Please note: Subject headings in this paper are almost identical to those in the O.J. and Nicole Simpson paper until we get to the actual chart comparisons. That is, material under subject headings titled Introduction, Method, Mars and Saturn in Synastry, Locality Angles, and Some Chart Definitions are nearly identical. Material thereafter in this paper, beginning with the subject heading Starting Compound Mars and Saturn Sets Between David and Jonelle, is unique to the Ariens.

Introduction
I have written a number of papers demonstrating the difficulty people experience who have mars and saturn influencing Angles in their charts. By "influencing" I mean they are either "on" Angles (with 2°) or they are in a set which has a light (sun/moon/node) and one of the planets in the set rules an Angle. For instance, see the paper on Financial Loss. Or see the one on Mental Retardation. I have also written papers on the good fortune experienced by those whose charts have Angular venus and jupiter. For instance, see the paper on Gurus. Or, see the one on Lottery Winners Or, just look at O.J. Simpson’s life before his wife’s death. (He has venus conjunction jupiter in Libra on his birth 4th house cusp (i.C.), that is, opposite B MC. Astrologically, that is the reason he won't spend his life in jail (good fortune at end of life--jupiter conjunct the I.C., and, when he is in jail, he will always find favor with the ladies--lesser and greater benefics conjunct on I.C. in Libra, the sign of relationships.) Links to all of the above papers can be found at the bottom of the Home Page, link for that above.

Here are links to all the synastry papers. If you want to see the greatest venus/jupiter vs. mars/saturn contrast read the Browning and Simpson papers. The links: . Comments on Synastry--Astrological Compatibility--Using This Form of Astrology

Synastry, The Astrology of Venus and Jupiter Between Charts, the Sixth Couple: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward

Synastry, The Astrology of Mars and Saturn Between Charts, the Sixth Couple: Michel and Francoise Gauquelin

Synastry, The Astrology of Venus and Jupiter Between Charts, the Fifth Couple: the D Family

Synastry, The Astrology of Mars and Saturn Between Charts, the Fifth Couple: the F Family

Synastry, The Astrology of Venus and Jupiter Between Charts, the Fourth Couple: Ronald and Nancy Reagan

Synastry, The Astrology of Mars and Saturn Between Charts, the Fourth Couple: Carol and Michael Damon and Homicide/Suicide

Synastry, The Astrology of Venus and Jupiter Between Charts, the Third Couple: Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst

Synastry, The Astrology of Mars and Saturn Between Charts, the Third Couple: Sandra and William A. and Her Homicide

Synastry, The Astrology of Venus and Jupiter Between Charts, the Second Couple: Queen Victoria and Albert, Prince of England

Synastry, The Astrology of Venus and Jupiter Between Charts, the First Couple: Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Synastry, The Astrology of Mars and Saturn Between Charts Using the Charts of O.J. Simpson and His Deceased Wife, Nicole

This paper is about the problems mars and saturn create when they exist in two separate charts but are conjunct, square, or opposition each other and an Angle. If I was writing about this condition within one chart, I would state mars and saturn were “in the same set.” But since here we are comparing planets in two charts (also known as synastry), I cannot call them sets. I will have to call them something else. I have chosen the term, “compound set.”

A compound set consists of planets from the charts of two individuals, that are conjunct, square, or opposition each other. Allowable orb is 2° (unless a light—sun, moon, or node—is involved, in which case the orb can go up to about 3-1/2°). Compound sets are more powerful if they contain a light (sun, moon, or node). They are most powerful when they contain either an Angle or the ruler of an Angle.

In the Simpson paper I stated the follow-up paper would be about a couple involved in murder who died in a locality different from their births. David and Jonelle Arien were born in Louisville, Kentucky. Both died in San Francisco, California.

To illustrate compound sets here, I have used the astrology between the Ariens at the time of their deaths.

According the my data source, David was an American manic-depressive paranoid with big schemes. He married fellow astrologer Jonelle in early 1976. When he was caught shoplifting by a clerk on June 30, 1982, he pulled a gun, threatened her and fled. When police stopped him for questioning on July 6, 1982, he shot the officer and fled, shooting his wife and himself a short time later.

