Asteroid-World Winter 1995
Zip Dobyns
The DOW is hitting new highs while the U.S. dollar hits new lows against the currencies of Japan, Germany, and Switzerland. As the Yen, the Japanese currency, is reaching new heights, the Japanese stock market teeters on the edge of a collapse. One of, if not THE oldest merchant bank in England declares bankruptcy as Orange County, one of the richest counties in the U.S., is trying to figure out to handle its debts after declaring bankruptcy in December 1994. Mexico’s money, the peso, and its stock market have fallen out of bed, and the U.S. and World Bank have pledged 20 billion dollars to cover its debts since the declining value of its money means the country must repay more than twice the interest it owed a few months ago. The markets of Brazil and Argentina were also pummeled as jittery investors in the “developing world” started retreating. The soothsayers of doom are happily predicting that the domino effect is underway and a collapse of the world’s financial system is imminent and inevitable.
Can astrology make sense out of this bizarre collection of events? In the past, when the stability of the major economies of the world was threatened, the price of gold skyrocketed and stocks declined almost everywhere, but during the roller-coaster of the past four months the price of gold has barely bounced a bit and the U.S. stock market keeps hitting new highs. The Republicans are trying to balance the budget by reducing the country’s help for the poor, the young, and the disabled, so taxes on the rich can be lowered. The summer jobs program has been abolished. It helped slum kids learn some work habits and get a sense of satisfaction from earning through their own efforts. Many thousands will now be left to hang out with the gangs and learn to sell drugs for their cash. Loans for college have been slashed, so fewer kids can get the education which might pull them out of poverty. Affirmative action, which gave minorities and women a chance to break into the “old boys clubs”, is declared unfair to white males. Conspiracy theories are being fed by new (and old) magazines, newspapers, radio shows, tapes, videos, etc. The alternative press is alive and well with the far right and the far left both claiming that they offer the true path to saving humanity. Burundi seems to be on the path to duplicating the genocide in Ruanda, with thousands of refugees fleeing the country, while the former Yugoslavia is welcoming spring by ending the fragile cease fire. What can we glean from astrology to try to make sense of a world that seems increasingly polarized, divided by religion, ethnic background, race, sex, sexual preference and different definitions of freedom?
Astrology’s major keys to an overview of the world as a whole are the transits of the outer, slower planets. I have written repeatedly of the positive and negative potentials of Pluto moving into Sagittarius while Uranus is moving into Aquarius. Before the end of the decade, Neptune joins Uranus in Aquarius and stays there even longer. Both Sagittarius and Aquarius seek knowledge, but knowledge is a form of power, and both can be life-enhancing or life-destroying. Both Sagittarius and Aquarius want freedom, but freedom can lead to license and anarchy if we lack an outer structure to enforce society’s laws which theoretically protect the rights of all, or an inner structure of self-discipline which includes respect for others. When groups are polarized and encouraged to fear and hate each other, they are likely to try to force others to conform to their values or they may retreat into isolated bastions. The belief that one’s own group knows God’s will and is appointed by God to enforce it can lead to horrifying atrocities. A dramatic current example of the dangers of Pluto in Scorpio is unfolding if, as the Japanese police are currently claiming, a religious cult released the poison gas in the Tokyo subways.
Anything that has a beginning has a horoscope, including countries, but institutions like countries, businesses, etc. are born in stages, so most will have several relevant charts. The only way to become confident of the usefulness of a chart is to test it against events during the life of the institution. Obviously, if the chart is not giving appropriate patterns for the past, it is not likely to be reliable as a key to the future. Testing mundane charts is a very time consuming activity and I have not done it with Japan, so I can’t guarantee the validity of the charts included here of Japan’s independence following their defeat in the second world war and of their constitution. The recent dramatic events in Japan provide an opportunity to check the charts, to see whether there are appropriate aspects. In addition to the charts for the country as a whole, we can also study the chart for the disastrous earthquake in Kobe and for the “nerve gas attack” in Tokyo which has just occurred as this issue of Asteroid-World was being written.
