FAUSTIAN BARGAINS
Victoria Suzanne Fanoele
B.A., California State University, Sacramento, 1996
PROJECT
Submitted in partial satisfaction of
the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
in
LIBERAL ARTS
at
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO
SPRING
2010
© 2010
Victoria Suzanne Fanoele
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
ii
FAUSTIAN BARGAINS
A Project
by
Victoria Suzanne Fanoele
Approved by:
__________________________________, Committee Chair
Jeffrey Brodd, Ph.D.
__________________________________, Second Reader
Candace Gregory-Abbott, Ph. D.
____________________________
Date
iii
Student: Victoria Suzanne Fanoele
I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University
format manual, and that this project is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to
be awarded for the project.
_______________________, Graduate Coordinator
Jeffrey Brodd, Ph.D.
Liberal Arts Master’s Program
iv
___________________
Date
Abstract
of
FAUSTIAN BARGAINS
by
Victoria Suzanne Fanoele
The Genesis of the Project
Faustian Bargains is a historical fiction novel that is based on a true crime event
that took place from 1998 through 2001. The story is of a serial bomber complete with
allegations of sex, drugs, paranoid vengeance, astrology, and the occult. The Alameda
District Attorney’s office successfully prosecuted the so-called Fremont Bombings. At
the time, these bombings resulted in the most highly publicized trial that Alameda County
had had in many years. The bombings, which occurred on March 29, 1998, involved six
bombs at five different locations. The Fremont police chief and a Fremont city
councilman were two of the targets, along with a wealthy Fremont family’s home. Even
though the project does include many of the facts of the trial and my personal experience
along with my astrological expertise and specialized knowledge that helped to convict
one of the Bay Area’s most malicious and evil serial bombers, it is, in fact, merely a work
of fiction.
Methodology for Writing the Fictionalized Version of Faustian Bargains
There were various methods used for writing Faustian Bargains. First of all, the
piece has its own storyline. The first question that a person may ask is how to turn a true
v
crime event into a work of fiction? Of course when one embarks on such an undertaking,
there are certain elements one must consider such as how to go about developing the
main idea, the plot, the characters, and the theme. The main idea, plot, and timeline of
Faustian Bargains do resemble the true crime storyline, overall plot, and timeline. The
characters in Faustian Bargains were based on the people involved in the crime.
However, all of the characters in Faustian Bargains were completely and dramatically
altered not only for literary and entertainment purposes, but also for the protection of
those whose lives were the most effected by the crime and the real life event.
Literary Influences on Faustian Bargains
The major literary theme that influenced the project and the one that is featured
throughout Faustian Bargains is the character Faust from both Christopher Marlowe’s
Doctor Faust and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust. Other pieces of literature also
influenced the project. Some of the pieces that were referenced or used as minor themes
in Faustian Bargains were Bram Stoker’s, Dracula, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Troilus and
Cressida, and The Tempest, Angus Fletcher’s Doctor Faustus and the Lutheran Aesthetic,
Bernard McGinn’s Visions of the End: Apocalyptic Traditions in the Middle Ages, Otto
Heller’s Faust and Faustus: A Study of Goethe's Relation to Marlowe, Bradley P.
Nystrom and David P. Nystrom’s The History of Christianity, Jeffrey Burton Russell’s
Witchcraft in the Middle Ages, Patrick Collinson’s The Reformation: A History, Manly P.
Hall’s The Secret Teachings of All Ages, Robert Graves’s The Greek Myths and Hebrew
Myths: The Book of Genesis, Robert Macoy’s A Dictionary of Freemasonry, James R.
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Lewis’s The Astrology Encyclopedia, Barbara H. Watters’s Horary Astrology and the
Judgment of Events, William Page Andrews’s Goethe's Key to Faust: A Scientific Basis
for Religion and Morality and for a Solution of the Enigma of Evil, William L. Reese’s
Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion, Paul Foster Case’s The True and Invisible
Rosicrucian Order, Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger’s Malleus Maleficarum,
Reinhold Elbertin and Georg Hoffman’s Fixed Stars and Their Interpretation, Vivian E.
Robson’s The Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, Bernadette Brady’s Brady's
Book of Fixed Stars, June G. Bletzer’s The Encyclopedic Psychic Dictionary, Peter
Berresford Ellis’s The Druids, Llewellyn George’s The New A to Z Horoscope Maker
and Delineator, Doris Doane’s Modern Horary Astrology, E. J. Holmyard’s Alchemy,
Thomas Norton’s Ordinal of Alchemy, Marie-Louise Von Franz’s Alchemy: An
Introduction to the Symbolism and the Psychology, and The Cloud of Unknowing and
Other Works.
