The Medjugorje Phenomenon
Zip Dobyns
On June 24, 1981 at 6:15 P.M., near a tiny mountain village called Bijakovice, Yugoslavia, six children saw the Virgin Mary. There are five tiny villages in the area called Medjugorje, and in the ten years since the original vision, Mary has continued to appear and talk to the children. Following my 1990 trip to Lourdes, France, another famous site of an apparition of the Virgin Mary which has become a healing shrine, a friend who accompanied me to Lourdes went on to visit Medjugorje. Her story will be included in the next issue of The Mutable Dilemma. I was reminded of my desire to visit the Yugoslavia area where Mary continues to come when I met Sylvia Howes on my cruise around New Zealand. Sylvia takes pilgrims to Medjugorje where they stay for a week with village families, visit the Apparition Mountain where Mary appears, attend Mass with the local priests and villagers, and have time to talk to people whose lives have been changed by their spiritual experiences as well as to seek any healing needed in their own lives. If anyone is interested in a guided pilgrimage to Medjugorje, contact Sylvia Howes at Four Seasons Travel & Tours, N 2104 Hamilton, Spokane, WA 99207. (509) 484-1142.
A book has been written about the experiences of the six children who ranged in age from 10 to 16 at the time of the first contact. I have not read the book, but thanks to Sunny Jonynas of Los Angeles, I have the birth dates of all the children (though not times of birth) as well as the date and time of the first contact. The visionaries report that Mary gives them many messages which are personal but on the 25th of each month she gives a message which is for the world. A network of many centers now shares these messages with all who are interested. The primary theme seems to be a call for reconciliation and conversion, to prayer and fasting to help a world becoming increasingly violent and fearful. The messages suggest that there is little time left for conversion, implying a coming millennial crisis.
The horoscope for the first appearance of Mary fits a spiritual experience with Sagittarius rising, its ruler Jupiter in its own ninth house, and the Moon in Pisces. Vesta and Saturn are in the ninth house with Saturn less than two degrees from Jupiter. P Jupiter reached a one-degree orb conjunction with Saturn in the fall of 1990, and the two will stay together for some 35 years. A Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in a natal chart is traditionally associated with the potential birth of a great teacher. Jupiter symbolizes the “truth,” the urge to seek and the capacity to understand the Absolute. Saturn symbolizes the “law,” whether natural or formulated by human societies. Their union implies the possibility of our understanding and teaching the nature of life and as much as human minds can comprehend of the Absolute. It would fit the ancient tradition to have a deeper knowledge of universal law revealed at the time of a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, especially at a time when Jupiter was ruler of the Ascendant sign and the Moon’s sign as it co-rules Pisces. Neptune, the “new” ruler of Pisces (since its discovery with the help of telescopes) is rising in the chart in the sign of Sagittarius as another strong indication of a spiritual experience. And Chiron, which I think is similar in meaning to Jupiter, is quincunx both Neptune and the tenth house Pluto to form a yod, a pattern associated with movement in a new direction.
Pluto stays conjunct Juno (which I read as another Pluto) for about 90 years, and it will move into an exact sextile to P Neptune in about 15 years. The combination, even before the progressed aspect is exact, suggests a strong potential for psychic sensitivity and intense emotions. Pluto symbolizes our capacity for self-knowledge and self-mastery on the inner level and on the outer level, it marks our capacity to share our resources and pleasures with others who are close to us. The problems in the world today are largely a failure to learn the Pluto principle. Instead of sharing, we engage in power struggles and damage the earth that our children will inherit and the rich get richer while the poor become more desperate. The horoscope certainly fits a call to repentance and change in our handling of power, possessions, and pleasures. The tenth house and Saturn represent lessons in the law, whether natural or human. Saturn and Jupiter are in Libra which, like Scorpio, Pluto’s sign, calls for sharing and fairness in our dealings with others. The combination of Saturn conjunct the MC (of which it is the natural ruler) from the ninth house (the Jupiter principle) keeps emphasizing the lesson of sharing with and caring for our fellow humans. Neptune would add to that the goal of empathy for all life. Could that sextile of Pluto to Neptune in 15 years mean a chance of humanity moving in that direction? I surely hope so.
I also calculated the vision chart for Rome, since the claims of the visionaries necessitated the Roman Catholic Church taking a position on the experiences. Sylvia Howes quotes two statements by Pope John Paul II. When he was asked “How are we to act with regard to Medjugorje?,” the Pope’s response was “I’m astonished at this question. Aren’t you aware of the marvelous fruits it is producing?” A Bishop was admonished for not stopping at Medjugorje on a trip. The Pope concluded with “If I weren’t a Pope, I would be in Medjugorje already.”
