MAY 2008 Deep Space Notebook

Masers are Deep Space anomalies which violently spew vast amounts of gaseous material from their cores, extending far into space. Sometimes likened to cosmic cattle prods, their actions are volatile and random. In astrological interpretation, they represent points of vibrant, but uncontrolled energy, and can translate into character as heightened enthusiasm, the ability to excite or inspire others—or as controversy and chaotic disruption with resulting debilitation, even degeneration into madness, if appropriately placed. Their activation in mundane events often signals violence, disorder and turmoil, a volatile perturbation in the collective.

The genesis of this research came in early January, just after the Iowa primary, when the airwaves were full of hyperbole comparing Barack Obama’s electric style and the excitement generated by his campaign to the candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy 40 years previous. Something about the comparison felt uncomfortable to me, considering how the Kennedy campaign ended. Obama’s 12 Leo Sun closely conjoins a Maser at 13 Leo, the source of the fervor and passion he engenders, but intimating potential problems as well, via controversy or divisive elements which could result in a breakdown or implosion of some sort. Thumbing up RFK’s birthdate didn’t ease my concerns—born 20 November 1925, Robert Kennedy’s 27 Scorpio Sun exactly opposed another Maser at 27 Taurus.

Intrigued, I jotted down a quick off-the-cuff list of assassinated political figures of the 20th century—John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Anwar Sadat, Indira Gandhi, Yitzhak Rabin, Benazir Bhutto—and began looking for birth data. In brief, each of these individuals shows a Sun/Maser connection at birth, and a Mars/Maser connection at death. The results of that research formed the basis of this article.

John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, was born 29 May 1917, with the Sun at 6 Gemini just one degree shy of the Maser at 7 Gemini. A natal Mars at 18 Taurus within the event horizon, or orb of influence, of the Black Hole at 16 Taurus indicates a potential for a sudden, violent death. At his assassination by Lee Harvey Oswald on 22 November 1963, Mars at 20 Sagittarius was conjunct the Black Hole at 19 Sagittarius and sesquiquadrate (135 degrees, the Disseminating Phase aspect) the Maser at 7 Taurus. Additionally, Saturn in the nativity at 27 Cancer (representing executive power, Kennedy’s career, and the office of the presidency) is conjunct another Black Hole and exactly sextile the Maser at 27 Taurus. Saturn at 17 Aquarius for the day of his death is in exact binovile (80 degrees) to the 7 Taurus Maser, and the Sun that day at 29 Scorpio closely opposes the 27 Taurus Maser, thus is also trine natal Saturn.

Civil Rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Martin Luther King, Jr. (born 15 January 1929) had a 25 Capricorn Sun, squared the Black Hole at 24 Aries and trine the Maser at 27 Taurus. Natal Mars at 21 Gemini is semisquare the 7 Taurus Maser. At his assassination by James Earl Ray on 4 April 1968, transit Mars at 5 Taurus was just approaching exact conjunction to that same anomaly, with the Sun at 14 Aries trine another Maser at 13 Leo.

As stated previously, former Attorney General, US Senator and leading 1968 Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, born 20 November 1925, sported a Sun at 27 Scorpio in exact opposition to a Maser, with natal Mars at 4 Scorpio conjunct a Black Hole at 6 Scorpio and opposed the Maser at 7 Taurus. When he was gunned down by Sirhan Sirhan the night he won the California primary on June 6, 1968, Mars at 20 Gemini opposed the Black Hole at 19 Sagittarius and was semisquare the 7 Taurus Maser.

Anwar El Sadat was Egypt’s third president, serving from 1970 until his death in 1981. As successor to Nasser, Sadat led Egypt’s forces in the 1973 Yom Kippur War with Israel, but was also instrumental in the Camp David Accords and the resulting Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty of 1979. The 3 Capricorn Sun from his 25 December 1918 nativity is in exact biquintile (144 degrees) to the 27 Taurus Maser, and natal Mars at 4 Aquarius opposed a Black Hole at 2 Leo and squared the 7 Taurus Maser. As head of state, his natal Saturn at 28 Leo was also opposed a Black Hole at 27 Aquarius and squared the 27 Taurus Maser. On 6 October 1981, Sadat was in the reviewing stands for the annual parade honoring the Yom Kippur War victory when he was attacked from a troop truck by lieutenant Khalid Islambouli and others, with assault rifles and grenades. At the assassination the Sun and Saturn at 13 and 12 Libra conjoined the Black Hole at 13 Libra, in sextile to the Maser at 13 Leo. Transit Mars at 21 Leo was quintile (72 degrees) the Maser at 7 Gemini, an interesting reiteration of the natal Sun/Maser contact from the same aspect series.

India’s fourth Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi served as first female head of state from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 until her death. She was the daughter of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and the mother of Rajiv Gandhi, the country’s 7th Prime Minister (also assassinated, in 1991). Born 19 November 1917, Gandhi’s nativity shows a 26 Scorpio Sun opposed the 27 Taurus Maser, with Mars at 9 Virgo exactly conjunct a Black Hole and trine the Maser at 7 Taurus. Natal Saturn at 14 Leo conjoins the 13 Leo Maser, another head of state with Saturn/Maser lost to violence. On 31 October 1984, Gandhi was passing through her garden to an interview for a documentary when she was fired upon with machine guns by two Sikh members of her bodyguard, Satwant and Beant Singh. Sikh separatist violence had been growing for several years, and the attack was in retaliation for government crackdowns and the desecration of a Sikh shrine in Punjab that autumn. At her assassination transit Mars at 18 Capricorn conjoined the Black Hole at 19 Capricorn and was tredecile (108 degrees) to the 7 Taurus Maser, with the transit Sun at 8 Scorpio just past opposition to it.

