Astrological timing can be mind-blowing and really make one question the nature of reality. What I am talking about is the precision between the manifestation of an event and the planetary movements that correlated with it. Sometimes that correlation is literally within minutes of each other.

There is a great example of this. Are you aware that the city of Chicago once burned to the ground? Back to 1800s a freak accident occurred that triggered one of the largest urban fires in the history of the United States. That fire killed about 300 people and left 100,000 homeless. Believe it or not, the beginning of this tragedy has a reported time. This allows us to analyze the manifestation of that event with a bit more granularity. The bi-wheel chart below compares the beginning of this event (outer wheel) to the chart for Chicago (inner wheel). [i]

The Larger Cycles

To evaluate this event in an organized manner, we will start with the largest cycles first. These set the tone or theme for all the smaller cycles. The biggest of these is Pluto. On the date of the fire Pluto had transited into retrograde square (yellow lines) with the natal Sun. This square was partile (exact by degree) and almost perfectly exact by less than ten minutes or arc. Pluto’s slow movement through the 8th house of death introduced the first major life or death scenario through an attack (square) of its destructive potential (Pluto) on the heart (Sun) of the city. This aspect from Pluto is the primary theme of all the planetary energies on this date for activated the natal “promise” contained in Chicago’s Sun – Uranus opposition. Something chaotic like this was bound to eventually happen.

Uranus is the second large cycle to evaluate. Its ingress into the fire sign of Leo occurred less than one month prior to the fire. A couple months earlier Uranus went into opposition with Neptune, foreshadowing the destabilization that would threaten Chicago’s homes and residences (Neptune in the 4th house). The Leo ingress activated the potential of that opposition more specifically (fire element) and when combined with Pluto’s tight square it adds more weight to the probability of this catastrophe.

The third large cycle is Saturn. Its transiting opposition to Venus (red line) went partile just three days prior to the fire. This transit brings hardship, heaviness, depression, and disappointment. Saturn rules the 4th house and Venus is a significator for valuables, so this opposition reflects the homelessness because of the destruction of owned objects of value (namely, their homes). And because Venus is the chart ruler, this opposition offers some informal confirmation of the chart’s time. This transit ensures that this event and Chicago’s down mood would be visible. Saturn’s opposition to the Moon (another significator for the home) a couple months later added to the sense of depression.

These first three cycles from slower moving transits set an overarching theme. The “stacking up” of their influences paint a picture of a destructive, chaotic event coming for Chicago that would impose incredible hardship upon the city in a very immediate and pressing manner. We will now evaluate the faster moving transits to see how well their themes and timing align to these larger cycles.

The Smaller Cycles

Since Mars is a literal significator for fire, it seems appropriate to start with this planet’s cycle. On this date, Mars was forming multiple significant aspects to key natal planets. The square to natal Mercury and Mars reflects pressure and explosiveness. The involvement of both Mars makes this aspect particularly nasty. It is also applying and tight, being only ten days away from perfection. This aggressive transit is exactly what we do not want to see on top of the larger themes we analyzed from the slower moving planets

The trine (blue line) to natal Pluto and transit Chiron is a core alignment for this event. Why? Because Pluto and Chiron are in the sign of Aries which is ruled by Mars. This amplifies the strength of the trine. It also highlights a key point: trine aspects should not be viewed as necessarily “good.” Because it is a soft aspect, I often see beginners make the mistake of assuming that it is helpful. A soft aspect means that the manifestation brought about by the planets involved will happen quickly. Think of a truck careening downhill after its brakes stop working. That is a trine. If we were not concerned after looking at the square aspect, we should be sounding the alarm with this trine. It infers that the fire will happen fast and be hard to stop or contain.

And look at the tightness to Chiron. It is only twelve hours from exact! When we consider that Mars represents fire and Chiron in Aries represents wounding from an event connected to fire that would happen quickly, this timing is wild.

