Oliver North—A Mirror for the U.S.
Zip Dobyns
To his followers, and there are many of them, he is a super hero trying to save our country. To his opponents, and there are many of them, he is a convicted felon whose conviction was overturned by the court permitting him to run for the U.S. Senate in the state of Virginia. He almost made it! It took a concerted attack by many high visibility political leaders, including ex-President Reagan, his wife Nancy, and former opponents of Robb, to edge Chuck Robb into his win on November 8, 1994. Who is Ollie North? What can his horoscope tell us?
North was born in San Antonio, TX on October 7, 1943. He became famous during the Iran-Contragate uproar as a key player in the attempt by the Republican executive branch of our government to flout the laws enacted by the Democratic Congress. Congress ruled against additional support for the Contras who were fighting a civil war against the ruling Sandinistas in Nicaragua. North claimed that he was only following the instructions of Reagan and Reagan denied that he knew anything about what was going on. Bush claimed that he was “out of the loop” of people who knew what was happening though later information showed that he was present for all major decision-making. Other Cabinet members also claimed that they opposed or lacked knowledge of the activity. North’s supervisors, including McFarland, partly supported North’s claims that he was trying to carry out the goals of Reagan and partly acknowledged that he was often a loose cannon and a liar. As with the assassinations of John and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the whole truth may never be known. It is no accident that the citizens of the U.S. are becoming paranoid as they are bombarded with conspiracy theories.
During the Iran-Contra hearings, we published a chart for North using a birth time from an unnamed “family friend.” During my October seminar in Virginia, I was given a different time: 10:14 A.M. CWT. A leading woman worker in the Republican Party in Virginia got the time from North who said that he got it from his mother. In light of North’s reputation for lying, readers can use their own judgment (or better yet, work with events in his life) before deciding to trust the chart. It does fit what I know of his life though I have not had enough time to do a thorough check.
Before plunging into his chart, I want to make a philosophical digression. The previous birth time had impressed me because it gave North Neptune on the IC and a loaded twelfth house, fitting his work for one of our many “spy” organizations—the National Security Agency (NSA)—as well as his apparent personal predilection for concealing or distorting the truth. But even more impressive, this former birth time put the asteroid Oliver on the MC to the degree! If the time was actually an attempted rectification that was not acknowledged by the astrologer who produced it, I guarantee that he/she did it without knowing the position of Oliver. As far as I know, no astrologer in the world had the longitude of Oliver until Mark calculated it for me.
A similar situation is described in the Fall 1994 Asteroid-World. We now have a birth certificate time for Nicole Brown Simpson which is hours different from the time supposedly given by her to a fellow actor who was interested in astrology. Lois Rodden, who got the accurate time from Marion March who got a copy of the birth certificate from Germany, suggests that the time of 14:44 must have been an attempted rectification based on events in her life. The dramatic kicker in the case is that the 14:44 time put asteroid Nicole on her MC where she was born and asteroid Brown on her MC where she died. These aspects are exact within one degree. And, as with Oliver, no one had the positions of those asteroids before Mark calculated them for me after we had already run one article about Nicole’s murder.
It is possible that a third similar case may surface in time. The birth time of 8 P.M. which we have published for Hillary Clinton was, like North’s, from an unnamed “family friend.” There is now a rumor that Hillary was actually born in the morning. I was reassured to find asteroid Hillary on the IC in Hillary’s 8 P.M. chart, and P Hillary on her local IC in Washington, DC during the contest for the presidency which took her to a home in Washington.
The philosophical questions include: 1: Is it possible to have more than one chart for one’s day of birth which will “work” reasonably well? The answer to that appears to be “yes.” 2: Are the personal name asteroids useful clues to such “auxiliary” charts? Again, these examples would support a “yes” answer. 3: Are astrologers trying to rectify a chart with inadequate data, psychically tuning in to the asteroids to get one of the possible useful charts? That probably rates a “yes” also. 4: Do these cases offer additional support for the horoscope as a symbol system, providing useful information but not specifying physical forces? I give that question a “yes” along with the rest. 5: Is the cosmos playing games with us? Decide for yourself on that one.
Turning back to North’s morning chart, most of the Gemini stellium which was in the twelfth house in the evening birth chart has been moved to the eighth house. As another water house, carrying the meaning of Scorpio, the eighth house can also be secretive and it adds a strong potential for a life of power struggles. Other keys to power issues include three factors in Leo, two in the tenth house, three in Capricorn, one in Aries in the Leo house and the Ascendant and East Point in Scorpio. All of the fixed houses are occupied with a cardinal sign T-square in houses 2-5-11 and a close square between Saturn and Mercury in houses 8-11 in addition to the squares between factors in Leo and Scorpio. North’s army service in Vietnam, his continued battles while in the NSA, his court battles during the Iran-Contra hearings, his competitive businesses after the hearings which have made him a millionaire, and most recently his political battles show the way in which character becomes destiny.
Mars in the eighth house is another one of our keys to potential power struggles with its feeling that one’s personal power might be challenged by others. We can react to that often unconscious feeling by giving in or fighting or running away, or by learning to compromise and cooperate, by engaging in healthy competition, and by helping other people. Despite all his factors in air signs, North’s south node and Saturn in that element suggest that equality, compromise, and cooperation may still be areas for learning and growth.
North’s Mars is closely conjunct Vesta, a key to the potential for enormous ability but also the danger of alienation in personal relationships if the individual becomes so focused on the goals that he or she ignores how other people are being effected. North has shown himself to be highly competent; military personnel who served with him in Vietnam gave him high marks for his ability. Following his costly court battles, he has certainly demonstrated the ability to make money in business, and he raised more money for his political campaign than any other candidate in the history of Virginia. Letter eight (Pluto, Scorpio and the eighth house) represent joint resources, including one’s ability to gain help from others.