______________________, Committee Chair
Jeffrey Brodd, Ph.D.
______________________
Date
vii
DEDICATION
Faustian Bargains is dedicated to all of the people who participated in my
journey into the darkness and who felt the same depth of evil that I experienced of whom
there were many. First, I would like to express my deepest felt love and appreciation for
my dearest friend Susan Carlson. She is a prime example of bravery, grace, and dignity.
She has truly been an example for me to follow. I would also like to mention my dear
mother Evelyn for without her, there would be no character named Evie Jayne Taylor.
My mother always found a way to give, forgive, and love unconditionally. I would also
like to express my genuine love and adoration for my daughter Mary Jayne Elizabeth for
she has always been an absolutely guiding star in my life. She is an example of one who
is able to rise above even under the most difficult of circumstances and she is one of the
most steadfast examples of determination and courage that I have had in my life. I would
like to express my unconditional love and deepest respect for my creative and brilliant
son John Joseph. Without his loyalty, unwavering support, and thoughtful encouragement
to continually strive, I never would have returned to college to finish my degree and there
would be no Faustian Bargains. Above all, I dedicate this novel to my grandson Jacob
for without his untainted innocence and his passionate joy for life, I would not be the
content and complete human being that I am today. It is truly because of Jacob, that I
continue to have a deep and applied faith in humanity.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This thesis project marks the end of a long and eventful journey for which there
are many people that I would like to acknowledge for their support along the way. Above
all, I would like to acknowledge the tremendous encouragement and thoughtful guidance
of my thesis project advisor, Professor Jeffrey Brodd, who has been an absolutely stellar
Graduate Coordinator for the Liberal Arts Master’s Program. I am also deeply indebted
to Candace Gregory-Abbott, Professor of Medieval History, whose magic in and out of
the classroom made the study of magic and alchemy truly come alive for me. Her fruitful
ideas provided me inspiration and the motivation to continue writing Faustian Bargains.
Her excellent suggestions also helped to increase the readability of the piece. I want to
express my sincere and deeply-felt thanks to Mark T. Riley, Professor of Classics, for his
warm encouragement and for giving me his entire collection of astrological books along
with his personal research on astrology. I am also happy to acknowledge my debt to
Bradly P. Nystrom, Professor of Humanities and Religious Studies, for without his initial
enthusiasm and encouragement, this project would never have come to be. My academic
studies and my experience in delving into the dark side of human nature have made me
more of a complete human being. Writing Faustian Bargains was an immeasurable
healing experience and an immense educational undertaking. The arduous climb, both
inside and outside of the courtroom and the classroom, was truly a victory.
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PREFACE
The Genesis of the Project
Faustian Bargains is a fictionalized story based on a true crime event that took
place from 1998 through 2001. The story is of a serial bomber complete with allegations
of sex, drugs, paranoid vengeance, astrology, and the occult. The people of Fremont,
California lived through the crime and can vouch for the facts. The Alameda District
Attorney’s office successfully prosecuted the so-called Fremont Bombings. At the time,
these bombings resulted in the most highly publicized trial that Alameda County had had
in many years. The bombings, which occurred on March 29, 1998, involved six bombs at
five different locations. The Fremont police chief and a Fremont city councilman were
two of the targets, along with a wealthy Fremont family’s home. The bomb that exploded
in the $1.5 million residence was the largest domestic pipe bomb in the history of the
United States and it was an unusual bomb because it was set on an eighth-month timer.
Fortunately, the residents were out of the house at the time the bomb exploded or they
certainly would have been killed. My participation in the event was to voluntarily
decipher thousands of the defendant’s handwritten documents and his personal diary for
the prosecution and the police investigators.
The investigation proved to be difficult in that the perpetrator was a highly
intelligent chemist with an extensive background in law enforcement, astrology, alchemy,
the occult, and medieval literature. The suspect worked for the Chicago Police
Department from 1975 to 1979 as a micro analyst. He had testified in court hundreds of
times on blood, soil, and fingerprint analysis. He knew how cases were solved, as well as
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how perpetrators escaped prosecution and conviction.
The investigation into the bombings for the first year after the bombings was
extensive and yet, unsuccessful. Numerous agents from the FBI and ATF as well as
Fremont police officers believed they knew who the perpetrator was but they lacked the
evidence to prove the case in court. In fact, the U.S. Attorney’s office convened a federal
grand jury in 1998 and had called witnesses in an attempt to move the case forward. By
early spring in 1998 the U.S. Attorney’s office told the Fremont Police Department that
they doubted the case would ever be proved. However, in the early spring of 1999 the
Fremont Police asked the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office to examine the case
to see if they had any ideas that could help the investigation in an attempt to solve the
case. Media attention at that time was still intense. The attention was heightened by the
suspect’s claims that the Fremont Police Department was corrupt and that they were
harassing him by their investigation. Law enforcement was well aware that the suspect
was emotionally disturbed and they were fearful that he would strike again.
