Comment - Phyllis Playter
By Pauline Smith, Morine Krissdottir and Jeff Meddle
Like the charts of so many of Gadbury's clerics, Phyllis
Playter's nativity is a classic death-wish chart, i.e. ruler of 11th cusp
placed on the descendant. Here, natal Saturn rules the 11th, and is prominent
on the descendant receiving Jupiter's trine, with Jupiter ruling philosophy
(9th) so Phyllis was able to turn her death wish around through embracing
some kind of philosophy - Christianity 
perhaps?
The need for a philosophy of death is further emphasised by the ruler
of the IC, Moon, placed in the 9th. In most of Gadbury's clerics charts,
the 9th is also involved.
At the Ascendant we are born, the MC is the zenith of the life, and at the descendant we die. In the 6th house we are a body, in the 5th we are remembered, and in the 4th buried. In death astrology the descendant is the most potent death cusp, its orb expanding at death while the orb of the ascendant shrinks. However, if many planets emphasise the 2nd house (rebirth, the afterlife), 4th (endings) or 8th (gods of the dead), then one of these houses may be more sensitive to death transits. Unfortunately no death data for Phyllis has been given.
Another modern example of a death wish chart is the present Duke of Kent's nativity; he is now Grand Master of the Freemasons.
By Morine Krissdottir
Phyllis died 10 March, 1982 age 87 - either in Blaeunau Ffestiniog, Wales or a nearby hospital. So far as I can remember, she just died of old age.
As for turning the 'death wish around' by some philosophy, that is dubious... Firstly, even up to 1963, when JCP's diary ended, he was always noting her depression and often-expressed wish for death. After that, I can only go on what I remember her close friend Gilbert Turner and my friend Peter Powys saying - and that is her vitality and interest in life after his death. She was 69 when he died but she began to travel, go up to London to see theatre, listen to music etc - things she had been deprived of basically since they left New York in 1930. Although in the early years of their relationship, perhaps up to 1936 or 1937, he was seriously worried at times that she would commit suicide, my impression from the diaries is that once the war started, she would SAY she wished she were dead, but he seemed only to feel sympathy, not real concern. The fact is that during the terrible war years with their poverty and the rationing etc, she had three old people, JCP, and her mother and aunt next door, all in their mid to late seventies, to look after, and all were seriously ill at times with various infirmities. It just seems as if some grit entered her at that time and she kept going and going. It is actually an incredible story of courage.
She certainly was not a Christian, except in so far as both of them were brought up conventionally and that would include Protestantism. She was very interested in Taoism from an early age, but I never gained the impression that it was strong enough belief to turn around any death wish. JCP had immense vitality and she had virtually none. He talks about electrical magnetic poles in a way that I think is important and must pursue. But also, I think that she finally accepted that he literally could not survive without her and because she believed in his gift as a writer that placed a responsibility on her which is perhaps as strong as any 'philosophy'.
By Jeff Meddle
I've read Pauline Smith's suggestion that Phyllis Playter's is a classic death-wish chart. Very interesting idea, and I began to have visions of a 'Goth' Astrologer at work until I saw the examples of Pauline's art displayed on the Axis Art website - they're a unique take on the subject. Perhaps there's something in the notion of death-wish, but not necessarily for the reasons given. I presume any interpretation from Gadbury (working circa 1680) excludes reference to the outer planets, thus making Saturn alone ruler of PP's 11th house.
However, I'd want to say an astro-modern approach has Uranus as ruler, or at least CO-ruler, and that's in the Scorpio 11th, exactly conjunct to Mercury. For me this is a woman who's intensely attracted to intense people, especially anyone with an unusual take on life. She'd love deep, but off-the-wall discussions, and would be quickly bored with anything less. She's adventurous in mind and spirit, while the 9th house Moon ruling the IC, shows an eventual home far from her birthplace. A Sun-Pluto opposition denotes a power-struggle, in youth, the person attempts to control others, for fear of being controlled, but in maturity, it shows a perhaps yogic control of self, and moreover, the ability to transform others, or show them when/how it's needed. More so with PP, as her Sun is in the 8th - what does this woman not know about death and other realms of existence? But for me, this is not proof of a death-wish, but a desire to understand life & death matters, so intense thinking, reading and discussion of philosophical-religious matters are elixir to her being. Venus is in the 8th, which perhaps could be taken to signify a death wish, but it's in a fire-sign and rules the Asc, so she would display an élan vital, a love of life lived to its utmost; one of those people who gives the feeling they can see through you! The Jupiter-Saturn trine from 3rd to 6th would make her a splendidly-intuitive yet objective editor, so JCP must have been trebly delighted. For me, the overall tenor of the chart is life-affirming; she'd have laughed at such things as Michael Fraenkel's 1948 book on the philosophy of death.
I noted the 9th Harmonic - my overwhelming thought was that Phyllis would've affected all who came in contact with her - one of those people, once met, never forgotten.
As far as her relationship with JCP is concerned, I hoped that both the composite and relationship charts would throw some light. But the former says a little, but not loudly (Sun at 11 Scorpio and Venus at 22 Scorpio) - certainly shows a deep and intense partnership, whilst the latter chart has a nice Venus-Neptune opposition that well describes the pair, 'enslaved by strange imaginations.'
In closing, I'd add that I think that harmonics, midpoints and any other special techniques that focus on a part of the chart are only useful if they're studied as an adjunct to the chart; i.e. they should back up what has been seen, thus reinforcing a theme or pattern. To focus on the adjunct alone may lead to a misreading. For example, many years ago, I did readings at fair & exhibitions - as you can imagine, they had to be done 2xquick, so my technique was to use the house-position of the Progressed Moon as a fast guide to the current situation. Great for a while, but not an infallible technique!
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