To have an event as dramatic as a false conviction in a murder trial, there must be numerous transits and indicators to the various predictive charts: Solar Arc, Secondary Progressed, Converse Progressed, Solar Return, and Lunar Return. In addition, there must be a natal promise of such a period/ event happening, otherwise it will not come about. In Amanda’s case she had both the natal promise and the appropriate triggers to the charts.

Transits to the 12th house will activate the natal promise of the person’s 12th house. In this case, there is significant 12th house activity in the natal chart, solar arc chart, solar return chart, lunar return chart, secondary progressed chart and converse secondary progressed chart, suggesting that this period in her life will be when the natal promise comes to life.

The outer planets take a very long time to travel around the Sun and when they transit key points in your natal chart they will always cause life defining events to happen. I notice that there are many tight aspect transits from outer planets to the natal 12th house and its associated planets Mars, Venus and Jupiter, that is a guarantee that these 12th house issues will take center stage. It does not matter as much which specific types of aspects (easy, hard) there are, just that there are many aspects.



November 2 2007 (Morning after the death), transits (Tr) to natal planets

Tr Pluto at 27 Sag makes an exact trine (within 2 mins) to Jupiter at 27 Aries in the 12th house

Tr Neptune at 19 Aqu makes a 2d (degrees) sextile to the 12th house cusp at 17 Aries

Tr Neptune at 19 Aqu makes an exact sesquiquadrate (within 8 mins) to Venus, ruler of Taurus intercepted in the 12th house

Tr Uranus at 14 Pisces makes a 2d semisquare to Jupiter at 27 Aries in the 12th house

Tr Uranus at 14 Pisces makes a 2d sesquiquadrate to Mars (ruler of 12th house) at 1 leo

Natally Uranus is the ruler of the 10th house and makes a semisquare  
to the MC by 2 minutes, predisposing her to sudden and unexpected changes of status and public reputation. Transiting Uranus at 14 Pisces is making an exact semiquintile to her natal MC at 8 Aquarius. The Solar Arc shows a 2d opposition from Uranus to the MC. The Solar Return shows a 2d biquintile between Uranus and the MC. With these three triggers to the natal promise, we see a unexpected and dramatic shift of status from college student to murder suspect in a high profile case. Similar aspects between Uranus and MC are seen again in December 2009 when she was convicted. This is discussed in the solar arc directed section for December 2009.

Tr Saturn at 6 Virgo makes a 2d sextile to Venus, ruler of Taurus intercepted in the 12th house

We can see here that 4/4 of the heavy outer planets are making very tight aspects to the 12th house, these set the stage of events for the next 4 years.

Solar return precessed for November 2 2007

Venus is the ruler of the 12th house in the SR chart:

Transiting Pluto (on Nov 2 2007) at 27 Sag exactly trine SR Venus at 27 Leo

SR Venus trine SR Pluto exact

SR Venus conjunct part of fortune (6 mins)

SR Venus oppose SR Saturn 4d

SR Venus oppose SR Neptune 6d

Tr Mercury (on Nov 2 2007) at 23 Libra is conjunct 1d the 12th house midpoint at 22 Lib

Tr Venus (on Nov 2 2007) at 23 Virgo is semisextile 1d of the 12th house midpoint at 22 Lib

SR Mars quincunx the 12th house cusp within a degree

Tr Mars (on Nov 2 2007) squares the 12th house cusp exactly

It is a powerful statement to have the ruler of the 12th house aspecting ¾ of the heavy outer planets. Of course we must check the other charts but with Mercury, Mars and Venus also contacting the 12th house, it is very likely that 12th house matters will be a focus this year.

Lunar return precessed for November 2 2007

Uranus rules the 12th house and is in the 12th house (always adds a lot of extra strength towards activity of the house)

Uranus is oppose the moon 7d, square Jupiter 1d and oppose Venus 8d

Neptune is ruler of the chart and is placed in the 12th house- tends to indicate very tough months emotionally and/or physically.

Jupiter at 16 Sag squares Neptune at 15 Pisces by 1d

Vertex is exactly conjunct the descendant, always indicates especially fated events originating from events concerning one on one relationships and/or involvement with the legal system. Moreover, Aries is intercepted in the 1st house and Libra is intercepted in the 7th house making these houses abnormally large and therefore much more important this month. The sign of Libra in particular represents law, justice, the scales and the judicial system. Libra being intercepted has the potential to cause trouble in these areas due to the repressed energy.

All the angles are 29 degrees (AC/DC off by 1 minute), indicates endings of all sorts. 29 degrees Pisces is the strongest of endings as it is the last degree of the zodiac. In this case it was the end of Amanda’s freedom for 4 years.

Venus conjunct Astrea at 7 Virgo is opposing the 12th house at 7 Pisces exactly and Tr Astrea at 16 Virgo (on Nov 2 2007) quincunx the 12th house cusp exactly. Astrea making these tight aspects to the 12th house is a sign of deep sorrow from injustice and the denial of Amanda's innocence.

Tr Sun at 9 Scorpio (on Nov 2 2007) is conjunct LR Mercury at 7 Scorpio and LR Black Moon Lilith at 10 Scorpio both in the 7th house (legal troubles). These are day timers of the event.

Tr Mercury at 23 Lib (on Nov 2 2007) is conjunct LR Sun in the 7th house (legal troubles) exactly, another day timer of the event.


