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 on his birth 4th house cusp, that is, opposite B MC.)

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.

To illustrate compound sets here, I have used the astrology between O.J. Simpson and his wife, Nicole, at the time of her death.

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

And here are links to my comments on the practical differences between sidereal versus tropical astrology as well as a paper discussing the origin of this method:

Tropical vs. Sidereal Astrology

About This Method

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 Nicole Brown Simpson’s death (June 12, 1994, around 10:40 p.m. PDT). The negative part of their synastry involves, for the most part, 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 doif 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 one.

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 O.J. Simpson and his wife, Nicole, at the time of her death 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 Brentwood, 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 MCs 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.

Continuing definitions, B-Loc identifies the locality chart for birth, while C-Loc identifies the locality chart for conception. Reasonably, then, pB-Loc identifies the progressed locality chart for birth while pC-Loc identifies the progressed locality chart for conception.

Now we can look at some of the synastry in the compound sets which existed between O.J. and Nicole Brown Simpson. Except when stated otherwise, all locality Angles are for Brentwood, California. All chart comparisons are between 7th charts because the 7th chart is our main chart for relationships. All transits are for 10:40 p.m. PDT.

Angles and House Cusps for the Simpsons
I have not included drawings of partial charts in this paper, therefore, house cusps are not shown. They are shown below reference in reading the rest of this paper.

House Cusps for Nicole Brown Simpson:
Placidus: C MC—19 Cancer 45, c11—23Leo, c12—19Vir, C Asc—8 Libra 58, c2—7Sco, c3—11Sag, B MC—26 Scorpio 18, b11—14Sag, b12—6Cap, B Asc—12 Aqu 56, b2—7Ari, b3—6Tau

House Cusps for O.J. Simpson:
Placidus: C MC—24 Pisces 08, c11—0Tau, c12—6Gem, C Asc—6 Cancer 52, c2—28Can, c3—23Leo, B MC—24 Aries 47, b11—29Tau, b12—2Can, B Asc—0 Leo 36, b2—24Leo, b3—22Vir

Starting Compound Mars/Saturn Sets Between O.J. and Nicole
First let’s look at the two compound mars/saturn sets that existed between Nicole and O.J. from the very beginning of their relationship (which started in San Francisco).

In Set (1), his b7 mars rules his B MC, so this set is lighted and has Angular influence.

By the time they met (1977) in San Francisco, O.J.’s progressed c NN was at 18 Taurus 12. At Nicole’s death, it was at 17 Taurus 54, so the set was active throughout their 17-year relationship. Neither of them provided an Angle for it in San Francisco. Therefore this was a lighted compound mars/saturn set without an Angle. That means it was active, but not as active and forefront as it would have been with an Angle.

Set (1) occurs again below (as Set 5) at the time of Nicole’s death because it picked up a progressed locality Angle in Brentwood.

Once again, we have a compound mars/saturn set. This time it is lighted and has an Angle in San Francisco. It also has an Angle in Brentwood, where her B-Loc Asc is at 11 Libra 22. Additionally, her b7 mars rules her B MC, so this set is influencing three Angles.

With node/mars/neptune on an Angle, Nicole was susceptible to “crazy” (neptune) relationships or attractions to men (mars). It wasn’t that O.J. was crazy. More likely, the early lack of stability and certainty in their relationship caused Nicole considerable distress. Instead of trying to eliminate her distress by ending the relationship, her aim would have been to decrease it by increasing the stability.

Their first child, Sydney, was born the same year (1985) they married. Nicole likely believed, as many women do, that their relationship would improve through marriage, and, especially, with children.

Sets (1) and (2) show that the marriage between O.J. Simpson and Nicole Brown was in trouble from the beginning.

Progressed and Locality Compound Mars/Saturn Sets
Now we are going to look, without further comment, at the compound mars/saturn sets they shared in Brentwood at the time of Nicole’s death::

Set (3) is lighted and influencing an Angle.

O.J.'s pb mars rules his B MC. Therefore, this set is lighted and influences three Angles.

His b7 mars rules his B MC, so this set influences two Angles. In addition, O.J.'s return for this period had a Midheaven of 17 Taurus 39 and an Ascendant of 19 Leo 12, fitting it into Set (5) above.

His b mars rules his B MC. Therefore, this set influences three Angles.

Nicole's pb uranus rules her B Asc and her pb mars rules her B MC, so this set influences three Angles.

If you were paying attention, you will have noticed O.J. had one regular progressed mars/Angle and three through locality Angles. Nicole had a (natal) progressed saturn to B MC (see footnote 1, below). Her (natal) progressed mars/Angle is shown in Set (7) above.

What Drew Them Together?
It would be reasonable to wonder what drew this couple together. What positive sets did they share? There were some. In San Francisco, his B-Loc Asc was in the same compound set with her b jupiter (a square, the weakest). His C-Loc MC as well as her C-Loc Asc were in the same set with her c venus (at 29 Gemini 08, but also conjunct her b mars at 28 Gemini 05). At the time of Nicole’s death, O.J. had progressed c7 venus at 11 Scorpio 33R which would have fit into Set (6) above.

