Steve Irwin
Ambassador to the Natural World and Beyond
by
Brad Kronen
2016 marked the 10th Anniversary of the untimely death of Steve Irwin, one of the world’s most beloved wild life experts and conservationists. Steve’s indefatigable energy and contagious enthusiasm for the natural world was like no other and his larger than life personality is still very much missed to the present day.
My first encounter with Steve Irwin was anything but pleasant. It was the mid-90’s and I had just moved into an apartment in Black Rock, CT with two close friends from high school. Back then as is now, I required sound stimulation in order to tackle any kind of maintenance or cleaning task. With my multi-component stereo still requiring set up, I decided to turn on the living room TV for motivation as I began putting various things away down the hall in my bedroom.
Barely three minutes would pass before I power walked back to the living room in a highly agitated state with the sole intent of desperately silencing the boob tube. What emanated from the TV was a man’s loudly excited voice with a heavy Australian accent ranting in constant upward inflections about some deadly spider or poisonous lizard or other as he coax the creature from its hiding place deep within a heavily jungled rain forest. From the perspective of my over-stimulated ear, this guy had to go.
Steve Irwin was an acquired taste for me personally. The man’s overtly passionate, enthusiastic approach of genuine earnestness was at first far too much for me to initially take. The jaded cynic that I was didn’t think it was remotely possible for anybody, especially a TV personality with his own show to love what they did in such an overtly demonstrative manner.
But Steve Irwin wasn’t just anybody.
Before encountering the force that was Steve Irwin, my exposure of the natural world through the medium of television was limited to Joan Embery placing some nocturnal creature with gargantuan eyes atop Johnny Carson’s head in the wee hours of late night or watching the grainy and often grizzly wild life footage presented from the sedate sidelines of Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom”.
But that all changed when the Crocodile Hunter came to town.
Single-handedly, Irwin overturned how we humans learned about the natural world. No longer were animals presented within the unnatural backdrop of a television studio, Steve would instead trek to an animal’s natural habitat, be it deep in the mud, high in the trees, out in the bush or under the waves.
No longer was wild life observed with hushed overtones by a commentator hidden from view a safe distance away. Irwin would get both himself and his viewing audience as up close and personal as possible to his wild creatures, regardless of the degree of difficulty or level of danger involved.
Steve loved his work so much, his zeal was contagious. The Crocodile Hunter’s state of wonder with the natural world was so enthralling, one couldn’t help but get excited over the sheer discovery of it all, regardless of whichever bat, bird, beast, or bug Mr. Irwin was presenting.
The man who made the world take a double take of the natural world wasn’t a force of nature unto his solitary self. Irwin’s star rose into prominence with the assistance of another of like mind, energy, and astrological element, that being his wife and fellow Water sign, Terri.
“Reptile man meets Mammal woman, and it was fantastic. We just fell desperately in love.” – Terri Irwin
The mammals in question were of the predatory variety: foxes, possums, raccoons, bears, bobcats, and cougars.
These were the animals the Mammal Woman, aka Cancerian Terri Raines, focused on helping when she opened her wildlife rehabilitation facility in Eugene, Oregon in 1986, called “Cougar Country”.
The two things that motivate a Cancer most are the concepts of “Home” and “Family”. Considering her extended family included those which had fur and feathers, Terri was motivated through nearly every minute of her waking day. Cougar Country not only was a wildlife rehab facility, it also served as an animal education center as well as strove to fulfill its main purpose of releasing animals back into the wild.
In the late 80’s/early 90’s, Terri was personally overseeing and handling 300 wild animals per year.
Thus it was when this extremely busy Cancerian was invited to tour Australia’s various wildlife rehab centers and zoos, that she happened to come upon a particularly perky Piscean giving a lunchtime lecture about crocodiles at the Australia Zoo, which he and his family owned.
Their eyes met, the two Water signs instantly felt an immediate kinship (and overwhelming attraction), they went on their first date that night, and eight months later were married.
“He was the first guy I met that I couldn’t chase with a snake. He wasn’t scared. It was very attractive.” Terri later admitted.
In June of 1992, the two Water signed wildlife enthusiasts wed and spent their honeymoon in the best way two newly wedded Water signed wildlife enthusiasts know how….trapping crocodiles.
Immediately after tying the knot together, Steve and Terri celebrated their post-ceremonial bliss traditionally known as the honeymoon by traveling to remote swamp lands and trapping, tagging, and releasing heavily fanged large reptiles, with the romantic event caught entirely on film. The footage taken of the Irwins’ blissful post-wedding time ended up being the first episode of their television wildlife documentary series, “The Crocodile Hunter” which Steve and Terri both co-hosted and the rest is Natural History.
After marrying Terri, Steve’s influence as one of the most memorable of wildlife conservationists expanded and grew the world over. It seemed as if Irwin’s boundless potential was unstoppable.
That is until September 4th, 2006, the day Steve’s life was abruptly snuffed out after his heart was pierced by the barbed tail of a giant sting ray while snorkeling off the coast of Australia.
In Astrology, the 12th House is that particular part of the Zodiacal Zoo where we find beasts of the large and deadly varieties, along with any/all substantially sized sea creatures. The 12th House’s planetary ruler is Neptune and the sign that oversees all 12th House matters is the one Steve Irwin was born under – Pisces.
