James Hanratty

[Jim Eshelman]

Another Fagan example from The Solunars Handbook is murderer James Hanratty (discussion reproduced on p. 125). Hanratty was born October 4, 1936, in London. Fagan didn't have a birth time, but we now know (from family information) that he was born at 0:05 AM.

Hanratty carjacked a young couple at gunpoint, forced them to drive a distance, then shot and killed the man and raped then repeatedly shot the woman, crippling her for life. He was eventually caught and tried, the evidence was compromised, but he was an idiot, kept changing his testimony, and effectively convicted himself. (It was the longest trial in British history.) He was executed by hanging, mistakenly pardoned posthumously from evidence he was not guilty, and ultimately confirmed the killer when DNA science advanced enough to identify him.

Fagan gave the example primarily to show that Hanratty's Sun aspecting the woman's Saturn established him psychologically as her master, terrorizing and psychologically "owning" her. I do find that Fagan used absurdly large orbs (making a big deal out of two 8° aspects in addition to one close one), but made sound, important points.

Nonetheless, now we have Hanratty's full chart and can dig more deeply into its mysteries.

[Jim Eshelman]

I find his chart terribly interesting, mostly because it is pretty uninteresting with a natal horoscope that I'm not sure explains him fully.

Until this crime, Hanratty was a petty criminal. I think there is neither evidence nor suspicion of his committing such crimes any other time. A key seems to be a deeply disturbed youth and psychological instability - he was described as mentally deficient and psychopathic (I'm not sure, though, if this was lay name calling or a proper diagnosis). Despite his Virgo Sun and strong Mercury, there are numerous biographical indications of "broken" Mercury at best and pathological (lying, thieving, illiterate and ineducable) Mercury most likely. I'm not inclined to immediately attribute this to his close Mercury-Eris opposition, since that's not how I've seen Mercury-Eris operate.

All of these biographic details are a proper setup for the eventual crimes, but still trouble me: I don't see this kind of early life pattern in the cart.

What do I see in the chart? The strongest detail is Pluto rising, less than 1° from Ascendant. This is enough (especially a a traumatic upbringing) to make him at least an outsider and possibly antisocial. This comes, though, with Virgo-Taurus luminaries, which together are usually quite gentle, and a moderately foreground Mercury. A big mystery to solve is why this strongly mercurial chart shows aberrated Mercury as perhaps the life's main feature.

The chart shows questionable ethics - a weak and badly afflicted Jupiter - along with possible social alienation. It shows stronger passions and sexual urges than average (Venus-Mars sextile), but not insistent or extreme. Venus-Uranus usually shows liberal social-sexual views but, sure, sometimes it can show someone who is a real outsider from any group affiliation. None of these is a big enough deal to screw up a typical person or to produce much more than a gentle, probably shy weirdo (if that).

The worst thing in the chart - and even this doesn't usually turn out all that badly - is the background Mars. If this registers as "not masculine enough," it can overcompensate as a bully. It's probably a key to his psychological weaknesses, since the Leo Mars is a more robust energy or behavior than the Virgo-Taurus luminaries but, again, it's not that bad.

Admittedly, there are a couple of characteristics the Bradley study found in murderers. Pluto foreground can be criminal, Venus-Mars is the most common aspect. But that's it. I don't think we should call every angular Pluto person with a close Venus-Mars aspect a potential murder-rapist.

I should look, therefore, a little deeper into the chart to see, at least, what might signal the difficult life. I don't think astrology should be held accountable for environmental details, but it does tend to get them right more often than not. The environmental (and perhaps genetic) details are sufficient to explain why neutral-to-positive chart factors could come out troublesome, so I suppose that's where I should go next.

I do find one stunning signal in the mundane aspects. That background Mars of no particular distinction ecliptically forms a 0°01' Moon-Mars mundane square. This, at least, has a potential for violence: A 0°01' Moon-Mars square with Pluto 0°33' from Ascendant starts to look (just a little) like a chart of a potential monster. It puts his Saturn-Neptune and Venus-Uranus aspects into an entirely different light. Just look at the close hard aspects in his mundoscope: That's much more the kind of chart I expect for a person with this history!

I wine and ache at a house meaning that appears here also: His Saturn-Neptune opposition (a perfectly find aspect for most people, often being enormously creative) is only of 0°35' wide mundanely and runs 9th to 3rd houses. It's actually the only thing I've found so far that suggests mental deficiency (as one of its expressions). I mention it and move on: I'm not ready to attribute this kind of life-defining traits and patterns to a house placement.

But that mundane Moon-Mars square is something!

We should visit midpoints. OK, at least here is a bit of the early life difficulties (though I'd like to have it more openly shown without midpoints). The birth time, which is carefully stated to within five minutes at least, places MC on the Sun/Neptune and Sun/Saturn midpoints. There are a few other things, and Steve wouldn't forgive me if I didn't mention the 0°00' brutal Ma = Su/Pl. I wish his Mercury had an interesting midpoint, but all I get is Ve/Ma: I think saying his emotions overwhelmed his reason just doesn't do enough.

