“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing”, particularly if wielded by someone who believes they know all there is.

We see this everywhere, but it is just as true in the world of astrology. Most people’s understanding of the subject would be limited to Sun signs, but this is the equivalent of a child who had just mastered their nine times table claiming to be a mathematical genius.

But does that really matter? After all most children go on to study maths to a higher level, so presumably Sun signs would work as an entry level for more serious astrological study.

Apart from the fact that in the vast majority of cases, it doesn’t. People seem to be content to stay at that level and even make important decisions about their life from that perspective, which as we know can be misguided and even very dangerous.

It’s likely that the most common use of Sun sign astrology occurs on dating websites.

If you are a Sagittarius woman checking out a potential partner you might go for a Libran man without expecting to be on the receiving end of serious domestic violence.

If you were the Libran man checking out a Sagittarius woman 30 years younger than you, you might be expecting many things, which would probably not include being murdered by her.

But this is the kind of thing that can happen when we don’t look into astrology properly.

I have many articles about murderers where their Sun sign placements wouldn’t melt butter but the truth is revealed by the aspects patterns of the Moon, Venus and Mars.

And when we look at these for Doug Benefield, it’s pretty clear that things would end badly.

Our Sun and Moon signs can tell us a lot about what we want, what we are looking for in life, but it’s the aspects that will tell us whether we are going to get it.

A Libra Sun with Cancer Moon would be looking for harmony in relationships and emotional security.

Doug Benefield’s Sun is unaspected.

Some people who claim to know a lot about astrology seem also to be able to combine that claim with a common sense bypass.

I have read pieces that claim unaspected planets will have a stronger impact on the person’s life because of the fact.

Aspects are the drivers of life, these are the things that make life events happen. If you have an unaspected planet, it may well point to something you wish for in life but there is nothing there to help it actually materialise.

The one clear thing from Benefield’s chart is that his T square to the apex Mars in Scorpio is the main driver of his life themes.

So his Sun in Libra search for peace, cooperation and harmony comes to nothing.

As does his Moon in Cancer need for security, because it is assailed by an exact opposition with Saturn and Jupiter with the square to Mars.

We don’t have a birthtime for Doug Benefield but often the noon chart will compensate for that by revealing something of the life theme.

So the afflicted Moon in the 7th will tell us how things work out for him in the area of marriage.

That and the Venus/Pluto conjunction.

If you have a chart like this, how much control do you actually have over your relationships?

Probably very little, but it would be advisable to get your wedding days elected even if just as a damage limitation exercise.

Doug’s first go at it with Tracy Lyn also contained a Cancer Moon but conjunct the South Node and in a nasty opposition with Mars, Mercury, Uranus and Neptune.

His own Libra Sun formed a T square with this lot, so he obviously wasn’t going to get much harmony.

The marriage lasted six months.

Doug Benefield was obviously partial to a Moon/Uranus opposition challenge for his nuptials because he’s picked another for his second wedding to Renee.

With the added bonus of a T Square apex Saturn.

This combined with a tight square between Mars and Venus did not bode well for the happy couple as Renee died suddenly and unexpectedly from an undiagnosed heart condition.

Undiagnosed, apart from the fact that even without access to Renee Benefield’s birthchart, the Moon in Leo exactly opposite Uranus in the wedding chart is saying exactly that.

Doug married for a 3rd time, to ex ballerina Ashley who was thirty years younger than him.

A year after the wedding, Ashley “made serious allegations against Doug, accusing him of being an abusive and violent husband who had allegedly attempted to poison her. She also claimed that Doug was responsible for poisoning Renee, which resulted in her death.

A judge granted a restraining order in November 2017.

The following April, Ashley gave birth to their daughter and filed for divorce.

Despite their troubled history, Doug and Ashley reconciled in 2019 for the sake of their newborn daughter. However, their marriage remained tumultuous.

In May 2019 Doug threatened Ashley “It would be shame if after we separate your child would find you the same way as my last wife”

In a surprising turn, Doug decided to give their relationship one last chance and made plans to relocate with Ashley to Maryland. Doug rented an apartment near Ashley’s mother’s house. They were in the process of packing for their move on September 27, 2020.

