How the Planets helped to push Dana Plato into a fatal overdose

by Carlo

Preface

On the day that Dana Plato swallowe her last pills, her natal planets were being adversely contacted by the difficult transiting planetary activity of 1999. Actually, that is an understatement. I will now undertake an analysis of those circumstances as I can see them. This examination of the astrological factors surrounding Dana's death does not purport to be complete, for I do not have her exact birth time, so I have used 12 noon. Thus, I have no Rising Sign evidence, nor can I comment on the issues with respect to the Houses of her horoscope. I only have looked at the position of the planets, yet it is my contention that this is the crux of astrological study anyway.

I also make the disclaimer that all the information contained herein is only the hypotheses of one individual, myself, and I classify it as research by a student of astrology, rather than the opinion of a professional astrologer. As someone who does agree with the interpretation that certain planets are malefic (difficult energy) and benefic (positive energy), I do use somewhat graphic imagery. Yet I do find this to be helpful in the overall understanding of the potency of the planets.

All readers of this essay may make their own comments. Anything insightful will only help. I have done this study based on a feeling that deep down, Dana Plato was not a bad person. I was fond of her as I grew up, and I enjoyed watching her on TV. Somehow, I feel that her passing was a motivation for me to look at, for my first time in detail, the astrological situation surrounding one's death. Thus, I do ask you all to bear with me, for this is indeed a baby step.

Blessings,

Carlo
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Dana Plato's 34 years were filled with dramatic highs and lows - and unfortunately, too many "highs" of the wrong kind.

- National Enquirer, May 16, 1999 at 32

Dana Plato had many challenging aspects in her natal chart. The clearest one was her badly afflicted Jupiter. This indicates a difficulty in getting ahead, in experiencing expansiveness, and in gaining and retaining wealth and good fortune.

Dana's had her natal Jupiter at 21 degrees Taurus (Hereinafter, I will dispense with the term "degrees". Thus, the previous phrase would read "21 Taurus. There are 30 total degrees per sign, and each contains 60 minutes). Her Jupiter had five total aspects to it, four of which were oppositions...usually considered the most difficult aspect, even harder than a square:

Opposite Sun
Opposite Mercury
Opposite Neptune
Opposite MC (Midheaven)

Dana's Sun and Neptune were conjunct by two degrees in the intense, provocative sign of Scorpio. This Sun-Neptune aspect, in this sign in particular, indicates a propensity toward drugs (Neptune). The opposition from Jupiter likely impacted adversely this already tense conjunction, and it caused her to have difficulty acquiring the happiness that is most basic to life (afflicted Jupiter), and often caused her some difficulty in getting drugs. Whichever direction Dana turned - toward her inner essence (Sun), toward her ability to communicate (Mercury), toward her need to escape (Neptune), or toward a career (Midheaven) - her Jupiter in the Fixed Sign of Taurus "opposed" her efforts.

Dana also had Saturn in Aquarius tightly square to her Mercury in Scorpio, both in late degrees of these Fixed Signs. Now, Aquarius and Scorpio are square, and Saturn-Mercury in stressful aspect is never an easy contact. It indicates a tendency to excessive worry, pessimism, and in some cases, scheming and deliberate dishonesty are probable if the rest of the chart agrees (it does). This aspect stifled and limited Dana's communicative ability, and contributed to her occasional run-ins with the law. Many of us can recall the 1992 picture of her in court when she violated parole for forging Valium prescriptions, and got 30 days in jail. She looked as if she realized that she had broken the traditional order of things...Mercury square Saturn.

Then, on May 8, 1999, along came Mercury at 28 Aries, charging right up to sextile her natal Saturn at 28 Aquarius (and Saturn so hates surprises) and also to inconjunct her natal Mercury at 29 Scorpio. To make matters worse, transiting Venus in Gemini in a most exact trine (literally, under ten minutes) to transiting Mars retrograde in Libra, at 28 and 29 degrees, respectively, were right there contacting her natal Saturn and Mercury square, at 28 and 29 degrees respectively themselves. Late degrees, of any sign, are considered the most intense, and no doubt Dana could not hang on much longer, literally not even one more day, when Mercury in feisty Aries would go into Taurus, and Venus in fickle Gemini would stride into caring Cancer, both on Sunday, May 9th, just hours before she died. It was that late-degree Air-Fire energy that had built up so quickly, as Mercury and Venus have been skating along together more rapidly this Spring, arm and arm in sextile aspect, that combined to push the pills deep down Dana's gullet. No doubt she was swallowing them hard.

