Timothy McVeigh Update

Zip Dobyns

As this is written, McVeigh has been found guilty of the Oklahoma City bombing which killed 168 people, including 19 children, on April 19, 1995. The Denver jury is now deliberating whether he will be jailed for life or put to death. Even if they vote for life imprisonment, he could still face death for the bombing. The case was brought by the federal government, and McVeigh could still be tried in a state court in Oklahoma which has the death penalty and is more likely to use it than many other states. The June 18, 1997 issue of Newsweek reports that 38 states have the death penalty, and Oklahoma is the only one with three choices of technique; lethal gas, lethal injection, and electrocution.

McVeigh’s chart was included in the Pisces 1997 issue of The Mutable Dilemma as an example of the “one-ten” challenge. According to his birth certificate, he was born in Lockport, NY on April 23, 1968 at 8:30 A.M. EST. In the previous article, his chart was progressed to the date of the bombing and his local house cusps in Oklahoma City were mentioned in the delineation. In this follow-up, I will progress the chart to the date of the jury decision, June 2, 1997, and refer to his local cusps in Denver. As readers will remember, McVeigh has three variations of the one-ten combination. His Saturn is in Aries. Aries is in the tenth house. The Moon is in the tenth house, and its rulership of Cancer which is partly in the first house makes it a form of letter one.

Despite the lessening of the threat of another world war, the world is not getting less violent, so the issue of self-will versus the limits of self-will remains a major challenge. I have written repeatedly about the danger of carrying any of our twelve basic life desires to such an extreme that it becomes a monster while other important life needs are denied. The evidence does point to McVeigh as a central figure in the bombing, though I am not convinced that he acted alone, or simply had the help of Terry Nichols in assembling the bomb. Nichols is to be tried in two to three months, and his lawyers will emphasize the statements by several witnesses that a stocky, tattooed man was seen with McVeigh. The government initially was searching for such a “John Doe II,” but later claimed that it was a case of mistaken information.

It is ironic that McVeigh’s reason for the bombing seems to be his acceptance of the far-right, militia beliefs that the U.S. government is conspiring to enslave its own citizens. The mainline media universally refer to the conspiracy theories as paranoid, carrying the assumption that they are totally unfounded. Yet, an astonishing variety of sources claim that the government is continuing to conceal the real facts in the deaths of John and Bobbie Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. As I have written before, the investment newsletter called Strategic Investment insists that there is major evidence for a government cover-up in the Oklahoma bombing. McVeigh’s primary grievance against the government and purported reason for the bombing was anger over the Waco, TX deaths of the followers of David Koresh after a raid initiated by the ATF (U.S. bureau of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms). The bombed Alfred Murrah building housed an office of the ATF, but no one was in it at the time, not even a secretary. The conspiracy rumor is that the ATF knew about the plans, was monitoring McVeigh and his accomplices so they were forewarned, but they goofed in failing to prevent the bombing. Rather than acknowledge the horrifying slip-up, they reportedly determined to make McVeigh the sole perpetrator.

If there is any truth to these rumors, we can hope that, unlike Oswald, McVeigh remains alive long enough to provide more information. Even if the Denver jury calls for the death penalty, it normally takes five to eight years before it is carried out, so McVeigh might still change his stoic position and talk. As our readers know, astrology shows the psychological issues faced by individuals, but the specific ways that they react to their beliefs and desires can range all over the map.

An initial inspection of McVeigh’s chart shows a major focus on death with the P local (Denver) MC conjunct the N local Part of Death. Both are in 4 Pisces opposite a group of asteroids in 4 to 5 Virgo including N Hela (a death goddess), P Hela (which was retrograde at birth and had returned to its natal position), P America, P Medea (who killed her children), and one of the asteroids with “Tim” is its name: P Timresovia. McVeigh’s N MC is 3 Pisces 33, and P America is still within one degree of an opposition to it, so the whole group in Virgo-Pisces is connected with overlapping orbs. They are also square McVeigh’s local Ascendant of 4 Gemini in Oklahoma City. A chilling aspect in McVeigh’s natal chart was N Medea on his N IC, an angle which, like the 8th house cusp, is associated with endings, including death. Obviously, we could read this network of aspects as predicting the death penalty for McVeigh, but it could simply be a description of his being tried for the deaths in Oklahoma. Death was certainly the focus of the trial!

