Oklahoma Bomb Update
Zip Dobyns
The spring 1995 issue of Asteroid-World covered several relevant charts connected to the April 19, 1995 bomb which killed about 167 people. Most of the victims were federal employees plus children in a day-care center and members of the public who were in the federal building on business. Timothy McVeigh was picked up by the police on other charges but was almost immediately identified as a major suspect. An associate named Terry Nichols was later accused and jailed. The brother of Terry, James Nichols, was briefly held but then released. Another associate of Tim and Terry, Michael Fortier, was later accused and is being held as a material witness. According to the media, Fortier has agreed to be a state witness and he has pled guilty to lesser charges. A speculative chart for McVeigh (lacking a birth time) was discussed in the Asteroid-World. So far, I lack any information on the data of Terry Nichols and Michael Fortier.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the three men were indicted on August 10, 1995 in Oklahoma City, OK, just before 2 P.M. I calculated the chart for 13:58, and it offers a dramatic picture! Pallas, the asteroid which is often a key to lawyers, politics, and social justice, is exactly on the MC with Vesta just past the MC in the tenth house. One of the three asteroids with names beginning with Tim is just inside the 4th house opposite Vesta. The P MC will oppose it (Timwarner) and conjunct Vesta within a few months, depending on the exact minute of the indictment. Vesta represents devotion to duty, total commitment, tunnel vision, the ultimate Virgo determination to get the job done. In this case, the job of the establishment (the tenth house) is to convict Tim.
Another Tim asteroid, Timresovia, is rising in Scorpio conjunct Skuld (one of the fates) and square Venus in the ninth house. The ninth house symbolizes law courts and decisions about truth and morality among many other potentials. Depending on the precise minute of the indictment, the Ascendant could be conjunct Skuld and Timresovia, or they could progress to the Ascendant within some months. P Venus will reach an exact square to the Ascendant within three months for the 13:58 time. Again, depending on the minute of the indictment, the P Ascendant will move into squares to the Sun and Moon, which are opposite each other in a close T-square in fixed signs. Nemesis completes a grand cross with an opposition to Skuld and to the Ascendant within my normal one-degree orb for the extra asteroids.
The third Tim asteroid, Timandra, is in the tenth house in 13 Virgo, opposite the Part of Death within one degree. I limit aspects to the Arabic Parts to the same one-degree orb I use for the extra asteroids. The prosecution will request the death penalty for Timothy, and this chart looks as if they will get it. Timothy’s middle name is James, and that asteroid is retrograding in 25 Capricorn 58, at the midpoint of Neptune/Jupiter and Pluto/Saturn. The combination certainly looks grim for Timothy James McVeigh, though it could simply describe the horrifying crime of which he is accused. Other relevant asteroids include Guernica, named for acts of war against innocent non-combatants, conjunct Neptune, and Libitina (death) opposite both Neptune and Guernica. Aletheia (truth) is opposite Uranus and trine Pluto and the East Point. The aspects suggest that the trial will bring out the truth with trines in fire houses and Uranus, which is an air planet, in an air house. Fire and air are the expressive elements, while earth and water may hold back for security reasons.
It would be really helpful to students of astrology if we could get the exact minute of major events such as this one. If the 13:58 time is right, P Moon will cross the IC in about 4 to 6 months for a probable time of the trial. The P Moon opposition to Pallas at that time is not sensitive to variations in time like the angles and it supports the focus on law and social justice at that time during the winter of 1995-6. The P Ascendant is dependent on the time of the event, so the timing of its squares to the Sun and Moon is quite uncertain.
The indictment chart also has dramatic heliocentric asteroids which reinforce the geocentric picture. The fact that the positions of planets and asteroids viewed from the Sun are meaningful is one of many indications that astrology is symbolic, not physical forces. Heliocentric (H) Timandra in 24 Virgo holds a yod (double quincunx) to Themis (divine justice) in 24 Aries and America, Davida, and Columbia in 23 to 25 Aquarius. America is on the IC as the country faces the fallout from the Oklahoma deaths. Davida was named for a “David” but was given the extra “a” that astronomers used to add to asteroids with “ordinary” orbits which were named for men. It reminds us that if McVeigh is guilty of the bombing, it was theoretically an act of vengeance against the federal government for its attack on David Koresh in Waco, TX just two years earlier. Columbia can represent the District of Columbia, seat of the federal government.
