5th Step, Captured again

Three months of robberies, shootings — and then, the inevitable happens.

Following Dillinger’s rescue from prison by his gang members on Oct. 12, 1933, and the killing of the sheriff, Dillinger and his gang were involved in several bank robberies.  In addition, the entered police arsenals and stole machine guns, rifles, revolvers, ammunition and bullet-proof vests.  On Dec. 14th, the gang killed a Chicago police detective, then another police officer during another bank robbery.  They travelled to Florida and Arizona.  While staying in an Tucson, Arizona hotel, that hotel caught fire.  Firemen recognized several gang members from photos and the local police arrested the entire gang as well as reovering weapons and cash.  That date was January 23, 1934.  Dillinger’s Progressed Daily Angles chart for that date is above.

• Natal Mars (fire) is at the MC; Mars offers a range of symbolism such as fire, anger and confrontation, danger.  Its square to Neptune can relate to danger (Mars) from photographs (Neptune), which is not an obvious link that an astrologer might make at first glance of this chart.  Transiting Mars conjuncts Venus and square natal Moon.  It is quite a stretch to suggest how these groupings play into this chart.
• Natal Mercury at the Desc.; This suggests communication, travel and news (typically).  Again, we look to its counterpoint, transiting Mercury which conjuncts transiting Sun at the natal Descendant.  What we have here is a “similarity pattern”—“natal Mercury at Desc.” and “tr. Sun-Mercury at the natal Desc.”.  This is the key pattern in this chart. Sun = authorities, Desc. = others, Mercury = communication, recognition.  Working within the context of Dillinger’s current life situation 1) Mars @ MC is danger, 2) Mars square Neptune is a lack of precaution, 3) Mercury at Desc. is contact and travel, 3) Mercury conj. Sun is movement and recognition by authorities.  Without the inclusion of Dillinger’s life context at the period of time, it is more difficult to appropriately understand the planet symbolism!
• Interesting is the role of Pluto in this chart. Natal Pluto is 10 degrees above the Desc. angle, transiting Pluto is 8 degrees above the CD point.  Let’s see what we can pull out of this.  Natal Pluto is in a grand trine with natal Node and transiting Node.  Pluto is associated with many things including the going underground and out of sight alternating with bringing things back into view, while the Nodal axis is linked to “association with others.”  We might say that this was a time when he would lose his gang or associates.  Transiting Pluto is above the CD-Point, representing force from external situations intruding into his life—highly appropriate to this event. This transiting Pluto squares the natal MC and transiting Uranus, surprise relating to his career brings upheaval.  We can “hopscotch” over to natal Uranus in the 1st house (personal sense of identity and surprise) which is square natal Jupiter (seeking opportunity) and the daily chart’s MC angle (his current status in life).

Comment: This is not a chart that one would easily identify from a year’s worth of charts for predictive purposes.  Yet, there are clues.  For those clues, we go back to the natal chart.  For a criminal, the presence of Mars at an angle is one signal.  Mercury (at the midpoint between natal Asc. and MC) is another signal as is the T-Square between Sun-Pluto and Uranus and Jupiter.  So, we look for those planets to be angular in any solar return or daily chart.  We find them all angular in this daily chart!  So, we stop and look.  If were we a consulting astrologer to Dillinger, would we have seen the danger in this chart for him?  So much in astrology depends upon our skills, the tools we use, how well we understand the relationship between the subject and his chart.  Dave

4th Step; Escape from prison

The roller-coaster ride towards “legend status” of John Dillinger is underway–he is out of prison 3 weeks later.

Following his parole in May, Dillinger immediately turned crime as a means of making his living during the depression years, robbing a bank in Bluffton, Ohio.  He was arrested on Sept. 22nd and put into the county jail in Lima, Ohio until he could tried in court.  Dillinger had plans for the jail in his pocket, but authorities did not seem to place much credence in those plans.  They should have as four days later several of Dillinger’s gang escaped from the county jail using weapons that had been smuggled into them, shooting two guards in the process.

On Oct. 12th, several of the gang returned to the jail, shot the Sheriff and freed Dillinger.  The Sheriff died.  As always, there are several interesting features to be examined in this chart.

