The Traitor in the CIA

Zip Dobyns

Anything which has a known beginning has a horoscope. The CIA was born on June 26, 1947, when Congress hastily finished the bill to create it and rushed it to President Harry Truman for his signature. Truman’s mother was dying in Missouri, and he was headed home to be with her. He was sitting in the plane which was ready for take-off when the bill was delivered to him shortly after noon. He signed it, and the plane took off about 12:30 P.M. I have been using a chart set for 12:20 P.M. and it seems to work well though the angles could be plus or minus a degree.

The use of this time puts Uranus exactly on the MC, which seems appropriate for an agency which was born in haste on an airplane, and which has had many ups and downs including the fomenting of revolutions in a variety of countries when their citizens elected leaders who were not approved by our elite. The CIA is also noted for its use of high-tech equipment in its data gathering, from satellites which observe earth from the sky to picking up conversations inside a room by detecting the infinitesimal vibrations of the window glass. The chart also has the Part of Death within one degree of the Descendant, another appropriate aspect for a business which frequently deals in death, whether of its partners or its enemies. (See the article on River Phoenix in this issue for the formula for the Part of Death.)

The strongly occupied ninth house fits the major business of the CIA, the gathering of information on other countries. The FBI is the U.S. agency which is appointed to seek information on affairs at home. The two agencies are theoretically supposed to cooperate, but turf wars remain common, and members of each agency often distrust the others. This mutual distrust and seldom acknowledged rivalry played a major role in the fiasco of Aldridge Ames. The FBI should have investigated Ames when he suddenly began making large bank deposits and moving money in amounts slightly less than banks are legally supposed to report to the government. Ames’ Virginia bank did report his new wealth, but the CIA sat on the information, and even when the FBI began its investigation, they were hampered by the CIA’s failure to provide them needed information. Meanwhile, though the CIA suspected that a “mole” (a double agent who was spying for both sides) was in their midst, and even though Ames was doing some conspicuous spending that was obviously beyond the salary of a “company man,” the CIA took years to focus on Ames and gather enough evidence to charge him with betraying his country.

The higher authorities in the CIA did move Ames to a job where he supposedly could not do as much harm, but after his arrest, many documents were found in his possession which he was legally not supposed to have. He had been in charge of overseeing the U.S. spies working in the U.S.S.R. and other East European countries. Apparently he began betraying them to the Soviets in 1985 and they started disappearing. As many as ten of our agents may have been executed by the Russians. May 18, 1985 is given as the date of the first large check which Ames received for his treason and deposited in his bank. He was finally arrested on February 21, 1994, along with his wife who may have worked with him. She was a member of an intelligence family from Columbia and they met while both were conducting intelligence work. She may agree to testify against Ames for a lighter sentence since they have a five-year old son and both are said to be very concerned about him. The son is currently staying with relatives since both of his parents are in jail being held without bond to make sure they do not skip the country.

The issue of ethics, which is part of the mutable dilemma, is a prominent feature in the CIA chart. All of the mutables are mental, representing different facets of the mind. Uranus is on the MC as mentioned, in Gemini square the Virgo Ascendant and East Point and opposite Juno on the IC in Sagittarius. Gemini is an information junky, potentially superficial. Virgo analyzes the information and uses it productively. Both deal with the “everyday” world. Sagittarius is our belief system which determines our value hierarchy and morality. The Pisces Descendant, which is supported by the Part of Death and Pallas in Pisces, indicates the less conscious side of beliefs, faith, values, and the morality which is based on them.

There are, of course, many different variations on the issues of the mutable dilemma. Perhaps most common is the conflict between what we want, Sagittarius and Pisces which represent our vision of a perfect world, and Virgo and Gemini which are capable of seeing the real condition of the world, and understanding what is possible in it. Most people are well aware that the world falls far short of their ideals, but the dilemma can be managed if we enjoy the journey toward our ideals rather than waiting until we reach them to be happy.

Another common form of the mutable dilemma involves uncertainty over what we believe, trust, value, and want out of life. The people for whom this is a serious problem tend to get lost. They have no sense of direction. Our beliefs and values determine where we end up in life.

Other forms of the mutable dilemma include a lack of faith in anything beyond the material world and human beings. People with this problem tend to live anxiously. It is also possible for the mutable conflict to be manifested as a conflict between different values. Head goals (truth) may war with heart goals (kindness) and with efficiency goals (what will work?) If we are too open and blunt, (Gemini and Sagittarius), we may reduce our effectiveness (Virgo) and hurt people (which Pisces does not want to do). In the CIA chart, the two more dominant angles are ruled by the Mercury signs, suggesting that efficiency in obtaining information could take precedence over idealism and ethics.

Next to the mutable emphasis, the CIA chart shows a focus on the fixed quality. Mars in Taurus, Saturn and Pluto in Leo, Jupiter and Chiron in Scorpio are supported by the active second, eleventh, and eighth houses, plus the dominant Uranus which is a fixed planet by its own nature. There are no tight-orb conflict aspects between the planets in fixed signs, which fits the relative success the CIA has had in steadily increasing its power and money despite frequent periods when elected officials questioned its freedom from any effective accountability. Much paper and ink has been devoted to books and newspapers written by conspiracy buffs who have accused some CIA agents of shocking crimes, but the agency continues to function mostly outside of any public scrutiny. The Ames case has opened the curtains a little, but it is unlikely to have any lasting effect on the agency.

