Event Charts Demonstrate the Multiple Tools of Astrology

Zip Dobyns

Mundane astrology can include almost anything that happens in the world. Unfortunately, much of what is considered newsworthy is also violent, so a series of event charts often seem like a recital of doom and gloom. But it is also true that the violent events frequently provide dramatic demonstrations of the meanings of our astrological factors. Our hazard, in focusing on mundane events, is that we may forget the psychological principles which lie behind the visible manifestations. Too much focus on outer consequences can lead to a sense of fatalism and helplessness. When we realize that our inner nature draws us to matching outer events, we can start to change the inner beliefs, desires, and conflicts, which will eventually change the outer circumstances.

Mars symbolizes our “self-expression in action.” We may act assertively or aggressively, or we may block our power and experience aggression from others. I think that the Ascendant, East Point and Antivertex represent the same principle as Mars: personal action based on our belief in our right and power to assert ourselves and to defend ourselves. It is our beliefs, which are frequently unconscious, which permit us to be assertive or which inhibit our action. As I have written repeatedly in the past, it is these unconscious beliefs which are symbolized by Neptune, the twelfth house and Pisces, which explain the variant results of the Gauquelin research and the common experiences of astrological practitioners. Theoretically, one of the Gauquelin results with Mars, a significantly high number of sports champions with Mars in the twelfth house, stems from athletes who had faith in their own power and acted on that faith. The “Mars in the twelfth house” victims who turn to astrologers for help are theoretically the people who have problems with their self-confidence, their faith in their own right and power to assert themselves. They may have too much faith in their own rights (in conflict with the rights of others), and end up as criminals in jail. Or they may have too little faith in their own power and block their recuperative power, ending up sick or in surgery. I have said that the preceding is theoretical. It makes very good psychological sense. I have seen people change their lives and stop being victims when they accepted their power and began to express it in constructive ways. But it is not easy to “prove” theories scientifically when they involve intangibles, the mind and especially its unconscious aspects.

In natural conflict with the Mars principle, the Moon principle represents our emotional security needs, our capacity to mother others or to accept mothering. Mars symbolizes the ultimate in personal independence. The Moon symbolizes dependency; our own or others who are close to us. As with any of our twelve sides of life, we may overdo one and underdo another, occasionally or habitually. Often, we attract others into our lives who overdo what we are underdoing. Our character (habitual attitudes and actions which I assume we developed in past lives) creates our destiny, leading us to the events which fit our nature. To change our destiny, we have to change our character, which is easier to say than to do, especially where the unconscious is involved.

One of the astrological tools which is coming into more frequent use involves the positions of the planets as they would appear if seen from the Sun. Heliocentric charts put the Sun in the center of the diagram and look at space from the Sun. The Sun is not present in such charts since it is the center of the chart as the earth is not present in a normal geocentric chart because it is actually the center of the wheel. In the heliocentric chart, Earth and Moon are seen very close together opposite the position of the Sun in a geocentric chart calculated for the same date and time. The geocentric and heliocentric positions of the outer planets are not far apart. The positions of the planets are given by measuring from zero Aries around the ecliptic (earth’s path around the Sun projected against infinity). Pluto’s position does not shift much whether we look at it from the Sun or from Earth. But the positions of Mercury, Venus, Mars and the asteroids can vary quite a bit, depending on our viewing place. The fact that the zodiacal placements are meaningful offers strong evidence that astrology is mostly symbolic. It makes no sense to talk of radiations or force fields when we are talking about the same planet in two totally different directions in space. But you only have to look at them to see that the heliocentric positions are meaningful.

The Mars potential for expressing or receiving aggression is dramatically shown by Heliocentric Mars in a number of recent horoscopes. The plane crash in the Azores occurred with Helio Mars conjunct the Ascendant within a fraction of a degree of longitude. The last Russian soldier (the general) left Afghanistan with Helio Mars conjunct the Geo Moon within a fraction of a degree. The same aspect was present when Patrick Purdy shot the children in a Stockton school yard, and then killed himself. For readers who like to examine the charts for themselves, the plane crash was on February 8, 1989, at 1:30 P.M. in zone West 1 hour, at 36 N 59, 25 W 6. The Soviet general walked across the Friendship Bridge into Temez, U.S.S.R. on February 15, 1989, at 11:20 A.M., zone 5 hours East, 37 N 14, 67 E 16. The school shooting occurred on January 17, 1989, between 11:42 and 11:50 A.M., at Stockton, California, 37 N 58, 121 W 17.

