The Astrology of Justice - the Jodi Ann Arias Verdict

The Great Seal of the State of Arizona

As many have, I’ve listened to a lot of the judicial proceedings as Jodi Ann Arias has been on trial for the murder of Travis Alexander.

Today, May 8th, was verdict day. When the news came in that the jury had reached its verdict, there also came the statement that there would be a two hour delay while all the necessary parties – family and lawyers – could get to the courthouse.

As astrologers do, I summoned up a chart. It had TNO Deucalion at the IC, which as I heard people in the streets of Phoenix calling out for justice I thought apt as Deucalion is a Cubewano which seems to function in charts as ‘the finding of the moral path.’

That Deucalion is a Cubewano seemed apt here, as Cubewanos, though they orbit in the same region (or ‘belt’) of space inhabited by objects whose orbits are controlled by Neptune’s vast magnetic resonance… Cubewanos go their own way. Astrologically, Cubewanos thus represent a ‘clarified’ concept – the moral path – which is without any of the doubts, hesitations or emotional biases so typical of Neptune-controlled Plutinos.

I left an astro-clock up on my computer screen with the television on as the minutes ticked by, going about my business here at home until the appointed time for the reading of the verdict drew near. Then I went back to my desk, listening to television lawyers discussing possible outcomes as the tension around that Phoenix courthouse got sufficiently intense as to be palpable from here in Los Angeles, hundreds of miles away.

The verdict was to be read at half past and it was about 26 minutes past the hour when I sat back down at my desk and saw this on the Ascendant of the astro-clock.

 
Despite all the commentary about how prompt court proceedings are, that Ascendant said – to me – that court would not be starting at half past. All the intensity having occurred as the Ascendant passed through 3 Orcus, funneling through the energy of ‘final consequences.’ And that fit.
I looked to the bottom of the chart.

Hebe/Antares at the IC of the clock (yes, you have to read through the overlap) was a perfect picture of people in Phoenix being so focused (Antares) on being supportive of Travis’ family and his memory. And that they were so sure that justice would function as it should is a perfectly Sagittarian concept.

But I looked at that 6 Virgo Ascendant…and heard myself say ‘we aren’t going to get a verdict until that Ascendant reaches Sabine.’

And that’s exactly what happened as the verdict was read out at 49 minutes past the hour:

   
Like all astrological symbols, Sabine has two very different sides. One is the idea of being ‘taken prisoner’ while the other is ‘taking something’ or ‘raping’ (degrading) something which is not yours to judge or yours to even touch.

Sabine/Athena dictates that there is a dispassionate (Athena) perspective on an act (Ascendant) of Sabine wantonness being ‘voiced’ through the Ascendant.

Is this also emblematic of the Taurus Solar Eclipse about to happen? Absolutely. But with the Sun at 18 Taurus, a degree which either acts with or which deals with energies which are ‘over the line’ and with this Sun sitting right beside Pallas (dispassionate wisdom) and between asteroid Child and the South Node in the 9th house of the chart (that associated with judicial workings) the Taurean value of America’s judicial system played out well.

Wisely, one might say.

And yes, this eclipse hits Jodi Arias’ chart hard. We don’t have a time of birth, but we do know the date and place, which gives us the following Aries wheel:

Jodi Ann Arias - July 9, 1980 - Monterey, California

Aries Wheel (time unknown). This chart was cast for 6 a.m., which means the Gemini Moon shown

could be as early as 10 Gemini or as late as 22 Gemini in an accurate chart. 

 
The closest planetary aspect to the eclipse (dwarf or full planet) is an inconjunct to Pluto. And with Pluto in opposition to Eris in Aries, the fact that the jury voted for first degree murder would tend to say a lot about what the ultimate penalty will be.

But the closest aspect of all in this chart is the 19 Taurus eclipse hitting Jodi’s 19 Taurus Typhon – the symbol of our primal, human drives: hunger, the need for sleep, sex and reproduction. That Chiron is conjunct this Typhon and both are in opposition to Jodi’s Uranus, a Uranus which was not only hit with exactitude by last November’s solar eclipse but which is conjunct her natal Sabine says a lot.

When such factors tie together, it’s a sign of how life’s many tendrils cross and interweave. All which is counts. All which is, is a part of that Existence science refers to as time/space.

Unbeknownst to us, our time/space universe unfolds as it should. Sometimes it's just painfully sad, even in the most righteous of moments.
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The US Supreme Court on Marriage

   

 The interior of the United States Supreme Court

(photo credit: John L Marino,  August 2007, public domain)

Sometimes all I have to do is be listening to the news and hear someone discuss an event with a time attached to get me all into the mix.

That's what happened today (which would be your yesterday by the time you read this). The news story was about the Supreme Court hearing arguments on the subject of California's Proposition 8, the ban on 'same-sex' marriage on March 26th at 10 a.m.


So off I went to the Court's website, where I found this posted, describing the Prop 8 case.

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12-144 HOLLINGSWORTH V. PERRY

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the State of California from defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

In addition to the question presented by the petition, the parties are directed to brief and argue the following question: whether petitioners have standing under Article III, subsection 2 of the Constitution in this case. 