For students of mundane astrology, the best source of data is The Book of World Horoscopes by Nicholas Campion. One of the charts he suggests for Japan is for the time that their new constitution became effective on May 3, 1947 at 0 hours in Tokyo. An alternative chart is one for the official restoration of Japanese independence and sovereignty when peace was declared between Japan and the U.S. on April 28, 1952 at 1:30 P.M. GMT in Tokyo. The time seems strange since it would have been 10:30 P.M. Japanese time, but Campion cites agreement on the time from several news sources. The Kobe earthquake occurred on January 17, 1995 at 5:46 A.M. The release of nerve gas in the Tokyo subways was reported as “just after 8 A.M.” on March 20, 1995. The April 3, 1995 issue of U.S. News and World Report says that an 8:14 A.M. train arrived at a central subway station with its riders choking and foaming at the mouth. The deputy station master who picked up a foul-smelling newspaper-wrapped package on the train and carried it out onto the platform was overcome and died later that day. Presumably, the poison gas was released shortly before the train arrived at the station. Another article reports release times from 8:09 to 8:13 at five locations. If I receive better data, I will report it in a later issue. I’m using a chart set for 8:10 A.M.
The chart for Japan’s Constitution is progressed for the Kobe earthquake and transiting Uranus was incredible! The Constitution Ascendant is 26 Capricorn, the Sun/Moon midpoint is 26 Cancer, Mercury is 26 Aries, and Dresden (one of the asteroids which can symbolize the deaths of “innocent victims”) is 26 Libra. Natal Makhaon, one of the sons of Aesculapius who was also a healer, is at 27 Capricorn, within one degree of the Ascendant, and it is currently progressing at 25 Capricorn, still within one degree of the angle.
The earthquake chart has an exact conjunction of Sun and Uranus at 26 Capricorn, the Moon at 26 Cancer, the Sun/Moon midpoint at 26 Libra, and heliocentric Mercury in 25 Aries, within a one-degree orb of the rest of the cardinal cross. The south node of Chiron is also connected at 26 Aries. The MC in the quake chart is 24 Libra, conjunct Nipponia (Japan) and Dolores (pains). Pompeja (named for the ancient city destroyed by a volcano and quakes) is within one degree of Dolores, so the overlapping orbs form a network. Neptune and the south node of Saturn at 23 Capricorn and the north node of Saturn at 23 Cancer form a second cardinal T-square in addition to the cardinal cross in 25-28 degrees. With the overlapping orbs, the whole area from 23 to 26 of the cardinals is a massive network of connected aspects. It is hard to say which is more dramatic, the huge cardinal cross or the one asteroid named for the country of Japan on the MC of the chart of their most destructive earthquake in 70 years.
Additional dramatic aspects in the chart for the quake include Saturn exactly trioctile the MC and octile the IC and square Venus. The Part of Death is in 20 Capricorn on the East Point, one of our auxiliary Ascendants, and on the south node of Pluto, while the north node of Pluto opposes them in 20 Cancer and Helio (a sun god for fame and power issues) is at 20 Aries. Guernica is, like Dresden, associated with the deaths of “innocent victims”. It is on the Ascendant in the quake chart. It is hard to know when to stop when there are so many factors which seem relevant. Pluto was on the midpoint of the Ascendant/MC, equivalent in meaning to having it conjunct all of the major angles. Also in the same degree were Panacea (a healer daughter of Aesculapius) and Bacchus, a Roman version of Dionysus, who was torn apart. Fuji, the sacred mountain of Japan, which can “stand for” the country almost as well as its name, was on the Antivertex, and Nemesis was just past them on the midpoint of Saturn/Uranus.
Despite the dramatic aspects in the chart of the quake, this “hindsight” astrology does not help us predict the future. For that, we need either cycle charts like the cardinal ingresses and heliocentric conjunctions of planets with earth (calculated when the planet opposes the Sun geocentrically), or charts for the country which can be progressed, directed, and watched with transits. So, looking back at the Constitution, could we have anticipated a major quake, a huge jump in the value of the yen which is a very mixed blessing, and a “terrorist” attack in the subways?