The lunar return reinforces the statement of the solar return, and that is that 12th house matters are certain to manifest this month specifically, likely in the form of a dramatic event. Moreover, we add in the “fated 29th  degree of endings” on the angles and the vertex exactly conjunct the descendant, we can say this event truly is like the train wreck Amanda described in the previous post, with her having no chance to stop it.

Since the solar arc directed, secondary progressed and converse secondary progressed charts would have had most planets move 3 degrees at most (except for the moon which moves much faster), many of the same transits would apply as for December 4 2009. Therefore I will omit them for November 2 2007 and instead discuss them for December 4 2009.




Predictive charts for December 4 2009, the date Amanda was found guilty of the murder of Meredith Kercher:

December 4 2009

There is a natal 5d square between Mars and Pluto:

Tr Pluto at 2 Cap quincunx natal Mars (12th house ruler) by 1d:

Tr Saturn making a 2d sextile to natal Mars

There is a natal 3d trine between Venus and Pluto:

Tr Pluto oppose natal Venus (ruler of intercepted Taurus in 12th) by 2d.

Venus is natally intercepted in the 12th house:

Tr Saturn at 3 Lib making a 1d square to natal Venus

Tr Pluto at 2 Cap makes a 5d out of sign trine with Jupiter at 27 Aries in the 12th house

Tr Neptune at 23 Aqu makes a 2d sextile to the 12th house cusp at 17 Aries

Precessed Solar Return July 9 2009  

It is extremely important to note that this solar return has almost exactly the same house cusps as the natal chart (off by about 3 degrees, SR ASC at 11 gem). This shows a year in which the natal promise has its full potential to manifest and will definitely do so in a sensational way.

Mercury the chart ruler is out of bounds at 23d 52 min. Since Mercury rules the ASC (first impressions, physical body) this may help explain why people thought her physical reactions were “inappropriate”, “abnormal” and “unconventional”. As you will see in all the charts, Mercury is the dominant influence throughout. Mercury is at 10 Cancer conjuncting the Sun at 16 Cancer in the 2nd house. The transiting Moon at 11 Cancer (noon on the day of the verdict) is an exact day timer of this event.

Mercury/ Uranus midpoint is the same as the 12th house midpoint at approximately 30 min Taurus.  This shows the potential for highly extraordinary, unusual and shocking events, indeed a false conviction qualifies!

Mars is the 12th house ruler and Taurus is intercepted in the 12th, connecting Venus to the 12th house. Mars and Venus are conjunct out of sign 6d. When the house’s associated planets are placed in the house, it greatly intensifies the nature of the house and guarantees that domain of life to be very strongly featured that year. Mars conjunct Venus is heavily associated with sexual violence since we are combining love (Venus) and aggression (Mars), since this combination is in the 12th it seems to symbolize the framing of a sexually deviant crime on Amanda and her boyfriend. Moreover the depositor of Mars in Taurus is Venus and with Venus quincunx the vertex 1d and placed in the 12th one cannot avoid 12th house matters as they are particularly fated.

Tr Venus at 3 Sag making a 1d opposition to Solar Return Venus at 4 Gem in the 12th house. Tr Saturn at 3 Lib making a 1d trine to SR Venus. Tr Pluto is quincunx SR Venus (ruler of intercepted Taurus in 12th) by 2d. These transits are very important because Venus is also in the 12th house natally and will give a lot of extra energy for the 12th house potential to manifest. When Venus is in the 12th house, especially when younger, the person does not view themselves as an attractive, sophisticated person. They may not be graceful and their actions may sometimes seem inappropriate in various social settings. In her book Amanda describes feeling this way. Another manifestation of Venus being in the 12th is guilt and shame over Venus ruled matters such as physical appearance, sexuality and sex.  This can occur even if the person is very chaste and beautiful.  The debilitating emotions can come from within the person or from the external world. Certainly the prosecutors grim portrayal of Amanda as a sex obsessed whore was intended to shame her in public.

Tr Saturn making a 6d out of sign trine to SR Mars (Mars is placed in the 12th house). When Saturn contacts a house it brings many struggles, obstacles and disappointments in the house’s domain.

Jupiter which is natally in Amanda’s 12th house is in the SR chart conjunct Neptune and Chiron within a degree in the 10th house. This means matters of the 12th house will become very public (10th house is public reputation and status) and will also be connected with wounding, shame (chiron) and deception/ lies (Neptune).  

Precessed Lunar Return November 19 2009 

The Solar Return and Lunar returns are in an exact square, the ASC for the LR is 11 Virgo. This shows the likelihood of harsh difficulties, unfavourable events and obstacles cropping up this month.

The natal ASC at 8 Gem is moved to the MC position on the LR, marking a major change of status. This theme is reinforced by aspects from Uranus to the MC, discussed in further detail in the solar arc directed section.

Mercury is a dominant influence in the LR chart. The LR chart ruler is Mercury, similar to the SR and converse charts. The converse chart is only 2d behind the LR chart. Critical degree Mercury at 4 Sagittarius rules the MC and is making a 3d opposition to the MC. Transiting Venus at 3 Sagittarius is conjunct this point bringing it to life, a day timer of the event. The ruler of the 12th house is the Sun and the Sun is making a 8d conjunction with Mercury. Tr Mercury at 28 Sag is conjunct the midpoint of the LR 12th house exactly, another day timer of the event. This is emphasizing the language difficulties (her Italian was very basic and she was questioned in Italian) and deliberate distortion of her words to forcibly put her in prison. As a result a slander charge was also placed against her and remains to this day.

