The Danger of Catastrophes 

A Study of Timothy McVeigh
'The Okalahoma Bomber'

By Neil Sills PTMAFA DTASNZ 

 
 
Timothy James McVeigh is well known as the Okalahoma Bomber. He bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Okalahoma City on the 19th April 1995 at 9:02 am CDT, 35N30 97W30. He was found guilty of the attack, and sentenced to death by lethal injection. It is interesting to look at the chart of this man.

Timothy McVeigh was born 23 April, 1968, at 8:30 am EST, Lockport NY USA, 43N10 78W42. He was born on the day of Mars in the hour of Venus. As the ruler of his ascendant Mercury is in Taurus and Venus and Mercury are in mutual reception, by Ruler/Term, Triplicity/Term and Term/Term, he would be able to present himself well. In an interview it was said of him he "had a twinkle in his eye and a smile". Mercury trine Jupiter and sextile the Ascendant would give him a charming way, and the Moon Pisces semisquare Sun Taurus would tend to give him an endearing dynamism and charm. He has Moon = Ascendant/MC and this would tend to cause him to be governed by instinct and the Sun = Moon/Pluto gives him an excitable, but sensitive nature. His Gemini Ascendant is apparent in his ranginess of body and his thin face.

His parents separated when he was 10, and this is natally indicated by Saturn = Moon/Mars. However at the time the Transiting Uranus/Neptune was stimulating this midpoint, which can bring on a lack of emotional balance, as well as pulling down a fog over oneself and denying the reality of events. Certainly, with Saturn = Mercury/Asc, he would have had great difficulty in trying to discuss this issue with his family. The transit of Uranus/Neptune was active from January of that year through to December, and on the 25th Dec of the year Transiting Saturn/Uranus also activating his radical Moon/Mars. This must certainly have been a sad time for him. Transiting Neptune was very active throughout the year between 16-18Sagittarius trining Saturn. North Node .Venus but very importantly, square Moon. He and his sister Patty, then aged 12, stayed with their father, but 4 year old Jennifer went with her mother, but came back to the father later. After this event, the mother of one of his friends said that he did not to appear affected by it. "He was always smiling, always polite". He never mentioned his mother, friends reported. 

Timothy always wanted to have people around, and to this end he constructed a skateboard ramp in his driveway, had people shooting basketball in his hoop, constructed a haunted house in the basement, and held casino weekends. He was very entrepreneurial. Pluto = Jupiter/Saturn is a person who is not afraid to work to get his desired ends, and Pluto = Jupiter/North Node gives a desire for harmonious and pleasant contacts with people. This is reinforced by his strong 11th house of friends and rewards from efforts, with go-getter Mars as its ruler. However, Mars is intemperate, and the ruler of his most tenanted house, and conjunct the 12th cusp of self-undoing. (It is also in applying square to Jupiter and this can also overdo things.

McVeigh is very intelligent, however at school he was not a high achiever. He did however win a state scholarship for high scores on standardised tests, which caused a good deal of surprise to his teachers. Jupiter, ruler of his 9th of education, is in the 3rd of restlessness. Jupiter trine Neptune would indicate an ease of drifting into woolly-headedness, and this is reinforced by Neptune = Moon/Mercury, which gives an active imagination and wrong thinking. He admitted to school friends that he was a "survivalist", one of those from the far right of American politics who sees a totalitarian takeover of some kind happening in the US, and who is very strongly supportive of the gun lobby - and indeed often stockpile weapons and food for "when the crunch comes". Uranus = Pluto/A is a midpoint in his chart which could indicate this. This point actively gives a person a constant state of anxiety, and can also indicate frequent change of environment. However, his intelligence was later activated, as we shall soon see. He left school in 1986.

Timothy was in and out of work for some time (Saturn semisquare MC - gives difficulties in the career and occupation). He had said that there were no jobs around unless you wanted "to work for $6.00 or less or at McDonalds or Wendy's". He took some computer courses at a business college, but dropped out because he found them boring. Later no teacher could even remember him (Saturn conjunct North Node-giving a sense of isolation; and also Venus = Sun/Saturn would give him a sense of reserve as well).

