posted July 12, 2003 12:08 AM         

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June 5, 2003, Yucaipa CA.

It is my sad duty to report that Lois Rodden left her body today (June 5, 2003) at around 8:30 AM PDT, in Yucaipa, CA. She chose a powerful time to leave. Neptune was on her ascendant and a Jupiter/Moon conjunction straddled her descendant. She always told me that Jupiter should be involved in a death because from the soul's point of view it was such a great boon to leave.

Lois is in the enviable position of leaving this earth with a job well done – a substantial job well done.

Her work has changed astrology for all time. When she entered the field, there were no standards for data integrity. (Saturn is conjunct her MC and at the handle of a bucket.) Incorrect birth data were innocently repeated over and over. The computer acronym – GIGO (Garbage In; Garbage Out) – comes to mind. Things are different now. Better books and articles are being written because they are grounded in a broad base of thousands of clean and well-organized birth data. Every serious astrological writer now checks their work against the data in her AstroDatabank.

Lois died of cancer (her seventh) and was ready to go without fear. She regrets not being able to attend college in this life but has firm plans of attending an Ivy League university in her next life. She leaves behind five children, many friends, and a field that is forever in her debt. She died at home with all her children in attendance.

It was an honor to be at her passing. When she left I quoted one of my favorite couplets from Hamlet:

"Now cracks a noble heart...
May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”

Six months before she died Lois named her successor. After three years of trying out different authors, a name came to her in a flash. Pat Taglilatelo would be perfect. And she is. Pat has been working as Lois's understudy since January and is now prepared to assume the mantel. Lois Rodden's legacy will continue for many decades to come.

Surely she is in a better place now and having a glorious time pawing through the Akashic records looking up those birth times that eluded her down here.