Chiron and Mariana Da Costa

It’s always sad when you read about a tragic death, especially of a young person. Brazilian model Mariana Bridi da Costa died of septicemia soon after the doctors amputated her arms and legs. In situations such as this one, those of us who are familiar with astrology search for clues in the birth chart and try to determine whether this tragic event was evident in the horoscope. Although Sue Tompkins says, and traditional astrologers would disagree, that most of the time death itself cannot be determined from the personal horoscope and that it can be much more easily deduced from the charts of those close to us, it is inevitable that we cast a look in the chart of the deceased.

Da Costa was born in Brazil on 18 June 1988. The birth time is unknown, so it is risky to go deeply into her birth chart, however one thing stands out. She had a Sun/Chiron conjunction in Gemini opposite an exact – almost to the minute – Saturn/Uranus conjunction in Sagittarius. I’m not saying that this configuration is responsible for her death after all there are lots of people born at that particular time all over the world, although it would have been interesting to know what houses these planets rule.

This is a most interesting configuration and probably very difficult to live with. As most contemporary astrologers would say, Chiron is the mediator between Saturn and Uranus and inflicts a wound upon us that cannot be healed. The important thing about this wound is that it is collective and we have to live with it because “that’s life”. Da Costa obviously identified with Chiron, since this is the planet out of the whole configuration that’s conjunct her Sun. The Saturn/Uranus conjunction in Sagittarius is also very interesting in that she was born at a time when there was an urgent need for meaning. It seems that she embodied the quest for meaning through being wounded by life.

How have we come to know about Da Costa? She wasn’t that famous to start with. We can be cynical about it and ask what does it matter that she died? People die every day all around the world and we don’t seem to make such a fuss about it. However, the news of her amputation made the headlines, even though most of us had no idea who she was prior to this event. And it did, because it was shocking to see a young beautiful girl faced with such a tragic fate. We didn’t mourn for Da Costa, but for what she represented, the fragility of each and every one of us. We mourned because of the realization that life is inherently tragic and can deal a heavy blow to whomever it chooses and no beauty nor fame or money can protect us. We mourned because we all have Chiron in our charts.

Why did she die now? Is there any astrological evidence? First of all, she had a Mars/North Node conjunction in Pisces, Mars signifying surgery. In the progressed chart Mars formed a tight T-square with the progressed Saturn/Uranus conjunction and natal Sun. Her progressed Sun was also trining/sextiling the nodal axis (remember Mars on the North Node) at the time she was admitted to hospital. Again, I’m not saying that these aspects “caused” her death, but any astrologer, had she consulted one, would no doubt have laid emphasis on them. What all of us can simply do now, is not to let her death go unnoticed, but instead stop and think how tragedy and meaning in life are sometimes interrelated.