The information provided on Jonelle is as follows: American astrologer; married David early 1976, 10 days after meeting him in an astrology class. Subservient to him, she was shot to death by him July 6, 1982, San Francisco, CA.

Before we get to those comparisons, I want to say something about this astrological method.

Method
This astrological method is not the traditional Western one. It is not traditional, period. True, it uses sidereal astrology, the predominant (traditional) astrology of the East. It also uses the Egyptian harmonic. Both are quite old. This method started with me in 1983. Its working rules were not inherited. They were uncovered gradually through years of research. As they were uncovered, a system which at first seemed too complex became almost too simple. Here are those rules: Chart Rules. The following paper discusses the derivation of this method: Method. And there is a paper discussing the practical implications of sidereal versus tropical astrology at Sidereal vs. Tropical Astrology.

In this paper we want to look at the negative synastry between two people at a certain moment in time. The "time” is the day and time of Jonelle and David Arien’s death (July 6, 1982, time of day unknown). For the most part their negative synastry involves looking at their compound sets involving mars and saturn, the lesser and greater malefics of astrology.

Mars and Saturn in Synastry
Mars and saturn in the same compound set produce one of the most difficult synastry situations that exist between two people. Here I have used the synastry of a couple, but these sets work the same among any two people—boss and employee, siblings, parent and child, friends, co-workers, and so on.

In astrology, mars is the symbol for aggression, assertion, cutting, tearing, breaking down, martial, penetrating, and so on. Saturn is the symbol that represents our deepest fears and our least understood limitations. Saturn also stands for deficiency, want, deprivation, darkness, depression, crystallization, sterility, and old age. In old age we become brittle and crystallized, i.e., unable or unwilling to change our ways. In youth, our crystallization (that is, fragility, rigidity, vulnerability) as it is represented by saturn is hidden deep in our personality where it was unconsciously cast during our early childhood. Generally, we are not aware of it, nor do we want to know it exists.

For the purpose of discussion about compound sets, let’s call the individual who contributes mars to the set the “mars individual,” and the one who contributes saturn, the “saturn individual.” It should be easy to see from the defining words used for mars and saturn that when they operate between two individuals some one (the saturn individual) is going to feel aggressed—cut and penetrated—in the most vulnerable, least understood part of his psyche. It almost always starts out that the mars individual inadvertently steps on the delicate toes of the saturn individual. This can go on for a long time (years), but not forever. Eventually the saturn individual “rises up” and figuratively, if not literally, flattens the mars person. At that point, the mars individual can wonder, “what did I do to deserve this?” The mars individual had seen his aggression as “natural” and the other individual’s sometimes apparent discomfort as “weakness.” Seen it, that is, if he has bothered to notice it at all. He wasn’t intending harm, he was just “being himself.” After all, what are you supposed to do if by just being yourself you are making another individual uncomfortable—stop being yourself?

When two individual share more than one compound mars/saturn set interaction gets tricky, indeed. Then the same individual can be both aggressor and the victim, depending on which set she is operating out of at the time.

My understanding of compound mars/saturn sets comes from experience as well as research. Some times when I hear of a long, drawn out, bitter divorce between two people I imagine they have at least one compound mars/saturn set between them. When two individuals share one or more compound mars/saturn sets, we have happened upon the astrological situation in which each individual believes himself sincerely in the right as well as sincerely wronged by the other individual. Each tells himself or herself that it would take little for the other individual to make things “right.” Each believes the other individual, therefore, meanly holding out. Each is in pain. Each ends up believing the other individual is fortuitously augmenting that pain. This leads to endless mutual recriminations, both imaginative and verbal. And, of course, it can escalate to violence.