In the Constitution chart, P Moon in mid-January when the quake occurred was in 3 Cancer just inside the sixth house (work and health), conjunct the midpoint of Saturn/north lunar node, opposite the P MC and Siva, the Hindu god of destruction, and square P East Point. It moved into a square to the P Ascendant within a week, while the dazed city was still trying to find food and shelter for the victims. Other P Moon aspects included a quincunx to the tenth house south lunar node and a trioctile to P Jupiter. The aspects are appropriate for challenges to both the government and the public. When we add the asteroids, the picture is strengthened even more. P Moon was square the Libra Saturn/south node midpoint, P Karma, and P Richter. The latter asteroid has the same name as the geologist who developed a scale used for years to measure earthquakes. P Moon was also octile a conjunction of P Tokio (for the capital city) and Themis (divine justice), which were in 18 Leo. Within two weeks, P Moon reached an octile to Vesta to add more emphasis to work and health issues.
The January 28, 1995 issue of Science News pointed out some of the lessons being learned by world seismologists from the Kobe quake. Some of the land on which the city had been built was soft natural sediments and artificial landfill similar to the land under parts of the San Francisco Bay area. Many of Kobe’s buildings dated from before the building code was strengthened in 1981, and they were not upgraded to the new code. Many homes with heavy tile roofs and little lateral support collapsed on their sleeping owners. Also, the quake registered stronger vertical shaking than previous quakes in Japan, resembling the Northridge, California quake in that respect. The geologists were also surprised at the location, since they were expecting a sizable quake in the Tokyo region rather than in Kobe, though they knew that a major fault ran right under the city. The damage was also increased because the fault was shallow—near the surface of the ground. In a different article, seismologists wrote that there have been an increased number of quakes around the Pacific recently; in the Aleutian Islands, California, South America, and the South Pacific. Tokyo normally feels about 36 quakes a year, but there have been 10 in the first two months of 1995. A bigger one may be scheduled there before long. Can astrology learn to predict them?
Astrology has “grown like Topsy” over the years as humans sought to correlate the patterns in the sky with the events on earth. Many of the early theories were “fuzzy”, without a clear understanding of the psychological principles. I think that one example of that was the association of Poseidon, who was god of the seas, with earthquakes. The ancient world made that association and, of course, they did not have the positions of the asteroid Poseidon, which was discovered and named more than 2,000 years later. But the association in human minds existed and the asteroid may turn out to be relevant. The chart for Japan’s Constitution has natal Poseidon exactly on the IC and at the Kobe quake, P Poseidon was in 26 Cancer on the Sun/Moon midpoint and the healer P Aesculapia, opposite the Ascendant and P Makhaon, and square Mercury. Remember, even the factors as specific as the asteroids are still keys to issues, not details. Aspects to the asteroids named for healers can point to a person with healing ability, to healing which is taking place, or to a need for healing!
I am also watching several other asteroids which might prove related to earthquakes. Ani was another ancient city destroyed in a earthquake. The Ascendant in the quake chart was on natal Ani in the Constitution chart. Pele was a goddess of volcanoes and earthquakes. P Pele in the Constitution chart was conjunct the MC when the chart is calculated for Kobe and both are on natal Bellona, a goddess of war. Pele was noted for her temper! The P local (Kobe) East Point and P local Antivertex were square Gaea, the earth. P Gaea was opposite Uranus and on the midpoint of the Tokyo and Kobe Parts of Death. P Libitina, a Roman goddess of death, was also square Uranus and opposite Dunant, named for the founder of the Red Cross. The latter organization is involved in world-wide disaster relief. Libitina was also quincunx natal Hel, a Scandinavian goddess of death. Obviously, many of these asteroid aspects last for some years, so the danger to Japan is not over. By the time of the nerve gas attack, P Moon had reached 6 Cancer, where it forms an octile to natal Hel and P Mars and a trioctile to Pele.
The other chart for Japan which is presented here, their independence from America in 1952, is progressed to the subway nerve gas attack on March 20, 1995, but for those who want to check the P Moon aspects at the time of the earthquake, P Moon was in 17 Capricorn 55 on the East Point and just moving into a square to P Neptune and a yod (double quincunx) to Pluto and P Sun. P Moon held these aspects during the two months between the two drastic events and they were still in orb when the gas attack took place. P Hel has been conjunct Pluto for some months, so P Moon was exactly quincunx it at the quake and it was square natal Libitina in 17 Aries. P Moon is still square Neptune (associated with gas) and also now square the MC, plus it is quincunx P Mercury, which is associated with the nervous system. Other current aspects include P MC quincunx P Libitina, and, in mid-May, it will be trioctile natal Libitina, hinting at continuing media coverage and anxiety. P Libitina will conjunct natal Nipponia and be trioctile natal Tokio in time, but those aspects are several years ahead.
