June 12: As I start to write what will obviously be another large article and probably a series, the American flag flying over all public buildings including military facilities, naval vessels, the White House, and consulates has been lowered to half-staff in memory of the 50 who died in the wee hours this morning in Orlando, Florida. Another 53 were wounded and are now fighting for their lives, as you, dear reader, probably already know although some headlines are still coming out with 20, not 50. I know I won’t be done with this at least before we have moved into another day. There’s much to cover.

I’m posting the following video, but I confess while the music is good (what’s not piercing my eardrums!), I have the sound way down and it’s still too loud for my ears. Nevertheless, I’m sharing this with the lyrics. If you do not have the ability to listen to metal (not all of Orphaned Land’s music is metal, but this one definitely is), I would urge you to take time to read the lyrics instead and call it good. The lyrics were my reason for my having chosen this particular piece. Frankly, it also most likely fits the kind of energy at that the time of this horrific event:

Fail

“No surprise this morning, as usual I woke up again to a world that kills itself repetitively with no shame or fear. The papers were telling me as always in burning red colors that it’s everywhere I’ll go. An eternal loop of slavery, murder, rape, corruption and wars. Same old story in colored versions of death, death, death. As if we are doomed, sucked and being smoked from far beyond by a dead star, a black hole, an endless appetite that swallows our light and wants nothing but more & more & more.

“Yes I am too the fuel that feeds this machine, this vast engine of destruction that takes our lives, our souls and our freedom. And what other choices do I have in a society that educates me to be stupid. I am brainwashed like a sheep, so that every liar with a sip of charisma can easily turn himself into my ‘shepherd’. So, here I am, sitting like a fairy princess, waiting for her Messiah while happiness is everywhere except here and now. And we all keep on hanging onto our hopes, while the storm still rages inside.

“Slippery tongues fork from my screen
Spewing such lies in the name of the green
They play the game of thrones till one wins
A rule of one liar ends and another beings

“So why do we fail to see
And why in this jail are we
Living our life with the threat of fire
We’re losing again all to this mire

“Money tied with power, war and bloodlust
They’ll spend our money until none of it lasts
They will send our sons to war to die for a god
That they use as a coin to barter for blood

“‘Yes sir, no sir’ – can I go home now?
Your thirst for blood has lost me somehow
I was young when they took me;
I am a young man no more
As they used me and threw me like the army’s last whore

“A children’s crusade – we are brothers in arms
A multitude of fools like a rain of falling stars
We walk the road to war while they smoke their cigars
Like a serpent forever feed on its tail
This cycle of death goes on forever gain,
and again… and again…“

The White House issued the following statement after President Obama’s address to the American community. He did not answer questions afterward:

“As a mark of respect for the victims of the act of hatred and terror perpetrated on Sunday, June 12, 2016, in Orlando, Florida, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, June 16, 2016. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.”

This is the worst mass shooting in US history. That’s the bottom line. Whether we are talking about the LGBTQ community, a particular racial, ethnic, religious group or one based on gender focus, we are still family–the world family.

For those who prefer, I offer the following:

Patty Sheehan, Orlando City Commissioner: “I was walking along the sidewalk with an officer, and looked down and saw the blood and started to cry.” I know her feeling. It’s not about individual groups into which some members of society in the US or around the world may place us by label, it’s about the words to which I’ve alluded in my choice of the title. Vasudhaiva kutumbakam, “the whole world is a family.” We are a family, whether we are speaking of the United States, of France, of Belgium, Jonestown, Mumbai, Kabul, Alleppo, Jerusalem, Peshawar–of Columbine, of Binghamton, of Newtown, of San Bernadino…we are a family.

Some won’t read this article perhaps in hopes of burying their heads in the sand. I hope they’ll read it anyway. It’s painful. My tears are already welling up as I’m writing, but I will write and will bring in several angles now that many won’t otherwise see–and yes, I will share the news links so you’ll be sure to catch them. My effort to write the title before the article took me through several tries including  “Orlando Massacre,” “Terror and Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,” “Terror and The Whole World is a Family,” and I’ve finally settled on “Orlando Massacre” as part of the World Tapestry series.