One can live with another with whom they share a compound mars/saturn. It happens, unfortunately, between some parents and their children. Too, it happens among couples when they also share strong positive sets. The positive sets provide the motivation—the liking, loving, pleasure, comfort, laughter, highs—to be together. At first, the quarrels, hurt feelings, and rifts sponsored by the mars/saturn set are ignored or patched up quickly. In fact, healing the rift provides the couple with some fairly dramatic experiences of intimacy, convincing them of the depth of their attachment. The “good” feels really good especially when compared with how awful the “bad” feels. As time goes on, however, healing is less pleasurable and their differences have become more painful. Unresolved differences lead to the accumulation of bad feelings and resentment.

At the beginning of relationships we all tend to put our best foot forward, emphasizing the positive both consciously and unconsciously. With couples who fall in love, their fairy tale happiness is helped along by the strong positive astrology active when they met. So, it is not surprising no one wants to welcome discord when and if it happens. No one wants to see herself the snarly, defensive, child-like partner that is represented by a wounded saturn individual.

Even if a married couple did not start out with a compound mars/saturn set, they are together so long that sooner or later they usually experience some through progressions. When that happens, the pain starts with the saturn individual experiencing the previously loving spouse as thoughtless, insensitive, crude, and possibly even cruel. Mutual blame, anger, resentment, and even disbelief begin to accumulate. But, since the condition came about through progressions, it will pass and the relationship will improve. From the point of view of the individuals experiencing it, their temporary pain was a fluke in a usually good relationship. And, since they did not start out with the problem, they would be right. They experienced as passing a difficult condition which some couples experience as part of their life together.

So, it is difficult enough for a relationship to survive intact through a progressed mars/saturn set. It is best not to go into a relationship which starts out with a strong one. What is a strong one? First, one that is on an Angle (either partner). Second, one influencing an Angle(s) through a ruler.

It can get worse. A couple can start out with a compound mars/saturn set. Then, one or more sets are formed between them during one period of time.

This can happen in several ways. As stated above, it can occur through progressions. It can also occur through a change in locality. The couple move and one (or both) of them provide new locality Angles for mars/saturn sets that were previously in the background (i.e., without a light or Angle). Or the locality Angles coincide with new, progressed mars/saturn sets.

Both of these conditions occurred between David and Jonelle Arien at the time of their deaths and are shown below.

Sets below are a little unusual in that I have used a number of different types of Angles. I have used the usual birth and conception Midheavens (MCs) and Ascendants (Ascs) and their progressions. To those I have added locality Angles and their progressions for San Francisco, California.

Locality Angles and their progressions are not new to my work. I wrote about them in, among others, the papers on John McCain, Charles Whitman, and Mike Boorda. I may never write the paper, but locality Angles were instrumental in the death of Chandra Levy.

Locality Angles
The same moment in time (birth) equates to different moments in time when spread out over the “sphere” called planet Earth. For instance, 5 p.m. in New York City (EST) is the same moment in time as 10 p.m. in London (GMT) (disregarding for the sake of discussion, differences of Local Mean Time from Standard Time). That is, the exact same moment in time translates into different Standard Times all over the globe.

Locality Angles are found for places different from birth (and conception) by finding the equivalent time of birth for the new location and casting the chart for that time using the new longitude and latitude. For instance, if some one was born exactly at 5 hours west of Greenwhich (that is, EST), and moved to a place exactly 7 hours west of Greenwich (i.e., MST), there would be a two hour time difference. If their birth time was 8:00 a.m. EST, then it would have been 6:00 a.m. MST in the new location.

The location of the planets, their degrees, and their positions relative to each other do not change in locality charts. With Locality Charts, only the Angles change.

To illustrate the difference locality can make on Angles, a chart cast for 6:00 a.m. MST would have considerably different birth and conception Midheavens and Ascendants than one cast for 8:00 a.m. EST. Midheavens change one degree approximately every four minutes. A one-hour time difference equates to a 15° difference in Midheavens, while a two hour time difference amounts to 30° (a whole sign). In the locality chart all the planets are moved to different positions relative to the charts Angles. Technically, they move into different houses from the one they occurred in at birth, but I do not emphasize house changes in locality charts, only Angle changes.