Mars is making an exact conjunction to the 12th house cusp. Mars in this position reinforces the Mars-12th house connection seen natally and in the solar return. It is representative of aggression and secret enemies. The shape of this chart is a locomotive with Mars as the leading planet. Mars is also making a 2d opposition to the vertex reinforcing the fated nature of the event. For quite a long time, Amanda genuinely thought the police were trying to gather as much information from her to locate Meredith’s killer, little did she know that they were trying to frame her for murder! They were also very aggressive with her, with one investigator repeatedly slapping her on the head to tell her to remember and using brutal coercion tactics to get a false confession.

Secondary progressions for December 4 2009


Moon at 14 Libra is making an exact conjunction with the ASC suggesting a very emotional time with huge mood swings an which your emotions are very difficult to hide from other people. It also puts a lot of attention from the public on your emotions- this relates back to many people judging her for her seemingly odd reactions to the death, unfortunately this also included the Italian prosecutors, police and judges.

With Mercury, Venus, Sun and Mars all in the 10th house and 7 planets angular (including moon from 12th as it is within a degree from ASC) it makes it very difficult to avoid the spotlight. Transiting Mars at 18 leo on December 4th was conjuncting these planets during the final phases of the court case, ending off with secondary progressed Mars at 16 leo just a couple of days before the 4th.

Tr Pluto at 2 Cap makes a 1d sesquiquadrate to Mars at 16 Leo and a 1d quincunx to Venus in the secondary progressed 10th house. Both Venus and Mars are connected with the natal 12th house and the SR 12th house.

Tr Saturn making a 2d quintile to Mercury (ruler of 12th house) in the secondary progressed chart. Saturn contacting the 12th house will tend to bring grief and obstacles in that house’s domain.

The ruler of the 12th house and 9th house, Mercury is conjunct the MC by 2d. As mentioned in the previous post the 9th house is higher education and foreign travel, the 12th house includes prison, secrets and grief. These two areas are connected in a very public way (MC is the highest point on the chart and represents public image). Mercury conjunct the MC also manifests in that her words and communication took on very important meaning and were scrutinized and distorted immensely- first in explaining the sequence of events the night of the murder and secondly implicating Lumumba in the murder.

The Mercury/Saturn midpoint is the same as the 12th house midpoint at 2 Libra. Transiting Saturn was at 3 Libra highlighting this point. This is descriptive of the forced censoring of Amanda’s voice, no one wanted to listen to her telling her side of the story and she was purposely silenced.

The overall shape of the chart is a locomotive with Jupiter as the leading planet. Jupiter was in the 12th natally bringing this house’s affairs to prominence.

Converse secondary progressed chart for December 4 2009

The ruler of the 12th house is the Sun and the Sun is making a 3d conjunction with Chiron in the 10th, this is a repeat of the theme we saw in the Solar Return chart with Jupiter ruler of the 12th being conjunct with Chiron in the 10th house. This conjunction in the converse chart occurs in Gemini- literally wounding due to problems communicating her personal truth made worse  with language difficulties.

The Sun makes an exact sesquiquadrate with the vertex, the harsh aspect from the 12th house to the vertex has been a recurring theme of a fated negative event.

The Moon is making a 3d conjunction with the descendant. The ascendant-descendant are on the same axis and are two ends of a continuum. This aspect is mirrored in the direct secondary progressions with moon conjuncting the ASC.

The IC-MC axis is 4 Sag and 4 Gem. Note that LR critical Mercury at 4 Sag   (critical degree) would be placed in direct opposition to the converse MC and SR Venus at 4 Gem (critical degree) would be placed on the MC reinforcing the public distortion of words (Mercury) and the 12th house matters (Venus) brought to the public in a highly televised trial. This axis also makes an exact semisextile (MC at 4 Gem) and quincunx (IC at 4 Sag) to natal Venus (ruler of Taurus in the 12th house) at 4 Cancer.

Solar Arc Directed for December 4 2009

Tr Venus at 4 Sag makes an exact opposition to Venus/Vertex midpoint at 4 Gem. Venus in the SA chart rules houses 1 and 8 and is placed in the 10th house. The first house is the physical body and personality, the tenth house is your public reputation and the 8th house is death. The vertex is unavoidable circumstances that play a part in shaping your destiny.  People’s perceptions of Amanda’s personality caused her to have a negative reputation and thus implicated her in the death of Meredith Kercher, the situation unfolded in an erratic way that Amanda could not control.

Chiron is within 2d of the MC, reinforcing the extremely public wounding caused by lies about her character.

POF is making a 1d opposition to 12th house cusp. Natally POF is making a 1d opposition to Venus ruler of Taurus intercepted in the 12th house, thus POF does not represent good fortune in 12th house matters.

Tr Uranus at 22 Pis makes an exact opposition to the 12th house cusp at 22 Vir, a good indicator of shocking disruptions and upheaval.

