Despite serious doubts about his guilt, Troy Davis was executed in Jackson, Georgia on September 21. He was declared dead at 11:08 pm. (1)
CNN World’s headline, “World Shocked by U.S. execution of Troy Davis,” captures the mood of many and the case has galvanized global support to abolish the death penalty. “The European Union expressed ‘deep regret’ over the execution and repeated its call for a universal moratorium on capital punishment.” (2)
Troy Davis was born in Butts County, Georgia on October 9, 1968. (3) With no known birth time, I cast a sunrise chart for Jackson, Georgia. (Jackson is the largest town in Butts County, so that’s where I set the chart.)
The death chart has 11° Gemini rising (opposite the Sibly Ascendant), with the Ascendant ruler Mercury at 23° Virgo, directly on Davis’s natal Pluto-Jupiter conjunction.
In the chart for the time of his death, Mercury is 135° to retrograde Jupiter (ruler of the legal system) at 9° Taurus, and the Moon in Cancer is 135° to Neptune at the Midheaven. Neptune at the Midheaven suggests the worldwide media attention; the dubious circumstances (i.e., changing testimony of key witnesses) throughout the case; and the loss and sorrow for all the families personally involved with the case (i.e., the deceased police officer’s and the Davis families) as well as the general public’s strong emotional identification with the event.
Pluto is also on the cusp of 8th house at the time of his death, suggesting that the moment is tied to the greater collective consciousness.
The murder of the police officer that Troy Davis was accused of killing was on August 19, 1989. This was two days after a lunar eclipse at 24°12’ Aquarius (August 17). This eclipse was square to Davis’s natal Neptune at 24° Scorpio. Further trouble for him is inferred by Davis’s Mars return (11° Virgo), which occurred on the day of the murder.
Without a birth time, we can set a chart for the prenatal solar eclipse of an individual to see how they connect to the larger currents of the time. The prenatal solar eclipse for Troy Davis was on September 22. This eclipse set for the birthplace is quite striking: Jupiter, Pluto, Moon, Sun, and Uranus are all on the Ascendant. (Uranus at 29°36’ Virgo; the eclipse at 29°29 Virgo)
The PNSE Pluto sits directly on the Sibly Neptune at 22° Virgo in the 9th house (of legal matters).
There was also a lunar eclipse on October 6, 1989, three days before Davis was born. This was at 13°14’ Aries. The Sun was on the U.S. Sibly Saturn— dignified in Libra and in full view in the 10th house — and square to the nation’s Sun at 13°19’ Cancer. This eclipse ties Troy Davis strongly to the national horoscope.
Furthermore, if we place the transits for the event on the Sibly chart, the Moon in Cancer (strong public interest) is on the 8th-house cusp. (I use different house systems in my work, but have found the Porphyry 8th-house cusp to be eerily sensitive at the time of death.)
Troy Davis’s natal Uranus is at 0°40’ Libra, on the Aries Point of worldwide visibility; this is also on the Sibly Midheaven, 1°03’ Libra. The legacy of his life is connected to bringing issues of justice and equality onto the worldwide stage.
This morning, as we approach tomorrow’s New Moon in Libra, (4) I read: “The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights says Georgia’s execution of high-profile death row prisoner Troy Davis last Wednesday may have violated international law, citing serious concerns that the rights of Davis to due process and a fair trial were not respected.” (5)
May he rest in peace.
References:
(1) ABC News
(2) CNN World
(3) Wikipedia
(4) The New Moon at 4°00′ Libra is square Pluto. Mercury, Venus and Saturn are also in Libra, with Mercury at 2°52′, opposite Uranus retrograde at 2°31′ Aries.
(5) Democracy Now
Here are some of the many informative articles on various aspects of the case: