Note — there is a version of this article with a podcast about Philip Seymour Hoffman.
The chart of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death — that is, the chart for when his body was found, the only time we can know for sure — is thick with drug-related themes. We know that about the situation already; media reports say he was found with the hypodermic needle in his arm and heroin packets nearby.
Hoffman was considered one of the great actors of his time, often playing the roles of troubled, complex men.
His roles included rock journalist Lester Bangs in Almost Famous (who died of an overdose), the lead role in Capote about the life of writer Truman Capote, Andy in Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, and a weird film from a few years ago called Synecdoche, New York.
He also is credited with a diversity of Broadway roles, including none other than the terminally doomed Willie Loman in Death of a Salesman. There is an idea among astrologers who specialize in actors and their biographies that the astrology of the actor is a fair stand-in for the astrology of the characters they play. Said another way, there is a strong association between the actor and their roles. While Hoffman had a reputation for diversity, his roles all seem to have something in common — a distant quality and an existential struggle.
The primary chart I am working with is that of Hoffman’s body being found on Sunday morning. It’s impossible to know the actual time of his death; the discovery of the scene is what we can know more or less for sure. I’ve seen no conflict in the time, so I am working with 11:30 am on Feb. 2 in New York City.
This is clearly the chart of a drug overdose. We see this in the Mercury-Neptune conjunction in Pisces, as well as a centaur planet called Pholus appearing in the 8th house, one house that often points to the cause of death. Pholus for its part is often related to substance issues, most often alcohol though it could be anything addictive and intoxicating. Pholus has the key phrase “small cause, big effect.”