Introduction
I would like to have included the death and murder chart of Dylan Klebold in this paper about Eric Harris, his homicide/suicide partner. However, Klebold’s birth data is not dependable, so I reluctantly omitted his astrology. I wrote an earlier paper on both, minus much of the astrology I will now show. Apparently then I did not realize the fuzziness of Klebold’s birth data. Here is the link to that paper:

Harris’ charts are a bit unusual in that the house overlaps are so close together. B MC is only about 4° from C MC, so we won’t get much information from house overlaps. If anything, nearly coinciding they indicate some one with few options. That is, he does not have any interesting combinations such as 4th/1st or 1st/4th, which would suggest death (4th) during childhood (1st), at least before adulthood.

Set (1) in his shell chart shows his early death through a different astrological combination with the same implications. B uranus, a 5 Scorpio 05, is in b and c 1st houses, and rules b 4th house. Since it is “lighted” by C MC at 5 Leo 08, he was born with it forefront, that is, active. That means that thoughts of his own personal, even sudden (uranus) death were not strangers to Eric Harris even long before the tragedy at Columbine High School.

Set (1) gave him one forefront uranus. Set (2) shows his B Asc at 28 Libra 12 conjunct c uranus at 27 Libra 22. With two Angles bringing uranus forefront, Harris is a free-thinker and rebel, some one trying to find the tune of his own distant drummer. Uranus in Libra suggests it will be independent of the values of significant others, while uranus in Scorpio suggests his theme will involve transformations, possibly including the transformation we know as death.

Note he has conception sun in Gemini along with birth moon. He is bright and has an excellent memory. He also has both non-harmonic South Nodes in Capricorn, a sign showing a habitual need (SN) for control (Capricorn). These are important in showing Harris’ fight within himself. Whatever he felt, he would be trying not to show it, and to have control over it.

Set (3) shows the conjunction of sun, venus, and mars in Pisces in both 5th houses opposition pluto. It influences B MC through b sun, ruler of B MC in c 10th house (double 10th influence), making it a forefront—active and lifelong—influence. Venus in Pisces shows anything from very tender (too tender if one is not wise in loving) feelings of love, to “love of (venus) suffering” (Pisces).

I have written elsewhere about the difficulties caused by lighted, forefront mars in Pisces. It was strong in the charts of Charles Whitman (U of Texas tower massacre), the Unabomber, and in the 1st chart of Elvis Presley (the chart that shows his death from drugs) as well as in the 7th chart of Eric Douglas, who died of a drug overdose and was written about in the paper on homosexuality.

Here are links to those papers: Paper on the Unabomber , Paper on Charles Whitman , Appendix paper on Elvis Presley, Paper With Astrology of Eric Douglas

I have also written several other papers about suicide. Here are their links: The Subway Suicide of a 9 Year Old Boy, The Suicide of a 14 Year Old Girl, Vivienne, The Late Life Suicide of Author and Concentration Camp Survivor, Primo Levi, The Suicide of a Woman with Asperger's Syndrome, The Suicide of Chief of Naval Operations, Mike Boorda. The Suicide of Carter Cooper, Search for Suicide in Paper on Astrologer Michel Gauquelin.

Initially mars in Pisces interprets as experiences of powerlessness and being unable to decide. It shows vacillation which creates an opening (or chink) in the personality which suggests a vulnerability, a hesitation that others find unattractive, suspicious, or scary. It thereby invites rejection. After enough rejection, Harris himself would have hated that part of himself--being a victim. Ultimately, he solved his problem by putting considerable effort into denying it. He wasn’t a victim, he was not some soft, suffering thing. As a superkiller,, he was a superstud.

Over time lighted forefront mars in Pisces, especially with it emphasis in his two 5th houses (of sexuality and children), might appear as a form of sexual masochism (unless he projected it outward, in which case it would give him pleasure to inflict pain on his sexual parter--but this has to be researched), a literal repeat of early experiences of feeling helpless, but framed in present circumstances.

So far, Set (3) is problematic, but not unlivable. All its interpretations can be lived through, and sex partners found with whom he could have a relationship. That is going to change when we get to his 10th chart.

In this, the 10th chart, we see again the set of C MC with uranus in Scorpio. It has acquired neptune in this chart. No big deal, but the more outer planet influence a chart has, the less “personal” it is, that is, the less the individual feels he is adequately representing himself.

