Entry #16 - When will the killer be caught?
Date: October 26, 2023
A former navy veteran had killed his 6 year old son and went on the run. At the time of the question, he had been hiding for 6 days in a 20.000 hectare big forest. Despite a mass-scale manhunt being carried out by both the police and the military, he remained elusive. I asked when will he be apprehended.
As a stranger to the querent, he will be assigned the 7th house and its Lord, The Sun. He just left Libra and entered Scorpio, where he has no dignity or debility, thus he became peregrine. Peregrine means a wanderer - in ancient rome those were the stateless people without a citizenship who travelled through roman teritory, which is perfectly descriptive of a person who just left all of his privileges behind him and escaped to a forest he is roaming. He is also in the 8th house, traditionally known as a “dark place” due to it not being configured (seen) to the ascendant. The 8th house also signifies “fear and anguish of mind” per William Lilly, so we could suspect him to be very scared indeed. For possible locations belonging to Scorpio, a watery sign, Lilly lists:
"Places where all sorts of creeping beasts use, as beetles, &c. or such as be without wings, and are
poisonous; gardens, orchards, vineyards, ruinous houses near waters; muddy, moorish
grounds, stinking lakes, quagmires, sinks, the kitchen or larder, wash-house."
“Muddy moorish grounds”, i.e. swamps, could very much fit.
Before we go any further, it would only be appropriate to check whether the man is still alive, as he had been missing for 6 days trapped in a forest.
Beginning our investigation with the last movements of The Moon, as she is the natural ruler of missing people, we see she was void of course throughout the latter part of Pisces, thus signifying that “no news had been heard from her” (Lilly), and that the killer is “void of good in livelihood, possesses pain and hardship in the pursuit of what he needs” (Dorotheus). She also recently conjuncted Neptune - the god of the ocean and, as Homer calls him, “the earthshaker”, as he, being the author of earthquakes and other calamities, more often than not has a very malefic influence. Even before that, she opposed Venus, Lady of the 8th house, who is positioned in the house of the killer, which symbolizes a meeting with death. But this is not enough to pronounce judgement; we have to analyze the rest of the chart first.
Sun’s last aspect was to Saturn. Saturn is the natural ruler of death, almuten of the 8th house, and dispositor of the Part of Death, which in this chart falls in Aquarius. He is in Pisces, a watery sign. Considering both The Sun, Saturn, and recently The Moon, was in watery signs, the element has to hold significance. Pisces naturally represents large bodies of water, such as rivers, ponds, or seas. Saturn is also retrograde, which usually symbolizes delays, returns, rebellion… but none of it makes sense, so it has to be something else. Medieval Arabic astrologers often termed this condition “collapse”, which also obvious connotations with depth. He is also below the horizon, meaning below the surface. By antiscion, he is conjunct the South Node, which signifies restriction and limitation. Additionally, he is conjunct the fixed star Fomalhaut (Mouth of the Fish), as well as Achernar - a star in the constellation of the river Eridanus.
Fixed stars very often manifest themselves literally through their associated myths, so we should see whether Eridanus holds any relevance in that regard. As it turns out, it speaks about the son of Helios, Phaeton, who having had begged his father for ages to let him ride the chariot of The Sun across the sky, finally got a chance to prove himself. He lost control over the reins, which resulted in him almost scorching the Earth. Zeus, having seen his recklessness, struck him with a thunder bolt, which made Phaeton fall to his death into the river Eridanus.
So, putting it together, the ruler of death is in a large body of water, a deep body of water, below the surface… it restricts (both from nature as Saturn and because it is with the south node), it is swimming with the fish, in a river that killed the rider of the Solar chariot. In the greek theory of aspects, that is based on optics, the planet that is preceding in the order of the signs strikes the other one with a ray of light, while the other receives it (later on in the tradition called dexter aspects). Here, Saturn struck The Sun with a ray, but notice the aspect was mutually applying; Saturn struck and The Sun applied to him - literally “joined”. What happened to Phaeton again? struck by a ray of light and fell to his death into Eridanus? Who is riding the Solar chariot in this chart? Lord 7 is - the killer. How literal!
The aspect was a trine, so death happened easily (still mirroring the myth mind you!). It also happened very soon after he escaped, as the aspect was immediate upon Sun entering Scorpio. Now we also know how very literally Neptune worked as the god of the ocean with its past conjunction with The Moon.
Using astronomical software, we can also see the Constellation of Corvus (The Crow), associated with death, setting in the west, i.e. on the 7th cusp, which belongs to the man in question. With it, the constellation of Crater, symbolizing a water cup, carried by Hydra - a water snake.
So, he is dead, but when will he be found? To ascertain that we need to connect his significator with that of the authorities. They are assigned the 10th house and its Lord, Jupiter (same Jupiter/Zeus from the myth that brings Phaeton trouble, again). Because we clearly have a past event being shown here (Sun becoming peregrine, which symbolizes the moment of his escape), we can calibrate it to real time. He is 3 degrees into Scorpio and escaped 6 days prior to me casting the chart, so 1 degree has to equal 2 days.
The Sun is applying to an aspect with Jupiter and will perfect it at 10°30’ of Scorpio. Notice it’s an opposition, which brings things together with regret, or with so much effort that it wasn’t worth it in the end. The Sun has to travel 7°30’, which is 15 days according to our proportion. However, because the aspect is mutually applying, we can expect this to be the upper limit and for the event to happen somewhat sooner.
His body was found in a water reservoir in a swamp 11 days after the question. Death by drowning, ruled to have occured shortly after his disappearance.
