, so often linked to Neptune, offer the temporary illusion of connection with the yearned-for nirvana, and Perry was known to struggle with addiction problems. But Neptune also offers the possibility of compassion and he was known to be an active spokesperson for the issues around addiction too. Combine all this with the penetrating and intense Scorpio Moon opposite judgemental Saturn and forming a painful quincunx to Chiron in Pisces in 8th houseand we can picture a man of spine-tingling sensitivity whose profound emotional needs may never really have been met.

The time of his death is not known but the LA Times states that ‘Authorities responded about 4pm to his home,…’⁹This equates to around 23h/11pm UT on 28^th October, soon after the powerful energies of the lunar eclipse. Thislunation carried the stark symbolism of leaving something behind in order to move on. The Moon was in Taurus, representing the body and material world, opposed to the Sun in Scorpio, sign of transformation – and sometimes of death. It fell across Perry’s 3rd/9th houses creating an awkward quincunx with natal Jupiter, ruler of his own 8th house of transformation and co-ruler of the North Node, and brought in his natal Moon/Saturn 4^th/10^th opposition. During the eclipse, transiting Mars and (retrograde) Jupiter were also in opposition at 11° Taurus/Scorpio creating a Fixed Grand Cross with the n.Ascendant/Descendant axis, while t.Uranus formed an exact trine/sextile to Perry’s 2^nd/8^th house Nodes.

The 8th house in Perry’s chart is the realm of watery Pisces, the sign of merging in a spiritual sense, and there we find transiting Neptune, retrograde and making a trine with Matthew Perry’s n.Neptune and a quincunx to the n.Sun. This suggests the possibility of genuine oneness if only he is prepared to make the sacrifice.

At 13h15 PDT Mercury in watery Scorpio crossed from the 3^rd to the 4^th house of Matthew Perry’s chart. This transition of the Psychopomp to the 4^th house of endings carries the sad image of drowning at home. At this moment also, Mercury squares the Ascendant/Descendant axis challenging his connection to the material plane. Minutes later, at 13.24 PDT, the Full Moon perfects and Pluto conjuncts the Ascendant in Los Angeles squaring the natal MC/IC axis to just minutes of arc.

So, as with Van Gogh, we see a combination of factors; Mercury is in evidence, and perhaps the t.Moon perfecting its quincunx with n.Jupiter (NN co-ruler) just after the full Moon, acted as a trigger.

This is, of course, a snapshot. There are many other factors in both Van Gogh and Perry’s charts that could suggest difficulties. For example, in Perry’s chart, progressed Venus had arrived at n.Pluto in 2^nd house, flagging potential issues around self-worth and questions of transformation. But the aim here was to look at the role of Mercury, and we see it active by transit; the Psychopomp gathering Matthew Perry’s soul and escorting it to another world.

Princess Diana

Princess Diana’s chart¹⁰ has been studied on many occasions so it suffices just to note a couple of points here. She was a Sun Cancer with the emotional and imaginative qualities which that suggests and a strong urge to belong. In the 7^thhouse it makes sense that she belonged to ‘the people’. There was a symbiotic feel to this relationship, a mutual belonging; the people and Diana – Diana and the people. The Sun, ruler of the North Node, is disposited by the Aquarian Moon which made her independent and perhaps, on occasion, stubborn. Conjunct the South Node this was not a person that would easily be shifted from her ideals. Her affinity with ‘the people’ and love of all humanity is suggested here too. Neptune, forming a close trine to the Sun from the 11^th adds to the dreamy and glamourous feel of her image, while Chiron, also part of the grand trine, imparts the vulnerability and a sense of not fitting in.

Sagittarius is rising with chart ruler Jupiter in Aquarius at the apex of a Yod with retrograde Mercury and Pluto. There is something both honest and visionary about this Jupiter but retrograde and conjunct Saturn in 2^nd house it indicates some of the problems she had in expressing her values which may have manifested through the bulimia she suffered. Uranus, modern ruler of these Aquarius planets, is opposite the Moon and conjunct North Node in Leo, representing her uneasy path to freedom and self-expression. Note that Neptune and Jupiter co-rule the 4^th house.

At the moment of the Paris car crash on 31^st August 1997 at 0h23 CET¹¹which led to Diana’s death just a couple of hours later, the transiting Moon (ruler of 8^th) was conjunct the local IC at 15° Leo in Diana’s 8^th house and conjunct her progressed Sun at 14° Leo. These were opposed by transiting retrograde Jupiter at 14° Aquarius. So, the ruler of the chart and 4^th house (Jupiter) were in opposition to the progressed ruler of the North Node (Sun) and the ruler of 8^th(Moon) in the natal 8^thhouse.

Additionally, at 03h00 CET when Princess Diana died¹¹, t.Mercury retrograde at 8°40’ Virgo in 9^th was forming an exact sextile to n.Neptune at 8°38’ Scorpio. Mercury would also perfect cazimi with the t.Sun later the same day. Transiting Uranus, again retrograde, was conjunct n.Jupiter and both were opposed by progressed Mercury, all at 5°Leo/Aquarius.

So, transiting Mercury is active and retrograde, and the natal chart ruler, co-rulers of 4^th house and the ruler of the North Node are all involved in close aspects to Mercury (transiting or progressed) at the moment of passing.

Pélé

On 29^th December 2022 at 15h27 local time¹², Pélé, one of the greatest footballers of all time, departed this earth. He was exceptional by anyone’s standards; a boy from a desperately poor background, who became an official ‘national treasure’ and iconic symbol of hope for his compatriots.