It is significant, however, that return10 pluto was conjunct it at 6 Scorpio 38R on April 10, 1999, the date of his return covering the Columbine shootings. On that day it was at 4 Scorpio 35R. So, transiting pluto to his lighted 1st house uranus in Scorpio was one of the timers for Harris’ mass murder and suicide. Pluto promotes transformations. Here it promoted the transformation of Harris’ imaginary death plots into actual ones.

Both his progressed Ascendants had already passed over this uranus by the time of the Columbine shootings. They must surely have increased his ideation about death, but did not precipitate behavior promoting it. It took changes in his Set (3) along with the pluto transit to do that.

Set (3) shows the same Set (3) we saw in Harris’ shell chart, but here it has acquired two new, very important planets. C10 saturn co-rules (30 of 35°) c 3rd house. As the planet saturn it squashes the sun/mars/venus, creating a hugely deflated ego in a great deal of pain. Since the 10th chart also shows us his relationship to his mother, saturn here suggests she early and unequivocally rejected this tender, suffering, sometimes masochistic part of him. Since the planets are in both 5th houses, it suggests it had powerful sexual ramifications for Harris, showing an enormously repressed sexuality and eccentricity and perhaps self-loathing that goes with suppression of such a vital part of one’s life.

The above discussion of his mother’s influence is not meant to urge people to blame her or in any way castigate her. Often enough, the parent does not even know s/he is causing pain, some of which will have later drastic ramifications. Nonetheless, I stick by my assertion that the 10th chart shows how we experienced our mother.

So, every time one of his peers rejected or made fun of him, Harris was experiencing the horrible pain of Set (3).

The other important planet in Set (3) is c10 uranus, which rules c 4th house. At 28 Pisces 28 it has a wide orb from the mars and saturn (about 3 and 4°), so its expression is attenuated. But, it is retrograde, so moving toward those planets. It was at 24 Pisces 54R on the day of the shootings, now more closely in the set with sun/mars/saturn. That gave Harris a close sun/mars/saturn influencing two Angles (through the sun, ruler of B MC, and venus, ruler of B Asc), an 8th house (through b venus) and a 4th house—the necessary significators for death. So, a 10th chart set occurring at Harris’ age with this kind of influence would be one of the indicators of an early, and very public (10th), death.

Its 3rd house influence likely represented Harris’ obsession with his pain and the revenge he planned to take because of it.

Continuing with Set (3), b venus also co-rules (28 of 30°) b 7th house. Without that 7th house influence of the set it would never have resulted in the death of others. So, the light/mars/7th influence would add possible death of others to Harris’ early death.

Set (4) is interesting and only tentatively interpreted. It starts with South Node conjunct pluto in Aries, suggesting an ingrained tendency (SN) to drastic (pluto) and spontaneous (Aries) actions (Aries). On the day of the shooting, it had acquired pc10 saturn [coming from Set (3)], giving him a conjunction of SN/saturn/pluto with influence to a 3rd house. Since light/saturn/pluto plays prominently in the charts that show autism and Aspergers as well as the chart of the priest who disappeared into the boondocks, I think it shows Harris’ complete lack of emotional connection to others at the time of the massacre.

If there were any doubt that for Harris April 20, 1999 was a triumphant day, his astrology will kill it. His pB Asc was at 11 Scorpio 30 in the same set with c jupiter at 11 Leo 44 which was in both 10th houses. Its shows his fame—something he wanted.

His return for the period occurred on April 10, 1999. It had an MC of 16 Pisces 18 which picked up b10 venus at 17 Pisces 13, c10 neptune at 15 Pisces 47, and return jupiter at 18 Pisces 50, a little out of orb but his c sun at 15 Gemini 43 brings it into orb. That’s a (return) forefront golden benefic. It shows that for Harris this time period produced a real high.

Was Harris completely free from fear on the day of his death? Well, his 3rd chart contained the following set:

Angle/mars/neptune occurs in the 3rd chart of paranoid schizophrenics, but it must also have influence to a 3rd house. This set does not influence a 3rd house. And, since Harris pre-progressed chart does not include any tendency to paranoia, this progressed set shows a certain amount of hair-raising fear and excitement—not unreasonable for the acts he was about to commit.

Harris’ astrology, however, is good enough to suggest several things one looks for in the chart of a school shooter, with variations regarding whether or not he intends to die himself. Here they are:

• (1) Ruler of the 4th house in a 1st house suggests the possibility of death before adulthood. It could also show up as ruler of the 4th conjunct ruler of the 1st, or, a 1st/4th overlap. By themselves these do not mandate, but suggest, an early death. Also, by itself, this has nothing to do with committing murder.

