It was Friday, December 17, 2021 at 2:41 pm. I was returning home from the office, deep in thought about the year, the past two years, in fact, when suddenly into my left peripheral vision materialized a mature female deer. It was a surreal moment. What made it even more peculiar was that I was driving east on a marginal road that runs parallel to interstate 90 (I-90). The deer was coming from the interstate side of the road. Needless to say, there was little time to ponder all of that, as in this instant I was staring into the eyes of a deer, that in turn was staring back at me. The energy exchange was palpable.
As the deer reached the driver side front bumper of the car, I knew we were about to collide. Instinctively, I had swiftly hit the brakes just seconds before impact. This resulted in my momentum being slowed enough to create a buffered contact with the deer, more of a pushing effect rather than outright collision. Dramatically, eye contact was constant throughout the whole event. What struck me the most was a feeling that we were actually having a conversation, albeit non-verbal. My thoughts were consistently sending a message, “don’t die”, “don’t die!”.
Eyes still locked in a curative gaze, the deer was pushed several feet away from my vehicle, actually doing an awkward side step for about 10 yards across the pavement, the whole time staring directly into my eyes. What came next was remarkable.
But before I describe that, let me pause briefly as the deer is helplessly attempting to keep its balance, and speak to what such a moment meant to me, as a shaman who claims the deer to be a primary spiritual guide. There was an immediate feeling of alarm and cogitation about how this could be happening. Was I about to kill a deer? How could this be? And why? While this stream of thoughts was playing, simultaneously, I was pouring out compassion, love, and healing in the direction of the wobbling deer.
Finding myself in a fevered dance with fate, I watched the deer tumble to the pavement, all while never diverting its stare back at me. She slid on her side for an additional 10-15 yards. The mantra of “don’t die”, “don’t die” now switched to “get up!”, “please get up!”. These few tense and gut-wrenching seconds seemed like hours. Truly I was in a time-tunnel of sorts where nothing else existed but this moment. Then, the struggling deer’s body came to a halt in the middle of the road. Still locked in a communicative stare down. “Get up!” … “Please get up!”
After 5-10 agonizing seconds, the deer leapt from the road’s surface and bounded off into the adjoining residential neighborhood. A single tear ran down my cheek, a tear of relief and gratitude. The deer was still alive. I opted to follow her into the neighborhood, shadowing her recovering gait as she made her way to an empty lot area, pausing briefly to connect through a final parting glance.
As I arrived home, I exited the car to inspect the potential damage to the front bumper. Thankfully, it was minor, but would require some repairs. Also, captured in the cracked bumper was a tuft of deer hair. A reminder of what had just transpired.
As most of you know, I am both a Shaman and an Astrologer. These two disciplines are the lens through which I process the world. When events such as the one just described occur, my attention turns to what the moment meant, and if it could be seen through the filter of the cosmos. After a few hours of deliberation, I decided to cast what is known, in the astrological world, as “the chart of the moment”. In a nutshell, it means I created a chart that captured Friday, December 17, 2021 at 2:41 pm. This chart is then overlaid with my birth chart to observe if the energies and story of the event were present and could be seen. As an astrologer, it was no surprise to see the story immediately and with great precision and detail.
The process goes like this. Break the event into its pieces and parts. It was an accident (or was it?). In astrology, accidents are attributed to the third house, and also the planet Mars. Deer are ascribed to the planet Venus. Sudden and unexpected events are under the guardianship of Uranus, and interestingly it is also a secondary significator of deer. The sign of Capricorn is the ruler of animals with cloven hoofs and horns. My natal ruler of the third house of accidents is a Capricorn Saturn. At the time of the accident, transiting Venus was in conjunction with transiting Pluto and the MC (more on this in a moment) all in the sign of Capricorn. This assortment of pertinent data becomes the foundational information from which a keen investigation can begin.
Let’s look first at the transiting position of Mars at the moment of the accident. Mars was in my first house, the house that it naturally rules. It is here that it is strong. An additional fact about Mars is that it was in the sign of Sagittarius, a mutable fire sign. Mutability is being able to adapt to a situation and move with the flow of things. The applicable themes that can be extracted from the first house is that it is connected to one’s actions, one’s physical body, one’s motor skills (coordination), and one’s eyes (think of the locked gaze). Mars is associated with accidents, active things, adrenalin, danger, dynamic energy, and urgency. So far, this seems to align with the event.
The next step with Mars is to look at any aspects it was making to my natal planets. An aspect is an angle that planets make to each other in the Horoscope. Mars was squaring Pluto, sextile to my natal Mars/Venus conjunction, and trine to my natal Sun. Remembering that within this moment, we are dealing with an accident, we want to look at the significations of the planets involved through this lens. Considering the square from Mars to Pluto, we are looking for something that presents a challenge, creates a need for some action, or brings about an antagonizing event. Pluto concerns itself with casualties, death, energies from a cosmic source, hidden forces, rebirth, and turning points.
