On March 18, 2026, the astrological community received the sad announcement of the passing of J. Lee Lehman, Ph.D. (9 September 1953—18 March 2026). Many of us knew Lee from her books, lectures, and workshops during the past four decades. The news was rather shocking since Lee was relatively young, only 72 years old and still quite productive. Being an astrologer, I wondered what was currently going on in her birth chart.
Looking up her chart data in AstroDataBank, I was surprised to see that according to her birth certificate, she was born with Leo rising. In a conversation I had with Lee several years ago, she said proudly that she was a “triple Virgo” with natal Sun, Moon, and Ascendant all in that sign. Doing some research, I discovered an interview, conducted by Garry Phillipson and posted on Skyscript, in which Lee stated that she had rectified her Leo-rising chart to one with Virgo rising. Her “official” birth certificate data is 9-9-1953, 4:35 AM, Wakefield, Nebraska, which she initially rectified to 4:45 AM, finally settling on 4:41 AM.
This last statement struck me as a bit odd because my experience has been that rectifications often result in a birth time somewhat earlier than the time stated on the birth certificate. AstrologerSidney Kimball Bennett (aka Wynn) made the same observation years ago in one of his publications. Here is Lee’s Leo-rising natal chart based on her birth certificate:
And the same chart is in horary format:
What immediately strikes the observer is that because Leo, Virgo, and Libra are signs of long ascension, Saturn, fallen in Libra, will rise to the eastern horizon by primary motion roughly around age 70. More precisely, Lee was 72.5217 years old at the time of her passing, which corresponds in Ptolemy’s scheme to 72:31 equatorial degrees and in the Naibod scheme to 71.481 (or 71:29) equatorial degrees. The oblique ascension of anaereta Saturn was 210:57 equatorial degrees. Do the subtraction: 210:57 – 71:29 yields the result 139:28 degrees of oblique ascension for the Asc, using Naibod’s timing key. The oblique ascension of her Asc in the 4:35 AM chart is 140:03, which suggests that the birth certificate time is reasonably accurate.
We obtain the following results for the primary directions of the Asc to Saturn, calculated with and without latitude in Janus 6 using the Naibod key for the 4:35 AM chart:
The midpoint of these two directions occurs in March of 2026, again supporting the validity of the 4:35 AM birth time. The body of Saturn crosses the eastern horizon in August of 2025, and the zodiacal longitude of Saturn crosses the eastern horizon in October of 2026. The midpoint of these two influences occurs in mid-March of 2026.
If the 4:35 AM time is accurate, then Lee has a late Leo Ascendant, which is conjoined by Mars in Leo in the term of Mars. This configuration aligns with her love of Aikido, which emphasizes non-violent self-defense by blending with and redirecting an attacker’s energy. The Virgo Sun rules her Ascendant and is governed by Mercury, which is a natural symbol of astrologers. Lee’s Mercury trines the MC and is the final dispositor of her chart.
It’s sad that Lee is no longer with us. She would probably have some brilliant and insightful remarks to make in response to this post.