On the day of Dana's death, the transiting Sun in Taurus was in an exact square to transiting Uranus in Aquarius. This square contacted three of her natal planets simultaneously. First, this square hit her Pluto in Virgo and her Sun in Scorpio, which were in an exact sextile at 15 degrees of their respective signs at birth. Then this square slammed into her natal Neptune at 17 Scorpio, conjunct her Sun-Pluto sextile, which this square had just agitated, and from which she was still reeling. Two of these three natal positions (Sun and Neptune) were in Fixed Signs, as are transiting Uranus in Aquarius and transiting Saturn in Taurus. More Fixed Sign pain.

To make matters worse, which does not seem possible nor fair, Neptune went retrograde at 4 Aquarius one day before Dana's death. This is very powerful. A planet in retrograde, especially the Outer Planets, builds much energy in the days before it goes retrograde, culminating on the day it goes retrograde, and is still strong in the early days of its retrograde motion. This period is called a "station", and Neptune's station in the hours leading up to Dana's death no doubt knocked her weary soul for yet another loop. Neptune in Aquarius is also square to the sign of Scorpio, where Dana's natal Sun, Mercury, and Neptune resided. Again, more Fixed Sign stress, agitated greatly by transiting Neptune in Aquarius, and then made that much more potent by its retrograding station. Neptune, Master of Illusion, was saying, "enough is enough, kid", as he surely did his part in bringing her painful life to a close.

Could there have been anymore planetary nastiness toward this poor girl, you ask? Unfortunately, yes. Let's turn now to Venus, a benefic planet, and generally a positive spot in one's chart.

Dana had a weakly-positioned (read: no aspects whatsoever) Venus in its favorite sign of Libra, also subject to planetary attack throughout her final months. The Moon in Aquarius passed by in her last few days, providing an easy, Airy trine to her Venus in Libra. Perhaps this was Dana's last breath of hope. I see it here as more of a final wink from the Universe that her last days were numbered. It was also a grim indicator of the deadly stress energy whirling about her soul, from which there was no escape, reminding us all that it would be the pain from Fixed Signs (Aquarius) that would send her soul careening away from this plane. It was thus more of a "stroke and punch", a brief, wry smile immediately preceding the anguish of the same powerful planetary jaws that would soon clamp down on her as her soul clamored for release from its spent body shell. For this little trine, insignificant in its strength and duration, masked the far greater damage that afflicted her unprotected, usually sweet Venus position, which was manifesting in a protracted and bloody beat-down from transiting malefics Pluto and Saturn.

Pluto, you see, had been hovering in Sagittarius within a one-degree sextile to Dana's natal Venus at 9 Libra (8 degrees, 59 minutes at high noon PST to be exact, yet at this point, it makes no difference) since the last two months of 1998. This gave Dana a false sense of belief that her love life (Venus) was finally going to be transformed (Pluto), and hopefully balanced (Libra) from its recently transitory, free-ranging state (Sagittarius). She was living...and dying...in her fiancee's Winnebago (a true Pluto in Sag home).

This Pluto-Venus contact created an inner urge in our heroine for acceptance and love that manifested in her provocative, lewd sex appeal, as well as and despite her recent acceptance of a marriage proposal months earlier. Pluto continued its stalking of Dana's Venus in Libra, slobbering on Venus' neck yet again, when it retrograded at 10 Sagittarius in mid-March of this year. Saturn in Taurus, riding the bucking Bull for months now himself, was within a one-degree inconjunct (negative) aspect to her Venus. Saturn in Taurus, twirling his lasso with Venus in his sights too, perhaps was most offensive at this point, exploiting Venus, which rules Libra by "riding" Venus in her foster-ruled sign of Taurus. At any rate, both Dana's natal Venus, and transiting Saturn, were in the same degree in stressful aspect, even if we isolate it. Yet that is not possible here, for there was so much planetary madness raining down on Dana at this point, and the whole Energy was most certainly more destructive that the sum of it's parts.

Karmically, Dana was fated, not only by her stressful natal chart, and by brutal planetary body blows and uppercuts, but also by her natal nodal positions. Dana's South Node (past, karma) at 24 Sagittarius was exactly conjunct her natal Moon. Her North Node was in Gemini, positive to her Venus in Libra, which had no aspects to it by degree, and little supporting positive energy by sign. This probably indicated that Dana was destined to indiscriminately scatter her energies (Gemini) in pursuit of love and partnership (Libra), and this she surely did, as suggested by reports that the many men in her life believed that they were "the only one", and that she would use them, and vice versa, for their generosity and for their abilities to provide her with money and drugs. She represented the embodiment of the more licentious, sex-and-drugs characteristics of Neptune in Scorpio - her Sun (hers-elf) was only two degrees from her Neptune at birth. As she began, post-Saturn Return at 29-30 years of age, to act more like her Sun, others began to see her as a Neptune-in-Scorpio icon. She not only got heavier into drugs and indiscriminate sex, but she also shot porn (Neptune in Scorpio).