P Nipponia is a dramatic key in this Independence chart. At the nerve gas attack it was in 26 Taurus 30, square the mean lunar nodes and P East Point, octile Uranus and Mercury, and trioctile Saturn and P Chiron. During these recent years, when Japan has been struggling with recession and dropping values in their stock market and real estate, P Nipponia’s long-term progressed squares to the nodes in the financial houses (2 and 8) fit the financial pressures. Natally, Nipponia was in Taurus in the fourth house, which connects it to real estate. Its octiles to Mercury (which is one of the rulers of the 8th house) and to Uranus (which is in Cancer, the sign of real estate) support the stress potential. Other long-term progressed aspects include P Saturn quincunx the Sun and P Jupiter in the 4th house of real estate, P Chiron opposite Uranus, P Uranus square Mercury and octile/trioctile the lunar nodes.
There are also some very positive aspects, so the country is likely to go on coping. In fact, the inner conflict which is symbolized by stress aspects often leads to greater efforts and eventual success. On the harmony side, Neptune and Pluto maintain a long mutual sextile and P Sun is currently sextile Pluto and trine Neptune. P Ascendant is trine P Venus though it is also octile the natal Ascendant and square P Ceres. P Ceres just started a square to natal Juno, with one in the sign and the other in the house of Taurus. Venus is, of course, the ruler of Taurus, which repeats the emphasis on money and material possessions. These mixed aspects fit experiencing both tension and success. The rising value of the Yen against the Dollar is a good example. Japan has based its economic success on exporting what it produced and buying relatively little from other countries. A highly valued currency helps Japan buy more from others but makes it harder to sell to others.
In some ways, the gas attack is more horrifying than the earthquake, since it was a deliberate act of human beings carried out against their fellow humans. Though the initial reports of the attack called it terrorism, the fact that no one claimed credit led some analysts to question that word. Mostly, the word is applied to people making a political statement who want the world to know they did it so they will be feared and will get concessions. (Of course, the hoped-for concessions are rarely gained.) At the beginning, some commentators suggested that the motive in this case might be financial rather than political. For example, there was a huge surge in sales of gas masks after the episode. It is almost impossible to conceive that a company could kill at least 10 people and injure over 5,000 for a temporary profit, though there is a financial emphasis in the chart.
An alternative theory suggested some kind of religious fanaticism. A religious cult named Aum Shinrikyo (which translates into “Sublime Truth”) was suspected in a previous episode when similar poisonous gas was released in June 1994 in the town of Matsumoto. 11 people died and about 200 were injured in that event. The cult is estimated to have from 6,000 to 12,000 members in Japan in addition to followers in several countries including the U.S. The founder-leader, Shoko Asahara, has supreme power over his followers, who have to turn over all of their possessions to the group. Two days after the release of the poison gas in five subway trains, police wearing gas masks and protective clothing raided several centers belonging to the cult and reportedly found drums of poisonous chemicals. The main cult center is near Mt. Fuji, Japan’s sacred mountain. Their largest number of followers outside of Japan are reported to be in Russia where many people are desperately seeking some kind of reassuring faith and the cult claims they have 30,000 members.
Where the Russian widespread anxiety is connected to the economic and political crisis in the country, the angst of many young Japanese seems more connected to material abundance which has not brought emotional peace of mind. It is estimated that some 17,000 new religious cults have originated in Japan in just the last few decades. The religious beliefs of Aum Shinrikyo have been described as a mixture of Buddhism, Hinduism, Yoga, and doomsday prophecies. The cult is quite new, said to have been started in 1987 by a 40-year old man who was an acupuncturist. He claimed that he could fly and preached the coming of Armageddon in 1997. The followers who have been arrested, and Asahara who remains in hiding, have denied responsibility for the attack, and no one so far has offered a motive for the attacks other than a reported statement by Asahara saying that his followers should prepare for death. The gas which was released was a mixture. One component is said to be a substance called “sarin” which is so poisonous that a tiny amount will kill an individual in a few minutes.
