Alex's Asteroid Astrology

As asteroid Thomas moved toward its retrograde station, a pair of stories erupted into the American consciousness, with yet another mass shooting at a Louisville, Kentucky bank, where five died, including bank VP Thomas “Tommy” Elliot; and allegations of ethics violations in nonreporting of gifts to US Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas emerged.  Both stories broke within two weeks of Thomas’ cosmic turnabout on April 20^th at 25 Sagittarius, a period fraught with peril for those terrestrial entities associated with this celestial body, provoking a literal “turning point” in their lives.  Sagittarius is the sign ruled by Jupiter, which is associated with both banks and the judiciary, making Thomases involved in these fields even more susceptible to asteroid Thomas’ fallout.

At 8:38 AM EDT on 10 April 2023, 25-year-old Connor Sturgeon strode into a conference room at the Old National Bank in Louisville, Kentucky, and started shooting with an AR-15-style assault rifle.  Seven minutes later, five people were dead and eight wounded, including a police officer shot in the head as he responded.  Sturgeon was felled by police fire.  Among those killed was Thomas “Tommy” Elliot, 63, the bank’s Vice President.  Sturgeon had held summer internships at the bank for several years before becoming a fulltime employee in 2021; no motive for the attack has been provided.

A chart cast for the time of the shooting shows Pluto, planetary ruler of homicide, exactly conjoined the 0 Aquarius MC, the focus of all eyes.  Shooter Connor Sturgeon is represented by asteroid Connors, which was also stationary, having just turned direct at 15 Leo five days prior, marking a major shift of focus and direction for Sturgeon.  Connors exactly opposes asteroid Gunn at 15 Aquarius, refining the issue of firearms, and T-Squares Uranus at 17 Taurus, ruling shootings generally, with asteroid Nemesis at 12 Taurus, bringer of ruin and destruction.  Nemesis can also act to avenge wrongs, real or perceived, and while no specific motive has yet been released for Sturgeon’s act, it’s possible that as an employee he felt he had been mistreated.

Asteroid Banks at 7 Gemini is squaring a conjunction of Saturn, ancient lord of death and ruler of executives such as VPs, with Damocles, the doom hanging unseen overhead, at 3 and 2 Pisces.  A second T-Square is formed with asteroids Anubis at 5 Sagittarius, named for the ancient Egyptian deity ruling funerary rites, and asteroid Louise at 11 Sag, a celestial stand-in for Louisville.  Both points are also at station, with Anubis turning retrograde on March 28^th, but still inhabiting it station degree, and Louise about to follow suit the day after the tragedy.  Together, this planetary picture portrays the death (Saturn, Anubis) of a bank (Banks) executive (Saturn) in Louisville (Louise).  (That Louisville is at a major crossroads was confirmed by a second mass shooting in a local park there, just five days later, which left two dead and four wounded, more fallout from Louise’s Anubis-affected station.)

Asteroid Thomas at 25 Sagittarius is already at the degree where it will turn retrograde on April 20^th, conjoined asteroid Requiem at 20 Sagittarius, named for the funeral mass for the dead.  Thomas is also on the fulcrum of a third T-Square, with squares to asteroid Osiris at 26 Virgo, named for ancient Egyptian god of the dead, and a grouping of Neptune (ruling victims) at 26 Pisces, with asteroid Lachesis also here, at 28 Pisces, a point named for the mythic Greek Fate who determines the span of life.  Asteroid Elliot at 26 Taurus ties to this pattern by sextile to Neptune/Lachesis, trine to Osiris, and inconjunct to Thomas.

Shooter Connor Sturgeon (born 11 February 1998, no time available) also has natal Thomas at station, indicating an important role for someone of that name in his biography.  At 29 Libra, Thomas turned retrograde nine days after Sturgeon’s birth.  Thomas is semisquare natal asteroid Requiem at 15 Sagittarius, implying a connection with death, and at the Apex of a Thor’s Hammer, a fated pattern similar to a Yod, with sesquiquadrate aspects to natal Mars at 13 Pisces (ruling firearms, attacks, and violent death) and natal asteroid Gunn at 10 Gemini.  Thomas is also in an Out-of-Sign square to natal Neptune at 0 Aquarius, exactly where transit Pluto (homicide) found itself on the day of the shooting.  Neptune rules insanity and other unstable mental states, and Sturgeon had a history of depression and anxiety (and will be examined posthumously for degenerative brain disease, following concussions suffered while playing high school football).  Transit Requiem had recently returned to its natal degree, affording a “reset” of the natal potential, while transit Anubis’ station in late March conjoined Sturgeon’s natal TNO Ixion at 3 Sagittarius, named for the first murderer in Greek myth.

