Peter Sutcliffe, the serial killer, known as the Yorkshire Ripper has died in prison. He was convicted in 1981 for murdering 13 women, mainly though not all prostitutes, and attempting to murder seven others. He was sentenced to 20 lifetimes in prison and spent most of his incarceration in Broadmoor Hospital for the criminally insane diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. He said at his trial that the voice of God had sent him to kill the women and told friends recently he would be welcomed into heaven as a Jehovah’s Witness.
Born 2 June 1946 8.30pm Bingley, England, he did have an exceptionally troubled chart with a packed 8th house of Moon Saturn in Cancer, Pluto and Mars in Leo and Venus in Cancer, suggesting a truly difficult family inheritance in terms of psychological strain. His Gemini Sun was conjunct Uranus Mercury in his 7th trine a 10th house Jupiter in Libra with Neptune also in Libra conjunct his Midheaven.
When he started his five year murderous spree in 1975 his emotionally wounded Moon Saturn had moved by Solar Arc to conjunct his Mars, which is the classic assassination signature. Tr Pluto was also moving through his 10th during the killing years, exacerbating his need to be in a dominant position. Police incompetence allowed him to continue longer than it should.
At the moment the tr Jupiter Pluto conjunction is exactly opposition his Moon Saturn putting an end to a destructive life. His Progressed Moon is just across his IC into his 4th giving him some peace, but opposition his Progressed Mars exposing his anger at women mercifully for a final time.
His strongest Harmonic is oddly enough not the 18H which is often the case with serial killers, but the 16H. In numerology this is the number of destruction and warns against catastrophes, disappointments, humiliations. Life can change completely. Sometimes this is self-inflicted. And his 7H, which can be mentally finely balanced.
Add On: His ex-wife, Sonia Sutcliffe, continues to own and return to their marital home though she lives elsewhere in a flat bought by her second husband. Sutcliffe evidently remained obsessed with her until he died. She stood by him through the trial and only divorced a decade after his conviction.
She was born 10 August 1950, the daughter of Ukrainian and Polish immigrants and was treated for schizophrenia in her 20s. According to wiki a journalist who had many conversations with Sonia, described her as “the most irritating, strangest and coldest person I’ve ever met. She’s so incredibly prickly and demanding”. She lost a libel action against The News of the World which had claimed she benefited financially from her husband’s crimes.
She’s a controlling Sun Pluto in Leo which was conjunct Sutcliffe’s 8th house Mars – and she was evidently domineering towards him. Her Venus in Cancer was also conjunct his 8th house Moon Saturn with her Mars in square to his Moon Saturn; and her Uranus (Moon) in Cancer was conjunct his 8th house Venus. What an intense, deep-rooted and complicated attachment.
Their relationship chart had an affectionate composite Sun Venus Moon in an illusory square to Neptune; and adventurous Jupiter opposition Uranus squaring onto Mars, for a volatile, drama-filled bond; with a chained-together Saturn Pluto conjunction.
Why did he hate women? He stalked women he knew were not prostitutes and I believe killed prostitutes because they are easy to access for murder. Not as a mission from God as he claimed. What was his father like? What kind of a home did he come from? Many men are born strange with difficulties and the family home often is what stops them from becoming criminal.
Something else worth remembering with these Gem/Can and Sag/Cap combinations is that planets can go out of bounds (OOB) in these signs. Sutcliffe has both the Moon and Venus at an extreme declination. In fact, almost everything in his chart is at the 21-24n range.
Not that everyone with an OOB planet becomes a serial killer of course. Often there will more often be positive effects, such as success despite there being something in the background that would hold them back under normal circumstances; Oprah Winfrey’s OOB Moon comes to mind here. But there is certainly a maverick quality and more willingness to go against societal norms, which probably isn’t such a great mix with psychiatric instability.
Sonia Sutcliffe Moon is even more extreme, a maximum 28S. I’ve never seen a couple with both before. Interesting how she was described and the keeping of the marital home.
I have read that he adored her and that she was the dominating force in his life. He even adored her after the divorce.
I have read that she refused to sell the house because Peter’s share would have been used to compensate victims and families of victims. I did wonder at the extent of her influence over him.
