by Celeste Teal; June 20, 2000

The celebration outside the Staple Center turned into violence last night as hundreds of Lakers fans became unruly following the game against the Pacer’s to give LA the NBA championship for the first time since 1988. Some 45 minutes following the game, the excitement of the win turned into mayhem as bonfires were set, a police car and news van were torched and businesses vandalized. Several injuries and arrests resulted as well as extreme property damage. Much of the rioting was aired on the news less than an hour following the game.

LA Riots

In the Los Angeles birth chart, Pluto resides in the fourth house, suggesting crisis conditions and struggles over sharing the home turf. As in the Los Angeles riots in 92, which are detailed in my book, this Pluto placement seems to be a key for such outbreaks of violence by citizens. There appears to be rebellion against authorities, structures and containment from various features in the chart. The very appearance of police on the scene to ensure the safety of the people is likely to have been what initially stirred the wild retaliation, with the torched police car one of the first vicious acts.

Taking a look at the current chart for LA, there was wild excitement brewing and the transits triggered important progressions. Calculating the transits for 10 PM, the time that the volatile but mostly peaceful celebration took a violent turn, one notices that the transiting Ascendant has just moved across the LA Mars to align next with Pluto. The transiting Moon is exactly conjunct Pluto, showing the abrupt mood change of the crowd. Click the image above for a full chart view.
There are way too many exact aspects to detail here and I invite you to explore the chart yourself. Some of the prominent features are the transiting Sun upon progressed Uranus, which is now opposite progressed Jupiter. Transiting Mars is conjunct natal Uranus, which is now opposite progressed Saturn. Mars is also square natal Moon and progressed Moon has come to oppose natal Venus; social events. These two are square the point of the upcoming eclipse. Progressed Mars has come to trine natal Pluto and in this case boosts the wild abandonment of the fans. Transiting Mars and the Sun acted as the timers to release the potential. Learn more about Mars Transiting Aspects.

There are several ties of Jupiter with Saturn. Transiting Saturn is opposite natal Jupiter and the progressed Jupiter and Saturn are in conjunction as they are in the current transits. Also notice that the transiting Nodes have come to square the natal nodes, frequently corresponding with eventful activity and at the time the rioting began, the South Node was conjunct the transiting Ascendant, suggesting the reflex actions of the crowd from that point forward as all these excitable conditions were stimulated. Learn more about Progressions. 6/20/00