The Menendez Brothers and Chiron
At around 10 p.m., at 722 North Elm Drive, Beverly Hills local time, Erik and Lyle Menendez brutally gunned down their parents. The importance of the story escaped me until the arrival on Netflix of the series Monsters, whose second season dealt with the case.
Elm is a tree... For the ancient Greeks, this was associated with death and the passage to the afterlife. In some legends, it is linked to the idea of mourning and shade, partly because the tree grows well in damp, shady places, often near cemeteries. One of the most famous examples, according to my friend ChatGPT, is Morpheus' Cave, where, according to the poet Virgil, elms were supposed to grow at the entrance to the realm of dreams and death.
It is, of course, a coincidence that the astrologer does not hesitate to include in his narrative!
First of all, here's the sky as it appeared over Beverly Hills at the fateful hour, a strongly cardinal theme that, at first glance, might seem harmonious. The Moon, in Aries, was rising, symbolizing a spontaneous and expressive emotional charge. The "kite" of aspects, 
, 
, 
and Lunar Axis (
/
), brings here a meaning of peripheral resolution, away from the center of the ego. Since the Moon is in Aries (
), the astrologer's gaze is directed towards Mars (
), ruler of this sign. Mars, in Virgo (
), dedicated to perfection and the logical act, is in a minor triangle with Pluto (
) and Chiron (
), the latter being in the IC, sector of the family. For astrologers, Chiron's small celestial body symbolizes deep, unhealing wounds. We'll come back to this later.
All these harmonious aspects are at odds with what Venus (
) receives in Libra (
in her sign). This forms a large, fierce T with the opposition near the family axis of Uranus/Saturn/Neptune (/
/
) opposing Jupiter (
).
As for declinations, Uranus was "out of bounds" (OOB), and Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune were not far from exceeding the zodiacal periphery. An "out of bounds" planet can indicate a more rebellious, unpredictable or unconventional energy. In the southern hemisphere, Venus and Pluto were in exact parallel, not far from Mercury. Venus and Pluto, passion, strength, relational intensity. Mercury: brotherhood...
Of course, not all Elm Street parents died that night... or anywhere else in the world. In Cosmic Loom, Dennis Elwell suggests that "planets are not instigators. Just as mathematics is a language for explaining relationships and transactions in terms of quantities, without being the cause of anything, so the heavens provide a language for explaining qualitative connections, without being the cause. Astrology merely makes audible the conversation between the heavens and the earth."
I'm telling a story here with the brushes I have, and the astrological colors I'm offered are pretty much in tune.
A certain eclipse
For astrologers, solar eclipses (and lunar eclipses to a lesser degree) are period markers. What is represented during an eclipse is supposed to color the entire period leading up to the next eclipse.
The theme of the solar eclipse of March 7, 1989 can thus be set to the coordinates of Beverly Hills.
/
/
The lunar axis symbolizes the visceral changes of destiny. It's the pivot between past and future. At the time of the eclipse, this axis was parallel to the family axis, while Mercury, the two brothers, was squaring along the same axis. Mercury, in Aquarius, was ruled by Uranus, which was in zone VIII of the zodiac, along with Saturn and Neptune.
Chiron, symbol par excellence of traumas undergone and engendered, opposed Uranus, while on the evening of the murder, Chiron finished his opposition to the stellium Uranus, Saturn and Neptune, by opposing the latter.
/
/
Adding to the cosmic melee, on the day of the murder, the lunar axis was in conjunction/opposition with the eclipse's Mercury, while the Sun was in conjunction with the South Node... and square to the eclipse's Mars/Jupiter conjunction. As for the Moon, it formed an exact sextile with Mercury... and Mars, Mars! opposed the eclipse and Venus!
Let's turn now to the "players" in this drama. We have exact dates for the two Menendez brothers. For the parents, José and Kitty, we have to make do with dates of birth without times.
Of course, we could spend hours analyzing each and every sky chart, and get lost in all the details. Let's take an overview instead.