H Timresovia in 3 Sagittarius is octile the Barycenter (center of mass in our solar system) and Icarus—an appropriate connection of overreach and power. H Timwarner in 22 Aquarius would be on the IC if the time were just one minute earlier, at 13:58. H James in 5 Aquarius is conjunct Damocles (with a sword hanging over his head), octile Saturn, square Montana (the state with one of the most famous militias), and connected to an opposition to Winchester (guns) with overlapping orbs.
All of the aspects mentioned are to heliocentric factors, except for house cusps which are geocentric. The symbolic nature of the patterns is demonstrated when we get meaningful information mixing heliocentric planets and asteroids with geocentric angles, including local angles. When the chart is calculated for Washington, DC, the home of the government which is prosecuting the case, H Astraea (justice) in on the MC and Bellona (a war goddess) is on the IC. H Justitia, the daughter of Astraea and Jupiter who also became a goddess of justice, is in 14 Leo square H Mars, Belisana (another war goddess) and Hybris (hubris) in Scorpio and Psyche in Taurus. In crisis charts, I have often seen Psyche associated with feelings of helplessness and inadequacy, with self-absorption leading to a lack of awareness of the needs and feelings of others.
As I have written before, I have been anticipating critical events for the U.S. through the latter part of 1995 into the early months of 1996. McVeigh’s trial could increase the level of paranoia among the citizens who fear that our government will become a dictatorship. Incredible as it seems, the far-right Militia movement believes that the U.S. is going to use United Nations troops to take over our country and put our citizens in concentration camps. The summer 1995 Asteroid-World which is being mailed with this issue of The Mutable Dilemma has a variety of charts for different stages in the development of the U.S. as a country. All of the charts I have worked with for our country and our leaders point to this coming winter as a time of tension and stress. In addition to the asteroids for weapons and death, I keep seeing the asteroid Lincoln in strong positions. Initially, I associated it with the danger of an assassination attempt on Clinton, but after the Oklahoma bombing filled the media with stories of the militias, I realized it could represent their anticipation of another civil war. For example, this indictment chart has a grand cross in 10-12 degrees of the heliocentric fixed signs which includes Mason-Dixon (pointing to racial tensions or civil war), Philosophia (religious beliefs), Phaethon (overreach), and Luisa (for Louis Freeh—FBI director) in Taurus; Venus, Elba (Napoleon and exile), and Paradise (religious beliefs) in Leo; Union in Scorpio; and Lincoln and Hel (death) in Aquarius.
I think that astrology shows the psychological state of an individual or an event or an institution or whatever. I have only listed a fragment of the aspects in this chart, but if it represents the emotional state of people dealing with the aftermath of Oklahoma, the fallout from McVeigh’s trial could be intense.
I have written previously about the “new” technique in mundane astrology which was discovered some years ago by Helen Clerf, one of our readers. For centuries if not for millennia, mundane astrologers have used the conjunctions of planets, especially of the Sun and Moon, to calculate a chart for the interval until the next conjunction of the same bodies. Helen discovered that the oppositions of the Sun to the planets could also be highly meaningful. The charts are similar to a full Moon or lunar eclipse when the earth is between the Sun and Moon so it can block the light of the Sun from reaching the Moon. Heliocentrically, from the point of view of the Sun, the Moon and earth would be conjunct. Helen reasoned that these charts in which the earth was conjunct a planet from the Sun’s point of view might describe how the earth would handle the activity associated with that planet. She found dramatic examples of the Planet-Sun opposition (as seen from earth) on the angles in places where major events had occurred. Pluto was on the Ascendant when the Earth-Pluto chart preceding the eruption of Mount St. Helens was calculated for St. Helens. Uranus was on the Ascendant in Chernobyl when the Earth-Uranus chart preceding the nuclear explosion was calculated for that location.