P Saturn reached a one-degree conjunction with the Rome MC about a year and a half after the first vision, and it will hold the aspect for many years suggesting that the continuing experiences could have a profound effect on the official Church. A strong personal effect is also shown by the position of Mars at the time of the vision since it was exactly on the Descendant in Rome. P Mars crossed the Medjugorje Descendant from November 1984 to about September 1987. Since I have few details on the spread of interest in the phenomenon, I am assuming that this period marked an increase in activity and public awareness. There may have been local tensions over the increasing influx of visitors to the area.
Many other aspects might be mentioned in the vision chart. The Moon is part of a grand trine in water signs including Venus in Cancer in the eighth (Scorpio) house and Uranus in Scorpio in its own Aquarian house. The Moon also trines the north lunar node in Leo in the eighth house, adding to the water emphasis which represents the unconscious mind and its openness to the minds of others. The Sun and Pallas are also in Cancer for still more emphasis on the water potential for sensitivity and empathy. The strong air in the chart backed up by the Sagittarius is an appropriate indication of the widespread communication and extensive travel which have stemmed from the experiences of the visionaries.
Of course, I also wanted to check the asteroids, especially Mary and Maria, but also Vaticana and Yugoslavia since the Church and the country have both been impacted. I was fascinated to find Maria in 16 Pisces 31 in the third house in an exact square to the Ascendant and Mary in 15 Virgo 24 in the ninth house just over the permitted one-degree for its square to the Ascendant and opposition to Maria. And when I included the Part of Jupiter, it connected the combination since at 15 Pisces 34 it was within the one-degree orb of a conjunction to Maria and an opposition to Mary, producing a mutable T-square in the spiritual signs or houses. The goal of turning a materialistic world back toward God is not one that will be easily attained.
Vaticana (and Europa) were at 19 Aries and they are currently holding a long progressed opposition to Pluto and Juno while P MC opposes their natal and then progressed positions in 1990 to mid 1994. These could be important years, for the country of Yugoslavia, the Church, and perhaps the world. Natal Yugoslavia was at 3 Libra 25 exactly conjunct Saturn and P Saturn (and now P Jupiter) remain conjunct it for years. How appropriate that a spiritual teaching should come in that country! Roma, named for the city which is the heart center of the Roman Catholic Church, was at 6 Libra 2. P MC in Rome was conjunct the asteroid named for the city from about February 1982 to 1984. P Roma will reach the Medjugorje MC in about three years from now and it will stay on the angle for seven or eight years after that. We will have to wait to see whether the messages coming from Medjugorje and the official power of Rome create a new synthesis.
Since I do not have the birth times of the six original visionaries, I will not attempt an extensive analysis of their charts, but will list the positions of Mary and Maria in case our readers want to go further. All of the children except the youngest, Jakob, were born with an emphasis in the Virgo-Pisces polarity, the signs especially associated with Christianity. Jesus was “born of a Virgin” and one interpretation by scholars is that he was born when the Sun was in Virgo. Pisces’ symbol involves two fish. Jesus called several of his followers from the fishermen and told them he would make them “fishers of men.” One of his most famous miracles involved the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. A stylized fish symbol notified the early Christians of the location of a fellow believer during the days of persecution, and the Pope’s ring is called the “Ring of the Fisherman.” As mentioned above, at the time of the original vision, Mary was in Virgo and Maria in Pisces. Jacob, the youngest member of the group, did have Pluto in Virgo and his conjunction of the two spiritual planets, Jupiter and Neptune, in Sagittarius showed his deep spiritual potential. The current Pope John Paul II has a Jupiter-Neptune conjunction in Leo. Jacob also had his Sun and Ceres in Gemini and several of the other children had the lunar nodes in Gemini-Sagittarius, a teaching polarity, as well as other factors in those mutable (mental) signs.
The asteroid positions are: Jakob has Mary in 22 Leo and Maria in 26 Leo. Marija has Mary in 2 Sagittarius and Maria in 12 Pisces. Ivanka has Mary in 23 Pisces and Maria in 28 Taurus. Vicka has Mary in 0 Leo and Maria in 0 Capricorn. Mirjana has Mary in 1 Sagittarius and Maria in 6 Pisces. Ivan has Mary in 22 Scorpio and Maria in 4 Aries.
One of these days, I will visit Medjugorje.
