Mercury and Mars and the Trayvon Martin case

revised with correct birthdate for Trayvon Martin. Being in the middle of my own personal maelstrom I didn’t even hear about the Trayvon Martin case until late last week.  Trayvon Martin was a 17-year old young man who was shot by George Zimmerman, an armed community watch volunteer, in Sanford Florida on February 26th.

Zimmerman claimed self-defense and was not arrested by police, and there was no investigation until the FBI stepped in on March 20th, shortly after Mercury turned retrograde on the 13th.  Mercury rules communication and its retrograde periods, when it appears to be traveling backwards, are often times when situations are revisited in order to find a new perspective.

Mars has been traveling retrograde since late September, creating tension and bringing aggression and assertive energy into the forefront of our consciousness.  Mars is the planet of drive, desire and anger – but also enthusiasm and motivation.  We NEED Mars to get out of bed in the morning, but when Mars is corrupted or repressed it can be unleashed in ways that are not helpful or comfortable.

George Zimmerman was born October 5, 1983 with the Sun in Libra bestowing a need to create harmony and peace in the world around him.  Yet he has a conjunction of Jupiter to Uranus, the two planets of liberation and freedom, in a challenging square to his Virgo Mars.  People with Mars in Virgo tend to be perfectionists: they see where their world needs to be changed and redefined and re-ordered for greater efficiency.  When Jupiter squares Mars there can be an overblown sense of confidence and assuredness in one’s own mission, and when Uranus squares Mars there is a fierce rebellion and desire to create change.  Mars in Virgo doesn’t really appreciate change – there is a tendency to cherish the security that comes from knowing that things will be predictable.  So Jupiter and Uranus are not particularly friendly to the Virgo Mars, and that is even less the case when they are locked in a challenging square formation.

When this dynamic combines with a Libra Sun who tries to mask all of this roiling conflict with a harmonious demeanor, you can get an explosion of anger and rage when that Mars is affected by a planetary transit and that is exactly what happened when the shooting occurred.  Transiting Uranus was in a nearly exact quincunx (150 degrees and before arguing with my use of this term please read this post) to his natal Mars, triggering a discomfort for which relief could not easily be found.

We know that Zimmerman had anger management issues: In 2005 he was arrested for interfering with an arrest with assault and battery on an officer, and that same year an ex-girlfriend filed a restraining order, claiming that he assaulted her. In 2005 Zimmerman’s progressed Uranus aligned exactly with his natal Jupiter, bringing the natal configuration to a head and inspiring a fierce need to explode out of any restrictions that would have been imposed on him.  And exacerbating this was a transit of Uranus in the sky, forming a challenging square to both the natal and the progressed combination.  Uranus transits demand that we pay attention and tend to create explosions of the repressed subconscious into the conscious mind where they must be acknowledged.  It’s easy to see how that would have triggered Zimmerman’s anger issues that were repressed by the Libra Sun.

Over the past few weeks this case has captured the attention of the nation as emblematic of the racism that still exists in this country.  Initial reports about the incident appeared to indict Zimmerman in cold-blooded murder with a racial motive.  With Uranus in an approaching square to Pluto, the planet of death and transformation, the revolutionary fervor that we saw last year when this cycle began is coming to a peak this summer and needs only a case like this to trigger widespread reaction.

Characteristic of the Mercury retrograde period we are currently in, a recent news article reports that much of what Zimmerman reported to police has been corroborated by witnesses.  Mars is at a virtual standstill right now in preparation to turn direct on April 14th and it will only travel about three degrees between now and the middle of May.  With Mars at a standstill, or “station,” its aggressive energy will force itself to the forefront of human experience so that it must be dealt with.  Right now Mars is part of the Grand Trine which tends to promote ease and lacks the power to generate much conflict.

It’s interesting that at the time around March 20-22nd when the investigations into this case began, Mars in the sky was exactly opposite Chiron, the planet of wounding and healing.  Chiron demands that we examine the root of the wound, and Mars stimulated that examination.  Mars will next oppose Chiron in mid to late May, at the time the Uranus/Pluto square is beginning to tighten.  I would watch that time for an explosion of protests in a number of different areas, but likely also regarding issues surrounding this case.

And what about Trayvon Martin’s chart – does it show someone who, as Zimmerman asserts, would assault a complete stranger in a public place at 7 pm?  With the Sun conjunct Mercury in Aquarius, Trayvon was a bright boy, and likely one that was easily bored.  Uranus, planet of rebellion, rules Aquarius and he would not have been a follower by nature, someone who steps in line when others tell him too.

Mars was opposite his Sun (though wide of Mercury), and his Mars was in Leo where it is boisterous and dramatic and driven (Mars) to shine and be admired and respected by others (Leo).  Mars was retrograde in the chart, making its expression more difficult and this could have created an experience of resentment and an inability to speak his mind when necessary.

His Moon was in Taurus and likely trine his Venus in Capricorn, so he was also grounded in his responsibilities towards others.  There is no water in this chart, so he likely lacked empathy and would have found it difficult to understand the feelings of others.

This is the chart of a rebel, but there’s not the kind of rage in this chart that we see in the chart of George Zimmerman.  Just before the shooting transisting Chiron squared his Sun, amplifying any wounds or emotional triggers that he may have had and that would have still be in in effect at the time of the shooting.

This is the chart of someone who would have been rebellious and sullen and who resisted being stopped by a self-appointed community watch vigilante with an attitude.  It’s hard to see this chart as someone who would attack another person out of the blue for no reason, although we CAN see that lack of impulse control in Zimmerman’s chart.