One day I ran across a brief online article about the 1959 Cutter murders. It said that the two men who killed the Cutter family would not have been capable of committing the violent act alone, and that it was the combination of their energy that allowed the cold blooded murders to happen.
This got me wondering about the Menendez brothers and what their birth charts, synastry and composite chart would say. My curious mind wanted to know if an astrological examination of the charts would reveal if either brother could have killed his parents alone or was it a combination of their two energies that did the deed?
I didn’t realize when I began researching and contemplating these charts then comparing them to the brothers’ story that I was jumping into an extremely engrossing rabbit hole.
The Menendez Brothers’ Story in Brief
The Menendez brothers brutally murdered their parents on August 20, 1989 between 9 – 9:30 PM in Beverly Hills, California (time of deaths according to the Netflix series). Four years later, in July 1993, they became widely known when they went on trial in a Los Angeles courtroom, each with a separate jury. This was the first trial to be broadcast live on Court TV.
Prosecutors portrayed the brothers as spoiled rich kids, who meticulously planned and murdered their wealthy parents with 12 gauge shotguns so they could claim their $14m fortune.
The brothers ultimately admitted to the murdering their parents, but argued they acted out of self-defense after years of emotional, physical and sexual abuse. During the trial they revealed, in graphic detail, the lifetime of abuse they had experienced from their father, while their mother, who knew about the abuse, did nothing.
The juries deadlocked and a new trial was ordered. At the second trial the judge prohibited testimony about the abuse, the brothers were found guilty, and sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of parole.
In 2023, lawyers submitted petitions to overturn the brothers’ sentences, pointing to two new pieces of evidence that support Lyle and Erik’s claims of self-defense. One is an accusation from a former Menudo member, Roy Rosselló, who claims José Menendez raped him as a teenager. The other is a letter written by Erik to a cousin months before the murders, detailing his father’s abuse. The letter was discovered in 2018. The brothers are now awaiting resentencing and possible release.
For those who may not know the story or want more of the gory details: The Menendez Brothers Documentary and a true-crime drama series about the brothers, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, are both available on Netflix.
Menendez Brothers’ Birth Charts
There’s a lot that could be said about these two charts (murder transits, progressions, etc.) but that’s much too much for one short article. So let me just say, with a cursory examination of the brothers’ birth charts, they don’t seem to have much in common. However, I immediately noticed that both brothers have Black Moon Lilith conjunct the Ascendant.
Lyle Menendez’s Birth Chart
Erik Menendez’s Birth Chart
The Menendez Brothers’ Ascendants and Black Moon Lilith
The Ascendant (ASC) is the most personal point of a birth chart because it’s based on the time of birth. It establishes the architecture for your entire birth chart and represents the way you view reality and make sense of your life. Any planet or placement conjunct the Ascendant has a vitally important effect on the personality, and can reflect recurring themes that are encountered throughout life.
What Is Black Moon Lilith?
There are several Liliths in astrology, but Black Moon Lilith is the Lilith most commonly used. Black Moon Lilith is not a planet; she’s a mathematical point between the Earth and the Lunar apogee. Lilith represents everything society considers forbidden or unacceptable. She’s a dark cosmic void – an empty space – a dark closet.
Lilith represents a part of you suppressed into the unconscious. She’s the rejected, traumatized, and wounded parts of you as well as your darker behaviors, patterns, and tendencies. She’s associated with trauma, pain, shame, rejection, and things taken forcefully from you. Lilith is capable of extreme rage and is usually a very challenging point in the horoscope.
Black Moon Lilith Conjunct the Ascendant in the First House
Among other things, Lilith in the 1st house foreshadows difficulties in life. Generally, with Lilith so near the ASC the person will embody things that people feel ashamed of and would rather sweep under the carpet. Below is the best definition I’ve read:
“With Lilith in the 1st house, a person will be a (often unwitting) symbol of Lilith’s experiences and issues. Lilith will inform the body and personality in very direct ways. Often, we gain awareness of planets in the first house by others’ reactions to us. In the case of Lilith, this can be what seems a constant stream of rejection for just being who we are, abuse as an attempt to control the native, some form of beating into submission, and a sense of not fitting in anywhere with any group of people. Though this is a general theme of Lilith, her placement in this house makes that theme much more personal and part of an individual’s daily life than it would be in any other house. People with Lilith here need to learn to stand up for the self and believe in their rights to be autonomous, independent, and self-interested.” ~ Thom Jacobs
Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson, and Sharon Tate are three other examples of individuals with Lilith in the 1st house.
Lyle and Erik’s Synastry Chart
A Synastry chart puts one birth chart around another and reveals how two people interact with each other. Lyle, the oldest brother’s birth chart is in the center.
Synastry: Key Connections
Their synastry seems to say that the brothers love and care for one another, but their relationship is somewhat like a battlefield. I’ve listed a few of the key connections below, but there are others you might want to add.