• Dillinger’s Saturn return is occurring, located at the CD Point in this chart.  The CD is part of a constructed midpoint between the Asc. and CD, making the MC the focal point.  A planet at the CD forces the MC to show adjustment or sensitivity of how one acts (Ascendant) relative to others intrude/impact your relationships (CD) to change goals and direction (MC). Dillinger both feels the pressure of incarceration and will make plans to avoid it happening again.  The CD Point being so close to his natal Descendant seems to indicate his distrust or uncertainty about those around him.
• Transiting Uranus over natal MC; this lengthy transit of several weeks was at a focal point when he was arrested, and is still “close” at the time of his assisted escape.  For him, freedom reigns.
• Transiting North Node near the Descendant; points to those of his associates who helped him escape.

This is one of those charts which clearly reflect an important time for Dillinger in his life, but it is not a chart that overly reflects his actions.  Even if we play hopscotch and looks for linkages, everything is somewhat low-keyed.  With transiting Uranus at his natal MC, we find natal Uranus trine the Ascendant–supportive of his gain of freedom but not something we might look for ahead of time.  With transiting Node being active, we would look at natal N.Node–and would see transiting Sun there.  This could be seen as “others benefiting his interests and friends.”   Sun and Uranus leads us to consider again the natal T-Square of Sun/Pluto opposite Uranus square Jupiter–a complex pattern involving 11th (friends and hopes), 5th (taking chances and pleasing oneself) and 9th (seeking adventure and gains in the “outer” world) houses.

So, in summary, this is not an “action” chart so much as representing a “situation” at one point in his life.  The focus, of course, is how Saturn symbolizes his strategy for the dire path he is following.  From a moral perspective, one might say that he is following a negative expression of Saturn’s teachings.  From a practical perspective, one would assume that this whole experience had a deep impact on him, as he saw how vulnerable he could be and how much he depended upon those around him.  We will follow this roller-coaster path of Dillinger over the following months to see just how Saturn guided him to his destiny.  Dave

Third Step: Back to Prison

Out of prison, back into crime, captured, back into prison—all in just a few months.  Was John Dillinger just stupid, careless or unlucky?

Following his parole on May 22, 1933, John Dillinger joined up with friends from prison who had been previously released and friends of those he had known in prison.  They immediately planned and executed a series of robberies, quickly coming to the notice of authorities.  We have to wonder what was the main contribution to his capture after just four months.  Impatience may have been the result of a long period behind bars, the need to act according to his words and prison bravado would have involved risk taking.  At this point in history, police communications, inter-agency cooperation, and bank security were minimal at best.  It would seem that tips, luck and local police initiatives were the reason for his capture at this time.

This chart is highly notable! Had the MC-Solar Cycle method been known at that time, and had Dillinger consulted an astrologer, this date would have immediately been flaged as a time when he should have crawled into a hole and stayed there.

• The natal angles are congruent with the daily chart’s angles! This is one of the most potent signatures of a likely major change in life’s fortunes and circumstances–almost like being born again into a new life.  This happens every 9 months and 2 weeks–this MC-Solar Cycle is our personal power-cycle to use consciously for our own benefit.  In this case, Dillinger did not consciously use this cycle-point for his benefit, instead he acted blindly by following the path he had set out for himself.  If we look back at his “parole” chart we see the natal Ascendant at the daily chart’s Descendant–normally we look for the natal MC to be at the daily chart’s IC angle, a situation which I have repeatedly stress as being a “challenge point.”  Dillinger’s challenge at his parole was to find a new and better direction to go in life.  He failed that challenge and this angular realignment was how fate “resolved” his choices and challenges!  The MC-Solar Cycle strikes again.
• Transiting Saturn conjuncts natal Saturn at the Descendant. This period marked Dillinger’s first Saturn Return–the fact that is was located at the daily chart’s Descendant ties in with natal North Node at the IC angle. We can break these patterns down to better understand them.  A) Natal Saturn at the Descendant suggests that one is limited in some way relative to how they deal with others, some form of structure or agreement or expectation may be involved in one’s attitude toward others. B) Transiting Saturn at the daily Descendant angle definitely involves the strictures of others being applied to you.  C)  The Saturn return can be treated in a cyclic chart, such as this, as a “double planet at angles” — it become extremely powerful, interpretively.  These views of this planet and this angle suggests that Dillinger’s own attitudes and the expectations of the others in his gang had a powerful, fated momentum.  Without regard for common sense (sometimes associated with Saturn), they collectively just kept on following their plan.  We all know that our own Saturn Return period requires us to reflect, recommit, and redirect our life’s path.  Now, we look at D) North node at the IC —one’s associates can bring new ways of living into your life.  Obviously, Dillinger’s choice of friends led a negative interpretation of this chart component into his life.
  

