I thought of this entry’s topic while listening to “I Just Shot John Lennon” from the Cranberries To the Faithful Departed, an album from the last century. In fact, that album was released longer ago than John’s death was before the album’s release.

Shortly before an astrological conference at Mills College in Oakland (mentioned in the post of April 4), there was a gathering of astrologers that I was invited to.  At the gathering Rob Hand was excitedly describing his new book about the planets, with new descriptions of them.  Unfortunately, as far as I know, that book was never published.  Rob and I got into a discussion about the death of John Lennon, and I told him my theory.  I thought that John Lennon took the bullet for Ronald Reagan.  The assassination attempt on Reagan was about three and a half months later  from when Lennon was shot down outside his apartment.

It was well know in astrological circles that every president elected under a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, which happened in  1840, 1860, 1880, 1900, 1920, 1940, and  1960,  had died while in office.  This was also called the Curse of Tecumseh.  But the President elected in 1980  was suppose to die according to this “curse”, and in fact that President almost did die.

I thought that John Lennon — or his oversoul — knew that if Reagan  served as President, any attempt to ameliorate the growing global crises  would not happen.  Instead, America, and the world, would embark on a binge of consumption, an increase of the already dangerous party, and as a result when change was  finally implemented it would be far more radical than the mere replacement of light bulbs or the use of electric cars.  So he realized  that a Reagan presidency was  needed to insure a radical change in the direction of this country and the world.

Since the election of Ronald Reagan the world has partied like there was  no tomorrow, and in fact all the moderate solutions being proposed now might have actually worked if implemented in 1980.  But now the situation has gotten radically worse, as even a brief following of current events can tell, and only a radical change can make any difference.

Let’s first look at the time of the assassination for the United States chart.  Obviously (I hope) the effect of the assassination on John Lennon was greater than the effect on the United States,  but the United States still was affected.  Some people can still tell you where they were when they heard that John was  dead.  Since this was a killing with a gun, one should expect that the planet Mars will feature prominently.  According to Wikipedia, the killing occurred on December 8, 1980 at 10:50 PM.

Death of John Lennon for USA

Looking  at the chart of the United States at the time of John Lennon’s killing, we find that Mars is opposite the Sun of the US with an orb of about a quarter of a degree.  This is not too surprising, this was  obviously the best known shooting taking place at the time.  Transiting Neptune is square natal Neptune and thus opposite natal Mars, accentuating the natal Mars Neptune square and  the dubious use of guns in our society.  Transiting Uranus was square the Moon — the people are upset.  There was certainly an outpouring of grief among people who knew who John Lennon was; for many he represented the Beatles and the Sixties.  For many the death of John Lennon meant that the Sixties were gone, even though the concert at Altamont in 1969 also was suppose to indicate that.  And of course any hope for a Beatles reunion was  down the drain.  And the shooting was totally unexpected — Uranus is surprises, unexpected event — since he seemed in perfect health and was continuing to record.  In fact, he had just returned from the studio.  Also, there was a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, which only happens every twenty years; it can be said to indicate the start of  a  new twenty-year period, just as the one in 1960 did.  And this shooting was one indication (the election of Ronald Reagan a month earlier was another) that the next twenty years was going to be quite different that the previous twenty years.  But also, as we can see from the first assassination chart for John Lennon, he was born under a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, the one before the one that indicated the start of the Sixties.

Lennon Assassination

Looking at the assassination chart, we see that the Moon  is almost to the Midheaven and loosely conjunct Mars, which is trine that Jupiter-Saturn conjunction that we have just talked about.  Mars was the highest planet in the sky at the time he was killed  by a gunshot.  Transiting Uranus was opposite his natal Uranus.  This transit always happens at about this point in a person’s  life, and indicates a  mid-life crisis, though not often this serious a mid-life crisis.

In astrology there is something called a relocated  chart, drawn up  for where you live.  Many people, especially in the past, lived near where they were born, so such a topic as relocation did not make much sense.  But it can make a difference if you move far from your place of birth in an  east-west direction.  Currently I live at the same longitude as where I was born, but further south.  But for ten years I lived two time zones  east, and I felt like a different person.  In this case, John had relocated five time zones west of where he was born, and  so the relocated angles were much different than the natal angles.

Lennon Assassination – Relocated to NYC

When we  relocate the chart to New York City that Jupiter-Saturn conjunction is right on his Ascendant, which might explain  why he found New York to be a comfortable place to live in.  But this also means that the Mars  — gunshots — is  trine to his New York City Ascendant, a personal point.  And being shot is a very personal event. Notice also in this relocated chart Pluto is square the Midheaven, a sign of transformation of his public persona, which of course this  was.  Notice that the positions of the planets are the same as in the  non-relocated chart, only the Ascendant and Midheaven change.  Also notice that the time changes to allow   for the different position.