Alex's Asteroid Astrology

On April 4, 2022, a dear feline friend, Emmett, passed away.  Emmett was the daughter of Embers, my cat Ashes’ sister, and thus her niece and a close relation, part of our extended family.  She was fur baby to my longtime friend, former landlord and cat rescue partner John Mignone, and is survived by her sister Maxine.  Emmette passed of complications from failing kidneys due to hyperthyroidism.

Although I have chronicled many feline deaths in the past, Emmett is unique, in that we have a birth time and can cast a natal chart.  Emmett’s mother gave birth to her litter in a cardboard box on the front porch of a duplex John and I shared in west Philadelphia on Halloween night, 2007.  It being Halloween, John and I were up late celebrating the season, and had gone from my portion of the house in the back to his apartment up front, to retrieve a half gallon of pumpkin iced cream from his freezer.  When we entered the property at about 2:05 AM (technically November first by then). Embers was resting comfortably in her box.  We tarried inside perhaps 15 minutes, enjoying John’s seasonal decorations, and emerged at 2:20, to be greeted by four infant newborns!

We immediately swept up the little family and transferred them to John’s art studio on the third floor, which became the kitty nursery.  Like her sister Maxine, Emmett was a grey tabby, with dramatic dark striping; and like her aunt Ashes, she was medium-haired, the only one of Embers’ litter to inherit that trait.  Emmett was a very sweet soul, loving and trusting, invariably accepting of the many rescues and fosters who temporarily shared her terrain over the next decade and more.  She moved to Gradyville in Delaware County last summer, when John moved in with his fiancé Michael, and quickly adapted to the new environment, which included some outside garden time, which Emmett loved, and had never before experienced, having been taken off the street when just minutes old.

I’ve cast her birth chart for 2:15 AM EDT November 1, 2007, about midway during our sojourn in the house.  There is no Emmett asteroid, but Emita and Emma are the closest.  In addition we’ll be using asteroids Kitty, Katz (German for “cat”, and a phonetic match) and Fellini (for “feline”), as well as Johney, Johnny and Mignonette for cat daddy John Mignone.

Not only Emmett, but her two littermates (a fourth sibling died within days and was never named) conform to the typical pattern of having one’s own PNA (Personal-Named Asteroid) in aspect to the Sun, Moon, Ascendant or Mercury.  Asteroid Emita at 15 Scorpio conjoins the 8 Scorpio Sun, asteroid Maxine at 23 Virgo is exactly semisquare the Sun, and asteroid Marcus (her orange tabby brother, adopted out to a friend) at 2 Libra is sextile the 0 Leo Moon.  Emmett’s status as a house cat is reflected in asteroid House at 24 Virgo, also semisquare her Sun.

The presence of asteroid Johnny at 14 Scorpio, closely conjoined Emita, helps to explain the very strong bond of affection that developed between him and Emmett, reinforced just down the zodiacal road by asteroid Emma at 23 Scorpio conjunct asteroid Johney at 29 Scorpio, doubling up on the connection between them.  Emma/Johney is also sextile Venus at 22 Virgo, itself conjoining Maxine, bestowing lifelong affection on the sisters as well.

Asteroid Katz at 7 Virgo conjoins Saturn at 6 Virgo, both rising on the 5 Virgo Ascendant, and while Emmett did not have an especially long life, something Saturn sometimes conveys, at 14 years old, she fell well within the typical lifespan of 12-18 years for a domestic cat.  Katz is also sextile the Sun, perhaps establishing Emmett’s species.  Asteroid Kitty at 15 Libra is exactly semisextile Emita, and conjoins Mercury at 23 Libra, ruling pets.  Asteroid Fellini at 24 Aries appears at the Apex of a Yod, or Finger of Destiny, with inconjunct aspects to Emma and Maxine/Venus, again uniting the kitty sisters in a fated relationship.  Asteroid Mignonette at 25 Gemini is sextile Fellini, squared Maxine and inconjunct Emma, conferring their adoptive surname of Mignone (interestingly, Mignonette is only widely squared Marcus, perhaps representing John’s short fostering of the third sibling, adopted elsewhere).

Additional placements will become relevant as we compare the passing chart to the birth potential.

When Emmett was euthanized on April 4^th, the sky recorded multiple indicators of the event.  Emmett passed peacefully at home, facilitated by a visiting veterinarian, Ruth Erickson. The Sun at 14 Aries conjoined asteroid Mignonette at 15 Aries and Mercury at 16 Aries.  This pulled focus (Sun) on John Mignone (Mignonette), specifically regarding a pet (Mercury-ruled).  A square to asteroid Panacea at 16 Capricorn, named for the goddess of medicines, suggests the drugs used to perform the euthanizing.  The Aries stellium also opposes Emmett’s natal asteroid Kitty at 15 Libra, forming a synastric T-Square.

