by Marilyn Muir, LPMAFA
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
On December 14, 2012 at 9:32 AM, the unthinkable happened. A lone gunman walked up to the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. The door was locked, but the young man had a gun and a purpose. He had been raised with guns and he knew what he was doing. He shot out the windows next to the door, easily gained entrance, and then let loose pure carnage on six- and seven-year-old children, their principal, teachers and teacher’s aides. Before the police arrived, he turned the gun on himself. It was all over in a matter of minutes.
After the rampage, it was learned that he had earlier shot and killed his mother in their home a short distance away from the school. In all, there were 28 killed, but you will notice the news stories only mention 26. The shooter and his mother seem to be dismissed as irrelevant, but they were just as dead.
The charts for the victims are incomplete. I was able to research and write about the shooting itself, but the birth times and some birth locations were not available for the 28 souls who passed that day. On September 18, 2013, as I proofed this material, I again went online to find the missing information and had no better luck.
What else could I do to look at this event to try to understand what happened? Astrologer and friend Debra Sheahan suggested I look at the town of Newtown, CT itself since I was at a standstill with research on the victims. I went to my best resource, the internet library to see what I could find. And that of course led to more research. Synopsis follows.
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One evening in 1524, explorer Giovanni da Verrazano anchored his ship offshore of what is currently called Sandy Hook, NJ, and which hosts two lighthouses only. Isn’t both the school and the landing point being called Sandy Hook just an amazing coincidence? And have I told you that I do not believe in coincidence?
Explorers tended to want daylight so they can more easily explore unknown and potentially hostile territory, so they were prudent in their actual landing for exploration purposes. Sometime the following morning of April 17, 1524, da Verrazano sailed his ship across what is now known as the Hudson River and actually landed on what is now known as Manhattan, NY. That specific landing opened the entire northeast section of a new continent (North America) for eventual European colonization and development, including what would come to be known as Newtown, CT.
Giovanni da Verrazano was born in Val di Greve, Italy, in 1485 (date and time unknown). But that shouldn’t stop the research altogether. I set a chart for July 1st (the middle of the year) and disregarded the faster moving planets, the Midheaven and Ascendant. I still had reasonable ballpark figures for the slower-moving outer planets: Jupiter 00 Sagittarius, Saturn 24 Scorpio, Uranus 26 Sagittarius, Neptune 12 Sagittarius, Pluto 14 Libra, and the N Node 24 Virgo. Cuspal Jupiter is capable of being in mid-to-late Scorpio or early- to-mid Sagittarius.
The actual landing on the morning of April 17, 1524 is illustrated by a noonmark chart for the purposes of consistency, which should not be too far off the actual moment. Practically, we can assume an early time because of available daylight exploration issues. Sunrise might be the more accurate chart, but both are speculative. If possible, I choose to compare apples to apples in charting. At the anchoring point, you can visually see the tip of Manhattan from Sandy Hook, NJ – a short distance even by ship. Since they valued the daytime hours, I doubt if they would have wasted the light. These speculative noon positions are provided.
- Discovery Uranus 1 Gemini 59 and Venus 3 Gemini 38 were opposed speculative explorer Jupiter 00 Sagittarius.
- Discovery Mercury 15 Aries 19 was opposed speculative explorer Pluto 14 Libra square discovery Pluto 17 Capricorn 26R.
- Discovery Jupiter 27 Pisces 26 was opposed speculative explorer S Node 24 Virgo, square explorer Uranus 26 Sagittarius.
- Discovery Saturn 18 Pisces 12 and Discovery Neptune 9 Pisces 45 was widely square speculative explorer Neptune 12 Sagittarius (watch for midpoints).
- Discovery N Node 26 Aquarius was square explorer Saturn 24 Scorpio and possibly speculative explorer Jupiter, if it were located in late Scorpio and not Sagittarius, really cuspal.
Newtown, CT was established as a trading post circa 1671. That post was purchased (from whom?) as a town site in 1705, and it was incorporated as a municipality on October 11, 1711, which is the official birth chart. Mundane / political charts are usually cast as noonmark, the middle of the business day. This was a wilderness by today’s measure with a few populated clusters in a vast, largely uncharted territory we now refer to as New England, so the municipality’s actual coordinates were used. The noonmark Newtown incorporation chart is provided as well.