The last issue of the Asteroid-World included the wrong chart for Ted Bundy. I had done one for noon before I got the accurate birth time, and it was still on the computer when Asteroid-World went to press in haste, following the frustration of months of delay due to problems with the photo-copier. The right chart was described, but the wrong diagram was included. The correct wheel is presented here.

Helio Mars was quincunx Helio Pluto when they pulled the switch on Ted Bundy in the electric chair at 7:06 A.M. EST on January 24, 1989 in Starke, Florida, 29 N 57, 82 W 7. Geo Pluto, just a couple of degrees higher, was on the MC at that moment. In Bundy’s natal chart, Geo Mars was just over a degree from his lunar South Node in Sagittarius, indicating a lesson in faith. Our beliefs determine our morals and ethics. Helio natal Mars opposed Uranus exactly and Bundy’s progressed MC in Florida was in a one degree conjunction with both Geo and Helio Uranus, opposed to the Helio Mars, while the Florida progressed Ascendant squared both Uranus and Mars. Both Geo and Helio progressed Mars were conjunct the progressed Sun within one degree at his death. Natal Helio Pluto was on Bundy’s East Point within one degree while progressed Geo Pluto was on his Florida Ascendant to the minute of longitude at his death. Having pointed out the importance of local houses, we might add that in Florida where he was electrocuted for murder, progressed Saturn squared Bundy’s local MC. For those who enjoy other astrological exotica, progressed Saturn remained conjunct Bundy’s Halley’s Comet from the time he was a child, so Halley also squared the local MC. Transiting Halley was on the transiting Moon and square his natal Sun when he finally paid the penalty for his murderous life. Bundy was born on November 24, 1946, at 10:35 P.M., EST, in Burlington, Vermont, 44 N 29, 73 W 12.

In a recent car crash that killed both drivers and the one passenger, Helio Mars was opposite Geo Uranus, quincunx Helio Icarus, and octile the Part of Death (Placidus). Of course, there were many other aspects, including the Mars/Pluto midpoint on the West Point, the Mars/Uranus midpoint on the Sun, square the south node of Uranus and asteroid Pasadena. The Accident happened on March 7, 1989 at 4:30 A.M. in downtown Los Angeles on the Pasadena freeway. The other asteroid named for Pasadena, Pasacentennium, was on the Moon both geocentrically and heliocentrically. Since Earth and Sun are opposite each other in the respective systems, astrological factors which are conjunct or opposite the Sun are close to the same positions in the two systems. The accident happened just before the eclipse, so the Moon was approaching the Sun. Of course, Geo Mars was also prominent, conjunct the IC within one degree, opposite the Arabic Part of Uranus on the MC and Helio Vesta, and square Geo Juno. Saturn and Neptune formed octiles and trioctiles to Mars and the MC.

In another local event shortly before the eclipse, a junior high school student stabbed his teacher who had reprimanded him for swearing in class. Helio Mars was on the East Point within one minute of longitude, square the MC within one degree, and opposite the midpoint of Geo and Helio Uranus. Geo Mars was the midpoint of Ascendant/MC and trioctile Geo Saturn-Neptune. The incident occurred on March 6, 1989, at 1:20 P.M. PST, in Sylmar which is not in the American Atlas. I calculated the chart for the hospital where the injured teacher was taken, at 34 N 42, 120 w 29, assuming that it was not too far from the site of the attack. Unfortunately, the closure of hospital emergency rooms may make that a dubious assumption.

The world is orderly and meaningful, and everything is part of the order and shows part of the meaning. By now, our readers know that my main fascination is with the asteroids or minor planets. Like the heliocentric positions of the planets and the nodes of the planets and the midpoints between them, the asteroids keep repeating and clarifying the message of the chart. No matter how often I see their phenomenal precision, I am still astonished at each instance.