I have been checking the CIA chart from time to time for a good many years, but the lack of any reliable information about its actions has prevented an understanding of what the aspects signaled. For years, P Saturn has been slowly moving over natal and then P Pluto, suggesting some type of intense power issue. During the middle to late 1980s, the P Sun joined Saturn and Pluto and we got a window of publicity as Iran-Contra-Gate hit the press. P Mars in Gemini has also held octiles to Pluto and Saturn for some years. The rumors flew. The CIA was accused of bringing drugs into the U.S. to fund the Contras who were engaged in Reagan’s war against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. As P Sun moved to square Jupiter, the movie JFK was filmed and several books were published suggesting that some “rogue?” members of the CIA were involved in assassinating John Kennedy. But in the end, the agency continued its business pretty much as usual.

Also, during the last approximately two years, P Venus has been conjunct Pluto, while P MC reached a two-year conjunction with natal Saturn about eight months before the Ames arrest. Venus rules the second house of money and the ninth house of foreign countries and ethics, so it is appropriate to have it on Pluto and, during the last few months, on P Saturn. The MC carries the same significance as Saturn, so a conjunction of the two is a double statement of an issue involving the law, executive power, authority figures, responsibility, etc. In addition to its square to Jupiter (repeating the focus on ethics, foreign affairs, etc.), P Sun is octile P Vesta, the asteroid of efficient functioning, as well as octile its own natal position. The CIA has been revealed as inept in its effort to uncover its “mole”. P Ascendant on Chiron repeats the focus on the Jupiter principle again, with the Ascendant pointing to action on the part of the agency. P Ascendant is also square P Mercury for the negative media coverage and trioctile Pallas in the sixth house to repeat the problems in efficiency and the issue of idealism and social justice. Spies used to betray their country because of ideology. Now, they do it for cash.

In the chart of an organization with a world-wide impact, we expect to find some dramatic asteroids, and we are not disappointed. Bill Casey was the head of the CIA when Ames began to provide information to the Soviets, and after he died of a brain tumor in 1987, William Webster became the head of the agency. During the middle 1980s, the asteroid William(s) was crossing the MC to match an executive with the name. P Mars was also on the MC, Uranus, P William(s) and P Russia when Ames began his betrayal of his fellow agents who were working in Russia and Eastern Europe. In the 1994 progressions, P Mars has moved on but P William(s) is still moving in tandem with P Russia as our President William Clinton has to deal with the issue. William(s) and Russia at 26 Gemini are also octile Pluto and trioctile P Moskva (Moscow) in 11 Aquarius and P East Point and P America which are in 11 Scorpio! Could anything be more appropriate than a network of conflict aspects involving the name of our president, Russia, Moscow, America, the agency’s own action (East Point) and Pluto as a key to the capacity to cooperate (or the lack of that capacity and power struggles)? To further emphasize the picture, P Sun was conjunct Washington(ia) in 17 Leo for the two years prior to Ames’ arrest, and it started an opposition to natal Moskva just two months before Ames was arrested. P Potomac, the river which runs through the nation’s capitol, was also on P Sun and square Jupiter.

What really blew my mind though was the position of Anacostia. I had added it to my collection of asteroids when I found out that, like the Potomac, it was a river running through Washington, DC, so I thought it might be useful in mundane charts involving our government. But up until now, I had never noticed it in a prominent position. An article about the lack of cooperation between the FBI and the CIA in the Ames’ affair mentioned that the headquarters of the FBI were on Buzzard’s Point on the Anacostia River. So, of course, I expected the CIA chart to have some kind of focus on Anacostia. Eureka! Natal Anacostia is on the Moon, Hybris (hubris), and the MC when the chart is calculated for Moscow! P Karma has been conjunct Anacostia for more than two years as the FBI and the CIA tried belatedly to cooperate in their search for evidence to convict Ames. In 1985, when the treason started, the P Ascendant was on P Anacostia. If the two agencies had been cooperating effectively at that time, some lives might have been spared.

There are many more relevant asteroids in the CIA chart, but most astrologers would probably prefer to focus on the traditional factors. P Venus will continue to conjunct Pluto and Saturn, P MC will continue to conjunct Saturn, and P East Point will continue to square Pluto and P Saturn for more than another year as the agency tries to revise their handling of power and recoup from the damage done by Ames. There is likely to be additional media attention when P Mercury reaches Saturn in less than three years. We can watch to see what happens when P Venus reaches the square to Jupiter and P MC reaches Pluto and P Saturn. These aspects will be starting in three to four years from now and will last for two years or more. The agency will have a progressed New Moon while the aspects are in effect, in the spring of 1998. The new moon signals the start of a new 30-year cycle. About two years later, P Sun will be approaching a square to natal Mars. The conspiracy buffs are worried about the increasing power of the executive branch of our government, to which the CIA and several other intelligence agencies theoretically answer. Let’s hope we still have some alert news people in the alternative press.

Copyright © 1994 Los Angeles Community Church of Religious Science, Inc.

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