The elements
| Elements | Erik | Lyle | José | Kitty |
| Fire | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Earth | 3 | 8 | 5 | 3 |
| Air | 3 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| Water | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
Like his mother, Erik has a rather well-balanced cast, the mother being a little more fiery, which is borne out by the evidence of this woman's desire to shine (Sun in Libra, Moon in Leo). It has been said that Lyle possessed his father's temperament: 8 points in Earth for Lyle, 5 for his father. However, Lyle didn't have the same agility with communications (and transactions. Only 1 point versus 5 points for the father).
Scale of needs (after Tamise Van Pelt)
| Needs | Erik | Lyle | José | Kitty |
| Growth | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Security | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| Stimulation | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Love | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
Unsurprisingly, we can see that the father had an enormous need for growth (to become important), while the mother seemed to lack it, in favor of a strong desire to surround herself with love. Lyle's needs are undifferentiated, but he's comfortable satisfying them depending on the context, but his growth problem is the cause of many conflicts with his father. As for Erik, the picture is very blurred. A character with circumstantial needs, except for stimulation, which made him more apt to display a social and public personality. Didn't he want to become a model?
The behavior scale (after Tamise Van Pelt)
| Behavior | Erik | Lyle | José | Kitty |
| Force | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Strategy | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Sensitivity | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 |
The parents are identical in their approach to life: strength and strategy, with little inclination to use emotional weapons. When faced with an obstacle, they go for it and calculate their moves. Erick will tend to weave and find the right angle, while Lyle lacks control of his strength and is largely tempted by strategy.
Birth charts
José
(/)(/)
José's chart could not be more dynamic, especially with the Moon in a grand square to Pluto/Lunar Axis, Mercury/Venus. The Moon in Scorpio, square to Pluto, is in itself an indicator of an emotional bomb. It's said that abusers have often been abused. Perhaps this is the signature of the Chiron square to Uranus. Everything leads to Venus, through the interplay of dispositions, which can only manifest itself through oppositions and squares. In this theme, Venus can be seen as an insatiable fountain of sensuality. Impulses would do the rest...
Kitty
() ()
Kitty's chart is interesting because José's Moon/Pluto square is resolved by his wife's Moon/Pluto conjunction! Kitty's Chiron is also conjoined to this conjunction. She's a woman with a strong emotional streak. Since the Menendez couple relied on this Moon/Pluto dynamic, it's not surprising that the boys couldn't resolve their conflicts with their father with her. The chain of dispositions remains unresolved in Kitty's case, and Mars is completely absent from the circuit, making her perhaps the receptacle or witness to the aggressiveness of her environment. Powerfully in Aries, this Mars opposes the Sun. Kitty was certainly not a "passive" woman... The Venus opposition to Saturn/Uranus suggests dissatisfaction or relationship problems that are difficult to manage.
Lyle
(/)
Lyle's theme is powerful, to say the least. The Sun at the top of the sky and in Capricorn gives him a strong aura of solidity. However, this Sun has no tangible opportunities for self-awareness, as it has no squares with the other planets, except with the lunar axis. When you see beautiful triangles in a chart, beware! The ego (Sun) doesn't cross the center, doesn't become aware of itself. With the Moon and Uranus, the Sun remains on the periphery.
Tensions and frustrations are registered above all by the slow Moon in Taurus facing Neptune, and a Mars in Pisces, a kind of saber that splits the water, is opposed to a Jupiter constrained by Virgo. The "liberating circuit" is made by the Moon, and it's a closed circuit, which transmits its interpretations to Mercury. Lyle's Moon opposes his father's by sign. As with his mother, the chain of dispositions is not resolved in Lyle's case. One might think that everything leads back to Saturn, because of the Sun in Capricorn, but Saturn is in Aries, which sends us back to Mars, and the road returns after a detour to Saturn, which returns to Mars. There's a strange, stable strength about this man.