All in all, these very few chart factors are very powerful in terms of their timing and meaning in John Dillinger’s life.  We can see here that by focusing on the daily chart’s angles we have the whole story given to us with great clarity.  Combine that with the context of his life, and anyone could make this prediction ahead of time using the MC-Solar Cycle method for timing and event definition.

Now, as the media announcers say, “Stay tuned for further adventures in John Dillinger’s personal struggle for recognition and success on his terms — the world be damned. This is only one of the first of many twists and turns in the legend of John Dillinger, criminal and escape artist extraordinaire!

Dave.

Second step on the road to infamy

Reeducated, reoriented, released; dealing with the world on his terms.

Upon following his father’s advice to plead guilty, hoping for a reduced sentence, John Dillinger instead received a heavy sentence of 10 to 12 years, far higher than the 2 years his associate received.  He came out of prison with new “skills” and street knowledge, very embittered over his sentence, and determined to run his life his way.  Up until this point, he was just another young man who had taken several wrong turns and paid a terrible price.  This day of release marked the most active and willful phase of his life, a phase that resulted in a legend of daring, wanton criminal acts and killings, of being an escape artist, of being a newspaper celebrity, and lastly becoming a small piece of history.

May 22, 1933, John Dillinger is paroled from prison. Up until this date, Dillinger had been just another “nobody.”  In the following year-plus he became an incendiary news celebrity. This Progressed Daily Angles chart is quite instructive relative to showing his attitude and intended direction for his life.

• Most notable is natal Ascendant at the PDA Descendant; My book notes “One will likely act cooperatively or in concert with another . . . a day of personal inteaction problems. . . The expectations of others on how we act relative to them. . .”  Dillinger had already made plans with others inside and outside the prison walls for a life of crime once he had his freedom.  This was the height of the Great Depression–there were no jobs, especially for felons.
• Natal Moon and transiting Mercury at the IC angle; As natal bodies, these two were at/within the 11th house of future hopes and associates, here they shift our view to include the start of new hopes with new friends.
• Transiting Jupiter at the CD Point; “Others bring support, offer resources.” is noted in the book.  Natal Jupiter is in this chart’s 2nd house of personal values and appreciation for surrounding oneself with comforts. This fits with his plans for gang-related activities.
• Saturn plays a role here; The Ascendant is approaching natal Saturn (within the week) and transiting Saturn in a bit less than two weeks. Clearly Dillinger had experienced a Saturn return and was about to embark on a path which represented both his present life strategy and the strictures imposed upon him up to this point in his life.  Natal Saturn was on his birth chart’s Descendant angle, suggesting that relationships were both important to him as anchor points in his life as well as being linked to restrictive factors imposed or symbolized by others.  In other words, associates were a mixed blessing.

We can add details to this chart such as noting natal Uranus near the midpoint of Asc./MC, and transiting Uranus just past the natal MC. While not angular in the typical sense, the midpoint is “angular” in one sense, and the natal MC is angular.  In effect, we have a small similarity pattern here which consists of Uranus/n Asc./MC mp and Uranus/t MC/n.  This might suggest that his need to shown his plans to for demonstrating his individualization (natal 5th) was now part of his new focus (natal MC) which involved plans and contacts with others (daily chart’s 3rd house area).

Dillinger had spent his life in prison prior to this date making plans, setting up contacts, and self-fueling his rage against society — all encouraged and supported by his fellow inmates.  His mouth and attitude was claiming to be a leader, a planner and an action hero.  His release within this context placed him in the “walk the walk” phase that follows the “talk the talk” phase.  He not only had to prove himself, he was anxious to do so.

