Part One; Mark Conditt, Serial Bomber

Let me tell you a story . . . about a bizarre twist in the life of a young, hometown boy.  Mark Conditt grew up in the outskirts of Austin, Texas.  His family was deeply religious and he was home schooled by his mother.  He attended a local college, maintained good grades, but left  before graduating.  He joined a local group of former Christian followers who had left behind their religious beliefs and were promoting conservative views typical of the southwest and current times.  Conditt’s adopted atheist views separated him from his family’s deep Christian views.  In spite of this his family continued to support him.  He moved out of his home, buying a house with the help of his father.  Together, they remodeled the house. 

Conditt lived there with two room mates and worked at a semi-conductor manufacturing plant for several years.  As that business grew it restructured its staff.  Conditt was not able to adjust to the new work requirements and was released.  It was also suggested that he was dealing with a gender identity crises, but those assertions have not been fully substantiated or connected to the bombings that followed his dismissal from work. 

Conditt was born June 16, 1994 near Austin, Texas.  His natal chart, set for noon (time unknown) is shown here. 

Ignoring the chart’s angles because of an unknown birth time, we can take note of several interesting patterns in this chart.

• Sun squares Moon; indicative of one who will rebel against the nature of his early family life and seek to establish his own ‘values.
• Venus squares Jupiter; how will he reconcile personal desires and social opportunities? This lack of clarity about where he places himself within social structures so that his personal self is comfortable adds to the Sun-Moon life struggle.
• Uranus conjoins Neptune; Conditt is part of a generation that desires clarity of purpose while feeling lost in their understanding of what is needed or how they might impact local society. The square from the Moon suggests anxiety as he works out ways to clarify a future path that is right for him.  Note that the Sun inconjuncts this pattern, indicating a strain in reaching any good decisions that he is comfortable with.  The end result is most likely a continuing form of dissatisfaction with his life and what the world offers him.

In that period after leaving the semi-conductor plant, Conditt learned to build bombs.  How this would help him find a satisfying life-path is difficult to see.  It would be easier to say that he was planning on striking out at the world around him because he couldn’t find a way to deal with his own inadequacies.  In early March of 2018 he initiated his program of sending package-bombs to various people in the area.   

In order to examine this situation I will employ a t/Moon-n/Sun Return charting method.  This form of charting has the following attributes to recommend it:

1. Due to the Moon’s rate of daily advance, 12 or 13 degrees, the ratio between its movement and the Sun’s movement (13:1) will place the Return chart’s MC within seven degrees of where it would be if we had a know birth time. Everyone born on a given date will have a Moon-to-Sun Return MC within a span of some 7 degrees from a ‘noon’ chart’s Return MC.
2. The t/Moon represents the ebb and flow of change that comes into our life. For each of us, this is different as the Moon moves through chart houses and aspects natal planets unique to our natal chart and Return chart.  The natal Sun represents our adult-developed character, life-style and intentions.  Together, these two powerful luminaries generally shape our life opportunities and challenges in conjunction with the interweaving of other planets and cycles.
3. Because the Return chart’s orientation is keyed to the t/Moon-n/Sun cycle, the natal chart houses will be reoriented relative to their noon-time natal placement. This reorientation, for a ‘timed’ chart, defines the changing nature and ‘present’ challenges to any current Return chart’s two week cycle.  A two week cycle due to the use of a personal ‘new moon’ chart (the t/Moon-to-n/Sun Return) and a personal ‘full moon’ chart (the t/Moon-opposite-n/Sun Return).  The use of this dual cycle is based on the recognition of the significance of the New Moon and Full Moon and their observed influence in our life.

Conditt had a t/Moon-to-n/Sun Return on February 24, 2018, six days before the first bombing incident.  This ‘return’ was placed in the first house of the chart, appropriate for a first of several incidents.  As we examine this Return chart below we will need to ask ourselves, “What is the driving force and direction this chart provides to define his life and actions at this time?”

