Wilfred Owen was a World War I poet known widely only after his death in the penultimate tragedy. He died on November 4, 1918 between 6 am and 8 am. The time I have used is 6:40 am. His death occurred just one week before the armistice when he was killed in a offensive action to cross the Sambre-Oise canal. His mother received the telegram of his death as the church bells began to ring out the end of the war. Ah, the cruelty. It’s a Greek tragedy, or maybe a Trojan one.
This is a story we have heard before: Hector of Troy was a gallant prince, an ideal warrior and man. He was unlucky to have Paris for a brother. First, Paris was bribed to award Aphrodite the Apple of Discord incurring the enmity of Athena and Hera. He then eloped with the already married Queen Helen of Sparta. Yes, Sparta. What is worse is she was so beautiful that her father had required all her suitors to pledge to defend the man he would choose as her husband. So the Greeks – all of them – set sail for Troy. During the war, Hector killed Achilles’ friend and this enraged Achilles. Achilles decided to rejoin the fight so he could kill Hector. Upon seeing Achilles, Hector’s courage deserted him and he ran. Athena stopped his flight by appearing as one of his brothers. He turned to fight and was killed by Achilles. Hector was the warrior Achilles dragged by his heels around the city…for days. After trying to desecrate Hector’s body, Achilles relented and let Hector’s body be ransomed so he could have funeral rites. Hector’s mother, Queen Hecuba, led the lamentations.
The Smoky Cellar of the Forester’s House
The horoscope of Wilfred Owen’s death shows a Scorpio Ascendant. This is important because this means the ruling planet, Pluto, represents the attackers. The British are represented by Pluto in the chart. Pluto is in the 8th house. This is his natural house and represents graveyards, mines, underground places, places of power, places of death, places of intimacy and secret places. The opposing sign Taurus represents the defending Germans. I use Ceres as the ruler of Taurus. Astrologers generally believe that Venus is the ruler of Taurus.
Pluto is on 6° of Cancer and the symbol is “game birds feathering their nests.” These birds are preparing to produce their young but they or their young will be shot for meat and sport. Pluto, as god of death and the dead, here highlights the death of the game birds. The zodiac sign Cancer is about emotional belonging. It is associated with your mother and your childhood home. Wilfred Owen, in his final letter home to his mother, wrote they had stayed in “The Smoky Cellar of the Forester’s House”. He describes a warm, relatively safe place with potatoes cooking. He has new socks from her and intended to drink the malted milk she had sent him that night and the next. He also describes men talking and joking. They are feathering their nests but the men are game birds. “The Smoky Cellar of the Forester’s House” is the 8th house and it is from these places that the British forlorn-hoped units emerge in the crossing of the canal.
The Unknown Manner of Wilfred Owen’s Death
The British Hector, Wilfred Owen, was killed at daybreak on the banks of the Sambre-Oise Canal. The German Achilles was located in a building quite close to the spot where Owen died. Likely, Owen had turned back in some way either by coming out of the canal or even running from the battle but one of his men convinced him to turn and fight. As he turned to fight, he was cut down by a German. This German was in an elevated position and the building was probably used by workers and may have had use by workers involved in producing wool or tending sheep.
His death and his mourning mother would publish material that would glamorize and lionize Wilfred Owen. All of this would provide resources to his family.
Originally, 6:50 am was used to sort out the event. This would put his death right after dawn. After recognizing the archetype and finding Hektor conjunct the Midheaven, the time was moved slightly back to 6:40 am. The horoscope’s 24° Sagittarius Mars and 24° Sagittarius Pallas (Athena) are conjunct. The conjunction is square the asteroid Achilles and trine the asteroid Hektor. This here is the archetypal picture of Athena helping to stop Hector’s flight so Achilles can kill him. Since Hektor is closely linked to Mars, we know that Wilfred Owen was fighting but Pallas was there with him to deliver him into the hands of Achilles.
The asteroid Achilles is square Mars and Pallas and represents the German who killed him. The German was in the 10th house. He was in an elevated position in a building with the flavor of Virgo. I leave this mystery for fans of Wilfred Owen. Virgo deals in the trade of materializing heaven on earth and it represents workers, servants, apprentices and nurses. Achilles’ symbol is “Mary and her white lamb”. This building is also quite close to the spot where Wilfred Owen died. Finally, the symbol for Saturn is “daybreak”. The linkage of the Sun at daybreak to his mourning mother places his death just at this moment. A fitting poetic end of the mortal man dying just as his memory raises a more immortal star.