Why this series versus another? The United States is a land of at least 103 global cultures and more than 100 native American tribes. The Sanskrit  saying “Vasudhaiva kutumbakam” is one that’s especially meaningful to me because it epitomizes my heart: “The whole world is a family.” I ended up deciding, however, to name this with the “Orlando Massacre” reference for easier identification. I would have preferred this wasn’t needed at all, of course.
When I first started following this story after one of my rare nights of sleeping 7 hours, all of the news was pointing to 2 AM on the dot. I didn’t believe it; but when i cast the chart, my jaw dropped: the angles, all in nearly perfected squares, focused on the Ascendant, of course. 29 Pisces 27, the precise degree to the minute of the March 20, 2015 Solar Eclipse. At best, it was somewhat rattling! Just as a point of reference so you can see what I was seeing, I’ve included the 2 AM chart above.

But now, I’ll add the Orlando Sentinel comment about the time according to Police Chief John Mina who said Mateen fired the first shot at an Orlando police officer at 2:02 am before running into the club where around ±300 people were gathered.
Of course with the first chart, my mind had already gravitated to the ongoing Peeling of Life’s Onion Saturn-Neptune 25-minute partile square, as it formed the ongoing, tightening Mutable Grand Cross from the 12th house Neptune opposition to the Moon/Jupiter conjunction in the 6th house in square to the 9th house Saturn opposition to the Sun/Venus conjunction in the 3rd house. But please don’t misunderstand: This Grand Cross is still active, of course, and the chart itself will have actually changed little between the time reported in much of the media and the actual first shot. But take note of the first degree of each of the Cardinal signs now present on the angles.

The attack clearly wasn’t impulsive: Mateen had time to think, to plan, and to buy a long gun and a handgun as recently as this past Friday. Investigators wondered earlier today whether Mateen might have collaborated with someone. But they have apparently begun to arrive at the same conclusion I drew in seeing this chart. The attack was not directly precipitated by anyone else even if it had been “inspired” by ISIS

Take note of the first house placement of Uranus in a mere 27-minute orb to sextile third house Venus as they form the yod to 8th house Mars. While I normally work with even tighter degrees than the pair of quincunxes from Venus and Uranus form to Mars in the chart, there’s no way I wouldn’t call this a yod. The quincunx between Mars and Uranus certainly fits the bill with less than 5 minutes of orb past my preferred orb of 1°30 for what I’d call a perfect yod. Please don’t mistake my assessment of that as a “perfected” yod, referring to when there aren’t even minutes of orb separating two bodies. For me a perfect yod offers the prime timing in which the pair of quincunxes would be triggered almost simultaneously–within a 24-hour period. The aspect between Venus and Mars is wider and could be triggered possibly just outside of the 24-hour period. This one comes in at a 2°01 of orb. Nevertheless, a mere 27-minute orb isn’t enough to split hairs over, as the saying goes. It’s clearly a yod.

June 13: At that hour, the mundane aspects in play offered partying Pulse patrons the opportunity to break away from their daily routine and time to cut loose for a while. But Uranus in the mundane first house gave Mateen his advantage of catching people off guard and, most likely, many numbed by whatever they were drinking. It was, after all, a nightclub. The Sun-Venus conjunction in the third pointed to this as a neighborhood venue. Not that people from many places hadn’t been there too, but rather it was a popular place for them to go in Orlando. In sextile, the Venus-Uranus placement kept things light, as they should be when folks are partying. But Mars in Scorpio offers a different energy, one of intensity and then some–especially here in the 8th house.

In this chart, we have a triple whammy from Mars which plays a huge role, of course. Mars in both traditional and modern astrology rules Aries. Aries is the Ascendant of this chart. Therefore, Mars rules the chart as well. Even for those of us who work with Pluto as the modern ruler of Scorpio, the sign on the natural zodiacal 8th house, we can’t lose sight of Mars as the traditional ruler of this house and sign. Mars is still present and active–and clearly so in this chart! And to the student, please keep this chart’s mundane focus in mind. In a natal chart, Mars (or even Pluto) in the 8th doesn’t necessarily point to such sinister intent.

Part 2
Part 3

©2016 Michelle Young