Scorpio Moon chatting with a packed 8th house. This is the retired Special Forces soldier and I on the phone. He’s the Scorpio Moon, with Mercury in Aries. I’m a packed 8th house with Mars Mercury in Libra and death and dying one of our favorite topics.
“I hear all that crap on TV about Steve Irvin,” he said. “He died the way he wanted. He would have liked to die that way. What kind of bullshit is that? Who wants to die any kind of way? That’s so stupid. What kind of stupid thing is that to say?”
“I don’t know,” I said. I actually didn’t think it was all that stupid but he was on a roll and I didn’t want to derail him.
“I had a friend (he named him). He used to say he wanted to die in a hail of bullets. Can you believe that? I could never understand that. Come on, man! The last thing I want to do is die!”
“Gotcha,” I said, keeping it short so he could keep talking. But I was thinking that having a desire to die in a hail of bullets did not seem all that odd considering his friend was a Special Forces solider. That’s a hell of a good way to get your wish, right? I also registered the fact his friend is dead and died via gunfire…
“So I hope nobody says stupid shit like that when I die. They better not! There is only one thing I want people to say when I’m dead,” he said with complete surety.
“What’s that?”
“He died before he wanted to,” he said. “He didn’t want to die.”
I laughed. “And when I die, I’ll tell you what they oughta say. It’s about time! She died, finally,” I said with a snort.
He just laughed.
“Anyway, you will probably outlive me,” I said. “If there was ever someone who was hard to kill, it’s you. How many people have tried to kill you, anyway? Don’t even try to answer that. But if I’m here when you’re gone, I’ll tell everyone what it is, okay?”
“You do that.”
“I will. And if I die, don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine. It won’t bother me at all. So what else is going on?”
What kind of Mars has he got?
Hmmm. Mercury in Aries, in 8th house… And all I can think is when I die, I hope someone tells me how it really works. Pardon the pun, but I’m dying to know whether there really is a God and whether s/he follows any or all of the rules that every other religion has set down and attributed to God. I just gotta know!!
I used to think I wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, and before I got old enough to feel useless. But now… Let me die in my sleep after I’ve lived a good, full life and seen my grandbabies grow up, but before they need to pick out my nursing home. 😉
i wish i could have just one friend like you…
When I told my son (he was 15 at the time) that the space shuttle burned on re-entry he got this dreamy look of awe on his face and said, “wow…what a way to go!”
My mom had this habit of saying, in disbelief, “what the hell?” She said it so often that my 5 yr-old niece picked it up. I told her when she died I was going to put that on the back of her headstone: “Here lies Mona, what the hell…”
Of course, my siblings wouldn’t let me.
Well, those people are being practical, imo. We all know we gotta die. We may not want to. But if we have to die, it might as well be our way, ya know?
Mercury in Aries, 10th house.
Michelle said: ” I just gotta know!! ”
Normally I’m like that about everything, but dying? I just don’t care. I am quite accident prone and klutzy, so I’m apt to go out in some stupidly embarrassing way – accidently decapitating myself or something.
Har, Laura Elizabeth.
However I go, I hope that I have time to prepare. One of the most beautiful stories I heard was this rabbi I knew once whose father was dying of stomach cancer. His father was a doctor so he knew that his cancer was fatal from the moment he was diagnosed. So his father went on to put his house in order, to write letters to his family telling them how much he loved them, to pay off all debts and to arrange his finances so that his widow would be provided for. Then on his deathbed, his entire family gathered round and sang prayers for him as he died. I remember being incredibly impressed by this man’s death. He really had the courage to face death and his thoughts were for his family. He prepared. I bet that man’s Saturn was something else! Plus, imagine dying while your loved ones are singing to you! (These were Jewish prayers, the lot of which are sung. Sometimes you don’t even sing, you just hum.)
Rainewalker!!! OMG! That was hilarious! I have to tell you that I say the very same thing ALL the time. NOW I know what to have put on my headstone. …it would be so fitting at the end of a very dysfunctional life!
My greatest fear is of dying while sitting on the toilet….during a b.m. I would at least like to wipe my own ass, and pull up my knickers, before I die. How humiliating!
Huh. I have Mercury in Aries, and I am not at all bothered by death. (Jupiter in 8th for that?) I’m just like, “I’ll be fine. Just don’t take me out with a long lingering disease like everyone else in the family goes out with.”