The Karma of the Kennedys

OrderReincarnation is the mechanism whereby mankind may tread a pathway to immortality. Movement on this path is greatly accelerated or checked by karma. “As ye sow, thus shall ye reap”… “to every action there is a reaction”… so says the law. Advantages gained through inappropriate actions of self-aggrandisement must be compensated for or become magnified by karma in lives that follow.¹

As an example of a collective karma dating back many lives the Kennedys are unparalleled; perhaps Czar Nicholas II and the Romanovs of Russia, who together were butchered in 1917, are the only other example to come close. The heavy karma encircling the Kennedys is well known. I have pointed it out many times in my lectures and seminars for 25 years. It stems from their previous lives as Caesars of Ancient Rome, and who, as Caesars, were cruel and unscrupulous. They have incarnated together now to redeem their awful karma of 2,000 years ago.

It is aggravated further by the karma of the Catholic Church and faith, which the Kennedys embrace. The excesses of Imperial Rome were, in many instances, repeated in the cruelty of the Inquisition, the Spanish one in particular. It may well be that the toll of tragic events associated with the Kennedy family is related to these two major historic regimes.

• Joseph P. Kennedy’s eldest son, Joseph Jr, a United States Navy pilot, is killed in 1944 while flying a secret wartime mission. His plane, packed with explosives destined for a German target, blows up over the English Channel.
• Rosemary, Joseph’s mildly mentally handicapped elder daughter, is lobotomised in 1941
• Joe’s daughter, Kathleen, alienated from her strict Roman Catholic parents after marrying a Protestant, dies in a plane crash in 1948.
• Patrick Kennedy, John Jr’s brother, dies aged just days in 1963.
• President John F. Kennedy, having inherited the family’s political mantle after the death of Joseph Jr, is assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.
• Senator Bobby Kennedy, JFK’s brother, is assassinated on June 6, 1968, in a Los Angeles hotel, shortly after winning the Democratic Party’s Californian primary.
• Senator Edward Kennedy is involved in a car accident on the island of Chappaquiddick, just off Martha’s Vineyard, on the night of July18, 1969.
  His companion, Mary-Jo Kopechne, is killed.
• Edward Kennedy’s son, Teddy, has to have his right leg amputated as a result of cancer of the cartilage (chrondosarcoma), in 1973.
• Bobby Kennedy’s son, David Anthony, dies of a drugs overdose aged 28 on April 25, 1984.
• In 1991, William Kennedy Smith, son of Jean Kennedy Smith, JFK’s sister, is on protracted televised trial for rape and is acquitted.
• In 1994, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis dies of cancer in the prime of her life.
• On December 31, 1997, Bobby’s son, Michael Kennedy, dies playing ski football.
• On July 16, 1999, John Kennedy Junior, his wife and her sister die in a plane crash.

Commentators sometimes quip about a “curse” upon the Kennedy family and then immediately dismiss the idea as ridiculous in this day and age of scientific reason. But there is no “scientific” explanation or language to describe the series of accidents and horrors that have befallen the Kennedys. When people attack astrology and the esoteric sciences, is always worth quoting.

Saturn, of course, is the planet of karma of long standing which has roots that lie many lives ago. Its action is protracted and dragged out and is often harsh and cruel.² Even the third generation branches of the family display the terrible karmic link. The tree is budding and the karma is attacking the buds.³
In trying to understand the way in which the laws of karma work, it would seem that karmic incidents could be classified under the four classical elements:

• Fire – fires, explosions, gun incidents, hunting accidents …
• Earth – automobile accidents, train crashes, earthquakes, crushing, assassination in public …
• Air – air disasters, weather, tornadoes and hurricanes …
• Water – drowning, storms at sea, mud slides, hemorrhages …

Tragedy, however, is not the inevitable outcome of karma; our stars do not irrevocably doom us. We have free will to choose how we respond to the circumstances into which our karma places us; and there is more than one way of meeting it.

As it happened, there were elements in the character of John Kennedy Jr that allowed his karma to manifest in disaster, namely, inexperience and a reckless disregard for normal procedure. He played out the role of what I call a ‘rich kid’. I’ve always maintained that those born with a silver spoon in their mouth are afflicted more than blessed. It takes away the necessity to accept the challenges the soul presents them with and deprives them of the opportunity to gain spiritual staying power. The family situation allows them concessions, privileges, and roles in life that are hard won by those who have to struggle for them.

The soul has nothing to gain from an incarnation in which its personality is not challenged to establish itself independently but has again resorted to the taking of other people’s wealth, which was one of the cruelty factors for which the Caesars were notorious. And here is an example of appropriating the riches of others in the latest incarnation. John Jr inherited his mother’s wealth, which she had acquired from the world’s richest man.

The problem with rich kids is that they don’t get any real experience, and this is what killed John Jr. He had not had enough experience as a pilot to fly his plane with the delicate instruments which are required at night. Saturn is the planet of experience and the mastery of material things but in John Jr’s horoscope Saturn is afflicted.

It has also come to light since the crash that his marriage to Carolyn Bessette was on the rocks, and that that her sister, Lauren Bessette, intervened to rescue the situation by promising to accompany the couple on the fateful journey. In the months following their deaths, speculation has grown about whether a row could have contributed to the crash.

John’s attraction to danger and risk further compounded the situation. There was a reckless disregard for normal procedures that would have ensured his safety. He liked to play by his own rules instead of by the book. It is reported that the biggest concern of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in hiring him as a lawyer, other than his failure twice to pass the Bar exam, was the thousands of dollars of unpaid parking fines. John Jr did not feel that Manhattan’s traffic and parking laws applied to him.

One is reminded of the myth of Phaeton. Phaeton was the son of the sun god, Hellios. When he boasted of it to his friends they challenged him to prove his ancestry. The young man, therefore, went to his father, who was happy to see him and promised to grant him whatever he wished for. Since he wanted to dazzle his comrades, Phaeton asked to be allowed to drive his father’s chariot for a day. The reluctant Hellios kept his promise. The youth, however, was a rash and imprudent driver. He did not have his father’s skills or experience. The chariot veered out of control, setting fire to the world. Zeus struck Phaeton down with a thunderbolt to prevent total destruction of the earth.⁴

The story of Phaeton reflects the self-destructive tendencies of those who get too high too fast. Their youthful exuberance and dazzling potential belie their inexperience, sometimes with tragic consequences.

Accidents and karma often interfere with the unfolding of the soul’s purpose. John Kennedy Jr was born with Virgo rising in the horoscope, the sign of purification. His soul wanted him to redeem his karma through hard work and service to mankind.

“Shrive me father”

Whoever took the confessions of John Jr was unable to shrive him from the sudden death of himself and two other members of his family.

We don’t know what John Jr might have achieved in expressing his soul for he died so young, but the publication of his magazine George was an exemplary way to express his Virgo ascendant. In publishing George he tried to make politics accessible to and interesting for ordinary citizens. He found, at last, a vision, a contribution to society. Shortly before his death, he wrote: “the printed word influences our thoughts and actions as individuals and as a nation, and new ideas change the world in profound way.”

We may draw the conclusion from this episode in the karmic life of the Kennedy family the supposition that heavy karma can be countered by diligent, protracted effort that does not seek reward. Those with heavy karma indicated in the horoscope would be wise to consider this statement, for the astrologer today is asked just that question: How can I offset my difficult karma? Two factors can be given in reply:

The first is the strong advice never to undertake harmful acts but on the contrary to exercise harmlessness. The second has already been given and is reiterated here in a paraphrase of JFK’s famous injunction:

“Ask not what the world can do for you;
  ask what you can do for the world.”

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