The theme also seems to be centered on the MC in Capricorn. Saturn rules this sign and is traditionally associated with the father figure, with structure. Nonetheless, and just by looking at the character, it's immediately obvious, Lyle is magnificently present (ascendant Taurus).
Erik
= /
Finally, Erik's chart seems at first glance more open or simple than the other three. Only Saturn presides over the sky like the mast of a sailboat, which tends to make a person more introverted or submissive, this doubled by the shy and refined Virgo ascendant. The Netflix series portrays him as hypersensitive, which is corroborated by the Moon/Neptune/Sun conjunction at the bottom of the sky. Like his father, Erik's Moon in Scorpio is reminiscent of his mother's Moon/Pluto conjunction.
Note that, like Lyle's theme, Erik's theme also focuses on the family axis. The interplay of dispositions is not resolved either. Note, however, the intense parallel conjunction between Venus, Pluto and Saturn.
Under the delicate cover of his skin may lie the energy of a praying mantis...
What would these four themes have in common? I'd say Chiron and Uranus.
- José : Chiron square Uranus ()
- Lyle : Chiron opposite to Uranus ()
- Erik : Chiron counter-parallel (opposite) to Uranus ()
- Kitty: Chiron quintile to Uranus
Like communicating vessels, José's traumas would have created those of the boys. Kitty was not to be outdone, with her Venus opposite Uranus and Saturn.
There was, in this family, a tragedy, even a Greek signature. Let's not forget that on the evening of the murder, Chiron was at the IC, the family's traditional point... thus completing a series of oppositions that had begun during the previous eclipse (opposition Uranus!) and opposing Saturn and Neptune before reaching the position opposite the MC, the traditional symbol of the father (incidentally, the MC was in Capricorn...).
The two brothers
Since two of them committed the murder, what about the synastry between the two brothers? Unsurprisingly, I'd say a grand square, a kind of quadrature. Their Moons oppose each other, in line with Lyle's natal Moon/Neptune opposition, while this opposition is at the midpoint of Erik's lunar axis. There are so many symbols involved that it's hard to choose which prevails. What about Erik's Chiron on Lyle's Saturn, Erik's Mars on his brother's lunar axis, Venus on Lyle's descendant while Lyle's Jupiter is right on Erik's ascendant? Life and death?
The father/son relationship
IC
The José/Lyle synastry suggests several things. First, the father's Mars on the IC and the son's Sun opposition: aggression. Suns trine while father's Sun is very close to son's Moon: similar natures, identity. Father's Uranus opposite son's Venus: authoritative relationship, stormy and unconventional. Let's add the father's Neptune in conjunction with the son's Uranus and... in parallel with the son's Chiron, suggesting the secretive nature of the relationship.
The José/Erik synastry is not to be outdone! The father's Sun in conjunction with the son's Saturn: domination. Father's Mercury opposite Erik's Venus. Father's Saturn opposite son's Mercury: control through dialogue, imprisoned communication. Paternal Pluto trine the son's Chiron, while this Pluto is square to Erik's Venus. The position of the father's Moon is uncertain, since we don't know its time of birth, but it's in Scorpio, near Erik's Mars/Venus mipoint. During the trial, Erik confessed his guilt at being able to come by sodomizing his father. This is where we discover the dark intertwining of incest. In his imagination, Erik had classified sexual relations with his father. There was good sex and bad sex...
And then, paternal Chiron near Erik's ascendant! Chiron really seems to represent more than trauma, but the transmission of it. Human suffering is inherited, combined in a dance that resembles karmic accounting, and we can't understand why the cosmos needs this gratuitous violence...
The mother/son relationship
The Kitty/Lyle relationship has plenty of character. This Star of David of trigones, fueled by numerous parallels and squares, would surely make a novelist's day. There must have been a strong sexual attraction (unavowable or unacknowledged) towards her son. However, I'll only mention the Chiron (son) Neptune (mother) opposition and parallelism, similar to that of the father. What prompted him to "finish off" his mother (who didn't die on the spot) is undoubtedly hidden deep down in this tangle of aspects.
