General John Singlaub: A Contra Supplier
Zip Dobyns
As was mentioned in the article on Presidential contenders, the ongoing Congressional hearings on the sale of arms to Iran and the diversion of funds to the Nicaraguan Contras have presented Americans with a list of men involved in arms sales around the world. Richard Secord was the first witness on the opening day of the hearings, on May 5, 1987 at 10 A.M. EDT. He was born on July 6, 1932 in La Rue, Ohio, but I do not have his birth time. I have worked some with a speculative chart that puts 14 Aries 30 on his MC and 29 Cancer rising.
Another retired U.S. General who has been a witness at the hearings is John Kirk Singlaub whose birth data is given in the Gauquelin book of American Charts. He was born in Independence, California, on July 10, 1921 at 3 P.M. PST. His local (Washington, DC) house cusps are particularly interesting with his Ascendant on the Galactic Center at 26 Sagittarius and his progressed (P) true nodes of the moon staying on the MC-IC axis for years. Natal Mars is exactly conjunct his local West Point which is like an auxiliary Descendant, fitting the military career for our government, and his natal Mercury, Pallas, and Sun are all in a close conjunction with Mars with Pluto more widely involved. Singlaub was born just four days after Nancy Reagan and shares her Cancer stellium. His local Antivertex is quincunx Pluto and semisextile Uranus.
Singlaub’s natal chart has a strong earth-water emphasis, fitting his basic conservative, traditional (preserve the status-quo) career, with the Cancer stellium in the eighth house also fitting the power-struggle theme of a military professional. The placement of both Mars and Pluto, rulers of the Rising Scorpio, in the eighth house points to a confrontation between personal power and rights versus the power and rights of others. Remember that there are six alternative ways to handle that issue; three positive and three painful. The painful ways include giving all the power away; trying to keep all the power; and retreating from closeness for self-protection. The three positive ways of handling the challenge include sharing the power (compromise); healthy, game-playing competition; and helping others. With two rulers of the first house as well as the Sun (the Ego) in the eighth house, the individual needs to do all three of the positive alternatives, so a further challenge involves knowing when to do which: when to compromise and cooperate; when to compete; and when to help. Military service is a good outlet, providing a defined place to cooperate (with fellow service people) and to compete (against the enemy). But problems may still exist in defining the enemy, and in maintaining appropriate means which fit the ethics of a democratic society. The evidence being accumulated by the Christic investigation suggests that the “secret team” was so fanatically anti-communist that any means were considered justified, including assassinations of civilians suspected of communist beliefs, support for fascist dictators who denied civil rights to their subjects but who were “anti-communist,” and importation of drugs to finance the battle against communism.
The Christic lawyer who does most of their public lectures on their “racketeering” case against the “secret team” is Dan Sheehan. I have heard him once in person, once on a video tape, and have two audio tapes of his talks or interviews. If any of our readers want one of the audio tapes, I will be glad to send a duplicate when I return to Los Angeles in late July. I’ll be in Montana before this issue of The Mutable Dilemma makes it into the mails. Things get a little crazier than usual in my mail just before I leave on a trip, so if any readers have written for a tape and not received it before you get this issue of The Mutable Dilemma, please write again. The facts presented by Sheehan are almost impossible to believe, but presumably we will be seeing the evidence next year as the trial unfolds in Miami.
If Singlaub has been as deeply involved as Sheehan claims, we would expect a dramatic chart, including activity with the new asteroids. My experience has suggested that individuals who play a “world role,” who carry out the Karma of a nation, have good “example” charts. That is, all the techniques, all the tools work on their charts. Through the years of Watergate, Nixon’s chart was amazingly useful to illustrate an enormous variety of techniques. After Sheehan stated that Nixon started the “secret team,” I reran his chart for these years of Iran-Contra-Gate, and found fascinating aspects. P Moon opposes Nixon’s natal and P Saturn in his ninth house and P Saturn is just entering Gemini in the spring of 1988 when the Christic suit is expected to be in the courts and in the media. Currently, it is mostly public radio and small, independent newspapers which have had the courage to deal with the information.
Returning to Singlaub, in view of his power-struggle life which included high technology weapons, I expected a prominent Atlantis. It turned up conjunct his south node of the Moon (both mean and true versions) in Aries in the fifth house. I think the south node indicates a lesson for the current life, with the fire emphasis (Aries, Leo house, Ascendant which is like Mars) and fixed emphasis (Leo house and Scorpio rising) suggesting a lesson involving personal will. Atlantis also has an exact (one degree orb) quincunx to the natal Ascendant and a wider quincunx to the tenth house Saturn. P south node has continued to hold an exact quincunx to natal Saturn for more than 30 years, and the aspect will continue for another six years. P Saturn and later P Jupiter formed the exact sextile to the Ascendant and quincunx to Atlantis for many years in his life, maintaining a yod pattern. P Sun is currently approaching the same area (22-23 Virgo), forming the exact yod from the beginning of 1988 to the fall of 1990. Meanwhile, P Atlantis has been conjunct P Vesta for some years and they continue together for these years immediately ahead, maintaining also a quincunx to the local Ascendant. Remember that Vesta can symbolize the tunnel-vision of “do the job, no matter what else has to be sacrificed.” Integrating a quincunx is often a challenge. One end is often overdone at the expense of the other. P Vesta and P Atlantis are also square P Pallas, often a key to social causes, lawyers, politicians, etc. The ninth house placement of P Pallas certainly fits Singlaub’s current and coming involvement with the law. The long, almost lifetime quincunxes to Saturn in its own tenth house certainly highlight a basic tension between personal will (the fire factors) and the limits of personal will (letter ten) and the rising Scorpio which should respect the rights of others. The Christic information claims that the secret team regularly acted against the law. Even Fawn Hall, North’s secretary, commented during the Congressional hearings that sometimes one had to act beyond the law.
There are many other fascinating asteroids in Singlaub’s chart, both natal and progressed, but they just repeat the stress we see in the traditional factors. The conflict with the LAW and the report-card theme (Saturn) are shown dramatically. As Singlaub came before the Congressional hearings and faces the Christic suit, he has P Ascendant opposite natal Mars, local P MC square natal Saturn, P Saturn square local natal Ascendant, P local East Point opposite natal Saturn, P local Ascendant opposite natal Jupiter (in the tenth or Saturn house), P Vesta and Atlantis quincunx local Ascendant, P Antivertex quincunx P Sun, P Mercury square Antivertex and P Pluto, and much more. Through the summer of 1988, P Moon will conjunct P and natal Uranus, and be octile-trioctile the nodes of the Moon and Atlantis.
The case is likely to drag on for years, and may well lead to major changes in our bureaucratic structure, in the separation of powers of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of our government. I am awed at the way that our Declaration and Constitution charts showed the issue of a challenge to and change in the system, though I had expected the main stress to come from the financial crisis. At this point, our coming report-card-time with the major planets transiting Capricorn while Pluto is in Scorpio looks like we will face it all at once: debts (government, business, and personal), a secret government run by the Mafia, and AIDS. Can America go back to Puritan virtues of responsibility, thrift, honesty, and fidelity without also returning to a narrow and rigid dogmatism? Can we combine the best of Capricorn’s self-discipline with the openness and acceptance of Aquarius? The years ahead will test our skill at integrating these very different sides of life, and we do need them both.