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office and local law enforcement put
forth an exhaustive effort from March 1999 until October 1999 investigating the
bombings. They developed important new evidence tending to prove the suspect was
responsible, but all of the investigators and the district attorney asked the same question:
was the circumstantial evidence enough to convict him in court? Several investigators
were openly doubtful whether they could ever prove their case. Even though the evidence
was entirely circumstantial, the Alameda District Attorney’s Office made a decision to
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charge the suspect. At that time, the media openly questioned how the case could
possibly be proven after reading the affidavit in support of arrest. Although a motive for
the suspect to have committed the bombings could be proven, there was no one piece of
evidence which clearly linked him to the bombings. There were no eyewitnesses, no
confession, and no piece of physical evidence linking him to the bombings. Further, the
suspect had an alibi which he would claim with some degree of documentation that he
was in Southern California the weekend of the bombings. The attorney and the
investigators knew their lives would be in danger if they failed to convict the defendant.
They were all aware from the investigation how deeply bitter and vindictive the suspect
had become over the course of his life. They were also aware of his extreme antagonism
toward law enforcement.
On October 5, 1999 the suspect was arrested in his home and charged with eleven
separate felony counts of premeditated and deliberate murder, arson, and possessing
explosives. He was taken to the Alameda County Jail in Santa Rita, California. On
October 14, 1999 an inmate at Santa Rita contacted the Fremont Police Department and
told them that he had information about the case. The inmate was in custody, as he had
been on numerous occasions before, for being drunk in public. He told the detective from
the Fremont Police Department that he had read about the defendant’s arrest and saw a
picture of him in the newspaper. He also said that he saw the defendant on the bus as they
were being taken in to attend their separate and completely unrelated court hearings in
Fremont, California. The inmate also told the detective a story that would eventually lead
xii
law enforcement to a storage locker in San Jose, California.
This one and only witness told the detective that in approximately the spring or
summer of 1997 that the defendant had come up to him on the street under a freeway in
Castro Valley, California where he regularly panhandled for money to buy liquor. He
reported that the defendant offered him $80.00 to open a storage locker for him and he
agreed. The two then drove to San Jose, California in a U-Haul truck where the witness
purchased the storage locker rented with money provided by the defendant. He vaguely
recalled the name and approximate location of the storage locker.
The storage locker was found. The detective in charge of the investigation then
obtained a search warrant for the locker. A search of the unit resulted in numerous bombmaking materials, books on how to build bombs, plans to kill by exploding bombs, and
hundreds of writings in the defendant’s own handwriting which revealed plans to kill
others by exploding bombs. One plan was a sophisticated attempt to blow up a large
commercial building occupied by professionals. Also recovered were hundreds of
writings relating to astrology, alchemy, and Tarot cards along with medieval occult lore
and literature on magic. The occult terminology and astrological symbols meant little to
the prosecutor or to the investigators.
The astrology documents that were found in the storage locker are what led to my
entrance into the case. The investigation involved approximately one hundred members
from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, the
Fremont Police Department, and me as the one astrologer who could interpret the
xiii
massive amounts of astrology and occult terminology that was written by the defendant
in his diary. At the time, the investigation was the most exhaustive and expensive
investigation in the history of the Fremont Police Department. The bombings received
intense coverage by both the electronic and print media in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The first time I met with the district attorney and the detective in charge of the
case was on November 11, 1999. They provided me with hundreds of pages of the
defendant’s astrological writings and I immediately saw the darkness and evil through his
words. Even though the District Attorney’s office offered to pay me for my expert
services as a medievalist and as an astrologer, I immediately declined and said I would
provide my expertise and knowledge to them as a public service. I thoroughly analyzed
the defendant’s writings and personal diaries and came to the conclusion that electional
and horary astrology, alchemy, and the Tarot were the main tools the defendant utilized
in an attempt to carry out a mass murder. The depth of evil and viciousness of the
defendant, as witnessed by me in his writings, had a profound and frightening effect on
my emotions. I was not alone in experiencing some depression by continually having to
investigate a man who possessed such evil hatred and dark plans for mass murder; the
two primary investigators felt the same horror causing their personal lives to remain
stable, but clearly affected. Though it was a daunting task that took a toll on me
physically, emotionally, and spiritually, I maintained a focused attitude because I knew
my ability to interpret the defendant’s writings accurately and honestly was critical to the
case.
xiv
The attorney and the detective told me that they believed defendant had set the
bombs in the Fremont community, with the express intent of doing as much damage as
possible – and specifically to kill a Muslim family and a woman who had spurned his
sexual obsession towards her. They investigators believed defendant had become aware
that his targets had put a bid on a new home currently being constructed in August 1997.