Victim Thomas “Tommy” Elliot (born 26 August 1959, no time available) had a lifepath that was set from birth.  The future bank vice president had a 2 Virgo Sun conjunct natal asteroid Banks at 10 Virgo and natal Venus at 11 Virgo, ruling money matters generally, so a lifetime in a financial institution was a natural fit.  The Sun also conjoins natal Pluto at 3 Virgo, an early indicator of the potential for personal involvement with homicide, as perpetrator or victim.  Further, the Sun is involved in a Grand Trine Kite pattern, in trine to natal asteroid Connors at 8 Taurus and natal Saturn, ancient lord of death, at 0 Capricorn, with the String of the Kite formed by Connors’ opposition to an exact pairing of natal Neptune with asteroid Rip (“RIP”) at 4 Scorpio, suggesting Thomas Elliot’s (Sun) demise (Saturn, Rip) via a mentally-challenged (Neptune) Connor Sturgeon (Connors).

A cluster of natal TNO Ixion at 22 Libra with natal asteroids Thomas and Louise at 24 and 27 Libra squares natal asteroid Gunn at 25 Capricorn, indicating Elliot’s (Thomas) murder (Ixion) by firearm (Gunn) at a Louisville (Louise) venue.  Transit Connors’ 15 Leo station at the shooting conjoins natal Uranus (shootings) at 17 Leo and opposes natal Damocles (impending doom) with natal asteroid Elliot at 9 and 13 Aquarius, conjoined by transit Gunn at 15 Aquarius for his murder.

Connor Sturgeon’s last Instagram post before his killing spree read, “They won’t listen to words or protests.  Let’s see if they hear this.”  Sorry, Connor, but the powers that be aren’t interested in listening to any common-sense gun legislation.

One wonders if the outcome would be different had the Thomases in these two stories been reversed, and it was a Supreme Court Justice gunned down, while a bank VP was accused of serious ethics violations.

The Clarence Thomas ethics brouhaha commenced on April 6^th, with the publication by ProPublica of revelations that the ultra-conservative SCOTUS Justice had accepted lavish gifts and luxury vacations from billionaire megadonor Harlan Crow, then failed to disclose them.  Thomas had taken trips valued at up to a half-million dollars each for nearly twenty years, without uttering a peep about them.  A week later, ProPublica followed up with further evidence of ethics violations, namely the sale in 2014 by Thomas to Crow of two vacant properties and a home his mother lived in, again without disclosure.

Thomas’s lack of compliance regarding vacations and property sales are clear violations of government ethics laws, which state that Federal judges, including Supreme Court justices, are required to disclose such gifts and transactions.  By the terms of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, which establishes rules for federal officials regarding what’s acceptable, all substantive gifts, like those that Thomas accepted, and most real estate sales above $1,000, need to be disclosed.

Crow, who is now essentially Clarence Thomas’ mother’s landlord (though apparently she lives rent-free), embarked on a series of major improvements to the property shortly after acquisition.  His mother still lives there, almost a decade after Thomas left blank the space on his annual disclosure form reserved to report the identity of the buyer in any private transaction, such as a real estate deal.  Much like the blank space in Thomas’ brain that governs ethics.

As the station approaches, more stories have appeared about Thomas’ inaccurate disclosures, like not reporting any gifts of value since 2001, and failing to include hundreds of thousands of dollars of his wife’s income on forms. Calls are escalating for his resignation or impeachment, but any official action would have to begin in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, a scenario that is unthinkable in the current hyper-partisan atmosphere.

Thomas is no stranger to controversy, dating back to sexual harassment allegations brought by Anita Hill during his 1991 Senate confirmation hearings for the position he now holds.  The recent revelations put Thomas’s commitment to rules of ethical conduct under new scrutiny after he refused to recuse himself from cases brought before the SCOTUS related to the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, despite the fact that his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, played a direct role via emails, texts and phone calls in trying to overturn the 2020 election results.

When the first ProPublica story broke on April 6^th, a solar stellium told the tale of a SCOTUS Justice under scrutiny for ethics violations.  The Sun at 16 Aries is preceded by TNO Salacia at 8 Aries (noted for scandals, the root of our word “salacious”) and asteroid Justitia at 10 Aries (named for the Roman goddess of justice and the root of our word for Thomas’s job title), and followed by an exact conjunction of Jupiter (ruling the judiciary generally, the SCOTUS specifically, and matters of ethics as well) and asteroid Themis (named for Justitia’s Greek counterpart) at 20 Aries.  It would be difficult indeed to find an astrological signature that more clearly displays a spotlight (Sun) thrown on an ethics (Jupiter) scandal (Salacia) involving a SCOTUS (Jupiter) justice (Justitia, Themis).

This entire cluster opposes asteroid America at 15 Libra, putting Thomas at odds with (opposition) the nation.  Further, the Sun/Jupiter/Themis grouping anchors a Grand Trine with asteroids Thomas, Crowley and Virginia, all at or about to be at station.  Thomas at 24 Sagittarius is just three days away from entering its station degree; Crowley at 24 Leo (for Harlan Crow) is at station, about to turn direct less than a week later; and Virginia (for wife Virginia “Ginni’ Thomas) at 29 Leo is just one day from entering its station degree.  Crowley will station on April 12^th, the day before the further revelations of the undisclosed real estate sale are reported, and the controversy heats up.  Both Thomas and Virginia will move to their station degrees during that ensuing week between reports, with both making their turns on April 20^th, Thomas in retrograde and Virginia direct, signaling major changes in the wind for the Thomas household.

