The Ghost of Jonestown by Jim Lewis

     By the time this article appears, more than a year will have passed since November 1978, when the world was shocked by news of the massacre-suicides of 900 followers of the People's Temple in the South American country of Guyana.

     Though the press has exploited the sensational aspects of the occurrence, while choosing to ignore the more complex political undercurrents, the fact remains that an extraordinary event took place - a whole community of people, willingly or unwillingly, gave up their lives, seemingly under the almost hypnotic influence of a charismatic leader, Jim Jones.

     One must wonder what kind of power this man had to influence so many people to follow him into death. While his birth chart presents the picture of a magnetic leader who could easily project the power of his rising retrograde Capricorn Saturn onto socially dispossessed people, nowhere does it suggest that he would become the very personification of the "Grim Reaper" for hundreds of trusting souls.

     It has long been my contention that location plays almost as important a role in astrology as does time itself. The horoscope is a product of both time and place. The positions of the planets are calculated from the moment of birth, but the houses into which they are put depend on the exact latitude and longitude at which the birth took place. These dimensions of time and space are very closely associated. Clock time is a function of the earth's rotation, so that if you move rapidly over the surface of the earth you change your time as well as your space.

     It seems reasonable that a change in residence should have an effect on the horoscope; and I assert you can consciously change the emphasis of your horoscope by moving to bring its various natural factors into sharper focus at different geographical locations. This is done by seeing where the new angles (ascendant, descendant, mid-heaven, and imum coeli) fall in the new, relocated horoscope. While the planets in a relocation horoscope remain in the same degree and minute, the house cusps, including the all-important horizon and meridian, move as one traverses distance across the surface of the earth.

     In a new location, there is a new ascendant and mid-heaven; in certain places, these may coincide with a planet.  This may be simply understood by recognizing that at the moment of your birth, somewhere on earth the planet Mars was rising exactly; somewhere else, the Moon, etc.

     It has been my observation, one in keeping with the work of Gauquelin, that the planet that occupies a local angular position dominates the personality of the native in that place.  For example, residence in an area where Jupiter was angular at the time of birth will bring out statesmanlike, jovial, optimistic, and conformist parts of the personality. Residence under an angular Mars, on the contrary, will bring out sexuality, assertion, belligerence, and perhaps a proneness to violence.

     I have devised a method that simplifies the selection of a location where certain astrological conditions should prevail. Instead of casting a new chart (complete with its houses and signs) each time a person moves, I computer-generate a map on which lines are drawn that show where certain planets would occupy the "spotlight" of angularity. For example, all places at which Mars would occupy the exact ascendant lie on a line; therefore, instead of drawing up hundreds of new charts for each of those places, I calculate a map on which is drawn a line, labeled "MA ASC," identifying where those places are. The entire map contains 40 lines. There are 10 planets and 4 angular positions for each one. With these all identified and drawn, a person may select an area at which any particular planet would be most prominent and active in his or her life experience.

Those who wish a fuller exposition of the Astro*Carto*Graphy® process are referred to my article on war zones in the July 1978 issue of HOROSCOPE. In that article, I detailed that nearly every President since Roosevelt has made war in those parts of the world identified by the Mars lines on his Astro*Carto*Graphy® map. Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, and Ford were cited as past examples; and then I correctly projected that Carter might encounter belligerent difficulties in Iran, Rhodesia, and various other places where his Mars line is prominent. What has this to do with cult leader Jim Jones?

     Accompanying this article is the Astro*Carto*Graphy® map for Jim Jones using the 10:00 pm birth time (May 13, 1931; Lynn, Indiana) originally published in HOROSCOPE. A quick glance at Guyana shows what one would expect-Mars, planet of war and destruction, was exactly setting there at the moment of Jim Jones' birth in Indiana, as evidenced by the fact that the line labeled MA DSC passes exactly through Jonestown.

     Thus, one would expect that Jones' Martian potentials of violence, passion, sexuality, and paranoia might be encountered in that locality. Nearby is another line, labeled SU IC, showing that at the moment of his birth, the Sun occupied the lower meridian (IC) in Jonestown—the midnight position known to horary astrologers as "the end of the affair," one associated with establishment of a home and a leading role in the community.