While moving Ashley tried to correct Doug on how they should load a Uhaul. “My things would be going in last, right at the front, so they’d be easy to get out first,”

Doug, became visibly upset, and said “it shouldn’t be your stuff, my stuff, your house, my house. I can see what you’re doing. You’re trying to get me to leave. I don’t have to leave, I can stay and spend the night if I want to because I’m your husband.”

The argument escalated and Doug hit Ashley. Tragically, that night ended in a violent altercation. Ashley shot Doug in the back, claiming self-defense.

Ashley Benefield’s defense described Doug as a manipulative and controlling man who had violent tendencies throughout the couple’s marriage, that she was a victim of domestic violence and the night Doug attacked her at her home, she was forced to shoot him out of fear for her own life.

“I was scared to death. I thought he was going to kill me. I didn’t know where to go. I was trapped,” she told jurors during her trial.

However, the prosecution countered that the incident resulted from a custody battle that Ashley was trying to win, not domestic violence. It was also pointed out that she was the only armed person that night, and that she didn’t have to shoot him.

Ashley Benefield was found guilty of manslaughter for fatally shooting her husband and last week was sentenced to 20 years in prison followed by 10 years of probation.

The case was dubbed the “Black Swan murder trial” due to Ashley Benefield’s ballet background, with comparisons drawn to the protagonist of the 2010 film “Black Swan.”

There is a saying “Once is a mistake. Twice is a decision. Any more than that has no chance of being forgiven.”

So if Doug Benefield was determined to pick a terrible chart for the 3rd wedding in succession, then the result would surely be inevitable.

So what kind of horrendous wedding chart could have indicated this type of marriage?

This one.

Like the chart for his marriage to Renee, this one also contains a T Square with one of the lights opposing an outer planet and an apex Saturn.

This time however it’s the Sun rather than the Moon so the whole experience ends with the death of the groom.

A T Square to twin apex planets Mars and Saturn is about as horrible as it gets, particularly if it lands right on your intended’s lights.

It is always difficult delineating charts with no birthtime.

Ashley Benefield has an obvious stellium in Sagittarius but we don’t know which house it’s in or how close her Moon is to either the Sun or Mars.

We do know that there is a Venus/Saturn square aspect.

Both Ashley and Doug have difficult Venus connections. Their Venusian synastry is challenging.

Doug’s Venus/Pluto conjunction is square to Ashley’s Sun and Moon.

Ashely’s Venus falls square to Doug’s Moon/Saturn opposition.

Astrology does not judge, it just lays bare the symbolic facts of the situation. We may have our own views on a case like this but I think it is fair to make some basic observations.

Ashley’s chart on its own does not look like one of a murderer.

But you could make a strong case for Doug’s chart as both a domestic violence abuser and a murder victim.

The T square apex Mars in Scorpio certainly looks like someone who could be prone to manipulative violence, but it’s the Cancer Moon that would be the victim.

Placed on the noon chart 8th house cusp it would certainly indicate his death particularly as it’s exactly opposite Saturn (within an orb of 4 minutes).

At the time when Ashley shot Doug, transit Pluto was exactly on this Saturn opposite his Moon.

It was with transit Saturn as well at the apex of a T square of its own, involving Mars in Aries and Mercury exactly on Doug’s own apex Mars.

The tightness of the aspects is astonishing. Mars is square to Saturn within half a degree.

I have been looking at murder charts for 50 years and this is one of the clearest I have ever seen.

Ashley’s Venus at 29 Libra in the noon chart 8th house is also being aspected by this T Square but you can see that it’s Doug’s chart that is the one that is being violently triggered.

Which adds to the impression that Doug Benefield was a murder victim looking for someone to finish him off.

And that he tried a series of weddings with progressively worse charts to find the right partner and moment for that to happen.

In the past, swans had royal protection so killing one (and presumably riding one) was considered an act of treason. Even today you can end up being imprisoned for this deed.

Marc Bolan of T Rex was also a Libra, with Sun within 3 degrees of Doug Bennefield’s.

Bolan’s breakthrough hit was Ride A White Swan in 1970 when Uranus was conjunct his Sun.

Seven years later he died in a car crash on his Saturn Return with Pluto conjunct his Venus.

So if you insist on riding a black one when you have a Venus/Pluto conjunction and a Moon/Saturn/apex Mars T square, with a Saturn/Pluto conjunction by transit coming up on your own Saturn Return, then you have only yourself to blame.

Posted on December 7th 2024

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