He apparently received the idea in a “psychic vision” to put the bombs under the home.
The police believed the defendant did not know until after he placed the bombs under the
home that his intended victims had backed out of the real estate deal in the fall of 1997.
In fact, an innocent family not connected in any way to the defendant had purchased the
home in October 1997. They were completely unaware that there were two ticking time
bombs under their new dream home.
After I performed a comprehensive examination of the defendant’s documents
and all of the astrological charts, I came to the same conclusion as the police
investigators. From the defendant’s writings, it was obvious that the defendant went into
the home sometime on Labor Day weekend in September 1997 and placed the two
bombs. The two bombs were put underneath the subflooring between the flooring and the
insulation and were held in place by a strong netting material. The bombs were hidden
from construction inspectors by the insulation. One bomb was placed directly under the
dinning room area and the other one was placed under the family room. From the
defendant’s writings, I was convinced that the bombs had been set on the partial solar
eclipse, which occurred on September 1, 1997, while the home was still under
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construction and prior to the buyers moving into the house. The defendant’s writings
mentioned that he targeted the date of March 29, 1998 at about 7:00 p.m. This, in fact,
was the time when the last large pipe bomb exploded. The investigators later found that
bombs placed under the home were set on a seven-month timer by using Cassio watch
parts. The bombs exploded on March 29, 1998 which was a Muslim holiday celebration.
In the defendant’s diary, he called this date – the Muslim holiday – his personal Festival
of Sacrifice.
In the defendant’s diary, he said,
Set so the sun is below the descendant. Therefore, Moslems are allowed to eat
after 6:25 p.m. Sunday, March 29, 1998. Set timing such that in twilight, 7:00
p.m. Pacific Standard Time. During the Festival of Sacrifice, two million men and
women journey to Mecca. My pilgrims’ gathering will remind them of the Day of
Judgment. Some will gather at the Mount of Mercy, where they will be reminded
of the Farewell Sermon. My pilgrims will travel towards the Valley of Mina
which is a small barren village.
It was my belief that the defendant intended to murder as many people as possible
during the Muslim holiday celebration. I informed the district attorney that the subject of
moon sighting is of interest to all practicing Muslims. During this time, there are rules for
fasting and for specific dress to be followed. The new moon which occurred on March
27, 1998 marked the beginning of the Muslim holiday and when Muslims began fasting.
According to tradition, Muslims are required to fast at the sight of the new moon. Shortly
xvi
after the new moon, the crescent moon appears and this first sighting of the moon’s sliver
signals when the believers can break their fast and begin to eat. At the sighting of the
crescent moon it is customary for Muslims to have a large family celebration and a
family meal. The crescent moon was in fact visible in Fremont, California on the evening
of March 29, 1998 at 6:25 p.m. This time was in fact the time shortly before the time
when the bombs first exploded at the house.
The defendant’s use of enigmatic occult symbolism and a Muslim religious
holiday in conjunction with the use of astrology to commit a large scale murder was
absolutely terrifying. I informed the attorney and detective that in my opinion it was more
then a coincidence that one of his victims was named Mina and that he often referred to
the Valley of Mina. He also called the evening of the bombing his Festival of Sacrifice.
The defendant also referred to a number of fixed stars and the position of the planets in
his diary. After studying his writings and the astrological charts, I concluded that the
defendant chose March 29, 1998 as the date to kill because it also coincided with the evil
star, Baiten Kaitos, which is the star that signifies killings and assassinations. In the diary
the defendant said, “Let the moon get past all conjunctions and keep the moon out of the
7th house.” This statement was a telling one because according to my calculations, the
moon’s last conjunction after the new moon and prior to the bombings was with Saturn at
5:32 p.m. the night before the bombings at the home that was originally to be purchased
by the Muslim family.
The defendant also wrote a cryptic message that referred to having a Venus Party
xvii
for his enemies – Law Enforcement. In fact, in the early morning hours of March 29,
1998, a bomb did explode at the home of the Fremont Chief of Police and another was
found at a Fremont city councilman’s home. There were also astrological calculations for
a bomb to explode at another new home that was partially under construction at 9:02 p.m.
The defendant intended to kill a number of police officers with this bomb. On the night of
the bombings, the defendant called the Fremont Police Department using a voice
decoding machine and he tried to lure them to this final location.