Though I do not have one precise moment of the gas release, a chart set for 8:10 is probably pretty close. It points to the likelihood that the perpetrators would be uncovered. P Moon will move into a sextile to Pallas in the third house in Pisces and a square to Venus in Gemini in the fourth house. The Gemini/third house emphasis points to information and media exposure. Pallas is often associated with social justice. Pisces, like Neptune, is associated with gas. The fourth house represents the public and Aries their personal freedom of action, which includes sheer survival as a bottom line.
Other relevant aspects include transiting Nipponia in 23 Libra, which is exactly conjunct the P Part of Death in the Independence chart on the date of the attack. The P Part of Death is always retrograde and moves at about the speed of the P Moon, which is used in its formula. During much of April and May 1995 it will square P Moon, and then it will move over the MC and Neptune. The patterns suggest action by authority figures and probably a trial. Of course, the 9th house Neptune could also point to religious issues. As the end of the millennium approaches, and with Pluto in Sagittarius through 2007, we will undoubtedly see many more bizarre religious extremists. The deaths in Switzerland and Canada of members of an obscure religious cult were discussed in a previous issue of The Mutable Dilemma. The birth date of the leader, Jouret, was given but we have no time of birth. Waco, Texas is also vividly remembered. Hopefully, we will eventually get birth data for Asahara. Since no one has “final truth”, and we are probably not even able to conceive of it in this level of life, one person’s revealed truth will continue to be another person’s bizarre superstition. Beware the person who claims to have final truth!
Another strong transit to the Independence chart was Pluto on the P MC in 1 Sagittarius. The angle and transiting Pluto formed a mutable grand cross in the Independence chart with squares to Gaea and P Loyola in Pisces, Vesta, Ignatius, and Psyche in Virgo, and oppositions to Aesculapia and the Venus/Uranus midpoint. The combination points to many possibilities, including health concerns with Vesta, Virgo, and Aesculapia, religious or moral implications with Sagittarius, Pisces, Ignatius and Loyola (the two names of the man who founded the Jesuit Order), widespread connotations with Gaea, the earth, rebellion or new technology or unpredictable actions, etc. with Uranus, and pleasure or possessions with Venus and the second house. Psyche is an interesting asteroid which can signify someone drawn toward healing and interest in the mind or someone who is so self-absorbed that he or she is unable to empathize with others. It seems most like Pisces, so putting it in Virgo produces the polarity which can be manifested as a savior or a victim. When too self-centered, the person can victimize others, though not necessarily intentionally. P MC was also trioctile Laverna, the goddess of thieves, and she was conjunct Libitina, so the goddess of death was pulled into the network of aspects. P MC was also octile the East Point and Calvinia in 17 Capricorn. Calvinia was named for a modern Calvin, but the name also seems to “work” for the rigid, dictatorial, and cruel founder of the branch of Protestantism named after him. The asteroids do support a confrontation between Japanese authorities (MC) and religious leaders. As a final comment on this theory, P Ascendant was opposite Fanatica in 1994 when the Matsumoto gas incident occurred. In the 1995 incident, transiting Tokio was quincunx the P Ascendant. P Fanatica has been conjunct the south lunar node for several years and will continue to hold the aspect for years more. If we fail to learn the lesson of the south node, life puts on pressure.
The MC was on Uranus at 8 A.M. when last minute activities might have included the placing of the gas containers. The MC entered Aquarius within two minutes after 8, where it formed a conjunction with Hel for about 8 minutes. The Ascendant would have reached Libitina, the other goddess of death, very close to the time the train reached the station. The range of times from 8:09 to 8:13 thus gives charts ranging from Hel on the MC to Libitina on the Ascendant. Obviously, the effects of the gas lasted long after the angles had moved past the asteroids; in fact, some 750 people were said to still be in hospitals as this report was written. Some of the asteroids suggest that the action was partly a display of power or a means to fame. Though they were not exactly on the Ascendant when the gas was released, three of our sun gods had just risen. Apollo was on the south lunar node as part of a fixed grand cross with the Moon, north node, Urania, and Hybris in Scorpio, Damocles in Aquarius, and Ceres and Industria in Leo. Helio was in 10 Taurus and Aten was in 17 Taurus. Fanatica in 5 Aquarius was connected to the fixed cross by being within the one-degree orb to Urania, Hybris (hubris) and the true nodes. The Leo-Aquarius asteroids were in the 4-10 houses, connected to the public and authorities. The Taurus-Scorpio factors were in the 6-12 houses, bringing in the issues of service and ideals versus illness and/or lack of ethics and empathy, etc.
