Solunars by Aldebaran Sidereal Academy

According to family memory, "Jackie O" was born July 28, 1929, 2:30 PM EDT, Southampton, NY (rated A). Over the years, one astrologer after another has dutifully remarked that the even half-hour time - and, at that, one that is simply from long-term memory - surely was an approximation. I finally decided to take the time to find out how accurate I thought it was.

I selected the one obvious event that likely was the most impactful of her entire life: November 22, 1963, 12:30 PM, Dallas, Texas when her husband was murdered and slumped into her. The event itself was horrible and traumatic, and the days following demanded unfathomable strength and courage amidst terrible grief.

I'm not going to detail the charts: I'm going to tell you my conclusions and send you off to calculate them yourself. My conclusion is that the 2:30 time is very close - perhaps accurate to the minute - or perhaps slightly early (by a very few minutes).

These are some of the most remarkable solunars I've ever seen. They also support in fine detail my views on where return charts are properly cast. My view is that solar returns are valid for where they occur and may relocate to a new to which one travels, but only in a minor way; while lunar returns are (like Moon herself) much more adaptable and operate with the symbolism both of where they occur and where one goes after that.

Cast the former First Lady's SSR, SLR, and Demi-SLR before the assassination, drawing all three of them for both Washington, DC and Dallas, TX. BTW, relocate Jackie's nativity to Dallas where Sun moves right to Midheaven: This was the spot on Earth where she rose to singular, leading prominence.

What you will find is that the Dallas SSR is shockingly wrong. It doesn't fit the event for her in the slightest. OTOH the Washington SSR is one of the most emotionally devastating, tragic, mournful, and exacting (by narrowness of orb) charts you'll ever see. BTW, if you calculate these with TMSA, the most angular planet is 0°00' from Asc; from Solar Fire, it's a tiny bit further away. (It doesn't really matter.) This was the first chart that had me certain the given birth time was very close if not exact.

I don't know that she spent her birthday in Washington. It surely was on the East Coast and probably was in Washington. She then returned from Dallas to Washington for the days' long public mourning and funeral. As best I can read the main events of that week and the next, it seems the Kennedy family was in Washington. ([UPDATE:] The SSR occurred on Cape Cod near Hyannis Port. That was the summer her delicate pregnancy ended sadly and she spent it at the family home. JFK didn't retrieve her from there until early August. When I have time, I'll make the adjustment.)

When you move to the SLR and Demi-SLR, both Washington and Dallas show the event.

For fine-tuning, we have the various quotidian methods. These all have one or more appropriate planet not far from angles. One could justify from them a range of times, perhaps plus or minus 15 minutes, though the return charts themselves seem meticulously precise for 2:30. The most outstanding thing from the quotidians is not from the angles: PSSR Moon is a few minutes from exact square to SSR Saturn.

Enjoy the exploration!

OK, a few interesting details:

Jackie's nativity had a not-quite 3° Venus-Saturn opposition that describes most of what we know about her. (Almost every major detail of her life is covered by this one aspect.) For Washington, the Demi-SLR has her natal Venus-Saturn exactly across the horizon, natal Saturn half a degree past Descendant. Moving it to Dallas, the same chart foretold the same event in a completely different way, but it involved a transiting Venus-Saturn square (only 1°00' wide and foreground).

This fell within the time of the October 31 SLR. For Washington, its two most angular planets were Saturn within 3° before MC, Mars within 4° before Asc, and a 1° Mars-Saturn mundane square. Specifically, the foreground Saturn in Capricorn was about 1° from square Mars mundanely and square Neptune ecliptically. A partile mundane square of natal Moon-Saturn appears that isn't in her natal (they are partile trine in the natal), to underscore the event. - Relocate that SLR to Dallas tells the story less dramatically but nonetheless recognizably (and has a 0°08' Venus-Saturn mundane square in the middleground).

And, as mentioned, the Washington SSR has to be seen to be believed.

Her natal chart has always been interesting, especially once we had a birth time. Her double-Rim luminaries (Cancer and Aries) show her as a mover of events, showing ample grit. Of the Rims, she has the Enigmatic (Water) and Imperial (Fire) - I think "imperial enigma" is a worthy description of one side of her.

Her one foreground planet is Neptune. If I were to ask you to name the first three to five things that were basic to what you know about Jackie O - but EXCLUDING anything to do with loss of a loved one or acquiring great wealth - I bet most of what you list would be a Neptune theme. I was startled to realize that my standard short paragraph for foreground Neptune is almost a point-by-point description of her:

Sensitive, vulnerable, feels strongly (tunes into others deeply, not always accurately; feels exposed, over-response). Naturally absorbs and mirrors others’ traits. Sympathy, compassion, empathy (or emotional drama, insecurity, easily hooked, betrayed). Lives in own reality, tenacious with their viewpoint, impervious to logic, passionate about what uniquely frames their view. Favors complexity over simplicity. Dwells within the unknown, choosing mystery over revelation.