Lastly, we turn to the Moon's position when she died, which I covered a earlier, yet now we take a look at what was happening on an hourly basis. The Moon was in Aquarius the day that Dana died. It was a stressful day for the Moon, which opposed Vesta, conjuncted Uranus, squared the Sun, in that order, all on that morning. It was probably then that Dana, cooped up in her fiancees mobile home, decided to make her final "escape". The Moon in the anything-can-happen-and-it-usually-does sign of Aquarius enjoyed an easier sextile to Jupiter in feisty Aries in the mid-afternoon, yet by then, it was too late.

You know, it could have been a trine, yet it would not have mattered in the least. The end was upon her, as Dana gulped the Valium and Lortab. Her fiance awoke from a nap to find her dead beside him. The coroner placed the time of her death at 8:30 pm. I say that Dana "died" early that morning, perhaps late the evening before. She "died" of a broken heart. Why do I say that? Not only because of her own conviction, most likely accurate, that Hollywood "chewed me and spit me out" (her own words). You see, in a grim aside to her death, Dana showed up on Howard Stern's radio show on May 7th, the day before she died. She came to deny that she was doing any drugs, an accusation leveled by her former roommate and lover to the Enquirer in March. She broke down into tears when several male callers criticized her with great hostility, calling her a liar. She left the studio completely broken, and I believe that it was then that she lost all will to live.

Dana was fading fast under the burden of feisty planetary activity, and it was just a matter of time. There was no astrological bright spot in her near future, certainly not for the rest of this year. The planets were acting up and basically punishing her natal positions for the heavy karmic debt which her soul carried. May the Gods rest her soul.

In her final years, it appears that Dana attempted to walk down a Wiccan path, as seen by the pentacle around her neck in the last available photo of her, also pictured on the cover of this week's Enquirer. Yet, as many of us on the Wiccan/Pagan path know all too well, there can be many diversions and false detours along this Path, especially for the young people (and Dana was really still a child). Without proper role models and teachers, which Dana must have experienced, this Path of Light and Truth can easily veer off into a Path of Darkness. Dana either followed that detour, or she never found the On-Ramp to the Path of Light and Truth. And she most certainly walked all alone.

I hope that Dana's soul will rest and incarnate into a being less likely to be used and damaged by its own actions. I hope that her karmic debts have been paid, and that her soul can find true happiness the next time around. May the Gods bless and love her soul.

Bright Blessings,

Carlo

Carlo,
That was an amasing reading.Is it possible
to use astrology in a line-up of possible suspects in a crime of passion,by looking at
planet positions at the time of the crime? If
one knew enough information on each suspect?
Realising of course that motive would be a factor too?I mean it looks as tho one could
at the least up the percentages a little if
they could use this type of knowledge.
Guess I'm daydreaming a little but what is
your opinion?
Y2sprite

Carlo,

Excellent essay! Bravisimo
Great job considering you were working without a birth time. Have you considered submitting this to any publications? You've got talent babe so I would say - go for it

Love,
Karen

Hi Y2sprite,

Interesting thoughts...they would make a great thread all on their own.
I, for one would love to delve into the birthchart of Andrew Cunanan, the man who killed one of the greatest fashion designers of our time, Gianni Versace.

Greg,
Would it be possible to start a thread called "Crime and Astrology" perhaps and move this post over there?

love and light,
Karen

Thank you ever so young Karen! I am actually working on the prerequisites to submit it to a magazine. I will let ya know what happens! Thank you again for your kind words of encouragement. It all just flowed, so I guess that I was supposed to write it. I am glad you liked it

And thank you also Sprite. As for your question, my opinion is yes, you are daydreaming a little. Seriously though, I have no idea. It makes sense though, so I imagine that astrology has been used successfully to catch bad guys. Probably having their birth data would be a good start. Then maybe look at whichever planets and signs might be involved. Crime of passion - Venus, Mars, Neptune, Pluto....murder charge - Mars, Scorpio...bank job...Taurus, Mercury, etc. I'd imagine that some research has been done on it. Maybe you can look into it, and start a new thread, like Karen says. Perhaps we could have a murder mystery to solve using astrology. That would be cool It is probably better to have a separate thread, so that this one can be about looking at discussing dear Dana.

Blessings,

Carlo

and a 6 , god rest her soul.....