Before we look at Newtown, CT as a legally incorporated municipality and the event that rocked so many lives, let us first look astrologically at the discovery and explorer’s speculative birth information we have previously developed as it applies to Newtown.
- Newtown Pluto 1 Virgo 43 and Uranus 5 Virgo 16, square the speculative explorer and discovery Uranus/Venus/Jupiter opposition.
- Newtown Neptune 1 Taurus 27R conjunct speculative discovery Mars 4 Taurus 51, Sun 6 Taurus 56 and midheaven 7 Taurus 39.
- Newtown Jupiter 27 Sagittarius 32 and noonmark Ascendant 27 Sagittarius, and di Verrazano Uranus 25 Sagittarius 41R, square speculative discovery Jupiter 27 Pisces 25.
- Newtown Sun 17 Libra 42, Moon 11 Lib 59, Midheaven 21 Libra 13, conjunct speculative explorer Pluto 13 Libra 46.
- Newtown Mars 22 Scorpio 38, Venus 25 Scorpio 24 conjunct speculative explorer Saturn 24 Scorpio 03R.
Isn’t it amazing that you can take the speculative-year-only birth chart of an explorer born in 1485, the early morning of his discovery landing in 1524, and the incorporation of a resultant municipality in 1711, and the degrees in the charts match up so well? That is a 226-year span. Now watch what happens when we look at a specific event to that city on December 14, 2012. That is a 527-year span from the birth of the explorer to the shooting, and 301 years from the incorporation of the city to the shooting event. And they say this stuff doesn’t work.
We will next tackle the event in the city in question by natal, progression, diurnal and event, city charts only. Note that diurnal and event positions will closely match, with the exception of the Midheaven, Ascendant and possibly the Moon. I will list the positions only once unless there is a marked difference.
- City Mercury 6 Scorpio 48R, progressed Ascendant 6 Scorpio 22, diurnal Saturn 8 Scorpio 02 opposed progressed Neptune 4 Taurus 45R, opposed natal Neptune 1 Taurus 27R and square N Node 00 Aquarius 22R, and square progressed Jupiter 00 Aquarius 38R.
- City Sun 17 Libra 42, natal Moon 11 Libra 59, natal Midheaven 21 Libra 13, progressed Moon 18 Libra 02, widely square progressed Mars 7 Cancer 35, progressed N Node 14 Capricorn 51R, diurnal Pluto 8 Capricorn 43, event Moon 10 Capricorn 36, diurnal Moon 12 Capricorn 05 (this spread indicates there may be two distinct aspect groupings).
- City Pluto 1 Virgo 43, natal Uranus 5 Virgo 16, progressed Pluto 1 Virgo 34, progressed Uranus 5 Virgo 56 opposed diurnal Neptune 00 Pisces 41, square diurnal Mercury 4 Sagittarius 56.
- City Mars 22 Scorpio 38, natal Venus 25 Scorpio 24, event Midheaven 20 Scorpio 48, diurnal N Node 25 Scorpio 52 R, diurnal Venus 28 Scorpio 08 square progressed Mercury 26 Leo 24.
- City Ascendant 27 Sagittarius 20, city Jupiter 27 Sagittarius 32, diurnal Sun 23 Sagittarius 07, Midheaven 24 Sagittarius 16.
- Note the progressed stellium / cluster: seven positions between Venus 9 Leo 27 to Uranus 5 Virgo 56. Using the incorporation noonmark chart as a base, that cluster is completely contained within the 8th house of catastrophe.
What does this progression mean? The natal chart is a snapshot of the moving sky. The snapshot itself (birth chart) gives the impression of a static energy, which is not true. The planets never stopped their natural motion. This is what astrologers call progressions. In this instance, the progressions represent 301 years in the evolution of the municipality from the birth of Newtown, CT. Some of the quicker planetary motions will be substantial; however, the outer planets’ motions will still be minimal despite the number of years represented. For example, look at natal Uranus and Pluto and progressed Uranus and Pluto. The duo is about where they started. In 301 days (day for a year in progressions or 301 years), both planets would have stationed, retrograded and stationed again, accounting for just minimal movement. Neptune has moved about three degrees and Saturn about five degrees.
