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Eben Alexander: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife






Near-death experiences, or NDEs, are controversial. Thousands of people have had them, but many in the scientific community have argued that they are impossible. Dr. Eben Alexander was one of those people. A highly trained neurosurgeon who had operated on thousands of brains in the course of his career, Alexander knew that what people of faith call the “soul” is really a product of brain chemistry. NDEs, he would have been the first to explain, might feel real to the people having them, but in truth they are simply fantasies produced by brains under extreme stress. Then came the day when Dr. Alexander’s own brain was attacked by an extremely rare illness. The part of the brain that controls thought and emotion—and in essence makes us human—shut down completely. For seven days Alexander lay in a hospital bed in a deep coma.  Then, as his doctors weighed the possibility of stopping treatment, Alexander’s eyes popped open. He had come back. Alexander’s recovery is by all accounts a medical miracle. But the real miracle of his story lies elsewhere. While his body lay in coma, Alexander journeyed beyond this world and encountered an angelic being who guided him into the deepest realms of super-physical existence. There he met, and spoke with, the Divine source of the universe itself. http://www.ebenalexander.com/books/proof-of-heaven/






Eben Alexander III (born December 11, 1953) is an American neurosurgeon and the author of the book Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife, in which he describes his 10 November 2008 near-death experience when he slipped into the coma as a result of severe bacterial meningitis. He asserts that his out of body and near death experience (NDE) proves that consciousness is independent of the brain, that death is an illusion, and that an eternity of perfect splendor awaits us beyond the grave — complete with angels, clouds, and departed relatives, but also including butterflies and beautiful girls in peasant dress.

Eben Alexander’s horoscope as provided by Astro-Databank [1] is reproduced here. What strikes us immediately is the Mars-Neptune conjunction on the Ascendant in a trine to Jupiter-TNP Vulcanus in the 9th house. Traditionally, the 9th house is associated with  “dreams, visions , inspired thoughts, mysticism, philosophy, beliefs” etc.[2]. About Jupiter-Neptune, Renn Butler in Pathways to Wholeness writes:

Jupiter-Neptune  represents some of the most positive and uplifting archetypal influences that human beings can experience. Jupiter expands Neptune’s impulses towards mystical union softening people’s boundaries and allowing them to access new and unseen layers of meaning. Opening deeply to the divine soul or anima mundi that permeates the phenomenal realm, people may become aware of rich symbolism and metaphor through the entire creation. They can experience waves of imagery welling up through their psyches like a kind of cosmic cornucopia or divine spring often including unusually rich dreams.

In his book, Dr. Alexander writes:
"At 4:30 in the morning, November 10, 2008, I got out of bed. I was getting ready to go up to work. I was working in Charlottesville at the time and I had severe sudden back pain, much worse than I had ever experienced. Literally within 10 or 15 minutes, it got me to a point where I could not even take a step. I was really in tremendous agony…"

Table I below lists Dr. Alexander’s converse solar progressions.  Notice that the Sun triggers the Mars-Neptune conjunction (valid for a period of +/- 2 years around the exact date) and therefore the entire configuration involving the trine to Jupiter in the 9th giving him the experiences mentioned above.  Also for Mars-Neptune Ebertin gives “consequences or results of an infection; the discharge of pus”. The Mars-Neptune conjunction is in Libra – a sign associated with lower back.

 Eben Alexander - Natal Chart
 11 Dec 1953, 2:42 am, EST +5:00
 Charlotte NC, 35°N13'37'', 080°W50'36''
 Geocentric Tropical Zodiac
 Koch Houses,  True Node

Selection:  Converse Solar Arc Dirns

P1 (H)     Asp         P2 (H)     EXL          Type       Date                        Pos1                      Pos2       

Sun (1)   Cnj          Nep (1)   (X)           cSa-Na    16 Feb 2007         25°Li26' D              25°Li26' D
Sun (1)   Cnj          Mar (1)   (X)           cSa-Na    17 Feb 2008         24°Li27' D              24°Li27' D

*** END REPORT ***

The second table below gives the transits of Uranus and Saturn to Dr. Alexander’s radix Sun closer to the actual date of his experience. 

Selection: Outer transit aspects

P1 (H)     Asp         P2 (H)     EXL          Type       Date                            Pos1                      Pos2 
Sat (12)  Sqr          Sun (3)   (X)           Tr-Na      4 Nov 2008           18°Vi59' D             18°Sg59' D
Ura (6)    Sqr          Sun (3)   (X)           Tr-Na      21 Dec 2008         18°Pi59' D             18°Sg59' D

*** END REPORT ***

Saturn transits through his 12th house  while Uranus [19pi] is in the 6th both forming a T-square with radix Sun in the 3rd.  The 12th house rules the unconscious brain here in conflict with the conscious rational mind in the 3rd house. When positive, the rational mind is enriched by images from the unconscious. In astrology, the 6th house is associated with illness so that the Uranian awakening came through a psychosomatic illness (12th house).

Finally, we notice that the star Sabik [17sa], eta Ophiuchi conjoins the radix Sun [18sa].  Incidentally the constellation Ophiuchus is identified with Aesculapius (Asklepios, Asclepius), an ancient physician who grew so skilled in the craft of healing that he was able to restore the dead to life [3]. Ophiuchus is often depicted as struggling with a serpent  an  ancient symbol of death as well as regeneration into a new life.

About this star Diana Rosenberg writes:

Sabik is a star of the ancient Sogadian (Uzbek) “Wajrik, the Magician,” a shaman struggling to make contact between our world of appearances and alternate worlds of limitless space and totemic powers.  





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