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.
UPDATED AS OF JUNE 20, 2015, 5:22 PM EDT
UPDATED AS OF 2:43 PM EDT
The Angel of Death stepped into the 124-year-old Emanuel AME Church–one of the nation’s oldest–at 9 PM last night and left with several dead trailing behind. No one realized at first. The forty in the Bible Study class with their pastor, 41-year-old State Senator Clementa Pinckney, and his daughter probably never saw the gunman, believed to be a thin 21-year-old white male, nor was anyone aware at the time that a bomb threat would complicate the investigation. According to CBS TV news, Senator Pinckney and his daughter were among the dead.
Nine shot, multiple fatalities reported in downtown church shooting
The Post and Courier noted that Sen. Pinckney was only 23 years old when he was elected to the state’s House of Representatives and 27 when he became a state senator.
At the news conference that followed, Police Chief Greg Mullen called the murders a hate crime, and “the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division; and other agencies” moved in to assist local police who are tracking the shooter with police dogs.
Quoted by the New York Times, Mullen said, “It is unfathomable that somebody in today’s society would walk into a church while they are having a prayer meeting and take their lives.” The New York Times notes that eight were dead at the scene and one more died on the way to the Medical University of South Carolina. Several more have been seriously injured.
Nine Killed in Shooting at Charleston Church
A member of the Charleston County Ministers Conference told the New York Times his belief the killings were race-related. “It’s obvious that it’s race,” said Tory Fields. “What else could it be? You’ve got a white guy going into an African American church. That’s choice. He chose to go into that church and harm those people. That’s choice.”
While the New York Times says the church was built in 1891, its membership foundations were apparently already in place since Denmark Vesey, one of the co-founders, attempted to incite a slave rebellion in 1822. According to the church website, the plot was discovered, the church was burned, and authorities arrested and executed 35 people. The Post and Courier notes the church’s history actually dates back to 1816 when a free shoemaker and devout Methodist, Morris Brown, “walked out of a predominantly white and racially segregated Methodist Church in Charleston.” Brown formed the church that eventually evolved into what became known as the Emanuel AME church in 1865.
When the bomb threat was announced, citizens who lived close to the area were asked to evacuate. At one point, a local man around the same age as the gunman was forced to get on the ground as police searched him when he was leaving a gas station. He was released.
Cardinal angles form the framework of the Western below-the-horizon dominated chart that makes me suspect there’s actually more than one person involved in this horrible event. While the news hasn’t indicated it yet, the Western dominance and the lack of quadrant emphasis gives me a sense that the shooter may have had help in getting away and possibly may have been involved in the bomb threat to enable him to do so. Saturn’s position in the 11th house, even retrograde and anaretic, just gives me a sense that someone else might have been involved if only a male relative.
The chilling Sun-Mars 57-minute partile conjunction in the 6th house nicely trines the Midheaven (MC) while sextiling Uranus in its conjunction to the IC, the cusp of the fourth house. But while Uranus urges us to be aware of the unexpected–and surely tonight’s events were unexpected–the conjunction also makes an undecaquartisextile between the Sun/Mars placement and Pluto in the 1st house. The result can be an attempt to establish oneself as an authority. With Mars in this mix, however, the element of cruelty probably from the mental perspective lies in this Gemini position of the Sun and its conjunction to Mars, the latter of which rules Uranus on the IC.
And just as I finished writing this, I heard a CBS reporter from Charleston say the gunman sat down a bit and then said he would allow one person to live so a female victim could tell everyone what happened.
Even though the sextile between Uranus and the Sun/Mars conjunction is there, Mars also makes an undecaquartisextile to Pluto, strengthening the factors I noted above. The Moon makes a 24-minute partile opposition to Pluto in square to Uranus and the IC. Here then is the critical factor of the chart. With Mars out of bounds, it draws even more attention to Uranus in Mars-ruled Aries.
The challenge in this chart is additionally notable from the Moon-Mercury sextile and the wide sextile between Saturn and Pluto. Mercury opposes Saturn while the Moon opposes Pluto. With the Moon and Mercury sextile in the midst of these configurations, the very visible rectangular formation shows in the chart. One must learn to deal with the hard aspects–the oppositions–so one can make the most of the rest of the chart.
Sadly, in this case, we’re looking at the challenge of these oppositions, a challenge that could be put to good use, a bit too late for such thoughts now. It’s sad to think that somewhere alone the line, a now-21-year-old male will end up in prison for the rest of his life, or dead. So forgive me for saying so, but whomever taught him such hatred that he could throw his life away like this probably should be joining him behind bars.
I will try to find some time over the next couple of days to look at Senator Pinckney’s untimed chart. If I do so, I’ll insert it here. Since it relates to this horrible event, I’m guessing we’ll probably see it quite quickly. For now, my pillow awaits.
Update
State Senator Clementa Pinckney, even with his chart untimed, was apparently a remarkable man, not only for his having been the pastor of “Mother’ Emanuel AME Church, but for his having been the youngest state senator in the history of South Carolina (SC). I didn’t stop long enough last night to see whether he was also the youngest elected member of the SC House of Representatives; but he was only 23 at that time, so I suspect he was. “Youth” seems to have been a basic component for Pinckney who was ordained a minister at the age of 18 after having been called to the ministry at the age of 13. But unfortunately, without his time of birth, there’s no way for us to know what dominances he had in his chart.