I have written several times about the Earth-Mars charts which have been remarkable in showing the locations of some of the major areas of war in recent years. At this time, I am presenting the first Earth-Neptune chart which I have studied. The Earth-Mars heliocentric conjunctions occur at intervals of a little over two years. For the planets beyond Mars, the conjunctions repeat at a little over one year intervals. The Earth-Neptune chart prior to the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995 occurred on July 14, 1994 at 15:36:26 UT. [Web edit note: this may be a transcription error. CCRS gives a time of 15:16:26 and JPL positions look conjunct at 15:23+.] In Oklahoma City, Saturn was on the Descendant within 24 minutes of longitude and Vesta was on the MC within a half degree with Mars on the MC within 3 degrees. Mars was also octile/trioctile within one degree the Sun-Neptune opposition which determined the timing of the chart. Juno squared Sun-Neptune within two degrees and Uranus, which was conjunct Neptune, was trioctile the MC within one degree. Thus, though the defining Sun-Neptune opposition was not conjunct the Oklahoma City angles, it was connected to the angles by aspects involving Mars and Uranus. In addition to its three degree orb conjunction with the MC, Mars was exactly square the East Point. The over-all conflict pattern includes all of the “heavy” planets we associate with intense emotions and potential violence except for Pluto. The latter was only connected to the aspect network by a sextile to Uranus if we limit ourselves to the “standard” planets.
When we add the extra asteroids which we would expect in an episode involving violence and death plus the ones with relevant names, the picture is vivid. Conjunct the East Point and square Mars within my standard one-degree orb are Pele (goddess of volcanoes and earthquakes), Dresden (acts of war against non-combatants), Chiron (often connected to health issues), and Union (a reminder of the divided state of our people). Conjunct Mars are Timandra (one of our three asteroids starting with “Tim”) and Aletheia (truth). Zeus (Jupiter) and Starr are connected in Pisces with Karma also connected with an overlapping orb. Washingtonia (for our capital) completes the mutable grand cross in Virgo.
The way the asteroids point to the specific issues is eerie enough, but I find it even more mind-blowing when both geocentric and heliocentric positions are meaningful! H Timandra on the south lunar node highlights the name “Tim,” suggesting a lesson for someone with the name. G Timresovia is on the Ascendant and opposite Saturn within one degree, while H Timresovia is on the Ascendant and square the MC when the chart is calculated for Washington, DC, the employer of the federal officials who were the target of the attack. The third Tim, Timwarner, is in 14 Scorpio, octile/trioctile the Washington angles, while H Timwarner in 5 Sagittarius just missed an octile/trioctile to H Earth/Moon/Neptune. The latter was octile H Richter, associated with earthquakes, and Richter was well within orb of a square to the Earth/Moon/Neptune. G James in 23 Libra just missed squares to Sun-Neptune, but was conjunct Fanatica, which was square Uranus so it was pulled into the configuration. H James was in 18 Scorpio conjunct Fama, which was just past Fanatica, but overlapping orbs to other asteroids connected them, as usual. H Amnestia in Aries, H Potomac (the river in Washington, DC), in Cancer, H Xanthus (a sun-god for issues involving fame and power) in Libra, and H Orpheus (mythically connected to death and being torn apart) in Capricorn formed a cardinal cross and were all octile/trioctile H James.
As usual, my main challenge is deciding which asteroids to list since there are so many which fit the situation. Icarus, one of our overreach keys, was on Neptune within six minutes of longitude. Hybris (hubris) was on Avicenna (healing or the need for it) in 25 Leo square Pluto. Phaethon (overreach) was on the MC within 12 minutes of longitude. The message was certainly clear: a danger of extremism in a chart which was potentially a key to how earth was handling subconscious faith, empathy, and compassion. Verdict? Not being handled well, to put it mildly.
Will we be able to use these mundane charts to predict the future trouble spots in the world? So far, I have mostly concentrated on the Mars-Earth charts and have calculated them for the known trouble spots, finding that they confirm what we already suspected—that more tension remains probable in these areas. One of these days, we might automate the procedure of checking these cycle charts to see ahead of time the regions of coming stress, but guessing details takes more than astrology. Our gift from astrology is a picture of emotional states. When we learn what our Piscean Age is calling us to learn, universal love, empathy, and compassion, we will bring our dreams of heaven down to earth.