Locality Angles can produce positive, negative, or indifferent results. Individuals can move to locations which are better for their lives, i.e., locations which bring out their best points. They can move to locations which bring out their worst points. Or, they can move to locations which seem to make no difference in their lives.

Finally, I can write with some confidence about locality Angles and their progressions because I, myself, have lived in several localities different from birth for many years. During those times I had many occasions to assess the power of birth versus locality Angles. It is through those experiences, as well as years of research, that I have come to the following conclusions regarding locality Angles: (1) birth and conception Angles and their progressions still “work.” (2) So do locality Angles and their progressions. (3) They all share in determining the quality of the individual’s experience in the new location, with one difference. I observed the locality Angles to be slightly more predominant over birth Angles in determining relationships.

Some Chart Definitions
In the tables below, b stands for birth, c stands for conception, and p for progressed. T stands for transiting. A number following the letters identifies the harmonic chart from which the harmonic planet was taken, e.g., b7 pluto identifies the harmonic of pluto for the 7th chart. All harmonics used are +2 greater than the number of the chart they are applied to. Therefore, the harmonic used for the 7th chart is the ninth, or novienic, harmonic.

MC stands for Midheaven while Asc stands for Ascendant. B-Loc identifies the locality chart for birth, while C-Loc identifies the locality chart for conception. Reasonably, then, pB-Loc MC identifies the progressed locality Midheaven for birth while pC-Loc Asc identifies the progressed locality Ascendant for conception.

Now we can look at some of the synastry in the compound sets which existed between the Ariens. I do not know in which city they met, but assumed it was Louisville, Kentucky, where they were both born. They might have met in San Francisco. Regardless of where they met, their Louisville Angles, because they are the Angles they were born with, would comprise half of their shared compound sets when compared with locality Angles, and at least one-quarter of their shared compound sets before progressions. In this paper most of the chart comparisons are between 7th charts because the 7th chart is strongest in showing relationship

Angles and House Cusps for the Ariens
I have not included drawings of partial charts in this paper, therefore, the house cusps they show are missing here. But we need to know them. They are shown below for reference in reading the rest of this paper.

House Cusps for David Arien:
Placidus: C MC—18 Aries 10, c11—23Tau, c12—26Gem, C Asc—25 Cancer 30, c2—18Leo, c3—16Vir B MC—13 Taurus 22, b11—17Gem, b12—18Can, B Asc—16 Leo 12, b2—11Vir, b3—10Lib

House Cusps for Jonelle Arien:
Placidus: C MC—12 Capricorn 12, c11—10Aqu, c12—18Pis, C Asc—3 Taurus 05, c2—28 Tau, c3—20Gem B MC—4 Aries 35, b11—10Tau, b12—15Gem, B Asc—14 Cancer 59, b2—7Leo, b3—3Vir

Starting Compound Mars/Saturn Sets Between David and Jonelle
First let’s look at the three (possibly four) compound mars/saturn sets that existed between them from the very beginning, that is, from birth. (In this, and several of the first papers on synastry, I did not show when planets ruled Angles. That information is important, and is shown in the later papers. In time I hope to return to this paper and correct that omission. In the meantime, since the Arien's Angles are shown above, influence of the sets below to Angles can be deduced.)

Set (1) shows a compound set including Angle/node/mars/saturn/pluto, all but one of which are in Capricorn. His Capricorn planets plus SN conjunct her Angle show that she brings out his exceptional need to control (Capricorn) and accounts for the description of Jonelle as “submissive.” In this particular set, he has both the mars and the saturn. I am not sure how much, if any, difference that makes in their shared experience of discord and friction. Usually it is one person’s mars and the other person’s saturn, and vice versa. Mars/saturn/pluto describes the transformation we know as “death.” Saturn/pluto describes extreme withdrawal. Mars/pluto can describe extreme violence. Inside himself he probably had a word that described exactly how he felt when this set was active between him, but we will never know. Did he feel like he would die (mars/saturn/pluto) if he did not control (Capricorn) her (her C MC)? All we know for sure is that her C MC would have further developed his already active (conjunct SN) Capricorn set.

