Ancient astrologers used a technique involving the Hyleg and Alcoccoden to determine the life and vitality in a chart

It’s not so much predicting how long you will live (and it most certainly does not predict the timing of your death) but about how much ‘juice’ is in your ‘battery’ at birth.

Clearly someone with lots of battery could die young due to an accident. Likewise someone with not so much battery could, with the help of modern science, live to a ripe old age.

Hence today, the technique speaks more to the quality of life rather than actual length of life.

The following recipe for astrological life expectancy is by Bonatti using the chart of Queen Elizabeth I:

1. If the Sun is in the 1st, 11th or 10th in a masculine or feminine sign, then it is the Hyleg. Her Sun is in the 8^th house so move to the next step.
2. If the Sun is in the 7th, 8th or 9th in a masculine sign (Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagitarrius, Aquarius), then it is the Hyleg. Her Sun is a feminine sign (Virgo), so the Sun is not the Hyleg.
3. If the Sun is not the Hyleg, then move to the Moon.
4. If the Moon is in ANY angular house (1^st, 4^th, 7^th, or 10^th ) or a succedent house (2^nd, 5^th, 8^th, or 11^th) and in a feminine sign (and ANY of the four rulers of her degree (Rulership, Exaltation, Triplicity and Term) aspect her then she is the Hyleg. Note that feminine signs include Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, Pisces.
5. Elizabeth’s Moon is in Taurus in the 3^rd house (Placidus) but because it is within 8 degrees of the cusp of an angular house (the 4^th ) then it is considered in that angular house.
6. Her Moon is angular and in a feminine sign (Taurus). However it is un-aspected (we do not look to the modern planets of Uranus, Pluto, or Neptune) so the Moon is not the Hyleg.
7. Elizabeth was born after the full moon but before the next new moon, so her chart is Preventional. (Note that if she had been born after the new moon but before the full moon, her chart would Conjunctional and we would have looked first to her ASC).
8. Hence we look first to her Part of Fortune which is at 19 Leo. As it happens, her Jupiter at 20 Sag forms a trine with her Part of Fortune and is in reception with by term, triplicity, and face.
9. Her Part of Fortune is the Hyleg and it forms an Alcoccoden with Jupiter.
10. Because Jupiter is in rulership of Sag (very strong), then using the chart below we start with the length of life of 79 years.
11. However because Mars (a malefic) is aspecting her Jupiter by an opposition (7 degrees), then we must subtract 15 years (based on the lesser life of Mars in chart below) plus another 40.5 months (based on the middle life of Mars in chart below).
12. Hence the life expectancy for Queen Elizabeth is 60 ½ years.
13. Since she died when she was 70 years old, she beat her own odds by 9 plus years