Other aspects in the chart put Vesta in high focus. I use a wider orb with the first four asteroids and Chiron, but many of the network of aspects to Vesta are quite close. It is square the Sun, opposite Juno (which is like Pluto and in the natural house of Pluto), quincunx Pluto, Uranus, and the MC to form a yod, and octile Mars. Vesta is a kind of counterpoint to Psyche. The negative side of Psyche is usually a lot of self-absorption and self-pity. The negative side of Vesta is so much absorption in a “job” that nothing else matters. Real ruthlessness is possible, and in extreme cases a lot of people can get hurt.
Readers can continue to watch the charts for Japan as a country. Unless unimaginable disaster strikes, I think it will certainly continue to be a world leader. But the charts do fit continued challenges. After this article was written, another earthquake was reported; this one not far from Tokyo. More are certainly likely. In the independence chart, P Richter has been conjunct the natal Moon for some three years, and it will leave the Moon only to cross the Descendant for another period of about four years. P Antivertex is conjunct Icarus and square natal Richter at present. The aspect to Icarus in Pisces fits the gas attack by a religious cult. The square to Richter fits the earthquakes. P Icarus is now conjunct P Pallas in Aries, pointing to media action involving religious overreach (Icarus natally in Pisces) and social justice and the law (Pallas). Phaethon, another overreach asteroid, is in Taurus square Pluto. The list is endless, and so is time as an abstract, but personal time runs out.
I had intended to devote a major portion of this issue of Asteroid-World to the Orange County melt-down, but my packet of charts related to the bankruptcy has disappeared. I do have a date from a former student of mine for the founding of Barings Bank on Christmas Day, 1762 in London, England. She was not able to get a time for whatever event was considered the beginning of the bank, but in light of the symbolic nature of the date, I suspect that it was chosen for its symbolic meaning and that the individuals who made that choice might well have picked noon with the Sun directly overhead for their action. Local mean time did not come into wide use until the next century, so local apparent time (LAT) would have been in effect—the time one would have on a sundial. A noon chart in LAT puts the Sun exactly on the MC. The CCRS computer program is one of the few which offers the option of LAT that should be used for historic charts prior to the nineteenth century.
The March 13, 1995 issue of Newsweek has a good article describing the Barings fiasco. A 28 year old futures trader named Nicholas William Leeson was betting that the Japanese stock market would go up and it kept going down. He eventually lost more than a billion dollars of the bank’s money, and they declared bankruptcy on February 26. Leeson and his wife left Singapore where they had been operating the Barings’ office on February 23, but he was arrested in Frankfurt, Germany. Singapore applied to extradite him, but he wisely resisted. Singapore is notoriously harsh in its treatment of accused people. It recently hung a Philippine maid who may have been framed and coerced into confessing to murder charges. Though Leeson was initially credited with being solely responsible for the huge losses, the bank managers must take some of the blame for lax oversight. The Bank of England declined to rescue Barings despite the fact that Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles were among its customers. A bank in the Netherlands (Holland) bought Barings for a symbolic sum like $1, calculating that its assets were enough to balance the billion dollar debts run up by Leeson. Comments in the same issue of Newsweek described several other financial fiascoes from the past and called the cause, excessive speculation, a “scourge.”
Though we do not have a historical record of the time of Baring’ inception on Christmas Day in 1762, the noon chart works phenomenally well, including the asteroids. I was recently able to extend my list of extra asteroids back to 1700, and they still seem to be “working” despite initial misgivings about perturbations and accuracy in the past when we lack observations to check the theoretical orbital calculations. For example, the asteroid Hollandia was named for the homeland of the bank which rescued Barings. I calculated the Barings chart for London where it began, for Singapore where Leeson did his disastrous investing, and for Tokyo, the location of the market which did him in. (The Kobe earthquake was blamed for the big drop in the Japanese market, so we could also do the chart for Kobe.) Local charts may be as informative as charts for the birthplace of a person or an institution. In Singapore, Hollandia was on the MC within my normal one degree orb. In London, when Barings became the possession of the Dutch bank, P Hollandia was on the IC. The implication is pretty obvious: in Singapore, Dutch people might have or get power over the bank. When they did, they became owners of its property and other tangible assets, including its deposits.
