As is well known, each astrological sign and the planet that rules that sign represents a whole set of phenomena, features, characteristics, inclinations, objects and ambiences. So, for example, a natural phenomenon such as electricity, as well as the discharge of that energy in nature in the form of lightning and the accompanying sound phenomenon that arises, thunder, symbolizes the sign of Aquarius and the planet that rules that sign, Uranus. Of course, such a claim can be verified by analyzing the charts of people who have dealt with this natural phenomenon, such as electricians or engineers, and determining whether this sign and the planet are consistently emphasized in their charts or not. However, sometimes a sufficiently extreme and bizarre example can serve as evidence, and such an example is certainly the fate of a certain American ranger. In fact, his life story is so bizarre and tragicomic that I am surprised that a movie about him has not yet been made.
His name was Roy Sullivan (07.02.1912, 19:32 Greene County) a man who worked as a ranger in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Between 1942 and 1977, Sullivan was hit by lightning on seven occasions and survived all of them. For this reason, he gained the nicknames “Human Lightning Conductor” and “Human Lightning Rod“. Sullivan is recognized by Guinness World Records as the person struck by lightning more recorded times than any other human being.
Sullivan’s first documented lightning strike was in April 1942. He was hiding from a thunderstorm in a fire lookout tower. The tower was newly built and had no lightning rod at the time so it was hit seven or eight times. Inside the tower, “fire was jumping all over the place”. Sullivan ran out and was struck a few feet away. It burned a half-inch strip all along his right leg, hit his toe, and left a hole in his shoe.
He suffered the next blow 27 years later, in July 1969, in a very bizarre way. While driving the truck on a mountain road, which otherwise protects the driver from lightning because it acts like a “Faraday cage”, lightning struck a neighboring tree, bounced and went through a window on the passenger’s side that was open. The blow knocked him unconscious, burned his eyebrows and eyelashes and burned his hair. Fortunately for the unconscious driver, the truck continued to move, stopping at the very edge of the abyss!
He suffered the third blow a year later. Sullivan was struck while in his front yard. The lightning hit a nearby power transformer and from there jumped to his left shoulder, searing it.
He was hit for the fourth time two years later, while he was inside the ranger station. Thunder set his hair on fire, which he barely managed to extinguish with a wet towel. After this blow, he developed a serious fear of death, because he thought that some unknown force wanted to destroy him. Also, after this blow, he started carrying a bucket of water everywhere in case his hair caught fire again.
He suffered the next blow on August 7, 1973. During a patrol in the national park, he saw a storm cloud forming. He got into the truck with the goal of escaping from it, but, as he later stated, it looked like a cloud was following him! When he finally thought he had escaped, he got out of the truck convinced that the danger was over. However, not long after that, he literally saw lightning that hit him in the head, went down his left arm and leg, tore off his shoe and jumped on his right leg below the knee. Surprisingly, not only did he survive, but he remained conscious and managed to pour water on his head.
He suffered the next blow on June 5, 1976, when he was hit in the ancle. Interestingly, as the previous time, he saw a cloud, thought that it was following him, tried to escape, but was hit again.
Sullivan suffered his seventh and final blow on June 25, 1977. while fishing at the pond. Lightning struck him in the head, fried his hair, started to move down and then fried his chest and stomach. While he was trying to reach the car, he came across a bear that tried to steal his fish! Incredibly, he had enough strength and courage to hit the bear with a stick and drive it away. He later stated that it was the 22nd time in his life that he hit a bear with a stick.
All seven lightning strikes were documented by records in the national park and doctor’s reports.
Statistics show how amazing it is what happened to this man. The chance of lightning striking a person during the average life expectancy of 80 years is 1: 10000, while the chance of hitting him seven times is 1:100007 = 1:1028. However, these chances cannot be fully applied to Sullivan, given the nature of his work. Namely, Virginia, the American state in which he lived and worked averages 35 to 45 thunderstorm days per year, mostly during June, July and August. Between 1959 and 2000, 58 people were killed and about 238 wounded by a lightning strike in the country. But even if this circumstance is taken into account, there is still a rather small chance that someone will be struck by lightning as many as seven times, and even less that a person survives every strike.
The positions and aspects of the planets in Roy Sullivan’s chart clearly show why he was struck by lightning several times during his life, although, realistically, during his lifetime, and in general, there were few astrologers who could predict something like this, for the simple reason that such a prediction could seldom occur to anyone, and there are even fewer who would have the courage to make such a prediction, even if it occurred to them. After all, unpredictability is one of the defining characteristics of his Sun sign.