• With n/Sun in the first house and t/Sun near the MC it would seem that ‘relevance’ was what Conditt was seeking. He wanted his actions (Asc.) to be noticed.  His goal and public image (MC) was important to him.  After his break from his family’s values it seems that his own values needed to be affirmed — even if he found it difficult to define those personal values.
• t/Mars at the Descendant; most simply, he wanted to attack others or he felt that others were attacking him. Remember that he had recently been dismissed from his work place.  Mars could be representing both sides of the ‘attacked or attacking’ role.  In the natal chart, Mars was located on the Moon’s South Node, he felt that he had innate skills and an understanding of how to hit back at others.  n/Pluto conjoining the n/N.Node added an extremist, demolishing element to how he viewed his relationship to others (the nodal axis).
• n/Chiron-n/Asc. at the Return chart’s IC angle; This pattern suggests that he is addressing a personal (Asc.) hurt (Chiron). What, how?  Well, Chiron-Asc.-IC squares n/Black Moon Lilith in the 12th.  BML indicates ‘secrets’ that may be sensed but not fully realized.  Perhaps this relates to the suspicions that he was dealing with a gender-identity crises.
• t/Mercury-n/Saturn-10th house; ‘Careful thinking’ is one generic statement for this pattern.  The practice of studying bomb making and planning how to conduct a serial bombing campaign would also related to these planets being located in the tenth house of career and public image.

There are supportive elements (non-angular planet placements) in this chart.

• n/Mars squares the transiting Moon’s nodal axis; this is a sign of fighting against society. The nodal axis not only relates to our entry into physical life from the spiritual world but it also (in cyclic charts) relates to our associations with other people, both individually and in general.
• The t/Part of Fortune squares n/Mercury; PoF represents chance and change, n/Mercury represents the manner in which we perceive and organize information. Together we can view this pattern as representing a time of mental turmoil and confusion at some level.

Our story tellers says,  “We have a young man with a rebellious attitude and little focus in his life.  He blames his floundering on others, nursing an anger for what has failed him and projecting that anger outward at others.  He settles on a plan for building package-bombs.  These can be shipped to arbitrarily chosen people who represent, for him, those who have ordered lives that are denied to him.  He will be able to sit back and watch his anger play out in the world around him.  At last he has a plan.  We have a story plot.” 

On March 2, 2018, the first bombing occurred, resulting in a death.  The bomb had been delivered in a package, exploding upon being opened.  The diurnally advanced chart (from the Return chart) is shown below.

This is a very powerful chart, all four angles are populated and the t/Moon, t/Sun and t/PoF make strong aspects.

• t/Sun-n/Saturn-MC; This conjunction near the MC angle demands recognition. Authority over one’s public image and goals is a strong statement.
• t/Sun-t/Neptune-MC; Neptune plays many roles; the visionary, the dream, the deception, the ability to be hidden or unseen.  All of this feeds into the path he has chosen.
• n/Sun-Asc.; This n/Sun emphasizes his need to make an impression on others. Both natal and transiting Suns are angular — a doubled-up Sun symbolism.  This day is all about him.
• t/Mars-Desc.; Reaching out, touching others.  Or, attacking others.  Note n/Mars on n/S.Node.; it is as if he had done this before.  It felt natural to him, probably because this had all played out in his mind as he was researching and building bombs.
• n/Chiron-IC angle; (we will ignore the n/Asc. as it is irrelevant for a ‘noon’ or untimed chart. Long-held grudges or views lay at the root of this ‘need to bomb’ someone.
• The fourth house also contains, on this date, t/Moon-conjoining-n/Moon. This “lunar return” suggests a great deal of emotion and reaction is mixed up with the bombing done today.
• The seventh house offers t/Part-of-Fortune-and-t/Saturn opposing n/Mercruy; Some form of revenge or prior cruel-action-by-another seems to be at play here.

With the package-bomb’s explosion, and the resulting death of the recipient, the community-at-large reacted in all of the expected ways.  We will continue with this story in the next posting.