Everyone will have heard of the Salmon Rushdie book Satanic Verses, and of Khomeini’s death sentence on Rushdie. On the early morning of February 28, 1989, the U.S. first faced the Islamic anger against what they consider a blasphemous book. At 4 A.M. in Berkeley, California, fire bombs hit two bookstores which had sold Rushdie’s book. In New York, a small newspaper was fire bombed at 4:30 A.M. In addition to doing the charts for the locations of the events, I also calculated them for Teheran, Iran, the primary source of the vendetta against Rushdie and his supporters. There are far too many striking asteroids to include more than a few, but for starters, the Berkeley fire bombs were thrown with Geo Arabia and Helio Berkeley on the Descendant. Only one degree orbs will be mentioned. Astronomers commonly add an “a” when they name the asteroids they discover, so Georgia was actually named for George August of Hanover, Germany, later King George II of England, and Herberta was named for Herbert Hoover. When I explore the possibility that the asteroids may signify people with similar names, I sometimes drop the final “a.” In both the bombing charts described here, Geo George was on Saturn-Neptune and Geo Herbert was just two degrees beyond them, at the midpoint of Saturn-Neptune and the Ascendant in the Berkeley chart. George Herbert Walker Bush has to face religious terrorism at home. Helio Icarus (who over-reached and crashed) was on the East Point. Geo Urania (like Uranus) was on Geo Mercury (in Aquarius) and Icarus and square Geo Pluto. The combination certainly fits the power struggle over freedom of thought.

Vesta, one of our first asteroids to be discovered, turned out to be a major key in the charts. Vesta, named for the vestal virgin, symbolizes the capacity for total commitment to one’s job. I have repeatedly seen it prominent in cases where tunnel vision leads to ruthlessness as nothing seems to matter except what the person is trying to accomplish. In both of these charts, Vesta was conjunct Chaldaea, the ancient name for the area at the head of the Persian Gulf, including part of south Iraq, Kuwait, and the edge of Iran! It was also conjunct Helio George and the midpoint of Geo Moon/Saturn and Moon/Neptune, opposite the midpoint of Geo Juno/Ceres, along with Geo Attila (the Hun) and Dolores (Spanish for sorrow), square Geo Atlantis (key to power struggles and the abuse of power, especially modern technology), and the midpoint of Geo Venus/Ceres. It was also exactly quincunx Geo Mars.

The angle aspects were especially dramatic in the Teheran charts with Geo Vesta on the West Point and Helio Vesta on the Vertex for the newspaper bomb and Geo Vesta on the Vertex for the bookstore bombs. In the New York chart for the newspaper bomb, Geo Vesta was on the midpoint of Ascendant/MC, and if we allow aspects with overlapping orbs, Geo Vesta was opposite the Teheran midpoint of Ascendant/MC which is also on the north node of Vesta forming a T-square to the Arabic Parts of Geo Mercury and Pluto. The midpoint of East Point/MC in Berkeley and the MC in Teheran for the newspaper bomb are also brought into the configuration with overlapping orbs. This whole list of asteroids, angles, and midpoints range from 21 to 23 degrees of the mutables and we haven’t even looked at the factors in 6 to 8 of the cardinal signs which would form octiles and trioctiles. To demonstrate again how many ways the sky can give us the same message, the Aphelion of Vesta (where it is farthest from the Sun) was on Geo Mars along with the Arabic Part of Vesta in the Teheran chart for the bookstore bombs.

I do not have Rushdie’s time of birth, but for those who would like to experiment, he was born on June 19, 1947 in Bombay, India. I have a speculative chart set for 6:35 A.M. India time (1:05 UT) but will not attempt to describe it since one can hardly do serious rectification with only one current event. However, I will comment that Geo Fanatica was transiting over Rushdie’s natal Fanatica in the days just before the Berkeley and New York bombings.

I had noticed last year that asteroids America and Fanatica were close in several of the ingress charts for 1989, and was waiting to see how we would experience fanaticism. The Rushdie ruckus is probably only the beginning. In the Aries Ingress chart, Geo America and Fanatica are at nine Gemini, within one degree of natal Uranus-MC in our 9:36 EST Declaration of Independence chart, my rectified time. They are a little more than two degrees apart in the Cancer ingress but back within one degree for the Libra Ingress with Arabia and Attila just beyond them, all in early Virgo in their Geo positions. They are pulling apart again by the Capricorn ingress, so it looks as if the spring and fall will be the most intense. We have also had the recent threat of poisoned fruit from Chile. Enormous economical damage can be done with a phone call threat; cheap terrorism. The threat of pesticides in our home-grown apples is another matter, with poison in general connected to either Neptune or Pluto. The Neptune-Saturn conjunctions are the hallmark of this year, and Pluto is coming as close to the Sun as it ever does, at its perihelion. Water, in astrology, symbolizes the tendency to hold on and hold in. When free flow is blocked for too long, it turns stagnant and poisonous.

