In Manhattan, mere blocks from where they likely stayed that night, Henry and Meghan Sussex jumped into their SUV and joined New York traffic. They were easily followed by paparazzi. By some accounts, the ones on electric bikes kept up for quite awhile. Used to jumping into their vehicle and speeding away, it seems at least one of their cars may have been stopped by police for behaving recklessly. There is no speeding away in NYC. For those of us who live anywhere on the East Coast and even at 2 a.m., we have all spent hours navigating traffic trying to negotiate the city that never sleeps.
It is no surprise that this “chase” took two hours. It seems to have consisted of driving up and down FDR Drive and city streets trying not to give away their nightly roost. One wonders how many times they passed the place they were staying while mere feet from the Ziegfeld Ballroom was a five star hotel.
An astrological analysis shows the developing conditions. The paparazzi are represented by the ruler of the Sagittarius Ascendant chart. This means they are the 0° Taurus Jupiter. The Sussexes with mom in tow are ruler of the Gemini Descendant, the 6° Taurus Mercury. Mercury is generally fleet of foot but here finds himself in Taurus’ fixed earth. Taking the role of the tortoise in the race between the tortoise and hare, you can see the Sussexes problem. They were too slow. Instead of trying to lose the paparazzi they should have either outsmarted (Mercury) them by ducking into a hotel or just waited them out by being very boring and slow (Taurus). Being patient and circling a limited area could have caused them to lose interest. Even waiting to exit the event until 10:46 p.m. could have had a substantial difference.
At 10:46 p.m. the Ascendant changes to Capricorn, the paparazzi would have been represented by the Pisces Saturn in the 2nd house. This suggests that the paparazzi would have been more disciplined or even delayed. Pisces suggests dissolution of boundaries but it also has the effect of diluting the effect of the paparazzi. It is likely that after this time, the Sussexes were able to break free enough to begin to get away. At this time, the Sussexes also change to ruler of the Descendant, the Aries Moon in the 4th. Angry emotions but no longer hampered as much by Taurus they could charge ahead. This is ultimately why they came out with a statement after the event. It ended while they were the Aries Moon. Their inabilty to be fleet of foot and the resulting frustration had led to anger. Taurus Mercury to Aries Moon.
This of course has brought back the bad memories of the death of Diana Wales. Although I had never examined the chase and crash horoscopes, they bear the striking marker of a Gemini Ascendant and therefore Sagittarius Descendant. Here the paparazzi are the retrograde Virgo Mercury in the 5th. Diana is the retrograde Aquarius Jupiter in the 10th. During the entire event, these significators would stay the same. It is the time passing and changing location that sets up what occurs.
The crash doesn’t switch the character of what was occuring that night it just changes the action to another location. Retrograde Jupiter conjuncts the Midheaven while deep at the heart of the horoscope the Leo Moon opposes that Jupiter. When Jupiter conjuncts the Midheaven, the car hits a pillar. The house system is the location of events and the Midheaven is associated with the cusp of the 10th house. Substantial bridge pillars are definitely 10th house in nature. Diana herself is a Sagittarius Ascendant with an Aquarius Moon and so is well represented by the retrograde Aquarius Jupiter. She also was a retrograde Aquarius Jupiter in her natal horoscope. Something about this night, she was looking back at her past and not the royal one that she had just exited but the childhood trauma.
I had never believed any conspiracy theories that the royal family had killed Diana but that Leo Moon opposing the retrograde Aquarius Jupiter is interesting. Of course, the Queen was a Leo Moon but it doesn’t seem clear that she is the person who is opposing Diana. Diana was about to grow old potentially married to a Middle Eastern playboy. Although unknown at the time, the Middle Eastern element probably wouldn’t have played well after the 911 attacks. This was no threat to the Royal Family. It is what Prince Harry is doing in revealing their secrets that is a threat. Still the slow moving paparazzi plodding chase didn’t endanger his life and no one is accusing the royal family of engineering a dangerous chase.
The opposition aspect of Diana’s crash is seen in the Ascendant-Descendant axis. This can help us understand its underlying meaning. The Descendant is the place where we often project ourself on others. Diana is the goddess of the Moon. Diana is both the Leo Moon, the royal mother goddess, and the retrograde Aquarius Jupiter. It is her as the Leo Moon that sets up the crash to occur. She was seeking some publicity for some reason. Reports are that the couple were to remain the night at the Ritz but earlier in the evening, August 30, 1997, Dodi Fayed had gone next door to the hotel and purchased an $11,000 engagement ring that was sent to his apartment. This is the location where Diana and Dodi were heading. Dodi’s father said they intended to announce their engagement the following Monday.
Diana was stagemanaging her second engagement announcement. The character of the event is now set with the announcement, short travel in a car to a nearby location with paparazzi on motorcycles and car. Unlike the Meghan and Harry incident which is about embarking on a journey. In the sense, that you can see it but just not reach it. Sagittarius is about being on the edge of the golden world. Diana’s event is about a Mercurial quick hop around the corner. The paparazzi represented by the retrograde Virgo Mercury conjunct the Virgo Sun are the unwitting accomplishes to this action. They begin to follow them to Dodi Fayed’s home but they are outpaced by the Mercedes being driven by a drunk driver. Distracted drunk driving and a concrete pillar. In Jupiter’s natural 9th house, we find both Uranus ruling accidents and Neptune ruling altered states including drinking.
The astrology we discuss is often used about something that has occurred that was wrong place, wrong time. Diana should have stayed at the Ritz she would have probably been near some sort of crash but probably escaped with her life. Wrong location. Harry and Meghan should have altered the timing as to avoid the paparazzi. Getting home late without pictures or getting home late with pictures taken by paparazzi was the astrological choice. Wrong time.