Carter Cooper

Above picture from his mother's

biography, A Mother's Story

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

(Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act I, Scene V)

September 2010

Taking a Closer Look at the Suicide of Carter Cooper

by Sandra Weidner

sleeweidner@gmail.com

Introduction

On the morning of July 22, 1988, 23-year-old Carter Cooper, oldest son of Gloria Vanderbilt and Wyatt Cooper, brother of Anderson Cooper, arrived unexpected at his mother's 14th floor apartment in New York City. He had recently broken up with the girl he loved. He told his mother he was moving back home.

Mrs. Vanderbilt suggested he take the larger vacant bedroom, the one his brother used to have. It had a fireplace and sliding glass doors to the terrace. Having not slept for several nights, after dinner Carter retired to the sofa in his room for a nap. He opened the sliding glass door. In spite of the terrific heat, he vetoed his mother's suggestion for air conditioning, even asking her for a quilt for his nap. Before she left, he asked her, "Mom, am I blinking?" (p. 96 of his mother's book, cited at bottom of page) (He was.)

He definitely slept during his nap because Mrs. Vanderbilt checked on him several times during his nap and found him sleeping.

They were planning to see a rented movie together after his nap.

About 7:00 p.m. Carter, awake, entered his mother's room, looking dazed and asking several times, "What's going on?" (102) After a short conversation in which Mrs. Vanderbilt's attempts were to soothe and orient her son, Carter took off, running up the stairs to his bedroom. His mother arrived swiftly behind him. She found him sitting on the low wall of the terrace, one foot on the floor, the other on the wall. Another short conversation ensued, attempts on the part of his mother to get him away from the wall. He stopped her concerned approach with arm held in a military gesture for "stop!." He wondered, "Will I ever feel again?" (103) He stood, "with a terrible, rigid tenseness, staring past her, past the river as if he didn't see them." (103) Mrs. Vanderbilt suggested calling his new therapist but couldn't remember the number. Carter shouted out the number, then said, "Fuck you!" He stared down, as if mesmerized by the scene fourteen stories below. A helicopter passed overhead. Carter looked up, then back at his mother. He reached his hand out longingly to her. Then he moved "deftly as an athlete, over the wall, holding on to the edge as if it were a practice bar gym, holding firmly and confidently, then he let go." (pp. 104-105)

Carter Cooper was not into alcohol or drugs. His autopsy confirmed none were in his system. He did, however, have a newly prescribed inhaler for his asthma. He was also seeing a therapist, but even his therapist was surprised by his suicide.

Eight years later Gloria Vanderbilt wrote A Mother's Story about this horrendous experience. Her belief was that Carter's suicide was the result of a psychosis induced by that new prescription inhaler.

A Mother's Story contains a number of details, some not that alarming by themselves, that prick ones attention, suggesting that something is not right with Carter:

He had just recently broken up with a girlfriend he loved.

He had not slept for several nights.

He was cold even in the blazing heat of the summer day.

He requested a quilt for his nap.

His questions, asked several times, "Mom, am I blinking?"

He was very thirsty.

His eyes were glazed over when he entered his mother's room after his nap.

His question, asked several times, "What is going on?" when nothing in particular was going on.

His question on the terrace, uttered several times, "Will I ever feel again?"

His rigid tenseness and mesmerization with the scene below.

Carter had had allergies since he was a child. He even hated anesthetics because they made him unconscious. He didn't want to miss a moment of life.

In her search for answers for her son's behavior, Mrs. Vanderbilt looked into the then known properties of the drug, Theophylline, used in Carter's new inhaler. A paper in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (1988, Vol. 81. No. 2) attributed the following reactions to Theophylline: "agitation, insomnia, terrifying nightmares and acute paradoxic, depressive states (97-98)." There were more, but we have enough.

In this paper we are going to look at Carter Cooper's astrology before and during his crisis. We will be asking the following questions:

Does his astrology show susceptibility to asthma?

He had never shown any form of psychosis. Does the astrology of his mind show a vulnerability to psychosis, either with or without the influence of drugs? If he did have that vulnerability, was it even stronger at the time of his death?

Is there anything in astrology which indicates death at so young an age?

If our answer to all of the above questions is "yes," then we are going to ask the question, why did he jump?

