Living--and Dying--By the Sword

The notion of karma, that he who lives by the sword dies by it as well, is a virtually universal notion, East and West. We saw a pretty striking example of that in the July 2018 execution of Shoko Asahara, the leader of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, for masterminding the sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway on 20 March 1995. The attack resulted in the death of 13 and injured over 5,000. According to a Newsweek article published at the time, the attack began at 8:09 am local time, during rush hour. It is fascinating to see how the event chart of the day resonates through transits to illustrate subsequent developments in the case, including Shoko Asahara's hanging on 6 July 2018. The promise of justice for the victims of the attack was already evident in the horoscope of the crime itself.

I usually use Whole Sign Houses for event charts, as I have generally found their house rulerships to be more direct and insightful than those using quadrant houses. The chart has a 19 Taurus 42 ASC, making Venus and the Moon the key significators in this event chart. These two planets are in a T-square with Mars, with the Moon squaring both. Clearly we are dealing with an act of violence, one might say against the general public. The North Node conjoins the Moon in this square, reinforcing this notion of the general public as the target of the attack. Mars is retrograde, suggesting secretive action, and rules the Twelfth whole sign House, reinforcing this notion of a violent plot hatched behind the scenes. Uranus and Neptune conjoin the MC, suggesting sudden terror, confusion, and...of course...the gas. It is interesting that this Ur-Ne conjunction is quindecile Mars, revealing an obsession for a sudden attack involving gas. Indeed, this was a group that preached about the end of the world, so this describes them well. There is more here, of course, but I just wanted to underscore the central importance of Mars in the event chart--the sword.

If we look at subsequent aspects to the Mars Rx in this event chart, we find that on 27 Feb 2004, when Shoko Ashahara was sentenced to death for the attack, transiting Mars squared the event chart Mars. Ashahara's lawyers appealed immediately, and on 27 November 2004, his appeals ran out and his fate was sealed -- death by hanging -- when once again Tr Ma squ Ma Rx. On July 6, Ashahara was finally hung in secret and without notice to the public. Transiting Mars Retrograde (action in secret to punish action in secret) opposed the event chart's own Mars Rx. Additionally on that day of justice, transiting Jupiter (the court system) conjoined the event chart Moon significator and squared Mars Rx. Finally, the solar arc Moon of the March 1995 event chart arced to conjoin Pluto--nearly EXACT to within several minutes.

The universe is structured around rules of justice and karma that we may not always notice, but in the end, they seem to have the last say. They certainly did in the case of the Tokyo gas attack and its subsequent outcome. And the event chart of the tragedy contained allusions to those subsequent developments. Amazing!