Natally Uranus is the ruler of the 10th house and makes a semisquare to the MC by 2 minutes, predisposing her to sudden and unexpected changes of status and public reputation. Transiting Uranus at 22 Pisces is making a 1d semisquare to her natal MC at 8 Aquarius. The Solar Arc shows a 2d opposition from Uranus to the MC. The secondary progressed chart for December 4 2009 shows an exact biquintile from Uranus to the MC. With these three triggers to the natal promise, she suddenly goes from murder suspect to convicted murderer in a day!

Tr Jupiter at 21 Aqu and Tr Neptune at 23 Aqu make a 1d quincunx to the 12th house cusp. Jupiter represents higher education/ travel, Neptune represents lies and missing information. In combination with the 12th house of sorrow, we see how her pursuit of higher education in a foreign land brought her to a state of extreme sadness.

The 12th house cusp is exactly on the Pluto/Chiron midpoint, this symbolizes the wounding with the prison stay causing a deep transformation. When Pluto and Chiron combine, you are never the same again as it cuts straight to the most raw and vulnerable area. Amanda mentioned how she is not the same “chirpy Amanda” that her family knew, rather she is more guarded, less outgoing skeptical (1).

Tr Saturn conjunct Astrea. Astrea is the goddess of purity, innocence and justice. When Saturn contacts Astrea, one will have to work very hard to defend themselves in that regard as there will be people firmly intent on challenging you. The prosecution tried desperately by leaking the list of men Amanda slept with to paint her as promiscuous and deviant, a she devil capable of brutally murdering a woman in a sex game gone wrong. The theories that were brought up seemed to get progressively more outlandish. They even went to the extent of spending 182 000 euros in creating an animated video  of the prosecution’s imagination of how the night may have gone (2). Although this was termed a “visual guide” and not actual evidence, it had the desired negative effects.

Midpoints are blending of the energies of two planets/ points. When they are triggered by transiting planets it brings their combined energy to life.

Charts in effect for December 4 2009

Tr Mercury is within a degree of converse secondary progressed Saturn/Neptune midpoint. This shows the extremely heavy karma associated with this whole ordeal.

Tr Venus at 3 Sag is within 1d of the midpoint of LR Saturn/ Astrea and  exact on Saturn/ Black Moon Lilith. Tr Mars is within a degree of the natal Astrea/Black Moon Lilith midpoint. Tr Merc is within a degree of Solar Return Astrea/part of fortune midpoint. These transits show Amanda having to fight extremely hard as a woman to protect her reputation as she was being unfairly characterized as a she devil, whore and sexual deviant.

Tr Mars at 18 Leo is within a degree of the SR Sun-Saturn midpoint. Sun-Saturn represents very hard work, obligations, restrictions and challenges. When Mars activates this point it causes a lot of stress for an individual.

Tr Jupiter at 21 Aquarius is exact on the natal Jupiter/Saturn midpoint and Neptune/ North Node midpoint. Jupiter being associated with the natal 12th house takes causes it to bring up much more grief and sorrow rather than displaying its usual benefic nature.

Tr Saturn at 3 Libra is within a degree of natal Sun/Moon midpoint. The Sun-Moon midpoint is a tender point that is very important for relationships. Saturn hitting this point shows her difficulties in her relationship with Raffeale, several of his people wanted him to distance himself from Amanda to avoid further legal trouble. She also didn’t fully trust him for a while since she was tricked into believing that he took away her alibi by saying she wasn’t at his house the night of the murder.

Tr Saturn is within a degree of natal Venus/POF. Saturn brings misfortune for both her romantic relationship with Raffeale (symbolism of Venus) and for 12th house matters (Venus rules the house).

Tr Neptune is within a degree of the natal Moon-Jupiter midpoint. Tr Merc at 28 Sag is within a degree of the natal Moon/Neptune midpoint. Tr Merc is exact on the Secondary progressed Neptune/ POF midpoint. Jupiter is in the 12th house natally and the moon represents emotions and instinctual reactions. Neptune can cause people to see things much differently than they really are, throwing up a veil of illusion and foggy vision. I believe this contributed to people’s interpretation of Amanda kissing Raffeale outside of the villa after Meredith died. It was actually a kiss of sympathy/ comforting and they never thought about it, it was a instinctive response. However people thought they were being inappropriately sexual. This brought Amanda a lot of trouble and grief (12th house).




References

1.  http://abcnews.go.com/US/murder-mystery-amanda-knox-speaks/story?id=19068548&page=2

2. Sollecito, R. (2012). Honour Bound, My Journey to Hell and Back with    
    Amanda Knox.  New York, NY: Gallery Books

 

A fascinating story that has been in the recent news is the Amanda Knox trial in Italy. Amanda is an American girl who was studying in Perugia, Italy for exchange studies (majoring in linguistics) from the University of Washington. She was in Perugia for just a couple of months when she was arrested in November 2007, along with her boyfriend Raffeaele Sollecito for murdering her English roommate Meredith Kercher. She spent four years in an Italian prison after being found guilty. Amanda was released on October 3, 2011 after a second trial but on March 26, 2013 the Italian Supreme Court overturned the decision and wants her to come back to Italy for a third trial.  Amanda has written a book called “Waiting to be Heard” in which she details her surreal ordeal in Italy. The book documents the lies, abuses and misrepresentations used in implicating her in the murder. At this point there is a complete lack of factual evidence implicating Amanda and Raffeaele in the murder, only a contrived theory of sex games gone horrifically wrong.  Rather, the hard evidence  points to Rudy Guede, an African man who was raised in Perugia and has an extensive criminal record. His DNA was found in and on Meredith, his DNA and her blood were found on her purse, his foot and handprints in blood were visible, he fled the country etc. He is currently serving time in prison for the murder. In contrast neither Amanda’s or Raffeaele’s DNA was found at the murder site. It is impossible for her to see DNA (much less distinguish which DNA is hers) and clear it up as some people claim (1). I firmly believe that Amanda is not guilty and was the victim of unconscionable power abuse and injustice in the Italian legal system.