We also have asteroids named Nipponia (Japan) and Tokio (Tokyo). In the London chart, P Tokio was on the Ascendant and had just recently moved out of orb of a conjunction with Uranus in Aries, so the latter aspect would have been present when Leeson was doing his risky investments. P Uranus stayed conjunct Saturn for years, pointing to a need to integrate innovation with practicality. In Singapore, P Nipponia was on the East Point (an equivalent Ascendant) and just coming to the Ascendant. P Nipponia was also conjunct P Hybris (hubris), and they were square the P true lunar nodes and P Uranus, and opposite Icarus to form a cardinal cross showing conflict between security versus risk and overreach. The Ascendant/MC midpoint of the London chart was conjunct natal Chiron, which, like Jupiter, can be overly optimistic, and square P Hel (death) and natal Tokio. The latter was on the eighth house cusp of joint resources including debts. P Sun and MC (which are progressed at the same speed) were square Hel and opposite Ascendant/MC and Chiron with overlapping orbs connecting Tokio to produce a fixed cross.
The overreach danger was also suggested by P Jupiter conjunct P Phaethon, quincunx Bacchus (a Roman version of Dionysus, but not quite so wild) and P Wisdom, and opposite P Tokio. Fire in general can point to confidence, which can slip into overconfidence. P Apollo, a sun god, was conjunct P Sun and P MC as well as P Dionysus—all in Leo of course. Another sun god, P Aten, was on P Hollandia and the IC, opposite the natal Sun and MC. I have emphasized the angles in these examples since they support the noon birth time for the bank. The Part of Death is also determined by birth time since it is calculated by adding the eighth cusp to the Ascendant and subtracting the Moon. In the London chart, it was in 7 Scorpio, which put it opposite the Singapore Part of Death in 7 Taurus. The P Ascendant in London was in 7 Scorpio, conjunct the London Part and opposite the point in Singapore and P Saturn when the bank died. Obviously, P Saturn was on the Singapore Part of Death for years. I wonder if Barings would have chosen Singapore for their office if they had known some astrology? The Tokyo Part of Death in 29 Cancer was square the mean lunar nodes and quincunx the Sun/Moon midpoint.
Then there are the personal name asteroids. I am using Williams for anyone named William. The family name of Leeson would have originated as a reference to a “son of Lee”, so I also looked at the asteroid named Lee. Natal Williams was in 3 Taurus, so P Moon opposed it during the two months when Leeson was escalating the size of his bets in a desperate gamble to win his way out of the hole, but only getting in deeper. P William had been squaring its natal position along with P Mars, and P Venus and P Pandora moved into a square shortly before the roof fell in. P Williams and P Mars were still conjunct each other and P Mars had just reached natal Vesta when Leeson gave up the effort and fled. Natal Lee in 16 Gemini was octile natal north lunar node and Jupiter. P Lee was on the bank’s Ascendant in Tokyo. Yes, Virginia, asteroids do work even when they are only approximations of personal names. There is always more, but space and time are finite, so let’s close by looking at the chart for the opening of O.J.’s trial.
The last issue of Asteroid-World provided all of the timed birth charts which I had, mostly thanks to Lois Rodden. The beginning of the trial also comes from Lois’ Data News. She received it from Marjorie Rosen, who said that Judge Ito said “Good Morning” at 10:34:20 A.M. PST on January 24, 1995 in the L.A. courtroom. It is interesting that the chart for the earlier stage of the trial when jury selection began also had a fire sign rising. I think I discussed this previous chart in an earlier issue of either The Mutable Dilemma or Asteroid-World. The data came from Dorothy Oja: September 26, 1994 at 13:15. Anza, Darwin, and Eleutheria were on the Ascendant with overlapping orbs. Anza was named for the Spanish explorer who discovered San Francisco, and is a tentative reference to the city, the home of O.J. and Al Cowlings. Darwin is an obvious hint that the fittest will survive the current contest, but of course the type of fitness is not specified. It might include money, legal skills, and the wisdom of the jurors. O.J. survived the jungle slums of San Francisco to become a wealthy hero. Time will tell whether he will defeat his current challenge. Eleutheria was the goddess of freedom and might point to O.J.’s eventual achievement of that. The chart includes a grand trine in water involving Vesta, Juno, and Saturn, while Jupiter, Venus, and the mean north lunar node formed an extended conjunction with James and Fama through overlapping orbs, and the two asteroids were also sextile Simpson in the ninth house. There are also conflict aspects, of course, but the chart does seem to favor O.J. P Moon was on the Descendant when the next stage of the trial began in January.