In following postings we will use Dillinger’s S/R and Daily charts to follow the actions and events in the dramatic few months remaining in his life — a few months that created a legend of infamy.   As always, comments or direct e-mail contact is invited. Dave

e-mail me at dadsnook@charter.net.

MC-Solar Cycle essay updated

I have added a fourth section to this essay, 8-13-10 for those that have been following these ideas.  Dave

First step on the road to Infamy

John Dillinger: a bad choice and the first step to Infamy

Prior to this date John Dillinger had gone AWOL from the U.S. Navy, had married, had not been able to find any type of employment that he liked, had found some disreputable companions, and was unhappy about his lot in life. Time were financially tough for everyone in the 1920s, the nation had just gone through a war, changes were occurring in society, industry, politics, and the average citizen was caught in the dilemma of having little to seek and less to hope for.  Vaudeville shows were being challenged by the movies, unions were fighting for an edge against their employers, farmers were leaving for industrial work.

In this time of struggle and disappointment, John Dillinger and a friend decided to rob a grocer.  Dillinger, having a gun, approached the Grocer who put up a fight.  The gun went off but nobody was actually wounded.  Dillinger struck the Grocer, his friend ran off.  Both were apprehended within hours.  The date was September 6, 1924.  While his friend had the good sense to hire a lawyer and to plead not guilty, Dillinger had no lawyer.  His father, still trying to be supportive to a son who had given him trouble since early childhood, advised him to plead guilty and seek the judge’s sympathy.  His friend received a short sentence, Dillinger received a harsh sentence of 10 to 12 years. He was both devastated and angry.

Dillinger’s chart for this date, proportioned to determine the chart angles between his prior and following solar return charts s shown above.

• Transiting Mars (Retrograde) is at the Ascendant within a degree:  Angry actions are likely.  Natal Mars in the natal 3rd inclined Dillinger to plan and talk about his dreams and wishes.  This was a time to act on those wishes.
• Natal Mercury at the IC within 3 degrees:  He felt that this was the time to act on what he talked about and hoped for.  Transiting Mercury is near the CD point: This point, equidistant from the MC as the MC is from the Ascendant, indicates how others intrude into one’s life and cause changes in their goals and sense of their public image.  Transiting Mercury squares natal Uranus in the 10th house; Dillinger is quite excited about this planned robbery and sees it as defining him and his need to take life by the throat.
  
• Transiting Jupiter and Moon at the MC; his sense of opportunity and enablement is at play on this date (Jupiter) and his mood is one of change and vision as Moon crosses the MC and closes on natal Uranus.  Transiting Uranus meanwhile is closing on natal Jupiter, this highlights the excitement of his plans, while also opposing Mercury. There is a lot of energy in this chart, on this date.

So, if we were counseling John Dillinger and saw this chart, what would we advise him to do?  Mars and Moon are never good for much except for rash behavior and Mars could not be trusted at this time to act cleanly and efficiently–the attempted robbery was not very successful, netting only $50.  We would inquire about his big plans (Moon, Jupiter at the MC) and note the issues of over-reactions in seeking gains that were outside of what was conventionally available to him.  We would note that the MC, moving at 1.25 degrees per day, would soon (in a week or so) contact the potent natal Uranus-opposite-Pluto-square-Jupiter natal T-Square; this T-Square is not a “positive” factor in Dillinger’s chart.

Given the context of his life prior to this date — rebelliousness, dissatisfaction with what life was offering him, not being able to find and hold a job — Dillinger chose to act.  A week or so later, after a quick trial, his father’s advice proved to useless in deflecting the court’s anger relative to him.  The advancing MC would be triggering the T-square of Uranus-Pluto-Jupiter while the advancing Ascendant would be hitting upon  retro-Mars.

Dillinger was given a harsh sentence compared to that received by his friend.  More than a decade in prison lay before him.  As we shall see, his real story began on the day he was paroled from prison and the year-plus that followed. Those few months put him in a league with Al Capone and Baby-face Nelson, placing him at the center of a legend built upon robbery and repeated escapes from the law.

A Life, A Wrong Turn, A Dead End

John Dillinger’s “potential” turned sour—a life badly lived.

