It is said that Pessoa, a profound student of occultism and astrology, as well as a learned connoisseur of the Hermetic arts in general, managed to foresee his death and missed the mark by only a few months. In his lifetime, astrology was re-emerging after a long period of obscurantism, mainly through initiatic and Theosophical secret societies. Although much of medieval doctrine still remained to be unearthed and translated, a process that would only consolidate in the late twentieth century, the truth is that the technique of primary directions never entirely disappeared. It was likely through this method that the writer was able to glimpse the proximity of his end.
His Sun, the significator of vitality, at the age of 47, directed by conjunction to Saturn, the significator of death. Put simply: life delivered itself into the hands of death. This direction perfected on October 5, 1935, about a month and a half before his passing, which occurred on November 30. A total of 56 days, which is the total number of Minor Arcana cards in Tarot (just a curious aside, really), perfecting 8 weeks.
In the doctrine of longevity calculation, the first step is to determine the Hyleg, that is, the life-giving planet, which is normally one of the luminaries. Pessoa, having been born by day, has the Sun as his hyleg, something confirmed by other parameters. It is placed in a hylegical house (the 8th) and in a masculine sign Gemini. Up to this point, the procedure is straightforward. We must then identify the Alcochoden, a sort of “life insurance” of the hyleg, the planet that, for a number of years, protects the native from events that may steal away the vital breath. As Gemini is ruled by Mercury, and as Mercury is also the almuten of the degree of 22 Gemini where the Sun is located, Mercury assumes the protective function.
Mercury grants a minimum protection of 20 years, a mean of 48 and a maximum of 76. To determine which measure applies, we must examine Mercury’s condition. It is cadent in the 9th, retaining only minor essential dignities by term and face. The big problem is the square to Mars debilitated in Libra in the 12th, a profoundly anti-nature and self-destructive Mars. Also, Cancer is the fall of Mars, and therefore Mars hates Mercury, Pessoa’s Alcochoden, intensifying the violence of this square aspect. So we can assign the mean protection of 48 years, perhaps slightly less.
Pessoa’s hylegical Sun encountered Saturn at 47 years and about three months, practically on this very boundary of protection. We must also consider Saturn’s own condition. It is in Leo, a sign it detests, so Saturn also hates this Sun (the ruler of Leo). The significator of death detests the significator of Pessoa’s life and also loathes Mercury, the Alcochoden, because it is in Cancer, another detriment of him. Just as the hidden destroyer Mars detests Mercury too, as it its fall. The two malefics operate as anti-life forces in the nativity. The fact that Mars also rules the 6th, the house of diseases, further aggravates the picture.
Fernando Pessoa died at 47 years and about four and a half months of age, a victim of hepatic cirrhosis, in Lisbon, a few weeks after the Sun–Saturn encounter in primary directions. His profected year was the 12th, the cadent house from the Ascendant, and therefore anti-life. A virtually textbook case of primary directions, hyleg, and Alcochoden functioning in coherence.
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