Carlo, that's an amazing piece of astrological detective work, as well as a moving tribute to a dear soul who had a very rough ride this time around. I too would encourage you to consider submitting it for publication. I think it goes a long way toward illustrating how astrology can be used to ferret out underlying causes and influences in major events.

Your deep feeling about Dana's death also shows through clearly in your writing. It is so sad to see someone with so much promise fall so hard, so painfully, so young. This, to me, is one of the greatest values of astrology ... by helping us see "behind the scenes" we can gain more understanding -- and empathy -- than we can from seeing only the external events. It would be so easy to dismiss Dana's suffering with an "oh, she just turned into a white-trash drug addict" without seeing beneath the surface. Thanks so much for both a fascinating lesson in astrological detective work and a compassionate memorial to a stricken sister.

And Y2sprite, I'd say you are only partially daydreaming. Many criminologists DO use astrology (as well as psychics and other investigative tools that are not scientifically "accepted") to help solve tough cases. The reason it's not more widespread (in my opinion) is simply because astrological and psychic evidence is not admissable in court. A prosecutor not only needs to KNOW "whodunnit," but also to be able to PROVE the case in court -- and astrology usually can't help there.

Carlo,
You are so incredible at putting it all together.Not only the planetary line-up
but in such a tribute to a star-crossed
talent that Dana was.She must be blowing
you kisses at this time.All who read this
will see her in a more understanding way!
As you probably know my daughters murder
is under investigation at this time.We are
looking for help!Crime provided for the
New Thread.
Actually Gregory there was a psychic that
provided information in court.She works with
OSBI in many cases.She provided the insight
to the "Sirloin Stockade" murders.She works
with a forensic sketch artist.
Thanks again Carlo for the insight on Dana.
I copied it to show my brother(has no puter).
sprite

Dear Sprite,

Anyway that I can help, I am more than honored. Greg can give you my email address. I would certainly do whatever I could. And I am so happy that you found your way here, and that you are still being with us. Again, I am at your assistance.

Blessings,

Carlo

I clipped this from a Dana Plato site, credits at the end...
-----------------------------------------

Dana Plato 1964-1999

On Friday's (May 21st) Sally Jessy Raphael Show:

Death of a Child Star

Dana's ex-husband (Lanny Lambert), son (Tyler Lambert), Erin Murphy (Tabitha from Bewitched), and Gary Coleman (Arnold from
Diff'rent Strokes) are scheduled to appear. Check your local listings for the channel and time in your area.

--------------------------------------------
Actress Plato Dies of Overdose

MOORE, Okla. (AP - May 9th, 1999) -

Actress Dana Plato, who like her fellow "Diff'rent Strokes" child co-stars had seen legal troubles since the show was canceled, has died of a drug overdose.

Ms. Plato, 34, apparently took the painkiller Lortab along with Valium on Saturday while visiting the home of her fiance's parents.

"The death appears to be an accidental overdose. We don't suspect suicide," police Sgt. Scott Singer said Sunday.

Ms. Plato played Kimberly Drummond on the NBC sitcom that ran from 1978 to 1985 (and ABC from 1985-1986).

She was arrested in 1991 for robbing a Las Vegas video store, and was placed on five years' probation. In 1992 she was given an additional five years' probation for forging prescriptions for Valium.

"If I hadn't gotten caught, it could have been the worst thing that happened to me because I could have died of a drug overdose," she told reporters in 1992.

Ms. Plato and her fiance, Robert Menchaca, had stopped at his parents' home in Moore for Mother's Day. Ms. Plato and Menchaca, 28, were en route to Los Angeles after she appeared on the Howard Stern's radio program in New York as part of an effortto jump-start her career.

She went on the show to deny the stories of a woman who claimed to know Ms. Plato well. The woman had called Stern's show, saying Ms. Plato was on drugs.

Ms. Plato acknowledged the woman had been a roommate, but said she had been sober for about 10 years. She also said she had her
wisdom teeth out about four months ago and had to take pain killers for that.

Singer said Ms. Plato went to take a nap Saturday afternoon. After Menchaca realized that evening that there was a problem, his mother, who's a nurse, and his brother tried unsuccessfully to revive her with cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Singer says toxicology results aren't expected for about six weeks.

Ms. Plato's recent career had included mainly low-budget films such as 1992's ''Bikini Beach Race'' and the 1997 film "Different Strokes: A Story of Jack and Jill ... and Jill," a direct-to-video softcore tale about a sexual threesome.

Among her co-stars on "Diff'rent Strokes," Todd Bridges, who played Willis, has been arrested several times. In 1990, he was acquitted of assault with a deadly weapon in the near fatal shooting of a narcotics dealer in a Los Angeles drug den.