This set comes into play a second time at death when her progressed C-Loc MC reaches 12 Capricorn 25 (conjunct her birth C MC). Added to it were his pb7 mars at 12 Aries 22 and her pc7 sun at 13 Aries 15.

Once again, in Set (2) we have a compound mars/saturn set. Amazingly, this set also comes into play a second time at her death when her progressed B-Loc MC for San Francisco reaches 3 Aries 35. (At that time, her progressed birth and conception locality Angles were conjunct her original birth and conception Angles.)

Set (4) is a wider orb, out-of-sign compound set. I hesitated to include it, but the two moons made it impossible to leave out. Most likely it came into play when either of them also had a progressing light (usually a moon or harmonic moon) in the vicinity.

Sets (1), (2), and (3) show that any long-term relationship between David and Jonelle Arien would be rife with conflict. Set (1) by itself would likely have been enough to cancel out any possibility of a happy relationship. Unfortunately, these astrologers, probably traditional astrologers, did not have access to this information.

Locality and Progressed Locality Compound Mars/Saturn Sets
This couple did not have a compound mars/saturn set that was specific to their locality in San Francisco, California.

I have already pointed out above that Sets (1) and (2) are re-stimulated by Jonelle’s progressed locality Angles. Because they are emphasized again this way, they count for Sets (5) and (6). Here are the remaining ones::

…there were no further progressed mars/saturn sets. They started with four and experienced two more through progressed locality. That was more than enough to sponsor painful and bitter conflict (or, if you have no power, as happened to Jonelle, painful “submission”).

They did have an new mars/Angle set (which I will label set (a) to keep it from entering their mars/saturn tallies which are labeled (1), (2), (3), etc.). Set (4) above is reborn tighter and more exact through progressed locality and two progressed mars :

Mars also represents adrenaline (related to flight or fight, fear or anger). Influence of all these sets is toward excessive adrenaline—probably anger for David and fear for Jonelle. They are too caught up in the sympathetic nervous system, with a growing need for action (actually, resolution). Revved up to meltdown levels, it is hard to find any “action” that is suitable. The “action” becomes more and more slanted toward putting a permanent end to distress, hence, murder/suicide.

What Drew Them Together?
It would be reasonable to wonder what drew this couple together. What positive sets did they share?

Before we get into what they shared, we should examine the astrological truth to the statement that David was a “paranoid manic-depressive with big schemes.” Manic-depression shows up best in in the 3rd chart. The following three sets, Sets (b), (c), and (d) are from his 3rd chart:

Arien has the condition that mimics manic-depression.

True manic-depression consists of sets containing saturn and uranus influencing Angles and 3rd houses. They can be in the same or different sets. They appear stronger when in different sets, that is, one set includes lighted uranus with influence to an Angle and 3rd house, and a different set includes saturn, with influence to an Angle and 3rd house. In that case, the individual, through progressions, synastry, and transits, has the sets brought forefront separately. He is thrown from pillar to post as he experiences the consciousness of one, then of the other. Since they are not in the same set, they don't "communicate" with each other, and it is difficult to learn to modulate their effects.

Arien’s Angle/venus/jupiter mimics the manic part of manic-depression. It produces a high just like uranus does, but the high is not as intensely energy-filled as that of uranus. The Angle/mars/saturn is both depressive and dysfunctional, I believe, with mars interacting with saturn some times producing aggravated (mars) depression (saturn), and some times producing anxiety (mars/saturn).

Set (d) influences three Angles, 3rd and 12th houses. While I would not deem mars in Pisces paranoid, it does produce considerable difficulty coming to conclusions. He would have been “stuck” without solution to some problems. Astrology like this can become quite painful, producing a defensive, "paranoid" posture. He feels powerless (mars in Pisces) in his love (venus, with venus in Pisces adding an extra twist to his sense of tender but hopelss love) relationships.

