Kate Spade & Anthony Bourdain: Suicide From An Astrological Perspective

Two celebrity suicides shocked the public in the first week of June 2018. Suicide has been highlighted in the sky recently, and both individuals had strong natal placements which opened the door to eventual self-destruction. I do not know the time of birth for either person, so I've used 0:00 to generate these charts.

Kate Spade, New York fashion designer, was found in her Manhattan apartment on June 5, 2018. The police said she had left a note addressed to her daughter. Anthony Bourdain, celebrity chef, food critic and global travel guide, was found unresponsive in his Strasbourg, France hotel room, an apparent suicide, on June 8, 2018.

While a chart can show whether an individual will suffer from depression and what form that is likely to take, how they manage their suffering is not something we can see in the chart. We can see whether someone has the strength to actively fight for their health and turn their life around, but we can’t predict whether or not they will actually do it. The actions all depend strongly upon the individual.

For a better look at when depression will take its hardest turn, an exact birth time of birth will be needed so you can run a transit chart. These charts are just the birth charts of these individuals. If you or someone you love has a lot of water in their chart, this can be an indicator that is prone to sadness, depression or worse if they do not find a way to release and let go.

The Birth Chart of Kate Spade

Kate Spade had a number of challenging placements of suicide aspects in her natal chart. Kate Spade’s chart does show the potential for psychological issues.

Emotional intensity adds to a deep sense of abandonment as illustrated by stressful aspects from her Moon square Chiron at 5 degrees. However, we need to remember that the Moon may not be exact, since the birth time is inaccurate. Moon square Chiron is VERY painful. It is a very difficult and painful relationship with the mother that does not seem able to be resolved, no matter how hard both people try.

Kate has Neptune-Venus conjunct which squares her Saturn. This aspect shows she is somebody who truly cannot see clearly to discern the true nature of the person she loves. In fact, Kate and her husband were having marital problems at the time of her suicide. Her suicide note showed strong resentment she had to her husband.

The square indicates inner tensions and frustrations, and it is likely that Neptune will be inhibited from true realization and will be bound within the unconscious mind by the restrictions of Saturn. This probably caused Kate tons of stimulating unconscious fears, anxieties, phobias, and guilt feelings arising from an overactive imagination which lacks suitable channels for a more healthy release.

She has Pluto Retrograde, which tells us she is a person who, likely, does not feel comfortable with her own personal power. There was a strong desire for power or control, and she might not have been in touch with this desire a lot of the time. She may had been more inclined to fear of being controlled, manipulated, or betrayed by others strongly. There may be a tendency to keep these fears to herself, as exposing them makes her feel more vulnerable but holding them in can lead to heavy depression and isolation.

Chiron/Jupiter conjunction oppose Uranus. Jupiter enlarges that which it touches. So when Jupiter conjuncts Chiron, the person has an big amount of pain. Uranus is unstable and will act unstable to that which it touches. Chiron/Jupiter Opposing to Uranus show that this amount of pain can lead to radical behaviors. We don’t know houses, so we don’t know which realm of life held her pain. Kate spade is high in earth and water but is low in air, which may make it hard to reach out and communicate. It may be the reason she felt she could not go on.

The Birth Chart of Anthony Bourdain

Anthony's moon is right on the edge of either Capricorn and Aquarius. Either way, it is squaring Neptune, which is the signature for somebody who is very emotional and sensitive. His Sun was also in Cancer, which is already showing sensitivity.

The effect of Neptune to Moon creates super absorbent, sensitive, sponge to emotions. This aspect shows that Anthony absorbed the emotional field around him and was often unable to distinguish his own feelings from others. Plus, there is a strong emotional impulse to transcend or escape reality.

He would go into new cultures, make friends and become part of their family. He would always eat any kind of food or drink offered to him. This is exactly the energy of Moon/Neptune. Taking in his environment completely, and with no boundaries. With his Moon opposing Uranus, this aspect was also present in Kate Spades chart except hers was at a square. Either way, this is a difficult aspect and a huge indicator of emotions becoming to much to the point of erratic behavior.

Mercury square Mars is another aspect that stands out to me. This aspect creates a number of challenges in life which mainly stem from the rapid speed of ones thought processes. Anthony may have rationalized things so quickly that there is not enough time for him to think about whether his choices are right or not. He felt very misunderstood and these misunderstandings only add to his feelings frustration and temper, thus this destructive cycle continues and can escalate.

Anthony also has Chiron in retrograde. Chiron's placement on your Natal Chart represents the wounded healer. When Chiron is retrograde, expressing this energy is more difficult. Retrograde Chiron in his natal chart shows he holds onto hurts more strongly than most. He is wounded more deeply, and, forgiving and forgetting represents a major challenge for him.

Anthony is high in air and water, but low in earth. Water signs indicates high sensitivity and elevation through feelings while air represents thoughts. With a lack of earth, he may have found it difficult to live in the 'real' world and to keep himself grounded.