John Dillinger was born June 22, 1903 at 7:05 AM CST in Indianapolis, IN 086w09  39n46.  His data can be found at AstroDatabank with a RR of “A”.   Dillinger lost his mother when he was three years of age.  His father, a grocer, fluctuated between being a harsh disciplinarian and a permissive parent, adding to the anxiety of a young motherless child.

Dillinger had Venus rising, Saturn on the Descendant and North Node on the IC. We would expect, as a child, a pleasant outlook on life (Venus) countered by a feeling that others were not able to respond in kind (Saturn), expectations that something in the form of friends or associates (N.Node at IC) would appear to resolve this dichotomy.  The loss of his mother and the father’s alternating harshness and leniency had to be confusing and difficult to cope with.

His Sun conjuncts Neptune in the 12^th house, suggesting that his dreams and ideals were typically kept to himself.  For a child, this would be an isolating factor, making the hope and attraction of a friend as a desperate possible solution.

With an air-trine between Mars (3^rd), Saturn (7^th) and Mercury (11^th) we could expect that it became easy for him to express his anger and frustration with others.  With that Mars also square Neptune, thwarted dreams would become the trigger for anger and frustration.

We can imagine how these symbol placements might have played out in a stable home life;  Venus as a pleasant and agreeable personality, Sun-Neptune giving him great imagination power to use, Saturn bringing structure and guidance to him from others, Mercury-trine-Mars bringing in creative expression to the mix.

Instead, another pattern became significant in his life; Jupiter in an opening semi-square phase relationship to Saturn—a phase that indicates a struggle to understand and cope with the rules of life’s business (Jupiter and Saturn), a struggle that leads to abandoning family rules and what was taught in early life.

He gained a stepmother when he was nine but deeply resented her presence.  His problems with life affected his schooling and he quit school and took a job in a machine shop.  Problems continued to emerge around him.  His father sought to improve life for John and moved the family to a farm in the country, a move designed to take John away from opportunities to find trouble.  All of this was to no avail, and John Dillinger entered the U.S. Navy to escape his continuing problems.

Soon after enlisting, Dillinger deserted his ship, returned to Indiana and married 16 year old Beryl Hovius—the year was 1924.  Unable to find employment, Dillinger connected with a local pool shark.  They robbed a local grocery store of $50 and were quickly apprehended.  His associate pleaded ‘not guilty’ and was sentenced to two years of jail time.  Dillinger’s father advised him to confess to the crime, seeking to persuade the Trial Judge to give him a similar sentence.  Instead, he was given two joint sentences of 2 to 14 years and 10 to 20 years.  Needless to say, he was stunned by the harsh decision and angry at his father.  In prison he became deeply embittered.

The portion of his life’s story that will be explored in this series starts with his release from prison.  We will follow the 14 months after his parole through a series of Solar Return and daily charts.  In those few months, this angry man established himself as a legend among early twentieth century gangsters due to his viscous actions and multiple escapes from the law.  We have to keep in mind that the 1930’s were the years of the great depression, of poor roads, of poor communications between local law enforcement groups.  The newspapers glamorized the robberies from the banks, the shootings of law officers, the ineptness of the authorities in their pursuit of Dillinger and inability to hold onto him once captured.  It made for great reading and most likely fed into the fantasies of Dillinger and his gang members.  Everyone was poor, many had lost farms and homes to the bankers, few could find work.  Dillinger’s escapades became a release from their own tough experiences.

This series of charts will show us how well the MC-Solar Cycle works in most cases but will also show us that our astrological expectations are not always supported by our skills and practices.  There are times when we just have to work with what the chart gives us and not with what we hoped to find there.  This all proves that we don’t know as much about our astrology as we should know — or that there are other factors that impinge on what the charts show us.  The imprint of the natal chart will play a strong role in several of the event charts we will examine.  It almost always does play a strong role.

For those who might wish to review the background of John Dillinger’s criminal activities, the following link should be explored:

http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/famcases/dillinger/dillinger.htm

Comments are always welcome, readers can e-mail me at dadsnook@charter.net

Dave

New Subject for study

Tomorrow, Saturday or Sunday, I’ll post the natal chart for a new study subject.  It will be a complex study.  Dave