Ed Sheeran and the death of a best friend

Ed Sheeran is seen in tears for his upcoming documentary, “The Sum of it all” - a four part documentary for Disney+ that documents some of his rise to fame, his family life and his personal struggles. In the documentary he describes feeling suicidal after the death of his childhood best friend, Jamal Edwards on 20th February 2022. It was a heartbreaking time and compounded by his wife being diagnosed with Cancer during her pregnancy for their second child. Looking at the astrology we can see that 2022 was always going to be a tough year.

© Evening Standard Ed Sheeran with his childhood best friend Jamal Edwards

Ed Sheeran’s birthdate is known to be 17th February 1991 but we do not have a time of birth for him. As a result I have drawn his chart without a Midheaven or Ascendant. As with all Uranian dials, the inner wheel shows his birth chart, the middle wheel shows the solar arcs and the outer wheel are the transiting planets. The date for the calculation is the date his friend died, 20th February 2022.

2022 was always going to be a tough period for Ed Sheeran.

The most immediate thing we see is that the solar arc Aries Point is almost precisely conjunct his natal Saturn suggesting a year of personal challenge (at the very least). Witte interprets this as “Separation, deceleration, parting or death in general. Inhibitions, pressures, problems, disturbances or losses in the general public.”

In opposition to this Saturn and Aries Point conjunction is the solar arc Admetos and the transiting Mars / Uranus midpoint. Witte interprets this as “Sudden heavy depression. Surprised by the sudden death of another person.” To the top left we can see that the solar arc Mars and Hades is also in aspect to this opposition. This can be interpreted it as, “serious misfortunes”.

In this second chart we have additional confirmation of what was going on. The transiting Sun (day of event) and the transiting Moon (hour of event) were in aspect by late morning on the day of Jamal’s death. Whilst we don’t know the exact time of death of Jamal Edwards and nor do we know the time of birth for Ed Sheeran, any natal or solar arc planetary aspects to this are still very suggestive of the type of day and the possible time triggers that were occurring.

The transiting Sun Moon opposition was exactly in aspect to transiting Admetos (suggesting a very heavy day) and both were conjunct Ed Sheeran’s solar arc Saturn. Witte interprets this as “the end of a partnership”, “serious and difficult times”. What is particularly interesting is that this is also in aspect to Ed’s natal Mars / Uranus midpoint. This is a repetition of the energy mentioned above in the first chart. In this particular form it is more suggestive of “a sudden interruption to one’s work” which would inevitably have been the case following the shock of the news that took place that day. I have not highlighted this on the chart but Ed’s solar arc Mars / Uranus is in aspect to his natal Mercury which can mean “sudden surprising and alarming news”.

There is a multitude of other factors we can look at in the chart as we drill down to specifics but sometimes it is the first look at the chart that gives us the biggest clues. In the Whole Sign house system transiting Saturn was transiting across Ed’s natal Sun during 2022 which is a huge indicator of the potential for depression. As with all astrological events, the placements of the planets do not guarantee an event is going to take place, it is down to the will of the individual as to how they respond but such an indicator is a sure sign that it wasn’t going to be the easiest of years.