This solar stellium anchors a Grand Trine Kite pattern, with trines to asteroid Vet at 18 Sagittarius and asteroids Emma with Requiem at 22 and 23 Leo.  Emma is one of the celestial stand-ins for Emmett, while Requiem is named for the funeral mass for the dead.   In addition, both points are at station, about to turn direct, signifying a literal “turning point” for Emmett (Emma) related to her mortality (Requiem).  Vet obviously signifies the veterinarian who facilitated the passing, and is itself slowing down in the heavens to its station, which will not occur until late April, with Vet then at 19 Sag.

The string of the Kite, guiding its potential, is Emma/Requiem’s opposition to a stellium of asteroid Fellini at 17 Aquarius with Saturn and Venus at 22 and 28 Aquarius.  In and of itself, this spells “the loss (Saturn, ancient lord of death) of a beloved (Venus) feline (Fellini),” even without reference to the specifics of the cat’s name or that of her owner. 

This Aquarian grouping forms a second, synastric, Grand Trine Kite, trine to transit Johney at 26 Gemini, another marker for Emmett’s dad, and a natal cluster of asteroid Anubis (named for the ancient Egyptian deity governing funerary rites), Mercury and asteroid Vet at 21, 23 and 25 Libra.  The string is transit Johney’ s opposition to natal Pluto, modern lord of death, at 27 Sagittarius, with natal asteroid Atropos, named for the mythic Greek Fate who severs the thread of life at death, at 20 Sagittarius.  Natal Anubis/Mercury/Vet also squares transit Pluto at 28 Capricorn with transit asteroid Emita, Emmett’s second asteroid referent, at 24 Capricorn.

Transit Johney is also at the fulcrum of a Grand Cross, with squares to transit Kitty at 27 Virgo, and Jupiter conjunct Neptune at 22 and 23 Pisces, with asteroid Erikson at 27 Pisces.  Jupiter represents “long voyages” and is often active in passing charts, though not an indicator of death per se.  Neptune rules hospitals, including animal hospitals, drugs, and euthanasia itself.  Erikson of course represents the veterinarian, Ruth Erickson (transit asteroid Ruth at 2 Capricorn forms an Out-of-Sign Grand Cross with this pattern, also opposing transit asteroid Rip at 5 Cancer). That natal Pluto/Atropos transforms this into a Grand Cross, and the transit T-Square also activates natal Mignonette at 25 Gemini (conjunct transit Johney), natal Requiem and natal asteroid Osiris, named for the Egyptian god of the dead, at 20 and 28 Virgo (conjunct transit Kitty).

John Mignone’s final asteroid referent is asteroid Johnny, which at 6 Pisces is also part of a Grand Cross, opposing asteroid Anubis at 8 Virgo, squared asteroid Atropos at 7 Sagittarius and asteroid Osiris at 1 Gemini, four markers of death.  This Grand Cross overlays the Angles of Emmett’s natal chart, with Anubis on the 5 Virgo Ascendant, conjoined natal Saturn and natal Katz at 6 and 7 Virgo; Atropos conjunct the natal IC at 1 Sagittarius and natal asteroid Nemesis at 4 Sagittarius, a point indicating ruin or undoing; Johnny conjunct the 5 Pisces Descendant; and Osiris exactly on the 1 Gemini MC, also conjunct natal asteroid Lachesis, named for the Fate who determines the span of life, at 2 Gemini, and asteroid Karma at 7 Gemini, suggesting a fated element to her passing.

Emmett had been treated for kidney disease with a prescription diet and was responding well.  Radioiodine treatment for the hyperthyroidism had been scheduled, but she reacted to a preparatory thyroid drug and went downhill quickly.  Her death was quick and unexpected, and came as a shock to John, reflected in transit Uranus at 13 Taurus opposed the natal Sun with asteroid Rip, Johnny and Emita at 8, 11, 14 and 15 Scorpio, T-Squared transit Fellini at 17 Aquarius, conjunct natal Damocles with Achilles, symbolizing the doom hanging unseen overhead (Damocles) and an inherent weakness or flaw which threatens to destroy the individual (Achilles).  Rip is another death indicator, based in the acronym “RIP”, “Rest In Peace”, a common tombstone inscription.

A Lunar Eclipse on 19 November 2021 at 27 Taurus opposed natal Emma/Johney, prefiguring major changes for them both, while the subsequent Lunar Eclipse coming up on May 15^th will conjoin these from 25 Scorpio.  Truly, Emmett’s time had come.