James Holmes and Mars-Pluto

D.W. Sutton

July 20, 2012: At a premiere, midnight screening, of ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, in Aurora, Colorado, a gunman (Mars) opens fire in the theatre killing 12 people (Pluto) and injuring 58. Mars in the sky – the planet of guns and violence – is square Pluto – the planet of crowds and groups of people.

The gunman, James Eagan Holmes is captured and charged with 24 counts of first-degree murder. On June 4, 2013 he pleads not guilty by reason of insanity, which the judge accepts.

April 27, 2015: The Aurora Theater Shooting trial – The State of Colorado Vs James Holmes – begins in Centennial, Colorado.

The shooting of a large number of people is a Mars-Pluto event – it’s a mass murder or massacre – and James Holmes has Mars conjunction Pluto in his birthchart. He was born December 13, 1987 at 9.04pm PST, La Jolla, CA (32N51: 117W16). Kenneth D Miller quotes the birth certificate.

By all accounts (according to internet sources) James Holmes had a conventional upbringing and education – playing sport and attending church. At age 18 he pursued a higher education at the University of California and in 2010 received his undergraduate degree in neuroscience with the highest honors. In 2008 he worked with needy children and in June 2011 he enrolled as a Ph.D student in neuroscience at the University of Colorado. But in 2012 his academic performance declined and in early June, after failing an oral exam he dropped out of his studies without explanation. Reports stated that he was a big fan of Hollywood superheroes like Batman.

On May 22, 2012 Holmes purchased a Glock 22 pistol and on May 28 he purchased a Model 87 shotgun. And on June 7 after failing his oral exam he purchased a Smith & Wesson M&P15 semi-automatic rifle and started stocking up on ammunition. All the weapons were bought legally. On July 20, 2012 Holmes was arrested by police outside the Century 16 Theater moments after the 2012 Aurora shooting in which 12 people were killed and 58 injured. On July 30, Colorado prosecutors filed formal charges against Holmes including 24 counts of first degree murder.

James Eagan Holmes birthchart

The dominant influence in James Holmes’ birthchart is Mercury – the intellectual planet. It’s conjunction the Sun – planet of acclaim – and he received his undergraduate degree in neuroscience with honors. But Mercury and Sun are also conjunction Saturn and Uranus. Saturn is the planet of fear and failure and Uranus is the planet of individualism and bizarre behavior. And this prominence (conjunction) thought compound involving Mercury, Sun, Saturn and Uranus is the outstanding feature of his thought and feeling world.

Mercury in house 4 (his home) and the Sun in house 5 (his pleasure life) are high in harmony so their psychological equivalents have a beneficial, constructive potential, but Saturn and Uranus (also in house 5) are high in discord and their not-conscious mental activity has a destructive, misguided potential. Saturn adds discord to Mercury, Sun and Uranus, but Jupiter in house 9 trine (luck) Sun, Saturn and Uranus adds harmony. Holmes in fact has four grand trines in his birthchart and the grand trine marks for thoughts and feelings that have a high-harmony potential. And Sun trine Jupiter is an aspect that inclines towards goodness, honesty and integrity but there was nothing good about Holmes’ behavior on July 20, so where did the goodness go?

In his birthchart the Moon in house 2 (finances) forms a high-discord obstacle (square) aspect with the Sun, Saturn and Uranus. And the Moon’s aspect structure details a repertoire of feelings and moods that he’s inclined to experience. And the Moon is square Sun (feelings of inferiority), semisquare Mars (feelings of destructive anger and violence), square Saturn (feelings of inadequacy and fear), square Uranus (weird, bizarre feelings), square Neptune (fantasy feelings and illusion) and parallel-semisquare Pluto (feelings of compulsion and insidious evil.)

