An Analysis of US School Shooting Massacres by M. Imran

Article by M. Imran, Pakistan 

On a cool mid-December morning, carnage of innocent students in New Town, Connecticut shocked the world. A season that should be a time of joy and happiness turned into mourning. Massacre in Sandy Elementary School, Connecticut, was not the first incident of shooting in US history. America has a long chronology of shooting cases in schools, colleges and universities.

Astrologically, few endeavors have been carried out to find the reasons of school shooting cases so far. Credit should also go to the Editor of Saptarishis Astrology, who is the driving force of this research article. Analyzing the US school shooting cases and concluding astrological combinations are two core purposes of this research.

No significant event of national level can be analyzed without horoscope of country or its ruler. Unfortunately, there is no concrete historical evidence that confirms time of birth of the United States of America. That is why

astrologers and researchers have been speculated and rectified US National Horoscope on the basis of various available sources. Historically speaking, Ebenezer Sibly was the first astrologer who erected and published US Horoscope in 1787. According to him, Declaration of Independence was signed and approved on Thursday July 4, 1776 at 5:10 PM, LMT Philadelphia. This gives Sagittarius ascendant as per tropical zodiac, and Scorpio lagna as per sidereal zodiac. In 1948, Vivian Robson rectified Ebenezer Sibly’s data as July 4, 1776, 4:50 PM local mean time. Astrologer Dane Rudhyar added few minutes in Sibly’s recording and provided 5:13 PM as more reliable time of US birth. Noted astrologer Noel Tyl and famed researcher Nicholas Campion also cite Thursday July 4, 1776 at 5:13 PM, LMT Philadelphia.

There are some other experts who advocate 2:22 PM as birth time of United States. Even some researchers consider late night time to arise at Gemini ascendant. On the other hand, few proponents consider the event of confirmation of the Article of Confederation on November 15, 1777 at 12:46 PM for US National Horoscope.

Recently, Dr. H (pen name of Robert Hand’s student) published an outstanding research work “America is Born”. This book suggests Thursday July 4, 1776 at 6:17:37 PM, LMT Philadelphia. According this date and time, ascendant of USA rises at 26°45′ of Sagittarius (tropical zodiac). It also makes Dhanu lagna as per sidereal zodiac, and may appeal some readers as they find many planets including langesh sitting in kendra houses and aspect the Dhanu lagna.

In India, some Jyotish experts consider Leo lagna for USA, obviously without any historical evidence. But strangely it sometimes yields satisfactory result. The reason probably lies in the fact that Saturn is the Atmakaraka (AK) of USA and it falls into Leo navamsa. Hence Leo is the karakamsaka of USA and do have some say.

Scribe of this article has not yet done any research work on the rectification of US National Horoscope. It is a difficult art and time consuming job. For the present article, Sibly’s chart for the USA is considered.

Readers should wary of the fact that United States was NOT a super power from the day first of foundation. US attained supremacy on economic, academic, military and technological fronts quite later, perhaps after completion of first 120 years cycle. Placement of lagna lord Mars, 2nd and 5th lord Jupiter, and 10th lord Sun sitting in 8th house may confuse a new learner. But assemblage of these planets is forming many good raja yogas. United States enjoyed the fruits of these raja yogas in the second 120 years cycle, since raja yoga maker planets are mainly sitting in panarphar bhavas (succedent houses).

Major School Shooting Cases

Recent US history is filled with numerous school shooting incidents. For this research article, only 12 major school shooting massacres are considered. Given table illustrates their date, time, place and number of casualties. Here the death toll column lists total number of deaths including shooter(s).

Role of Dasha or Planetary Periods

Before coming to dasha analysis, it is worthwhile to address a doubt. Some experts hold that vimshottari and other dashas basically framed for Jataka (natal charts of humans). Scribe has not gone through any classical astrological text, especially Samhita that advocates dasha for birth chart of country. But if ancient astrological discourses do not favour dasha, they do not deny considering them. Practical experiences of modern authorities also tell “dasha matters” in mundane charts of countries.