How about fixed stars? He was born at the exact rising of Rigel. Rigel is a strong, heroic Mars-Jupiter-themed star that doesn't seem to describe him or his life. Oh, wait, Ptolemy said it was like Jupiter and Saturn (the Mars-Jupiter is more modern, though stuck in my head). Still, it's generally thought more positive than not, with Orion being inherently heroic.

His exalted Moon rises with the Pleiades (though opposite the troublesome Alpha star of Libra that sits at the exaltation degree of Saturn and is historically called Saturnian). His Mercury rises with Arcturus, which is not at all a bad thing (and his Venus is in RA conjunction with Arcturus). His Jupiter is connected to brilliant, winning stars (Spica, Regulus, Rigel, Capella, Aldebaran, among others). The worst start connection is that his Saturn rises exactly with the malefic (Mars and Saturn) themed Alpha star of Aries, Hamal. But really... no, fixed stars don't begin to explain him and mostly make the astrological problem worse.

For this kind of psychological patterning, we do, of course, need to check the Novien. Now, here we start to get something interesting! The Moon opposes Mars and squares Mercury - so, as in the mundoscope, we get Moon-Mars, and we have the first clear affliction to Mercury, (The 0°42' Mercury-Mars square in the Novien is a semi-sextile in the horoscope.) There are other details, but this is the best. I'd still have expected a snappy, quick mind, but at least would easily accept the situation on being told it was a damaged, troubled mind instead.

Perhaps best of all, though, is we get the first indication of outright perverse sexual gruesomeness: Novien Venus at 22°38' Taurus is partile square his natal Saturn-Neptune opposition! (It also opposes natal Jupiter, but slightly wider.)

So... the mundoscope was really revealing, the Novien was really revealing, fixed stars were a waste or a burden, and midpoints were slightly helpful in hindsight.

[Jim Eshelman]

The murder, rape, etc. occurred late at night on August 22, 1961 near Clophill, England. I'll use 10 PM as a convenient time. Let's see how his chart performs for the event. Or, to put it differently: Given that his psyche was a suitable climate for the violent storm that erupted that night, what showed the stormy weather.

Transits were mixed. He'd been through major transits a year or two earlier that one might think could cause such storms, e.g., Pluto conjunct his Mars, Neptune conjunct his Venus, Uranus square his Moon; but these were past. Neptune did oppose his Uranus (0°09'), a psychologically shifting aspect that usually doesn't have much outer show. Saturn and Jupiter were both on his Descendant (Saturn closer), but Jupiter exactly opposite his Pluto (0°04'). Mars wasn't quite conjunct his Mercury (but was exactly opposite his Eris - 0°02'). Really, Neptune to his Uranus and Jupiter to his Pluto was the only noisy, close stuff, and these aren't typical for such crimes.

So I want his solunars to convince me.

SSR. This starts well with Pluto rising; except he probably had Pluto angular every year of his life. This time, though, it's conjunct natal Mars with his Moon exactly on MC, exactly squared by Uranus. The SSR does indeed show his psyche unlocking, his violence rising and unleashing. The weather patterns were changing. It took nearly a year to erupt, but the seeds were all there in his 1960 SSR.

SLR. The lunar return is also sufficient or a major "psychological event" or psychic break. Neptune rises exactly. Uranus at MC squares Moon on WP. The Neptune aligns with his Uranus and, a little more widely, his Venus. All the symbolism is "out of bounds" in some sense. Most people wouldn't murder and rape under this, but they would fling themselves into fantasies outside their normal bounds and maybe "go a little crazy."

Demi-SLR. Mars is 5° from Asc (but Eris about 1° from Dsc, something you only see in the mundoscope). It's not a strong chart - other weakly angular planets are all appropriate, just not very loud. The SLR carries the weight of this.

SNQ. An interesting detail is that I recognize his progressed chart: It's just a few days after Charles Manson's natal horoscope. None of the typical Manson aspects are quite exact enough anymore, but I found that detail fascinating. The only angularity is transiting Moon crossing an angle - an impulse to follow a whim, of course, but an aspect everybody experiences tens of thousands of times in life (including Hanratty). I think this chart is not the key.

SQ. But, continuing with quotidians, the SQ is a little more interesting. It also has Moon angular - SQ Moon exactly on MC - opposite natal and progressed solar Sun on IC, forming a progressed Moon on angles for the day. This unleashes sexual energies, it stirs the psyche significantly, but by itself it isn't any kind of problem. (I suppose it could destabilize a psyche right on the razor's edge.) - In this case, though, we don't have to take it alone - we have SSR Saturn with "take your breath away" precision!

17°33'' Vir - SQ Sun
17°54' Sag - SSR Saturn
17°55' Pis - SQ MC
18°23' Pis - SQ Moon

You can add SSR Mercury on Nadir, for whatever that's worth, but I think the above does it. The scales were tipped. The psyche had a crisis.

[SteveS]

Jim wrote:

...and Steve wouldn't forgive me if I didn't mention the 0°00' brutal Ma = Su/Pl.

Yes, I find em useful particularly when Sidereal Astrology doesn't offer clear-cut symbolism/aspects, but no more useful than that mundane Moon-Mars aspect .