A locked-in patient who returned from a twilight non-existence has been telling his extraordinary story. Jake Haendel is a former opioid and heroin addict who wreaked catastrophic brain damage on himself. Expected to die, he remained in a non-communicative state, with his father describing him as ‘a houseplant’ although he was aware of everything going on around him. He later called himself as a ghost inside a broken machine.
After nine months he made a breakthrough and started rudimentary signals to express himself. He has now recovered the power of speech and hopes to walk again soon. Earlier this year he contracted Covid but bizarrely it appeared to speed his recovery once it had passed. Doctors regard him as a unique case and a medical miracle, though they are aware that after injury different areas of the brain are “recruited” to recover lost function, forming new neural pathways in an effort to heal. Jake believes he thought himself better.
Born 31 October 1988 in Massachusetts, he’s an incredibly determined and stubborn Sun Pluto in Scorpio; with the brilliant and chaotic triple conjunction of Uranus Saturn in Sagittarius and Neptune in Capricorn squaring onto Mars in Pisces, so highly strung, a risk-taker and reckless.
When he collapsed into a coma in December 2017 he was just over his First Saturn Return, which can be a sharp reality check. And his Solar Arc Neptune was moving to square his Sun; tr Neptune was square his Solar Arc Pluto and trine his natal Pluto. Tr Neptune was moving to conjunct his Pisces North Node and his Solar Arc Pluto was moving to square his Node over his long months of locked-in-ness. Pluto Neptune can bring devastation and confusion.
When he made his first tentative movements towards communication in June 2018 tr Jupiter then in Scorpio was conjunct his Pluto stirring his confidence. Tr Pluto in the weeks before had been square his Mercury. And tr Saturn was conjunct his Neptune about to finish moving across his triple conjunction.
His beyond-obstinate Sun Pluto in Scorpio would be what dragged him into the depths and pulled him back out. A miracle-making Scorpio. Though he’s still in transition with a disruptive tr Uranus opposing his Sun and then his Pluto through 2021.
His breakthrough 13th harmonic is strong; and even more so his 16H which carries a warning of catastrophes, sometimes self-inflicted but also brings an extraordinary will to survive.
Mystic Medusa interestingly has highlighted another addict, veteran Alex Minsky born the year before and she says:
‘Sun-Pluto in Scorpio often undergo intense and unusual experiences, almost like a legendary journey into darkness to face demons. It is a life-death-rebirth vibe, a mythological epic transformation trip – you embody this.’
‘https://mysticmedusa.com/2013/07/sun-conjunct-pluto-in-scorpio’
As a skeptical admirer of astrology, your chart and interpretation is spot on. I know my son well, and more than most. My son was very much like a rare and finicky houseplant at the worst phase of his disease. Many may find it insensitive. My son’s sensvof humor finds it hilarious and honest. Trust me that treating a loved one as a plant is a bn horror.
Thank you for this amazing story. I live in Mass. and even happen to work at the hospital where he was a patient, yet I never heard about him. The only media coverage I could find was from The Guardian, which has great US articles even though it’s based in the UK