Rest In Peace: Isabelle Caro

Isabelle Caro was a young french woman who posed nude for a photographer while at the peak of her struggle with Anorexia. Caro passed away on November 17, 2010 at the age of 28 from a respiratory illness.

At Age 28 Caro passed away very close to the time of both her 1st Secondary Progressed Lunar Return and also with in a few degrees of her approaching Saturn Return in Libra.

This is very significant to look at when reading her chart because her illness began at Age 13 which is one of the equivalent childhood transits of both of these planets. The 1st major transits of the Secondary Progressed Lunar Cycle and the transiting Saturn Return Cycle occur very close together in time in early life and represent major phases of development for children in the maturation process (Moon rules Infancy, Saturn rules Maturation/Old Age, both rule the parents and parenting).

When we look at Caro's biography we see how much her difficult childhood and relationship with her parents affected her so it's stunning to see how strongly reflected these needs are shown in her natal chart. It would actually be interesting to see if something very traumatic happened to her around the time of her first prog. Lunar square/Saturn square which occurs usually between the ages of 7 and 8 years old.

Caro passed away between two Total Eclipses. The Solar Eclipse this past Summer which occurred on July 12 hit her chart very strongly as that marked a Nodal Opposition transit over her natal Cancer/Capricorn Nodes. Her Moon, which can't be exactly placed without a birth time or place, is possibly in conjunction with her North Node in the sign of Cancer. This will show a life expression that is closely linked with Food, Women, Mother, Family, Emotional Reaction and Public Reaction. Many anorexics want to disappear and hide and live in a world of great secrecy hiding their disease.

Caro said that she was very close to her Mother early on and became anorexic because she didn't want to become a burden. Her Father wasn't around very much and left Isabelle alone to deal with her Mother who suffered from Depression and who was probably very needy herself. I imagine that a Capricorn South Node child would naturally try to take over the Father's role for an unhappy Mother. Of course, these are naturally indicated symbols of a Cancer/Capricorn Nodal Axis and of a Cancer Moon.

Isabelle was born during the Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Libra. Saturn and Pluto working together must be very self-reliant and contained, and this is sick but something that Anorexics will understand: Discipline and Control. If there is trauma in such individuals there will be no easy way to express the pain. These two planets deal with reality and "the bottom line." This is even further stressed by the fact that Isabelle's progressed Sun, symbol of health and vitality, is currently at middle degree Libra somewhere degrees of Libra in close to the same spot. Her Prog. Sun and prog. Venus were squaring her Nodal Axis/possibly Moon placement.

The Moon can represent "pop" culture as well as the more personal attributes. Caro had a natal Mars-Uranus conjunction over the Scorpio-Sagittarius cusp which opposed Chiron (wounded healer). Mars and Uranus working together will shock. It's no wonder that the shocking image of her emaciated body on Billboards posted over Italy was banned in France. Chiron seems to be a natural indicator to look for in anorexia because as a disease it is so difficult to cure.

Natally, Caro was a Virgo Sun. As already said, Sun rules the Health by showing the basic vitality. And there are zillions of Virgos in the world so this alone doesn't indicate anorexia, but Virgo is also the ruler of perfectionism, diet and hygiene, of course. It does make sense that Virgo and Cancer, both signs with deal with Nutrition would come up in the charts of Anorexics. Virgos can have obsessive disorders as this sign is related to enjoyment, for good or bad, of daily habits and rituals. Virgo is also related to wanting to be clean and pure which can be related to Anorexia which is often a disease related to not wanting to grow up. So, although Anorexics can come in all signs, one can see how a Virgo Sun could become a "Poster Child" for the disease. The Sun projects the qualities of the sign that it's in more than the other planets do.

Isabelle's natal Venus (expression of female love) is in this sign as well. A Virgo Venus person will want to be of service to those he/she loves. Isabelle became Anorexic at age 13 apparently because she didn't want to become a burden and she wanted to remain her Mother's little girl. Some anorexics may have other reasons for developing the disease but this is one of the more common reasons for the types who become anorexic just as Adolescence begins.

Of course, the Virgo Sun and Venus work ethic and desire to succeed in an industry which forces anorexia on its employees wouldn't help either. Capricorn SN will show a struggle to get away from difficult career choices and ambitions.

Caro has Jupiter in Scorpio which trines the Nodal Axis. This can show struggle to balance self-denial/aestheticism with abundance. She would want to belong to the "cool set."

I also noticed that Isabelle's progressed Sun had just shifted signs into Libra when her Anorexia began at Age 13. For Virgos this is a sensitive shifting of ego projection from looking for perfection in the world into looking for beauty, harmony and balance in the world. It can bring a crisis in understanding how to relate to other people on a one on one basis, and to not be stuck as mediator for other people's problems. And, at this point, so close to an Aries Point, it could manifest as a public issue.

By coincidence Isabelle's Progressed Mercury is currently right on this degree, 2 Libra, and is currently Stationing Direct after many years of moving in Retrograde motion. Mercury through Gemini rulership relates to health of parts of the respiratory organs. Doubling the effect of this particular and signicant progression, Caro's Progressed Sun is within 1 degree conjunction of her natal Mercury (as well as within orb of conjunction with natal Saturn) in Libra. So she was going through a Double Whammy Sun and Mercury connection. Perhaps Mercury rules her Ascendant, and thus her body. Already it is significant as dispositor of her natal Sun and Venus. Her disease would have begun in 1995 just as Pluto was passing in to the sign of Sagittarius. There seems to be a strong Jupiter connection with Anorexia which I can't really get a handle on. Isabelle has natal Jupiter in Scorpio which can be a problematic placement as Jupiter naturally wants to expand while Scorpio wants to contract.

Isabelle Caro
b. Sept. 12, 1982 (don't know birth place, used Marseilles, France?)

Sun 20 Virgo; Moon Cancer?; NN 10 Cancer