Who's the "Craiglist Killer?"

OK, enough of Susan Boyle and the merry-go-round of birthdays! So now we've got the quinitisential American story...a medical student who allegedly enjoys the services of those gainfully employed in erotic businesses, who gambles his money and is accussed of committing murder! Right now Pluto is square Venus/Mars (in Aries), so let's get into it...

Philip Markoff (2/12/1986) is suspected of being the "Craiglist Killer." This chart is quite easy to see major karmic disturbance. He's got Pluto in Scorpio conjunct the South Node in Scorpio. So, he's here to work on resolving the dark. Now, everyone who has a signature like this is not primed to be a murderer! Far from it. It points to past-life familiarity with unresolved Scorpio issues (conflict, sexuality, psychological pain, etc.), which is brought up for healing and integration. The failure to do this soul work results in some kind of disturbing outcome, but that is a suboptimal response.

Markoff has an Aries Moon, which suggests (among other things) unfinished emotional issues of anger or rage in his soul. I don't have his birthtime, so I'm not sure of the degree of this Aries Moon, but it's possible that transiting Pluto is squaring it right now. This would mean quite the confrontation with his karmic issues of the dark being felt right now. Venus did retrograde in Aries over his Moon, while transiting Mars is now in Aries conjoining it.

How about this? Markoff has his Aquarius Sun conjunct both Jupiter and Venus in Aquarius. In the present life (Sun), he is learning greater detachment (Aquarius) and the ability to connect with others (Venus) in joyful (Jupiter) ways. Transiting Jupiter is all over this stellium right now, a Jupiter return! You will not read that this event correlates with murder in any astrology book, but it makes perfect sense. It raises confidence and does amplify tendencies to act in manic or unhinged ways. We tend not to see consequences in big Jupiter times. Also, Aquarius can be detached, and this tendency of his was augmented. He is famous now, which sounds like a stimulation to his world-focused Aquarius attunement, especially with popularity-concerned Jupiter/Venus involved. He's just doing it with his Scorpio South Node and Aries Moon activated!

It's sad to see such tragedy resulting from soul wounding. Astrology does give us some insight into why people do such things, but it is cold comfort when bodies pile up. I do think that having awareness is preferred over being unconscious. This gives us the impetus to change not only ourselves, but contribute to collective healing. If astrology can catalyze some momentum in that direction, it is more than worth exploring. And we should also feel the severity of what happened in this situation, not just understand it, for empathy or love is what heals...