Leonard Cohen – A Vedic Astrological Eulogy

The musicians that came out of the 1960s and 70s will be revered for centuries, if not millennia, in the same way that Shakespeare is still considered the greatest poet the world has ever produced.  Leonard Cohen will be counted amongst these musicians for his quirky excellence.  He well may be the poet-musician of his generation, or at least he was in the select group of leading poet-musicians of his time.

I’m traveling light
It’s au revoir
My once so bright, my fallen star
I’m running late, they’ll close the bar
I used to play one mean guitar
I guess I’m just somebody who
Has given up on the me and you

Leonard Cohen died in November 2016 under his classic Vedic stars of death.  According to James Braha in “Ancient Hindu Astrology for the Modern Western Astrologer”, the ‘death afflicting’ stars are the rulers of the 2^nd and 7^th houses.  Such is the gravity of these two rulers, that when they are conjunct in any house, it is believed that these rulers will ‘destroy’ the house.  The Hindu term for these planets is ‘maraka’.  Whenever these two rulers are the dasa and bhukti lords at any period in a person’s life, this is a key time when death or issues revolving around mortality are an issue.

Dasa periods and bukti sub-periods form part of the Vedic Vimshottari predictive system which is unique.  It is a 120 year period which behaves like a wild roller-coaster ride through the planets.  Everyone jumps onto this roller coaster ride at a different point and the point of entry is determined by the position of the Moon at birth.  Each planetary period is called a ‘dasa’ and there are 9 distinct periods because Rahu and Ketu (the Moon’s north and south nodes) also have a role in the Vimshottari system (naturally Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are excluded from Vedic astrology due to their invisibility).

For a greater explanation on the differences between western and Vedic astrology, please refer to “Simplified Vedic Astrology”

The Vimshottari system does not behave like transits, secondary progressions or any other system I have come across in astrology.  It can be both very subtle but simultaneously highly noticeable.  For people with imperilled life energy, the maraka death stars can have disastrous consequences.  However, most people will pass through these maraka periods unscathed if they do not have an imperilled chart (a chart with an afflicted 8^th house).  But even in these situations, many people have an encounter with mortality, either through themselves or from someone close the them.

After some research on maraka rulers, I found that the above definition is too narrow.  The maraka planets are not limited to being the rulers of just the 2^nd and 7^th houses, any planets located in the 2^nd and 7^th houses also took on this status.  Furthermore, the 2^nd and 7^th house are not limited to a house system with the ascendant defining the 1^st house, it also applies to the lunar chart where the Moon’s house is made the 1^st house.  In addition, the ruler of the 8^th house and any planets in the 8^th house when combined together also appear to be maraca planets.  This relationship can be taken from the ascendant or lunar chart. Nevertheless, in this situation, Leonard died under the core classic stars of death.

Leonard’s Vedic chart shows the 2^nd and 7^th houses are ruled by Libra and Pisces so his maraka planets are Venus and Jupiter.  Jupiter is also placed in the 2^nd house so it is doubly associated with a maraka house.  The following is extracted from Leonard’s Vimshottari table (displaying his age in the last column):

Based on this table, Leonard’s death was in his Venus dasa (October 2005 – October 2025) and Jupiter bhukti  (December 2015 – August 2018), his two core maraka planets.

In addition, the following are the key relevant astrological points of his Vedic horoscope.

The ruler of his most important 1^st house is Mercury (exalted) creating a rajayoga because it is in its sign of exaltation and the house is an angular house.  A rajayoga is like a pot of gold in the horoscope.  Cohen first gained popularity as a poet and writer before becoming a musician (for financial reasons).  Mercury is also ruler of 10^th house of fame. This is totally appropriate for someone who spent most of his life under the glare of the public gaze. He was a Canadian singer, songwriter, poet and novelist and therefore a master of Mercury – he also reportedly wrote a lot of his material using the drug speed!

The Sun is also located in the all-important 1^st house and anyone with the Sun in the 1^st house is primed at birth to be in whatever limelight that their horoscope indicates is possible.  In Leonard’s case, his career and status was very strong and so he was able to get into the public spotlight.