I have written several other papers about suicide. Here are their links:

The Suicide of Robin Williams

The Subway Suicide of a 9 Year Old Boy,

The Suicide of a 14 Year Old Girl, Vivienne,

The Late Life Suicide of Author and Concentration Camp Survivor, Primo Levi,

Search for "suicide" in the synastry paper of Michel and Francoise Gauquelin,

The Suicide of Chief of Naval Operations, Mike Boorda.

Eric Harris, though also a mass murderer, also committed suicide. Here is the link to that paper: Paper on Eric Harris.

Although I did the paper because it was about an individual with Asperger's syndrome, this individual committed suicide. Here is that link: Paper on Woman with Asperger's Syndrome.

And, of course, Virginia Woolf and Vincent Van Gogh committed suicide. They are in the same paper, which I wrote to show the astrology of schizophrenia and "insanity." Here is the link: Paper on Woolf, Van Gogh, Nietzsche, and Nijinsky.

The paper on the death of Bruce Lee shows another unsuspected inherent sensitivity to drugs. Here is the link: Paper on Astrology of Bruce Lee's Death.





Lee's death is really an extension of another paper, one on allergy and allergic reactions. The link is: Paper on Asthma.

Before we can review Carter's astrology, an introduction to this method is unavoidably necessary.

Astrological Method

I have placed this material in blocks so that it can be scanned or easily referred back to.

This astrology uses the sidereal positions of the planets based on the Fagan-Bradley SVP. On the whole, the tropical zodiac is used in the West while sidereal the sidereal one is used in the East. My take on the practical differences between sidereal and tropical astrology can be found in the following paper: Tropical vs. Sidereal Astrology: A Discussion

This method, sometimes called the Astrospect, uses birth and conception charts, their planets and their harmonics, retaining their separate houses. A whole chart is erected for each of the twelve houses. Each chart contains birth and conception planets and their harmonics, which are used to create the charts. The 3rd harmonic creates the 1st chart, the 4th harmonic creates the 2nd chart, and so on up to the 14th harmonic, which creates the 12th chart. Each chart covers similar areas as do the houses from which they are derived.

House overlaps: birth and conception charts share the same axis while retaining their separate houses. Therefore, birth houses overlap different houses of the conception chart and vice versa. House overlaps sometimes play an important part in this astrology because any planet is in both simultaneously, tying together sometimes disparate interpretations

Each harmonic chart contains forty planets--4 (birth, birth harmonic, conception, and conception harmonic) x 10 (the ten standard planets plus True Nodes). This yields numerous standard planets which combine statically (birth/conception chart), dynamically (progressions), and through space (the 12 harmonic charts also create "position" as do signs and houses) to produce the varied astrological descriptions that yield a human life. Somewhat similarly, the four bases of DNA combine over and over again in different ways and positions to create our complex heredity.

This method uses the Egyptian harmonic, based on the Zodiac starting at 0 degrees Taurus. Traditional harmonics are taken from the sidereal position of the planets, and then the Egyptian harmonic is derived from them. The formula to find out what to do to the regular harmonic to get the Egyptian one is: 30° x (13 - the number of the harmonic). A simpler way is also discussed in the paper: About This Method.

The conception sun is found by using the degrees, minutes, and seconds of the birth sun. The description of how to find it is found in the following paper: Instructions for Finding Conception

Birth planets (including their harmonics) rule only birth houses. Conception planets (including their harmonics) rule only conception houses.

The harmonic used for each chart is always two more than the chart's number. But, for ease of reading I have adopted the convention of writing the harmonic number the same as the chart it is from. For example, the 5th chart is created by the 7th harmonic, but its harmonic planet is written as, for example, c5 mars, the harmonic of conception mars for the 5th chart. This is done only in papers put on site.

Lights include suns, moons, and moon's nodes. When mercury rules an Angle (Gemini or Virgo), it also acts like a light, with the same orb as the other lights. The MC and Asc also act like lights, but with only a 2° orb for static, and 1° for progressed positions.

Lights are our consciousness. Planets with them deform or inform that consciousness. Planets have to be lighted in order to express. Without lights they fall into the background of the chart, to express at some point when they do receive lights.