 
With such a conspicuous lack of evidence against Amanda, I am amazed that this case has ever taken off the ground and stirred up such an international controversy. Even after putting the correct person in jail, the prosecution is keenly determined to lock up Amanda for a long time. It leads me to some burning questions- which factors in her natal chart indicate the potential for being falsely accused and consequently spending time in prison for a crime she didn’t commit? Could there be anything positive for Amanda in terms of emerging from this situation a better and wiser person? To answer these questions, I have studied key areas of her chart and taken excerpts from her various interviews and her book “Waiting to be heard”. Her birth information was obtained from Astrodata Bank, it has an AA rating. I used Solar Fire Gold version 8 for the chart calculations.


 

Since Amanda’s situation is fundamentally a 12th house matter, this is a perfect place to start the analysis. The 12th house is associated with self- undoing, hospitals, prisons, institutions, mental illnesses, suffering, sorrow, forced silence and solitude, hidden enemies, fears, difficulties, crises, the unconscious mind, and karma. People who have the 12th house emphasized in some way will find that these themes and places play a large role in their life, often due to circumstances they cannot seem to help.

In this chart, the 12th house is abnormally large (about 52 degrees) due to the intercepted sign of Taurus being placed there. The 6th house and 12th house are on the same axis and must be considered together. The sign of Scorpio is intercepted in the sixth house. The Taurus-Scorpio axis deals with physical pleasure, sexuality, sex and sensuality among other things. When a sign is intercepted in a house, the person finds that other people tend to criticize and/or punish them for openly displaying these likes/dislikes and characteristics. The Italian prosecutor was certainly zealous in trying to portray Amanda as promiscuous, high from drugs and “into freaky sexual things”, she pulled in Meredith into a sex game which unexpectedly went wrong ending in a  brutal murder. As a result, the nickname “Foxy Knoxy” was given to her by the tabloids and it still remains today. While in jail, she was falsely told she was HIV positive and that she had to make a list of all the men she slept with. This list was leaked to the public and the intention was to use it to vilify Amanda, contributing to the image of a "she-devil with an angel face" and "concertante of sex" to aid in the prosecution’s theory. Chris Cuomo in an interview (2, 3) asked intrusive questions that forced Amanda to defend her sex life. He seemed to be equating sexuality with guilt. Amanda was very honest about her sexual encounters and her use of marijuana in her book, she has nothing to be ashamed of. She firmly states to Chris, I was not strapping on leather and bearing a whip. I have never done that...I have never taken part in an orgy. Ever….... “I was sexually active. I was not sexually deviant” (2, 3).
 
Although the 12th house often gets a bad reputation, if the person has a high level of consciousness, (or is able to grow through
their challenges) the considerable benefits of this house can also be realized in this life. This process is made easier if there are some trines and sextiles to the house ruler or to planets placed in the house. Nonetheless keep in mind that one still needs the hard aspects to give the drive and urgency to make progress. For information on aspects, orbs, houses and planets please click here. The 12th house can be where one does the honest inner work on a deep level that is needed to advance spiritually. Through the suffering they face by going through extreme hardships and restrictions, they may develop compassion, kindness and a more enlightened way of viewing life. From this viewpoint, serving fellow humans becomes a top priority over all other endeavours. This is the opportunity to recognize unproductive karmic relationships/ situations and deal with them in a manner so that the lesson is learned and will not be repeated in a future life.
 
