Thank you, Dr. Farr! Obviously we differ on first principles, but if I would trust any astrologer in a death prediction, it would be you.
JupiterAsc, to say that death is not feared in some cultures is probably incorrect. Certainly some cultures teach their sons that it is glorious to die in battle, or that a beautiful after-life awaits the deceased, or that people should face adversity such as death with calm, and so on. But we cannot generalize from these one-size-fits-all teachings to comment upon how an individual in such a society might face death, as people oftentimes deviate from the position of their religious authorities.
Never forget that the process of dying is often excrutiatingly painful. In an advanced cancer, for example, pain-killers don't touch it. The person may have to cope with experiencing various body-functions shutting down: bladder and bowel control, mobility, mental acuity, and eventually even breathing or swallowing. Think about victims of serious car crashes, with multiple fractures, lacerations, and internal bleeding; or people with major burns over most of their bodies.
Think about the grief of parents who outlive their children. Grief is a universal emotion, even among societies that teach their members to control it outwardly.
I will never forget a documentary on the Vietnam War, when General Westmoreland went on record saying that the Vietnamese--facing the full-scale horrors of war on their soil, including Napalm and Agent Orange, cluster bombing, the Mi Lai massacre, land mines, and so on-- didn't have the same reaction to death as Americans. His astonishing callous statement was juxtaposed with footage of frantically sobbing Vietnamese women literally trying to throw themselves into the graves of loved ones during burial ceremonies.
The astrologer is in no position to judge how a client or their terminally ill spouse will react to a death prediction. Playing God in this way strikes me as the ultimate in hubris; notably if there is a high probability that the prediction will be flat-out wrong.
This is different than talking about death. I don't see many taboos about discussing death in Canada. Rather, I have attended several funerals in the past year, was invited to attend a seminar on estate planning, and just learned that my brother was recently diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. I try to be guided by his own wishes as whether to discuss it or not, not some illusory western societal taboo.
I live surrounded by retirees, many of whom are moving into the realization that they don't have many years left: certainly not active years of good health. I hear their news about visiting ageing friends and relatives in hospital, and so on. One of our neighbours died a lingering death from complications of lupus. Yes, we talked about her.
The assertion that our death is predicted at the moment of birth flies in the face of evidence, some of which I have offered in previous posts. Take the examples of today's extraordinarily high life expectancies in industrialized countries, and their plummeting rathes of infant mortality. Horoscopes simply cannot accommodate these national and gender differences. Nobody rectifies a birth chart to account for whether the native is a woman born in Japan or a man in HIV-AIDS-ravaged southern Africa, yet it makes a huge difference to longevity outcomes.
Medical doctors (such as oncologists) who predict death undergo rigorous education and licensing exams that simply have no parallel in astrology. An American MD with a specialization in a relevant field would first of all complete a 4-year university degree, then face extremely competitive admissions standards to get into medical school. Medical school takes another 4 years, followed by board exams, an internship, and residency. All the while s/he would be closely scrutinized by professors and other physicians in a teaching hospital setting. Then s/he would face further testing to be qualified as a member of a particular group of specialists, such as the American College of Physicians.
If the doctor makes repeated wildly inaccurate death predictions, s/he can face disciplinary measures from a local medical board. Then doctors frequently state qualified predictions like, "Most patients with your condition live an average of one to five years," rather than giving a specific date.
Astrology? I could take out a business license and advertise my professional services tomorrow, with no claim to any expertise whatsoever. Although professional astrology organizations like the AFA and NCGR offer courses, exams, and credentials; nobody is obligated to take them in order to scare the pants off clients regarding one of the most difficult and sensitive issues of life-- and then to be incorrect, to boot.
There simply is no comparison here. Moreover, non-MD "medical staff" [sic] are legally prohibited from practicing medicine without a license, which includes death prediction.
To chalk up all of the problems of astrological death prediction to some western taboo on discussing death doesn't address the half of it. For shame.
!!