Only conjunctions, squares, and oppositions are used in sets. (There is a table in the paper on chartrules which shows which traditional aspects--e.g., semi-square, trine, quincunx, etc.--in the sidereal are converted to conjunctions, squares, and oppositions in the harmonics and which charts they occur in, link below.) Planets so related to each other express together or alternately and are referred to as "in the same set." Planets in the same set influence certain houses, called their "path."

Abbreviations used are b = birth, c = conception, p=progressed, and t = transiting. Any of them followed immediately by a number represents the harmonic version.

Empirically-derived orbs for static planets in sets with lights is 5 (with that being a "wide" orb)°; without lights, 2°. Orb for static MC/planet or Asc/planet is 2°. Orbs for progressed planet/planet or planet/Angle is 1°. Orbs for lights and Angles in the return chart are 2°, with two degrees being weak. Closer is stronger, so all wide orbs accordingly express more weakly.

Charts Used

We are going to look at parts of five charts in examining the apparent suicide of Carter Cooper: the 1st chart (of early identity and its somatic consequences) to see his significators for asthma, his 3rd chart (of mind) to get insight on his mental state at the time of his death, his 7th chart (of significant others) because it is usually the most important chart for death, his 9th chart (of higher mind, religion, philosophy--all involving distance from the conventional) because he died as a result of a fall, and his 12th chart (of hidden matters and institutions) because it will tell us more about his early death. Below are descriptions of areas covered by each chart.

Like the other charts of this method, the 1st chart is a harmonic derivative of the house from which it takes its name. It describes our identity formed in childhood and its somatic consequences. Allergies and asthma are two somatic examples. I have written a paper on the significators for asthma, found through the following link: Paper on Individuals with Asthma. The 1st chart shows who we are independent of other--essentially, who we are to ourselves. Who we are with others shows in our 7th chart. Just to give an idea of the wide variety of subjects covered by the 1st chart, it holds the significators for homosexuality when the boy discovers his sexual identity while still quite young (ca. 9-12 years old). Here is the link to that paper: Paper on Homosexuality .

Our 3rd chart contains information about our mind, some brain dysfunctions, the way we think, special mental talents, and special mental liabilities. It is one of the two charts that contains the significators for bipolar disorder and for insanity. One individual even had his significators for asthma in his 3rd chart (see astrology of SE, Sr. in the paper on Asthma, but he also suffered from anxiety. For him, the two were connected.) The following papers show some of the range covered by the 3rd chart: Paper on Autism, Paper on Indian guru, Chariji , Paper on the Genius of Nikola Tesla, Paper on Indian guru, Osho, Paper on Indian guru, Vivekananda, Patty Duke and Manic Depression , Paper on One Twin Retarded, the Other Normal, Another Paper on One Twin Retarded, the Other Normal, Robert Schumann--Bipolar Disorder and How It Was Reflected in His Life, John Hinckley and Schizophrenia, Paper on Insanity for Virginia Woolf, Vaslav Nijinsky, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Vincent Van Gogh

The 7th chart, the main chart of this method, contains a great deal of information about our lives. Theoretically, it is concerned only with matters pertaining to the 7th house, our relations with significant others, including marriage, sexuality, business partners, and close friends. However, in fact it contains information about just about every aspect of our life, including health, finances, death, career, talents, children. and so on. It just doesn't contain all the information on these subjects. The 7th chart occurs so frequently among the papers on this site I have not provided any links to them here.

Our 9th charts , in addition to our 9th houses and Sagittarius, show our interests, talents, problems, and deficiencies in the areas of law, religion, philosophy, aviation, equestrianism, and most recently discovered, interest in the languages and history of antiquity. For the latter, see chart analysis of Professor John E. Boswell in the paper on homosexuality. Here is the link again: The Astrology of Homosexuality. There are two papers on aviation deaths: Paper on Death of John F. Kennedy, Jr., which also contains discussion of the chart of Christa McAuliffe of the Space Shuttle Challenger, and Paper on Lockerbie and 9-11. The beginning of the Lockerbie paper has a discussion of reasons astrologers, including myself, can be wrong when they say death had to occur, even after it is known to have occurred. My paper on gurus also focuses on the 9th chart: Paper on Gurus. Toward the end, the latter paper also includes discussion of 9th house, 9th chart, or Sagittarian emphases in the charts of Madalyn Murray O'Hair (school prayer), the Red Baron, Patty Wagstaff (show pilot), Patrick de Gayardon (died skydiving), Justice Stephen Breyer, and John Muhammed, the D.C. sniper.

