Station to Station: The Abundant Life Christian School Shooting

This post was originally published on Astrology News Service

Alex Miller

Sadly, while school shootings are not in short supply in the US, the incident on December 16, 2024 at a private religious school in Madison, Wisconsin does stand out in the crowd, notable for its all-female cast of characters.  Suspected shooter Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, 15, apparently took her own life after murdering a teacher, Erin West, 42, and a fellow student, Rubi Vergara, 14, and wounding six others.  Mass shootings perpetrated by women are extremely rare, some 5% of the total; add to that the shared gender of all those involved, and we have the makings of an unusual story.

There are many celestial factors to be considered here on the date of the shooting itself, such as the “coincidence” of asteroids Erin, West, Child, and Abundantia all together, crammed within ten degrees of the zodiac stretching from Pluto to Venus (which collectively portrays the deaths/Pluto of minors/Child generally and a specified teacher/Erin, West at the Abundant/Abundantia Life school, at the hands of a female/Venus).  But what I want to focus on in this article is the birth chart of victim Rubi Vergara.

Born on St Patrick’s Day, 2010, Rubi Vergara did not share in the luck of the Irish, with her life snuffed out at age 14 by a troubled classmate.  But the bones of her brief story can be seen quite clearly in the points which stood stock still in the heavens at the moment of her birth.  These “stations,” as they are called, occur when a point appears to slow its motion, come to a standstill, and reverse direction in the sky.  This is an optical illusion based in the triangulation between Earth, the sun, and any third celestial body, but its effects are very real.  The station creates a psychic vortex, a point embedded in consciousness which focuses and accrues energy and manifestation throughout the life.  Stations represent pivotal elements in character or biography, the lodestars of our existence.

In Rubi Vergara’s case, we see a remarkable confluence of four points in Scorpio which are in the process of turning retrograde (indicating apparent “backward” motion), and a pair of points in Leo which are resuming forward motion.  Scorpio is the Sign most associated with death generally, and leading off the parade of stations is asteroid Christian, at 4 Scorpio (turning retro on 3/11/10, still inhabiting its station degree when Rubi was born).  Christian represents the type of private school which Rubi attended, and where she died; it even features in the institution’s appellation – the ironically-named Abundant Life Christian School.  In a twist of fate, asteroid Christian was once again at station when Rubi died, having turned direct on the very day of the shooting.

Next is a precise pairing of asteroids Vergara and Lachesis, both at 19 Scorpio.  Vergara of course is Rubi’s surname; having this asteroid at station emphasizes the highly personal connection between Rubi and these fellow stationary points.  Lachesis is named for the mythic Greek Fate who determines the span of life, obviously of prime importance in the matter at hand.  Vergara turned retrograde on March 14^th, with Lachesis following suit on the 15^th.  Closing out the procession is asteroid West at 24 Scorpio (turning retro on March 16^th), representing teacher Erin West, who died with Rubi.  Again, we’re seeing an obviously applicable reference to the facts on the ground, portrayed in dramatic fashion in the skies above.  We should also note that at the time of the shooting, Uranus in the sky was opposing these points, with Uranus as the planet ruling shootings.

The points turning direct are Mars and asteroid Atropos, both at 0 Leo.  Mars rules guns, attacks and violent death; it resumed forward motion on March 10^th, a full week before Rubi’s birth, and by the long-established rules of planetary stations most astrologers would not consider this point to be at station (the traditional window for this event is 2-3 days surrounding the actual station date), but the fact that Mars remains at its station degree is significant.  Atropos is named for the Greek Fate who actually severs the thread of life at death, once her sister Lachesis gives her the high sign that the time has come.  Atropos turned direct on March 22^nd, 2010. 

Everyone dies, but individuals who have “death indicator” asteroids prominent will often have memorable ends.  Rubi Vergara “owned” two of these, and her death will certainly be remembered, long after her passing.

Title Image Credit:  School supplies image by Mickey Mikolauskas from Pixabay; Pistol mage by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay; combined by author