What Happened in Miami?
An astrological look at the Miami alien rumors and "The War of the Worlds"
Social media is presently ablaze with rumors that extraterrestrials eight to ten feet tall caused chaos at a Miami, Florida, shopping mall on New Year’s Day.
USA Today reported that the police arrived at Bayside Marketplace around 8:30 pm on New Year’s Day to break up a crowd of over 50 teenage humans fighting in the mall. However, a video of the event featured a tall, gray shadow that some viewers thought looked like an extraterrestrial.
8:30 pm gives a great chart for a wacky rumor. (NBC Miami, which USA Today links to, says “shortly before 8:30 p.m.,” while USA Today says “around 8:30 p.m.”) Chaotic Uranus was closely conjunct the Midheaven. Meanwhile, the Virgo Moon formed a T-square with Mercury and Mars in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces. At that point, Mercury was stationary — it turned direct less than two hours later. Mercury isn’t strong in Sagittarius to begin with, so it might be difficult to get the truth with the planet of communication afflicted.
Mercury and Mars were both in the 5th House of Children, which makes sense for the official explanation of the chaos being rowdy teenagers. The 5th house is also associated with having fun and being playful, and I think people of all ages have had a lot of fun with this rumor.
One Uranus cycle ago, a radio adaptation of the novel The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells caused similar chaos. Narrator Orson Welles used the style of a live newscast, which led some listeners to believe that a Martian invasion was really taking place. According to Wikipedia, the broadcast from the Columbia Broadcasting Building in New York City took place at 8 pm on October 30, 1938. Then, like now, Uranus was in the second decan of Taurus.
There is a lot of talk about extraterrestrials surrounding the current shift of Pluto from Capricorn to Aquarius. Aquarius is associated with technology and universal brotherhood, so some speculate that Pluto’s transit in Aquarius may bring us into contact with intelligent life from beyond our planet.
1938 was roughly half a Pluto cycle ago. At that point, Pluto had just entered Leo. On the night of the fateful broadcast, the Aquarius Moon opposed Pluto, hinting at possibilities of a fantastic future.
1938 was also half a Neptune cycle ago. Neptune was in Virgo at that time, opposite its current placement in Pisces. As shown in the biwheel below, the Moon in Virgo of the 2024 incident is conjunct Neptune in Virgo of the 1938 incident.
Both events also have Venus closely conjunct in sensational Sagittarius. A lot has changed in the world since 1938, but perhaps the desire for a fun story never gets old!
For extra credit, Wikipedia gives the opening date of Bayside Marketplace as April 8, 1987, time unknown.
The mall (outer ring of the biwheel as it’s untimed) opened with Mercury in Pisces square Saturn and Uranus in Sagittarius. This configuration interacts with the New Year’s Day 2024 T-square of the Moon in Virgo, Mercury and Mars in Sagittarius, and Neptune in Pisces. Also, the mall opened with the Moon in Leo, likely close to the Ascendant of the New Year’s Day 2024 police response.
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