David’s stellium (shown above) in Capricorn symbolized his need (actually, habit, what he "knows") for control. What part of his astrology made him feel he needed to take his wife with him when he killed himself?

Set (e) above shows a set including an Angle and moon/node/venus/2mars/2saturn. B saturn co-rules (18 out of 31°) b 5th house. C12 moon rules C Asc and co-rules (26 of 30°) c 12th house. C saturn rules c 7th house. B mars rules b 4th house. B venus rules b 3rd and B MC. Set (e), then, influences 3 Angles and contains two lights (node and moon). Venus/mars/saturn suggests a deeply troubled (mars/saturn) heart (venus). Its path travels through 4th, 5th, 7th, and 12th houses, suggesting that his deep emotional turmoil will express itself negatively (12th house) in his marriage and love life (7th and 5th houses, respectively), and possibly end his life (his 4th house with light/mars/saturn influence influencing several Angles).

While Set (e) gives us information about the astrological basis for his terrible emotional pain, it still does not give us an answer to why he feels he has to kill his wife when he kills himself. Of course, if he just kills himself, he will lose control, and he wasn’t going to go for that. But, what else?

B5 mars in Set (f) rules b 4th house, suggesting sexually Arien tended to end up (4th) feeling sexually powerless (mars in Pisces), or at least that he felt that way he decided to end his life (4th).

B5 jupiter in Set (g) rules b 5th house and b sun rules B Asc. Arien has a golden benefic all in Pisces in his 5th chart! He has potent sexual highs in which he becomes very opened (Pisces). This set takes on a negative connotation when the Pisces South Node is added in, suggesting compulsive (SN) vulnerability (venus in Pisces). That makes this the second set in his 5th chart which indicates Arien is so wide open sexually that he lose his identity. That can only have good consequences for people who do not have control (Capricorn stellium) and identity issues (MC conjunct saturn) as Arien does. Jonelle’s c moon was a 20 Pisces 20, further emphasizing this set.

Set (h), to my knowledge, just shows Arien is readily available sexually because all the planets of sexuality are right there on an Angle. He doesn’t have to work at it. He is also affectionate (Angle/light/venus).

All of David's emotional pain (12th chart) and sexual vulnerability (5th chart) would have been exacerbated by the compound mars/saturn sets between him and his wife—the one’s they started with, and the ones added on through progressions.

I stated we would take a look, through the 7th chart mostly, at what drew the Ariens together. Here we are only looking at compound sets involving Angles. There is much more to synastry than that, but that is all that can be covered here.

Any time one individual provides an Angle for another’s venus it represents an attraction, a liking, for the venus individual. Inclusion of the moon just makes the attraction stronger.

They met and married less than two weeks later, sometime in early 1976. I calculated their progressions for March 1, but their returns showed they probably met at the turn of the year, and married that January. From the point of view of the following progressions, it makes little difference. They would have been effective either date.

On March 1, 1976 David Arien has progressed b venus at 3 Taurus 53 and progressed b jupiter at 2 Taurus 50, both of them fitting into Set (e) above. Jonelle’s progressed B MC was at 4 Taurus 04, providing another Angle for Set (e). When a couple shares an Angle/venus/jupiter they are sharing a golden benefic, that is, together they feel golden, open, alive, emotionally rich, and like it will never be any different. Although David’s attraction to Jonelle will continue because of his venus to her moon/Asc, the golden aspect of their relationship will come to an end because his jupiter will progress beyond the set.

They had a second Angle/venus set, this time with Jonelle supplying the venus.

Jonelle also felt an attraction, a liking, for David because his B MC picked up two of her venuses.

They have another powerful positive set which is not Angular, but must have made a difference. David’s conjunction of b sun, c SN, and b venus in Pisces (that is all he has there is his 7th chart, shown in Set (3) above) picks up Jonelle’s c7 jupiter at 23 Pisces 53. I am not really sure how to interpret this. It falls in David’s 8th house. It suggests, at least initially, he tended to “melt” into her, that is, lose his individual identity in her, or in “us.”

