A tragedy happened yesterday as Dan Wheldon, the current Indy 500 champion was fatally injured during a 15 car pile up at the Las Vegas speedway oval during the last Indy Car event of the season. It appears that the drivers were nervous before the race, which saw 34 cars running at high speeds on a relatively small track. The risks certainly were high and unfortunately the incident on the 13th lap claimed the life of the universally popular British racing driver.
Dan was born on 22nd June 1978 in Olney, Buckinghamshire in the UK and was a contemporary of British F1 drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton. Dan was a Sun sign Cancerian with a workmanlike Capricorn Moon. I have no official birth time for Dan however I suspect that he was born early in the morning (see below). That would have given him a t-square formation in his chart based around a Moon Jupiter Mercury opposition. That Jupiter Moon opposition bestows an optimistic cheerful disposition, and that is what everyone said in memory of Dan. The t-square would have given him the tension needed in his life to go and do great things. Pluto is a powerful motivator, but often you need to break ties to achieve what you want. Dan of course left the UK for the United States and it was abroad where he found his greatest success. A 3am birth time would have given him a 9th house Capricorn Moon, indicative of someone who would work in a foreign land. It also brings Saturn, the planet of ambition into the 5th house of sport as well as Mars, the planet of speed in highly technical Virgo. To drive well at high speeds needs fast reactions, and with Mars in Virgo, Dan’s would have been lightening quick. Not fast enough sadly to avoid the crash that killed him.
Moving back to the rest of the chart we have a highly motivated Jupiter Mercury conjunction square to Pluto, which is in my view the biggest indicator of wealth creation in the zodiac. Jupiter square Pluto thinks big, acts big and achieves big. Uranus in Scorpio was trine to Mercury and Jupiter which is very tech savvy and bubbly. Like Dan’s Sun, all three planets are in security conscious Cancer. It is a crying shame and also deeply ironic that at the time of Dan’s passing, he was testing a new racing car design which was supposed to prevent the vehicle from flipping into the air when it hit somebody else from behind. I am sure as a Cancerian, Dan above anyone else in Indy Car would have had safety at the forefront of his mind, and I hope that the organisers of the series will beef up safety, both on the track and in the makeup of the cars to prevent such an accident happening again, one where the driver in the car is in desperate danger flying towards a concrete wall at 200 plus miles an hour.
So astrologically, what was the astro weather at the time of the accident? Well, the first thing I noticed was that transiting Uranus was conjunct Dan’s South Node and also square to his Sun. This is a very risky position. Any contact with a Node indicates a time when your fate is not entirely in your own hands and Uranus conjunct the South Node brings the idea of an accidental happening which will not tend to end up favourably. Transiting Uranus square to the Sun is always a time when one should be careful, little accidents are always on the cards.
We also have natal Mars being hit by 2 trines, one from transiting Jupiter and one from transiting Pluto. This shows high speed, very high speed. Had Dan had only the Jupiter connection, maybe he would have been lucky, and survived the crash, but Pluto here bring the risk of death. Using the 3am chart, Pluto would itself have been transiting the 8th house of change transformation and death, very much increasing the risk of something nasty happening and Jupiter would have been moving through the 12th house of suffering and sacrifice. We also have transiting Saturn square to the natal Moon, lighting up that troubling yet motivational t-square including Pluto and transiting Neptune opposite Saturn. Maybe the dream of winning $5 million by entering the race and being successful blinded him to the dangers of the day?
Finally, transiting Mars was trine to natal Neptune and this Neptune was also receiving a conjunction from the transiting North Node. Was Dan being over optimistic that day? Taking too many risks. Neptune can bring you down to earth in a flash. From having you dreams right before you, you can end up ultimately with crushing disappointment. One’s judgement under this influence can be severely impaired. In the natal chart, Dan’s Sun was quindecile Neptune. He would have always been searching for the ideal. In a racing driver’s life that is the need for speed, the need for recognition, the need to dream and reach unimaginable heights, the need to win. Sometimes that tends to push you just over the edge. In a way, the Neptune North Node conjunction has been born out over the past few hours since Dan’s death. Here is the personality floating in the clouds, receiving a sense of appreciation, put on a pedestal, someone who as I just mentioned lived the dream itself, and the accolades he has received since the fateful crash have flooded in from all over the world. Dan was supremely talented, and during his short life touched the stars and experienced the successes that few racing drivers fully achieve. In worldwide motorsport, he will always stand out as a legendary figure, something he would have always wanted to be.
My condolences to all his family and friends.