Vimhottari and Sudarshan Chakra Dashas of United States are given below at the time 12 major school shooting incidents. Vimshottari Dasha is erected on the basis of US radical Moon which is at 6°26’15’’ of Aquarius (i.e. 4th pada of Dhanishtha Nakshatra).

Major planetary periods or mahadashas are not considered, for, they are too long to indicate a particular event, like school shooting massacres. Hence antar dashas and pratyantar dashas are discussed. In contrast to planetary transit in different signs, antar dasha and pratyantar dasha behaviours show better significant result. At the time of school shooting accidents, Saturn as antar dasha lord, and Rahu as pratyantar dasha lord appear repetitively. Saturn antar dasha and Rahu pratyantar dasha individually marks 5 times out of 12. Saturn pratyantar dasha was also functioning 3 times. If antar dasha and

pratyantar dasha factors render combined then probability of Saturn reaches to 0.6667. It concludes: there are more than 66% chances that such kinds of accidents occur (and may occur again) in antar or pratyantar dasha of Saturn.

Saturn is the lord of 4th house from Scorpio lagna of United States. It is a functional malefic as per Parashar classification and bereft of samabandha of trikonadhipati (9th and 5th lords). Although, Saturn in 11th house is itself good for boosting strength of lagna, but being malefic 4th lord, its occupation in maran-sthana (8th) from 4th house is an ill omen. Saturn will ultimately hurt few significations of 4th house whenever its period operates. However, natal Jupiter’s aspect on 4th house of United States is always there to relief, yet, occasional accidents cannot be ruled out. Rahu has been another problematic pratyantar dasha in the perspective of school shooting accidents in United States. It is clearly evident in US birth chart, where Rahu is sitting next to retrograde Mercury.

Transit of Planets in Signs

As stated earlier, complex statistical techniques and terminologies are avoided for the ease of readers. Only simple analytical methodologies are carried out for this research. First applied methodology is frequency of planets in rashis. That is, how many times a planet occupies in certain sign. Table of “Placement of Planets in Signs” apparently yields random trend. Most of the planets show no significant results as far as their placement in specific sidereal zodiacal signs are concerned.

However, Mercury and Moon indicate somewhat different behaviour. Out of 12 selected school shooting cases, Mercury was transiting in Pisces 4 times. This is indeed interesting, as Pisces (Meena) is the debilitation sign for Mercury. And Mercury is the natural significator (karaka) of students, schools and academic institutions. Similarly, Moon appears in Cancer, 4 times out of 12 cases. Albeit, Moon signifies masses and their behaviour in general, but its occupation in Cancer has some connection with academic institution and children. Interestingly, birth horoscope of United States has radical Moon in 4th house.

If the frequencies of Mercury and Moon in zodiacal signs are converted into probabilities then it becomes 4 / 12 = 0.3333. It means there are approximately 33% chances of school shooting accident when Mercury sojourns in Pisces, and Moon transits in Cancer for United States.

Other planets also indicate a slight inclination of falling in certain signs at the time shootings. To wit, Sun in Pisces, Mars in Gemini, Jupiter in Taurus, Venus in Taurus, Saturn in Cancer, Rahu in Aquarius, and Ketu in Leo; each appear 3 times out of 12 cases. This gives probability of 0.25 or 25%.

Despite low probabilities, Mars in Gemini and Saturn in Cancer are pregnant indications, if they are looked in the perspective of US National Horoscope. Gemini is the sidereal sign where radical Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Sun are placed, while Cancer is the sidereal sign where radical Rahu and retrograde Mercury are located in US Chart. Whenever Mars moves in Gemini, it casts 4th aspect on natal Saturn, and 8th aspect on natal Moon of United States. Whenever, Saturn appears in Cancer, it basically transits over natal Rahu and Mercury, and casts 3rd aspect on natal Saturn of United States.