People who have trouble with the law, including John Muhammed, may have afflicted 9th charts (or afflicted 9th houses in their 7th or 10th charts). Gurus and spiritually realized individuals, including our own American Ralph Waldo Emerson and Mary Baker Eddy, have highly benefic 9th charts containing golden benefics.

The 9th chart, turning less beneficent, also shows falls from high places, whether they be through mountain climbing, skydiving, or suicide.

Defining the bailiwick of our 12th charts is a little trickier. I suspect like many astrologers, I struggle with its meaning and implications.

In its association with the 12th house, the 12th chart implies something held in bondage or otherwise not allowed to flow freely, something either restrained or hidden. In its association with the sign Pisces, naturally correlated with the 12th house, we get an implication of suffering or sorrow. Hence, with this method the 12th chart is prominent in murder.

On the other hand, the 12th is also associated with hospitals and institutions, and can mean either the inmates or the employees, either one of which may have a life free from excessive suffering. Or the 12th house/chart can simply mean some activity or condition whose antecedents are difficult or impossible to find. That is why the house is sometimes called the house of "hidden things."

We can now start looking at the charts themselves.

Carter Cooper, The Charts

We start with Carter's 1st chart to establish his susceptibility to asthma shown in that chart.

His 1st Chart

Briefly, the planetary significators for asthma, again, in the 1st chart, are mars and neptune. But there is more to it. Their path is Angle/3rd/6th/ and sometimes 8th houses. Sometimes mercury or Gemini substitute for the 3rd house influence. When saturn becomes part of the set or summed sets, it symbolizes severe, life-threatening asthma attacks. The whole significator for the 1st chart is written: Angle/(light)/mars/neptune/(saturn)/3rd/6th/(8th). The parentheses imply the planet does not have to be in the significator but often is. A light is necessary in the set if it is not on an Angle, but rather picks up its influence to an Angle through rulership of one the planets in the set. The link to the paper about asthma is given above.

Carter Cooper

Partial Harmonic Chart for the 1st House

c11-19Gem, c12-20Can, c2-12Vir, c3-11Lib

b11-24Tau, b12-27Gem, b2-18Leo, b3-15Vir

Set (1) above contains the full significator set for asthma. It contains sun/moon/mars/jupiter/jupiter/neptune/pluto. C sun rules C Asc in b 1st house. B1 moon rules B Asc in c 12th house. C1 mars co-rules (14 of 33°) c 3rd house. C neptune rules co-rules (12 of 29°) c 8th house. The distance between mars and neptune is over orb. It is exactly 6°, but acceptable orb must be no more than 5°. However, there are two lights between them. By between, I mean at degrees higher than mars and lower than that of neptune, so the acceptable orb is increased. It is not doubled as one might assume with two lights. Rather, it increases to about 6-1/2°. Progressed c1 neptune was at 6 Libra 14R on the date of his death. It was getting closer in orb to mars and thereby increasing his asthmatic sensitivity. Closer always means stronger.

The two jupiters in the above set may help reduce his sensitivity because they are benefics, but they certainly do not cancel it.

On the date of his death this chart showed a new Angle/mars/uranus (pB MC at 11 Taurus 44 with b1 mars, ruler of B MC and co-ruler of b 4th and 9th houses, at 11 Taurus 24, and with pc uranus, ruler of c 6th house, at 11 Leo 41R). Angle/mars/uranus shows anything from courage to foolhardiness. But this set includes a 6th influence, so the Angle/mars/6th shows new health (6th) agitations (mars). Carter also had that important new Angle/saturn, greatly increasing his sensitivity to allergens, I suppose because saturn depresses vitality, and makes any fight--physical or psychological, much more difficult. The set was: pb1 saturn at 7 Virgo 54 with pC Asc at 7 Virgo 42.