- Lyle’s Venus in Sagittarius is Conjunct (5°01’) Erik’s Sagittarius Sun – This indicates a loving freewheeling relationship.
- Lyle’s Virgo Jupiter is exactly Conjunct (0°27’) Erik’s Virgo Ascendant – Lyle and Erick are better when together and are always excited when they’re together. Lyle helps Erick feel good about himself, and encourages him to go big and gives him the energy to do that.
- Lyles Taurus Ascendant Trine (2°48’) Erik’s Virgo Ascendant – the brothers tend to have the same likes and dislikes. They are reciprocal and each seems to have the ability to take over where the other left off – this favors teamwork and partnerships.
- Lyle’s Taurus Ascendant is also Opposite (2°21’) Erick’s Scorpio Venus. Erick tends to embody the qualities Lyle seeks in a partner, which indicates a high level of cooperation.
- Lyle’s Taurus Moon is in Opposition (3°41’) to Erik’s Scorpio Moon – With this connection the brothers feed off each other emotionally which can cause tensions and explosive feelings.
- Lyle’s Pisces Mars is in Opposition (3°45’) to Erik’s Virgo Ascendant – This indicates that Lyle wants to take charge of the relationship and the brothers tend to be combative. .
- Lyle’s Pisces Mars is Square (4°08’) Erik’s Scorpio Moon – This indicates that the brother’s relationship is an emotional battlefield that’s full of tension and subconscious fears.
- Erik’s Libra Mars is Square (2°45’) Lyle’s Capricorn Mercury – an indication of arguments and quarrels.
- Erik’s Taurus Saturn Conjunct ( 5°37’) Lyle’s Taurus Lilith can bring trauma to the surface and push both brothers to confront their fears, insecurities and shadows. It also suggests that a karmic bond casts a profound shadow on the brothers’ relationship.
The Biggie: Sun/Mars Squares!
Lyle’s Pisces Mars is Square (4°30’) Erik’s Sagittarius Sun AND Erik’s Libra Mars is Square (5°03’) Lyle’s Capricorn Sun.
This indicates that both brothers would take an aggressive stance in their relationship. (I get the image of two boxers coming out of their corners ready to fight) Lyle and Erik have a dynamic and potentially volatile relationship in which neither can fully be or understand who he is. Still, when they come together as teammates they can channel this fighting, sometimes volatile, energy outward toward a shared goal.
Lyle and Erik’s Midpoint Composite Chart
A composite chart describes how two people work as one.
Exact Sun/Mars Conjunction Square Pluto
An exact Sun/Mars cazimi Conjunction at 27° degrees Sagittarius is closely Square Pluto at 26° Virgo Conjunct the IC (home and family) A negative Sun-Mars Conjunction in Sagittarius Square Pluto in Virgo Conjunct the IC would give the partners in crime a reckless attitude and angry temperament, with a unconscious desire to seize power in the home and family.
Pluto/Moon Quincunx
Pluto at 25 ° Virgo conjunct the IC is Quincunx the Moon at 25 ° Aquarius in the 8th house. This Pluto/Moon Quincunx indicates intense and powerful emotions, fears, and anxieties as well as dark hidden feelings related to their family that could lead to uncontrollable behavior.
It seems that the brothers pull out intense and possibly primal feelings of domination toward home and family in one another, and the fear of either of them betraying this intensity drove their ugly behaviors.
Composite Chart Yod
An astrological Yod or “Finger of Fate” is an aspect pattern formed when two planets are sextile and both Quincunx a third planet. Yods represent extraordinary powers available for good or ill, but how it plays out is largely a matter of how the energy is used and whether the planets forming the crucial aspects are in any way harmonious.
Lyle and Erik’s composite chart Yod consists of Pluto in Virgo sextile Venus conjunct Neptune in Scorpio, with both pointing the “Finger of Fate” at Saturn in Aries. Saturn in Aries can symbolize a father that is an extremely strict and disciplined person who blocked their independence. (Check out the green aspect lines in the composite chart above.)
The “Finger of Fate” Takes Center Stage
When Yods are activated by transit they often bring some sort of dramatic event.
Murder Transits: Chart for August 20, 1989
On the night the brothers murdered their parents the transiting Sun was at 27° Leo. This was the spark that activated the Yod. The Sun was exactly Trine composite Saturn (father-limitations) at 27° Aries, activating the “Finger of Fate” and also creating a volatile Grand Fire Trine with composite Sun/Mars at 27° Sagittarius. The Moon was also transiting the late degrees of Aries on that night in Beverly Hills, California.
Did It Take Two?
After analyzing these charts, could an astrologer have predicted the murders before they happened? NO! If you haven’t already, watch the Netflix presentations, take time to study the charts within the context of the brothers’ lives, then decide if either of these two brothers could have committed the crime alone or was it the bonding of the two very different individuals that resulted in the killing of their parents? I believe it was. What do you think?
Please take time to tell others your thoughts in the comment section below.