Fortunately, the police did not go to the final destination the defendant had in
mind on Sunday night because they thought the call was a prank one and because the
house just blocks away had just exploded and it was still engulfed in flames. It was a
chaotic scene at the time. However, the following day the Bomb Squad did go to the
location. They found bombs under the subflooring of the home. Unlike the first set of
bombs that exploded the night before because of a timer device, these bombs were set to
explode due to a sophisticated motion sensor device.
It was apparent to me that the defendant had a horrible grudge against the police
from reading his diary. He said,
A Venus Party will make everything come to perfection. The Law and the police
as community servants are thwarted, especially with no planets above the horizon
to help. The trail is cold. Pluto rules bombs, crooks, and criminals. I am the ruler
– Pluto – I will rise to the ascendant. The instigator is the ascendant. I am the
querent – the ruler of Scorpio. It is me verses them.
xviii
After reading this statement, I informed the detective that the defendant was using a
combination of electional and horary astrology. In horary astrology, the person asking the
question is called the querent. The planets that rule the first house are called the
significators and are the planets that rule the question. The defendant did in fact call
himself the querent and also the ruler of Scorpio. Along with the defendant’s statement
there was a hand drawn diagram that showed his enemies – the police in the 7th house
astrologically and next to the diagram he indicated that the police were his open enemies.
The fact that the defendant called himself Pluto – lord and ruler of the underworld – was
disturbing. In classical horary and electional astrology, which was practiced during and
after the medieval period, the 7th house was always the enemy of the chart and Pluto is
also referred to as being the Grim Reaper – death, buried items such as bombs, hidden
things, and all activities that must be carried out in darkness. It was also apparent from
the diary that the defendant picked March 29, 1998 by carefully analyzing his victims’
chart as well as the effects this date would have on his own astrological chart. He was
concerned with avoiding prosecution if he were ever caught.
Over the course of more than a year, I worked closely with the prosecutor and the
key detective assigned to the case. I spent nearly two thousand hours working to decipher
the defendant’s diary and teaching the attorney and the detective the underlying meanings
and key ideas the defendant used with regards to astrology, alchemy, occult lore,
medieval literature, and the Tarot. After months of preparation, the attorney made plans
to bring the case in front of a grand jury. According to the district attorney, their theory
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that the bombs were placed under the house in September 1997 before the construction of
the house was complete and before the buyer moved in was only a theory which would
have lacked proof and depended only on speculation before the recovery of the
astrological documents and my analysis. Finally, on March 23, 2000, I testified on behalf
of the prosecution in front of the grand jury in Oakland, California. The defendant was in
fact indicted and preparations for a jury trial got underway.
The media attention given to the case increased once the defendant was indicted
by the grand jury. The defendant frequently spoke to the media claiming he had
information that the Fremont Police Chief was involved in corruption with Middle
Eastern drug dealers. My involvement in the case was not known until after the transcript
of my grand jury testimony was released. The press seized on the curious idea that the
prosecution was relying on an astrologer as one of their main witnesses. Reporters wrote
in detail how my expertise was relevant to the case. From start to finish, the trial was
covered extensively by Bay Area radio, television, and newspapers. In fact, it was
common to see daily front-page coverage throughout the trial.
Before the jury trial, on two separate occasions, once on January 25, 2001 and the
other on March 2, 2001, I was required to testify at pretrial hearings. These hearings were
filed by the defense attorney under an 1101 Motion of Credibility and Character:
Evidence of Character to Prove Conduct. The defense attorney tried to first question my
professional category and how I was being qualified. The defense felt it was a twopronged test and questioned my qualifications and my expertise. The question was
xx
whether I could be qualified as an expert in the field of astrology and if I were, was it the
kind of area that is subject to expert testimony? The defense attorney argued,
As an astrologer, we believe she can not opine that the diary was prepared before
or after that date. She can simply interpret the exact meaning of the astrological
language. Logic may dictate that it was written before, but it would not be a
subject of an expert opinion. This is important because as the court knows, this is
the only piece of evidence that the People have that demonstrates directly in their
opinion that my client did these bombings. The documents have been
characterized repeatedly as a confession. In order for it to be a confession, it has
to be a plan, planned ahead of time. If it’s retrospective, then it’s not a confession.
We are allowing this woman to opine as an astrologer that it’s a confession.
On the other hand, the prosecution felt the writings were an evidentiary issue and asked
that the court allow my testimony as admissible and wanted the judge to instruct as to the
extent of its admissibility after my testimony. After the defense finished arguing, the
court asked if there was a question of authorship with the writings and the defense did not
challenge the source of the material on which I relied.
The court agreed to hear my testimony. After I was finished testifying, the court
issued its ruling. The judge said,
Ms. Fanoele has special knowledge, skill, and experience in the field of astrology.
