Winnie Ruth Judd

[Jim Eshelman]

In Solar and Lunar Returns, Bradley quotes Winnie Ruth Judd's father as saying she was born "at midnight" January 29-30, 1905 in Oxford, IN. We have a subsequent corroborating, and perhaps refining, letter from the delivery doctor who gives 10 minutes earlier, at 11:50 PM on January 29.

In the specific example of natal locality charts that he gives, the father's time looks better That may or may not be the final word, but we need to note that roughly 2.5° difference on the angles.

Judd committed "America's most shocking double-murder" on the morning of October 17, 1931, in Phoenix, AZ. (I'll use 8 AM as an estimate.) She "murdered her allegedly two best girl friends, stuffed their bodies into trunks and had these gruesome containers shipped to Los Angeles, where she was apprehended two weeks later." The court found her insane.


First, her Natus: She was a Capricorn-Scorpio and, while not every Capricorn-Scorpio is a fiend, the symbolism of these signs is perhaps more fiendish and gruesome as any of the 144 combinations. She was born with that Capricorn Sun on IC closely square a rising Mars. On the other side of the horizon, Jupiter was bit more widely setting, and sesqui-square Moon (so there was a strong Jupiter thread running through her). These weren't the only aspects, but are the most important.

Next, transits for the murders: The main ones involved her Mercury, which was Bradley's point - that her mind finally broke down. Transiting Uranus squared her Mercury (29'), and transiting Saturn conjoined it (32'). (Ebertin cites that this sort of combination puts unusual strains on one's nervous system, and is connected to "nervous disorders.")

Sun opposed her Jupiter that morning. I suppose she felt quite satisfied with herself at what she was accomplishing. Beyond that, I don't even want to guess...

Several appropriate-seeming aspects were approaching, but weren't there yet. (Will we see them on Solunar angles?) Neptune is not quite square her Moon. Mars is not quite square her Saturn.

One support for the 11:50 PM birth time: Primary progressed Ascendant squares natal Saturn 09'. Relocating to Phoenix, primary progressed MC squared natal Mars 26'.

One mark of abnormal psychological influences: Transiting Neptune opposed natal Sun within 0°06'.

[Jim Eshelman]

So, what about those Solunars (which Bradley did not discuss - she was one of his examples of transits)?

She was a Capricorn-Scorpio. The murders occurred with luminaries in Virgo-Sagittarius.

Her SSR for Phoenix, on its face, is emotional. Moon is 6° above Asc, Venus 3+° below Descendant, Neptune is 9° off IC. Moon-Venus are in 2° mundane opposition, Moon-Neptune in 3° square. (Moon also squares natal Venus, just over 1°.) Even closer, her natal Uranus sets, and her natal Neptune moderately-wide rises. There isn't a lot of aspect interconnection, and no transits to the SSR worth mentioning.

We should check the PSSR sometime. A mean-rate check shows two Marses near angles - this should be examined.

Her Demi-SSR was more to the point. Neptune is exactly on IC (conjunct Mercury). Moon opposes Mars. (As a bit of humor, I will add that this Demi-SSR is nearly Gary Duncan's birth chart - move the Moon forward one sign, and keep the same angles, and you have it.) Her Pluto rises, and her Moon is on WP.

Why was she an example in S&LR but with no return charts? Well, the SLR is pretty boring. As Bradley would have interpreted it at the time, she has a 9th cusp, heavily background Moon square Neptune, and a 7th house Sun conjunct Mercury, with the two of them opposite Uranus and square Saturn. This does compound the Mercury-Saturn-Uranus symbolism already going on, and his thesis that her psychological breakdown was from the building pressures on her Mercury. But it's not all that out-of-the ordinary chart.