The sudden passing of Heath Ledger has come as a huge shock to the world. What a huge loss to his family, friends, colleagues and fans. He will no doubt be sadly missed.

With all the media attention, we are able to gain some insight into this brilliant actor. What was interesting to hear was that he loved acting, but not at the loss of his privacy. Handling fame is not easy as we have seen with many Hollywood stars.

Astrology can give us some insight into an individual, highlighting specifically their perceptions, needs and drives. I have chosen to interpret Heath Ledger’s chart in an effort to draw attention to the art of astrology. Heath Ledger has certainly captured the hearts and minds of the masses. It is astounding that his death has created such interest, shown by the volume of information circulating in the media - The Age: 24 January, 2008 "Heath Ledger's shock death caused one of the biggest internet meltdowns since the death of Steve Irwin in 2006, with news sites and search engines experiencing huge traffic spikes".

We can now review his astrological profile and compare it to our understanding of Heath the Actor and Heath the person, gleaned from the media.

Because there is no published birth time available for Heath, a sunrise chart has been used. This will limit the information we can present because although we have the Planets and Signs (the what and the how) we are not able to show the area of life that is affected (the where).

The planetary sign and house of the Sun and Moon at birth are important considerations when delineating a chart. These positions symbolically indicate the compatibility between the conscious (Sun) and subconscious (Moon).

Heath’s fiery Sun in the sign of Aries indicates someone who is a go-getter with a pioneering spirit and a “me-first” attitude. Aries prefers to move forward without looking back, and should have an enormous potential for energy and motivation. People born under this sign, are constantly on the lookout for new directions and projects to undertake.

Heath’s Moon in the sign of Cancer paints a very different picture. If the Sun indicates our conscious self expression, the Moon's sign highlights our unconscious and emotional way of intuiting and reacting to our surroundings. A Cancerian Moon signifies an intense sensitivity to emotions and feelings, especially in relation to the actions of other people. This may cause both introspection and introversion. Also, the emotional health is directly related to domestic security, and therefore much effort is exerted in trying to achieve a peaceful home life. Refer - Understanding your Report article posted in November 2008. It coincidently highlights a Sun/Moon combination of Aries/Cancer.

Here we have our first issue. As we have said; the Sun sign rules the head, and the Moon sign rules the emotions or heart. Heath would have difficulty integrating these two sides to achieve balance. Perhaps one side is used to the exclusion of the other at times.

From the outside looking in, the public would easily see the Aries Sun characteristics; possibly the aggressive and assertive side – but may not have insight into his softer more sensitive and nurturing qualities shown by the Moon. We have a fire sign (Sun) trying to coexist with a water sign (Moon). It is possible to integrate the two when we have self-awareness by blending the energies to produce a more compassionate and sensitive Aries.

Fixed Mode Keywords; determination, strong will, persistence, inflexibility, slow and deliberate action, structured, routine driven.

Possible manifestations of inferior of Fixed Mode
Difficulty completing tasks. Lack of structure and stability in life. People may overcompensate for this lack by becoming obsessed with structure and order. They may test their willpower, committing to overly demanding projects or goals. Conversely, these people may alternate between over- emphasising the positive or negative characteristics when under stress.

Earth Element Keywords; practical, materialistic, productive, down-to-earth, security minded, patient, stable, realistic.

Possible manifestations of inferior Earth Element
Ungrounded, impractical, unstable, lack of timeliness, disorganised, ungrounded in the body. People may overcompensate for this lack by over-emphasising practical traits to an extreme, becoming overly driven to maintain rigid routines, obsessed with meeting their security needs, holding onto people and things for too long.

Water Element Keywords; romantic, sensitive, vulnerable, sentimental, need to nurture and be nurtured, protective, imaginative, passive.

Possible manifestations of dominant Water Element
People with dominant Water can lose themselves in their feelings and could have difficulty in detaching from others. Often leads to a need to withdraw into themselves.