The trine to Pluto is another example of a transit manifesting the natal “promise” of a chart. Pluto in Aries inherently contains the potential for a destructive event by fire, but its angular placement exacerbates this potential. Mars’ applying trine (within less than a week of exact) makes this event seem fated. When I say that timing can question our nature of reality, this Mars aspect echoes some of that sentiment. The later conjunction from Chiron to natal Pluto is another reflection of Chicago’s fate manifested. With this future conjunction the destruction from fire (Chiron) will eventually trigger a rebuilding (Pluto) that will allow Chicago to be reborn (Pluto again). [ii]

A Saturn – Venus aspect was noted through the evaluation of the larger cycles. A similar contact shows up in the evaluation here as well, except this time that aspect is reversed. Here, Venus is applying the aspect (conjunction) to natal Saturn. This “double whammy” enhances the delineation of homelessness and loss of property and valuables. Venus’ retrograde status is a major factor. These periods typically signify some type of review of the things we value and with this conjunction occurring in the 12th house of suffering and according to the scarcity imposed by Saturn, poverty is a result of what the fire has unleashed. But the despondency represented by the double Venus – Saturn contacts is not just homelessness. With the conjunction in the 12th house, it is also mourning and a sense of feeling lost. Remember, Venus is the chart ruler (and 8th house ruler), so any placements and connections to this planet contribute to the immediate condition of Chicago and what it was addressing and projecting outwards. That demeanor was hopelessness, a lack of joy, feeling lost, and mourning. If you meditate on the feel of these two planets coming together simultaneously, you may be able to feel a sense of endings everywhere. And the timing of this conjunction is as tight as many of the other aspects. In fact, this aspect went exact at around the same time as the trine between Mars and Chiron. They perfected together. From astrological perspective, this is evidence that they were connected.

Now that we have “stacked” the smaller cycles on top of the faster moving planets, we can dig even deeper. From here, we can start looking at the fastest moving indicators. This stage of the review will not include just planetary bodies, but also transiting angles. What we are looking for here is triggers for the manifestation of the fire. We are trying to find the exact hour or even minute when this occurred.

The Triggers

From our perspective on earth, the Sun appears to be moving and revolving around us. Because astrology is an earth-based art, this body is treated as such. The Sun moves quickly, around 1° per day. It is often a reliable trigger for large scale events. For the fire, it does not disappoint. Its opposition (orange line) to natal Pluto is just three days from perfection and its alignment at the Ascendant of the Chicago chart manifests the direction more personally. The Sun triggered off what Pluto represented natally.

The Moon is a faster trigger, moving through an entire sign in roughly two and a half days. With many events, the Moon’s movements and aspects are often the final trigger for manifestation. Here, it is echoing the Sun with another tight aspect (trine) to natal Pluto. In fact, this applying trine is only about two hours from perfecting! With the precision of the Moon’s timing, we now feel less concerned about the Sun’s waning aspects. The Moon is the stronger trigger. And as we have seen elsewhere in this analysis, natal Pluto was “hot” for this event. The timing of the Moon in triggering off the fire via natal Pluto is amazing precise enough to stop the analysis here. But since we have an actual time for the event, we will continue.

The transiting Ascendant (As) is fast. This angle moves at roughly 1° every four minutes. Therefore, it is telling that its alignment with transit Mars is less than one hour from being exact while its square to natal Mars is within minutes (brown lines). This double aspect to both Mars is a major trigger. This feels like an initial flashpoint.

For the other angle, the midheaven (MC) feels like the more powerful trigger. Its tight alignment to the natal Sun and transit Pluto square (yellow lines) noted at the outset of this analysis is haunting. This alignment is waning, but if we back up the time of the initial accident by about 13 minutes then this angle aligns exactly with that core square aspect. By doing so, this revised time also tightens the alignment between the transiting Ascendant and natal Mars as well. This means that the initial accident that triggered the fire probably occurred between 8:15 – 8:20 pm.

Fate

Everything in astrology almost always circles back to questions of fate. So it is with this event as well. The “stacking up” of themes across the larger to smaller cycles which were then triggered by fast moving bodies and angles can make even the staunchest skeptic of fate question whether this event could have been avoided. At times it does feel like we are existing within a giant clock. Once we start to analyze and unravel to timing of astrological manifestation, we can begin to appreciate the extent to which these gears are intertwined with our existence.

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[i] Chicago is one of the few cities that has a chart that is timed. This chart comes from “The Horoscopes of U.S. Stated and Cities” written by Carolyn Dodson back in 1975. Unfortunately, the book is not very clear on the source so I would probably give the chart a grade of a “C.”

[ii] Pluto’s angular placement also offers more confirmation of the accuracy of the chart’s time.