At this point, unless you have been living on a different planet, you have heard of Titan, the OceanGate Submersible that imploded. Now for me, being an astrologer, the first thing that went through my mind was what was going on at the time of launch. As some know, and some don’t, the start time of the event is where the birth chart of an event starts. So… of course I brought up the birth chart and oh man!
The question then becomes could this have been avoided… astrologically. I understand the science and have read all those articles but let’s put that aside for this article and just focus on the planets.
Let’s unpack the launch chart.
Titan was launched from the ship Polar Prince at 8:00 am Eastern Time on June 18, 2023. When I run the chart, we see that this makes the 1st house Cancer with the ascendant being 1 degree 21 minutes in the lunar mansion of Punarvasu. To start for those who don’t know Cancer is a water sign. The first house, Cancer, is ruled by the Moon. At this time, we had a dark Moon in the 12th house of the chart. As an astrologer when I am looking at a chart for an event this would be a bit of a concern. On the negative side the twelfth house is a house of loss and having the ruler of the first in the twelfth, and in a weaker state, is not the dream. That being said, that alone would not cause a major catastrophe. The twelfth house also rules the depths of the Ocean and space and exploring those. So, in that sense this makes total sense as the OceanGate submersible was going to the depths of the ocean to see the Titanic. The Moon was conjunct the Sun and the Sun rules the second house of the chart which is a maraka (killer) house. This makes a double whammy with the ruler of the first conjunct the ruler of the second house in the twelfth house. Phew! It doesn’t stop there.
Moon and Sun are in the lunar mansion of Mrigashira. This is considered the “star of searching”. I would say this is appropriate given what this excursion was about. This lunar mansion is one about traveling and restlessness. It is also one that can indicate being a highly intelligent researcher and investigator. This lunar mansion is ruled by the planet Mars which is in the first house of this chart. Mars can indicate accidents especially in the first house. Venus is also in the first house. Venus is an indicator of luxury items. What is more luxury than spending $250,000 per person to go down to see the Titanic on the ocean floor.
Saturn was stationary as it had just turned retrograde the day before launch. A stationary planet is extremely powerful. Stationary malefics, which Saturn is, have more power to cause harm. In the chart of this event Saturn rules the other maraka house and is sitting in the eighth house of death and transformation. This is another hit as to why this was not a positive time to begin this journey. Saturn is in the lunar mansion of Shatabhishak. This is considered a harder lunar mansion and is ruled by the node of the Moon, Rahu. This is all about diseases that are difficult to cure and if we think about what we have been hearing about the submersible this fits that there could be a problem with the vehicle that couldn’t be fixed at this time. Keep in mind this Rahu energy which will come into play as well in this chart and I will get to it shortly.
Neptune, ruler of the Ocean and delusions, was in the Saturn ruled lunar mansion of Uttara Bhadrapada in the water sign of Pisces. This connects the energy of Neptune to the eighth house in this chart. This is another hit that this was not the time to launch and could lead to a potential tragedy. Neptune was squaring, sending its energy to, the Sun and the Moon in the twelfth house adding another layer of potential for issues around this launch and potential for unknown or hidden issues.
Now let’s talk about the nodes of the Moon, Rahu and Ketu. Rahu was in the lunar mansion of Ashwini which is ruled by Ketu. Ketu was in the lunar mansion of Swati which is ruled by Rahu. Ketu is an indicator of loss and Swati denotes the business man and renown. We lost three extremely wealthy businessmen to this tragedy (all three were billionaires from the articles I have seen). Rahu being in Ketu’s lunar mansion expanded this energy. Jupiter was also in Ketu’s lunar mansion and Jupiter is also very expansive. Ketu being in the fourth house of the chart is considered at the bottom of the sky. It is the deepest depths. With Ketu, loss, in the deepest depths, can show a loss at deep depths.
Mercury the planet of travel and communication was in Taurus in the lunar mansion of Rohini. This connects Mercury to Venus in the first house conjunct Mars and to the Moon in the twelfth house. A lot of energy was being held by weak or malefic planets in this chart.
At this time the dasha period that was running was Mars -Moon. We know Moon rules the chart and Mars is in the Moon’s sign of Cancer. Add to this the energy was magnified more as the rashi dasha that was running was Cancer-Gemini. This was picking up the first house and twelfth house energy.
The last thing I want to talk about is the connections between planets based on their aspects. In Jaimini astrology Mercury and Mars are in aspect and these two when connected can cause accidents. Mars is accidents and Mercury is communication and transportation. Saturn is aspecting Jupiter almost to the exact degree making this a powerful point of manifestation. Saturn is also aspecting Rahu. (I will note that Saturn is aspecting Rahu and Jupiter by parashara aspect too.) Ketu is aspecting Mercury which can trigger a loss of communication.
Could this tragedy have been avoided? I would say based only on the astrology…yes. If they had launched at their original time and not been delayed in launching the chart would have been completely different. But we can’t go back in time and sometimes things evolve the way they do because of other things that lead to that timing.
This is a powerful example of the importance of checking travel charts and event start times as it can change the outcome of the trip or event.
If you have a trip or event coming up and want to see what to expect you can book a consultation at elizabethweihmiller.com/contact.