I think the incorporation chart shows strong Scorpio / Pluto / 8th house issues, three planets in Scorpio, three planets in the 8th, and they are all malefics, including the natural 8th ruler, Pluto. Add to that the strong progressed cluster / stellium that falls into the natal 8th house. The progressions timed the event. Despite its laid back, typical New England town style, the potential for catastrophe was there in the natal, with sort of a destiny connotation.
If I recall correctly, John F. Kennedy’s chart had four or five planets in the 8th house. The article I wrote about the Kennedy Brothers was termed “Destiny’s Children”. (That article is online at marilynmuir.com). It may take a while for such events to evidence themselves, in this case 301 years, but the potential has always been there. That does not make you feel any better about the tragedy itself and the appalling loss of innocence, but it is visible in the early charting.
If we look at the noonmark progressed chart itself as a stand-alone chart, that stellium / cluster is almost totally angular in the 10th, only Venus of that grouping falls in the 9th. Angular positions tend to be quite visible – an almost in-your-face in experience. The progressed Moon is in the 12th house of hidden enemies. I must note that Scorpio is rising, which can add to our emerging disaster picture, especially since it is in a grand cross with both progressing Leo stellium and progressed Neptune and Jupiter. Timing can come from progressions and event transits also known as diurnals.
- I hand-set the tri-wheel two ways just to see which view gave me the best information for this event. The incorporation chart as base is what I just described with the stellium / cluster in the 8th. Sorry about the hand-set charts, but unfortunately my tri-wheel computer chart crashes the multiple placements to the point of them being unreadable.
- Using the diurnal as the base again provides a strong 8th house connotation but this time the three diurnal Scorpio planets are in the 8th as well as the three natal Scorpio planets plus the progressed ascendant and the event midheaven. Strong Scorpio / 8th / Pluto activations from both views.
- If you chose, you could set the tri-wheel with the progressed chart as the base to see if it helps with your perspective. For clarification:
- If the base is the natal, then the view would be how the progressions and the transits affect the natal expectation.
- If the base is the diurnal, then the view would be how the natal and the progressions fall into today’s energy pattern.
- If you were to set the progressions as the base, the view would be how the evolving self was affected by the transits with the natal promise in full view.
- You should get similar messages from the layouts as only the viewpoint has changed. Always use the format that gives you the best information. The numbers have not changed, only the perspective has changed.
This should provide you with the necessary background information for the town. In continuing segments of this study, I will connect the shooter, the town, the event and the victims’ charts for a fuller view.
2022 edit: The Uvalde, TX school shooting has just occurred, and like the rest of the world, I was struck by the horror, but also reminded of the prior work I had done on Sandy Hook. Time to dig out that research and go back to school. In readying the old material to post on my website, I discovered something that I thought should be included. I found an abbreviated form of an Astrocartography-type map showing a Mars line on the west end of Connecticut for the Sandy Hook event day. Wondering where exactly Newtown was located in Connecticut, I looked up a Wiki nap and the proximity is amazing. Be sure to look at them.
Resource: A more involved workup for this early date material may be found in my Hurricane Sandy – Frankenstorm workbook (soon to be published on my website). I saw no point to repeating all of that here, instead providing the few aspects that applied to this specific event material.
April 16, 1524 explorer Giovanni da Verrazano anchored off Sandy Hook, NJ
April 17, 1524 he and his crew went ashore at what would become Manhattan, NY, just across the river
Giovanni da Verrazano was born in Val di Greve, Italy, 1485, date and time unknown. Only the outer planets are viable, using a speculative mid-year birthdate (July 1).
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newtown,_Connecticut
Newtown, PA state, city map, wiki, compare to Newtown CT to Cart 910a map; the Mars line for event crosses close and to the east of the physical map location of Newtown.
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