The mother's Venus in exact conjunction with her son's Sun, joining in trine the respective Chiron. Erik's Moon in opposition to Uranus/Saturn. The mother may have seemed eccentric and cold to the son? Maternal Mars opposes son's Uranus. According to the portrayal of her in the Netflix series (which, we're assured, took three years to research), Kitty didn't think much of this handsome boy, whom she found too sensitive and soft. Another opposition between the mother's Jupiter and Erik's Mercury. Maternal Moon in counter-parallel with son's Saturn. Once again, complex relationships that I didn't try to understand in my modest research.
The murder
Of course, we want to know if the murder is "visible" in everyone's charts. And a lot can be seen or explained afterwards...
For José, Pluto began to oppose Mercury in 1987 and was to oppose the Sun in November 1989. In other words, Pluto had been orbiting these two planets since 1987, and was at the Sun/Mercury mipoint. Mars, ruler of the ascendant at the scene of the murder, was hovering... around Chiron! This strange grand trine is fascinating all the same, as if José's murder could signify for him a certain liberation, or resolution... However, the solar arc {{symbol:prog text="ur cj ma"}} alone explains everything. We could envisage a rectification of the time with the progression of Chiron, which could have been exact with the Moon at the time of the murder.
As for Kitty, without wishing to be macabre, the Sun was in square to Uranus. She was due for a surprise... But more seriously, Pluto, not far from Mercury, which he visited throughout 1987/1988 (a stressful, anguishing period for her), in resonance with the opposition described for José, was in exact square with, guess what, Chiron! Without knowing the time of birth, the irony is that by leaving the random time entered for the calculation (noon 10) we end up with the mipoint / and a progression of the Moon on the North Lunar Node.
Like his chart, Lyle's transits on the night of the murder are highly dramatic, recalling the brothers' synastry motif. Mercury transited Pluto, denoting impulsive thought leading to the inexorable act. Venus opposed Saturn, symbolizing separation from the father, while the Moon orbited the lunar axis of birth. Saturn was always in the orb of the square with the natal position.
(//)
In Erik's case, the Sun transited the North Node, making a square with the stellium /{symbol:pla text="ne"}}/ of his birth. The Moon opposed Mars. It's at the solar arc that everything comes into play with . Once again, we see the tectonic movement of people whose water seems to sleep so much...
()
Trial aborted due to lack of consensus among jury members.
Rather favorable transits, more discreet than those undergone by Lyle. However, note the position of transiting Pluto. He hasn't said his last word in the second trial.
(//)
In the first trial, Neptune was conjunct the Sun. For the verdict of the second, it was conjunct Mercury.
Conviction comes at the time of the first Saturnian return. The Sun is counterparallel to the natal Sun.
(//)
During the second verdict, Pluto moved to the Sun/Neptune mipoint.
At condemnation, Pluto retreated to join the IC and thus be in perfect conjunction with Neptune, a planet already at the Sun/Moon mipoint at birth.
Conclusion
This long article was intended to demonstrate the strange clockwork that can link several individuals. Could the tragedy have been predicted? I don't think so, because the meshes are too complex. I've barely sketched the major transits and a few progressions.
In 2024, this type of tragedy could occur, but the understanding would be different. There would certainly be a conviction, but probably with a different conclusion.
In the documentary presented by Netflix, we hear the prosecutor at the time still doubting the defense presented. She still believes Erik and Lyle were fabricators. If there is a fable, would the present astrological portrait hold up, could it be reinterpreted differently? Was it I who, being sensitive to the two brothers' arguments, focused everything on Chiron?
The answer doesn't need the planets to see the light of day. If they lied, their alleged lies will at least have served the cause of abused children... that's the hope represented by this mysterious little asteroid that astrologers talk so much about.
On November 5, 2010, Oprah Winfrey tackled the subject of men who were sexually abused as children, giving 200 men the chance to have their say. And what were the formations in the sky? A Neptune/Chiron conjunction!