Above ten small sized bar charts (graphs) show frequency of 9 planets and lagna in 12 signs at the time of school shooting accidents. In these bar graphs, horizontal axis contains names of 12 zodiacal signs. ‘Ari’ stands for Aries, ‘Tau’ for Taurus, ‘Gem’ for Gemini and so on. Since 12 school shooting cases are selected for this research, therefore vertical axis should go up to 12 units. But here vertical axis is scaled from 12 to 5 units for the sake of legibility and easy observation. For instance take the last bar graph for frequency of Ketu in different signs. First red bar for ‘Ari’ goes up to number 1 on vertical axis. It means Ketu was transiting in Aries only one time out of twelve cases. Next bar standing over ‘Tau’, goes up to number 2 on vertical axis. This suggests Ketu was sojourning in Taurus twice out of twelve cases. For the same Ketu graph, there is no bar for ‘Gem’, and ‘Can’. It shows that Ketu never transited in Gemini or Cancer in any of selected school shooting cases.

Role of Weekdays

Generally, weekdays are not given due attention for astrological analysis. But their significance is as old as astrology itself. American school shooting massacres reveal highly significant result with respect to weekday (vaara) lords.

Half of the school shooting accidents happened on Monday – a day ruled by Moon. This is no coincident that Monday iterates 6 times. Moon is the dispositor of Mercury and Rahu. Furthermore, Moon resides in 4th house of US birth chart. Tuesday is another significant candidate that occurred 4 times out of 12. Weekday of Mars i.e. Tuesday is universally notorious for criminal and terrorist events. In US horoscope, Mars is in 8th house in sign of Mercury. Comparing Monday and Tuesday, rests of weekdays do not indicate significant frequency of occurrence.

Role of Solar and Lunar Eclipses

Solar and lunar eclipses are importance celestial phenomena. There are many types of eclipses. For this research, total solar and lunar eclipses are considered that occurred before school shooting accidents. Following table also lists sidereal position of Sun and Moon at the time of solar and lunar eclipse.

But strangely, eclipses do not show significant trend for US school shooting cases. Twice solar eclipse fallen in Virgo, and Aquarius. Virgo is a rashi where US radical Saturn is placed, while Aquarius is a rashi where US natal Moon is placed. Rest of solar eclipses occurred randomly in different signs. Whereas, lunar eclipses appeared in Taurus, Libra, and Pisces, two times each. Pisces is opposite to radical Saturn–Virgo, and Taurus is opposite to natal Lagna Scorpio. On the other hand, only few shooting cases happened in between two adjacent (solar and lunar) eclipses. In summary, eclipses do not appear reliable phenomena for school shooting incidents.

Moon sandwich in between Malefics

An unusual disposition in almost all school shooting cases is position of Moon in between natural malefics at the time of event. In other words, longitude of Moon is seized by malefic planets. Here malefics stand for natural malefic planets: Saturn, Mars, Rahu, Ketu and Sun. Keep in mind that seizing or sandwich is not limited to adjacent houses, or typical paapa-kartari yoga. It is more akin to concept of “Lunar Separation” and “Lunar Application”. But in present context, Lunar Separation means previous conjunction of Moon, and Lunar Application stands for next conjunction of Moon. In contrast to classical application and separation, only conjunction is considered.

This special placement of Moon is better comprehensible from Wheel chart, because it lists all planets in longitudinal order. Horoscope of Sandy Elementary School shooting event (14 December 2012) in Wheel format is illustrated on last page. Here all Wheels are based on sidereal zodiac, Lahiri ayanamsha, and whole-sign house system (just as standard Jyotish practice).