In the following video, uploaded in February 2015, the author’s comments related to the video said “Washington Post columnist, David Broder, called Rev. Pinckney a ‘political spirit lifter for surprisingly not becoming cynical about politics.'” The video includes Reverent Pinckney’s commentary about the history of the Emanuel AME Church.
Civil Rights Ride 2013 – Clementa C. Pinckney, SC Senate, Pastor Mother Emanuel A.M.E.
Expected to have an illustrious career in both his roles as pastor of his church and in politics, Reverend/Senator Pinckney potentially had a New Moon chart–or at least he did if he was born before 6 am or so.
President Obama speaks on the massacre
President Obama noted his and Michelle Obama’s having known several members of the congregation, including Senator Pinckney. “…innocent people were killed because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble in getting his hands on a gun. This kind of mass violence doesn’t happen in other advanced countries.”
“At some point, it is going to be important for the American people to come to grips with it.”
“The outpouring of unity” from all faiths and races, said President Obama, offers “a buoyancy of hope.”
Of the kind of people at the church, Obama noted that members “opened their hearts to all people in need.” CBS news notes that both Martin Luther King and Booker T. Washington had spoken at this church.
President Obama Speaks About the Massacre – Accurate Time
Virgo rises in the Eastern 4th quadrant above-the-horizon dominated chart. while refraining from comments about the details of the massacre itself, President Obama was understandably angry but very much composed. The Sun-Mars 1°07′ conjunction stands in the 10th house with the MC at the midpoint (a partile 9-minute conjunction to the midpoint!) of 9th house Mercury and 10th house Mars; but Mercury clearly favors the apex of the chart if for nothing else than its rulership of both the Ascendant and the Midheaven as well as the Sun and Mars.
The President spoke with conviction, power, and depth. And the mutable T-square of Saturn retrograde in the 3rd house in out-of-sign opposition to Mercury in square to Neptune in the 6th stands as a reminder that he doesn’t intend to stop here with his efforts perhaps devoted to the issue of gun control. It wasn’t a direct comment but certainly he alluded to gun control. I’d say this is going to be a special interest of his. It seems like he will do all he can to push the gun control issue to resolution now.
Pluto’s Solstice Point makes a 42-minute partile conjunction to the IC, pointing to what appears to be Plutonian determination to make changes in gun control laws. The Sun/Mars conjunction makes an undecaquartisextile to Pluto as well. Mars in this undecaquartisextile carries the potential in taking an idea, developing it, and bringing it to reality.
Senator Pinckney was born with Mercury Retrograde at 22 Cancer 51. The transiting Moon at the time of President Obama’s comments was making a 16-minute partile approaching conjunction to Pinckney’s natal Mercury while Jupiter seems to have been conjunct the Senator’s natal Moon, depending, again, on the time he was born. And Rev. Pinckney’s natal Saturn was making a 1-minute partile quincunx to Saturn at the time the President was speaking. Transiting Uranus in the 8th house of President Obama’s comments chart was making a 57-minute partile conjunction to Senator Pinckney’s Chiron, bringing that magnetizing reference into play and perhaps noting an Ebony Magazine recognition in 1999 in which the senator had been named one of the 30 leaders of the future. In a subsequent interview with the Savannah Morning News, Rev. Pinckney said, “In life, we are all faced with the opportunity to serve. It is at times a hard choice to make but those hard choices yield great rewards. Those rewards are mostly for others and not for ourselves. That’s what service is all about.” Senator Pinckney’s sister was another of the victims.
Shooting reported in Charleston Church
A fourth generation minister and a Democrat, Rev. Pinckney comes from a long line of political activists as well. His great grandfather fought to end white only primaries by launching a lawsuit against the Democrats while his uncle worked in the 1960s through the 1970s to desegregate Jasper County school buses.
Charleston Church Shooting Suspect Is Captured
Whether or not 21-year-old Dylann Storm Roof was focused on Senator Pinckney hasn’t yet been determined, of course, but his arrest without incident this morning in Shelby, North Carolina may illuminate that thought. He is now in custody. A special report by CBS TV said “He is someone who seemed to celebrate apartheid and the Confederacy.”
Captured during a traffic stop, Roof is somewhat familiar with the system. This is not his first arrest. Roof was arrested on drug charges on February 28, 2015 in Lexington County, South Carolina. He entered the church at 8 pm last night, nearly an hour before he started shooting, which implies then that Senator Pinckney knew they were all in danger.
One of the first things that struck me in seeing this chart was the opposition of his Sun to the April 4, 2015 Lunar Eclipse at 14 Libra 24. (Yes, it’s partile but again, we don’t know how many minutes exactly since this is an untimed chart.) Take note as well of that stellium of the Moon, Neptune and Uranus in Capricorn. In this case, the Moon is almost assuredly forming a stellium with the Neptune-Uranus conjunction since Midnight would have placed his Moon at 13 Capricorn 44. I wonder if his parents are still together…
But let’s suppose his Moon is at 20 Capricorn, as this untimed chart shows. That would give him a Vertex conjunction to the North Node (NN) and to Pluto all in Scorpio. At the very least, Scorpio is dominant here with Pluto’s conjunction to the NN, and photos of him–even for me with a Scorpio rising–show him with incredibly intense eyes. He also has a retrograde Jupiter in Scorpio.