In January 1988, he and a friend, David Darlak, bought 10 acres of thickly wooded land for what they claimed was an investment and for hunting. The Moon progressed was square his MC, and Transiting Saturn and Uranus were opposed to his ascendant. Transiting Saturn also trined his Jupiter radical and Transiting Saturn was square his Uranus radical. A year later, when he was in the army, he claimed the land was to be a survivalist bunker. There was a great deal of activity this month from the Transiting Saturn/Uranus (irritability and tension), Saturn/Neptune (suffering renunciation and asceticism), Saturn/Pluto (hard labour and cruelty), Uranus/Neptune (the elimination of waking consciousness) and Neptune/Pluto (the Supernatural, strange ideas). Throughout the month, Transiting Saturn makes eight powerful contacts with midpoints in the chart and Uranus and Neptune make three each. In May of that year, it was reported that McVeigh and two friends spent five hours there one day, shooting and letting off explosives that "rocked the entire valley for hours". 

His decision to enter the army happened very quickly. A friend of his father's suggested it, and within the week he was in. This happened in May of 1988. McVeigh's room mate in training camp in Fort Benning in Georgia recalled having "met an extremely thin, underconfident 20 year old". Transiting Pluto semisquare Uranus radical is the power of transformation. and this occurred in this month. Transiting Pluto contacted his North Node/M, and this brought powerful associations into his life. Transiting Saturn was trine his radical Mercury, the ruler of his Ascendant and 4th, and finally he found a structure which was easy for him to see as a home. In a sense he had come home. On the 17 May, Mars progressed perfected a square to the MC. At last his hopes and wishes are beginning to be fulfilled - or are they? (Mars ruler of 11th - but square).

He became friendly with a man by the name of Terry Nichols, who is 13 years his senior (Saturn = North Node associations with older people), and who has been charged as a co-conspirator in the Okalahoma bombing. They both had the ethos of "survivalism" in common, and were "hard into guns". This association lasted until they were arrested.

When he was moved to Fort Riley in Kansas after training camp, McVeigh's intelligence was illuminated. His entrance tests showed exceptional intelligence, especially in maths, science, electronics and high tech. (Mundane directed Venus opposition Uranus radical). He was considered a rising star, and was the first in company to make sergeant. He had numerous money making schemes, and was always flush with cash (Cancer on the 2nd - acquisitiveness; and Moon in the 10th, opposition Uranus Pluto in the 4th, ruthless money making schemes). He would lend an army buddy $75.00, and receive $100 back on payday. He spurned girls and drink, and ran a taxi service for his army friends as well. He was more interested in his survivalist magazines. MC = Venus/Saturn gives emotional inhibitions and somewhat inhibited desires. It also indicates a person who likes solitude and who would be quite shy in matters of love. It is recorded that when some army friends were encouraging him to go out with a girl his sister was trying to fix him up with, all he could do was stand there and blush. However, the MC = Venus/North Node gives him deep feelings of love, but they are not easily expressed. Likewise, the North Node = Venus/Saturn gives a certain ability to be standoffish in love matters.

Unfortunately, the army was not as secure as it had been in the past. By the end of 1989 the military was being reduced, because the Berlin Wall had fallen and communism along with it. This lead McVeigh to the Green Berets, a specialist unit which funding cuts had not effected.

He had a passion to join the Green Berets, and gave himself a punishing schedule of training to pass the physical. (400 push-ups a day, 50 at a time with 30 minute rests, marching around the post after normal training with an 80 pound weight rucksack and so on.) Pluto = Jupiter/Saturn indicates that he was an individual who was not afraid of any trouble to work towards his goals. He was willing to put immense effort into attaining his desires. However, he did have one failing in the army and that was race. He had been accused of continually giving blacks jobs that were considered lowly. This is seen in the MC = Moon/Mars, which Ebertin calls the "demonstration of intolerance." 

