by Marilyn Muir, LPMAFA
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Warning: This will be a very intense, but mercifully short, chapter. Please put on some emotional armor and prepare your consciousness for a personal horror story. Date and place of birth were easily accessible for the shooter in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14, 2012. Adam Peter Lanza was born April 22, 1992 in Kingston, NH. Unfortunately, I could not locate his time of birth when I originally wrote this; a current check (2022) again did not reveal the time, so a noonmark chart was used.
Ordinarily, a generic sunrise chart is calculated for an individual with an unknown birth time. Some of the charts I needed to construct for this project were better served by being noonmark, so, for consistency, I instead chose to do the shooter’s chart as noonmark as well. Sunrise or noonmark are generic charts, good for everyone born on that day. Since every person born on that day did not become a mass murderer, any generic chart is really speculative. Does that mean all of such a chart is speculative, or just some parts?
If I were to use an eastern time sunrise chart, approximately one quarter of the day would have already transpired and three quarters of the day would be ahead of such a chart. It’s really speculative to mentally adjust planet positions. But if I use a noonmark chart, half the day will have already transpired and half the day will be ahead, allowing for easier mental adjustment for the questionable positions – so I usually prefer noonmark.
Remembering that the Ascendant is the visible (on the Eastern Horizon) part of the chart, it reveals the mannerisms and coping skills apparent to others. The Midheaven is the goal or aim of that chart – what is to be achieved. Both positions are primary indicators of who / what the chart is about and what may be expected as an end result.
Using noonmark means that Lanza’s natal Midheaven and Ascendant are pure speculation and that his natal Moon can be plus or minus 6 degrees (one half of the 24-hour actual lunar motion). The balance of the planets will show far less motion and may be used uncorrected for ballpark aspecting. This also means that his assumed progressions are based on his noonmark base chart, and so his progressing Midheaven, Ascendant and Moon are also speculative.
Ordinarily, I include the personal diurnal chart. But again, without a time of birth, it is pure speculation. Inserting unnecessary positions and aspects wastes time and effort. So, I will use the actual event chart for his personal transits for both his killing spree and his death because there were scant minutes between the attack at the school and his death. To sum up, I will use his noonmark natal, his noonmark progressed and the accurate shooting event chart for my tri-wheel. His natal and progressed midheavens, ascendants and Moons are speculative at best. Only the event chart is accurate. Whew!
- Adam Lanza was born with his Venus 18 Aries 56 tightly square his Uranus 18 Capricorn 01R and Neptune 18 Capricorn 57R. This is not a promising relating pattern.
- Lanza’s Mercury 5 Aries 36 is square his speculative Moon 8 Capricorn 17 and his natal N Node at 2 Capricorn 25, progressed N Node 1 Capricorn 18R; communication difficulties with a karmic or destiny implication.
- His natal Saturn 17 Aquarius 27 is square Pluto 22 Scorpio 06R, mutually applying. This is not an easy aspect in anyone’s chart and suggests great angst or a difficult path to walk.
What happens when we progress his chart forward to the day of the shooting?
- His Sun is now located at 22 Taurus 47 posited opposition between his progressed Pluto at 21 Scorpio 32R and his natal Pluto at 22 Scorpio 6. (Midpoints do work.)
- Since I see life as a process and not a series of unrelated events, note that his progressed Sun had squared both his natal and his progressed Saturn about four to five years earlier, a very difficult aspect for his self-identity.
- His progressed Mercury 3 Taurus 36 had passed the conjunction to his natal Sun 2 Taurus. The time for him to be able to communicate his self-identity and ego needs was rooted in his past and not a current activation.
- His progressed Mars 5 Aries 40 is conjunct his natal Mercury 5 Aries 36. It looks to be slightly separating, but remember that a correct natal time might make it an exact aspect. Mars / Mercury can be angry, militant or aggressive communication.
- His progressed Moon 10 Libra 42 has a plus / minus factor of 6˚, so it can easily be square his natal Moon (with its own plus / minus factor of 6˚), opposed his natal Mercury 5 Aries 36 and his progressed Mars 5 Aries 40.
Now we will look at the event chart itself, which will supply us with the transits to his charts. In this instance, we can rely on the event Midheaven, Ascendant and Moon positions. Any speculation resides in the shooter’s natal and progressed positions.
At 9:32 am, Adam Lanza shot his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School and began his killing spree. Do remember, he had shot and killed his Mother before he drove to the school.
- Event midheaven 20 Scorpio 48 conjoined his natal Pluto 22 Scorpio 08R and progressed Pluto 21 Scorpio 32R, applying. What about the square to his natal and progressed Saturns, which would have occurred about fifteen to twenty minutes earlier (preference would be the angle applying to the square)? That is my estimate for when he shot his Mother (see Part I of this study).
- The event N Node is 25 Scorpio 53 opposed violent fixed star Caput Algol. I have done extensive serial killer research, and this malefic fixed star trigger is also found in serial killer Ted Bundy’s chart.
- Event Mercury 4 Sagittarius 48 is square Lanza’s natal Jupiter 4 Virgo 44R and progressed Jupiter 4 Virgo 52, right on the midpoint between the two (again, midpoints work).
- Event Pluto is 8 Capricorn 43 closely conjunct Lanza’s natal Moon 8 Capricorn 17. It is also joined by event Moon 10 Capricorn 36, separating. His emotional kettle was already on full boil as he prepared himself and his weapons and killed his mother.
- Event Mars 21 Capricorn 05 had passed over his natal and progressed Uranus / Neptune conjunction, square his natal Venus, a few days prior; delusion, explosion, anger – at his inability to successfully relate? Could easily be applied to his mother’s pending decision to send him away to a new school or to hospitalize him.
- Event Uranus 4 Aries 37 joined natal Mercury 5 Aries 36 and progressed Mars 5 Aries 40 for another volatile combination. His anger must have been monumental!
- Event ascendant is 26 Capricorn 45; 21 minutes on the clock later, he committed suicide by gun as his Ascendant completed its stay in Capricorn and moved into Aquarius where it squared his natal Sun at 2 Taurus 46. He obliterated his self identity by his own hand.
This has been heartbreaking to write. I do want to end on a positive note. Because I have examined the shooting event through hard aspects, there is not much levity or pleasure in what I have written. But this is a chart that does have good aspects as well. You can readily see trines and sextiles. They just apparently were not enough to help him overcome his mental problems. Perhaps the positive aspects caused the horrific events to be mercifully short.
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