Racial-Religious Conflict
Zip Dobyns
On August 10, 1999, a self-proclaimed white supremacist shot four children and a receptionist in a Jewish day-care center in Granada Hills, CA, near Los Angeles. The media gave the time as 10:49 A.M. The accused attacker drove away, then abandoned his van and carjacked a Toyota, and shot and killed a Philippine mailman in Chatsworth. He then left the L.A. area, rode taxis to Las Vegas, and gave himself up to the FBI on August 11. Buford Oneal Furrow Jr. was reportedly born on November 25, 1961, probably in the state of Washington. Even though I do not have a birth time for him, the asteroids linking the shooting chart with his birthday are dramatic enough to justify a brief description.
During the brief moments of the shooting, the Ascendant was crossing the south node of Mars and the MC was on the north node of Jupiter. An alternate form of Mars on the Ascendant certainly fits aggressive personal action, and the MC on Jupiter shows a Saturn lesson (the MC as an equivalent to Saturn for the external law and the internal conscience) involving beliefs and values and the ethics based on them (with an alternate form of Jupiter). Within a few minutes after the shooting, the Ascendant moved into a quincunx to Saturn. The event was just one day before the solar eclipse, so its chart featured the grand cross in fixed signs, and the chart angles were closely involved with the cross. The Antivertex, an auxiliary Ascendant, was conjunct Mars, to repeat the message of aggressive personal action. Of course, that put it opposite Saturn and square Uranus, the Sun, and the lunar nodes. Neptune and Jupiter, our primary keys to beliefs and morals, formed a wide T-square to a close conjunction of the Moon and Ceres, significators of the capacity to nurture. The asteroid California in 5 Scorpio opposed Jupiter to fill in another fixed cross.
The fixed sides of life relate to issues involving pleasure, possessions and power. The fire principle in the three qualities, cardinal, fixed, and mutable, is especially important in light of fire’s tendency toward excesses. Leo, the fixed fire drive, craves self-esteem. Individuals with a healthy ego do not need to put others down to build themselves up. But, most students of “hate” groups describe their members as obsessed with feelings of inferiority and lack of power which they try to overcome by asserting superiority over people from different races or religions, and by using power in destructive ways. The 1999 eclipses with their conflict aspects in fixed signs were an accurate description of this violent year, from the continuing conflict in Kosovo to the earthquake in Turkey, from Columbine High School and other seemingly random massacres in schools and offices to deteriorating conditions in North Ireland, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, East Timor, and several countries in Africa. The fixed dilemma demands compromise to let humans share property and power for mutual pleasure. We have a long way to go.
The chart for the Granada Hills shooting is appropriate for an event involving children with its MC and Mercury in Cancer plus a Leo stellium including the Moon, Ceres, the north lunar node, and the Sun in the 10th house. Proserpina, the kidnapped daughter of Ceres, was also in the fixed cross, in 16 Leo square Mars and Saturn. Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, was in 25 Aries, square Israel in 25 Capricorn. Persephone and Demeter were the Greek names for the same mythical figures called Proserpina and Ceres in Latin. An asteroid named Child was in 3 Aries, trioctile the Sun, and Yazhi, which means “little boy” in Navajo, was in 4 Aries, just over one degree later. The Sun/Moon midpoint in 12 Leo was on the north lunar node. Children were certainly highlighted in the chart.
Other asteroids included Tyr, the Norse god of war, in 15 Taurus to add to the fixed cross with a one-degree orb square to Uranus and opposition to the Antivertex. Nemesis in 29 Aquarius squared Urania in 29 Scorpio, and they were octile or trioctile the Ascendant and Washingtonia. The latter was conjunct the Ascendant to show the involvement of the federal government. The mutable sides of life describe the mind, with the last two signifying beliefs and ethics. Winchester, our asteroids for guns, was in 9 Pisces quincunx Ceres. Many other aspects could be listed, including the traditional planets such as Venus quincunx Neptune and octile the East Point and MC.
Turning to the birth data of Buford Furrow, the asteroids came through with their usual mind-blowing precision. Furrow said he shot as “a wake-up call to America to kill Jews.” On the day of the shooting, transiting Israel was exactly conjunct his natal Saturn. You could say he had a lesson and faces some serious consequences from the law due to his attitude toward the Jewish state of Israel. Furrow’s natal Israel was on the transiting north lunar node and Sun/Moon midpoint in 12 Leo. Furrow’s P Israel had retrograded to 9 Leo, approaching Ceres. We would need Furrow’s birth time to determine whether the aspect was within a one-degree orb. Even without his time, we can see that his chart had numerous aspects to the transits for the shooting. He had P Neptune in 12 Scorpio opposite P Ceres in 12 Taurus forming a T-square to his Israel. Another T-square was formed by his P north lunar node in 18 Leo square P Vesta in 18 Taurus and N Venus in 18 Scorpio. Remember, the Sun was eclipsed in 18 Leo. Furrow’s Jupiter in 3 Aquarius was on the shooting Neptune.
Another dramatic combination included Furrow’s N Mars conjunct Proserpina and Winchester in 8 to 9 Sagittarius, with Winchester in orb to a square to Pluto. Pallas, with its connection to issues of social justice and fair play and litigation, was in 8 Pisces, completing a T-square to Mars and Proserpina. The north node of Mars in 24 Aries was trioctile Pluto and Winchester. Saturn was trioctile Pluto and opposite Tyr. Fortunately, Furrow did not kill any of the children despite having Medea opposite his Jupiter and P Medea opposite P Saturn. If any readers want to calculate a chart with a speculative time for Furrow, I did one for 8 A.M. in the locality of the shooting—Granada Hills, CA. That put P Winchester on the Ascendant, P Ascendant on Saturn, P Moon opposite P Vesta and square the P lunar nodes, and N Moon on N Hel and P Libitina. The fact that a chart “works” is no guarantee that it is accurate.
Without a birth time, we lack the chart angles and house positions, being limited to sign placements and aspects. Given this limitation, the fire in Furrow’s chart is represented by his Sun conjunct Mars in Sagittarius sextile Jupiter. With all three fire planets involved and two of them in a fire sign, clearly some of the time Furrow wanted what he wanted and felt he had a right to it. The conflict aspects between Saturn and the T-square of Mars, Pluto and Pallas showed his potential struggle against the law. Additional aspects for a power struggle in his life were present with his fixed-sign cross of Ceres and Vesta in Taurus, Neptune, Venus, and Mercury in Scorpio, and the lunar nodes in Leo-Aquarius. His history of mental imbalance and fascination with guns fits the description of the insecure individuals who join the “hate” groups, desperately looking for self-esteem.