Pittsburg Gym Shooter

We're in a new era of total fitness I guess. The Go for the Burn generation really is burning up. This last week-end a guy named George went into a gym and started pelting an aerobics class full of women with bullets. He murdered 3 and thankfully he managed to kill him self. If the afterlife exists they're all stuck with each other. The idea of that just makes me shudder.

Sodini's motive for the shooting is perhaps thought to have been to achieve ever-lasting internet fame through a blog that he wrote. He hadn't had sex since the 80s, couldn't get a date, and spent a lot of time admiring himself in the mirror and not understanding why women weren't falling all over themselves for his attention. So he daintily wrote about his frustrations in his blog. I read a couple of sentences and got bored.

Sorry, George. My blog sucks too.

I thought I'd look at Sodini's chart to understand the prototype for a classic bad date chart so that's why I'm giving it attention. Also it's a classic for seeing how Eclipses can drive a person loco. Pluto's transit would have to be bad. And Mars. And Uranus. And Saturn.

George Sodini
b. Sept. 30, 1960 Pittsburgh, PA (not sure about accuracy of place, birthdate is from Internet)

Sun 8 Libra; Moon Aquarius; NN 15 Virgo

With Sun and Moon in Air Sign, Sodini would perhaps not have been a real sensual guy but he also would have been extroverted. This isn't a loner combination and it is the basic brickwork that sets up the rest of his chart. (This is such a great chart for a creative person. Sordini should have gone into graphic design or fashion design.)

George probably liked to talk a lot to his love interests, Mercury, planet of communication, is also in an Air Sign, Libra. Libra, as ruler of marriage and one-on-one relationships, will either show an extra interest in others, or it can get stucking looking at itself in the mirror, through its vain side which can come out when frustrated. Either way, Libra yearns for relationship as its main ego expression. And as an early Libra Sun, Sodini's Sun was under extra tension from Pluto's transiting square to his Sun. Pluto's cravings make Libra's yearnings look like sandplay. And it sort of looks like Sordini's love life went blank right around the time that his progressed Sun moved into the sign of Scorpio way back when. Pluto/Scorpio rules Sexuality but it also rules Abstinence. This double whammy Scorpio aspect would have been difficult for anyone.

So, there are other elements in George's chart that shows that he would have had other needs that perhaps he couldn't naturally express through all this Sun-Moon Air as well.

For one, his Sun is apex of a t-square to an opposition of Mars in Cancer to Saturn in Capricorn. I seem to keep repeating this that although a Sun-Mars square doesnt' necessarily indicate a shooter, it seems to come up a lot in these shooting charts. I've talked a lot about hard Mars-Saturn aspects, about how difficult they can be for self-expression, like trying to jump a brick wall or trying to drive witht he brakes on. Mars rules a Man's sexual drive and Saturn sort of puts a damper on that energy. A Scorpio Sun native might enjoy the Challenge presented by this t-square aspect. A romantic, gentle Sun in Libra might prefer methods that flow a bit more easily and get really frustrated. Mars in Cancer is a very difficult aspect as it can show a volatility and infantile expression of feeling. Baby doesn't always get what Baby wants and then Baby explodes.

Pluto is doing one more nasty in this chart. Pluto here is in a wide conjunction with the North Node (Destiny) in Virgo. Virgo is perfectionist. Pluto rules Death, Murder, Fame, Deep Desire. There will be a need perhaps for crises to happen so that the individual can feel that his life is unfolding on a big enough and deep enough level of existence. I sort of suspect that the real motive for George was to not have to die alone as an ugly man. Instead he is caught in eternity with the 3 gorgeous women he died with -- no matter the means with which he had to bring this about, ah-hem.

To add to this Sodini has Venus in Scorpio conjunct Neptune in Scorpio. In a man's chart Venus is one of the indicators along with the moon of the types of women he's attracted to. In this case he would have been attracted to women who are probably not very intellectual or verbal. He probably also had an unrealistic overly idealized version of women and romantic relationships in general. In conjunction with Neptune there is a feeling of always being the Martyr, always giving and never receiving, or perhaps of being attracted to unobtainable women. This combination is trining natal Mars in Cancer so George may have found his ideal early on in life and simply couldn't match it. Perhaps a Miss Havisham complex? He may also have had some bad luck in dating women who were addicts.

Also, when George went into the gym and wasted a bunch of lives on Sunday, he was under the influence of the set of 3 Eclipses that happened this Summer. The last one was yesterday which perhaps hit his natal Moon in Aquarius. T.Venus was in conjunction with his natal Mars which set off his angry and controlling Sun-Mars-Saturn t-square. T.Mercury was conjunct his natal Pluto in Virgo distorting his thinking process, ideal for leaving a written blog which would give him his 15 minutes of fame in the world, after death.

Natally, Sodini had a trine of Jupiter in Sagittarus trine Uranus 5 Leo which shows that he was hooked into a feeling of sportsmanship and good physicality that is typical of his generation. So I suppose it makes sense that he "chose" to die with the ladies who were in their prime and looking good. This trine was under hard opposition from the Jupiter-Chiron-Neptune conjunction in Aquarius which was opposing his natal Uranus. The Moon was in Aquarius on the day of the murders. The Moon on this date was in Aquarius. This means that Sodini was having a monthly Lunar Return, obviously feeling extra emotional (Moon) stress from the build up to yesterday's Eclipse. In simple terms that means that this was a difficult Full Moon for George.

George really wanted to get a Date badly.

In George's Progressed Chart his P.Sun is in a square aspect to p.Uranus at 26-27 degrees Scorpio. This is a stressful aspect which could make an individual act in a way which is shocking. His inner planets have never gone through any Retrogrades. I sort of wonder if a difficult chart like this wouldn't benefit from such an astrological event as Progressions sort of scramble up the energy that they are hitting. Maybe adds a few problems to the personality but slows down the arrogance a bit.

I'm a little shaky on the time of the shooting. Remember the days when the News gave Who, What, When, Where? How? No matter, I'd screw it all up with typos anyway.

Info I'm using is:

Aug. 4, 2009 8 pm Bridgeville, PA

Sun 13 Leo; ASC 4 Aquarius; Moon 2 Aquarius; NN 30 Capricorn; MC 26 Scorpio

This puts the approaching Full Moon pretty much right over the Ascendant/Descendant Axis. Moon/NN rules Women. It is also Sordini's natal Moon Sign.

The Sun is in the 7th House of, get this, partners. Sordini's natal Sun is in the 8th House of Murder/Motives. Saturn (Bitterness) in the event chart is conjunct the 8th House cusp along with Sordini's North Node. Uranus is widely opposing this from the H2 cusp.

The Venus/Pluto opposition spans the H5-H11 axis. (Romance, Sports, Groups).

Mars is squaring Saturn from H4. This square is relating to the ASC/Moon through a Thor's Hammer figure.