Introduction
This paper assumes the reader is an astrologer. My particular method is discussed in the third paragraph below.

Here I discuss the 9th chart (aviation, among other subjects covered by the 9th house) astrology for the date John McCain was shot down over Hanoi. Also included is his 7th chart astrology (significant others, the main chart of this method) for the beginning of the time he was tortured. Both are interesting from a technical point of view because both, in order to work, must make use of progressed locality Angles.

Before getting to McCain’s charts, I want to make a few statements 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

You can also profitably read:

About This Method

In the drawings below, I show partial charts for McCain. Birth planets are inside the circle. They are written with blue ink; their harmonics, with green. Conception planets are outside the circle. They are written with red ink; their harmonics, with black. The numbered loops represent birth (blue) or conception (red) houses. Midheaven and Ascendant (MC and Asc respectively) for birth and conception are shown in the drawing. The remaining house cusps are shown below it.

Also below, b stands for birth, c stands for conception, and p for progressed. Locality Angles are represented by, for instance, B-Loc MC = the locality MC for McCain’s birth chart, while pB-Loc MC = the progressed locality angle for McCain’s birth chart.

Now we can look at the McCain’s 9th chart

Set (1) above demonstrates that John McCain loved of being a pilot. B MC is conjunct node/node/venus/jupiter, pulling B Asc/mars and c mars into the set. Angle/venus/jupiter is a golden benefic. It represents “highs” for the activity (flying) involved. With mars, he was an ambitious pilot, aggressive.

Golden benefics are comprised of light/venus/jupiter, with venus and jupiter being conjunction or square but not opposition. At least, when opposition they fight each other rather than cooperate for the "great good" they together can produce. When on an Angle, "Angle" can substitute for "light." Golden benefics are not truly golden unless they also influence an Angle, either being on it or influencing it through a ruler. When they do, they operate to produce luck and success throughout life in the areas and charts they influence.

C mars rules c 4th house. Here, with venus and jupiter, it implies he is protected (jupiter, ruler of b 4th) for aviation (9th house) death (4th).

Set (2) shows a node/mars/uranus involving harmonic planets, so specifically a set of the 9th house. It shows daring. Depending on the individual’s maturity, it can be a symbol of foolhardiness.

His conception Angles, also nearly square each other (as were his birth Angles), do not acquire harmonic planets in this chart.

On the date his plane was shot down, October 26, 1967, he has the following indications he was in for trouble in 9th house matters:

Set (4) above joins the set he was born with, node/mars/uranus, the set showing his bravery and daring.

McCain has five progressed sets involving mars or saturn with nodes. These, perhaps even independent of house influence, promise a difficult time (mars/saturn) in 9th house matters (aviation).

Still, in order for him to have been shot down, he would need at least mars, and perhaps mars and saturn influence to Angles.

McCain’s progressed birth and conception Angles do not show influence of mars or saturn. Neither have mars or saturn progressed to Angles. He does have one progressed set, p C Asc at 2 Libra 35, b9 mercury at 2 Aries 27, and pc9 pluto at 3 Aries 07R. Angle/mercury/pluto suggests some kind of emergency or (usually) unpleasant surprise, but not being shot down. This is consistent with transiting pluto being at 27 Leo 37, affecting both C MC and C Asc. In his 10th chart McCain has c10 saturn at 27 Leo 13. Saturn/pluto is a withdrawing set (see paper on autism as well as paper on the Disappearing Priest). In this particular instance, McCain withdrew (against his wishes, as a POW) from society/career (10th chart) activity for over five years. Transiting pluto was at the exact same position nearly 10 months later at the beginning of the time he was tortured. When he was released, transiting pluto was at 8 Virgo 57R, conjunct his birth mercury, ruler of B MC and B Asc, at 8 Virgo 24. Transiting pluto was the main significator of McCain’s POW experience.

The Angles which show McCain being shot down are not his birth and conception Angles, nor his locality Angles, nor his progressed birth and conception Angles, but his progressed locality Angles:

Set (8) above is a bit past its prime. It suggests that in the period prior to being shot down, he had been on a long high (neptune) and likely felt, even against his better judgment, fairly invincible.

Sets (6) and (7) above show progressed locality Angles to node/mars and node/saturn, the conditions we were looking for to verify his trouble in the skies over Hanoi.

In the return chart, erected for Hanoi, covering this period, McCain had the following interesting sets:

This gives his return an Angle/saturn.

His progressed Angle/moon/neptune has been visited by mars, turning it from the experience of a high (neptune) to something frightening (mars/neptune).

Summed, Sets (9) and (10) above give McCain return Angles under the influence of mars, saturn, and neptune, the planets representative of siege conditions.

Set (11) shows McCain’s return moon with mars/saturn/neptune—again, the planets of siege conditions. Just looking at progressions and returns, an astrologer might think McCain was going to die at this time, but there are astrological reasons he did not.

It could be argued that Set (11) goes with pC-Loc Asc at 16 Aries 22. Orb for progressions is 1° at most, while orb for planets to Angles of a return is 2°. However, everything in Set (11) is at 17° or above, tending to pull the whole set away from the progressed locality Asc at 16°,

Turning to the inception of McCain’s torture, progressions for his 7th chart (where I would normally look for interactions with others) are deceptively innocent looking. Date given was August, 1968, so I used August 15, 1968. I would have expected at least a progressed Angle/mars (mars for irritation, friction, breaks, falls, etc.), but did not find any. I did see some intriguing progressed astrology for this chart:

The midpoint of all the mars values is 17° 23’. Progressed C-Loc Asc is at 17 Aries 23. It can be looked at that way. Or, perhaps, pC-Loc Asc was then entering the same set with (only) pb9 mars and pc mars (both also at 17°) and its progression to b mars has something to do with the duration of the period he was tortured. Notes I have on his life state it was late 1969 when he, as well as other prisoners, experienced a diminution of that experience (see Footnote 1 below). Things got easier.

Just one Angle to mars, or vice versa, mars to an Angle, can be enough to bring most of us to our knees in prayer beseeching that whatever is causing the present to happen pass on by as soon as possible. Two-to-four mars to an Angle is simply a horrifying amount of forefront mars influence. No wonder it represents torture.

McCain’s return for Hanoi at that time also shows his pain:

Set (14): Return mars is at 24 Gemini 13 in the same set with B Asc at 24 Virgo 05.

Sets (13) and (14) give McCain return Angles with mars and saturn. Transiting neptune was at 29 Libra 19 in the same set with pB-Loc MC at 29 Capricorn 28. Angle/mars/saturn/neptune = siege conditions.

Once again, transiting pluto was at 27 Leo 17. Transiting7 uranus was at 27 Taurus 13. Both in the same set with C Asc at 27 Leo 12.

The following also shows the possibility he would be experiencing physical pain :

McCain’s return Angles for the inception of his torture highlight mars/saturn/neptune and his return moon highlight mars/saturn. Mars and saturn are the lesser and greater malefics of astrology. Within a chart they can represent something other than physical or psychological suffering. However, on the Angles of progressed or return charts, they usually represent it.

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

Footnotes
(1) On October 1, 1969 (i.e., late 1969) pC-Loc Asc was at 18 Aries 48, then 21’ past an exact square to birth mars, so it is possible the second way of looking at it is the correct one.