It was a bizarre, surreal courtroom experience from the get-go. The first words out of the lead prosecutor’s mouth were, “Fucking punks. These assholes always get away.” This was from John Guy, quoting George Zimmerman’s words in his 911 call on February 26, 2012, minutes before he shot and killed an unarmed 17-year-old black youth, Trayvon Martin, as the teen walked home in the rain after buying Skittles and iced tea. [For a complete analysis of the shooting, please see my article in the April 2012 Daykeeper Journal.]
The opening “statement” from the defense was a joke. Literally. “Knock, knock,” began attorney Don West. “Who’s there? George Zimmerman. George Zimmerman who? All right, good. You’re on the jury.”
And that jury? Also bizarre, statistically speaking. Six jurors, all women, five white, one black or Latina, with a female judge as well. In what way does the composition of that panel reasonably represent a jury of peers of either Zimmerman or Martin?
And so began three weeks of argument, counter-argument, testimony and digital recreation. Oddities abounded, as when, within hours of each other, both the mother of the victim and the mother of the shooter testified that each heard her son’s voice in the anguished cries for help audible in the background of a neighbor’s 911 call. And as both prosecution and defense tussled on the courtroom floor with a foam rubber dummy representing Trayvon, attempting to bring clarity to their positions. And virtual daily as the lead defense counsel and the judge sparred on innumerable points, obviously with no love lost between them.
But perhaps the greatest oddity of all was the eventual verdict, agreed upon by the jury at 9:50 PM EDT in that Sanford, Florida deliberation room. Not guilty on Murder Two; not guilty on the lesser included charge of Manslaughter. George Zimmerman was not guilty, not legally culpable, in the death of a black youth he racially profiled, followed without cause, continued to pursue with a gun after police told him not to, became involved in a physical confrontation with, and shot dead. George Zimmerman set free, with his gun returned to him, now legally vindicated on the grounds of self-defense, aided by Florida’s controversial “Stand your Ground” law.
Astrologically, it was a trial strongly tapped into the transit sky, with numerous PNAs pivotal to the case interacting in potent and time-sensitive ways to celestially portray the earthbound travesty.
When the court came to order at 9 AM EDT on Monday, June 24, the lead players and their antagonisms were vividly on display. Rising on the eastern horizon at the 5 Leo Ascendant was asteroid Sanford (#5736), the venue for the killing and the trial, at 0 Leo, with asteroid West (#2022, for lead defense attorney Don West) even more closely conjunct at 4 Leo. And in truth, it would turn out to be West in ascendancy, with a prosecution hampered by the absence of their lead witness, the dead Trayvon, and an almost impossible burden to make on second-degree murder. That Ascendant also conjoins George Zimmerman’s (born 5 October 1983) natal Atropos/Sanford conjunction at 2 and 3 Leo, which in itself spells “death (Atropos, named for the Greek Fate who severs the thread of life at death) in Sanford.” The Sun at 3 Cancer is tightly conjoined Trayvon Martin’s (born 5 February 1995) natal asteroid Themis, named for the Greek goddess of justice, at 2 Cancer.
Two squares show the breakdown of the sides; an exact square from West to asteroid George (#3854, for George Zimmerman) at 4 Taurus indicates the close connection between defense and client. (George is also conjunct the Midheaven at 28 Aries, the most elevated point in the chart, appropriately making Zimmerman the most visible, prominent figure at his trial.) George and West are also involved in an exact T-Square with Saturn at 4 Scorpio, the ancient lord of death, ruling professional relationships, law enforcement, and punishment.
Asteroid Donn (#4689, for Don) at 0 Sagittarius provides a second astrological linkage on the defense side, in opposition to asteroid Zimmerman (#3100) at 5 Gemini, a primal polarity which becomes a tense T-square with the intrusion of asteroid Johnny (#3252, for lead prosecutor John Guy) at 6 Pisces, itself conjoined Neptune at 5 Pisces and Trayvon Martin’s natal asteroid George, also at 6 Pisces. Transit Zimmerman is also conjunct Martin’s natal Martina/Rip conjunction at 4 Gemini, bringing together the shooter, the victim and a point symbolizing death (asteroid Rip as “RIP”, “Rest In Peace”, a common gravestone inscription).
Neptune has a lot to answer for in this chart. Its conjunction with Johnny evoked a softer, less focused response from the prosecution, which seemed at times vacillating and confused, unwilling or unable to drive home its point, susceptible to having its own witnesses turned against it. (Since the state did not charge Zimmerman with a crime in the first place, taking more than a month and nationwide attention and protest before arresting him, one wonders whether their heart was in the prosecution.)
With Neptune exactly squared Zimmerman, it should have meant prison, Neptune-ruled, for the defendant, but instead he oozed out from the tight spot he found himself in with typical Neptunian invisibility, slipping through the prosecution’s fingers like water through a sieve. The jury’s anticipated sympathy and identification with the slain victim, also Neptune-ruled, became inverted into empathy for the man who provoked the incident and then allegedly found himself outmanned and fearing for his own life.