The underlying issues, of not following laws which require disclosure of such matters, are underscored by a conjunction of Mercury (ruling documents) with asteroid Lie (falsehoods) at 4 and 3 Taurus, and by asteroid NOT at 24 Taurus, a general refusal to comply, parsing the distance between Uranus (ruling controversy) at 17 Taurus and Venus at 24 Taurus (ruling things of material value).

Thomas and company’s exposure and vulnerability to ethics violations and their culpability in deception are depicted by asteroid Clara (closest to Clarence) at 24 Cancer, squared to ethic-ruling Jupiter; asteroid Thomas opposed asteroid Achilles at 16 Gemini, ruling weakness or vulnerability; asteroid Harlansmith (for Harlan) at 26 Pisces conjoined fraud-and-deception-evoking Neptune at 25 Pisces, also squared by Thomas; and asteroid Crowley (for Crow) opposed asteroid Karma at 20 Aquarius, suggesting a period of being called to account for prior bad acts.

As with Thomas Elliot, Clarence Thomas’ nativity portrays much of his life story.  Born 9 PM EST on 23 June 1948 in Pinhead – ‘scuse me, Pin Point – Georgia (Rodden Rating AA), Thomas’ path to the Supreme Court is prefigured in a conjunction of the natal Sun and Mercury at 2 Cancer with natal asteroid Justitia at 6 Cancer, and a stationary natal asteroid Themis at 6 Scorpio, conjoined the 13 Scorpio Midheaven (ruling career), in trine to the Sun, which turned direct the day before his birth, making the judiciary (Justitia, Themis) a self-defining (Sun) pivotal element (station) in his bio.

Leading players in the Thomas saga are clustered about the Sun as well, like natal asteroids Crowley (for Crow) at 3 Cancer and Hill (for Anita Hill) at 7 Cancer.  Crowley is further bound up with Mercury at 2 Cancer and Venus at 3 Cancer, denoting his connection to documents and forms (Mercury), as well as gifts, pleasure travel and entertainment (Venus). Harlan Crow is also seen as natal asteroid Harlansmith, which at 17 Cancer forms a T-Square with natal Neptune at 10 Libra and natal asteroid America at 17 Cancer, prefiguring his involvement in Thomas’ attempt to deceive (Neptune) the nation (America) about their interactions.  Ms. Hill is further represented by natal asteroid Anitahill, named for her, which at 15 Leo conjoins natal Pluto and Saturn at 13 and 19 Leo, and semisquares the Sun.  This reflects the potential to destroy (Pluto) Thomas’ career ambitions (Saturn) via her confirmation hearing testimony regarding his character (Sun).

Wife Ginni is seen as natal asteroid Virginia, which at 19 Taurus is semisquare to a conjunction of natal asteroids Juno and Hera at 3 and 5 Cancer, named respectively for the Roman and Greek goddesses of marriage.  Clarence Thomas’ propensity to be less than forthcoming and honest, and to attract scandal, can be seen in natal asteroid Thomas at 27 Cancer (itself conjoined the 25 Cancer Descendant) in exact square to natal asteroid Lie at 27 Libra, exactly inconjunct natal TNO Salacia at 27 Sagittarius.

When Anita Hill’s testimony almost brought down Clarence Thomas’ SCOTUS nomination on 11 October 1991 with allegations of unwanted sexual commentary, the skies well reflected the event.  The transit Sun at 17 Libra was conjoined by centaur Nessus at 18 Libra, signature of “men behaving badly” in a sexual context; transit Mercury (spoken testimony) at 23 Libra; and transit Mars (sexual talk and inuendo, when paired with Mercury) at 26 Libra.  This forms the fulcrum of a T-Square with transit asteroids Thomas and Nemesis (downfall, often self-created) at 22 and 24 Cancer, and transit Clara (Clarence) at 20 Capricorn, placing Clarence Thomas in the spotlight (Sun). 

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearings are depicted by transit asteroid Senator at 16 Virgo, bracketed by transit asteroids Themis and Justitia at 11 and 21 Virgo, squared by transit asteroid Hill at 22 Sagittarius, identifying Anita Hill as the focus of the Senate for the day.  Asteroid Anitahill at 1 Sagittarius conjoins transit asteroid Veritas at 0 Sagittarius (Latin for “truth”), endorsing the essential honesty of her testimony, and squares a pairing of transit Venus with Jupiter at 3 and 5 Virgo, representing a female (Venus) before the Judiciary Committee (Jupiter).  Anitahill is conjunct Thomas’ natal Nemesis at 27 Scorpio, that point of self-undoing.  Anitahill also broadly conjoins transit Damocles at 10 Sagittarius, the looming threat; this placement is all the more remarkable for the fact that Damocles, with its highly eccentric orbit, only spends roughly ten weeks of its 41-year cycle in Sagittarius (unless prolonged by a retrograde there, which was not the case in 1991).

Perhaps if the Senate had given more credence to Anita Hill’s allegations in 1991, and rejected Clarence Thomas’ nomination, we wouldn’t now be facing these ethical lapses and crisis of confidence in the SCOTUS some thirty years later.

Live and learn.  If only they did…