Post
by Jim Eshelman » Mon Jul 04, 2022 11:02 am
My immediate concern is how Pluto is aspected. (Is it primarily with malefics or benefics?) I'll also keep my eyes open for anything else that that may be evident.
O.J. SIMPSON
Pluto (0°22 from EP-a and octile Moon) has mixed aspects. The closest, though, is a partile (0°31') conjunction with Saturn. Its other main aspect, a square to Jupiter, is wider (5°35') but Jupiter is more angular (0°47' from IC): Saturn is not foreground.
The partile aspect probably dominates. (We can add the moderate Neptune sextile, though I don't want to lean too heavily on it since most people have one.)
JAMES HOLMES
A clear hit: The "Dark Knight killer" has a 1°42' Mars-Pluto conjunction with Mars 0°21' from IC (Pluto 3°19' the other side).
JAMES HANRATTY
Pluto is 0°33' from Asc. However, it isn't closely aspected by anything (moderate sextiles to Moon and Venus that, if anything, would make it lean positive). This is a fail or misdirection. It may be significant that the motives and setup were different in this case than most since the McDonald's murders rose out of newly arising and worsening mental illness. Nonetheless, Pluto is clearly unafflicted.
MARK DAVID CHAPMAN
John Lennon's killer has Pluto 1°08' from Zenith. Pluto's one close aspect (except for the Neptune sextile) is a 0°57' mundane square to an angular Sun. It then has a somewhat wider mundane square with Saturn (3°43'). It's not severely aspected but, yes, on balance Pluto is very strong and is afflicted.
MYRA HINDLEY
Ian Brady's partner in their numerous murders had Pluto on IC 1°25'. This is indeed an afflicted Pluto, being part of a mundane Moon-Saturn-Pluto T-square (and some Uranus), Saturn being 0°38' from Ascendant and 0°47' from square Pluto. (This isn't evident ecliptically. These charts are good examples of the importance of mundane aspects in a nativity.)
SUSAN ATKINS
Charles Manson's chief lieutenant had Pluto on Westpoint 0°42'. Ecliptically we see a moderate conjunction with Saturn and a close octile with Jupiter. Mundanely, though, the picture looks much harsher, with a triple Mars-Saturn-Pluto conjunction across about 6°, Pluto being between the other two, 2°40' from Saturn on one side and 3°48' from Mars on the other (0°34' from their midpoint). Acknowledging the strong Jupiter aspect, this is nonetheless a badly afflicted Pluto.
CHARLES WHITMAN
The man who invented modern mass murder sprees from a tower at the University of Texas (another example of incipient mental illness that couldn't get treated in time) had Pluto 0°06' from Nadir. Again, it is the mundane aspects that speak most loudly and again it centers on an aspect from Saturn: His mundane Saturn-Pluto square was 0°24', topped only by his mundane Uranus-Pluto square 0°05'.
CONCLUSION FOR NOW
Perhaps for "afflicted Pluto" we should substitute "Pluto afflicted by Saturn!" - because every single example above was this specific aspect. Mars was only involved twice, and in one of those cases Saturn was still closer. (Holmes was the pure Mars-Pluto example.) There is also unusual emphasis on mundane aspects over ecliptical, which might be because Saturn-Pluto is an outer planet aspect that wouldn't have been so important as an ecliptical aspect.
I find this fascinating confirmation - not that people with afflicted Pluto will be murderers, but that, indeed, in extreme cases, horrible cruelty and harmfulness can be a consequence of Pluto aspected by malefics.