Amanda Knox for ever associated with the murder of Meredith Kercher though twice found innocent has landed in the UK on a promotional tour for her latest documentary Mouth of the Wolf settling scores with the Italian prosecutor who got it wrong.
What is uncomfortable about her story is not only her tone-deafness to the pain of Meredith’s family who accuse her of attempting to profit from the murder with her public activities but the difficulty of establishing a balanced and empathetic view of her situation. Wrongly accused, four years in prison, her parents insolvent due to legal fees so her early money-making memoir etc was to rectify their situation and 17 years after she was still fighting legal battles in Italy.
What is not to sympathise with? She continues to fight an uphill battle, working for the wrongly accused and against “the gendered nature of public shaming” and trial by media who having dubbed her as Foxy Knoxy, as she later put it herself, as a “psychotic man-eater, the dirty ice queen”.
One commentator said “The idea of a female Satanic killer, too beautiful to be trusted, was a particularly male salacious fantasy used to distract the world from the horribly mundane reality of male violence.”
But even at this distance with Merdeith’s male killer having served a long prison sentence and now back facing further later sexual assault charges, it is difficult to connect to Knox’s understandable torment about her situation.
Her husband, the film-maker Christopher Robinson, said: “Amanda’s out of prison, but she’s not out of the prison of public vilification. One of our goals is to round the corner on that reputational battle before [our daughter] feels she has to defend her mom online.”
She was born 9 July 1987 2.47am Seattle, VA, and two aspects leap out immediately. The first is her 8th house Neptune (conjunct Part of Fortune) opposition Venus Mercury and widely opposition Sun in Cancer in her 2nd house of finances. It brings to mind Martin Moritz’s description of the 8th house – “associated with entanglements, power games, boundary crossings, or dealing with taboos.” “It is almost impossible to differentiate between good and evil, black and white, hero and villain. Things are muddled and mixed up.” And Neptune there muddies the water further. Not that it is her fault remotely but it is the fate she was handed.
That plus a tricky Mars in Leo square Pluto in Scorpio which is not easy to live out in a constructive way and if suppressed in the unconscious tends to attract hostility and even dangerous situations.
Her Sun is exactly square Eris, hinting at a tendency to arouse discord but also to act as a catalyst for change.
Her 1st house Chiron in Gemini can result in self-defeating and destructive thought patterns originating in childhood hurts which make clear communication about certain subjects difficult. Her Chiron is also opposition Moon and Uranus which can bring erratic emotional reactions which may go some way to explaining her odd behaviour when first arrested. Long term, Chiron Uranus can be a force for good in promoting positive changes.
Her chart relocated to Perugia in Italy puts her Chiron on the Midheaven.
Chariklo, the centaur in her 1st house, has an overtone of having to live with eternal suffering – though again long term will help her help others.
When she was arrested in 2007 tr Pluto was about to move into her trapped 8th house; and tr Uranus was square her Saturn for a considerable jolt.
She will get an uplift tr Uranus conjunct her Jupiter from this July on and off into 2027, bringing luck and relief. But her time ahead does not look without its struggles. Her Solar Arc Midheaven will conjunct her Saturn this year which will be discouraging; with a jolting/insecure Solar Arc Uranus opposition her Mars after the middle of this year into 2027 (which will rattle up her Mars square Pluto); followed in 2027 by a seriously stuck SA Pluto conjunct her Saturn in 2027. 2027 will be a year of significant change with tr Uranus moving into her 1st house as she strives for freedom and in 2028 tr Pluto will conjunct her Midheaven for a forced change of life or career direction.
She was not fated to have an easy life, for sure, but her Aries Node in the 11th along with other aspects does suggest she could walk an independent road to making a difference out in society.
[Years ago I met a women at a group workshop whose ‘story’ was she had never been believed – about anything from childhood onwards. I have often wondered since then quite what psychological/astrological pattern that came from.]
With her Nodal axis squared by Venus/Mercury opposition Neptune which forms a Cardinal Grand Cross, I also wonder if this is a heavy debt or fate at play, whilst realising how generalised and vague that sounds. It’s awful to not be believed, a terrible place of isolation and reputational imprisonment.
When I look at the chart of Joanne Lees (25/9/1973) who was wrongfully suspected of murdering boyfriendPeter Falconio while travelling in a camper van in the Australian wilderness, and subjected to intense scrutiny and scepticism at the hands of the Australian media, where like Amanda she was cast in this role of evil,scheming Jezabel. one cannot help but notice that she also shares some challenging nodal aspects. In her case, her North Node at 3 Capricorn conjunct BML at 4 degrees and her SN conjuncts Saturn at 3 and 4 of Cancer, while being squared by her Sun/Pluto at 2 and 3 of Libra. Another Cardinal nodal Grand Cross. She also has a Yod on her Saturn/South Node, with Neptune sextile Jupiter making up the legs.
I’ve just remembered that Lees was yet another individual whose reputation was harmed by an interview she gave with Martin Bashir. Like Amanda, her reactions were judged to be inappropriate – according to the press, she did not cry enough or show adequate emotion during the interview. It was yet another example of ‘trial by television’.