The natal state of Amanda’s 12th house is mixed with both easy and hard aspects. Jupiter is the greater fortune, inspiration, abundance, faith, philosophy, luck and overall prosperity. Jupiter also represents higher education, foreign cultures and foreigners, and long distance travels. In a very literal manifestation of Jupiter placed in the 12th house, Amanda’s pursuit of higher education in a foreign culture has brought her sorrow, solitude and a stay in prison. However, benevolent Jupiter is very comfortable in the 12th house due to its dual rulership over Pisces and Pisces’s natural house is the 12th house. Jupiter placed here does point to her being found innocent and released after 4 years rather than a lengthier stay. When everything else is going wrong, you can count on Jupiter to be your saving grace, this is where you get benefits without necessarily deserving them. Jupiter makes a 5 degree trine to the moon, the moon is in Sagittarius, the other sign Jupiter rules. This placement would have an uplifting, optimistic tone on the emotions and her book indeed leaves the impression that she is at heart an unusually optimistic person despite her circumstances. She is doing her best to keep her mood upbeat. After her brutally tiring 5 day interrogation where she was yelled at, slapped, forced into making a false confession, and finally put into jail, she writes,  "In spite of all that happened, I believed that the police, the prosecutor, a judge-- some official-- would look at the facts and realize how wrong they'd been. They'd be jolted by the obvious: that I was incapable of murder. Surely someone would see that there was no evidence. My belief that my imprisonment was temporary was all that kept me from being overwhelmed. I guess my faith in eventual justice is what psychologists call a coping mechanism" (4, p. 181-182). Even in prison she tried to find purpose in the little things, "At bedtime each night, I made a schedule for the next day, organised task by task, hour by hour. If I didn't cross off each item, I felt I'd let myself down" (5). Jupiter makes a 3 degree sextile to Chiron. Chiron represents wounding and healing, this is a really good sign that she will be learning very good lessons from her ordeal, growing as a person and using her newfound knowledge and wisdom to help others through similar circumstances. Jupiter is making an exact quintile to Mercury. Mercury represents the written word and all types of communication.  Mercury is very prominent in her chart as it: 1.rules the Gemini ascendant, 2. makes an exact semisextile with the ascendant (self-portrayal, first impressions) 3.makes an exact quincunx with the MC (career), and 4. Is very well integrated, making five aspects with the planets; Sun, Venus, Neptune, Pluto and Jupiter. In addition, Mercury is placed within a degree of the midpoint of the 2nd house, the house of independently earned income (midpoints are a place of extra power/ significance in a house). The Sun (creative self-expression, unique individuality) is making a conjunction of less than 2 degrees with the third house of communications, language skills and media. The Mars/Venus midpoint (Mars is ruler of 12th house and Taurus is intercepted in the 12th) at 18 Cancer is exactly conjunct the third house cusp (the strongest point of the third house). With this conjunction it is very likely that she will feel compelled to communicate through various forms of media, her experience with 12th house matters. Her first book is very well written, thought provoking and captivating. She pours out her soul and the reader feels what it must have been like to walk in her shoes. Although almost all of her four million dollar advance goes to legal fees and lawsuits, she has great potential to become very wealthy and influential through future books, lectures and any other forms of communications where she tells her story. She is now studying creative writing in the hope of becoming a writer as a career and her chart indeed shows immense talent in this area, it should be passionately pursued!
 
The 12th house has many challenges in this chart as well. The ruler of the 12th house is Mars and Mars makes a stressful 5 degree square to Jupiter. It does not bode well for the ruler of the house to make hard aspects to the planets tenanting the house, this makes it more likely for difficulties/ friction in the areas of the house’s domain. Besides this, Mars is making hard aspects to: Pluto (5 degree square), midheaven (7 degrees), Saturn (sesquiquadrate 1 degree), and Vertex (exact square). Mars-Pluto hard aspects show the high probability for unfortunate connections with extreme forms of violence/ cruelty, either being the victim or perpetrator. In this case Amanda is the victim, caught in a position of being falsely blamed for a grisly murder. Mars in a hard aspect to Saturn can cause a feeling of taking one step forward and 2 steps back, progress is gained very slowly and with extra trouble. One can feel that others are constantly trying to halt their plans, stopping them when they want to go full speed ahead. Mars opposing the midheaven can predispose one to have excess trouble with authority figures, these figures can abuse their power, take advantage and cause several problems for a person. This was certainly the case in Perugia: Amanda was not given a lawyer when arrested, she was not given a proper translator, and she was coerced into naming Lumumba as the perpetrator by brutal coercion tactics. When Diane Sawyer asks her about naming Lumumba, the video (5) (starting at 21 mins) shows her audio at the trial saying “they said they were going to take me to the jail, and um… because of all this confusion they kept saying you sent this…thing to Patrick. We know that you left the house. We know… I just said his name”. The next day she sent the police a letter in English saying that she is in a state of confusion but thinks that what she said about Lumumba maybe was wrong. She asked them not to yell at her anymore. Continuing with the interview, Amanda states “I am still sorry to this day that I named Patrick Lumumba…but I was demolished in that interrogation.” Conveniently, the police failed to make a recording of that particular interrogation. There are numerous other lies by the police, lawyers and other authority figures. Mars making a stressful aspect to the MC can cause the public to view you as an aggressive troublemaker, purposely stirring the pot. As a result of these lies and misrepresentations from authority figures, the public started to vilify her and to this day there are rampant false rumours circulating about her.
 
The vertex is a point of fate and frequently people with Mars making a stressful aspect to it find themselves fatefully in violent
circumstances that they cannot avoid or easily get out of. Even if they take precautions against this risk, there is a lack of control. Moreover, Jupiter is sitting in the 12th and making an opposition to the vertex further increasing this likelihood of danger. Diane Sawyer had an interview with Amanda and showed her a video that her sister made before she went to Perugia. Sawyer asks “what would you tell the youngster on the tape”? Amanda responds "I want to tell her not to be afraid of what's going to happen because what happened to me hit me like a train, and there was nothing I could do to stop it" (6). This type of helplessness is common with the overwhelming power of the vertex.
 
Mars makes a few easy aspects as well. There is an easy 2 degree biquintile to Uranus which takes a little bit of the dangerous edge off this combination. Nonetheless, regardless of aspect, this combination does predispose towards sudden and unexpected outbursts of violence and again, one can be the victim or the perpetrator. The North Node represents the lessons we are trying to learn in this lifetime, the situations that encourage us to grow. Mars is making a 5 degree trine to the North Node, this suggests that Amanda will learn a tremendous amount from her ordeal and that it was necessary for her future growth as a person. Although it may not make sense at the moment, it plays a crucial part in her evolution.
 