Interesting the amount of Gemini ruling the lungs and getting covid.
Unsurprising that Sutcliffe is back in the news right now… He was born about a week and a half before Donald Trump. We’re all tuned in to the Gemini/Cancer show…
Thanks Marjorie. A chilling individual. A recent documentary showed that he was an opportunist when choosing his victims, and that accounts for the women who were sex workers – generally a much more vulnerable and visible group, making them easy targets. Unfortunately the police were less interested in evidence from several survivors of Sutcliffe’s attacks because they weren’t sex workers and therefore did not fit police theories and “profile” at the time. Had they paid attention, they would have had a very accurate physical description of Sutcliffe to help them in their investigation.
I noticed his Saturn in Cancer aligns with fixed star Pollux, the ‘Dark Twin’ of the Gemini pair. This star has a reputation for cruelty, malevolence and violence – either internalised, or sometimes manifesting in the outer world as attacks, enemies or opponents. Asteroid Apophis also aligns with Saturn. Apophis was the Egyptian god of primal chaos, darkness, and oblivion. He is represented as a serpent. Egyptian mythology has him locked into an eternal struggle with the Sun – night and day, darkness and light. Sometimes those asteroids do deliver symbolic messages in a chart, which is why I sometimes check them.
And June, 1946…..I wondered why it seemed familiar, and then I realised. We’ve been studying someone born that month intensively for the past four years!
Yep, I realised the same thing, Jane – born only 12 days before our orange friend. Has the same Venus/Saturn in Cancer, Mars in Leo only with the moon and in the 8th. Trump’s involvement with sex workers, which I feel is a Venus/Saturn expression resonates too.
Looking at that parental axis – wow, the MC/IC rulers all together in the 8th house mixed in with Saturn and Pluto. What a dark ancestral legacy? And he had no water.
I was a schoolgirl at the time of the murders. I remember the attitudes towards the victims at the time – the late 70s in the U.K. was not a great time to be a very young girl – due to the stigma of being sex workers. You hope that times have changed.
Sorry, he did have Cancerian planets so did have water!
(Brain fog)
Yes I hope times have changed too, but there’s a long way to go. Denis Neilsen’s victims were also stimagtised because most of them were young, gay men. But “blame the victim” has long been a popular game hasn’t it? Perhaps it’s a defensive move, a protection against thinking “it could have been me”?
I was curious about how this difficult chart might work out for someone else. The Scottish actor, Brian Cox, was born 1st June, 1946. He reportedly had a very difficult childhood and tough start in life, but has gone on to lasting success in his career. Curiously, he was the first actor to portray fictional serial killer, Hannibal Lecter. And has often been a villainous or brooding character in many roles since, somehow channeling some of those tensions into his work.
That’s interesting regarding Brian Cox and how he lives that chart. ‘Manhunter’ is the film in which he played Lecter and I’ve seen it quite a few times. His portrayal of Lecter was far more effective and subtle than that of Anthony Hopkins, I thought.
Chris, Most Brits are vehemently opposed to the death penalty, myself included. Retribution is wrong, it brutalises society and innocent people die, such are the flaws in the justice system. It also fails to act as a deterrent.
Prostitutes are often considered to be less than human. I wish for their sakes they are remembered only as woman, innocent and blameless women.
Laura
@ Lorrylau / Laura,
I have to disagree. The death penalty does indeed act as an excellent deterrent (at least here in the States it does). There many murderers and serial killers who’ve offered vital information to detectives and police (like revealing where the victim’s bodies are located, etc.) in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table.
It’s not so much about retribution; it’s about justice for the victims and their families. I believe people who rape, torture, and murder other people (especially children) deserve to be executed. They’re a danger to society and they cannot be rehabilitated.
I do think every person is deserving of a fair trial and I also believe if there is any reasonable doubt or if new forensic evidence discovered, then the accused should be granted every opportunity possible to prove their innocence.
The U.K. has a much lower murder rate and few violent crimes than the U.S., so I’m not too surprised that British people would oppose the death penalty. However, I just simply disagree…that’s all.
