The time of the Queen’s passing

As I write this, we still do not have official word of the exact moment of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022. According to an article in the Washington Post, “At 6:41 p.m. London time, more than six hours after the murmurs started, the Twitter account of the royal family made the announcement: ‘The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.’ “

Hours earlier there was several unofficial reports that the Queen had died. Perhaps reporters got the information from various sources but could not get official confirmation. For example, at 3:07 PM BST. the BBC anchor Yalda Hakim tweeted “BREAKING: Queen Elizabeth has died aged 96, Buckingham Palace has announced.” Hakim deleted the tweet 12 minutes later, stating that it was incorrect. Nonetheless, the 3:07 PM time is consistent with the later official announcement that the Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.

Curious whether there were astrological indications that might time her passing, I looked at the Queen’s natal chart, her tertiary progression (a method I learned from Richard Houck many years ago), and her Wynn Key Cycle chart cast for Balmoral at 3 PM (mid-afternoon) as an approximate time of death.

Queen Elizabeth II natal chart

In her birth chart, Mercury rules the 8th house cusp and must therefore be active at her time of death. Saturn rules the Ascendant (her body and vital forces) and is the most angular and prominent planet in the natal chart.

True tertiary progression (MC at Naibod rate in RA) to 8 Sep 2022 at 3 PM BST

In the tertiary progressed chart, the natal 8th ruler Mercury lies at 20 Libra 18′, and I reasoned that this degree must be significant in the Wynn Key Cycle chart at the time of her demise.

The Queen’s Wynn Key Cycle Chart for 3 pm BST at Balmoral

As expected, the IC of the Key Cycle chart lies at 20 Virgo 17′ 33″ in almost exact semi-sextile to the tertiary progressed Mercury at 20 Libra 18′ in the 4th house of final endings of the Key Cycle chart. In addition, the Moon rules the Ascendant of the Key Cycle chart and occupies the 8th of death, where it conjoins Saturn.

The Moon, Saturn and the Part of Fortune in the 8th house of the Key Cycle chart are closely quincunx the 4th cusp of final endings. I hypothesized that the Queen’s passing likely occurred when the Moon, or the Moon/Saturn midpoint, or the Part of Fortune exactly quincunxed the Key Cycle IC.

The transiting Moon quincunx 20 Virgo 17′ 33″ at about 1:50 PM BST, indicating a possible time of death. Other possible times would be indicated by the exact quincunx of the Moon/Saturn midpoint to the IC, and by the quincunx of the Part of Fortune (which combines the influences of the Sun, Moon, Ascendant and its dispositor Saturn, ruler of the 8th) to the IC. I gave more weight to the Moon/Saturn midpoint and to the Part of Fortune than to the transiting Moon acting alone.

The Moon/Saturn midpoint quincunxing the IC is quite significant because of Saturn’s importance in the natal chart and the fact that Saturn was time lord of the Queen’s final years in Ptolemy’s scheme of the Seven Ages of Man. The Moon/Saturn midpoint quincunxed the Key Chart IC at about 2:08 PM BST, another possible time of death.

The Part of Fortune of the Key Cycle Chart quincunxed the IC at about 3:11 PM BST, just four minutes after Yalda Hakim’s “incorrect” tweet about the Queen’s passing. Given the close correlation between Hakim’s 3:07 PM tweet, which was later withdrawn, and the 3:11 PM quincunx of the Part of Fortune to the Key Cycle chart IC, I suspected that the Queen had passed before 3 PM BST, most likely between 2:08 PM (Moon/Saturn midpoint quincunx IC) and 3:11 PM (Part of Fortune quincunx IC). The midpoint between these two time is 2:39 PM BST, and I suspected the Queen had died close to this time.

Interestingly, astrologer Victor Oliver in a Facebook post on 11 September 2022 commented: “Lady Colin Campbell, who is well connected and reported the death hours before the announcement at 6:30 pm, says she was ‘reliably informed’ that she died at 14:37 at Balmoral. The PM was informed at 4:30 pm.” If Lady Colin Campbell is correct, then the time of death she reported (2:37 PM BST) is quite consistent with the one indicated by the tertiary progression and the Wynn Key Cycle chart. I assume that at some point the Royal Family will report the actual time of the Queen’s passing.

CBS News also reported that “Britain’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss was told at 4:30 p.m. local time (11:30 a.m. Eastern) on Thursday that Queen Elizabeth II had died.” If we calculate the Wynn Key chart for 4:30 PM BST, the IC changes to 20 Virgo 18′ in partile semi-sextile to tertiary progressed Mercury, which rules the natal 8th of death. In other words, at the moment the Prime Minister was informed that Elizabeth II had died, the MC (signifying leaders and prime ministers) was in partile quincunx to the Queen’s tertiary progressed Mercury in the 4th house of endings of the Key Cycle chart.