     The combination of the Sun and Mars has long been associated by astrologers with excessive passion, sexuality, and recklessness.  The late Cyril Fagan wrote: "Should you scan through the horoscopes of those of both sexes who have uncontrollable sexual passions, you will find that the vast majority have the Sun configurated with Mars.  Should Mars be configurated at the same time with Neptune, their passions become a surging torrent, impossible to restrain."  A glance at Jim Jones' natal horoscope will find Mars sharing the eighth house with Neptune, not conjunct but certainly related. A little deeper analysis of these two planets, which totally dominate Jim Jones' relocated horoscope in Jonestown, will furnish insight into the power that he held over the masses he led to destruction.

     The Sun is associated astrologically with fame and leadership. In the many Astro*Carto*Graphy® charts I have done for the famous, it is often in prominent positions in those locations at which they made their most powerful public impression. Krishnamurti had the Sun angular in Los Angeles; Timothy Leary had the Sun rising in San Francisco. Leontyne Price and Willie Mays both had the Sun prominent in New York, as did Enrico Caruso before them. Numerous movie stars have the Sun angular in Hollywood; in fact, it seems almost a requirement for stardom.  Among my personal clients, the Sun areas have been those in which fatherhood, leadership, religious interest, and the outward expression of a paternalistic ego have been most prominent.

     Mars, the god of war, is of course associated with violence and assertion. Presidents get involved in wars under their Mars line. Among my clients, the Mars descendant line has been particularly unpopular. I Have reports of car wrecks, fistfights, wife-beating, violence, injury, sexual coercion, and hostility in these locations. Still, to establish a pattern, more than just Jim Jones' example is needed.

     Does the relocated Mars descendant line seem particularly favored my others whose violence involves many?  It seems so.  John Gacy (March 17, 1942, 12 29 am CWT; Chicago, Illinois) had his Mars descendant line within 5 degrees of Chicago, where he committed a chilling number of sexually motivated murders. Uranus was also nearby. Charles Manson's natal chart (November 12, 1934, 4:40 pm EST; Cincinnati, Ohio) has an exact conjunction of Mars and Neptune in the fifth house; but relocation to the southern California desert in which he organized his "family" puts those planets exactly on the descendant, within a degree of arc.

     Thus, we see two patterns, both of which apply equally well to James Jones.

     Those places in which the Sun is angular at the time of one's birth are those at which one might expect to achieve fame or notoriety. Those places at which Mars is angular seem to be the ones at which one will encounter violence, coercion, and aggression, directed either toward oneself or others. Jonestown, Guyana, happened to be one of the two places on the entire earth (the other is near Borneo) at which both of these conditions prevailed at the moment of James Jones' birth. It is not surprising that short residence in that locality brought about the tragedy which so shocked the world more than a year ago. Of particular importance is the exactitude of the contact - assuming the birth time to be accurate, the Mars line passes within one-half degree of Jonestown. Experience with Astro*Carto*Graphy® maps has shown that such precision often puts the person in touch with the planetary energy exaggerated to almost superhuman proportions; it is as if under the direct, exact, angular rays of the planet, one becomes entirely dominated by its energy.

     In every person's Astro*Carto*Graphy® map, there is an intersection of the Sun and Mars lines somewhere on the planet; this does not mean that each of us may go and become a cult mass murderer at those locations. (I unknowingly visited mine some years ago and one evening, was merely chased through the streets by a lunatic waving a knife. While this did not make international headlines, I do not expect to return to that location!)

     What this does show is that each of us has a potential for intense violence or assertion in certain areas of the world. Conscious of this power, one might be able to channel it positively into constructive activities. Unaware of it, however, one might set the stage for a personal tragedy involving himself and perhaps others. Knowledge is the key to transmuting the potentially disruptive energies of planets such as Mars, Uranus, and Pluto into productive channels. A relocation horoscope seems an essential type of knowledge pertaining to one's place of residence. One may also conjecture what might have happened had Jones tried to found his commune under a more favorable line.

     Central America shows Jupiter angular, and it was under such a line as this that Jacqueline Kennedy found her successful former residence in Greece. I have many replies from people who, under these lines, have met and befriended the powerful and wealthy, won in competitions and sports at the international level, and generally prospered.  One wonders what might have happened if only Jim Jones had paid more attention to his horoscope.