Ken Lay:  Heart Attack or Suicide? 

 With a Uranian-Astrology View

By Meira B. Epstein, C.A. NCGR-PAA

(First published in the NCGR E-News)

Ken Lay, the former Enron CEO, was indicted in the big financial scandal that robbed employees and share holders of their pension funds and life savings. On May 25, 2006 he was convicted of all charges and went to his friends' home in Aspen to await the sentencing, which was scheduled for October 23 this year.

When the announcement came on July 5, 2006 that he died of a heart attack, my reaction to the news was that once more he got away from the law, avoiding the certain long jail sentence that was anticipated which meant that he would spend the rest of his life in jail. His sudden death gave the impression more of a lucky break rather than a tragic end. As was amply reported in the media, an “added benefit” of this turn of events is that the authorities cannot get their hands on his remaining assets, and because the appeal process had begun, technically, he was still ‘not guilty’.

My astrological instincts kicked into high gear and when I first looked at the chart the immediate thought was “This was no ordinary heart attack. He took his own life and it was induced by drugs.”  A quick online search proved that I was not alone in this kind of thinking, but these conspiracy fans were not astrologers… so I wanted to see where all this was in the natal chart and how this turn of events shows.

The following analysis discusses only the components that are relevant to the “end of the matter” as described above.

The first thing that caught my attention in the natal chart was: ASC (life) and 8^th House (death) are both ruled by the same planet -Venus- exalted in Pisces in the 6^th House (of illness), conjunct the South Node. Such a connection with the 8H creates an intimate awareness and familiarity with death, as well as potential health due to the ASC Ruler in the 6H.

The Pisces placement gave me the first hunch regarding the use of medical drugs to induce his own death. Venus, his ruler, is the Dispositor of the Great Malefic Saturn in the 8H, so he is in control of how he dies. The trine between Saturn & Uranus and the 12H Neptune facilitates the cover-up and finishes the job. The square from Jupiter and Mars to Neptune is also an indication of deceptive actions, financial and otherwise.

Venus is square her Dispositor - Jupiter who is with Mars, both disposed by Mercury in the 7H. 

This 7H connection is reinforced by the Mutual Reception and sextile between Mars and Mercury. In other words, the wife is instrumental, or has a role in the process that would lead to his death.  A more charitable interpretation could be that the ultimate purpose was to save the assets of the spouse (8H) from falling in the hands of the federal government.

Was it a heart attack, and how can we see it? The coroner’s preliminary report said that he suffered from clogged arteries, and also had a previously undetected episode of it. The mainstream media kept saying that it was a result of the stress he was under the last few years. A CNN report said “Toxicology reports are still pending and won't be completed for two to three weeks.”

Typically, a heart attack is indicated by a Sun-Uranus aspects, but Lay didn’t have it natally, nor by transits, at least not current at the time he died (disregarding natal Saturn-Uranus 8H for the moment). So what else was there?

Four striking facts became immediately obvious per the stressful and dramatic events: Progressed ASC opposite 8H Saturn, Progressed Mars conjunct Pluto, Solar-Arc Saturn square the Moon and Solar-Arc Pluto conjunct ASC (exact to 2 minutes!). Incidentally, this can be a good proof for his time of birth.

His current Solar Return chart, set for Houston TX, has the Mars ominously ruling both ASC and 8H, exactly squaring the Angles. Elevated Pluto trines the 1H Sun, and Moon-Jupiter in Scorpio 8H also pointing to an easy death related to money as well. The four Angles & Mars all connected with the World Axis make it a sudden public news worthy event.

The Uranian System Provides Additional Precise &  Specific Descriptions:

The following combinations are a limited selection of the many pertinent planetary pictures found in the Natal Chart. (“|” indicates a midpoint. “=” indicates a hard-aspect connection):

Aries = Jupiter | Saturn:  "Business and real-estate related to the public. Separation favored by good fortune."

Aries = Sun | Hades:  "Carrier of secrets (again in connection with the public and business). People in deplorable conditions. Grief and difficulties in the public. Pursued by misfortune. Physical troubles. Diseased body."

Mercury = Hades = Neptune:  "Lies. Confusion. To plot dirty tricks. To be outwitted by trickery. To err or make mistakes. Hidden thoughts. To be silent with shame. Lack of lucidity."

Neptune = Kronos | Chiron:  "Deception of or by a professional, or by a high-ranking medical person."

Moon = Neptune | Admetos:  "Narcotics, deadly poisons or drinks connected with a woman (!). Decay, decline, shrinkage (i.e. a slow process). A woman turns icy. (Possibly, the Enron employee who blew the whistle. Also his wife?)  The public, people, a woman, change their life-style (applies both to his family and the those who suffered from the Enron collapse)"

Moon = Saturn | Zeus:  "To bequeath to a woman."

Sun = Mars | Saturn:  "Death, sickness, personal difficulties."

At the Time of his Death we Also Find:  

Solar-Arc Mars | Saturn = Neptune which reads as 

“Death by poison, gas, plague or cunning (treachery)” (!) activating his natal Neptune = Mercury = Hades.  

This adds a more sinister flavor, making the ‘suicide theory’ more plausible and even implying the involvement of another person.

This Solar Arc event will come to exactitude within four months from his death, about October 2006 – incidentally, the time he was supposed to receive his sentence. Consciously or subconsciously, Ken Lay carried the evasion of truth and his secrets to his grave.

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              © 2006 Meira B. Epstein, All Rights Reserved.

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