He once testified that he became depressed and turned to drugs after "Diff'rent Strokes" was canceled.

Gary Coleman, who played the lovable Arnold on the show, pleaded no contest in February to disturbing the peace for punching an autograph-seeker in the eye. He was ordered to attend anger management classes, fined and given a suspended jail sentence.

Ms. Plato has a 14-year-old son, Tyler Lambert of Tulsa, from a previous marriage.

Some additional information that has become available over the last few days:

Dana Plato's body will be cremated and her ashes will be spread over the Pacific Ocean.

People Magazine's new issue (available Friday, May 13th) will have a photo of Dana on the cover and article and photos inside.

For additional information and articles on the tragic death of Dana Plato, please see:

Yahoo's Full Coverage
----------------------------------------

Thanks to Kelly-Anne for providing us with the url:

www.thephotogallery.net/specialty/dplato/danaplato.html

If you have any additional information on Dana Plato for the biography or filmography, or any Dana Plato pictures, please send
them to me: tofull@ix.netcom.com

© 1998-1999, Todd Fuller

Thanks, Todd, you did a nice job on Dana's Memorial Site...

There have been over 295,000 visitors since this site was created. Dana has only been dead for three weeks. Thanks again Kelly-Anne, you are an ace. And Love to Dana, wherever you are...

Dear Carlo,

I just wanted to say that I also used to watch Dana on TV, liked her, felt bad that she had so much 'trouble' after the show ended and feel very sorry that she had so much unhappiness from which she couldn't get out from under. I think it is very touching that you were so moved by her death.

I'm not an astrologer, but to me it seems you did a BRILLIANT job, on this your 'maiden voyage', so Congratulations to you - baby steps are the hardest ones to make...

Much Love - essence

Thank you Essence. I do hope that her soul is resting now. I feel a great weight was lifted upon completing the article, similar perhaps to the relief that her soul felt when it left this plane. Thx again,

Carlo

Thanks Essence!

One for me, one for Dana, and one for Linda, right?

Dana Plato: Suicide

by Joal Ryan
May 21, 1999, 8:05 a.m. PT

Dana Plato's death was no accident.

Coroner officials in Oklahoma today ruled the troubled ex-Diff'rent Strokes star committed suicide--intentionally overdosing on a toxic batch of painkillers.

Plato died May 8 in Moore, Oklahoma, as she slept in a mobile home parked outside the home of her fiancé's parents. She was 34. Police first said the actress' death appeared to be an accident.

But Dr. Larry E. Balding, Oklahoma's deputy medical examiner, said the number of pills found in her system, combined with what he termed a past history of suicidal tendencies, led his office to conclude Dana Plato meant to die.

The former child star left behind no note. Some have said Plato was shaken the day before her death by an appearance on Howard Stern's radio show. During the interview, Plato alternately wept, volunteered to take a drug test, un-volunteered to take a drug test and declared herself "never...happier."

Lab work showed Plato's system swimming with the painkillers carisoprodol (a muscle relaxant) and hydrocodone/acetaminophen. The equivalent of seven carisoprodol tablets were found. Initial reports fingered the prescription drugs Valium and Lortab (a brand name of hydrocodone/acetaminophen).

In 1992, Plato was busted for forging a Valium prescription. Other bumps in her well-chronicled post-TV life included a 1991 arrest for a video-store hold-up and a 1989 Playboy spread.

On Stern's show, Plato said she'd been sober for 10 years.

Plato played dutiful daughter Kimberly Drummond on Diff'rent Strokes from 1978-84.

see: http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0%2C1%2C4795%2C00%2Ehtml

Thank you Karen for the heads-up...you rule!

That's very sad, Carlo. Thanks for letting us know.

Hi Gregory/Carlo

After studying Carlo's analysis of Dana Plato, I am really interested in drawing out my own natal chart and understanding how to determine planetary positions at any specific time and the good and bad effects that they would have by virtue of their position.
I would be grateful if you could let me know any books which would be a practical reference to such a qualitative and comprehensive analysis as done by Carlo.

Best Regards,

------------------
Ramesh R C

I wonder if Howard Stern has the decency to feel a little responsible. I know it's his job to be outrageous, but sometimes I think he ought to tune into the potential vulnerability of some of his guests and employ a little empathy.

WriteOn

GREETINGS!!!

Dear Carlo,

Thanks for the update -

It's just so sad...

Dear WriteOn,

I agree with you!!!

Love - essence

Carlo -

As for the 's - Quite Right!!!

So once again -