In summary with Mars as the 12th house ruler making stressful aspects to 4/5 of the outer planets, the Vertex and the MC it is not surprising that Amanda has been forced to spend time in a prison and has experienced the sorrow, solitude and hardship associated with the 12th house. The title of her book “Waiting to be heard” is very true to reality because often the 12th house causes their voices to be purposely ignored and their views silenced. She wrote the book to set the record straight commenting “everyone has the right to judge me because that's just the way human beings are. What bothered me about my experience, though, was how helpless I was to a portrayal that wasn't accurate. It's surreal enough as it is to see I'm in the tabloids, because I'm just a regular human being. What am I doing in the tabloids? But there's this problem that this is the portrayal being shown to the people who are supposed to decide my fate, and I'm helpless to defend myself against it. Anything I say or do to confront it is tainted by this characterisation of me. This horrible helplessness that's like this hole I was flung into and couldn't get out of " (5). However, there are quite a few easy and promising aspects connected with the 12th house, and with the strength of character and determination she has displayed so far, I am confident that she will be able to experience the benefits of the 12th house. She can turn this situation around and use it to her advantage.
 
Eris is a significant dwarf planet that adds a deeper layer of analysis to this situation. The goddess of war and discord, Eris, is within a degree conjunction to the 12th house cusp. Eris is similar to Mars in that it represents anger, aggression and confidence but it is more feminine in expression (7). Eris represents a struggle for survival but it is a willing battle, one is ready to stand up for what they know to be right (8). Eris placed near the 12th cusp can easily be seen manifesting in her life in the long and public trials where she constantly has to fight for her freedom and to stay out of prison. She is also fighting the lies being spread about her that are adversely affecting her reputation. “Eris is associated with the feminist struggle for rights in a patriarchal society” (8). It seems the Italian prosecutors (patriarchal authority) are willing to put up a fierce fight to keep her locked up. Eris is about people, in particular women, speaking their personal truth in response to unfair actions towards them from an established authority. This is more likely to happen when Saturn makes a close aspect to Eris, in Amanda’s case there is a 1 degree trine between Saturn and Eris. A good thing about Eris being near the 12th cusp is that it gives Amanda the strength, tenacity and confidence to stand up and defend herself for as long as it takes to clear her name and gain permanent freedom.
 
Astrea is the goddess of justice, innocence and purity, this asteroid is placed within a degree of the midpoint of the 12th house (midpoints are a place of extra power/ significance in a house). Astrea is also at the midpoint of vertex/ black moon lilith. Lilith represents your guts to stand up for yourself, tell the truth, make sure justice is served, talk about things that make others uncomfortable but that need to be brought out into the open. Lilith manifests as a strong desire to not let other people walk all over you and to speak your personal truth regardless of the consequences. The sense of justice is very strong and these people hate to see violations of justice either to themselves or others. Black moon Lilith is out of bounds at 25 degrees 48 minutes, thus its characteristics are very strong in Amanda. She says about “Waiting to be Heard”, “people asked me if I would change the book and I said absolutely not. I am not going to change my story just because someone is threatening to sue me but I mean it sucks. It sucks and it sucks” (9). Lilith also has the association with the "woman scorned" and "black widow spider", cruel women who take revenge when they feel they have been wronged. In Amanda’s case the prosecutor was trying to paint her as this type of woman, without any hard evidence. As explained before, the vertex is a point of fate. Thus, when you consider that Astrea is on the midpoint of vertex/black moon lilith and that this is also the midpoint of the 12th house of sorrows and difficulties, Amanda’s situation fits perfectly. It is no wonder that Amanda seems fated to face a constant struggle in defending her innocence and purity against allegations of sexual deviance- apparently forcing Meredith to participate in an orgy and taking revenge when she said no. The prosecution seems to make up clues that fit their story and they do not hesitate to change the story when it suits  them. Amanda describes it as "a decadent fantasy about what a violent, sexual female would act like" (5). With the recent request from the Supreme Court in Italy for a third trial, the prosecution seems to place a special pride on framing Amanda for the murder and keeping her locked up in prison.