I noted some years ago that Bush’s progressed horoscope and the Declaration chart pointed to a turbulent fall in 1989 but was not sure whether the pressures involved finances or some of Bush’s past coming to light. At this point, I suspect that Iran may be an important part of the action. I have two possible charts for current Iran. Khomeini returned to Teheran after his exile in Paris and the departure of the Shah on February 1, 1979 at 9:03 A.M., 3.5 hours east. Concentrating primarily on the geocentric asteroids, some of the dramatic asteroid aspects include natal Herbert on the MC to the minute of longitude with Anubis (Egyptian god of the dead) and Venus also conjunct the MC within a fraction of a degree. Icarus, Libya and Megaira (slaughter) are on Mercury. The Sun is on Fama, Chaldaea, and the south node of Neptune, to mention only a few of the contacts. Currently, for several years, progressed Washington is on the Ascendant and progressed America is on the Descendant. Progressed Fanatica is on the Ascendant when the chart is calculated for Washington, DC. Progressed Siva (god of destruction) is on the MC. Progressed Saturn stays for years at 11 Virgo on what I believe is the right Ascendant (my rectification) of our Declaration of Independence horoscope.

The other Iranian chart is for their Constitution which took effect at zero hours on April 1, 1979 in Teheran. Neptune is conjunct the Ascendant within four minutes of longitude. America is at 11 Virgo, on Helio Saturn and our Declaration Ascendant, while Washington opposes the tenth house Pluto. Progressed Ascendant forms a yod (double quincunx) to the Moon on the cusp of the sixth house and to Jupiter in the eighth house. This spring of 1989, progressed Moon opposes progressed Mars, and in the fall, it crosses the MC and opposes natal Sun. Progressed Columbia (named for Christopher Columbus but I have found it relevant for our District of Columbia as well as for the South American country) is square progressed Sun and it holds a long quincunx to Ascendant-Neptune. Pluto holds a long square to natal Columbia and an opposition to Washington. Progressed Potomac (the river in Washington near our Pentagon) conjuncts Jupiter in the eighth house, so it participates in the yod with the progressed Ascendant. Progressed Herbert is on progressed East Point and trioctile natal Moon. Progressed Fanatica squares the natal Antivertex. Progressed Chaldaea and Aten (a sun god) oppose natal Medea (who killed her children), progressed Saturn, and the progressed East Point in Washington, DC. There is much more, but this enough to remind us that we elected a president who has his Sun on our Declaration Mars with a current T-square formed by his progressed Mercury and Uranus. Bush’s progressed Moon joins the T-square in the fall of 1989.

One of the clues to the importance of a chart, either of a person or of an event, seems to be the number of asteroids with meaningful aspects to the traditional factors in the chart. I have mentioned this before, and continue to see examples which illustrate the theory. Though he did not kill as many young women as Bundy, Neville Heath of England did murder at least two. His data was given in the Astrological Journal as June 6, 1917, at 9:40 A.M. UT in Ilford, Essex, England, 51 N 33, 0 W 5. He has a few appropriate asteroids, like Siva on his East Point, Atlantis quincunx Vesta and square Saturn, progressed (P) Tezcatlipoca on natal Venus opposite Moon and P Anubis conjunct P Europa which had just reached the one degree orb to natal Antivertex when he carried out the murders in June and July of 1946. Natal Hybris (hubris) and Kassandra were both conjunct the south node of the Moon and Helio Venus, and P Hybris had reached Saturn in the twelfth house while Kassandra just behind it was on the midpoint of P MC/P Ascendant and quincunx natal Moon. Heath is described as having a dominating mother and weak father, with the implication that he expressed his anger toward his mother by killing other women. But the asteroids are of minimal importance in the chart. The midpoints are far more impressive including the Saturn/Mars midpoint on natal Venus opposite Moon and the MC/Ascendant midpoint on Pluto. Heath’s natal Part of Death (Placidus houses) was on the natal IC. But as far as I know, his life made few ripples except in the lives of those in personal contact with him. It is the charts of people playing a major role in human affairs, whose actions live on after them, or the events which are turning points in human destiny, which seem to occur when the asteroids mark the chart in astonishing profusion and with impressive meaning.

So, many tools “work,” and give us a repeated message. As we explore the mystery of our astonishing sky, remember to enjoy the journey.

Copyright © 1989 Los Angeles Community Church of Religious Science, Inc.

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