This skill has been demonstrated by her ability to interpret and translate the
astrological symbols and principles that are generally accepted in the study of
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astrology. In this case, the witness is akin to an interpreter of a foreign language
and the jury will need assistance in understanding the symbols and principles
upon which astrology is based. The words and symbols are not quite as simple as
the defense analogy pertained, which was a quote in French. The astrology
symbols give meaning to the document. I think the testimony of this witness is
important for the jury to understand the entire meaning of the document. In some
cases, the symbols refer to what occurred in the past, in some cases it indicates a
present tense, and in some areas it indicates a future tense. In the court’s view, it’s
valid and the district attorney can elicit an opinion as to what these sentences
mean. The district attorney can elicit an opinion as to the past, present, and future,
and it is admissible.
The court’s ruling was an important win for the prosecution because it meant that I would
be allowed to testify as an expert in the field of astrology and would render the ultimate
opinion that the documents were prepared before the bombings.
The district attorney began his opening arguments on March 13, 2001 in
Hayward, California in the Superior Court of the State of California. I began my
testimony on May 7, 2001 and was one of the last witnesses to be called to testify. During
my testimony, I referred to dozens of calculations by the defendant where he used his
own birth chart and the charts of his intended victims. I told the court that he deliberately
chose a time when Mercury was retrograde in order to create confusion, to maximize
destruction, and in the hope that the evidence would either never be found or not
xxii
understood by police investigators. Pictures of me testifying in court appeared in
numerous newspapers. The coverage itself explained the nature of astrology and how the
defendant used astrology to calculate the best time to explode the bombs to best
accomplish mass murder including the murder of numerous police officers.
In perhaps the most critical part of the trial, I was asked by the defense if I
considered the defendant to be an expert astrologer. The defense felt that I would have to
answer yes. If I answered yes, this would bolster the defense theory that the defendant
had written the astrological documents before the bombings in an attempt to reconstruct
how the real bomber, not him, had perpetrated the bombings. However, I first responded
by pointing to dozens of places in the document that led me to believe the defendant’s
document was in fact a plan that was written in advance of the bombings. Second, I said
that in no way did I think the defendant was an expert astrologer because it is the history
and spirit of astrology to use astrology for good and the betterment of society rather than
evil. I said,
I would not consider a person who focuses on darkness to be an expert astrologer.
There is more to being an astrologer then being able to set up a chart by
performing correct mathematical calculations. An astrologer is supposed to be
compassionate and a person who encourages people to develop their own creative
abilities.
After I was finished speaking, the next question the defense asked was if I thought the
defendant had a dark philosophy. I quickly answered. I said,
xxiii
Yes, the defendant has a very dark philosophy. His writings reveal a great level of
obsession and animosity. The defendant wrote in his diary that Mina – his victim
– was a lying bitch and a whore for money. She would be bludgeoned into
oblivion by the evil star Baten Kaitos at 21 degrees of Aries on the weekend of
March 27, 1998. Furthermore, the defendant said that he was Mina’s Gatekeeper
and that she knowingly made a Faustian Bargain, a pact with the devil.
Before the defendant’s documents on astrology, the occult, alchemy, and the
Tarot were found, the prosecution only had circumstantial evidence to present to the
court. However, the fact that the astrological showed that the defendant planned the
bombings in advance and then followed his plan was critical to prosecuting the case. The
astrological notations provided the direct link between him and his plan and the
bombings. In closing arguments, the prosecutor said,
The defendant has an evil heart and intended to kill a number of people. I don’t
think you will ever see a more dangerous individual. He goes way beyond the
normal criminal mind. You will never see anything like this… ever.
Courtrooms are not the usual setting for discussing astrology. And with the
public’s general lack of awareness of the applications of astrology, I was concerned that I
would be placed in the extremely difficult position of defending astrology and not
testifying about the material evidence relative to the case. However, my fears were
unwarranted because on June 1, 2001 the jury reached a guilty verdict. The defendant
was sentenced to thirty-seven years in the California State Prison. After the verdict, jurors
xxiv
told the prosecutor that my testimony on the defendant’s diary was the key to their
verdict. One of the jurors said, “The testimony on astrology convicted the defendant and
they could see that his writings were a plan for the future.”