James Holmes does not have a complex birthchart or character. The four planets in Sagittarius and their aspects to Moon and Jupiter – the chart’s outstanding feature – code for a buoyant, sportive individual who’s inclined to suffer mental instability due to fluctuating financial fortunes. In his case Uranus is not inclined to radical acts of violence as Saturn’s fear acts as a restraining force so the tendency to destroy and kill has to be mapped by some other prominent feature of his character. And in his chart Mars – the planet of guns, violence and aggressive action – is conjunction Pluto – the planet of groups and sinister intent – in house 3 (his conscious mental life.) Both planets are high in discord and aspect the Moon.

This Mars-Pluto conjunction aspect maps a predisposition for destructive violent behavior and its discord ups the potential, but before the aggression emerges into insidious violence and James Holmes becomes a danger to society something must happen. Both his inner-world circumstances mapped by the progressed aspects in his chart and his current life circumstances must synchronize in a way that the events that occur cause him to respond in a violent, destructive way.

James Holmes’ progressed chart – July 20, 2012

The available evidence (from internet sources) indicates that Holmes’ academic pursuits (Mercury) progressed favorably until June 7, 2012 when he failed (Saturn) a key oral exam at the University of Colorado. And three days later on June 10 he dropped out (Saturn) of his studies without explanation (Uranus).

On May 22, 2012 he had purchased a pistol (Mars) and then he purchased other weapons and stocked up on ammunition (Mars). On June 25 he applied to join a gun club (Mars-Pluto) and the owner who tried to contact him described his voicemail as ‘bizarre, freaky’- ‘like someone who was trying to be as weird as possible’ (Uranus). Holmes then dyed his hair red (Mars), called himself The Joker, and on June 20, 2012 was arrested as the only suspect in the Aurora, Colorado Theater mass murder shooting.

Being raised on Aquarian age communication technology (Uranus) he left dating and other profiles on various websites (Pluto) and like many young people he was into Hollywood thinking, movies and fantasy paraphernalia (Neptune). In 2006 his supervisor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies described him as ‘stubborn, uncommunicative and socially inept’ and on his rental application in 2011 he described himself as ‘quiet and easygoing.’

On July 20, 2012 James Holmes had 30 parallel aspects intensifying the activity of specified mental-factors in his unconscious mind. Progressed Mercury (at 23S02) had moved to form intensity (parallel) aspects with birthchart and progressed Sun (at 22S23), birthchart and progressed Saturn (at 22S16), and birthchart and progressed Uranus (at 23S36). Mercury supplied intellectual thought energy; Sun supplied self-esteem and significance energy; Saturn supplied poverty, loss and failure energy; and Uranus supplied radical and extreme energy. The intense pressure these parallel aspects placed on his not-conscious and conscious thinking was colossal. And with progressed Sun (at 22S24) parallel birthchart and progressed Saturn (at 22S16) his significance and self-esteem (Sun) suffered loss (Saturn) when he failed (Saturn) his key oral exam (Mercury).

The very active Saturn – planet of selfishness, loss and failure – was feeding the discordant Saturn mental factors in his not-conscious mind with a constant supply of self-centered, dark, gloomy thoughts. In October 2005 progressed Saturn had moved to form a friction (semisquare) aspect with birthchart Pluto; and in 2006 it moved to form a prominence (conjunction) aspect with birthchart Uranus activating their birthchart conjunction. And on July 20, 2012 progressed Mercury (at 26 Capricorn 00) had moved to form semisextile (growth) aspects with progressed Saturn (at 26 Sagittarius 14) and birthchart Uranus. These aspects upped the stimulation to the Saturn-Uranus mental factors that would play a key role in the events that unfolded.

The other aspect that mapped the random violence perpetrated on an unsuspecting public was progressed Mars (at 29 Scorpio 26) – planet of guns and violence – sextile birthchart Moon – planet of the common people. Mars had moved into effective orb in June 2011 and the aspect mapped a temporary thought-structure in his not-conscious mind that linked guns and violence (Mars) with the everyday people (Moon).