I understand they met and married in San Francisco. His locality Angles were the same as his birth Angles in San Francisco because he was born there. Her locality Angles in San Francisco were considerably different than her birth Angles because she was born in Germany. One positive between them in their 7th charts was:

In other words, at least in San Francisco he had an enduring attraction (venus on her Descendant) to her and she was also drawing on his love (venus) and his strong points (jupiter on her Asc). He felt gracious toward her and she was not threatening to him.

We can get a further clue by looking at the synastry of their 5th charts (sexuality and children). It involves the same set as the one just above, but with 7th chart harmonics:

Note that O.J. has a forefront (Angular) golden benefic (moon/venus/jupiter) in his 5th chart, making sexual partners readily available (because of his charisma) and giving him unusually “high” sexual experiences (because of the golden benefic). Nicole did not have that. However, her Asc and two nodes increased the lights for his golden benefic, therefore increasing the power of O.J.'s experience. But as a compound set, they shared O.J.’s golden benefic. Before their unsolved problems edged out all their other experiences, they had a highly pleasurable, intimate, and mutually satisfying sex life.

Their three compound sets—their two beginning mars/saturn ones, and the shared golden benefic of his 5th chart—provide exact examples for reasons not to get sexually involved before finding out how compatible you are.

Other than that, I could not find strong positives (venus and/or jupiter compound sets) between them, not even in their original charts.

A lot more synastry could be done between their charts, but here I have included only their powerful mars/saturn and venus/jupiter sets because they represent the widest spread between pleasure and pain.

They met in late June of 1977. At that time O.J.’s progressed c venus was at 8 Scorpio 20R, hanging around in the area of his c moon at 9 Scorpio 35 and his b SN at 7 Scorpio 28 (their midpoint is 8 Scorpio 31). She appears to have been a love (venus) from a troubled (Scorpio) relationship with a woman (moon) from a previous life time (SN).

O.J.’s moon in Scorpio conjunction his birth South Node in Scorpio in conception 5th house contributed greatly to his inability, when confronted with their dissolving relationship, to just leave her. He had a strong tendency to go back (SN) to old loves (5th house). As a football superstar he likely had innumerable opportunities to be with women. Once he became emotionally involved, however, his feelings were deep (Scorpio SN in 5th). Once deep, they would have been difficult to put aside, flooding his mind and pulling him from the present to past.

As I understand it, O.J. did make a “final” break from Nicole within months before her death. At that point, however, it was Nicole who could not accept the end of the relationship. Once they resumed contact, their unsolved problems reasserted themselves and things got really confusing.

O.J.’s moon/SN in Scorpio worked against him in letting go of Nicole. His strong attachment (SN/Scorpio.5th) turned to deep anger (Scorpio) when, to his perception, Nicole was trying to hurt (demolish goes better with Scorpio SN) him by keeping him coming and going and, finally, having other sex partners.

Conclusion
In this paper I have shown that the relationship between O.J. Simpson and Nicole Brown started out, before progressions, with two compound mars/saturn sets. (I did not look to see if they had progressed sets for that date.)

At the time of her death in 1994, the couple had acquired four more. The first two were still in effect, one of which had acquired an Angle through the move to Brentwood (Los Angeles area). At that point, they had six compound mars/saturn sets with Angles.

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. I see the six compound mars/saturn between O.J. and his wife as exceptionally excessive. At some future point I will add the astrology of other troubled couples (not necessarily spouses) to this study. To be consistent, I will try to use only couples who experienced the climax of their problems in a locality different from birth locality.

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.

O.J. and Nicole probably saw their areas of disagreement early enough, but were able to bury them by focusing on their more positive experiences. As well, O.J.’s fame likely put a premature seal on many discussions. His fame, popularity, and charisma gave him many opportunities for seeing himself the more desired partner. In the early years, Nicole was probably just trying to keep up.

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. If, as a society, we really 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. Besides that, whole bunches 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, 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. Some times both get through it alive but covered with psychic, emotional, and financial scars as well as 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, use the kids as buffers/weapons/etc, try to evaluate the danger, bribe, and so on.

Very few individuals, indeed, stand on a fulcrum far enough away from their own subjectivity to leverage a troubled mars/saturn marriage into even a peaceful separation. Especially if one or both of them have Scorpio moons conjunct the SN.

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

Footnotes
(1) C saturn, located at conception at 25 Scorpio 04 SR was already conjunct B MC at 26 Scorpio 18 at birth. It progressed very slowly backwards to 24 Scorpio 56 and turned direct when she was about 14 years old. By the time of her death it was at 25 Scorpio 20 D. Both Nicole’s MC/saturn and MC/mars for her death were “early,” that is somewhat below the mark. They suggest her actual birth time was minutes earlier. (European births are often recorded only the nearest 15 minutes.)

Contact the author at sleeweidner@yahoo.com