1 Oct 2007

A Tribute to Neill

My friend Neill died this morning. He was 37.

As a tribute to his life I want to say a few things about him, alongside his chart. It's not the first time I've looked at his chart because between us we've looked at it several times over the years, the first time being when he was 18 or 19, when I first got to know him.


Neill was born on 12.6.1970 at 21.00 in Beaconsfield, UK. His chart resembles a 4-sided box kite, held by 2 strings attached to the Moon's Node in the 2nd House. The Node is not a planet and has no energy or drive of its own; it can only indicate the way forward by the House and Sign it's positioned in. Remove it from the aspect pattern and the kite flies free; hear its call and the message is "develop your sensitivity, acknowledge and nurture your talents and abilities".

Neill did that. He trained at Goldsmith's College in London as an artist; he took a further degree in landscaping and architecture, he trained in T'ai Chi and became a teacher of this martial art, and he was a Buddhist. He was an accomplished gardener and his garden has numerous bonsai trees in different ceramic containers. The trees are exquisitely sculpted and positioned for maximum "chi" energy.

With Sun in Gemini, you might expect someone who talked a lot and always had plenty to say. Not Neill. His interests were diverse but he wasn't a talkative person. Often he didn't want or need to talk, but when he did it was on depth subjects where we shared common interests, sometimes laced with a very zen-type of humour!

Neill was something of a loner. His Moon, high in the 9th House of the chart and sandwiched between Uranus and Pluto may be an indication of this, together with his very definite air of being "different" and not a run-of-the- mill person by any means. The Buddhist principles that he aimed to live by were very important to his lifestyle, and his favourite picture of White Tara, one of the feminine Buddhist deities, reminded him of the qualities of compassion and the ability to self-heal as he coped with the rare form of cancer that he had.

The last time I saw him, we talked about White Tara and shared a meditation, using her mantra. This was quality time and I feel priviledged to have had this as our "goodbye".

May you be full of bliss Neill, and may your kite fly high and free.

2 comments:

Barbara said...

Hi Joyce,
I extend my symapthy to you.
A very touching tribute to a special friend.

Anonymous said...

I was so saddened to read about the loss of your friend Neill.

Your tribute to him was wonderful and I am sure your friendship gave him great strength in his struggled with cancer.