The sextile aspect favors the harmonious expression of planetary energies but in this instance, because birthchart Moon and Mars are both so high in discord the sextile aspect actually increased the discord and the potential for mishap, strife and violence. The high-discord Moon in Holmes’ birthchart marks for poor relations with the everyday people; and Saturn and Uranus are the cusp rulers of house 7– his relations with the public. And when his thinking became violent and destructive (Mars) it turned against the common people (Moon) and the public (house 7): And the rulers of house 7 – Saturn and Uranus – are in house 5 – movie theaters.

On May 22, 2012 when Holmes purchased his first pistol progressed Moon in his chart (at 15N21) in house 1 had moved to form an intensity (parallel) aspect with birthchart Mars (at 15N11). It stimulated his urge for violence and guns. And in early June when he failed (Saturn) his oral exam (Mercury) progressed Moon (at 26 Leo) had moved to form a (luck) trine aspect with progressed Saturn (at 26 Sagittarius 13) and an inconjunct (expansion) aspect with progressed Mercury (at 25 Capricorn 48). And on the day of the mass shooting progressed Moon was still in orb of a parallel aspect with birthchart Mars.

The movie theater where the event took place is a fifth house environment and the stimulation to the fifth house mental factors on July 20, 2012 was through the roof. And with progressed MC (at 8 Gemini 35) in house 10 – public notice – forming an inconjunct (expansion) aspect with progressed Neptune (at 8 Capricorn 02) in house 5, the event received worldwide publicity. Neptune is co-ruler of house 8 – death.

On July 20, 2012 progressed Jupiter had moved to form a luck (trine) aspect with birthchart Sun but there was no goodness and virtue (Jupiter) in James Holmes’ soul. He may have orthodox religious beliefs, but his academic life has been lived in a materialistic scientific environment where atheistic academics easily influence the thinking and behavior of young human souls who can be easily influenced by the destructive teachings of atheistic materialism (Lower-Pluto).

James Holmes’ progressed chart – April 27, 2015

On April 27, 2015 The State of Colorado Vs James Holmes Aurora Colorado movie theater massacre trial (house 9 in a birthchart) starts in Centennial, Colorado.

In James Holmes’ chart progressed Jupiter in house 9 (the trial) has moved to form a luck (trine) aspect with birthchart Sun; progressed Sun in house 5 has moved to form an obstacle (square) aspect with birthchart Jupiter in house 9; progressed Mercury in house 6 has moved to form an opportunity (sextile) aspect with progressed Mars (the cusp ruler of house 9) in house 4; and progressed ascendant has moved to form an opportunity (sextile) aspect with birthchart Mars in house 3.

Progressed Moon is conjunction birthchart Moon (cusp ruler of house 12 – crime); and trine progressed Mercury and sextile progressed Mars – activating the Mercury-Mars character factors.

August 26, 2015: James Holmes is formally sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

James Holmes’ progressed chart – August 26, 2015

On July 16, 2015 James Holmes is convicted of 24 counts of first-degree murder, 140 counts of attempted first-degree murder, one count of possessing explosives, and a sentence enhancement of a crime of violence. And on August 26, 2015 he is formally sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In his chart progressed Jupiter in house 9 (the judge and jury) at 20 Aries 57 is trine (luck) birthchart Sun in house 5 at 21 Sagittarius 39; progressed Sun in house 6 at 19 Capricorn 52 is square (obstacle) birthchart Jupiter in house 9 at 19 Aries 46R; and progressed ascendant in house 2 at 13 Virgo 12 is sextile (opportunity) birthchart Mars in house 3 at 13 Scorpio 10 — the cusp ruler of house 9. Progressed Pluto in house 3 at 00S17 is parallel (intensity) birthchart Moon at 00S01 — the cusp ruler of house 12 (prison.) This progressed Moon-Pluto parallel is a long-time aspect that will last his entire life.

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Copyright DW Sutton, 2015. All rights reserved. light.org