However, by November of 1990, when he was due to tryout for the Green Berets, Saddam Hussein had invaded Kuwait and McVeigh was training for war. At this time, Mundane Primary Directed Uranus was trining Mars radical. Transiting Saturn was trine Pluto radical and transiting Pluto was trine Moon radical. At last he was to be in combat, but it was not what he was looking for. He did not see as much as he would have liked. He was awarded many medals, including the Bronze Star and the "coveted Combat Infantry Badge". He was recalled home soon after the cease-fire and tried out for the Green Berets. As he was unable to keep his conditioning while overseas, he failed the physical. He told a friend "If I can't make the Green Berets I won't rise quickly enough to make the Army worth the effort." This was not the opinion of the army evaluators. He was discharged from the army on the 31 December 1991.

At this time. Mercury progressed was square Moon radical. This seems to indicate that his career was at an end, and that his hopes and ambitions for a career were at a standstill. Transiting Neptune was moving into square Saturn radical, an aspect of demoralisation. Likewise, was Transiting Neptune about to square his North Node and Venus. Here much disillusionment is promised. Transiting Saturn had been square Sun through the end of November until middle December, and this would have been a quite depressing time for him, not helped at all by Transiting Pluto =Uranus/North Node radical. Disappointments were there with Transiting Neptune = Sun/A, as well as a burning anger which could easily be manifested.

He spent his first year out of the army back at home working as a security guard, and it is believed his anti-government sentiments began to slowly evolve at this time. he worked as a security guard and was promoted in May of 1992. At this point there were quite a number of excellent sextiles occurring in his chart with Transiting Saturn, but things were not all rosy. He had argued with his father about some letters to the newspaper he had written, indicating that America was in decline and that a violent solution may have to be the answer. McVeigh's father disapproved of the letters and told him so. A friend of the father suggests that this was the reason that McVeigh left home. "He wanted to be somewhere where he could talk about what he believed". Notice again in the radix that Saturn = Mercury/Asc - the inability to discuss ideas within the family. 

In the middle of 1992 McVeigh linked up with Terry and James Nichols. This was in an area of growing para-military and anti-government organisations. He worked the gun show circuit and conducted a gun business, much of it by mail. He left the National Rifle Association as he believed that their stance on assault weapons was too soft. This was in 1994.

He was greatly effected by the shootout between federal agents and another survivalist, Randy Weaver in August 1992. Weaver's wife and child were killed. At this time Transiting Saturn was sesquiquadrate his Ascendant, and Transiting Pluto trine Pluto radical. He was also on the tail end of Transiting Neptune square Saturn radical. Directed Mercury was opposition Pluto at this time, and this indicates a feeling of an assault on the home base. (Mercury ruler of 4th, and dispositor of Pluto 4th.) Transiting Pluto opposition Mars at this time was also triggering of the Mars =Moon/Venus, =Moon/Saturn, =Saturn/Pluto and =Mercury. Combined together, this stimulation would have brought him to a realisation that his ideals were correct, and that he would have to undergo suffering for him to actually manifest his ideals in a clear and forthright way, including the possibility of public violence.

The Waco inferno on 19 April, 1993 also had a profound effect on him. In April 93, Pluto was transiting his Jupiter =Neptune. Ebertin suggests this contact natally gives "Apparent happiness; a conflict between the ideal visualised and the very different reality". With Pluto = Jupiter/Neptune the formation of unreasonable plans is manifested. So is great loss. At the time of the Waco siege, his mundane directed Mars was conjunct Saturn, perhaps forcing an activity that was fated, as Saturn is in the degree of the nodes. On this day, Transiting Pluto left the Sun/Moon radical, I believe, his mind was made up. I quote the full passage from the Combination of Stellar Influences:

Pluto = Sun/Moon A soul torn by inner conflict, biased attitude to changed circumstances lead to critical phases of development in life or to separation from others.

At this point he was totally radicalised.
 


 

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