The trine between West and Donn doesn’t stand alone—it becomes a major Grand Trine pattern with West’s exact trine to asteroid Deborah (#541) at 4 Aries, representing Judge Debra Nelson (Deborah is also exactly conjunct Martin’s natal Osiris, named for the Egyptian god of the dead). Ordinarily, points in trine communicate well and easily with each other, something quite obviously contradicted by the fireworks between West and Nelson throughout the trial. But this Grand Trine is not the end of the story—it becomes a Kite pattern with the inclusion of an exact opposition from Deborah to asteroid Justitia, named for the Roman goddess of justice, at 4 Libra, in exact sextile to West. Kites do not have the easy acceptance and smooth interchange of the Grand Trine. They take that bountiful energy and turn it sharply toward the opposition point, in this case, Justice herself, in the form of the courtroom, the legal wrangling and the judge.
A second factor in their continual sniping is the close conjunction of transiting asteroids Nelsonia (#3538, for Nelson) and Donna (#3085, a feminine variant of “Don”), which began at 21 and 24 Leo and traveled together throughout the trial, ending at 29 Leo and 3 Virgo for the verdict on July 13. While conjoined planets can signify shared viewpoints, they can also be a cause for friction, as those so linked feel inescapably bound up with each other, for good or ill. In the words of the old adage, “familiarity breeds contempt,” which seemed all too often to be the case here. Donna at 24 Leo was also tightly squared asteroid Johney (#90308, another variant of “John” for prosecutor John Guy) at 25 Taurus, indicating the clash between defense and prosecution.
Justitia itself was galactically encumbered by sitting on the cross-hairs of a T-Square with Black Holes at 4 Cancer and 5 Capricorn, which promote bizarre, parallel reality manifestations, circumstances so unexpected and counter-intuitive as to strain credulity. Up is down, black is white, and the status of a situation can turn on a dime—who was the victim here, the dead youth or the self-appointed watchman, now claiming self-defense?
Transit Justitia here is also exactly conjoined Zimmerman’s natal asteroid Kassandra, and in fact, that became the crux of the legal argument—was Zimmerman believable? Kassandra’s issues with truth-telling and credibility formed the underlying basis of the case, and although Zimmerman’s story was shown pretty conclusively not to have been accurate in some key points, the prosecution did build a convincing image of him as feeling his life was threatened. That’s all that’s needed under Florida law to validate self-defense when evoking the Stand your Ground provision; the circumstances of how you came to be in that position do not matter, legally speaking.
And what of Justitia’s Greek counterpart, Themis? At 17 Cancer, this asteroid exactly squares asteroid Requiem, named for the funeral mass for the dead, at 17 Aries, a cry for justice for the slain. But Themis is also squared Uranus at 12 Aries, indicating an unexpected, unusual, unsettling outcome, and an opposition to a Black Hole at 19 Capricorn suggests heightened unpredictability and the surreal nature of the “justice” meted out. Transit Themis also exactly conjoins Martin’s natal Atropos and closely opposes Martin’s natal asteroid Zimmerman at 18 Capricorn, signifying the individual toward whom the powers of justice should have been directed, as well as natally identifying Zimmerman as the potential vehicle of Martin’s demise.
That leaves just the victim to be accounted for, Trayvon Martin. Represented astrologically by asteroid Martina (#981), he appears at 19 Virgo, in the company of asteroid Karma at 22 Virgo, and exactly squared to TNO Ixion at 19 Sagittarius.
Karma here speaks for itself, the inscrutable, opaque workings of fate and predestination, difficult to understand, based in prior actions and finely balanced, and always measured out perfectly, though not always in ways which are obvious or just by human standards.
Ixion is named for the first murderer in Greek myth, and its exact square to Martina highlights the issue at hand in the killing, and gives the celestial stamp of approval for the state’s charges—this was murder, even if ultimately unproven, or excused.
Adding specificity to the charge of murder and linking killer and victim together is the conjunction of transit Martina with George Zimmerman’s natal asteroid Zimmerman at 17 Virgo, still within orb of the square from Ixion. Transit Martina and Karma also oppose Martin’s natal Themis at 17 Pisces, which is exactly opposed by Zimmerman’s natal Zimmerman.
When the jury reached its verdict at 9:50 PM EDT on Saturday, July 13, the skies were again a perfect mirror of the outcome.
Once again key players are present and prominent angularly. The angles are the most time-sensitive points of the chart, changing degrees every 4 minutes, so having significant representative PNAs angular at a crucial moment denotes major impact and a celestial timing which nears perfection. Perhaps most astounding is the degree on the Ascendant, 16 Aquarius, which is an exact match for Trayvon Martin’s natal Sun, meaning that in the moment when the jury came to its conclusion, the rising degree on the eastern horizon precisely activated the most central element of the victim’s life.