Here in Florida, we’ve had some of the worst and most notorious serial killers in the country including: Judy Buenoano, Aileen Wuornos, Ted Bundy, Danny Rolling, and Gary Ray Bowles. They were all executed…and frankly, none of us were sorry to see them go.
A friend of mine here in Jacksonville lost her father to murder back in 2006. It turned out that the perpetrator had previously murdered an elderly woman. He’s on death row. My friend’s younger sisters became introverts for years after their father’s murder and have only recently begun to reconnect with society.
All in all, I’m a very liberal-minded person on most social issues. However, dealing with violent crime is really the only issue where I hold very conservative views.
Hello there, it is always amazing that mass murderers keep going (but what do I know?).
Sutcliffe is a Sun Gemini with a Moon/Saturn conjunction in Cancer. You will remember Richard Speck in the US who killed those nurses (Sun Sag, Moon Cancer) – and Ted Bundy Sun/Moon Sag, Moon conjunct Mars in Sag. There was a Scots fellow Dennis Nilsen living in London, who killed men some years ago and buried them under his floorboards, Sun Sag Moon/Saturn conj Cancer.
Sun Sag is humorous, affable and outgoing, the Cancer Moon is kind, family minded and caring……..it staggers me that this combination can be found in these types of charts consistently, i.e. that it is not a one off, but consistently achieved without being caught for many years…..
Maggy, I believe Sagittarius features so much in the charts of killers because it’s the sign of the hunter or predator. There is a dark side to this sign and it’s reflected in the myths around the centaurs and their lawless and violent behaviour, they were notorious for their habitual abduction and rape of young women. It doesn’t surprise me one bit that Ted Bundy had a Sag Moon/Sun/Mars!
As for Cancer moons, I’ve also noticed that Cancer moons in men can sometimes reflect a kind of narrow, very traditional, conservative attitude to women and their role.
Virgoflake,
I’ve been wondering if it could be to do with the theory of precession of the equinoxes….that could be an astronomical explanation, since the preceding sign (Scorpio) would be prevalent. I am amazed to know Sag is violent, I thought they would just laugh and move onto the next one. It is usually easy going (on it’s own without heavy contacts) and Cancer is very approachable, so maybe it’s the casual approach but I’d love to know the maths equation that gets at least 3 of them with Sag Sun/Cancer Moon….am I the only one who finds it entirely against expectation?
Thanks Maggy.
Every sign has its light, shades of grey and darker tones, even Cancer. My father was the most Cancerian man I’ve ever met and he had 6 planets in Cancer, but he really struggled in life because that overload of Cancer meant he couldn’t cope with his emotions and would retreat or reach for alcohol. I don’t see Scorpio as any darker than any other sign tbh and I think poor Scorpio gets a terribly bad press in popular astrology. For example Marcus Rashford has a Scorpio Moon, as do I as well as 3 other Scorpio planets. I’m not intending to go out murdering people, nor am I jealous, possessive, power-motivated or Machiavellian, probably a bit too obsessive though and my husband tells me I tend to look at the shadow side of things too much and to lighten up!
Btw, I’ve just thought of yet another Sag killer – Rose West, who predated on young girls by driving around Gloucestershire with Fred and picking up hitchhikers – very Sagittarian.
Absolutely agree with you VF. Life and death is not a game to Scorpio
Yes, the centaurs – definitely up for a fight, or worse. I think, with Dennis Nilsen the symbolism is quite telling – he is said to have ‘killed for company’. He went out to pubs (Sagittarian sociability), picked up his victims, and always took them to his home (Cancer). Which is where the poor souls remained, once dead.
I agree, VF, about Cancer Moons in men. It seems to be quite difficult to express somehow. From my own experience with two Cancerian grandfathers, I think being a Cancerian male isn’t always easy either. They were both lovely to me, but prone to hissy fits within the wider family. Quite a bit of sulking and flouncing as I recall!
Yes, you’re right, the centaur is a risk taker, optimistic and sure of themselves. I remember years ago writing to some psychologist (Professor Canter?) in UK when two young girls went missing – not the Soham story though – and asked (seeing he was a psychologist, and my friends in the same line but not in UK are aware of the value astrology contributes to their discipline) if he used astrological techniques in combination with his own. I didn’t receive an answer but still think it common sense to collate as much useless (perhaps) info as possible at the beginning and sift it through….there is always a strong connection between victim and perpetrator. Many police forces use psychics and mediums to assist them on tough cases, and openly admit their hugely valuable input. The people who help the police have the same motivation – solving the crime – and are not after acknowledgment or glory, just a result.