After the trial the prosecutor wrote a letter of recommendation of my behalf. In
the letter he said,
The defendant is an example of the dark side of human nature and how astrology
could be used to perpetrate evil. On the other hand, Vicki Fanoele is a credit to
how brave and unselfish human beings can be and how the great majority of
astrologers are attempting to uplift themselves and others by using astrology in a
positive manner. The jurors felt the astrology documents were the critical
evidence that helped them convict. We were able to show, through Ms. Fanoele,
that the defendant’s diary was clearly a confession to premeditated murder. Her
selfless contribution of hundreds of hours of her time without pay was truly
inspiring and brought great credit to the astrological community. It should be
noted that she continued this undertaking once she became aware of the grave and
frightening danger the defendant posed to herself and her family if he were ever to
be released. Myself, my family, numerous civilians, and law enforcement feared
for their lives if the defendant would have been successful at trial. All of us are
extremely grateful for the sacrifice made by her. We would not have prevailed if
she had not testified.
The trial had its own storyline that, at the time, the media and the public found
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fascinating. In fact in 2005, filmmakers from the Discovery Channel show titled Forensic
Factor 2 contacted me about being involved in a documentary about the Fremont Bomber
and I agreed. From an astrological perspective, the details of the trial are intriguing in the
twisted way that astrology was applied. After all, astrology is merely a tool that can be
used for good or evil. However, when one understands that all events are truly in divine
order they will realize that by using astrology in a destructive manner, the defendant was
merely laying the path to his own downfall.
Methodology for Writing the Fictionalized Version of Faustian Bargains
Like the trial, the fictionalized version of Faustian Bargains also has its own
storyline. Even though the project does include many of the facts of the trial and my
personal experience combined with my astrological expertise and specialized knowledge
that helped to convict one of the Bay Area’s most malicious and evil serial bombers, it is,
in fact, merely a work of fiction. The first question to be asked is how to turn a true crime
event into a work of fiction? Of course when one embarks on such an undertaking, such
as writing a piece of fiction, there are certain elements one must consider such as how to
go about developing the main idea, the plot, the characters, and the theme. Another
enormous undertaking when one embarks on such a project is doing the academic
research as well as including any literary influences that impacted the project.
My first goal in turning the real life crime story into a work of fiction was the
necessity to first detach myself emotionally from the real storyline. Only after I was
completely detached and unencumbered from the feeling that I needed to truthfully and
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completely report only the true facts of the case, was I able to let my creativity and
instincts further develop the main idea, the plot, the timeline, the characters, and the
major themes that are throughout the piece.
The main idea, plot, and timeline of Faustian Bargains do resemble the true crime
storyline, overall plot, and timeline. These elements were not altered to any extraordinary
degree. After all, the fictional piece includes the idea that there was a series of bombings
that took place in the San Francisco Bay Area by a highly intelligent individual who was
trained as a forensic micro analyst with an extensive background in law enforcement,
astrology, alchemy, the occult, medieval literature, and the Tarot. Furthermore, the
fictional piece also generally follows the true crime’s overall plot and timeline in a
chapter by chapter linear format. For example, like the true crime story, in the fictional
piece the defendant has developed a grudge against the police and a Muslim family. He
placed bombs at several locations and they exploded. Therefore, the police and the
prosecution seek the help of a trained astrologer to help solve the crime. After an
exhaustive investigation, the trial begins and after a three month long trial, the defendant
is found guilty and is sentenced to thirty-seven years in the California State Prison.
Even though there are a number of similarities between the true crime event and
the fictional piece, there are significant differences. One might assume the characters in
Faustian Bargains were based entirely on the real life people involved in the crime and
on those who helped solve the crime. Even though there are definite connections and
arguably, many similarities, there are distinct differences. In fact all of the characters in
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Faustian Bargains were completely and dramatically altered not only for literary and
entertainment purposes, but for the protection of those whose lives were the most affected
by the crime and the real life event.
In the first chapter titled Point of Origin, one is quickly introduced to E. J. Taylor
who is the female protagonist of Faustian Bargains. She is normally called Evie
throughout the piece. In the beginning, one quickly learns that she is unmarried, bright,
intuitive, and a college professor. However, she is flawed by merely being a human. The
character’s forte is her specialized knowledge of the medieval period and philosophical
worldviews that are alternatives to traditional Christian perspectives, such as magic,
alchemy, astrology, and witchcraft.
In the same chapter one meets the antagonist, Jack Blackburn. Similar to the real
life defendant, Jack Blackburn is an angry, disturbed individual who is seeking revenge
against a woman he was sexually obsessed with and was spurned by. The real life
defendant was disturbed and full of evil hatred, but the fictional character has a full
blown diabolical nature. The character, Jack Blackburn, is literally possessed with an evil
heart. He is perversely wicked and he has an unnatural and unbridled hatred towards his
enemies. His evil heart and diabolical wickedness are what drives his emotions and are
what causes him to go to any length to achieve his goals which are vengeance, murder,
and terrorism in the name of justice.