The asteroids continue to be mind-blowing. We have three which start with the name “Tim:” Timresovia, Timwarner, and Timandra. Each has aspects. McVeigh’s P MC from his birthplace was in 1 Aries 42 for the jury decision, which formed a yod, a double quincunx, to N Timresovia in 2 Virgo and N Timwarner in 1 Scorpio! P MC was also conjunct N Chiron which was holding the same yod. Chiron symbolizes the Jupiter principle of beliefs, values, and the morality based on one’s faith. I found it featured in the charts of the lawyers handling the O.J. trial. No matter how flawed in their actual practice, law courts and lawyers are one of many manifestations of the search for truth and decisions theoretically based on moral principles. The yod typically indicates a time of major changes, often involving separations and new directions. The quincunx is a classic aspect for letting go, whether it marks the death of a person, a job, a relationship, etc. I could not imagine a more appropriate pattern than this set of aspects connecting two “Tim” asteroids to the Chiron search for truth and the execution of the law in the form of the MC which represents the limits of personal power. To make the combination even more emphatic, P Chiron for years is on the midpoint of his Denver Ascendant/MC. The conjunction of a planet to a midpoint of two other factors carries the meaning of a conjunction with both of the factors which are the source of the midpoint, so in this case it is like having Chiron on both the Ascendant (personal power) and the MC (the limits of personal power) in Denver.

Other “Tim” aspects included P Timwarner retrograding in 25 Libra with a quincunx to Vesta in the tenth house. Two years ago, at the time of the bombing, P Timwarner was square N Timandra in 26 Capricorn in the eighth house. P Timandra was then and remains in 29 Capricorn quincunx the Ascendant. P Jupiter has been quincunx N Timandra since McVeigh was a baby. In addition to the quincunx to the N Ascendant, P Timandra is square N Ceres and P Juno in the fifth house. Ceres and the house can signify children while Juno is a Plutonian asteroid with the potential of marking power struggles and endings.

Among the most important keys to basic character/habits are the progressed aspects involving the outer planets when they hold an aspect for many years. McVeigh’s P Neptune has been square his N Jupiter all his life in fixed signs and mutable houses. The mutable dilemma calls for an integration between beliefs and the ethics based on them and the situation in the world around us. The fixed signs with their enduring self-will may stay in a stalemate for a long time. There is a danger of unrealistic beliefs and values and monumentally bad judgment is possible. By the time of his trial, McVeigh’s P Mercury was setting off the Neptune-Jupiter square with a quincunx to P Neptune. P Venus will start an opposition to P Neptune during this summer of 1997 and next year it moves into the square to Jupiter. P Nobel, the asteroid named for the inventor of dynamite, had reached 24 Aquarius 43 at the verdict where it formed a T-square to P Neptune and P Venus. P Uranus has held an opposition to N Vesta and a trioctile to N Nobel throughout McVeigh’s life. The continuing theme involves beliefs and ideals versus reality while Uranus and its sign show the potential rebel or radical capable of fighting the limits.

Hela, another asteroid named for the same death goddess as Hel, was in 27 Virgo when McVeigh was born and it had also returned to its natal degree. McVeigh’s Denver P Ascendant in 28 Gemini was square both the N and P positions. His birthplace P Ascendant was trioctile N Libitina, another death goddess. As mentioned in the previous discussion of McVeigh’s chart, at the time of the bombing, his P Moon and P Libitina were conjunct his Oklahoma City N Part of Death in 15 Pisces. They were also octile the N Part of Death in 0 Taurus. By the time of the trial, P Libitina had reached octiles to McVeigh’s N Ascendant/MC, his N Mercury, and his Oklahoma Antivertex which were all in 1 Taurus.