I don’t normally speculate about times of birth, but he seems very much a loner. According to one source, he only has 71 friends on one social site. It may be Facebook. I’ve seen enough news about him and this massacre that I’m far more interested in seeing how things progress in this case now. How I wish there will be someone who can locate the birth time!
Transiting Neptune has been making a conjunction to natal Saturn in his chart–the Peeling of Life’s Onion–which plants a seed in my mind that this actually may have been the trigger for events to have happened as they did. But then I’m ignoring the Cancer Moon from last night, which would have triggered a T-square with the Moon in opposition to the Virgo stellium in square to transiting Uranus and his natal Sun. No, I don’t think he is mentally ill. He was premeditated and cold, fixed in his focus on the killings. This would also be confirmed by my earlier comments about his staunch values linked to apartheid and the Confederacy.
Roof’s natal Pluto sits only 2° from its conjunction to transiting Saturn. At the time of the massacre, his chart fell almost completely in the Eastern hemisphere, placing his Venus in Taurus in the transiting 4th house. Note as well that his Mars makes a 10-minute partile conjunction to transiting Chiron while transiting Pluto in the 1st house was still tightly squaring his natal Sun in the transiting 3rd house. Natal Pluto quincunxes the transiting Sun-Mars conjunction while transiting Venus was in an approaching square to his Jupiter. With his Mars in Pisces and Neptune now transiting his natal Saturn, I get the sense that he deliberately chose a church for this violent act and not just any church, of course, but this particular one for its having been steeped in history with the abolition of slavery and the defeat of the Confederacy. Perhaps the religious theme may have had something to do with his upbringing–not this particular church but certainly one in which some of his racism may have been inculcated in him at a very young age.
Hatred smolders inside Dylann Storm Roof like burning embers after the charred remains of a forest fire that’s raged out of control. And a five-year-old little girl is alive today because she obeyed her grandmother and played dead until he was gone.
June 20, 2015: In light of a New York Times news alert I’ve received this morning, it’s important to do update again. The link I’ve just provided will point to the article entitled, “Dylann Storm Roof Photos and a Manifesto Posted on Website,” which confirms the comment I made about the hatred smoldering inside him. I think the story is so important, I’ve actually double-linked it here.
And while I hadn’t planned to do the following, I’ll offer a chart related to the time Roof entered the church on Wednesday night, the 17th of June, since this too has come into play:
When I first noted the time Dylann Storm Roof entered the church on June 17, it seemed a bit silly for me to consider the astrological factors in play so close to the time of the slayings. However, a conversation I had last night convinced me to mention this and to post the chart.
Take note of the conjunction of the North Node (NN) and the Midheaven. The midpoint of these two positions is 7 Libra (LI) 16, the Antiscion (Solstice Point) of which is 22 Pisces (PI) 44. If you scroll up to see the chart for the 9 pm shootings, you’ll note that the 22 LI 44 Midheaven was making a precise quincunx to the Antiscion for the MC-NN midpoint.
There’s one more Solstice Point that needs to be considered since astrologers John Davenport, Robert Wilkinson and I have been in discussions about the Magna Carta, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and other related human and civil rights issues I plan to cover soon in another article:
The Solstice Point for Uranus in the 4th house of this chart falls at 10 Virgo 05, a 16-minute partile opposition to the placement of Neptune on the 17th of June. What makes this particular pair of calculations so important lies in the mundane understandings we’ve been noting with Uranus and Neptune. This promises yet another intriguing trail to follow!
Roof entered the church when a Sun-Mars-7th house cusp conjunction was in place. Although I’ve read that he seemed to be reconsidering his actions as he sat there, becoming aware of the kindness Roof’s soon-to-be victims were showing to him, the conjunction implies otherwise to me. Based on the New York Times article I’ve just linked, Roof had appointed himself the one to make a difference in the world as he saw it:
“I have no choice,” it reads. “I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight. I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country. We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me.” [©2015 The New York Times Company.]
Namaste, I love you.
©2015 Michelle Young
I’m adding yet one more comment, thanks to my good friend and well-respected colleague, Robert Wilkinson of Aquarius Papers whose site honors the 51st birthday of the 1964 Civil Rights Act today. I’ve linked the article itself to his name and site link shown now.
Robert shared the following as well this morning, and I want to credit him with his having posted it. I might have otherwise missed it since I don’t always head to the Washington Post, I’m ashamed to say. I actually love the paper, but overloads of information frequently plague us all. I’m human. Jon Stewart offered a monologue on the massacre in South Carolina on his show last night. It was powerful to hear and is just as powerful to read. I do hope each of you will take time out of your busy schedule to read what he had to say. I believe it needs to go viral. Thank you for sharing this, Robert!
Namaste, I love you.
©2015 Michelle Young