Note the placement of Moon is at 16°36’ Sagittarius in 12th house. Sun is domiciled at 28°58’ Scorpio in 11th house. Mars is parked at 27°02’ Sagittarius in 12th house. There is no planet between Sun and Moon, and between Moon and Mars. Hence Moon is longitudinally sandwiched in between Sun and Mars. In other words, Moon has contained the cruelty of Sun through its previous conjunction, and now going to conjoin with evils of Mars. Thus Moon has no relieving escape. Interestingly, Bhrigu Nandi Nandi (translated by R.G. Rao) also presents similar approach for delineating different karakas.

Take another event. Above Wheel is the horoscope for Oikos University shooting case that happened on April 2, 2012 at Oakland, California.

Here Moon is at 24°47’ Cancer in 2nd house. Longitudinally, there is no planet behind Moon except Ketu that lies in 12th house Taurus at 14°01’. Longitude of Mars is falling at 10°28’ Leo, which is just next to Moon. Therefore, Moon is longitudinally sandwiched in between Ketu and Mars. This implies that Moon has possessed malign effects because of its previous conjunction with Ketu, and now Moon is going to conjoin with evils of Mars. Previous and next conjunctions of Moon with malefics are doubling the evils of Moon.

Let’s consider another case. Following Wheel represents the planetary position of Northern Illinois University shooting accident that took place on February 14, 2008.

Moon is sitting in Taurus at 11°12’ in 11th house. Rahu is placed at 03°59’ of Aquarius in 8th house. Mars is domiciled at 01°25’ of Gemini in 12th house. There is no planet between Rahu and Moon, and between Moon and Mars. Hence longitudinally, Moon is hemmed in between Rahu and Mars.

Following table lists Moon’s previous and next conjunctions in the charts of 12 US school shooting cases.

Summary of Moon’s Separation and Application indicate highly significant trend. Majority of school shooting cases happened when Moon was longitudinally hemmed or seized by natural malefic planets. Earlier presented three Wheel charts clearly demonstrate this phenomenon.

However, Moon was not seized or sandwiched by malefics from both sides in all cases. In some incidents, one of the seizing planets was natural malefic. On Virginia Tech shooting case (April 16, 2007) Moon was in between Mercury and Sun (horoscope of event is not shown here). If you redraw the chart and notice the longitude of planets then it would appear that Mercury in Pisces is itself separated from Rahu and Mars. Hence Moon could not find any relief.

Amish School Pennsylvania shooting case happened on October 2, 2006.  Longitude of Moon was in between Jupiter and Rahu. This event does not show natural malefics both side of Moon, but at least it has one malefic planet (Rahu) sitting next to Moon.

Take shooting case of Red Lake Senior High School on March 21, 2005. In this case, Moon is in between Saturn and Jupiter. It means Moon had already conjunct Saturn and now going to conjoin Jupiter. Here Saturn is natural malefic but Jupiter is natural benefic. Look at the chart (not shown here) retrograde Jupiter is itself sitting quite close to malefic Rahu. There are other malefic dispositions as well.

Outcome and Conclusion

This research article figures out some astrological reasoning behind US school shooting cases. Following are important outcome of analysis. Most of the extracted principles revolve around Mercury – the significator of schools and academic institutions.

1) In birth horoscope of country; Antar Dasha and Pratyantar Dasha of natural malefic planets conjoined with Mercury, or occupying in Gemini and Virgo are especially evil for academic institution.

2) Antar Dasha and Pratyantar Dasha of natural malefic planets sitting in 6th, 8th or 12th from 4th house or Moon is also bad for schools and students.

3) Transit of Mercury in debilitation sign (Pisces) is a common signature of bad happening for schools, colleges and universities. Unfavourable happening may vary country to country.

4) Transit of Mercury in sign opposite to natal Saturn or natal Rahu is a strong indication of criminal event or terrorist attack on schools, colleges and universities, provided, birth chart of country and dasha also indicate so.

5) In transit when Moon moves in between two natural malefic planets then it is a sure indication of evil mundane events. In US context, it is school shooting massacres.

6) Weekday, ruled by the sign-dispositor of natal Mercury is significant for (good or bad) affairs of schools, colleges and universities.