The Sun is ruler of 12^th house, and so its position in the 1^st house makes all 12^th house matters much stronger in Leonard’s life compared to most people.   This brings a quest for spiritual salvation, retreats and decay as the 12^th house is considered an ‘evil’ house.   Leonard suffered from depression but found solace in Zen retreats and spiritual teachers. He purchased a villa in the Greek island of Hydra in the 1960s and spent much of his time there in the first part of his life.  The 12^th house rules ‘foreign exotic locations’ and the addition of his villa in Hydra would have given him a boost by subduing the decaying influence.   He became a Buddhist monk in the 1990s but never renounced his Jewish faith inherited at birth.

The 12^th ruler (Mercury) conjunct the 10^th ruler (Sun) in the 1^st house brings ‘decay’ or instability to career and is very common amongst politicians (Donald Trump has the ruler of his 10^th house in his 12^th house).  Leonard changed his career significantly midstream when he turn to music, but he also regularly turned away from the public focus to deal with his depression and to seek simplicity through spiritual fulfilment.

Venus in the 12^th house is difficult for relationships as it means that (Venus) love is always in decay mode or at best, brings instability to relationships and therefore for Leonard, resulting in many different partners – including Suzanne and Marianne referred to in his early songs.  Cohen has said that “cowardice” and “fear” prevented him from ever actually marrying the mother of his two children.  Venus in the 12^th house is also difficult to maintain artistic output.

However, Venus rules the 9^th house so it brings good fortune to the 12^th.  This means that he always would be attracted to foreign exotic locations or seeking spiritual solace as the ruler of the 9^th house behaves as if it is from the Gods.  The 9^th ruler always makes the house it is located in ‘glow’.

A street on the island of Hydra, Greece

Mars rules the 3^rd house of musicians and is located in 11^th house of wealth – this means financial gain from artistic activities and because the 11^th house is also the house of friends, it means he associated with many other musicians.  Janis Joplin was one such classic example.

Mars in the 11^th house is placed in the 3^rd house from the 9^th house of his father, but Mars is in fall (Cancer is the worst sign for Mars to be located) – his father was intellectually and physically stunted and died when Leonard was only 9 as the 3^rd house rules dynamic energy.  His father lacked this dynamic energy both physically and mentally.  Leonard stated that his father’s reading level was the “Readers Digest” magazine.  With Venus, the 9^th ruler of father in the 12^th house of decay, Leonard felt nothing upon the death of his father.

A person usually experiences a big loss near the beginning or end of the Rahu dasa which for Leonard ruled the period from birth to October 1946 when he was 12 years old.  His father died when Leonard was only 9 years old.

His fallen Mars in the 11^th house of friends and wealth did more than just correspond to difficult issues associated with his father.  His long-time manager and friend commenced defrauding his money in the 1990s.  Mars also rules the 8^th house which wants to “kill” his wealth and ‘damage’ his friends.  Cohen said of his former manager: “It gives me no pleasure to see my onetime friend shackled to a chair in a court of law, her considerable gifts bent to the services of darkness, deceit, and revenge.”

The discovery of the fraud occurred in late 2004 in the Ketu dasa (Oct 1998 – Oct 2005) with Ketu ‘destructive’ and also in the 11^th house of wealth.  Following the loss of most of his wealth, Cohen commenced his late-life renewal and did the first of a number of world tours in 2008-10 appropriately in his Venus dasa (Oct 2005 – Oct 2025).

Leonard’s death on November 7, 2016 placed his death under the glow of the sidereal Aries full Moon (that occurred on 14^th November) located in his 8^th house of death.  His western chart shows the same basic arrangement of the tropical Taurus full moon placed in his tropical 8^th house of death.   Every Full Moon behaves like a mini-eclipse and its glow extends to 5 to 7 days before and after the actual day of the exact Full Moon.  For Leonard, he was at the 7 day limit as he died 7 days before the super Full Moon heralding his death.

“The sun comes in the skylight

My work calls to me

sweet as the sound of the creek”

Extract from Leonard Cohen’s poem “I Try To keep In Touch Wherever I Am”

References:

Leonard Cohen. (2016, November 15), Wikipedia, Retrieved 00:56, November 15, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leonard_Cohen&oldid=749571107

“I’m Your Man – The Life of Leonard Cohen” by Sylvie Simmons, Vintage Books, London, 2013