Pélé’s birthchart¹³ has 9°29’ Virgo, the most precise and skilful of all the signs, rising, with chart ruler Mercury in tenacious Scorpio at 22° showing that the skill would be finely honed. The opposition of Mercury to Uranus adds unpredictability and flashes of brilliance. The Gemini Moon on the Midheaven at 22° makes an exact quincunx to Mercury which shows speed of thought as well as fleet of foot. The luminaries are trined with the Sun at 27°41’ Librain 2^nd house of the body, talents and resources, giving his movement grace and style. He is much quoted as saying;
“The ambition should always be to play an elegant game.”

Interestingly, Pélé has Mars, also in Libra, exactly on the North Node. A prominent Mars is often associated with sporting prowess, while the North Node speaks of destiny. He was also very competitive, another Mars trait. He said;
“If you are first you are first. If you are second, you are nothing.”

At the moment of his death, t.Pluto, planet of transformation, was at 27°35’ Capricorn forming an exact square to Pélé’s Sun, while Saturn, at 22°11’ Aquarius, squared n.Mercury and trined the n.Moon. Transiting Mercury had turned retrograde literally hours before and conjoined t.Venus, dispositor of the natal Sun, Mars and ruler of the North node, at 24° Capricorn in Pélé’s 5^th house of sport, competition and self-expression. Interestingly, this conjunction makes an exact quincunx to the natal Moon/Sun midpoint at 24°50’ Leo in the natal 12^th house.

Further, as one of the greatest sportsmen of all time headed home, an exact progressed Sun/Mercury cazimi at 20 degrees 50’ Capricorn in Pélé’s natal 5th house of sport and joy sat exactly on his Venus/Uranus midpoint. Transiting Mars had retrograded from 10^th to 9^th house two hours previously and the t.Aries Moon trined n.Pluto from 4°26’ Aries, indicating that this was a peaceful transition.

So, once again, amongst other factors, we see transiting Mercury, ruler of the chart, retrograding to conjunction with the ruler of the North Node (Venus) and forming a quincunx with the Moon/Sun midpoint. Mercury is also active by progression forming a cazimi with the progressed Sun and this conjunction is exactly quincunx the progressed Descendant at 20°52’ Gemini.

Erin Sullivan

Master Astrologer Erin Sullivan has been written about more eloquently and knowledgeably elsewhere in this journal by those who knew her personally than I ever could and I won’t attempt to analyse her birth chart¹⁴. However, her moment of passing is also in the public domain, having been poignantly reported on Instagram by Michael Bartlett (@astromykl), and it is unsurprisingly very interesting.

Natally, Erin Sullivan was a Sun Scorpio with Scorpio rising. Mercury is retrograde at 8°14’ Scorpio in 12^th house It rules 8^th and 11^th houses and makes almost no close aspects. At the moment of Erin’s death, transiting Mercury was stationing retrograde at 8°22’ Capricorn in the 2^nd house of the body. 12^th house and North Node ruler, Venus, was transiting at 8°14’ Scorpio conjunct n.Mercury. The progressed MC/IC axis sits at 8°51 Sagittarius/Gemini dissecting natal and transiting Mercury and creating a Yod with the IC and bringing in the quincunx themes of loss and ascension to another dimension.

Additionally, the p.Sun is sextile the n.Venus/Jupiter conjunction to within minutes of arc. Progressed Venus is at 8°7’ Pisces trining n.Mercury and t.Venus. The p.Moon is in 8^th house square to n.Neptune and p.Mercury is at 17°24’ Aquarius squaring the n.Sun and ASC/DES axis. The birth time looks accurate, but just two minutes later would make the square exact. The p.Sun is forming a semi-sextile/quincunx with the natal MC/IC axis which would also be exact if the birth time were shifted forward two minutes.

This is a powerful chart and we see that the familiar signatures are present with the North Node ruler, Mercury and the Sun are all active by transit, progression or sometimes both.

From these few charts, we can see themes emerging. Mercury is universally present by transit or progression and often both, suggesting its status as Psychopomp is reflected in the chart for the moment of death and illustrating how astrological symbolism mirrors back to us the ancient world of myth. The Sun and North Node ruler and chart ruler also seem to be important and there is often a significant quincunx suggesting a detachment from the material plane.

Further research, perhaps statistical research, could add fascinating insights but accurate times of death as well as of birth are key. To obtain the former requires a recognition of death as the completion of a life and a desensitizing of it on some level, so that the death chart can become a valid object of enquiry. Not to predict death – that would not be my goal, at least – but rather to understand what it means in the context of life.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopomp accessed 8/11/2023
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes accessed 8/11/2023
https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Van_Gogh,_Vincent RR AA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Vincent_van_Gogh accessed 1/10/23
https://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/21/etc-Adeline-Ravoux.htm accessed 11/11/2023
https://www.ancient-symbols.com/symbols-directory/quincunx.html?expand_article=1 accessed 2/11/2023
https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Perry,_Matthew RR AA
https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/18/arts/film-the-fame-he-craved-came-but-it-wasn-t-enough.html accessed 29th October 2023
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-10-28/freinds-star-matthew-perry-dead-at-56 accessed 27/11/23
https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Diana,_Princess_of_Wales RR A (although a later time is claimed by Penny Thornton (also on Astrodienst)
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20220830-a-tragic-night-princess-diana-s-fatal-paris-crash-25-years-on accessed 28/11/23

Some sources claim Diana died slightly later at 4am or 4.53am, however, France 24 and Wikipedia agree on 3am so I have used this time.