One of the aspects noted in the previous article on McVeigh was something I had never seen. Icarus, an asteroid associated with overreach and the danger of falling, has a very elongated orbit, suggesting that it is a burned-out comet. It spends most of its time in the last four signs of the zodiac, but moves very quickly through the other eight signs during the portion of its orbit when it actually comes inside the orbit of Mercury. The most dramatic Icarus cases I have seen occurred when it was conjunct a fire planet: Mars, Sun, or Jupiter, as the fire intensified a risk-taking tendency. McVeigh had Icarus within a quarter degree of his Sun at birth and, what I have never seen before, P Icarus and P Sun were still conjunct at the time of the bombing! The P Sun has now moved on, but P Icarus is almost stationary conjunct McVeigh’s Denver Ascendant, an equivalent to Mars. I’m sure everyone who has been following the media coverage of the trial has wondered at McVeigh’s stoicism, his lack of any demonstration of emotion when the horrors of the bombing consequences were being described. The jurors would certainly have been looking for some sign of remorse. McVeigh compounded the danger of looking like a heartless monster by appearing happy when his friends and family were pleading for his life, seemingly only concerned with himself.

P Venus will catch up to P Icarus in 3 to 4 years, and they will be conjunct in 29 Taurus when McVeigh has his New Moon in 6 Gemini in January 2002. The progressed New Moon marks the beginning of a 30-year cycle and his fate is likely to be settled by then though continuing appeals are possible. In the meantime, his P Sun will have been conjunct his Oklahoma Ascendant for two years, whether this marks a new trial in Oklahoma or just continued publicity there as he goes through years of legal appeals. That Oklahoma Ascendant is also conjunct N Hephaistos, the maker of weapon on Mount Olympus. From an early age, McVeigh was fascinated with guns, and he learned about bombs in the army as well as through his involvement with the militia movement. It not a coincidence that he chose Oklahoma City to use a devastating weapon. P Hephaistos was on his Oklahoma P East Point for the bombing. By 2002 McVeigh’s P MC in Oklahoma City will be on P Libitina with both approaching his N Moon. His Oklahoma P MC reaches the Moon in the summer of 2002. His birthplace P 8th house cusp will be conjunct his Oklahoma N MC through 2001-2002 to reinforce the legal judgment, and it will square N Themis, divine justice, in 14 Taurus. P Justicia starts a conjunction with N Sun about the beginning of 2002, and P Themis will have just ended a long opposition to Neptune but will still oppose Alfreda, an asteroid for the bombed building. It will also be conjunct the P north node of Mars. The P Part of Death will be retrograding over Chiron to set off the yod to Timresovia and Timwarner. The Oklahoma P 8th house cusp will be conjunct N Timandra. We don’t need astrology to say that McVeigh’s odds are not good, but astrology agrees with the common wisdom.

There is always so much more, it is hard to quit. The asteroid Washingtonia, for our Federal capital, was in 18 Taurus on McVeigh’s Antivertex at birth. His Oklahoma East Point joined them, and his Oklahoma P Antivertex was also there when the bombing occurred, with P Phaethon, another overreach asteroid, about to join them. P Phaethon remains on the stellium into the next century, while P Sun had reached P Washingtonia for the trial which was carried out by federal authorities.

Many more aspects could be listed, but McVeigh’s character remains enigmatic. Will he talk and implicate others in the crime, perhaps at the last minute? Is he choosing a martyr role to support the militia movement? Are his habits just too rigid to change? His chart shows a major emphasis on the fixed quality with a Taurus stellium in the natural house of Aquarius plus the P Neptune square Jupiter in fixed signs which will finally end in 2003. We can hope that in the next level of life he can make a start on resolving his mutable dilemma, can gain greater insight into the connectedness of life, and can learn that revenge is not a solution.

PS. McVeigh was sentenced to death by the Denver jury before this issue of The Mutable Dilemma went to the printer. In light of this action, it might be instructive to look at his chart in Terre Haute, IN, where Federal prisoners are put to death by injection. The Indiana MC will be 24 Aquarius 26 to form a close T-square with McVeigh’s Jupiter-Neptune square. His Indiana East Point will fall exactly on his Denver Ascendant in 28 Taurus to complete a wide grand cross in the fixed signs. His Indiana Ascendant in 18 Gemini will be square his N Moon. At his new moon, his P local Ascendant will be square his P south lunar node, moving into a square to Saturn to signal a possible end (for this lifetime) of his confrontation between self-will and the limits of self-will.

Copyright © 1997 Los Angeles Community Church of Religious Science, Inc.

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