Best Quarti-lunar in a long time

[Jim Eshelman]

I'm not a big fan of quarti-lunars. I don't do them for myself. I'm not sure they actually work and wouldn't tell anyone else to make a big deal of them. OTOH, when I see a sensational example I think I should mention it. This morning, I stumbled across the most accurate I've seen in a long time, not with just one or two right planets but with an entire interwoven set of clear, exact aspects.

It's Jim Jones' quarti-lunar for a few hours before the Jonestown mass suicide-murder event. Jones, per his birth certificate, was born May 13, 1931, 10:00 PM CST, Lynn, Indiana. The event began November 18, 1978, about 7:00 PM, in Jonestown, Guyana 7N41 59W57.

Jones' nativity already showed someone who was probably dangerous and a little unhinged. If his best self had emerged during his life, it would have meant someone masterfully re-weaving reality, which is much of what he did anyway. Moving to Guyana did nothing to encourage that "best side" since it enhanced his authoritarian and aggressive (even violent) tendencies: For the site of Jonestown, his Aries Sun was 1°03' past IC, his Mars 0°46' before Descendant, and they formed a 1°49' mundane square (paran).

Transits were few and precise for the mass suicide and murders: Transiting Uranus squared his Mars 0°22'. Transiting Pluto opposed his Uranus 0°01'. But transits didn't provide final timing or a trigger.

His full SLR November 11 drew out natal Mars and both Suns most strongly, but with moderate angularity - not a big deal SLR for intensity though its symbolism was correct. The foreground aspects were Sun opposite natal Sun across the angles, with both square natal Mars: It brought out the exact emphasis in his character that his natal locality angles emphasized and was broadly accurate.

This his Quarti-SLR occurred November 18 very close to 7:00 PM - about the time they started. Here is the Quarti-SLR in detail:

t Saturn IC -0°06'
-------------------------
t Mercury Dsc +1°09'
t Neptune Dsc +1°25'
t Mars WP +1°05'
r Neptune IC +9°09'

t Mercury-Neptune co 0°06' M
t Mars-Saturn sq 0°30' M
t Mercury-Saturn sq 1°15' M
t Saturn-Neptune sq 1°31' M
t Mars sq r Neptune 2°01' M

The angular planets scream death or something similar, with no shortage of madness. The foreground aspects start with the nearly exact Mercury-Neptune square expanding into a Mercury-Saturn-Neptune combination - in the best of times this means that a lot of things go wrong from miscalculation - at their worst, they show madness (the breakdown of reason). Add the violence of a partile Mars-Saturn square. For icing on the devil's food cake, Mars transits natal Neptune.

Frankly, it's a damn fine chart - a show piece - and I thought I needed to mention it. The only thing that takes away from it is that this is so close to the exact time the terrible events started that night that it could just be transits at 7 PM, including all of those mundane transits. Then again, the simplest explanation is that the quarti-lunar made a good showing.

[Jim Eshelman]

Quotidians suggest that Jones' even-hour birth time is pretty close to accurate. For example, here is the SNQ for the given birth time. BTW, Jones famous outcry as the deed was done, "Mother! Mother! Mother!" is interesting just from his birth chart and very interesting from the SNQ.

19°04' Gem - t Moon
19°08' Pis - r Moon
19°21' Pis - t Eris
19°35' Gem - SNQ MC
21°07' Vir - SNQ Asc
22°03' Sag - p Moon
23°38' Vir - t Pluto

His SQ spoke of frustration and (in hindsight) the breakdown of his sanity. The progressed Moon aspects could have easily timed the crisis point of the year:

21°23' Leo - SQ Asc
22°47' Sco - t Neptune
23°01' Tau - SQ MC
23°09' Sco - s Neptune
23°59' Sco - t Mercury

22°30' Can - r Mars
22°32' Cap - local r Asc
22°38' Can - SQ Moon
22°52' Lib - t Uranus