In this instance, the story of the outcome is told quite clearly by additional angular placements, with asteroid Donn at 28 Scorpio conjoined the Midheaven at 0 Sagittarius, and asteroid Johney opposed from 3 Gemini on the 0 Gemini Nadir, once again showing the natural antagonism between prosecution and defense. Donn at the top of the chart and Johney at the bottom perfectly portrays the outcome, with Don West triumphant and John Guy defeated. That 0 Sagittarius MC is also an exact match for Travyon Martin’s natal Pluto, modern ruler of death.
Asteroid West at 12 Leo now appears on the 16 Leo Descendant in the “sunset” position, at the end of the trial, just as it was rising on the Ascendant at the trial’s beginning, showing the lead prosecutor’s dominance throughout the proceedings. From 28 Scorpio Donn is also exactly conjoined a Quasar, a deep space anomaly which spotlights whatever it touches, promoting success and achievement, and a positive outcome, acting here as a secondary indicator of Don West’s victory.
Transit Zimmerman at 14 Gemini is coming to oppose transit Ixion at 19 Sagittarius and is T-Squared with transit Chiron at 13 Pisces; the opposition is not yet strong enough to tie Zimmerman closely to the charge of murder, but the tight Chiron square reflects his own injuries that seemed to the jury to make a compelling case for self-defense.
Ironically, transit Justitia at 10 Libra is coming to conjoin Zimmerman’s natal Sun at 11 Libra, apparently an indicator in this case, not that justice was done, but that it was on Zimmerman’s side. In a similar bonding of the day with the theme of justice, the transit Sun is now conjunct asteroid Themis, at 21 and 26 Cancer, and also here is Atropos at 20 Cancer, linking the issue of death specifically. Transit Mercury (the decision itself) retrograde at 15 Cancer is involved in a Grand Trine with Zimmerman’s natal asteroid George at 13 Scorpio and transit Chiron at 13 Pisces. This becomes a Kite pattern with the inclusion of transit asteroid George at 14 Taurus, opposing Zimmerman’s natal George. Any point in opposition to itself is similar to a Full Moon, a point of clarity, culmination, and a major change or shift in direction. Mercury’s retrograde status here suggests flawed thinking, a deliberative process that is somehow inverted or skewed from the norm.
Another indicator of the favorable verdict for Zimmerman is the exact conjunction of transit Nelsonia, representing Judge Nelson (and thus the court generally), with his natal Venus at 29 Leo, the “Lesser Benefic” here promoting positive outcomes. Asteroid Donna at 3 Virgo exactly conjoins Zimmerman’s natal Mars, affirming Don West as George Zimmerman’s champion and defender, victorious at the last.
As for the victim, he is also represented. Asteroids Martina and Karma are still conjunct, now at 23 and 27 Virgo, but they are joined for the verdict by the Moon at 26 Virgo, bringing a major focus of emotion to Trayvon Martin. This represents the populace at large, which over the weekend erupted into protests and demonstrations, some of them violent, across the country.
The Moon is also squared to the Galactic Center at 27 Sagittarius, indicating global notice or attention paid to the verdict.
Finally, the Moon is void-of-course, significant in that it suggests an improper outcome, and also one that is not the last word, lacking finality or staying power. Indeed, the Justice Department shortly announced that it would be reviewing the case, considering possible Federal charges for Zimmerman under violation of civil rights legislation.
Adding to the probability of the shooting being gone into again is Mercury’s retrograde status, implying a temporary conclusion and a need to revisit the issue at a later time.
Was the outcome race-based? You decide, but consider this. The day before the Zimmerman judgment was handed down, a Florida woman was sentenced to 20 years for firing warning shots in her home to ward off her abusive husband. Marissa Alexander claimed the same “Stand your Ground” self-defense law in justifying her actions. She did not shoot at her husband, who has a history of abusing her and against whom she had a protective order, did not wound him, did not kill him. Despite this, she was convicted of attempted murder.
She is black.
Alex Miller is a professional writer and astrologer, whose website AlexAsteroidAstrology.com offers a trove of info on the role of asteroids in personal and mundane astrology. He is the author of The Black Hole Book (available on Amazon.com) and The Urban Wicca, former editor of “The Galactic Calendar,” and past president of The Philadelphia Astrological Society. His pioneering work with Black Holes in astrological interpretation began in 1991, when his progressed Sun unwittingly fell into one. Alex’s books and writings are available on his website. Alex can also be reached for comment or services at .
With relief, thank you for portraying the event as it was – Zimmerman stalked this young man, then got out of his car with his gun and became this youngster’s assailant. And if he was strong enough to find his gun above his rump while Martin was allegedly on top of him, then he was in no danger of great bodily harm and could have easily thrown Martin off of him – a “sucker punch” accomplished with a gun and one more young black kid, innocent and dead.
PNAs are “Personal-Named Asteroids”, those with the names of people and places, such as “George, West, Zimmerman and Sanford,”, in this case.
“Astrologically, it was a trial strongly tapped into the transit sky, with numerous PNAs pivotal to the case interacting in potent and time-sensitive ways to celestially portray the earthbound travesty.”
What are “PNAs”?