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Sunday, March 11, 2012

T.J. Lane Astropsychology of a serial shooter

Once again we have heard of a school shooting this time in my home state of Ohio. There are always  many theories that surround why these happen and what makes the people that commit these acts tick. I will try to use Astrology here to see what causes the mental cracks in someone and what they may be thinking or feeling as the news reports often just focus on the sensational aspects of these events.
I will at some point do a bigger blog on serial shooters but today we’re going to take a look at T.J. Lane’s chart who shot 5 fellow students at Chardon High School near Cleveland. I was passed his Birth date from a friend who got it from the court transcript as being September 19th 1994.
In the many charts I have looked at for people who have committed mass and or random acts of violence I have found a few factors that appear. 1. A tendency to anger or violence [ this is usually a Mars/Pluto function ] 2. An ability to shut off their emotions or for cruelty [ this is often a Saturn / Pluto function ]3. A psychological break of some kind or the inability to separate their needs from the needs of others, or an obsessive type personality [ This is often a Neptune / Uranus/Pluto  function ].
In looking at the chart for T.J. we see he has a heavy preponderance of Water in his chart. Venus, Jupiter, North Node and Pluto all in Scorpio, Mars in Cancer and Saturn in Pisces.  We do not have a time of birth but the Moon is also very likely in Pisces unless he was born very close to Midnight on the night of September 19th.
This is a person who is extremely sensitive to his environment and is probably easily overwhelmed by his emotions and takes any sort of criticism extremely hard. Water signs or people with lots of Water in their charts almost have no defenses from the outside world at times and while they may appear quiet or shy on the outside there is lots going on underneath the surface. Someone with this much Water certainly had a very active imagination and would escape into a fantasy world whenever they felt threatened.
Not to make any excuses but from reading the stories in the media he had a very abusive and traumatic childhood. Different people handle this different ways but the natural function of Pluto and Scorpio [ the sign that it rules ] is Death, Transformation and rebirth. It is said that people with heavy Scorpio influence in their charts die many times within one lifetime as their main goal on a soul level is to transform. They want to shed the old parts of themselves that are no longer useful and they attain this by creating [ sometimes subconsciously ] or being put in  situations where they are not in control of their environment or where they are abandoned. Many souls with heavy Scorpionic energy have a hard time getting over the past if they do not know how to deal with the intense energy Pluto brings with it. When this “steam” is not able to be let off gradually it festers and can release itself in rage when the energy gets too intense.
Saturn in Pisces is a difficult placement , on the good side it can be someone who is very artistic or perhaps works in the music industry [ Pisces / Neptune rule music] or in the Shipping industry [ Neptune rules Water and the Oceans]. On the negative side it can be expressed as someone who is very fearful or paranoid or has delusions. Saturn rules  structures, including the structure of consciousness . Saturn rules Capricorn which is one of the most stable and goal orientated signs while Pisces is very dreamy and idealistic, this can be a difficult combo to navigate if you don’t understand the mechanics of what you’re working with.
Also we have a Neptune Uranus conjunction here in the sign of Capricorn. Neptune rules Pisces so again we have the repeating Capricorn /Pisces theme. In fact have Saturn and Neptune in mutual reception which means each of those 2 planets are in the sign that the other one rules. This usually means that these planets work well with each other but being that Pisces and Capricorn are so different in how they perceive things this can lead to a break between what is real and what is not real. Adding in the Uranus in Capricorn conjunct Neptune can lead to odd obsessions or mental “ticks” if you will. Uranus and Neptune both have to do with subliminal and subconscious mental patterns.
Mars in Cancer is an archetype of someone who can be very nurturing when they feel safe but when they feel threatened they can defend themselves fiercely. This is the motherly instinct of Cancer mixed with the warrior of Mars.
To go back to the Scorpio theme again Lane had Venus, Jupiter and the North Node all conjunct in Scorpio and the North Node also conjunct Pluto this is someone who was very intense and was going to make a big impact somehow, unfortunately it was in a misuse of this powerful energy. which is the branch of Astrology that I most identify with, that says “ things that aren’t dealt with become repressed ,that which is repressed  becomes distorted,  things that are distorted eventually release themselves in rage.” Also on a more literal level Pluto rules death, the North Node is the future and Jupiter magnifies anything that it touches.
One other thing in the chart that stands out is that Mars, Pluto and the Moon form a normally positive aspect called a “Grand Trine” in Water signs. Water is associated with emotions and normally this pattern is someone who is very sensitive to others and intuitive. However, Water can turn dark quicker than other elements because there is so much emotion packed into every event.  While the Grand Trine configuration can be very self-sufficient it can also feel isolated. The Mars Pluto Trine is usually harmonious but is always an explosive mix as It contains a huge amount of energy and is liable to explode when it feels hurt or threatened.
The last piece of the puzzle is the Sun in Virgo, Virgo wants to take corrective action or fix things that it feels is wrong. It can also be overly analytical and operate out of a continual crises mode when stressed.
At the time of the shootings Mars was retrograde [ or moving backwards and felt more internally than normal ] and it was just past a conjunction to his Sun and was making aspects to almost every planet in his chart. Mars retrograde tends to lead to feelings of frustration especially in a busy, active sign like Virgo thus turning up the pressure cooker.
Again, this is not to make excuses for any actions but to try and help explain why sometimes people make the rash decisions that they do. Psychology is important in understanding these events as are cultural conditions as well as having help available to people who have been through traumatic situations. My main point here is that using the Birth Chart can be a powerful tool combined with other knowledge in helping to make sure we see these kinds of tragedies less often.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Generation x :rise of the slacker


