Please note: In 2015, long after I wrote this article, my understandings of the quindecile, a 24° aspect, were born out of the new–mathematically accurate–name for the 165° aspect, now called undecaquartisextile. Please read about the Undecaquartisextile as its related aspect patterns which can be found in the Pluto – Full On series. You’ll find the Pluto – Full On series under the subcategory of Undecaquartisextile, located in the Feature Articles tab. Thanks for your patience with the modification of the name.

At 7:42 Thursday morning, March 5, 2015, in the midst of an approaching, already within aspect, Full Moon, Ambassador Mark Lippert of the United States was attacked by an unknown assailant in Seoul, Korea. The 55-yo assailant has already been arrested. (This comment about the assailant’s age has been amended to the correct age. Some news reports indicated that he was armed with a razor blade. He wasn’t. He was armed with a 7-inch (17.78 cm) knife. The ambassador required 80 stitches on his face and will be in the hospital for about 4 days.)

Fox

NBC

While we don’t have Lippert’s timed natal chart, his date of birth and place of birth are listed in Wikipedia–and this is some way to start a new year of life, and a new Solar Return! His injuries are said to be non-life threatening, but it’s obvious he had a close call.

Take note of his natal Sun-Saturn square, and his Sun and the transiting Sun are conjunct transiting Neptune as I write. But I’m most interested in noting that his Venus, in the untimed chart at 29 Aquarius 55 was making a 5-minute partile conjunction to the recent (February 18) New Moon at 29 Aquarius 59’54’.

The transiting 29 Pisces 44 Ascendant at the time of the attack fell conjunct the upcoming Solar Eclipse at 29 Pisces 27 with Mars rising as the first planet in a first house intercepted Mars-Uranus-Venus in Aries stellium in square to transiting Pluto in the 10th. Incidentally, Venus and Uranus are making an 11-minute partile conjunction within the stellium.

But the Midheaven is also at an anaretic degree, and transiting Pluto is conjunct Lippert’s Mars. Although we know his Moon is most definitely in Capricorn, we cannot say for sure that Pluto was conjunct his Moon–but we can say with certainty that Pluto was making a 24-minute partile conjunction to his natal North Node! Meanwhile, transiting Mars, which I mentioned in the last paragraph is squaring transiting Pluto, is well within orb of the opposition to his natal Pluto, intercepted in the 7th house.

Mars-Pluto hard aspects can carry these kinds of warnings to watch oneself in the midst of potential attacks. They don’t have to take place, but one shouldn’t be careless under these kinds of transits. Certainly Ambassador Lippert was unlikely to have been in an unsavory, unsafe neighborhood as he was about to enter a building for a breakfast meeting. Nevertheless, this incident serves as a reminder to take care when one is under such transits.

Photos of Ambassador Lippert showed him standing and, while early reports seemed to indicate serious injuries (something I don’t suppose any of us really know for sure from photos), the small razor used in the attack appeared to have cut him on the face and at least one hand.