* * * * * * * * * * * *    

So I thought to cast an electional chart for the occasion. Electional astrology is one of those handy-dandy forms of astrology which, given a specific time, place and date you know of in advance gives you a clue as to the outcome.

So here's the chart for the Supreme Court's 10 a.m. session on March 26th:

 March 26, 2013 - 10 a.m. (EDT +4) - Washington, DC

Zero Cancer is presented here on the 2nd cusp (with Cancer lapsing over into the 3rd house) - which obviously means that zero Capricorn is on the 8th house cusp, lapsing over into the 9th. "Double-sign" houses (two houses in succession with the same sign) always denote the energy of the first house being 'carried out' in the second house.

Any way you look at it, this is a pretty clear astrological picture of both sides of the argument as has been bandied about in the press: "traditional family values" against uniformity of civil rights and the right of people to love whoever they love against marriage as a procreative function. It's all there.

Now I'm no lawyer. But I am an astrologer. And the first thing which really jumps out of this horoscope is the position of the Moon. In Electional Astrology (in particular) the Moon serves as a 'timer.' And in this chart, the Moon is at 25 Virgo.

What does that mean? Well, just look around at the rest of the planets (nothing else, just planets) and you will see there isn't any planet with a number higher than 25 of any sign in this particular chart. And that means that this particular Moon is what's astrologically known as a "Void of Course Moon," meaning that because there are no planets at a degree higher than that of the Moon, there are no more aspects for the Moon to strike to any planet prior to reaching the next sign.

A Void of Course Moon (often simply abbreviated "VOC") means 'no action' or 'no response.' And while that's something you probably want when you're mailing your taxes or leaving a message from someone you really don't want to talk to, its debatable (read: it depends on which side of this argument you're on) whether you want to have a VOC Moon in a chart for a Supreme Court argument.

Having listened to all the newspeople had to say about Supreme court rulines, evidently with the Supreme Court there can be various reasons why the Justices decide not to hear the case in full. So that may well be what we're seeing with the VOC Moon and it's traditional interpretation as 'no action' or 'no response.'

(It may simply be that last note about 'whether the petitioners have standing' under the cited section of the Constitution which gets things off base, who knows!)

Once we get past that, everyone in the United States knows this issue of gay (i.e., gay and lesbian) marriage is going to end up being adjudicated by the Supreme Court. But this may not be the day for California's Proposition 8 to get it's full day in court.

But there is always DOMA. Arguments on DOMA (the 'Defense of Marriage Act') are to be heard on the following day - at the same time, 10 a.m. - which yields the following chart:

 March 27, 2013 - 10 a.m. (EDT +4) - Washington, DC

In this chart the Moon has moved on into early Libra, giving all sorts of room for discussion (figuratively and literally). With there being a Moon-Pluto-Mars t-square in cardinal signs, this is an image of fierce opposition, with the same general ideas being at stake...though Pluto in Capricorn in the 8th house tends to suggest that issues of inheritance, finance, wills and other such legal-financial matters will get into this mix. And there's also this - the court's statement on this matter:

  

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 12-307 United States v. Windsor

Question Presented: Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defines the term "marriage" for all purposes under federal law, including the provision of federal benefits, as "only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife." 1. U.S.C. 7. It similarly defines the term "spouse" as "a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife." ibid. The question presented is:

Whether Section 3 of DOMA violates the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection of the laws as applied to persons of the same sex who are legally married under the laws of their State.

In addition to the question presented by the petition, the parties are directed to brief and argue the following questions: whether the Executive Branch's agreement with the court below that DOMA is unconstitutional deprives this court of jurisdiction to decide this case; and whether the bipartisan legal advisory group of the United States House of Representatives has Article III standing in this case.  

     * * * * * * * * * * * *     

I don't know about you, but the minute I read something which names all three branches of the US Federal government, my instinct is that Pluto is in the 8th house of this chart for a reason. It really sounds like a giant legal headache.

But a further note there. Pluto is extraordinarily strong in this position at the 't' of the t-square. But the ruler of that Pluto (being in Capricorn) and the 8th and 9th houses of this chart, both of which have Capricorn on the cusp, is ruled by Saturn.

And Saturn is intercepted in the 6th house of this chart.

As I have said, I'm no lawyer. But when I look at each piece of this astrological puzzle and follow it to its end - which is represented by the planet with the highest degree number (in this chart Mars) this strikes me as some sort of conversation which is for the rights of the individual but which isn't as 'declarative' as one might want.

IF this matter turns out to be anything but a clean slice one way or the other, that will - to me - suggest that Pluto's having been 'downgraded' to dwarf planet while retaining it's right as a 'full fledged' planet (among astrologers) means all the other dwarf planets should have 'full fledged status as well.

And if that's true, then the highest degree among the collective of planets-and-dwarf-planets becomes MakeMake at 28 Virgo, which is the image of something new and fertile arising out of the old.

And that 'new' thing would be...? 

We'll see what happens. Who knows...we may not just be on the way to a new moment in law but also a new moment in astrology.

Personally, I'm all for planets having equal rights. 
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