The other two sets, Sets (2) and (3), show specifically 1st chart Angle/neptunes. They increase his sensitivity to drugs, chemicals, and gases beyond his asthmatic Set (1). Set (2) is a specifically 1st chart set because it has picked up a harmonic node, rendering the Angle/neptune a strong 1st chart phenomenon. Set (3) is specifically connected to the 1st chart because it contains a harmonic neptune. I am not sure of the significance of the two mercuries in that set, do they help or hinder the neptunian sensitivity? Or do they draw his mind into it?

I have not systematically tried to see if any difference occurs when mercury is or is not in the "allergic/asthmatic set." It is interesting, however, that mercury does occur in the allergic set in the 1st chart of martial artist Bruce Lee, who died as a result of brain swelling (mercury) apparently caused by his ingestion of an OTC pain killer for headaches. Here is the link to that paper: Paper on Death of Bruce Lee.

Set (3) without the harmonics--that is, as an all-charts phenomenon--shows B MC conjunct mercury in Aries, indicating a bright, verbal, mental individual (all mercury) with a tendency to act or speak sometimes without regard to consequences (Aries). It is an honest mercury, not a diplomatic one.

His 3rd Chart

This is the chart we want to look at for susceptibility to psychosis.

Carter Cooper

Partial Harmonic Chart for the 3rd House

c11-19Gem, c12-20Can, c2-12Vir, c3-11Lib

b11-24Tau, b12-27Gem, b2-18Leo, b3-15Vir

Set (4) contains node/sun/moon/mars/jupiter/saturn/neptune, with neptune progressing closer to the rest of the set. C3 sun rules C Asc and co-rules (18 of 28°) c 12th house. B3 jupiter rules b 6th house. C3 moon rules c 12 house. C mars rules c 4th and 9th houses and co-rules (14 of 33°) c 3rd and co-rules (11 of 29°) c 8th house. C3 neptune rules c 8th house. B3 saturn co-rules (26 of 29°) b 6th house.

At the time of his death, two progressions and a return position were important to this set. Pc3 saturn, ruler of c 6th house and not originally part of the set, joined the set at 19 Pisces 21, giving the 6th house of health even more influence. Pc3 neptune, ruler of c 8th house, was at 20 Virgo 49R, forming a closer relationship to node/mars/saturn. The latter is significant because mars/saturn/neptune represents siege conditions in whichever chart they occur. Return3 moon at 20 Gemini 49 provided another light for the set, increasing its potency.

Set (4) is forefront because it influences an Angle, C Asc.

The planets in Pisces have nothing to do with psychosis. They symbolize some other form of pathology, discussed below.

Mars/neptune is correlated with all kinds of immune dysfunction. Saturn's presence always greatly enhances the problems created by mars/neptune. Mars/neptune is also strong and forefront in the 3rd charts of paranoid schizophrenics, who suffer from a form of mental immune dysfunction. However, in order for schizophrenia to manifest through the 3rd chart, the 1st chart of early identity must show a weak or suppressed individuality. Carter's 1st chart does not show that. So the mars/saturn/neptune part of this set in his 3rd chart manifests variably as anxiety, periods of fear of loss of mental control, and, I suspect, episodes of disorientation such a Carter experienced following naps. Any of these would be stronger when he was less well physically. And they would be stronger the more close in orb they became through progressions.

South Node conjunct mars conjunct saturn in Pisces is a truly disastrous combination. It includes the greater (saturn) and lesser (mars) malefics in the sign most correlated with dissociation (Pisces) and dumb suffering, both conjunct the node (SN), the symbol representing our habitual forms of thought and behavior. Planets conjunct the South Node are, so to speak, conjunct the wrong end of the stick in terms of growth. These fall in birth 9th/conception 8th houses, suggesting difficult or disastrous (both malefics) transformations (8th) through 9th house matters, among which are aviation disasters and falls from high places. The 6th house influence suggests his health will play a part in how the set manifests. The 4th influence suggests the transformation will be the final one, physical death.

The significators (necessary but not necessarily sufficient) for death in any chart (whether it be death of the body, or, for instance, death of the finances through the 2nd chart) for any individual are Angle/light/mars/saturn/4th, and possibly 8th. They occur most often in the 7th chart. For Carter, they occurred in two different charts. This was one of them. The 4th house influence is the crucial one. It identifies an end-of-life influence which was essentially in place at birth. It was just waiting for timers to be set off.

