Another Libran toughie, Roger Cruikshank, 18 October 1982, a Scottish RAF pilot, who has overcome two potentially life changing accidents and bounced back, has been awarded a DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) for his actions while serving in Iraq.
When he was 22 he smashed his left leg in a fall while racing as a member of the British Olympic Ski team in Germany. “I put my femur through my tibia,” he said. “I have now got nine pins and a plate in my left leg.” 10 months later he qualified for the 2006 Winter Olympics and competed in the men’s downhill and super-giant slalom, wearing a leg brace and dosed up on painkillers. Seven months after that during a holiday in America to celebrate passing basic pilot training, his mountain bike collapsed under him, throwing him over the handlebars. His face had to be reconstructed. His decoration was for an operation last May in which he saved the lives of Iraqi soldiers while running so low on fuel that his own life was in danger.
He has now published a book ‘Speed of Sound, Speed of Mind’, relating his comebacks with proceeds going to mental health charity SAMH and military charity Help for Heroes, in part inspired by his mother who committed suicide seven years ago with depression.
He is a charming Sun Venus in Libra, with a gritty and persevering Saturn Pluto also conjunct his Sun and those four Libra planets sextile Mars and Neptune in sporting Sagittarius. His accidents occurred when tr Pluto in Sagittarius was conjunct his Mars.
His get-it-together 5th Harmonic is strong, linking Uranus to Jupiter, Pluto and Mars – definitely attracted to high-adrenaline activities and also lucky.
His 8H is also marked, which can be an unlucky number though it gives an abundance of strength and stubbornness in the face of difficulties.
Just goes to show that tough aspects, while bringing a stressful life, do have a compensatory strength to overcome.