Yizhak Rabin, Israeli Prime Minister from 1974-77 and again from 1992 until his death in 1995, shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with Shimon Perez and Yasser Arafat for the Oslo Accords, which attempted to reconcile Israel and Palestine. Rabin succeeded Golda Meir and ordered Operation Entebbe, wherein Israeli commandos rescued airline passengers hijacked by Palestinian terrorists in Uganda. He was Prime Minister during the outbreak of the first Palestinian Intifada, which he brutally suppressed, afterward becoming an advocate of peaceful negotiation between the fratricidal states. Born 1 March 1922, Rabin had a 10 Pisces Sun, sextile the 7 Taurus Maser and square another at 6 Gemini. Natal Mars at 5 Sagittarius exactly conjoins a Black Hole and activates both these anomalies by inconjunct and opposition. Natal Saturn at 6 Libra is also exactly trine the 6 Gemini Maser, and forms a Yod, or Finger of Destiny, with Mars and the 7 Taurus Maser. On 4 November 1995, Rabin was leaving a Tel Aviv rally in support of the Oslo agreements when he was shot by an Orthodox Jewish student, Yigal Amir, who opposed the accord. Mars at 10 Sagittarius exactly conjoined a Black Hole and opposed the early Gemini Maser, by then transited on to 7 Gemini. The Sun at 11 Scorpio was squared the 13 Leo Maser, with Saturn at 18 Pisces quintile to the Maser at 28 Taurus.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (served 1988-90 and 1993-96), born 21 June 1953, had a 29 Gemini Sun semisquare the 13 Leo Maser, with natal Mars at 4 Cancer exactly conjunct a Black Hole, sextile the 7 Taurus Maser and decile (36 degrees) the 27 Taurus Maser. Natal Saturn at 20 Libra retrograde was biquintile the 27 Taurus Maser and squared the 19 Capricorn Black Hole. She had been in self-imposed exile from Pakistan since being forced from office in 1996 under a cloud of corruption charges, but returned in October 2007 to challenge General Pervez Musharraf for the presidency. On 27 December 2007, Bhutto was shot after leaving a political rally in Rawalpindi, and explosives were detonated near her car; government officials blamed al Qaeda, but this is disputed by her political party. At her assassination, Mars at 1 Cancer was semisquare the 14 Leo Maser and exactly squared the Black Hole at 1 Libra, with Saturn at 8 Virgo retrograde and the Sun at 5 Capricorn forming a Grand Trine with the Maser at 8 Taurus.

Uranus, long associated with shocks, upsets, revolution, rebellion and violent political upheaval, also makes significant aspects to Masers on each of these assassination dates. For JFK, Uranus at 9 Virgo conjoins a Black Hole and trines the 7 Taurus Maser; for MLK Jr., Uranus at 26 Virgo is trine the 27 Taurus Maser; for RFK it is still in trine that anomaly from 25 Virgo. Uranus for the Sadat assassination lies at 27 Scorpio, conjunct a Quasar and exactly opposed the 27 Taurus Maser, and for Gandhi it trines the 13 Leo Maser from 11 Sagittarius, where it also conjoins a Black Hole. When Rabin was shot Uranus at 26 Capricorn is on a Pulsar and again trine the 27 Taurus Maser, and for Bhutto’s death it falls at 15 Pisces, inconjunct the Maser now transited to 14 Leo.

Obviously not every political figure with these contacts is assassinated, but this is a disturbing pattern nonetheless, particularly given the heightened passions of racial animosities stirred by the Obama candidacy. Of particular misfortune is the incidence of Mars within this same vicinity for both Hillary Clinton, Obama’s chief primary opponent, and John McCain, his general election opponent should Obama win his Party’s nomination. Both these figures betray strong Mars/Maser signatures.

John McCain’s war service, capture, torture and detention in a Vietnamese POW camp for five years is a powerful glimpse into the potency of this combination of his 12 Leo Mars with the 13 Leo Maser; his character flaws of tetchiness, curmudgeonly disagreeableness, and a reputation for strong language stem directly from it. Hillary Clinton, with Mars at 14 Leo also conjunct Pluto, has a similar issue with appearing too strident or chiding, easily attracts dislike, and, true to the plutonic elements of the configuration, is considered power-hungry, manipulative, and even believed by some to be capable of such heinous acts as the murder of long-time friend Vince Foster. She has also been persistently dogged by allegations of lesbianism, a nod to the sexual arena evoked by Mars/Maser.

Supporters of either, drawn on by the passion and hatred engendered by their candidate’s Mars/Maser, could conceivably pose a serious threat to Obama’s very existence, as represented by his Sun in close conjunction. Regardless of this, the fractiousness and internecine battling which has been such a regrettable feature of the Democratic primary, and engendered by Clinton’s Mars on Obama’s Sun, is only likely to increase should he move on to challenge McCain and his Mars in the general election. Issues such as the statements of Obama’s former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, also indicate the flip side of that Sun/Maser’s capacity to excite and motivate others, namely a concomitant propensity to attract controversy. It is unlikely we have plumbed the depths of these disputes and allegations, whether illusory (as in Obama’s supposed Muslim faith) or substantiated.

On November 4, 2008, the Election Day Sun at 12 Scorpio forms a T-Square with the nodal axis at 13 Aquarius and Leo, the South Node closely conjunct the 14 Leo Maser, with the Sun in square to it, Obama’s Sun, and both Clinton’s and McCain’s Mars. Fasten your seatbelts—it’s going to be a bumpy night!

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