“It’s alright to keep your grief, long’s you make room for other things”   Bubbles, The Wire

We are so often told we must forgive, forget, move on, recover; we begin, in fact, to feel that if we aren’t complex-free and happy, we’re in some way defective. This just isn’t so; a natural part of the human condition is to grieve for what was, could’ve been, for our regrets, for the sadnesses that are woven through our days, including the impersonal ones that come to us through the news, the neighborhood, the internet, unbidden. Even without significant trauma, the passage of time will bring change, and that alone can bring us grief, as we look back and recall how things looked different in the past (including ourselves!) how we were more optimistic, or innocent, or energized–and so often in hindsight it seems what we faced was simpler, the choices more easily discerned. the opportunities missed; and yet, if we’re honest we realize that at the time, what was presented was the ultimate challenge, in terms of our ability to deal with the alternatives. We tend to think it was all easier, back when–but in truth our minds have smoothed over the edges–we’ve forgotten the depth of our fears, our goals in the moment, and all the influences we were under.

The natal horoscope gives some suggestion of where we might be vulnerable throughout life, and can point to the areas where we may store our grief. Our Moon is a prime repository, and the House with Cancer on the cusp can be the point where we pour that upset into the physical world;  Neptune may be involved, as we follow the natural impulse and hide from, mask, or misunderstand the affected areas; and Sedna may be the new kid on the block, but also one to watch, as her touch makes understanding (even perception!) impossible in the affected arenas; and hard contacts to the Sun can be debilitating, suggesting Soul vulnerabilities that affect the literal and figurative heart.

Actress Brittany Murphy (10 November 1977, Atlanta GA, no time available) died suddenly yesterday in her Los Angeles home, and my first thought on hearing this was that her heart may have stopped from an electrolyte imbalance; her extremely thin appearance of late points to this as a possibility, and she would not have been the first Hollywood actress to suffer this (Kellie Waymire had a similar cardiac disruption at a young age). With Brittany, no time of birth is available, so we can’t attribute signs to cusps, but transits and Solar Arcs tell us something of the possibilities.

Transiting Neptune and Jupiter are sextile natal Ceres, suggesting the possibility of an exaggerated and poorly chosen diet, perhaps an intensive fast; T Pluto is trine Chiron in Earth–could there have been a strong impetus for transformation (clearly gone too far) as the primal wound is stimulated? I heard a media individual say this morning that Brittany’s career had peaked five years ago; if this was her perception, too, then who knows what emotional damage this may have done, and what it might have spurred her to do to try to change the situation; Solar Arc Pluto was conjunct the Sun, symbol of the heart; and on the day of death, December 20th (and just prior to and concurrent with the time of discovery) the transiting Moon was square natal Uranus, bringing the emotional ‘light’ to bear on the nervous system, and the higher functions specifically. Could this in total show a grief that overcame this young woman? Of course, all this is purely speculative, as cause of death is still to be determined, but the loss of someone young always draws our attention, and gives us a fresh source of Collective, and even personal, grief, through our own empathetic nature.

Addendum: Reports now are stating that Murphy was vomiting severely prior to her collapse; this is a classic symptom of heart failure, whether from natural or induced causes. The chart and transits don’t suggest to me any drug involvement.