By: Carol Tebbs
While you cannot say that certain chart patterns will always show up the same in every person’s life, sometimes two people can show striking similarities. Such is the case with mass murderers Andreas Lubitz and James Holmes.
When I saw news of the tragic crash into the Swiss Alps of the Germanwings flight that killed 150 in March of 2015, I was saddened and later horrified because news reports said that the young co-pilot in charge, Andreas Lubitz, crashed the plane intentionally. As an astrologer, I quickly ran a chart for Lubitz’ reported birth date to better understand the tragic situation, and immediately had a strong sense of déjà vu – I had seen that same chart before.
Then it hit me in a flash – Lubitz’ chart was very similar to Aurora, Colorado shooter, James Holmes dressed as “The Joker”, who shot 70 people in the theater showing the new “Batman” and killed 20. Though the comparison is stark, I must point out that the Holmes chart is a verified birth time, and the Lubitz chart is rectified by me. That said, only the Angles and the Moon move appreciably in the five days that separate the births of Lubitz and Holmes, and the inner planets move only minimally.
Click chart at left for larger size in a new window.
Dan Giamario gave speculative a time of 7:30 PM for Lubitz in the March ISAR E-zine and if it is even close, the similarities to Holmes are remarkable — but even more remarkable if Lubitz’ birth time is close to 9:30 PM! Both men have the same Sagittarius stellium in the 5th house – but Lubitz has four of the Sagittarius planets, including the Sun, square the Lunar Nodes!
Holmes has natal Uranus at the bendings of the Lunar Nodes, but Lubitz has the Sun tightly conjunct Uranus making the same hard aspect to the Nodes and the strong statement of an important life lesson even more prominent. If Lubitz’ birth time is close to 9:30 PM, he has the same dangerous potential as Holmes, suggested by natal Mars/Pluto conjunct and straddling his IC. And with a challenged Leo rising quincunx Venus, as Giamario suggests for Lubitz, and certain for Holmes with his AA-rated birth time, they both exited with a grand immature gesture in defiance of society and total disregard for others.
The description of Lubitz as a loner with few friends and facing medical issues that would cost him his job is eerily similar to the description of Holmes by his supervisor as “stubborn, uncommunicative and socially inept” who had recently failed oral exams and lost his bid for medical school with a generous stipend. Both had highly educated parents with high expectations: Holmes’ father a mathematician and scientist with PhD degrees from Stanford, UCLA and Berkeley and his mother a registered nurse; Lubitz’ father a production manager and technical director in the glass industry and his grandfather an MD and pediatrician.
Comparing mass murderers Lubitz and Holmes by declination, they both have a distinctive cluster of the same planets parallel South at 23-degrees, with some out-of-bounds, suggesting a propensity to think and act outside of standard norms (Mercury, Uranus, Sun). The Moon declination on both chart’s is distinctive: Holmes’ Moon is at crossover parallel SNode and contra-parallel Pluto, suggesting emotional struggles with powerful people, and Lubitz’ Moon out-of-bounds and parallel Mercury, suggesting emotional issues from childhood of being “a loner” and not fitting in. Furthermore, both men have Mars contra-parallel an Angle, a strong statement of difficulty through aggression – Holmes has Mars CP the Ascendant and Lubitz has Mars CP the Midheaven.
Click image of declination at right for larger image in a new window
In conclusion, natal charts are similar to fingerprints in that they are distinctive and personal, but there are chart themes that connect people by life experience across families and across cultures. Lubitz and Holmes share the all too common theme of loneliness in this busy world.
If you want to explore further, here is the data to compare: James Egan Holmes, December 13, 1987, 9:04 pm PST, La Jolla, California and Andreas Lubitz, December 18, 1987, 9:30 pm CET (speculative time), Montabaur, Germany (though Astro-DataBank suggests his birthplace may be Neuburg/Donau instead). If anyone obtains the actual birth time for Andreas Lubitz, I am sure that all Newsletter readers will eagerly look forward to the posting. Hopefully we can learn some interpretive insight from the charts of these troubled men to better serve our clients facing stressful situations and possibly refer them to qualified help and appropriate care.
