Damocles' whole orbit only takes
41.01 years, even though it ranges from near Mars almost to Uranus! (Check
out this Robert's Damocles page for a
clear picture of this strange orbit.) Anyway, this odd strange things to it
astrologically. It seems to stay in Aquarius forever. It moved into that
sign in the early 1950's, and didn't leave until the 1980's. And yet, from
1989-1991, it moved through every sign from Aries through Sagittarius! How
intriguing that, when it was finally discovered Feb 18, 1991, it was not
found in the sign Aquarius where it spends most of its time, but at 11
Scorpio 05, yet with Sun in Aquarius. That discovery position happened to be
conjunct the Sun in the U.S.S.R. chart. I'll get back to that in a bit.
Here follows the letter I received in 1995 from Robert McNaught, discoverer of Damocles:
"Dear Mr. Stein,
The time of the exposure was 1991 Feb 18.52973 UT to 18.57140 UT and the object was discovered on that plate perhaps 20 hours later when I scanned it.
The scope was the 1.2-m U.K. Schmidt Telescope of the Anglo-Australian Observatory (situated at Siding Spring in NSW. Note that Siding Spring Observatory on the same mountain is a different institution.) The scope is basically the same as the big Palomar Schmidt. We do not take photos ourselves, but scan the plates taken for other purposes, mostly the southern sky survey. Since 1990, we have found about 8 NEA's each
year. 1991 DA is not an NEA but was certainly a most interesting discovery.
Confirmation was by myself using the 0.5-m Uppsala Southern Schmidt on 1991 Feb. 19.67361 UT.
Sincerely,
Robert McNaught"
Damocles may have something to do with the nature of the sign Aquarius. Think what percentage of people with Sun in Aquarius must have their Sun conjunct Damocles!
DAMOCLES WAS A REAL PERSON
You may remember the story of Damocles, but it is well worth repeating.
Damocles, by the way, was a real person, although through the ages his story
has taken on the quality of a myth. He lived in Syracuse, Sicily in the 4th
Century BC, and was a member of the court of Dionysius II.
In many ways, Damocles was a decent sort, but he had a very bad habit: he
was an excessive flatterer. He would constantly talk about how wonderful
Dionysius was, how great and marvelous it was to be such a powerful ruler,
and how much he (Damocles) would love to have such great wealth as his
ruler. Eventually, Dionysius grew tired of this, and decided to teach
Damocles a lesson.
So the ruler invited Damocles to the palace for a feast. When he arrived,
everywhere he looked he saw wondrous food, and great wealth. He must have
thought he was being rewarded for his loyalty. All went well, until he was
seated, and had occasion to look up. For there, hanging directly over his
head, was a very large, sharp sword. And it was tied, not with a rope, but
with a single hair. An excellent lesson, I think, for the sword symbolized
the omnipresent danger that accompanied the wealth and material pleasures of
being the ruler.
Since then, the phrase, "Sword of Damocles" has come to represent any
threat of danger, or an impending threat of personal disaster.
DAMOCLES AND THE U.S.S.R.
As I mentioned, when Damocles was discovered, it was conjunct the
U.S.S.R.'s Sun....so perhaps we could say that the Sword was hanging over
the Soviet Union, ready to drop any second. That seems especially fitting,
considering what occurred throughout that year:
DAMOCLES THEMES
We have only begun to study Damocles, but there seems to be two themes in
its astrological nature. First, it appears to be related to a high level of
stress. This would fit in very well with the above story, for there is a
great deal of stress related to a feeling that something terrible is going
to happen.
Second, there have been numerous cases where, at a Damocles return, a
person's life took an irreversible turn into a new direction. This
might be the Damocles return. But a few other things happen near the
age of 40: Neptune square natal Neptune, and Uranus opposition natal Uranus.
The only way we can verify just how much influence the Damocles return has
is to limit our research to exact Damocles returns, or at most 15'
from exact. Only then will we be able to perceive a clear picture of its
influence.
Dr. Gerald P. Koocher coined the phrase "Damocles Syndrome", when he noted that young cancer patients who managed to 'beat' cancer, or go into remission, carried a stressful feeling for years that they were going to take seriously ill again. It was like the sword was constantly hanging over their head, and they never knew if, or when, it would fall upon them. He published a book on the subject, as well. I'm sure that this Syndrome ties into our astrological Damocles in some way, and it would be a worthwhile project to study Damocles in such cancer survivors. Here is an article about such Cancer patients in the New York Times
