On his website, Martin Gamsten remarks that he cannot quite attribute to Saturn the health difficulties Robert Zoller faced in his life, since the planet is not that prominent in his chart. After all, the 1st House (vita, health) is ruled by Jupiter in Scorpio, the great benefic in a relative good state. Plus, the luminary Moon is right there, angular, on top of the Ascendant degree, and also untroubled by the malefics, on a sign like Pisces, where she has dignity by triplicity, adding her light-protection to the native.
Now Saturn is in a terrible state. By Alcabitius, he is on the 5th House, in detriment in Leo, and retrograde. Personally, I prefer to see malefics operative in good zodiacal conditions, instead of seeing them causing all sorts of trouble by being caged against their own nature. Saturn signifies death, chronic diseases, cold, winter, anything that throws darts against life. A natural born killer. He is the ultimate killer and destroyer of forms, working long-term, constantly sharpening his scythe.
But, if he happens to be in adverse conditions to his nature, like in Leo, his essence loses efficacy, much like a blindfolded, drunk killer with a gun in his hands. We want Saturn to destroy forms in due time, not before, not after, not in a rushed state.
Leo is the throne of the Sun. It represents the apex of life, summer, hot temperatures, vitality-affirming deeds, the lust for life (no wonder that Crowley decided to change Arcanum XI from Strenght into Lust, considering that, amng the major cards, it is the one associated with Leo). It is the riding-the-tiger solar sign, the fiery joy of being incarnated.
But Saturn wants to disincarnate forms. In Leo, he switches from his melancholic, taciturn posture and becomes choleric, aggressive, and mostly confused, as he is somehow constrained to protect life when he wants to kill it. Zoller had to deal with this leonine Saturn, being retrograde on top of it, blurring even more the planet’s accuracy. By being in the 5th House, we could affirm that at least he cannot have as much impact compared to what he would have by being in an angular spot. Still, he is succedant, plus he is an house that is, again… contrary to his ousía. The 5th is Venusian pleasure, joie-de-vivre, sex, children. This also may explain why Robert never became a father, following the old adage of positiong being stronger than rulership. Having a corrupted Saturn in the 5th can make that house barren, even when the cusp is the fertile Cancer.
Now this Saturn is in the 5th and disposes the 12th house cusp in Aquarius, the sign where the Sun is in detriment while still in the 11th. There is a Saturn-Sun opposition, the most aggravating of aspects, a clash of titans representing two entirely different energies. The mutual domicile reception does not seem to be that much of a mitigating factor in favor of the Sun, if we consider that the nature of an opposition is Saturnian per se.
When I see a confrontation like this, I tend to give the malefic the upper hand because, ultimately, they have time on their side. The malefics always win in the end. Our embodied forms are declining by the second. Think of the 2 of Pentacles in the Tarot, which Crowley called Change. We have the great benefic Jupiter under duress, trying to expand his grace in Capricorn, distributing his gifts and fortune like Mansa Musa, the Emperor of Mali. But, in Capricorn, Jupiter is in his fall, realising that, ultimately, this world is constantly deforming and eroding anything he hands his blesses and fortune to. We are always changing and deteriorating. In Zoller’s case, this was aggravated by the Sun ruling the disease-related 6th in Leo.
So, when I see a balanced Sun-Saturn battle like this one, I know that the great malefic has the edge. The clock is ticking and winter is coming. The Sun was also Zoller’s sect light and hyleg, so Saturn violented the signifier of vitality and longevity, gnawing constantly at his health, whilst also upsetting the esse of the 12th, the worst house of the zodiac, the most anti-existence spot in the wheel of incarnation. This nefarious Saturn is impending doom for a native’s health and it was so for Robert, unfortunately.
Kύριε ελέησον