This is a difficult Yang/Yin combination in today's society. Parents obviously condition their “boy” to be a man and do not encourage the development of the Yin/feminine energy. Everything in a chart needs to be honoured, dominant as well as inferior functions. In the case of Heath, he would have portrayed the extroverted Fire/Yang energy to the world, at the expense of his more sensitive side. As a youngster, his parents probably helped to reinforce his Yang side – however a price must be paid eventually. Our culture does not promote sensitivity, intuition, introversion or nurturing needs in a male, therefore it is more than likely that Heath withheld this side of his personality from the outside world, whether this was a conscious decision or the unconscious tendency of being in denial.

With more than 4 retrograde planets, people are inclined to feel alienated from society and may struggle to find their place in the world.

Heath was probably a very spiritual and insightful person underneath his movie star persona. His chart shows a very talented character, and many of his unique astrological signatures suggest genius potential. However, there is also a lot of stress on Heath’s Moon in Cancer as it is the final dispositor of his chart. Although we don't have his time of birth, in this Solar Chart, the Moon is the focus planet of a T-Square between the Sun and Pluto which is a very transformational configuration. We have a Sun/Pluto opposition, suggesting that when these planets come together in the chart, problems, repressions and an intense awareness of personal power are emphasised. Although the T-Square provides a high degree of motivation, it can sometimes result in wasted energy because of a lack of balance. It is possible to overdo the energy of the focal planet (Moon). The focal planet is the key to a talent or success, however; it can also be the source of frustration or overcompensation.

At the time of his death, Heath was experiencing his first Saturn Return, usually around the age of 29. This is the time that we officially become adults as we have experienced the full cycle of Saturn, and your past comes under close scrutiny. You are being forced, whether you like it or not to face life with a new maturity. If we are on the right path, success is assured and we proceed to enjoy the status we have obtained. However, anything that no longer supports our life purpose is broken down and remoulded or discarded. This paves the way for new responsibilities to be accepted as we move on to our second Saturn Return around the age of 58-59. These are periods where we become accountable for our past actions - we are reporting to Saturn (our task-master) to check our progress todate. So it stands to reason that Heath was reviewing his life in light of his journey so far, perhaps it was weighing heavily on him and he needed medication to escape from or control his feelings, confusion or disappointments.

Heath’s chart also indicates a need for periodic rest and seclusion, which may have been hard to achieve given the number of movies and he has worked on over the last seven years. This coupled with his recent split from his partner Michelle Williams, and having less access to his daughter Matilda would add further pressure and discontent.

Because Heath’s birth-time is unknown, this analysis was limited – however, we were still able to glean a sufficient amount of information about his internal dynamics.

The reason I have chosen to do this analysis is to highlight the potential of astrology as a psychological tool. By using a well-known actor such as Heath, whose life is in the spot-light at the moment, we can review this astrological profile and test it against his life shown by media reports.

We can only wonder if Heath or his parents were aware of his sensitivities and proclivities, and whether things could have ended differently with this insight.

My main point is that by reviewing an astrological profile, parents would have some guidance to assist in determining the individual nurturing needs of each child; individuals would gain valuable insight into themselves to help them acknowledge or understand themselves; and in the case of relationships, a combined synastry analysis can help each partner understand the other.

A variety of off-the-shelf computer generated Birth Chart Reports for Heath can be accessed at the top of this page. Even though they don't provide the same level of depth as a personalised evaluation or consultation, they still do offer a lot of insight, and can be used to identify any problems spots that can be used in counselling or psychotherapy sessions if necessary.

If you have any questions aboutpersonalised chart interpretations please contact us at: asn@astrologysolutions.com.au

Heath Ledger 4th April, 1979 - 22nd January, 2008

The sudden passing of Heath Ledger has come as a huge shock to the world. What a huge loss to his family, friends, colleagues and fans. He will no doubt be sadly missed.

Heath Ledger
4th April, 1979 - 22nd January, 2008