Additionally, my natal Pluto is positioned in my 10th house, the house of the public persona, and how one wants to contribute to the world. Pluto is a symbol of one's empowerment. My Pluto is in Virgo (generational, of course) which is indicative of my powers of discernment, duty, and healing being activated in this moment providing additional support to handle the crisis at hand.
From this information we can construct a scenario where the antagonizing energies of this moment, those being Mars which is associated with accidents and danger, come into a tense alignment with Pluto which is associated with casualties, death, and hidden forces. Things were ripe with the possibility of what transpired.
Further, transiting Mars was in a sextile to my natal Venus/Mars conjunction. Sextiles are an astrological aspect that aids, supports and assists. This resulted in the fortuitous swift energies of Mars emanating from the first house of me, and my physical responses, being supportive of the deer (Venus) in turn orchestrating a chance to survive this accident. A literal assist from the universe.
The ruler of my third house of accidents is a Capricorn Saturn. In the chart of the moment transiting Saturn, was/is in Aquarius one of the two signs it rules and in my third house, thus granting access to its full energies in a powerful manner. It was also in a square aspect to my natal Neptune. When we examine a few of the energies associated with Neptune, such as confusion, angels, blind spots, enchantment, hidden forces, telepathy, compassion, and navigation, it is clear to me that these were all in attendance at the time of impact. I literally found myself blindsided, and confused as to how this was occurring. I was forced to navigate the situation in what amounted to the blink of an eye. There did seem to be some hidden force at work, call it angels if you will, assisting with this precipitous encounter. And as previously noted, a form of telepathy seemed to take place as the deer and I unyieldingly locked eyes for the duration of the experience exchanging compassion from the depths of our souls.
Moving to the square between Saturn and Neptune, we can see how the Neptunian and Saturnian energies pushed each other to generate the result, demanding an action take place. In this case, the ruler of my third house where accidents are found, is a Capricorn Saturn. Transiting Aquarius Saturn was in the house it rules and in one of the signs it rules.
Let’s probe the powers and significations of Saturn briefly. Time itself is said to be under its purveyance. Other associations of Saturn that relate to the incident are asphalt, deterrents, bodily falls, tenacity, boundaries, and containment. During this split-second juncture in time as the deer entered my sphere of amplitude, there was an impact, albeit muted in nature. Reflecting back, I can say with certainty that the extent of what could have occurred was miraculously contained, as if a boundary had been drawn separating my vehicle and the deer just enough to soften the blow. The deer fell to the asphalt and slid several feet. Upon coming to a stop, its tenacity surfaced and it bounced up and scurried away. The liminal space we had been caught up in was now sealed with the emblazoned triton of Neptune remaining to mark the moment.
Another supportive take away from the chart of the moment of this accident is that Uranus was transiting my 6th natal house. It has been for a while. In this instance, however, further information can be derived. Uranus is a secondary significator of deer. Uranus also deals with sudden and unexpected events. Being that the location is my 6th house, the topics found there that connect are matters of injury through animals, healing and healers, and one’s day to day routine.
Sometimes astrology can be remarkably literal and, in your face, so to speak. At the moment of the accident, the planet associated with unexpected disruptions was in my house of day-to-day routine. What could be more of a daily routine than driving to and from work? Also, Uranus is associated with deer! So, an unexpected event involving a deer showed up. It created the potential of injury through contact with an animal. As the oft repeated retort goes “you can’t make this stuff up”. And yes, I am a shamanic healer and I have a Pisces Sun, both are associated with deer.
The final piece of data to explore is powerful. At the instant of the misfortune, there was a dynamic trio transiting my 3rd house of accidents, a Capricorn Pluto, Venus, and the Medium Coeli (MC). Harkening back to the concept of astrology sometimes being so literal, this formation can justifiably be interpreted in the following synchronistic fashion. The deer, Venus, was placed between the planet of death, Pluto, and the astrological point in the chart, the MC, that signifies who someone is in the world and how they contribute to society as a whole; a Shaman. Very surreal. And adding additional depth to this fortuitous pairing of three, the trio was in a favorable aspect to my North and South Nodes. Trine to my North Node (NN) and sextile to my South Node (SN). These aspects are indicative of support, aid, harmony and reinforcement. In this case with my SN which resides in Pisces, support and aid resulting from my spiritual lineage and past was present, as well as harmony and reinforcement emanating from my Virgo NN of who I am striving to become, a person dedicated to healing and being of service to others.
Encapsulated in each and every moment is more than our mortal minds can comprehend. Astrology provides a framework that allows us to peer a bit deeper into those moments. Through the sacred language of the universe, we can glimpse the potentialities, possibilities, and promises contained in the rivers of time. The past, present, and future are not separate things; they are one in the same. The mirror in the sky is reflecting back to us the wherefores and the whys… a mystery that should leave us all in awe.
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