Jay Leno confronts Saturn, Mars and Zeus

Recently the comedian Jay Leno has been in the news because of a series of accidents and surgeries. An avid fan of automobiles, he suffered severe burns to his face and upper body on November 12, 2022, while working on his cars in Burbank, CA. Then, about 2 months later, he had a serious motorcycle accident on January 17, 2023, in which he broke some bones. He had surgery to address his most recent injuries on Tuesday January 24, 2023. Astrologers would expect Saturn, Mars and Uranus to be active in his chart at such times. AstroDienst gives his chart as follows (rated A).

In the natal chart, Saturn rules the 12th and 1st houses and is the contrary-to-sect malefic because he was born at night. For the past few months Saturn has been transiting over his Ascendant degree, which typically indicates a difficult period with potentially serious health issues.

Natally, Mars closely opposes Venus, the ruler of his 3rd house of local travel, which probably correlates with his fascination with cars as well as the danger involved in their use.

The next chart superimposes the Noon chart for the November 12th accident, which resulted in severe burns, over the natal chart. Astrologers would expect Mars to be active in a chart related to fire.

In this chart transiting Saturn, at almost 19 Aquarius, applies to conjoin the natal Ascendant within about 4 degrees. Saturn rules the Placidus 12th house and applies to the Ascendant from its position in the 12th house. Thus, Saturn’s 12th house impact will be strong felt on the Ascendant, which signifies the body and health of the native.

Some horary astrologers misunderstand Lilly’s “5-degree rule.” In speaking of the Ascendant, Lilly writes on page 33 of Christian Astrology: “…what Planet you shall find to be in that space, you shall say that he is in the first house; yet if he be within 5 degrees of the Cusp of any house, his virtue shall be assigned to the house whose Cusp he is nearest…”  Clearly, Lilly respects the cusps of houses as the boundaries of the houses, but he notes that a planet near the end of a house (with 5 degrees) shall have its virtue “assigned to the house whose Cusp he is nearest.” The “virtue” or significations of the planet affect the nearest cusp, but the planet stays in the house where it is located.

In Jay Leno’s chart, transiting Saturn occupies the 12th house but its “virtue” or impact is felt strongly at the Ascendant. Even though Saturn rules Aquarius, where it has the high dignity of being domicile lord, Saturn’s rulership and occupation of the 12th (where Saturn rejoices because he is the “author of mischief” according to Lilly), and its being a diurnal planet in a nocturnal chart, seem to dominate its significations.

Uranus is prominent in this accident, as the transiting Sun opposes transiting Uranus, and both square transiting Saturn, which conjoins the natal Ascendant. Transiting Uranus also squares natal Pluto in the 6th (illness).

Mars is prominent at the time of the accident, as transiting Mars squares the natal Mars/Venus opposition and also opposes natal Chiron (being wounded). Transiting Mars also squares transiting Neptune, which conjoins natal Venus (ruler of the 3rd of automobiles) and squares natal Mars.

Also indicating a difficult period, transiting Sun, Mercury and Venus all closely square the natal Ascendant.

Checking another technique, I cast the Wynn Key Return for the date of the November accident. Wynn directed the Solar Return MC to the specific date of an event and used the transits of that day and location in the chart. Here is Leno’s Wynn Key chart for 12 Nov 2022.

Quite striking in the Wynn Key chart is that on the day of the accident, transiting Uranus was conjunct the MC, opposite the Sun/Mercury/Venus grouping and square transiting Saturn, which conjoined the 7th cusp and opposed the Ascendant. The Asc degree of the Wynn Key chart lies almost exactly opposite his natal Ascendant.

For those who use the Uranian TransNeptunian Points, on the day of the fiery accident in November of 2022, natal Zeus (a fiery energy) was at the midpoint of transiting Mars with transiting Zeus was equal to natal Zeus and the natal Asc, as can be seen in the next diagram. Transiting Mars was also conjunct natal Vulcanus. The Mars/Zeus midpoint is associated with shooting flames and danger of fire. Here, Mars/Zeus by transit = natal Zeus = natal Asc.

Another significant feature of this chart is that Uranus/Neptune = Zeus at birth, indicating the natal potential for serious or fatal injury through fire, gas explosions or automobiles. Thus, natal Zeus = natal Uranus/Neptune (danger through fire or automobiles) = natal Asc (his environment) = transiting Mars/Zeus (shooting flames), and so on as you can see in the above chart which combines the natal and transiting placements.