On Dec. 4th 2018 I was diagnosed with an abdominal Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. This diagnosis came 4 weeks after I initially saw a GP, about intense abdominal pain I had been experiencing each evening when I went to bed. This was mis-diagnosed as a bowel blockage and after 2 weeks of laxatives and worsening pain, the GP told me my blood tests were fine, and that I was in perfect health and no need to come back for 5 years. A week later I saw another GP who immediately sent me for a CT scan, and the diagnosis came a few days later.

Of course, being an astrologer, I wanted to know how the planets were impacting my natal chart, for such an unexpected event to have occured. I was aware of the major planetary transits that were impacting my natal birth chart. The big one was a 90deg transit from Pluto to my natal Saturn, which began in February 2018. This is almost a generational transit, meaning that because Saturn is slow moving, many people born around 1952-53 would be having the same transit, my wife included.

In astrological theory, Saturn is seen as the planet that rules the structures we build in our lives, that maintain our physical, emotional and psychological security. In other words our homes, our work, our families, friends and our sense of identity. Pluto is seen as the planet that rules our growth and evolution. Pluto is the shedder of skins, like the snake, spider and scorpion that have to shed an old skin in order to keep growing; Pluto rules the energy or force that says we have to shed similar skins throughout our lives in order to keep growing. Pluto is the Roman version of the Greek God Hades, who ruled the Underworld, where the Dead were taken to; so Pluto also rules the shedding of our final skin, our bodies when we die. 

So when Pluto comes into a hard transit with Saturn, we can expect to shed a skin that relates to the structures we have put in place to maintain our personal securities. This became very obvious to me on the day I was diagnosed, because it was the day I stopped working, the day my income also stopped. For my wife, who was also under the influence of the Pluto-Saturn transit, the skin she was faced with shedding was the security of my income and as with every Cancer diagnosis, the possibility that I would be shedding my body, much sooner than expected. 

However, as I mentioned above, many people born in 52-53 would have been having this same transit and they weren’t all being diagnosed with Cancer, nor were their partners, as in my wife’s case. So this was the background transit, the rest was happening more in the foreground.

So, while on the subject of Death, I’ll mention that when I was born, the cusp of the 8th House, which rules Death (also shared incomes, taxes and other things), was on the cusp of Capricorn and Aquarius.

This means that both of the ruling planets of Capricorn and Aquarius are the co-rulers of my 8th House and they are Saturn and Uranus.

According to the old Greek astrologers, if the 8th House of a natal chart was devoid of Sun, Moon and planets, then the “Anareta” of the chart would be the planet ruling the 8th House. This means that Saturn is one of my “Anaretas”, and the word Anareta translates into, “The taker of life” in the chart. This meant for me that Pluto’s transit to my Saturn was a clear indication of the threat or possibility of death.

On the day of my diagnosis, Pluto at 19Capricorn43 was 38 minutes of a degree from the 90deg aspect with my natal Saturn at 20Libra31. Saturn in the sky on that day was at 8Capricorn09, 12 minutes of a degree from an exact conjunction with the asteroid Chiron in my chart at 8Capricorn22. Saturn had previously gone retrograde at 9Capricorn09 on April 17th 2018, meaning it spent all of March, April and May very close to my natal Chiron, a period when my tumour possibly began to develop. 

Chiron was named after the Greek God Centaur, known as the “Wounded Healer”. In astrological theory he represents that place in the natal chart where our deepest and most unhealable wounds are found. To be diagnosed with Cancer when Saturn is in a transiting conjunction with Chiron, is like Saturn literally saying that you will now experience a deep and possibly unhealable wound. Strangely enough Saturn was in a 90deg transit to my Chiron when I contracted Hepatitis A in March 1981, the only other major illness I’ve had in my life.

The other major discovery I made while looking into the astrology of Cancer, was the finding of the Part of Cancer. There are many of these Parts that were discovered by Persian Astrologers in the Middle Ages. They created them mathematically by adding and subtracting the positions of the Sun, Moon and planets to the Ascendant. The formula for the Part of Cancer is, the Ascendant + Neptune – Jupiter. In my natal chart that is 84deg29mins+202deg06mins-46deg50mins, which equals 239deg45mins that converts to 29Scorpio45.

In March 2018, Neptune moved into a 105deg transit to my Part of Cancer. In April 2018 Chiron moved into a 120deg transit with my Part of Cancer. In May 2018, Uranus ( the other Taker of Life in my chart) moved into a 150deg transit with my Part of Cancer. All three of these transits were active for the next 12 months. Then in early November as the increasing pain was alerting me to get to the Doctor, Jupiter known as the planet of expansion was exactly conjunct my Part of Cancer and this transit clearly coincided with the tumour’s most aggressive growth. On the 24th of November, Jupiter then crossed into my 6th House, which is the House that rules our health (among other things). Jupiter remained in my 6th House until November 2019, by which time my tumour had disappeared and I was declared in remission.

Jupiter is also known as the planet of good fortune and I believe that aspect of Jupiter was very active during my treatment. The generosity and love from family, friends and the medical staff was overwhelming for both myself and my wife and is something we will be forever grateful for.

The last piece of this story is perhaps the most uncanny. I met the Hematologist who was to treat my Cancer in mid-December, his name is Dr. Acevedo. There happens to be an asteroid called Acevedo, which on the 15th of December 2018 was at 24Libra21 in a 15deg aspect to the Sun in my natal chart at 9Scorpio02 and a 120deg aspect to my Ascendant (the degree rising over the eastern horizon at the moment of my birth) at 24Gemini29 and a 75deg aspect to my Chiron at 8Capricorn22.

When I was born Acevedo was at 8Sagittarius55, in a 30deg aspect to both my Sun at 9Scorpio02 and Chiron at 8Capricorn22. Acevedo was also in a 165deg aspect to my Ascendant at 24Gemini29. Acevedo literally stood between my wound, Cancer (Chiron) and my life (Sun-Ascendant).

For the next 5 years I will see Dr. Acevedo every 3 months for a check up. On the first visit in November last year, the asteroid Acevedo was at 20Sagittarius25 in a 60deg transit to my Saturn. On the 2nd visit in early February, the asteroid Acevedo was at 29Capricorn18 in a 60deg transit to my Part of Cancer. I am due for my 3rd visit on May 13th, when asteroid Acevedo will be at 9Pisces46, in a 120deg transit to my Sun and a 60deg transit to my Chiron and a 90deg transit to Acevedo in my natal chart.