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Examples of Endurance - Aron Lee Ralston - Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Hard cases make bad Law - -

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Aron Lee Ralston's background

What makes Aron Lee Ralston such a great example?

Aron Lee Ralston's background

Aron Lee Ralston was a rock climber who amputated his own arm in 127 Hours

Born October 27, 1975, Aron Ralston amputated his own arm on April 31, 2003. The story was told in his autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place, and later made into the film 127 Hours.

Information sourced from Wikipedia.

On April 26, 2003, Aron Lee Ralston was hiking alone through Blue John Canyon when a rockfall trapped his arm, assuming that he would die without intervention, he spent five days slowly sipping his small amount of remaining water, approximately 350 ml (12 imp fl oz), and slowly eating his small amount of food, two burritos, while trying to free his arm. He wasn't able to free his arm from the 800 lb (360 kg) chockstone. After three days of trying to lift and break the boulder, the dehydrated and delirious Ralston prepared to amputate his trapped right arm at a point on the mid-forearm in order to escape. After having experimented with tourniquets and having made exploratory superficial cuts to his forearm, he realized, on the fourth day, that in order to free his arm he would have to cut through the bones in it, but the tools available to him were insufficient to do so.. - Wikipedia

After running out of food and water on the fifth day, Ralston decided to drink his own urine. He carved his name, date of birth and presumed date of death into the sandstone canyon wall, and videotaped his last goodbyes to his family. He did not expect to survive the night. After waking at dawn the following day he had an epiphany that he could break his radius and ulna bones using torque against his trapped arm. He did so, then amputated his forearm in about one hour, with his multi-tool, which included a dull two-inch knife. The manufacturer of the tool was never named, but Ralston said 'it was not a Leatherman but what you'd get if you bought a $15 flashlight and got a free multi use tool.' - Wikipedia

Ralston later said that if he had amputated his arm earlier, he would have bled to death before being found, while if he had not done it he would have been found dead in the slot canyon days later. He believed he was looking forward to the amputation and the freedom it would give. - Wikipedia

What makes Aron Lee Ralston such a great example?

Aron Lee Ralston birth chart

Aron Lee Ralston's example is in itself one of the most astounding examples of both endurance and perfect timing. He is on record as saying that if he had performed the amputation any earlier he would likely have not encountered any help on the way out, and so bled to death, and that if he had waited any longer then he would have died still trapped by the choc-stone. If you doubt how amazing it all is, just watch Danny Boyle's film of the events, 127 Hours.

As an astrological example it is really no less astounding. Not only does Aron have remarkable natal chart configurations, but these are brought into play by transits that are once in a lifetime events, and they correspond to natal chart configurations of Joe Simpson , making the astrology not just doubly impressive, but I should think squaring it at least.

This is a chart for 10pm on Aron's birthday, set in Ohio [which I gather is his birth time and place]. Aspect lines are between natal planets.

Aron was born with [all very exact]

Sun conjunct Uranus

Sun square Saturn

Sun trine Mars

As an example, Aron's ordeal is unusually also highly precise for times as these were recorded by Aron as the events happened.

We really need to take Aron Lee Ralston's example in contrast to those of Doug Scott and Joe Simpson who had experiences in some ways similar to that of Aron.

Exceptional astrology is flagged with (important)

20030426 Aron Lee Ralston with rockfall transits

Properly speaking, Aron's 127 hours started two days earlier, when on 24 April he decided not to go on a planned mountaineering trip. At that time the transiting Sun was exactly opposite Aron's natal Sun & Uranus. What's more, Venus was exactly 30 degrees earlier, at 4 Aries; it is a theory of mne that such approaching semi-sextile aspects show hidden causes of things, i.e. it was the influence of Venus that coloured Aron's decision.

The chart shown is Aron's birthchart, together with the planetary positions at the time of his accident around the outside. Aspect lines [traditional] are between the transits and birthchart.

At the time of the accident, which is precisely known due to Aron recording much of his ordeal, the following transits were within a very tight 2 degrees.

