On December 14th a 20 year old man went on a killing spree, murdering his mother and perhaps as many as 28 others, including 20 children at the elementary school where his mother taught. Adam Lanza, the shooter, was described as intelligent but socially awkward, a kid who didn’t fit in.
John Townley has posted the charts of Adam Lanza along with a brief analysis of the event. One thing I noticed right away about Lanza’s chart was the exact conjunction of Uranus and Neptune. The Uranus/Neptune conjunction in the early 1990s was a hugely significant planetary event that opened up portals of consciousness and inspired radical (Uranus) spirituality (Neptune) that often veered into delusion (also Neptune). The New Age movement, for example, exploded during this period. Uranus and Neptune were both in Capricorn, the sign of structures and solid foundations – under the Uranus/Neptune conjunction we saw the radical transformation (Uranus) and dissolving (Neptune) of personal structures that underpin our lives such as marriages, relationships, businesses.
In terrible crimes such as these I often attempt to find answers in the birthchart of the person perpetrating the crime, NOT to offer excuses but in an attempt to see what kind of emotional challenge was left unresolved to result in such a heinous event.
The children that were born during this period (1991-1994) often are exceptionally gifted and talented (such as Justin Bieber who was born in 1994). It is during this period that the whole concept of “Indigo Children” entered the mainstream. But this period also began the astonishing rise of autism spectrum disorders which I have often attributed to Uranian influences. But autism does not create murderers, and to classify this young man as being simply on the autism spectrum ignores the greater truths as shown in the birthchart.
Lanza’s chart shows an Aries Venus in an exact square to both Uranus and Neptune. Venus represents our ability to attach to others and how we feel about our own potential to be loved and desired. Certainly there are plenty of people with this placement in their charts who are NOT social misfits, but it’s not uncommon to find Venus/Uranus people who are unable to form attachments, and Venus/Neptune people who feel lost in social situations.
The natal chart shows the Taurus Sun squared by Chiron, an often painful condition in which one’s sense of self (Sun) is threatened by emotional sensitivity and a quality of woundedness that often isn’t resolved until one’s later years. Difficult aspects to the Sun often suggest abandonment by the father, and I suspect that when Lanza’s father left the family it was extremely painful for him.
Transiting Pluto has been within a degree of his natal Capricorn Moon for the past several months, with Uranus challenging his Moon by square aspect. This Uranus/Pluto combination on a sensitive point like the Moon must have created a powerful pressure for resolution that had no apparent outlet for him. If he was unable to connect with others, or to find some way to find comfort, this would have been an extremely painful five months of planetary hell. And with Mars in Pisces, where anger and rage is often sublimated and submerged, he would have likely felt powerless and out of options.
At the time of these murders the New Moon in Sagittarius was sitting right on the Vertex in the chart. The Vertex is a point that represents events over which we have no control; turning points in our life. Lanza must have felt that in this act he was having a powerful meeting with his destiny and his fate.
Obviously, there are thousands of people with this same birthchart who are not committing mass murders. Every one of us has a choice, and many of us have experiences of misery in this life that require us to adapt and grow and learn and heal. I say this from personal experience, as many of you know. I tend to see these situations as emblematic of the breakdown of the fabric of our society, in which loneliness and desperation create isolated and lonely individuals who feel so disconnected from the rest of the world that murder is a release without remorse, empathy and compassion.
This unspeakable event occurred just as Uranus stationed direct. It was an event of shock and awe to such an extreme, but this is how Uranus works. It shocks us out of our complacency and forces us to open our eyes. Our culture is crumbling and our world is in desperate need of new values and a greater sense of community and mutual support.
It’s easy to blame events like this on the availability of guns, but gun control is only a small piece of the problem. The desperation of our young people is the canary in the coal mine. When will we begin paying attention?
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Thank you Lynn, for this deeply insightful analysis. It is this kind of understanding that enables humanity to learn and grow.
The older guy, in the far right (photo) is the brother – and is not related to the killings (according to the news.)
I appreciate the truth in the final lines of this post. Parenting is one of the things that has been lost in the translation of changing the underlying foundation of our environment. Children with less structure create their own structure in ways that are profoundly problematic.
Excellent article. I especially appreciate that it is non-judgmental and does not moralize. Thank you!
This is very well written. I’d like to point out another thing; most of the mass shooters of the past 20 years, including the ones at Columbine, were on mind altering psychiatric medications. Maybe that’s a national discussion we need to have too; the medicating of children at younger and younger ages and the stranglehold Big Pharma and other corporations have over our government. http://www.naturalnews.com/038353_gun_control_psychiatric_drugs_Adam_Lanza.html
KaD is right on target. Watch for Big Pharma to screech bloody murder when we dare to question the pushing of medications. In this I include the relentless pushing of statin (anti-cholesterol) drugs on children. We have no idea what these chemicals will do to childrens’ developing bodies, and we are finding out (if you research vs relying on the lobbyist and shills) that statin drugs are dangerous for adults as well. But because it’s the almighty buck, we are not to question. Screw that. Question everything.
I was right; the drug he was on was initially REJECTED by the FDA for approval and has a known side effect of causing hallucinations.http://www.businessinsider.com/adam-lanza-taking-antipsychotic-fanapt-2012-12
Thank you Lynn for this well written piece. I agree that the fabric of our society is on the brink of crumbling. The young man who committed this heinous act was a tortured soul who felt he had no recourse. His perspective was severely limited and he had no person, no community with whom he could find the answer to his angst. I agree that we all are ultimately responsible for our actions, but I can’t help but feeling that this young man was unable to access his higher self. Obviously the medications he was purportedly taking were a huge factor in his disconnect and insanity. Thankfully, there is hope. Many of us are aware of the great need to grow out of the old paradigm and create a society that is based on the nurturing of life rather than its exploitation. We need to create a better way.
why can people do that to little kids ?????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lynn, just a cursory look at Adams planets, sans angles, gives an overall chilly impression — all that Capricorn (and R) … the Aquarius and Aries placements, but the driver: Pluto “at home” in Scorpio (R) at 22 degrees (recalling this from memory; checked out ephemeris a short while ago). Please take a good look at Nancy Champion Lanza’s chart (06/06/60) individually and in synastry with Adam’s. Reports say brothers hadn’t seen each other in at least two years. Father remarried. Mother:son dynamic here. Think R.D. Laing. This young adult son lived at home. It’s never just one family member. Thank you.
Correction: Nancy Champion Lanza is September 06, 1960. Sixth sign … ninth month. My slip. Thank you.
Thanks Lyn.. I was just searching for some more astro comments, on all this.. after updating a blog I did on all this.. at http://whatsitallmeanthen.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/adam-lanza-chiron-in-leo-and-wounded.html.. And, yes that Venus in Aries, squaring the Uranus-Neptune in Capricorn.. Venus, being the ruler of his natal Sun.. Add the Chiron in Leo closely square his Taurus Sun…. Mercury in Aries, square the Capricorn Sth Node along with the Moon, ie. something to do with the Mind & mother, family & or nurtering etc, ie. the Moon, in the sign of its detriment…
Woops, I meant to say Mercury in Aries, square his Capricorn Nth Node with the Capricorn Moon.. And, as Steven Forrest would say, as discussed in his book ‘Yesterday’s Sky: Astrology & Rein