Natalie Wood's death – Accident or murder?

For those of you who don't know who Natalie Wood was, she was a famous Hollywood actress who died at the age of 42 under very mysterious circumstances. According to wikipedia: “During the making of the film Brainstorm, Wood drowned while on a weekend boat trip to Santa Catalina Island on board the Splendour. Many of the circumstances surrounding her drowning are unknown; it was never determined how she entered the water. She was with her husband Robert Wagner, Brainstorm co-star Christopher Walken, and the Splendour's captain, Dennis Davern, on the evening of November 28, 1981. Wood's body was recovered by authorities at 8:00 a.m. on November 29, one mile away from the boat, with a small inflatable dinghy, named the Valiant, found beached nearby. According to Wagner, when he went to bed, Wood was not there.[47] The autopsy report revealed that Wood had bruises on her body and arms as well as an abrasion on her left cheek”. And: “In 2011, Walken hired a lawyer when authorities reopened the Wood case. Authorities stated that Walken is not a suspect.[58] Wagner has denied any involvement in Wood's death[59] but was named a person of interest in the investigation in February 2018” In reality, Robert Wagner could never shake off the - so far ungrounded - accusation that he was somehow responsible for the death of his wife. Can astrology shed some light on this?

Let's start with Robert Wagner's chart.

His 7^th house of relationships has Venus as its domicile ruler and the Moon as the almuten. Venus is combust and the Moon, although in domicile. is afficted by her arch-enemy, Saturn. This indicates problems with relationships. He had a couple of divorces (one was with Wood herself) and of course, he lost a wife. The sιgnificators of the wife do not seem afflicted by his own significators (Mars and Jupiter - Jupiter is the ascendant term ruler). Mars is in the same sign as Venus but they are quite far from each other and Venus' major problem is the Sun, not Mars. The Moon is afflicted by Saturn, but Saturn is not one of Wagner's significators, while Jupiter hurts neither the Moon nor Venus. However, Jupiter is the term ruler of the ascendant and also ruler of the 2^nd house, the turned 8^th house (death of wife). I believe very much in the term ruler of the ascendant, as this differentiates people born on the same day and have the same ascendant, but that's my own theory and not part of the tradition, so it needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

However, the same pattern repeats in the solar return chart for the year his wife died. First of all, the SR chart has a Taurus ascendant (the natal 7^th house) indicating relationship issues for that year. His wife is Mars and she is conjunct retrograde Mercury in detriment, with Mercury being the turned 8^th house (the radical 2^nd ) and the term ruler of the ascendant at the same time, thus repeating the natal pattern. Anyway, whatever the value of the term ruler, Natalie's death is clearly shown by the Mars/Mercury conjunction.

Finally, around the time of Natalie's death, in primary directions, the MC/IC axis was conjunct Saturn, therefore activating the natal Moon/Saturn opposition, indicating her death.

Let's move to Natalie Wood's chart.

Does her chart indicate a short life? First of all, she has a Libra ascendant and in most cases this goes together with Taurus in the 8^th house, so the same planet rules both life and death. This by itself is not some serious testimony, but it could be the icing of the cake if there are other concurring testimonies. Her ascendant domicile ruler is Venus, in fall and in the malefic 12^th house, but she is in her triplicity and terms, so things could be worse. However, the ascendant almuten is Saturn, who is in detriment in the 7^th house, indicating she is either controlled by her relationships or she simply makes bad choices in matters of love. Finally, the South Node is in the 8^th house of death and Uranus is also there, very close to the cusp, indicating a sudden and unexpected death.

In the solar return chart for the year of her death, we have some very interesting testimonies. First of all, both her significators, Saturn and Jupiter, rulers of the ascending and the intercepted sign in the 1^st house, are in the 8^th house of death. However, they trine the ascendant, Saturn is exalted and receives Jupiter. The worst scenario could have been avoided, if there hadn't been the two “lethal” squares with Mars, an Infortune in the sign of his fall and Mercury. Mercury is the ruler of the intercepted sign in the 7^th house and therefore rules the husband. Thus, husband and death are connected.

Now, SR Venus, domicile ruler of the SR 8^th house, is conjunct the SR 7^th house cusp. This could mean: a) Death of the husband. but we know that this didn't happen, b) a new woman in the life of her husband (possible, perhaps that was the reason of their fight) or c) death caused BY the husband.

At the time of her death, in both primary and secondary directions, her natal Uranus in the 8^th house was activated by the Asc/7^th house cusp axis (how exact the aspect was depends on the accuracy of her birth time) and also natal Venus (herself) was opposite primarily directed Saturn, the great Infortune. A very bad time for her indeed.

One final indication that connects Robert Wagner with Natalie's death is that Robert's ascendant falls exactly on Natalie's North Node/South Node axis which is located in the 2^nd and 8^th house and therefore the most personal point in his nativity is directly connected with her death.

Does all of the above make him a killer? No, not necessarily. Astrologers don't have crystal balls, nor are they psychics. We just try to interpret astrological symbols. Still, just like in real life, there is enough astrological evidence to make him “a person of interest”.

Petros Eleftheriadis
Traditional Astrologer QHP
petelefth@gmail.com