The moon is out of bounds at 28 degrees, 2 minutes in Amanda’s chart. This is noteworthy as the moon cannot go past 28 degrees 32 minutes (10). For background information on out of bounds planets please click here. The moon in astrology represents emotions, feelings, instincts, habits, expressions, body language, spontaneous reactions, nurturing and comfort. When it is so far OOB these aspects about a person may seem odd or abnormal. When you put this together with the fact that she was only 20 at the time of the murder and she was culturally naïve, it is no surprise that people thought she had odd reactions to the murder. Amanda has been harshly criticized as cold and callous due to her strange behaviour after her roommate’s death. Some of these things included having casual sex, the reports of her not getting along with Meredith, not finding the house’s open door and blood drops in the bathroom strange and the “all you need is love” shirt she wore in court (11). In the article (11), she explains some of her “bizarre” behaviour.  In an interview with Chris Cuomo (12), Amanda was asked about her kissing her boyfriend outside the house on the morning after the murder, the splits at the police station and the repeated nonchalance. “People see your behaviour and call it “strange”, what makes you “strange”?” Amanda explains, “I reacted differently than the way people expected a young woman to react but to hold me to a stereotype of how people react to certain things is unreasonable. It is unreasonable to assume guilt based upon a reaction. My reaction was more stunned than anything else.” In another article (13) she addresses some of the other perceived odd remarks/ behaviour such as the “how could she not, she got her fucking throat slit” in response to one of Meredith’s friends saying “I hope she didn’t suffer” and also the fact that Raffeaele was kissing her to comfort her after the death. Amanda explains "I was reacting to a very confusing and terrifying situation," and I had a number of reactions. I didn't have a consistent reaction over the entire time. Sometimes I was very angry, and sometimes I was very sad, and sometimes I paced. I didn't hide my reaction. "I wasn't doing cartwheels, despite what they said," Knox continued. "I was reacting in an upset manner. And I was upset. And I  could've been more sensitive to the people around me. That's what I think was the major issue -- was I could've been more sensitive to the people around me."  Amanda has an outstanding imbalance in her elements; she has 5 planets in fire signs and 4 planets in water signs with a complete lack of air and only Neptune in an earth sign. In light of this it makes sense that Amanda would have trouble controlling the display of spontaneous emotions in the moment. Water and fire people are expressive, intuitive and their emotions are wide ranging and intense. They can be criticized for their wide mood swings. In addressing her behaviour with Raffeaele at the police station, Amanda says "I suspect that Raffeaele thought I was having a breakdown," he sat me in his lap and bounced me gently. He kissed me, made faces at me, and told me jokes, all in an effort to soothe my agitation, babying me so I would stop storming around. I cringe to say that treating me like an infant helped. Normally, it would have repelled me. But at the time it worked" (13).  It seems to me that the OOB moon accounts quite well for her perceived "strange" behaviour.

Besides the shortcomings of the Italian legal system, might there have been something about the effects of being in Perugia that helped bring this situation to life? Taking a look at Astrocartography- a person's various astrological fortunes in different parts of the world- I can conclude that there is. Perugia, Italy is very close to Amanda's Chiron/MC line, this means that its influence will dominate her life for the time she spends there. Amanda has an exact natal sesquiquadrate between Chiron and the MC. In addition, Chiron at 24 Gemini is closest to her ascendant so its mythology plays a big role in how she is perceived by others. Moreover the composite (relationship) chart between Amanda and Raffeaele shows a 2 degree opposition between Chiron and the MC. Chiron represents wounding, victimization, deep disappointments that affect a person on a subconscious level. As a result the person develops issues relating to low self confidence, feeling sorry for themselves and feeling that they are never "good enough". The person may not even acknowledge the wound yet it has a powerful effect on their behaviour, it may manifest as being bitter or not wanting to try for fear of failure. The MC represents career, social standing, prestige, accomplishments, public reputation, and honour. Therefore, when you have a hard aspect between Chiron and the MC, you can definitely expect that this wounding and victimization will play a large role in your public reputation and be connected to your career in some way. Had Amanda stayed in Seattle or chosen another country for her studies, she would not have activated her natal Chiron/MC aspect with this outstanding amount of force. This is because that country would not have likely been on the Chiron/MC line, also she would not have met Raffeaele, both these factors were catalysts for the aspect coming to life. I am not saying that by staying away from Perugia or from Raffeaele she would never experience this aspect, it is still in her natal promise and would have occurred at its appointed time (albeit with much less strength). However, the crucial factor is the tremendous negative force with which the false conviction occurred- some places magnify the worst aspects of your horoscope and unfortunately Perugia did it for her. Looking on the bright side, Chiron also represents transformation after the inner work is done to heal those wounds, the person then becomes a healer and teacher to other people facing similar situations. If a person manages to constructively deal with these painful disappointments, keeps their faith and is determined to keep pushing through despite feelings of hopelessness, they will be able to heal and share their insight with others.

When you consider the state of Amanda's 12th house, Eris, Astrea, the out of bounds moon, and Amanda's astro cartography in Perugia, it certainly is fitting that she has experienced this tremendous ordeal. The natal chart is a snapshot of our individual karma and purpose in this life and the experiences she has faced are critical for her advancement as a person. There are many difficult factors that she must learn to work with but they are not insurmountable. I have observed her to be smart, talented, resilient, determined and brave. These qualities will help her in her quest to experience the benefits of the 12th house and will serve her well as she faces the next chapter in her life.


  References
 
1.   http://www.injusticeinperugia.org/rudy.html

 2.   http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/2013/05/09/interviewer-forces-amanda-knox-to-defend-her-sex-life/

 3. http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/susan-milligan/2013/05/09/cnns-sex-  
crazed-amanda-knox-case-interview

4. Knox, A. (2013). Waiting to be heard, A memoir. New York, NY: Harper Collins

 5.  http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/8633191/The-sorry-tale-of-Amanda-Knox

 6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrS3k3MvaGs (Diane Sawyer interview)

 7. http://www.historicalastrology.com/the-astrology-of-eris/

 8.  http://www.astrograph.com/learning-astrology/Eris.php

 9.  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2327032/Amanda-Knox-claims-penniless-facing-libel-
  lawsuits-memoir-says-going-change-story.html

 10  http://star-www.st-and.ac.uk/~fv/webnotes/answer9a.htm

 11. http://www.businessinsider.com/amanda-knox-explains-bizarre-behavior-2013-5

 12.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep9uPW5kImA-  (Chris Cuomo interview)

 13.http://abcnews.go.com/US/amanda-knox-top-10-points-raised-questions-murder/story?id=19074897#2