I have done very little with this type of chart, and am really uncertain how to read it. Since the prosecution is in the power position and initiating the action, logically it might be represented by the first and tenth houses while the seventh and eighth houses might signify the defendant who is charged. But Mars and Venus rule both the first and the seventh and eighth houses. If we take the primary rulers to be the planets which rule the signs on the cusps, then Mars might be the prosecution and Venus the defendant. Mars in Leo in the fifth house and with a wide trine to the Ascendant might be considered positive for the prosecution. But Mars is trioctile the East Point much more closely than it trines the Ascendant, it squares Pluto exactly, and is more widely quincunx the tenth house Uranus and trioctile the MC. It is also retrograde, which calls for inner searching rather than the flamboyant or impulsive action so typical of Mars in Leo. Venus is closely conjunct Juno, sextile Mercury, and trine Ceres, the East Point, and the Ascendant. The high fire emphasis plus water houses show intense emotionality, which might work in O.J.’s favor with the trines. The one clear message in the chart is a battle royal over truth and ethics, with Saturn and Jupiter, rulers of the two signs in the ninth house of law courts, closely square each other in the two Jupiter signs and octile Neptune and Uranus in the house and sign of Saturn.
Like the double rulerships of Mars and Venus, the Sun is in the tenth house where it could represent authority figures such as Judge Ito, whose Sun is in Leo. But it also rules the Leo in the fourth and fifth houses. When the ruler of one house is placed in another, it connects the two houses. The affairs of the “ruled” house are carried out in combination with the affairs of the house where the planet is placed. Obviously, Judge Ito has power over the conduct of the trial and thus a strong influence on O.J.’s fate, but could the chart hint at a rise to power by O.J.? The Sun squares the Part of Death in 4 Taurus 51 and P Sun will maintain the aspect to the fall of 1996. The Sun is also conjunct Damocles. (O.J. certainly has a sword hanging over his head. Does Judge Ito, as the world watches his handling of the case?) The Sun is also conjunct Prometheus, who looked to the future and brought knowledge to humans, and Eleutheria, the goddess of freedom. Since Judge Ito is already free as the word is normally interpreted, does this aspect hint at O.J.’s future freedom?
In the interval since I wrote the fall 1994 Asteroid-World, I have looked at the charts for which we have birth times, and they suggest that the decision could come in September 1995. Two of our subscribers have written in response to my invitation to readers to send in their ideas and forecasts, and I hope that others will also write, especially if they have theories and experience in interpreting charts of legal trials. If O.J. is acquitted, will he regain custody of his two kids and will the Browns try to legally resist this? If there is a hung jury, will O.J. be retried? Astrology shows issues and timing, but a variety of detailed events may be manifested out of a set of principles.
Although I have no more data with birth times, Lois Rodden has supplied birth dates for three additional members of the cast. Mark Fuhrman, the detective being accused by the defense of “planting” the bloody glove in O.J.’s yard to try to frame him, was born on February 5, 1952 in Eatonville, WA. Brian “Kato” Kaelin, who was living in O.J.’s guest house and heard thumps nearby which might have been O.J. throwing his bag over the wall and then jumping over himself, was born on March 9, 1959 in Glendale, WI. (One of our subscribers reports hearing an interview with Kato in which he said he was born on November 25, 1959, and there are two cities named Glendale, WI in the American Atlas, so Kato remains mysterious. I was amused when I got the second possible date for Kato, since I had played a little with the March date and was considering putting Neptune on his Ascendant.) William Hodgman, the Deputy District Attorney who had to withdraw from the trial due to health problems, was born on December 14, 1952 in Pasadena, CA. Since Darden (the current D.A. whose birth date was given in the last issue of Asteroid-World) and Hodgman were born in California, Lois Rodden will probably get their birth times eventually.