Another indication Carter’s life might be short occurs with harmonic uranus in Scorpio influencing a 4th house. Uranus in Scorpio/4th is a symbol of a symbol. All by itself it suggests all the astrology that is shown by Angle/mars/saturn/4th/(8th).

Carter's b3 uranus, ruler of b 8th house, was at 9 Scorpio 41R conjunct b3 sun (a light) in birth 4th house, suggesting a sudden (uranus) transformation (Scorpio/8th) which ends in death (4th). One the date of his death it was progressed to 5 Scorpio 12R. Midpoint between the two uranuses was 7 Scorpio 27, conjunct b3 sun. The midpoint had been hitting his b3 sun for some time, forming a long lasting influence suggesting, if nothing else, thoughts of death because sun/uranus/p uranus also falls in b 3rd house (a 4th/3rd overlap). This set by itself, however, does not give any indication at what age death will occur, only that it will occur suddenly. And, I should add, not all sudden deaths are suicides.

Set (5) shows that Carter has a third indication of an unusual life emphasis, one focusing on radical transformations, including death.

Set (5) contains three lights--node, moon, moon--which are with pluto in Scorpio. It has Angle/4th/8th/12th influence, "active(Angle)/death(4th)/transformations(pluto/Scorpio)/unforeseen(12th)" implications. The 8th influence comes through the planets in Scorpio, while the 4th occurs because the Scorpio planets are in c 4th house.

Still discussing Set (5), the NN indicates our direction of spiritual growth, whether or not we recognize it consciously or socially. Carter's Scorpio moon, index of our automatic consciousness, conjunct his Scorpio NN guarantees he will find the type of behavior symbolized by this set early in life. We could say it symbolizes opting (NN), whether consciously or not, for radical (pluto) transformations (8th/Scorpio), one type being death.

Set (4) above supports his mother’s belief that Carter Cooper was suffering from a prescription drug-induced psychosis at the time of his death, with implications that it could costs him his life. There cannot be a clearer astrological representation of such a possibility. Set (5) suggests deeper, spiritual, reasons for the behavior that ended his life.

Almost unbelievably, Carter had another strong influence contributing to the astrology for his death.

His 9th Chart

The significators for death, discussed above, occur in the 9th and 7th charts for most aviation deaths (sometimes they occur in the 12th).

The significators for death also occur in the 9th charts of individuals who commit suicide by jumping as well as individuals who die because of falls from high places, such as occur through air crashes, mountain climbing, and sky-diving accidents.

Suicides who jumped to their deaths with the full set of significators for death in their 9th charts occur in NCGR suicide data for Suicides 7149, 7675, 7775, 8597, 9098, 9343, 10334, 10707, 11501, and 12114. I had more examples but lost them in 2002 when all my astrology files were destroyed.

Carter Cooper

Partial Harmonic Chart for the 9th House

c11-19Gem, c12-20Can, c2-12Vir, c3-11Lib

b11-24Tau, b12-27Gem, b2-18Leo, b3-15Vir

Set (6) above shows Angle/venus/mars/jupiter/saturn/pluto. C Asc is the only "light" in the set, so to be valid every planet has to be within 2° of C Asc. C9 mars rules c 4th and 9th houses, and co-rules (11 of 29°) c 8th. B9 saturn co-rules (26 of 32°) b 6th house. C jupiter co-rules (19 of 31°) c 4th house. C venus rules C MC. And c uranus co-rules c 6th house. So, this Angle/mars/saturn set with influences to 4th, 6th, 8th, and 9th houses, suggests death as a result of a fall from high places. Since the 6th is involved, health may play a part.

When Carter died, pc9 saturn, ruler of c 6th house, had joined the set at 18 Scorpio 35. That put both birth and conception saturns in the set. So, both 6th houses were then influenced by Set (6), increasing the influence of health.

Set (6) includes the same planets/path as in Set (1), except it lacks neptune. But neptune is not needed to show death through this chart.

The benefics in the set--venus and jupiter, the lesser and greater benefics, respectively--show a famous death (then or later).

At birth Set (7) (shown above) is not a threat to life. But by the time he died it became one, shown below as Set (7'):