North’s dominant Jupiter also fits his potential for success. If this birth time is accurate, North’s MC is on the midpoint of Jupiter/P Jupiter for years. Jupiter (and its sign and house) symbolize our beliefs, goals, and values, our faith in a Higher Power, and by extension our willingness to travel wherever we need to go to find our ultimate value hence long trips and foreign countries. North’s life has involved all of the preceding potentials associated with a prominent Jupiter which rules one of the signs in his first house (identity) and which is in its own ninth house. He has traveled all over the world, dealt with the rulers of other countries, convinced enormous numbers of sincere Christians that he is supporting their values, and continues to pursue his goal of personal power in the world. To people who share his values, he is highly magnetic and charismatic with the verbal fluency of the grand trine in air and the emotionally intense Leo and Scorpio.
In addition to his demonstrated capacity for getting involved in power struggles, for charisma, and for the single-minded and successful pursuit of his goals, the other notable facet of North’s character seems to be his propensity for lying. He has been accused of cooperating with the CIA to bring drugs into the U.S. which were sold here and the proceeds used to supply arms to the Contras. Reports of such activity by members of the CIA have been circulated for years, with the claim that the proceeds of heroin from Asia and cocaine from Columbia were used to support CIA operations. North, of course, indignantly denied any such activity. But even the conservative Roanoke Times & World-News questioned his veracity. An editorial on October 26, 1994 offers the following items:
North jotted down during the 1980s notes such as “Contra leader Federico Vaughan ‘wanted aircraft to go to Bolivia to pick up paste, want aircraft to pick up 1,500 kilos.’“ “DC-6 which is being used for runs out of New Orleans is probably being used for drug runs into the U.S.” “$14 million to finance Supermarket came from drugs.” (The Supermarket was a Honduran warehouse in which arms for the Contras were stored.)
A story first printed in the Wall Street Journal: A drug smuggler was killed by Columbian hit-men in 1986—eight months later, the cargo plane he had used to carry cocaine into the U.S. was shot down over Nicaragua with Eugene Hasenfus and a load of Contra supplies aboard.
Two former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents based in Central America alleged that North and the CIA operated hangars in El Salvador from which airplanes delivered drugs to the U.S. and carried cash back to finance the Contra war.
North worked closely with John Hull in the 1980s. Hull owned airstrips along the Nicaraguan border which served the Contra supply effort. Hull was indicted by Costa Rica for cocaine trafficking but escaped to his home in Indiana.
The charge that North helped bring illegal drugs into the U.S. to support the Contras may be the most serious charge against him, but a Virginia entrepreneur has produced the most complete and amusing record of North’s lies on a deck of playing cards! A standard deck of 52 cards presents a different lie on each card along with the evidence that it is a lie. Obviously, we cannot do more than sample the cards. The following are a few representative examples.
On the 10 of spades: “North complained that after the U.S. captured the terrorists who had hijacked the Achille Lauro, ‘a member of Congress’ made revelations about the interception ‘that very seriously compromised our intelligence activities.’“ Rebuttal: “Details of the interception were leaked by Oliver North.” Newsweek, 7 27, 1987.
On the King of spades: “I was down in Lambert Point here just two weeks ago, and walked through a neighborhood with a 63% high school dropout rate.” Rebuttal: “North simply invented the 63% figure.” Guy Frideli column, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, 9 12, 1994.
On the 4 of hearts: “North claimed that Ross Perot urged him to lie in order to cover up President Reagan’s role in the Iran-Contra scandal.” Rebuttal: On Perot’s tape of a phone conversation the two had at the time, Perot tells North only to ‘tell the truth.’ He tells North not to ‘protect anybody.’“ Readers Digest, 6, 1993.
On the 5 of diamonds: “North said his grandfather came to America as an ‘indentured apprentice.’“ Rebuttal: North’s grandfather was not indentured. Indentured servitude had been abolished by the time he came to America. His uncle paid for his passage to America. Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, 9,18,1994.
If we consider the evidence adequate, what astrological factors might show the potential for lying? In general, it is least common with the fire element unless the individuals have persuaded themselves that what they want to be true is really true, or they are outright con artists. Fire does exaggerate! Like fire, air factors usually show openness. People say what they think unless they are consciously conning their listeners. Earth factors show the potential to hold back if openness will interfere with accomplishing their projects. Water factors are even more driven by security needs than earth and more often an indication of vulnerability, so water tends to be the most deceptive and/or manipulative element. Traditional astrology especially associates lying with conflict aspects between Neptune and Mercury which suggest issues involving faith (or a need for it) and creative imagination versus seeing and describing the world as it is, but obviously the picture is far more complicated.
North has a wide conjunction between Neptune and Mercury which could express as creative imagination and verbal fluency or as embroidering or concealing the truth. But perhaps more significantly, he has a close square from Saturn to Mercury with both planets in Mercury-ruled signs, and he also has long-term trioctiles from his P south lunar node in the house of Mercury to both natal Mercury and P Saturn. The placement of astrology’s two “lesson” factors with one in the house and one in the sign of Gemini and both in conflict aspect to Mercury itself could certainly be one of the keys to problems in “seeing and describing the world as it is.” Of course, this does not tell us the detailed way that the problem might manifest. North could have been blind or deaf or mentally unbalanced instead of a persuasive fund-raiser; good enough to get Dole, the new majority leader in the Senate, to come to Virginia to campaign for him. With that kind of ability, we have not heard the last of Oliver North.