At the time of Steve’s birth, Neptune, the planet which rules over the biggest and deadliest forms of wild beasts, as well as documentary film, was placed in the sign of transformational change, Scorpio, in the 10th House of the Public. When translated astrologically, the man was destined to do the work that he did so wonderfully well.
Death, especially one that is unforeseen and horrifically tragic, can never be fully understood. However, while researching the life of Steve Irwin and the astrological environment which occurred on the day of his death, your Author was greatly comforted by observing the powerfully cosmic overtones which were present when one of the world’s most passionate wild life enthusiasts left this plane of existence.
On that day, September 4th, 2006, the Universe called Steve Irwin home.
Steve Irwin’s Progressed chart for the date of his death, September 4th, 2006. Along with the asteroid named in his honor, Crikey! being in the sky that day at the starting point of the chart at 18 degrees Pisces, a Yod or “Finger of God” had formed with Saturn and Mercury at the base both “pointing to” (indicated by the green dotted lines) to the planet of death, Pluto. The planet Jupiter is often associated with sudden deaths and on September 4th Steve’s progressed Jupiter was in near exact opposition to Pluto, the planet of death with the King of Planets positioned in both the sign and House of large oceanic animals, namely sting rays, in Pisces in its naturally ruling 12th House.
The manner of Steve’s death alone is unto itself, powerfully profound by virtue of its astrological significance.
As earlier stated, the 12th House, the planet Neptune, and its ruling sign of Pisces, all deal with large deadly animals, most especially sizably significant oceanic creatures as well, such as giant sting rays. The fact that this Piscean man was killed while snorkeling in the Neptunian setting of the ocean, by a creature that is housed within Pisces’ naturally ruling 12th House, the giant sting ray, in and of itself, is karmicly astounding.
A not so well known astrological phenomenon is the role the planet of Luck and blessings, Jupiter, plays in a large percentage of sudden deaths. Many astrologers theorize the biggest planet in the Solar System plays a major role of significance with the occurrence of a sudden death by providing a cosmic “thrust” which enables a person to up and leave this world, often in the form of a transiting conjunction with any of that person’s key natal planets.
On the day Steve Irwin died, Jupiter was conjunct his natal Neptune, the planet which has giant sting rays under its domain, in the House which is visible to all, the 10th House of the Public, in Scorpio, the sign of Death – by exact degree.
Steve Irwin’s life not only impacted the natural world, his efforts permanently altered biological science as we know it with his discovery of two new animal species – Irwin’s Turtle, or in biological-ese, Elseya Irwini, along with a very rare species of an air-breathing land snail, affectionately named, Crikey Steveirwini.
Irwin’s joyous wonder with the natural world was so far reaching, the naturalist like no other had an asteroid named in his honor, as well. Placed in between the orbital paths of Mars and Jupiter, Asteroid # 57567 was discovered in 2001 and was christened after Steve’s catch phrase, Asteroid Crikey!.
At the time of Steve’s death, the Asteroid Crikey! was positioned in the Heavens in the sign of oceanic sea creatures and of Steve’s Sun Sign at 18 degrees Pisces.
Even more noteworthy, on the day his soul left this plane of existence the asteroid Crikey! had newly crossed the starting point of Steve’s progressed chart by being one degree away from his 17 degrees Pisces progressed Ascendant.
With his namesake Asteroid being positioned in his own sign one degree from the starting point of his progressed Ascendant on the day of his death, it’s as if the Universe had summoned Steve Irwin’s soul back to its cosmic source on that fated September day. Perhaps there was a deep seeded need in a different part of the Universe for Steve to once again affect numerous life forces in distant, far off worlds, whose influence and existence we residents of Earth have yet to comprehend.
One final karmic note regarding the vibrant life of the man whose love of animals and of Nature, itself was infectious…
Steve Irwin was born on February 22, 1962, which translates to the sign of Pisces, and in Chinese Astrology, the Year of the Tiger. Primal Astrology is a karmic branch of Astrology which incorporates an Animal Spirit to represent a person’s life cycle by combining one’s Western Sun Sign with their Chinese Birth Year Sign. According to Primal Astrology, the animal spirit assigned to Steve Irwin and every Pisces born during the Chinese Year of the Tiger breathtakingly is, The Sting Ray.
Primalastrology.com says the following regarding the Sting Ray personality and their choice of career:
“If anyone should chase their dreams, it should be the Stingray. They have a recipe for emotional complexity; excitement with fear, anxiety with hope, and commitment with uncertainty. Yet, these emotional waves are an essential part of a Stingray’s life, and like their animal namesake they tend to let the waves take them wherever they want the individual to go.”
By leading all of us individually as if by hand and excitedly sharing all that he knew and experienced, Steve Irwin lived his life with total “commitment with uncertainty” as an Ambassador to the Natural World and beyond.
And in doing so, made the world a better place for all creatures great and small.
Steve Irwin
February 22nd, 1962 – September 4th, 2006
*Brad Kronen has authored over 30 books on the role Astrology plays in everyday life. Recently Kronen has written astrological dating guides for every sign of the Zodiac. His dating guide for Steve Irwin’s sign of Pisces is available below on amazon.com. Click on the link to purchase or to see a complete listing of Brad’s published work:
bradkronen.com 