When it becomes Habitual

©2015 J. Lee Lehman, PhD

President Obama deplored the shooting at Umpqua Community College, because this kind of mass shooting has become routine violence. And he is right: the number of these events has become numbing - almost routine.

This sad fact has astrological consequences, as well as moral and political ones. I am reminded of one of the prime aphorisms of horary: you cannot ask the same question twice. Now, events are not exactly like questions - and you can in fact have basically the same event twice, if we ignore the very real lives of the people who are the subject of the event.

But the point worth pondering is what that neat little horary aphorism is saying about the human mind and spirit. The first time a tragedy type happens, it is shocking, infuriating, cathartic, raw - all the human passions are engaged and the person becomes indignant and enraged - and certainly engaged. But then, when there is a next time, and a next time, and still a next time, each additional one hardens the heart rather than opens it, and sullenness becomes the order of the day - except for those survivors who knew the victims and thus were caught up in the tragedy directly.

This is, I think, the basis behind the horary aphorism, because it is in that moment of shocked recognition of the question that the raw result will show. Horary works well with pathos, but not resignation.

But events are events, and the fact that a type has become routine does not mean it cannot be interpreted.

Here we have the chart. Murder is a crime, and the classical idea is to use either the 7th house or an angular peregrine planet as the perpetrator. The answer is pretty unambiguous for Venus:

• Venus is the ruler of the 7th house
• Venus is peregrine
• Venus is angular by the 5 degree rule (being within 5-7 degrees of an angle on the cadent side).

The MC is Regulus, making this a much more public event than the average happening at the community college, and reminding us of the difference between a Sun-ruled Regulus and a Mercury-ruled one. It's pretty clear from the chart that this was a moment of stardom: a public (angular) event, but ending in self destruction: the fall part of the characteristic of the royal stars.

Mars the planet of anything gun is in the 10th and ruling the victims, the 1st house "subject" of the shootings. Mercury's rulership of the 8th rings too well with the location of the shooting: this was an educational facility.

The Moon was in Taurus: a bestial sign even if exalted. It was also void of course. The v/c did.not mean that "nothing will come of the matter" - more than ten families have been ripped to shreds by this event. So the event from the standpoint of the criminal was successful - but at the cost of his own life as well.

The fixed nature of the murderer in Leo does suggest the possibility of bigotry or fanaticism - but also the inability to adapt his way out of these emotions. It also suggests theater. What a sad combination.

Why did it Take so Long?

©2015 J. Lee Lehman, PhD

 

Loretta Lynch waited 170 days to become Attorney General, longer than any previous nominee. Yes, we could simply blame Senate politics, and undoubtedly be on the right track, but is there any further astrological explanation? Here are a few notes that could relate to why it took so long, and then, what we might expect from Attorney General Lynch, now that she has been immediately thrown into the fire of riots in Baltimore.

1. It's the Nodes, of Course!

Chart 1. Aries Ingress 2015, for Washington, DC.

 

Here's the chart of the Aries Ingress for 2015, located for Washington, DC. There are many things we can say about this chart, but here's a starting point: Congress, or a parliament, in a mundane chart is given by the 11th house. Here's it's ruled by the Moon. This was actually a stunning chart, because this ingress occurred just hours after a solar eclipse. In a solar eclipse, it is the Sun which disappears visually, but here, we have the Moon combust in the 7th house of open enemies: the Congress has disappeared! No, we're not really so lucky! But what has occurred is some rather stunning cases of bipartisan cooperation, quite against expectations, and that resulted in the passage of a bill which had been linked to her nomination - a stubborn topic that seemed unattainable just weeks before. Here, the secrecy associated with Congress being combust has been the secrecy of members across the aisle actually doing their job! So the way was cleared for Lynch.

 

Interesting as the combustion is, even more interesting is that Lynch's nativity, for which we have no birthtime, sports a 10 degree Libra North Node! Lynch's nativity also shows a Sun-Pluto square, whether you accept the probability that her Sun is at 29 Taurus, or the smaller chance that it's at zero Gemini. I'm betting on the Sun in Taurus, and with Moon unequivocally in Scorpio, I have not doubt she is a very hard worker. Unfortunately, she will need to be. The lunar eclipse at 14 Aries-Libra which preceded her swearing in has 12 Taurus rising in Washington, partile square Jupiter in the 4th, which is the homeland itself.

Chart 2. Lunar Eclipse for April 2015, for Washington, DC

For the lunar eclipse we see the potent configuration of the eclipse axis square Pluto, which does suggest a possibility of violence, although one might expect it overseas, rather than domestically. But The  Moon does rule the 4th from the 6th. The 6th house is often considered the army in peacetime, but this can also refer to domestic police, and more so, since US federal policy has been arming local police departments as if they were fighting foreign wars.

Into these potentially dangerous situations walks a new Attorney General, and at a time where the race card is an active dance partner in US politics. 

Chart 3. Loretta Lynch sworn in.

Here, the Ascendant ruled by the Moon, in fixed sign Leo, says two things at least. First, she will be called upon to manifest courage, because that ultimately is the calling card of Leo, especially in this Face. Secondly, a Moon ruling the Ascendant in a fixed sign does not suggest new ideas and solutions, but the attempt to hold fast to currently entrenched ideas. This is further supported by Lynch herself, being sworn in to a 10th house position, being represented by Mars in Taurus: fixed and in Detriment, although having dignity by Triplicity. She will approach approach this job with strength, conviction, and courage. But with the South Node conjunct the 10th, she will be undermined. The Part of Fortune of the swearing in is virtually the same as the Part of Fortune for the prior lunar eclipse: a hint that Attorney General Lynch is there to confront the lunar concerns: the fears, mistrusts, and projections tat have been building in the nation, as we confront our fragmented presence in the world today. Sadly, this appears to be yet another facet of the prediction that I made in Astrology of Sustainability that the 20-teens would be a time of division, when new ideas and solutions seem out of reach until the major conjunctions of 2020.