Conclusion
In this paper I have shown that the relationship between David Arien and his wife Jonelle started out with too many—four—compound mars/saturn sets. No amount of “good” astrology can compensate for four compound mars/saturn sets. At the time of their deaths, they acquired two more by progressed locality as well as a very strong compound Angle/light/mars.

Both O.J. and David had a light conjunct a South Node in signs known for their emotional complexity as well as difficulty. O.J. Simpson had his moon conjunction South Node in Scorpio, sponsoring, I understand, anger. David Arien’s sun in Pisces conjunct South Node more likely sponsored feelings of helplessness followed by feelings of fear, then anger.

Over the years I have followed the sometimes subtle, but often powerfully painful experiences sponsored by just one of my more frequently stimulated compound mars/saturn sets. The six compound mars/saturn sets between David and Jonelle (the same as the number between O.J. and his Nicole) at the time of their deaths were exceptionally excessive. As an astrological situation—be it positive or negative—becomes more and more excessive, the individual’s sense of choice gets smaller and smaller.

Discussion
Above I detailed reasons couples get together and sometimes stay together when they share a compound mars/saturn set. If that were all they had between them, they would not be attracted to each other and that would be the end of the matter.

Unfortunately, David and Jonelle tied their knot only weeks after meeting and falling in love. As can be seen from this type of astrology, individuals should never marry in that short of time. Like Jonelle and David, at that time they may be under the influence of a passing astrology that convinces them their love will go on forever. Their attraction—being highly inflamed by a temporary astrological condition—could not out-distance the many problems they discovered existed between them.

I have no idea how long it took Jonelle to understand she was no longer a partner and had become her husband’s prisoner. I doubt it would have taken very long for the honeymoon to be over following their hasty marriage. They had so much mars/saturn between them. The apparently un-resolvable conflict compound mars/saturn sets sponsor is hard on both parties. Being un-resolvable, it inevitably leads to further expansion of personal idiosyncrasies—in David’s case, his need for control to decrease his fear of what he would become without Jonelle, that is, not an identity, but a field of pain.

Murder affects the perpetrator (whether or not he goes to jail), the victim, any children (and their children), and families and friends of all of them. It also affects all of society. If, as a society, we took all the destruction that follows spousal murder seriously, you would think we would have come up with enough understanding to identify and prevent it. Instead, the best we seem able to do is focus on the “justice” of the offender being tried, convicted, and sent to jail. Then, some of us get to experience vicarious superiority because we (not under that duress) were not so low and stupid to commit a crime like that.

Socially, these are expensive “wins.”

The “impossible situation” O.J. got into with his wife, Nicole, and that David got into with his wife, Jonelle, was not unique. It has been being repeated by couples over and over again from the beginning of time. It does not always result in the death of one spouse (or both of them). Some times both get through it alive but covered with psychic, emotional, and financial scars. This usually creates deeply wounded children.

As it is now, every time a new generation of couples finds themselves confronted with this kind of ongoing incompatibility, each and every one of them is forced to re-invent the wheel of solution all over again. They try counseling, separate, get back together, and use the kids as buffers/weapons/binders/etc. They try to evaluate the danger, bribe, and "summarily quit" the relationship. Anger, distrust, and fear escalate.

When their sets minimize (if they do, which was not the case for these two couples) through new progressions or localities, then they may be able to come to enough understanding for some legal solutions. Lost in their torrent of subjectivity and painful reactions, these over-loaded couples are not capable of doing this for themselves. And, when couples have that much compound mars/saturn between them, marital counseling aimed at "working out their differences" is an exercise in romantic fantasy on the part of all involved.

But this seems like dogma. It can only stop being dogma when individuals find out for themselves how well they do in relationships with even only one strong compound mars/saturn. Then it becomes a matter of (accruing) empirical proof, individual by individual.

Star Flower, a rare 7-petaled flower
From Wildflowers of Michigan Field Guide, by Stan Tekiela

Contact the author at sleeweidner@yahoo.com