By Mariella Cassar, DFAstrol.S RCAstrol. Jamini Scholar, Jyotisa Pandita
John F Kennedy Natal 29.5.1917 at 15.00 in Brookline, Massachusetts
Sixty years ago John Fitzgerald (Jack) Kennedy, 35th president of the United States, was assassinated on the 22nd of November 1963. It was an event that shocked the world. His time in the White House was referred to as “Camelot” a reference to the legend of King Arthur and the knights of the round table a romantic ideal of chivalry, honour and glamour.
Kennedy was shot in the head as he travelled through the streets of Dallas in an open car. The time was 12.30pm. The gunshots tore open his skull but he was still breathing as he was rushed to Dallas Memorial Hospital. Doctors tried to save his life in vain and they declared him dead at 1pm.
A chart cast for the time of death is called a Punya Chakra. Punya means virtue and this chart shows the extent of good and negative karma performed by the native during his life. The techniques used to analyse the Punya Chakra derive from the principles of Prasna and I have used the method taught by my jyotish guru Pt. Sanjay Rath.
John F Kennedy – Punya Chakra – 1pm on 22.11.1963 at Dallas Texas
The lagna is Aquarius with 2 lords Saturn and Rahu. The lagna and planets in or aspecting the lagna indicate the circumstances of death. There are no planets in the lagna but exalted Rahu in the 5H is in trine to and gives graha drsti to the lagna. Rahu can indicate decapitation as also does Ketu the headless one in the Arudha Lagna and Kennedy died due to severe head and brain injury.
Mars is in own sign, 10th lord in 10th house and also gives graha drsti to the lagna. The combined aspects of Rahu and Mars on the lagna forms the yoga Kuja Stambhana when Rahu puts a complete stop to the energy of Mars thus ending both his career and his life. This combination indicates a violent and possibly painful death.
However, the lagna is in subha kartari by Jupiter and Moon in 2nd and 12th respectively. Saturn being the lagna lord in own sign although a natural malefic is a functional benefic. This suggests some protection and Moon in the 12th house conjunct Saturn indicates coma so pain would have been very brief as he lost consciousness immediately and slipped into a coma.
Although he was in a coma for about 30 minutes before he left his body, we can conjecture that his mind was active in this period. Moon in Capricorn conjoined Saturn suggests he was depressed realising that he would be unable to complete his work on earth. Moon is co lord of the 4th house Taurus aspected by its lord Venus which is a blessing showing he was good at heart. Sun in digbala conjunct 10th lord Mars in own sign is very powerful, indicating a good soul in spite of his weaknesses.
In this chart Mars is in Ruchaka Yoga and as there are 7 planets – excluding the nodes – in only 3 signs this gives rise to Shula Yoga which is also ruled by Mars. This makes Mars the most powerful planet in this chart and is not only an indication of death by violence but can also can signify victory. We can say that in this case, he attained everlasting fame due to his assassination. Jupiter and Saturn are both in own sign while Rahu and Ketu are all exalted.
The strength of all these planets suggests an accumulation of good karma at the time of death. In addition, Saturn’s navamsa dispositor is Sun who is in own sign in navamsa and is disposited by Mars in the rasi who is also in own sign. This gives rise to a powerful Kalpadruma Yoga which signifies attaining all one’s desires. This is quite an unique punya chakra with a large number of auspicious yogas, too many to list here and may suggest that in spite of apamrtyu, his life being cut short at a young age, he had achieved his life purpose at the time of his death.
Planets in the 6th house of the punya chakra indicate weaknesses whereas planets in the 8th house indicate sins committed against others. In this case both the 6th house and the 8th house are vacant and both are lorded by natural benefics. In addition Jupiter in the 2nd house aspects both the 6th and the 8th houses indicating that whatever weaknesses or sins he may have had were forgiven.
In fact if we examine his Jagannath Drekkana we find Mars and an exalted Venus in Pisces in the 6th house where it is in Marana Karaka Sthana, indicating his weakness for beautiful women and for having many extra marital affairs. An exalted Moon is in the 8th house.
As Moon is the 7th lord of the punya navamsa indicating wife, we can assume that his weakness for other women caused pain and suffering to his wife. However, in spite of this the aspect of Jupiter on the 6th and 8th houses indicates that both sins and weaknesses were forgiven.
There is a stellium of planets in the 10th house of karma and career. Sun in 10th in digbala shows leadership, in fact in today’s world the president of the United States is the most powerful man on the planet. In the rasi chart Gemini rules the 10th house and Mercury the karyesa is found in the 10th house of the punya chakra. Mars as mentioned above, is in own sign as 10th lord in 10th house also in digbala further empowering the Sun. The presence of Venus the 9th lord in the 10th house combined with Mars gives a very powerful dharma karma adhipati yoga. Gulika’s presence in the 10th house indicates that his actions stirred up poison he had to swallow which manifested in his assassination. However, whatever faults or errors were made in his career the drsti of Jupiter to the 10th house once again indicates that any mistakes were forgiven and his career created good karma overall.
The period of time a soul spends in between incarnations is calculated by taking planets in lagna and multiplying their period by the number of navamsa they have advanced in the navamsa. These periods are:
Sun – six months
Moon – twelve days
Mars – seven days
Mercury – two months
Jupiter – one month
Venus – fifteen days
Saturn – one year
There are no planets in the lagna so we can take Saturn the lord. In this case Saturn is in the 7th navamsa and Saturn’s period is of one year, so we can assume he will spend around 7 years in what the Buddhists call the Bardo. This is a dream state when the mind is still connected to the soul and will experience a loka according to one’s sins and weaknesses.
However, as already outlined above, due to the aspects of Jupiter on 6th, 8th and 10th houses all weaknesses, sins and negative karma has been absolved. As the hora lord of the punya chakra is Mars it indicates he will remain in Bhuloka – the earth plane – for that period after which he will reincarnate. This is indicated by Jupiter in the 2nd house, even though the 7th house is vacant.
To this day it is still uncertain whether his assassin was working alone or whether his murder was arranged. He had many enemies, he waged war on the mafia, he had made an enemy of J Edgar Hoover and his battle to end aparthaid in the South made him a hated figure to many. But he was also greatly loved and his death was greatly mourned and remembered to this day around the world.
