Astro-Notes on the Death of Cleopatra Selene a Lunar Queen of Africa
by Jude Cowell
As you know, the name 'Selene' is a lunar name and several moons ago on Jude's Threshold I published the natal horoscope of Queen Cleopatra VII as rectified by master astrologer Noel Tyl. The post remains there if you wish to view it here. I simply love historical horoscopes, don't you? Born on January 13, 0069 B.C., Queen Cleopatra's chart is an ancient relic and extremely gray around the muzzle!
Do you know that the name 'Cleopatra' means "Father's Glory"? Well, one of the many things I did not know at the time of the previous post is that Queen Cleopatra's and Marc Antony's daughter Cleopatra Selene became Queen of Africa for she married Juba II thus blending the kingdoms of Egypt and Libya. Their son Ptolemy ruled with his father after Selene's early death at only 35 years of age upon which Crinagoras of Mytilene wrote a famous and stirring commemorative epigram for Cleopatra Selene which astrologers in particular may appreciate for its lunar qualities:
"The moon herself grew dark, rising at sunset, covering her suffering in the night, because she saw her beautiful namesake, Selene, breathless, descending to Hades, with her she had had the beauty of her light in common, and mingled her own darkness with her death."
Read more at History Today.
And so it is written that "on or around March 23, 005 BC" Cleopatra Selene's untimely death coincided with a rising-at-sunset Lunar Eclipse. Now being of a curious Mercurial nature, I checked my Solar Fire V9 software for lunar eclipses in year 005--and allowing for calendar differences through the centuries--I discovered that an appulse Lunar Eclipse (appulse, the weakest kind) in Virgo, sign of health, had perfected on March 14, 005 @21Vir59, a difference of 9 days. Setting a horoscope for Alexandria, Egypt we can see the eclipsed Moon rising precisely at sunset in this horoscope just as Crinagoras recorded:
Angular Planets and An Icy Cold 'Cold Case'!
If we place our trust in Crinagoras of Mytilene and dare to consider this as Cleopatra Selene's Death Horoscope, we find angular planets as if the Cosmos is timing her passing. The Moon at Ascendant (physical body) and the setting Sun and Venus angular at Descendant, are descriptive of her vitality (Sun) setting--and with aggravating Mars squaring the eclipse. Yes, near Midheaven is an angular Mars, malefic planet of infections, sharp instruments, attacks, and other negative associations but I mention 'infections' first because of other chart factors that are penned upon the chart.
Such as: when Moon-ASC is involved, poisoning may be the case; Virgo is the sign of the bowels; *Nicholas Devore gives "22 Virgo" (Luna's position--its apt Sabian Symbol = "A Royal Coat of Arms") as as degree of appendicitis which, if ruptured, spreads infection throughout the abdomen, causing much pain and suffering, and the appendix must be surgically removed immediately and the infection cleared out or death soon follows.
Also penned on the chart is a question that occurs to me because of Juno rising in Virgo (Queen of Heaven), and Moon as the mother: was she pregnant? Probably not since mention of it would almost certainly have been made at some point but with Mars angular and the Moon-ASC association my first suspicion is that some form of infection and/or poison was involved in Queen Cleopatra Selene's untimely death. Whether it was due to disease or was administered by another's hand is a mystery disguised within this Very Cold Case.
Unfortunately, my search for a natal horoscope or exact birth date for Cleopatra Selene has proven fruitless though this Timeline provides details such as the name of Selene's twin brother, Ptolemy Helios (who was killed by Octavian). Their older brother, Ptolemy Caesar is more often known as Caesarion--another link to pregnancy issues! did the tendency run in the family as did the name Ptolemy? These Greek twins of royal birth were born in 40 BCE which tallies with Selene's age of 35 at death, an age which also suggests that her death occurred during, or around the time of, what would have been her third Jupiter Return.
Recommended: King Juba II of Numidia and Queen Cleopatra Selene of Mauretania.
Please note that the horoscope shown includes the outer planets Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto more out of habit than for any particular reason, considering how long ago 'twas 005 BC. Of course, chart-ruler Mercury @7Ari54 conjunct South Node of the Moon (a Saturnian point of separation) makes only one applying Ptolemaic aspect and that's to conjoin disruptive Uranus which is also associated with the concept of separation and suddenness--and Uranus--conjunct mother asteroid Ceres--has just vacated the 8th house of death (in this House System). Yet Mercury represents younger folk than Selene's age of 35--she's just entered the Mars phase of life actually (although Mars is in Mercury-ruled Gemini, sign of the puer and puella)--and there's dreary Black Moon Lilith at MC (seductress or child-killer?). Also curious is that Selena (in 3rd house) @00Sag40 conjoins nebulous Neptune which was not discovered until 1846, yes, but is associated with poisons, toxins, and infections (plus, loss and mysterious deaths). As you see, Neptune is at a critical-crisis 29th degree of Scorpio, sign of betrayal and death, and which is ruled by Mars, though many astrologers now add Hades-ruler Pluto to the rulership, co-rulership, or sub-rulership of brooding Scorpio. jc
*Nicholas Devore's Encyclopedia of Astrology, 1947.
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