I’m going to speak to a certain group of people now. This may appeal to others as well but I’m particularly speaking to the people of my generation, Generation X , if you will. There is much debate about when the Generations actually start and end but I have correlated the different generations with their Pluto signs as I think each generation has their own power structure and their own mark to make on society. Pluto is the Planet [or Planetoid you choose ] that rules how we evolve as a society and individually.
 I have seen Gen X as starting anywhere from either side of 1965 going on through to as late as 1982.I put it as 10/20/1956 to 07/30/1972 But to narrow it down I am looking even more at the group with the tight Uranus Pluto conjunction in Virgo say from the dates 08/1962 to 12/1969.
We have been called slackers and spent a large part of our time nonconforming and raging against corporate America and other fun activities. It just so happens now that as many of  us should be in the middle of our “careers” or easing into middle age it is our turn to step up to the plate and leave our mark as a generation.
Having  spent much time disenchanted with the main stream and ignoring marketing ploys sent to us through our tv’s and computers we are now staring down our futures and realizing that the world isn’t any less screwed up than when we first started ridiculing it. As a collective our Generation is now being activated by retrograde mars running amok through Virgo which is activating said Uranus Pluto conjunction. Also Chiron is back in Pisces which it was when those of us in the ballpark of 50 to either side were born. Thirdly Neptune, which rules our imagination is now in the sign of Pisces and starting to form an opposition to our natal Uranus Pluto conjunctions. Lastly, Pluto is currently in the sign of Capricorn forming a trine to our Uranus Pluto Natal conjunctions.
The people born between August of 1962 and December of 1969 are being awakened to make their mark in the world and help everyone heal on a physical and psychic level.
The Uranus Pluto conjunction in Virgo in the Birth charts for these people has lent itself to being very analytical and skeptical of information we are being told. I know few people in our age group that get their news from the mainstream media. I know many that are single, divorced , never been married or don’t have children , much more so than any other generation near us. I think this is good that we aren’t gullible or naïve and that we look into things for ourselves. However, this can breed a sense of constant inner dissatisfaction that can be hard to overcome. Are we too cynical for our own good?
This conjunction is being activated by Mars transit through Virgo. Mars went into Virgo November 9th of last year, turned retrograde on January 23rd of this year, will station and go forward on April 13th and finish its visit through Virgo the first week of July. Now Mars is very aggressive by nature and works on an instinctual level, Virgo is very analytical and anal retentive, to a fault sometimes, but great at fixing problems. When Mars is retrograde its energy is turned inwards, so Mars has a lot of things to fix while it’s in Virgo, but when the energy is turned inwards it becomes frustrated and irritable. It wants to fix many things and usually at the same time as the Virgo frenetic energy can work on many things simultaneously when undisturbed. This frustration leads to a sense of introspection to analyze what is worth doing and what is just busy work. Discriminate between what activities or battles are of value and what is just OCD. What is the fix for this?

As mentioned earlier Neptune and Chiron are both in the sign of Pisces and traveling very close together and they will be opposing the Uranus and Neptune in our charts in a couple years so now is the time to start visualizing or imagining [ Neptune ] what kind of a world we want to live in and what we want it to look like. Neptune is about faith and seeing the connectedness is all living things. We need a healthy balance between faith that there is a purpose to things that happen and skepticism. Too far to either side and you become delusional on one side and jaded on the other. We do have a purpose here sometimes it just takes a little while to find it.
Chiron is an Asteroid and it is known as the wounded healer and it’s where we get our ability to heal ourselves and others on a holistic level. Mind, body, soul . We must visualize ourselves as one cohesive unit  and balance out the Virgo tendency to compartmentalize and over analyze. Chiron and Neptune in Pisces is about healing the schism of Uranus and Pluto in Virgo.
The last pieces was Pluto is in Capricorn , this is forming a Trine to Virgo which means they are harmonious energies and they are easily able to work together. Pluto is about transformation amongst other things and Capricorn is about self accountability. We must hold ourselves as a group accountable for what we don’t like in the world even if we weren’t willfully complicit it is still ours to analyze [ Virgo ]what is wrong and help to fix [ Chiron ]it . We can either spin further out of control right now or we can seize this opportunity to overthrow [ Uranus ] the power structures [ Pluto ] we don’t like in our world by holding them accountable [ Capricorn ]. These may be inner or outer structures , they may be a controlling boss, an addiction, a Government , whatever is negatively controlling us . This is the time be the change in the world that we want to see.