ASTROLOGY BY JAN WARREN ALLEN

A string of shootings in the U.S. in the last month has claimed the lives of 57 people: 

MARCH 10, SAMSON, Ala. A gunman kills 10 people and commits suicide in a rampage that spanned two dozen miles across the southern Alabama countryside. Police say Michael McLendon had struggled to keep a job and left behind lists of employers and co-workers he believed had wronged him.

MARCH 22, OAKLAND, Calif.  A man pulled over in a routine traffic stop fatally shoots two officers and then kills two more in a gunfight in which the suspect was also killed. Relatives say Lovelle Mixon, 26, had been frustrated about not finding work and feared returning to jail.

MARCH 29, SANTA CLARA, Calif.  A man shoots and kills his two children and three other relatives, then kills himself at a family housewarming party in an upscale neighborhood. Investigators don't yet know the motive of Devan Kalathat, a 42-year-old engineer at Yahoo.

MARCH 29, CARTHAGE, N.C.  A man opens fire in a nursing home and kills seven elderly residents and a nurse who cared for them. Investigators say Robert Stewart, 45, apparently had targeted an estranged wife, a nurse's assistant who escaped by hiding in a bathroom.

APRIL 3, BINGHAMTON, N.Y.  A gunman bursts into an immigrant center and kills 13 people before killing himself. Police say Jiverly Wong, a 41-year-old Vietnamese immigrant, was apparently upset about losing his job and about people picking on him for his limited English.

APRIL 4, PITTSBURGH  A gunman wearing a bulletproof vest opens fire on officers responding to a domestic disturbance call, killing three of them. Police say Richard Poplawski, 23, had been upset about losing his job and feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.

APRIL 4, GRAHAM, Wash.  A man fatally shoots his five children in their mobile home and then takes his own life in his car miles away. Relatives identified the father as James Harrison. Authorities said he lashed out because his wife was leaving him.

APRIL 7, Greenhill  ALA. Four people were found dead in Greenhill Alabama at about 8:30 a.m. in  small frame home. Authorities are seeking a man described as a person of interest in the case.

And as I was posting this article, another incident took place in  Temecula, Calif. where four people were shot at the Khottongnae Retreat Camp when a gunman opened fire which killed one and wounded three others.

This all started a few days after Venus stationed to go retrograde in Aries on March 6th . Aries is a sign that is willful, aggressive, assertive, powerful and it has warrior type energy; and its ruler Mars, rules guns. Venus represents people's values, and these disturbed people values sure took a bizarre turn. The Sun followed Venus and entered Aries on the March 19th, and squared transiting Pluto (the planet of life and death) on March 23rd. Mercury went into Aries on March 25th and squared Pluto on the 27th. The new Moon on the 26th at 06 Aries 08 added more fuel to the fire  as it squared transiting Pluto at 03 Capricorn, within 3 degrees. Venus retrograde followed and squared Pluto on April 3rd. Finally, direct Venus will have one more crack at squaring Pluto on May 2nd. One interesting tie-in was that some of these deranged people were reacting to stress over losing their jobs. (Capricorn).

Talking about violence, there is a turbulent time frame I watch every year that is coming up soon, and I would like to share it with you. It is when the Sun reaches 27-28-29 degrees of Aries around the 18-19-20. For at that time it squares the natal and progressed Pluto at 28 Capricorn 01 in the 12th house in the U.S. chart I follow; which is for the signing or the Articles of Confederation..November 15, 1777..12:44:46 PM York, Pennsylvania. Here are some of the terrible events that have happened around that time frame down through the years.

The 1983 U.S. Embassy bombing was a suicide bombing against the United States Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon on April 18, 1983 that killed over 60 people, mostly embassy staff members and U.S. Marines and Sailors. It was the deadliest attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission up to that time, and is seen by some as marking the beginning of anti-U.S. attacks by Islamic groups.

The Waco Siege, also known as the Waco Massacre began on February 28, 1993 when the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) attempted to execute a search warrant at the Branch Davidian ranch at Mount Carmel, a property located nine miles east-northeast of Waco, Texas. An exchange of gunfire resulted in the deaths of four agents and six followers of David Koresh. A subsequent 51-day siege by the Federal Bureau of Investigation ended on April 19 when fire destroyed the compound. Seventy-six people (24 of them British nationals) died in the fire, including more than 20 children and two pregnant women, along with Davidian leader Vernon Wayne Howell, better known as David Koresh.

The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist attack on April 19, 1995 aimed at the U.S. government in which the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, an office complex in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was bombed. The attack claimed 168 lives and left over 800 people injured. Until the September 11, 2001 attacks, it was the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil.

The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine in unincorporated Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, near Denver and Littleton. Two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12 students and a teacher, as well as wounding 23 others, before committing suicide. It is the fourth-deadliest school shooting in United States history.

So hopefully with all of the shootings we have witnessed already in the last month, any more violent Aries energy might be dissipated by the time we get to the end of the sign this year. Let's hope so!

 However, there are an estimated 280 million guns out there in our country and nearly every gunman in the recent mass shootings had weapons permits, so what's wrong with this picture?? And isn't it interesting that all of this is happening while the planetary emphasis has shifted into Aries, prompting people to reevaluate our gun control laws; perhaps? It seems like the Universe is trying to tell us something. But will we pay attention?