From “Death” to “the Other”

I’m realizing something interesting about the historical transition of the descendant in astrology from “death” to “the other.”

It seems perfectly natural to associate setting over the local horizon with dying. But with a little more astronomical sophistication, that becomes the point at which the solar sect (day) hands off to the notional person on the other side of the globe for you, “the other.”

Thus the succedent (8th) house comes to signify “death” in terms of what passes to “the other” as we die, whereas the 7th comes to fully represent those who are there when we’re gone, as their own people.

This antipodal view also emphasizes the death/afterlife significations of the 4th house, being the underworld place, opposite the culminating place that signifies the native’s achievements in life.