Alex's Asteroid Astrology

Although national mourning and celebration of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s life has been protracted for more than ten days after her passing, the official State Funeral ceremony is slated to begin in Westminster Abbey at 11 AM BST on Monday, 19 September 2022.   Much of the passing chart remains in effect, but there are significant changes and additions which reflect the funeral itself.

We won’t be using most death indicators for this interpretation, as that time is past.  There are three, however, which also have special relevance to a funeral:  these are asteroid Requiem, named for the funeral mass for dead; asteroid Anubis, named for the ancient Egyptian deity governing funerary rites; and Rip, in its acronym form “RIP”, a common tombstone inscription.  We’ll also be adding centaur Hylonome, noted for expressions of grief, often extreme; asteroids Grieve and Graves, for obvious reasons; and asteroids West and Abbe, to represent Westminster Abbey, where the ceremony occurs.

The 11 AM time in London gives an Ascendant of 10 Scorpio, with asteroid Graves at 10 Taurus exactly on the Descendant, highlighting the pending interment.  With Graves is TNO Albion at 13 Taurus, named for an ancient term for Britain.  In square is asteroid Rey at 11 Leo, Spanish for “king”, with a Grand Cross completed by asteroid Elisabetha at 8 Aquarius, already at its station degree (Elisabetha will turn direct a week later, on September 26^th).  This spells out a funeral (Graves) for Britain’s (Albion) monarch (Rey), Elizabeth II (Elisabetha).

Also at station is centaur Hylonome, which at 19 Capricorn will turn direct on the 30^th.  Hylonome squares asteroid Grieve at 17 Aries, with asteroid King at 11 Aries, speaking again to mourning (Hylonome, Grieve) for a sovereign (King).  Hylonome also conjoins Pluto, modern lord of death, at 26 Capricorn, which ties it to a T-Square of asteroid Britten (homophone of Britain) at 29 Cancer, exactly squared asteroid Elisabetta with asteroid Church on the fulcrum at 29 Libra.  This reads as grief and mourning (Hylonome) for the death (Pluto) of Elizabeth II (Elisabetta), in the Abbey venue (Church).

Also hitting that theme is a Grand Cross of asteroid Queen’s at 5 Capricorn, opposed the Moon at 12 Cancer, squared Mercury at 4 Libra and a pairing of asteroids Requiem with Anubis at 10 and 13 Libra, and asteroid Roy (Old French for “king”) at 2 Aries, with an exact Jupiter/asteroid London conjunction at 4 Aries.  This denotes a newsworthy event and Press coverage (Mercury) of the public (Moon) funeral (Requiem, Anubis) of a female (Moon) sovereign (Queen’s, Roy) in Britain’s capital (London). 

Jupiter rules royalty generally, as well as indicating the outsized nature of the ceremony and its religious overtones.  Its exact conjunction with London can also be seen as the large gathering of foreign and domestic royals for the funeral, with 17 crowned heads and their spouses or heirs expected to attend the funeral, among a crowd of some 500 dignitaries and 2000 guests.  Almost three dozen near relations, descendants of the Queen’s grandfather George V, will attend, as well as presidents, premieres, and representatives of governments from across the globe.

Venus at 17 Virgo appears with asteroids West and Rip at 15 and 12 Virgo respectively, a symbol of the funeral (Rip) of a beloved (Venus) personage at Westminster Abbey (West).  The Sun at 26 Virgo closely conjoins asteroid Abbe at 25 Virgo, putting the funeral site in the spotlight; this opposes Neptune at 23 Pisces, planetary ruler of sorrow.

More to the point, the Sun/Abbe conjunction opposes Elizabeth II’s natal asteroid Graves at 20 Pisces, as well as natal Hylonome, exact with natal London at 22 Pisces.  This depicts a highlight (Sun) on an outpouring of grief (Hylonome) in the capital (London), focused (Sun) on a funeral (Graves) in Westminster Abbey (Abbe).  The natal Hylonome/London pairing is more than apt, as a preview of the intense mourning displayed there, with queues of ordinary citizens extending up to 5 miles from her lying-in-state in Westminster Hall, and waits of as much as 30 hours to view her catafalque.  Crowds were so large that admission to the queue was suspended for six hours on Friday the 16^th; in total, nearly three-quarters of a million are expected to file past the Queen to pay their respects.  The lying-in-state commenced in Westminster Hall at 5 PM BST on Wednesday the 14^th, and continues 24 hours a day until the viewing is terminated at 6:30 AM the day of the funeral.  During this period, asteroids Grieve and Hall were in square, from 18 to 17 Aries and 14 through 16 Cancer.

The Queen’s natal asteroid Grieve at 5 Taurus conjoins her Sun, and is activated by the Descendant and asteroid Graves for the funeral.  The funeral MC at 25 Leo squares the Queen’s natal asteroid Requiem at 22 Scorpio, while transit Grieve at 17 Aries conjoins natal Anubis at 20 Aries, providing real-time, in-the-moment links to these points which relate most strongly to funerals and memorials. 

As following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, 25 years before, masses of floral tributes have been left for Her Majesty, outside Buckingham Palace and other royal residences.  But the palace staff learned some valuable lessons from that experience, when the offerings were allowed to remain and accrue until after Diana’s funeral; some 60 million flowers had to be cleared in the aftermath, with an estimated weight of 10-15 tons.  This time around, flowers are cleared daily to make room for more, so there’s no telling how the two women compare in floral memorials.  But flowers are certainly a prime focus of the event, as asteroid Flora attests.  Named for the Roman goddess of flowers (and the root of our words floral and florist), she appears at 12 Scorpio in the funeral chart, closely conjoined the 10 Scorpio Ascendant, part of the Grand Cross with Graves, Rey and Elisabetha.

The ceremony was officiated by David Hoyle, Dean of Westminster, and Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, England’s leading prelate. Dean Hoyle’s moment in the sun is seen by asteroid Hoyle at 22 Pisces, opposed the Sun/Abbe conjunction. The Archbishop is represented by asteroid Canterbury, which at 5 Libra conjoins Mercury at 4 Libra and asteroid Requiem at 10 Libra, and is exactly squared asteroid Queen’s at 5 Capricorn marking Archbishop Welby (Canterbury) as the principal speaker (Mercury) at his former sovereign’s (Queen’s) funeral (Requiem).

Although the ceremony is being held in London, the Queen will be interred privately with her husband Prince Philip at the family crypt in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, as portrayed by transit asteroid George at 1 Scorpio, opposing transit Graves and within orb of the Ascendant.  Elizabeth’s reunion with her husband is reflected in the placement of asteroids Prinz (German for Prince) and Philippa (feminine version of Philip) at 2 and 6 Capricorn, flanking asteroid Queen’s at 5 Capricorn.

With this final act, the long life and seemingly endless reign of Elizabeth II passes into history.  None of her successors is likely to reign as long, nor preside over so much change and transformation.  May she rest in peace.