NATAL CHART Roy Sullivan
Mercury, as the ruler of the ASC in Virgo, which specifically represents Roy Sullivan, more precisely, his physical body, is on the 1° of the sign of Aquarius. This position, in itself, shows a person whose body (ruler of the ASC) can be hit (degree of Aries-strike) by thunder (Aquarius). The conjunction of Mercury with Uranus on the 0° of Aquarius and the trine with Mars on the 2° of Gemini further confirm this, because the combination of Mars and Uranus symbolizes the same- impact, blow (Mars) of lightning (Uranus).
The following questions can justifiably be asked here. Why did these three planets in good aspects expressed their influence in this way? Why the only thing that they gave this man, of all the positive things they potentially symbolize, was that he was followed by storm clouds at every step and that he was struck by thunder on several occasions? For example, the famous Italian inventor Alessandro Volta had the same configuration of planets in his chart, with the difference that Mercury and Uranus in Aquarius were in trine with Mars in Libra, and under the influence of these planets he made the first (Mars) battery (Uranus). Also, he could have been a pioneering car constructor or race car champion under the influence of these three planets in these particular aspects.
The answer to these questions is actually simple if you keep in mind which houses this planets rule. Mercury, as the ruler of ASC and MC, is in conjunction with the ruler of the unfavorable 6th house, Uranus, and in trine with the ruler of the even worse 8th house, Mars. Mercury, as the ruler of the ASC in Virgo (workplace) is in conjunction with Uranus, the ruler of the 6th house (workplace), so Roy Sullivan, by his choice to do work (Virgo, 6th house) in an area often affected by storms (Uranus, Aquarius), exposed himself to mortal dangers (8th house), that is, to the strikes (Mars) of lightning (Uranus). All this is also indicated by the ASC itself, which is on the 10° (degree of Capricorn) of Virgo, which as such represents a bad, unlucky (Capricorn) choice of job (Virgo). The position of Saturn itself on the 13° of Taurus, which is in the exact square with the top of the 6th house on the 13° of Aquarius, did not help much either.
Aspects of the Sun in his chart shows why he was paradoxically one of the unluckiest and simultaneously one of the most fortunate people that ever lived. Unluckiest, because the thunder struck him as many as seven times, and he was fortunate because he survived every strike. The Sun in Aquarius is in square with Saturn in Taurus, which is an aspect that symbolizes threat to life. As Saturn symbolizes misfortune and at the same time return, repetition, this aspect specifically describes someone whose life can be endangered in almost cursed like way, and on several occasions.
In addition to the square with Saturn, the Sun is in sextile with Jupiter on the 11° of Sagittarius. Jupiter, contrary to the influence of Saturn, symbolizes luck and protection, so in the aspect with the Sun, it represents someone who is accompanied by good fortune in life, that is, someone whose life is protected. Unlike Saturn, who is peregrinated, Jupiter is in strong dignity, in domicile, and as such he protected Sullivan every time from that “unknown force that wants to destroy him” which, of course, symbolizes Saturn. That Jupiter protected him specifically from the impact of thunder is shown by the position of Jupiter on the degree of Aquarius (thunder) and the opposition it makes with Mars (impact).
It is important to note that Jupiter, the planet traditionally associated with lightning and thunder, and Uranus, the modern representative of the same, are the only two planets that are in domicile in his chart. In other words, these two planets have the greatest power in Sullivan’s horoscope. Furthermore, Uranus is in the sign, and Jupiter is on the degree of Aquarius.
Appropriately, a man who has the stellium of the planets in the sign of Aquarius did not manage to be killed by multiple lightning strikes, because that sign “rules” these natural phenomena. But people with the Sun in this sign often do not respect life enough and find it difficult to control themselves, so Roy Sullivan ended his life in a way characteristic of this sign – by suicide. At 9.28.1983 at the age of 71, Sullivan shot himself in the head with a rifle, allegedly for unrequited love.
This end of life is conspicuously visible from his chart and confirms its accuracy. The 8th house, which describes the manner and circumstances of the loss of life, begins in the sign of Aries, which is a position that shows violent death by firearms (Aries), while Mars, the ruler of the 8th house, is in trine with Mercury and Uranus in the sign of Aquarius (suicide) in the 5th house (love affairs). Unrequited love, love suffering symbolizes the aspect of Venus and Saturn. In his horoscope, Venus is in the sign of Capricorn at the very top of the 5th house and forms the aspect of the trine toward Saturn in Taurus in the 9th house. Thus, Venus is not only placed in the sign of Saturn, but is also in aspect and mutual reception with Saturn. This aspect in combination with the stellium of the planets in the sign of Aquarius and the emphasized 5th house accurately describes death by suicide due to love suffering.
After all the above, the summary of this whole story can be presented with a question. Is it really a coincidence or a necessity that a man who was simply followed and struck by lightning and thunder during his life so many times that he was nicknamed “the lightning rod man” and who ended his life by suicide, has three planets in a sign that symbolizes all of the above and not just any three planets, but the Sun, the ruler of the ASC, Mercury and, most importantly, Uranus, the lord of this sign?