Along with her great strength during a national crisis, she also was always sensitive, vulnerable - not frail, but tender - responding to things acutely. (I'm sure it was the basis of her persistent staying out of the limelight.) She lived much of her life in bubble realities (one was even nicknamed after a fantasy palace and Broadway musical). For someone so well known, she worked at being a mystery figure.

Of course, most of these are Cancer traits also, to which we can add that she was a committed, protective mother. (Cancer also anticipated her last career, which was a book editor.)

Return to that emotional loss and acquiring great wealth that I excluded from the game, these attach to her most important aspect, Veus opposite Saturn. It's not her closest aspect, but it's close (under 3°). It's middleground and a dynamic aspect. Its only competitor for "most important aspect" isn't evident from an ecliptical horoscope: Mundanely, her Moon and Sun are only 0°31' from square (add Mercury). She also has a middleground Mars-Jupiter mundane square (1°02'). But her close Venus-Saturn opposition includes what most people (especially those who only know her from history books) know about her including her significant wealth, something for which Venus-Saturn aspects are a basic signature. (She came from money, married up into the Kennedy family, then married Onassis. The IRS valued her estate at about $75 million.)

Houses add a flourish for this: They aren't necessary, but they do emphasize the right themes. Specifically, the Venus-Saturn opposition is exactly across the 2/8H axis, Saturn 1°34' on one side of the axis and Venus 1°33'' on the other side for the given birth time. Death and wealth were certainly the fundamentals of her story. Some of the other house placements are so obvious as to need no comment but, merely to list some: Mars and Neptune in 10H (in Leo), Sun in 9H, Venus and Jupiter in 7H (in Taurus), Venus and Pluto in 8H [Venus overlaps 7/8]. I'm not clear what Moon in 6H might mean, but I'm willing to let that go: The others give one-line bullet points that could be the plot points of a movie telling her life's story.

Digging further into the cosmic state of her planets, a pivotal detail is that the luminaries are in partile square and in each other's constellations: Though Moon and Sun are both background (fitting for someone only reluctantly in the public eye), her Cancer Sun played up lunar traits, her Aries Moon played up solar traits, and their exact aspect cemented their importance. Her Moon is complex and harsh - closely tied to her Saturn, moderately connected to Venus, Jupiter, and Neptune. Her Sun (in addition to the exact Moon aspect) aspects all three benefics.

Mercury (background) is a strange creature in this chart. I suspect it only showed obviously to those who knew her well. It closely aspects both luminaries and very widely aspects Jupiter. Mercury traits certainly fit her, but they aren't a main feature of her story (until her last years when she worked as a large publishing house book editor).

Her Venus suffers a lot (and, being in her own sign, feels that suffering powerfully). OTOH her Mars, strongly placed in Leo, is aspected by two benefics (Jupiter more closely) plus Pluto. Mars does better of the two.

Jupiter and Saturn contrast by sign position matters: Her Cancer Sun plays up Jupiter traits, while her Cancer-Aries luminary signs are both anti-Saturnian. Jupiter is strongly aspected, but with - let's say - instability: It aspects both Lights (Moon closely), closely squares Mars and sextiles Uranus. it's not bad, but it's unstable and has strength in it for what's needed. Saturn, in contrast, is part of an emotionally sad mixture, aspecting Moon and Venus closely and Neptune moderately. The Moon-Saturn-Neptune grand trine is a self-contained or closed loop of disillusionment and sadness for which the only real "breakout" avenues are through Venus opposite Saturn and Moon square Sun.

I'll give her TMSA report in my final post.

One more post, I guess: Since there has been increased discussion on the Novien lately, I'm reminded that she was one of Fagan's Novien examples in Astrological Origins. In fact, she was an example where his "put Moon on Asc" wasn't just a display option - he used it as if it defined actual houses.

It's hard to blame him: She already had a persuasive Leo Moon in the Novien (a detail important to him). The Novien also provides a close Mars-Saturn opposition that doesn't show in the nativity, showing both the level of tragedy and her endurance and strength. But Fagan took this one farther by citing Moon (on natal Mars) widely opposition Novien Sun-Mars as being across the pseudo "horizon" to her "Descendant" - describing violence to her husband - plus natal Jupiter at "MC" (i.e., upper square to Novien Moon) and natal Venus-Jupiter in the Novien 10th house.

I think this is pushing things way too far. Nonetheless, the aspects are right, and are telling: I'm not sure that Novien Moon on natal Mars tells us more than her natal Moon in Aries and strong Mars, but the Mars-Saturn opposition, Sun-Mars conjunction, and Novien Moon square natal Jupiter are all on the mark. One can find other Novien to natal contacts of interest, including the interesting and fitting natal Pluto square Novien Jupiter 1°16', but none is better than Novien Sun exactly opposite natal Venus (0°45'). She was remarkably beloved and a beauty that attracted remarkable husbands. And, of course, natal Neptune (on natal MC) conjunct Novien Saturn 1°43'.

It's a good fit.