• Once the mass murderer becomes an adult, his significator for death will be the ruler of the 4th either in the 10th house or conjunct ruler of the 10th. This, by itself, just shows some kind of death in the middle years. James O. Huberty, the mass murderer who killed 21 and wounded 18 people at a California McDonald’s on July 18, 1984 had such a set, also in his 10th chart:

• Note the above set includes light/mars/saturn--the necessary signficators, but it also includes light/mars/jupiter--the aggressive (mars) desire for fame (jupiter).

• Huberty also had a difficult relationship with his mother in the sense that she left him at age 6 to become a missionary.

• Jim Jones, who sponsored mass suicide in his middle years at Jonestown, Guyana, had c mars, ruler of c 4th house, in c 10th house. In his 11th chartof groups--the chart that portrayed his actions, it was conjunct b11 SN at 22 Taurus 22. Here is a link to that paper:Paper on Sects and Mass Suicide

• Jones was another individual whose relationship to his mother was less than sterling. In his case, since his mother gave up her career to have him, she spent the rest of her life projecting her social drive onto him. Jones 10th chart showed an Angle/node/saturn/pluto—a set that shows great withdrawal. It eventually sponsored his move to South America in a subconscious attempt “to get away from Ma,” her function having been taken over by society telling him what he could and couldn't do.

• (2) Continuing with the 10th chart significators for a mass murderer, the individual will have Angle/(light)/mars/saturn, showing he is going through a difficult time. If he was also born with one in his 10th chart, it means he has always been having a hard time socially and with employment. The occurrence of the second, progressed set represents an intolerable amount of social pain.

• (3) If he is going to kill others and not just himself, he must have lighted mars influence to a 7th house (of others). That may be lighted mars/saturn, I am not sure. I know the mars must be there. Otherwise, his destructiveness will work itself out in various ways (hard work, boxing, even violent videos not followed up by action), but not against others.

• (4) If his own death is part of the massacre (planned or not), he will have light/mars/saturn influence to a 4th house at the time.

• Timers are also needed. In Harris’ case, the timers showed in several ways: Once progressed c10 uranus, ruler of c 4th house formed a close set with sun/mars/saturn, the main significators were in place and had been for several years. Transiting harmonic pluto to his uranus in Scorpio in both 1st houses set the timing closer—a matter of a month or so. But, transiting pluto often passes over any particular planet three times before it moves beyond it, so this timer could have occurred several times over about two years. Progressed B Asc to c jupiter in Leo in the 10th house showed the fame his acts would bring—that lasted only for a matter of months. In his 10th chart that includes c10 moon at 11 Taurus 09—strengthening the jupiter, and indicating much fame. Fame also showed in his return (discussed above), which brought the occurrence of the event into a period of not more than forty days. Return10 moon was at 28 Libra 04, conjunct B Asc conjunct c uranus, ruler of c 4th house, another set suggesting the matter was limited to the next forty days--from April 10, 1999 to May 20, 1999. I did not look for closer timers. Once all the above was in place, it would not have taken much--transiting lights or uranus, etc.--to set off the whole sequence of events Harris wanted.

This combination might seem formidable to a non-astrologer, and even to some astrologers. Certainly, it could get tricky trying to evaluate sets close to matching the above significators. But one thing is certain. Actions of individuals who commit mass murder in general, and of school shooters in particular, are knowable. They are completely unknowable only to those who refuse to see answers given in forms not conforming to their idea of reality, who think science is only about people who work in laboratories.

There is a Sufi story that illustrates that kind of viewpoint: Mullah Nasrudin was out for a walk one night when he came upon a neighbor on his knees on the ground under a streetlamp. Nasrudin asked him what he was doing. The neighbor answered, "I am searching for my lost keys." "Where," Nasrudin asks, "do you think you lost them?" "Somewhere over there (indicating an area far from the street lamp)," answers the neighbor. "Why," exclaims Nasrudin, "then are you searching for them here (under the lamp)?!" "Because," answers the neighbor, "this is where the light is."

Right now the "light" is on science, specifically the science of genetics and evolution, and anything believed not a science is in the dark--even an astrology which shows considerable promise as a science.

Bloodroot, Sanguinara Canadensis
Stems and roots used in many cultures as a (red/orange) dye and insect repellant.
From Wildflowers of Michigan Field Guide (cropped) by Stan Tekiela

Contact the author at: sleeweidner@yahoo.com