Transiting Ascendant at midpoint and sextile, both natal Sun & Uranus, and Mars

Transiting Moon trine natal Ascendant

Transiting Sun square Moon, and just past opposite natal Sun & Uranus

Transiting Venus trine natal Moon

Transiting Mars square Aron's natal Sun & Uranus

Transiting Mars opposite Aron's natal Saturn

Transiting Jupiter conjunct natal Moon

Transiting Jupiter trine natal Neptune

Transiting Saturn sextile natal Chiron

Transiting Chiron conjunct natal Descendant

Transiting Chiron square natal Mercury

Transiting Chiron trine natal Venus

Transiting Chiron square natal Jupiter

Transiting Uranus trine natal Mars

Transiting Uranus trine Aron's natal Sun & Uranus

Transiting Pluto square Venus

Transiting Pluto trine Jupiter

a clear cut example!

By day 3, Wednesday, Aron was desperate for help, shown by Venus reaching a trine to natal Neptune, and opposition to natal Pluto - Venus in this case being the desire to relate to rescuers, Pluto being the manifest truth of his real situation.

By day 4, the New Moon sees Aron having an epiphany moment, realising how he can break the bones in his arm, and so be able to carry on with the amputation.

20030501 Aron Lee Ralston with amputation transits

By the time, five days after the initial rockfall, that Aron amputated his arm, the planets had moved on, Mars moving to an aspect to his natal Moon, rather than Saturn, and Uranus becoming much more precisely exact.

No doubt there are other factors/strands to his story, but this is a great start to seeing his astrology in action. A key point is that his bithchart reflects the foundations for the accident and subsequent amputation, and that the transits reflect the triggering of this defining event in his life.

NB. The elemental way of showing aspects is an alternative to traditional astrological methods, one based on the principles of Virtualism, i.e. that follow Leibniz' Law, with similarity being a connection, and difference causing emergence. While the elemental connection may explain the underlying mechanism of the aspects, there is still a role for the traditional aspects, as these can be regarded in a mundane sense, i.e. as things of the manifest world.

The chart shown is Aron's birthchart, together with the planetary positions at the time of his amputation around the outside. Aspect lines [elemental, not traditional] are between the transits and birthchart.

Transiting Mars opposite natal Moon

Transiting Uranus trine natal Mars

20030721 Aron Lee Ralston with Letterman Show transits

After returning home from hospital Aron was interviewed on the Letterman Show.

The chart shown is Aron's birthchart, together with the planetary positions at the time of his Letterman Show appearance around the outside. Aspect lines [traditional] are between the transits and birthchart.

Transiting Uranus trine natal Mars

20040907 Aron Lee Ralston with Publication transits

The following year Aron published his autobiography, Between A Rock And A Hard Place.

The chart shown is Aron's birthchart, together with the planetary positions at the time of the Publication of his autobiography around the outside. Aspect lines [traditional] are between the transits and birthchart.

Transiting Uranus trine natal Sun & Uranus

20101105 Aron Lee Ralston with Cinema Release of 127 Hours transits

After .

The chart shown is Aron's birthchart, together with the planetary positions at the time of the cinema release of 127 Hours around the outside. Aspect lines [traditional] are between the transits and birthchart.

Transiting Uranus trine natal Saturn

20110223 Aron Lee Ralston with Minute To Win It transits

As if the ordeal, the TV, the book, the film, and everything else were not enough, in 2011 Aron won $125,000 on the show Minute To Win It.

The chart shown is Aron's birthchart, together with the planetary positions at the time of his winning Minute To Win It around the outside. Aspect lines [traditional] are between the transits and birthchart.

Transiting Uranus trine natal Saturn

20110515 Aron Lee Ralston with Carnegie Speech transits

After .

The chart shown is Aron's birthchart, together with the planetary positions at the time of his Carnegie Mellon University speech around the outside. Aspect lines [traditional] are between the transits and birthchart.