I agree, Lorry I don’t want the death penalty in my country either.
Yes, I agree too. I think the measure of a civilisation is how it treats its worst elements and the death penalty only brutalises a society. And that’s before you consider the issue of people being killed by the state in error. I haven’t heard of any serial killers serving only 10-15 years, Chris. I think any country that retains the death penalty has some way to go in terms of humanitarian progress and I am glad I live in a country that has a more enlightened attitude towards its worst offenders.
I read a lot of true crime and I’m familiar with Peter Sutcliffe. It’s really a travesty that every country in Europe (except for Belarus) has gotten rid of the death penalty. I find it even more appalling that European countries are so lenient when dealing with violent crime. I’ve read about so many terrorists, murderers, and serial killers in the UK and in continental Europe who’ve been let out of prison after serving maybe 10-15 years. It’s ridiculous that European countries are so weak when dealing with violent crime.
If Peter Sutcliffe had murdered 13 women here in Florida, he would’ve been sentenced to death and executed years ago (people in this state don’t sit on death row for very long). I believe we’re the only state in the U.S. now where even drug traffickers can receive the death penalty (that part I don’t agree with). We’re also one of the few states that still has the electric chair (which I do like and fully support).
Anyway, when I read about the murders Peter Sutcliffe committed, it gives me chills. And I get so angry when I read about how incompetent the West Yorkshire Police was regarding the murders – it was almost as if they didn’t care about these women at all.
For the record, in the true crime books I’ve read that profile Peter Sutcliffe, there appears to be a lot of controversy as to his motive and to his true state of mind. Apparently, Sutcliffe’s “paranoia schizophrenia” diagnosis is debatable.
@Lorrylau, this. It isn’t some novel idea, either, death penalty was questioned as early as early 18th century. Italian jurists Gianbattista Vico’s ideas were inspiring many thinkers in the late 18th century, and have surprising freshness today (I read Vico as part of my Italian Language & Culture studies). Somehow, developed societies that got rid of the death penalty first – sometimes de facto as early as the 19th century – also have generally speaking much lower rates of violent crime than the ones with death penalty still enforced.
There will, obviously, always be a small percentage of criminals who can’t be cured or redeemed, but they can, effectively, be “contained”. Not only, they can be studied. People often forget that “profiling” as we know it only has been done for 40 or so years. Pioneers of the practise greatly benefitted from having access to “neutralized” serial killers and terrorist
@Solaia, Agreed that judicial killing contaminates a society no matter how appalling the crime. Interesting that profilers have benefited from being allowed to study them.
The old Alchemists believed in the process of lead being turned into gold – and I’m speaking metaphorically in the Jungian sense of spiritual or psychological transformation – that there would always be some residue left over. The dross which was not capable of transformation they called the “terra damnata”. Which isn’t a bad description of the Sutcliffes of this world.
While I believe with more resources and training there is a possibility of redemption for many, there are others who can’t be cured or remodelled and just need to be quarantined away from society. So much the better if they can, however unwittingly, be helpful in expanding knowledge of malfunctioning humanity.
Justice isn’t always perfect though Chris, under your system we probably would have executed the Guildford Four? In some ways you could even argue we have more faith in God’s judgement than our own, which isn’t what you’d expect from a much more secular society than the USA.
“Lock em up, but let God sort it out in his own time” it seems much more faithful to a higher power, in a way that should appeal to a more Christian society, but clearly doesn’t. Strange one that. But every society has its own attitudes.
In regards to a Gemini/Sag type serial killer, particularly the type that craves notoriety and attention, leaving them to rot in a cell for life is far worse a punishment for them than all the drama and ritual of execution. There are people in the UK who would like the death penalty for certain crimes, but the main attitude seems to be “lock them up and throw away the key”. Lenient sentences upset people more, but we need to be very cautious about letting populism and politics enter that arena.