‘A Beautiful Mind’ mathematician John Nash dies in car crash

Around 4:30 pm on Saturday, 23 May 2015, a taxi crashed into a guard rail on the New Jersey Turnpike near Interchange 8A in Monroe Township (coordinates 40°20’59″N   74°28’34″W).  Inside the car were John Forbes Nash Jr., the brilliant Princeton University mathematician whose life story was the subject of the film “A Beautiful Mind,” and his wife.  They did not survive the accident.  It is always instructive to look as the astrological symbolism of such dramatic events. Here is John Nash’s birth chart with Placidus Houses:

Natal Chart of John Nash

According to news reports, the crash was reported at 4:30 pm so that the deaths most likely occurred very shortly before that time.  Here is the chart for 4:30 pm for Exit 8A of the New Jersey Turnpike:

NJ Turnpkike, Exit 8A, 4:30 pm, 23 May 2015

This is a striking chart.  The Libra ASC is almost exactly opposite Uranus, which is setting  on the western horizon.  ASC-ruler Venus lies in the 9th house of long-distance travel and closely applies to square Uranus, a planet long associated with sudden unexpected events such as accidents.

If we compare Nash’s solar return to his natal chart, we see indications of a potential travel accident.  His return calculated for either his birthplace or his current residence in NJ gives an Aries ASC, making Mars the ruler of his solar return for the year.  Symbolically Mars is associated with speed, violence and bloodshed and also with mechanical devices such as automobiles.  Here is his Solar Return for his birthplace around his natal chart:

John Nash solar return at time of accident around his natal chart.

SR Mars rules the ASC of his Solar Return and occupies the 4th house of endings of his natal chart. SR Mars in Libra opposes his SR ASC and SR Uranus and squares the natal Mercury/Pluto conjunction in Cancer in the 12th house of undoing. The square between SR Mars in Libra and natal Mercury in Cancer is almost exact, with Mercury ruling his Virgo 3rd house of local travel.  It is also noteworthy that the Solar Return ASC/Uranus conjunction in Aries is very closely square his natal ASC/Pluto conjunction in Cancer.

Finally, Nash’s primary directions for this period are quite telling. Using the Morinus program to calculate primaries, I typically use Placidus semi-arc with the static rate at the midpoint of the Ptolemaic and Naibod rates for timing.  Here are his primaries as calculated with these parameters:

Placidus Semi-arc Primary Directions for 2015, rate = average of Ptolemy & Naibod.

What stands out in this list are the connections between his ASC and Mars as well as the square between Mercury, ruling his natal 3rd house, and Pluto.  Mars, of course, rules his Solar Return for the year as it afflicts his natal ASC in the primary directions for the year.