The Moorgate Crash
The Moorgate Crash
without slowing down. It might be said
that the victims of the crash effectively
acted as a ‘sacrifice’ for the good of others
in the future.
The Moon applies to a square with Saturn
in Cancer – it is just twelve minutes of
one degree away from perfection. Saturn
is the natural ruler of death but in this
chart it’s also the ruler of the 10th house
signifying those in authority and which
we can therefore take to rule the driver,
Leslie Newson, who had command of
the train - the ‘captain of the ship’ in 17th
century terms.
Outside Moorgate tube station following the crash
variance from “the Ancients” who would
use the 9th house for such judgements and
believes this is “for no other reason, than
because it must be granted, that all Ships
are made from Travell and Journeys”.
In this case, we might surmise that “the
Ancients” would pay attention to the 3rd
house because it rules “small journeys”4
of the sort that would be taken on the
Tube. Nonetheless, as per Lilly, it is the 1st
house which matters.
The train is therefore signified by the
Ascendant at 11o 20’ [Solar Fire chart
shows 11o 19’- ed] Taurus and the Moon
which is placed at 11o 56’ Libra in the 6th
house. The passengers who “sail” in the
train are signified by Venus, the ruler of
Taurus at 6o 6’ Aries in the 12th house.
Taurus is a fixed earth sign and offers us a
description of the location of the accident
– it occurs in the earth (underground)
and the train slams into a brick wall. How
often have astrologers said that trying to
get a Taurus to change his or her mind is
like banging one’s head against a brick
wall?
I like to remain close to Lilly’s method
which uses only the conjunction and the
seven traditional heavenly bodies but,
in examining event charts, I have found
many instances where more modern
techniques seem to offer a confirmation
of the interpretation obtainable from
traditional sources – this is one of those
cases.
28
Sep/Oct 2015 The Astrological Journal
The Moon is in the 6th house which rules
sickness and we know that 74 people
were injured. The Moon also forms a
partile quincunx to the Ascendant, i.e. it
is exactly 150o away and the quincunx is
one of those more modern aspects which
is somewhere between a minor and major
hard aspect.5
If we bring in the modern planets then
we can see that an exact yod is formed
between Neptune, the Moon and the
Ascendant. Pluto at 8o 39’ Libra, conjunct
the Moon and sextile Neptune, is also
linked to this configuration. From a
modern astrological standpoint we might
say that the people (Moon) are sacrificed
(Neptune) in the underworld (Pluto)
- there seems to be an element of fate
about this accident with the ‘finger’ of
the yod at the Ascendant of the chart, the
very origin of the event.
From a traditionalist standpoint, only
the seven visible planets including Sun
and Moon rule the zodiac signs (and by
extension the houses) but this yod is so
marked that it is difficult to ignore it. The
theme of sacrifice associated with Pisces,
Neptune (its modern ruler) and the 12th
house is developed when we look into the
aftermath of the Moorgate rail crash.
The crash led to the introduction of the
‘Moorgate Protection’, a device placed
in the cab of the train which stopped it
being able to go straight through a station
Saturn is in a sorry state being not only
peregrine (without essential dignity) but
also in detriment and retrograde. This,
perhaps, gives us a clue to the state of
mind of the driver. If we consider the 10th
house as representing the driver then the
9th house – also with Capricorn on the
cusp and also ruled by Saturn – is the 12th
house from the 10th, or the ‘turned 12th’.
The strong identification between the 9th
and 10th houses shows the potential for
‘self-undoing’.6
Appropriately, Saturn, the driver, is
placed in the 3rd house which signifies
local journeys and therefore the London
Underground.
The Part of Death is calculated as:
Absolute degrees of Ascendant + Absolute
degrees of 8th house c