JFK was shot on 22 November 1963 sixty years ago this week, an event which shook the USA and the world and gave rise to innumerable conspiracy theories. Astrology won’t solve the mystery but the aspects of the moment were extraordinarily apt.
The previous Solar Eclipse in July 1963 at 27 degrees Cancer was exactly opposition the USA Pluto, which triggered the USA Pluto opposition Mercury which is prone to getting facts twisted to suit obsessive viewpoints.
There have been a handful of Solar Eclipses around this degree through the 20th century, not all of which coincided with such a devastating event. Though several of them did. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The 1925 Santa Barbara earthquake. 1944/45 end of WW11 and Hiroshima. The 1963 Martin Luther King ‘I have a Dream’ speech. 1990 Gulf War as Iraq invades Kuwait. 2009/10 – recession.
The 27 degree Cancer Eclipse was also exactly conjunct JFK’s 10th house Saturn in Cancer conjunct Midheaven. Eclipses on a natal Saturn can be a time of paying the price for past actions. Especially with Saturn in the 10th, any infractions from the straight and narrow path tend to bring retribution. [The Mafia?}
The Lunar Eclipse of July that year in Capricorn was exactly square the USA Saturn and opposition the USA Cancer Sun – so sparking a major crisis for the USA; again a Saturnine comeback about falling short on societal responsibilities and awareness, as well as fair-mindedness in relationships. Which could point to the Civil Rights battle being fought. Although it might also point to the reality of JFK’s marriage.
Relocating JFK’s chart to Dallas puts Pluto conjunct his Midheaven, which is always deemed as indicating a high risk area. Though it needs additional back up from transits to the natal chart before activating. The tr Uranus Pluto conjunction in Virgo had been hovering around his Solar Arc Saturn (Pluto conj Sat exactly in the September). His Solar Arc Mars was within a degree conjunct his Pluto, which would considerably elevate the danger; doubled in intensity with his SA Pluto being square his Mars as well. And transiting Saturn was within a degree of squaring his 8th house Mars which again is accident/disaster prone.
He had a classic 8th house chart, 29 May 1917 3pm Brookline, Massachusetts, with his Gemini Sun there as well as Jupiter, Algol, Mercury and Mars all conjunct in Taurus trine a Virgo Moon. His Sun was conjunct Venus on the cusp of the 9th. He had Saturn conjunct Neptune in his 10th – hope for a better society and creative though also a worrier. He was an opinionated/influential speaker with a 9th house Pluto and a romantically wayward Uranus in the 5th.
Mars in the 8th is sometimes written up in old texts as a risky placing though I have known some with it live into their 90s so does not always follow.
His 8th house would weigh him down with his ancestral history with grandparents on both side being politicians and before that Irish immigrants who fled the Great Famine in the 1840s. It would also give him the ability to project an aura – the dream of Camelot which was more vision than reality, perhaps as a result of Jupiter’s lofty glow. And hiding many a dark family secret with Mars in Taurus.