Literary Influences on Faustian Bargains
There are a number of different literary influences on Faustian Bargains. One
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major feature throughout Faustian Bargains is the inclusion of and the deliberate use of
my graduate research on Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faust and Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe’s Faust. From the beginning of the story until the end, Evie Taylor is a professor
at a university and she teaches The Legend of Doctor Faust, Dante’s Divine Comedy, and
Magic, Alchemy, and Astrology in the Medieval and Renaissance. In the first chapter one
learns that Professor Evie Taylor is teaching a graduate course about the enduring
legends and moral lessons of the Faust character. Throughout Faustian Bargains even
though Evie Taylor works with the police on the bombing case, she continues to teach
students through dialogue.
The main reason I chose to include the theme of Faust is because of the
connection to humanism in the Faust stories. The motif of humanism is a strong theme in
all Faustian legends. Humanism itself is to have a deep and applied faith in the potential
of human beings. The ability to reach full human potential comes by acquiring
knowledge is integral to humanism. However, the historical Faust personifies the essence
of a perverted humanist. Searching for knowledge becomes extremely perverted in the
Faust legends as well as in Faustian Bargains. One of my goals in Faustian Bargains
was to portray Jack Blackburn as a perverted humanist who is similar to all Faustian
characters. Like other Faust characters, Jack Blackburn also suffers due to his own hubris
and blind ignorance. One difference is that in both Marlowe’s Doctor Faust and Goethe’s
Faust, the character Faust is considered as the protagonist whereas Jack Blackburn is
truly the antagonist of Faustian Bargains.
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The second reason the Faustian theme was included was because it is a subject
that people can learn from and relate to. Legends about Faustian characters circulated
within the Christian community during the Middle Ages. During this time, the Catholic
Church was a force in society and it had a transfixing power over the lives of people. The
Faustian theme was one vehicle the church used for teaching certain fundamental
religious and philosophical problems. These problems have ever fascinated and
tormented mankind because they involve the relationship between man and the powers of
good and evil, mans revolt against human limitations, the thirst for knowledge beyond
mere information, and the puzzling disparity between the sublimity and the misery of
human life.
The Faustian theme is central to Faustian Bargains because Jack Blackburn fits
the notorious archetype of a Faust-like figure. Faustian figures are always adversarial and
notorious because they involve good verses evil, occult knowledge, magical abilities,
conjuring spirits, raising the dead, demonology, and making pacts with devils. Like
Faust, Jack Blackburn’s character is an adversarial one and he is a notorious rogue, a
sorcerer, a magician, and an evil doer who is to some degree in league with evil spirits.
Both Faust and Jack Blackburn dabble in the occult because they have an unbridled
passion for knowledge and power. They each turn away from ethical values and morality.
Although Faust specifically rejected Christianity and renounced Christ, then sold his soul
to his Lord Lucifer by signing a contract out of his own blood with Mephistopheles, it is
implied, if not perhaps apparent that in Faustian Bargains, Jack Blackburn also bargained
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with and sold his soul to the devil.
Like Faust, Blackburn is an intense and reckless character. He is resentful,
depressed, self-deprecating, and hateful. Both Blackburn and Faust have cynical attitudes
towards politics, society, theology, and orthodox Christianity. Both characters know
intuitively that they are sinners and ungodly. They know that God is going to judge and
condemn them to Hell. Even though Jack Blackburn knows that his soul is in jeopardy,
like Faust he challenges God and he rejects traditional ethics and morality by defiantly
planning and committing a horrendous crime against humanity due to insolent pride and a
spirit of hatred.
The subject matter of seduction, abandonment, obsessive love, and infatuation
with women are underlying elements found in Marlowe’s Doctor Faust, Goethe’s Faust,
and Faustian Bargains. In Marlowe’s play, Faust is infatuated with the legendary beauty
Helen of Troy. In Goethe’s version, Faust seduces then abandons a simple maiden known
as Gretchen. In Faustian Bargains, Jack Blackburn develops an unnatural infatuation and
obsession towards a female character named Meenaa. Blackburn tries to capture
Meenaa’s heart by offering her money and material support – a Faustian Bargain.
Although Meenaa accepts Blackburn’s financial support, she rejects his love and spurns
his sexual advances. Her rejection of him is partly what causes Blackburn to seek
revenge.
In chapter one of Faustian Bargains, Blackburn is thinking to himself about how
he plans to get revenge towards Meenaa for rejecting him both emotionally and sexually.
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In this section, he calls himself the Gatekeeper. He says,
It is the evil star! Pain, much pain is required for Meenaa before she comes to
terms. Meenaa needs enlightenment from her Goodness Gatekeeper! Just as her
natal Pluto equals her, my Pluto, the Grim Reaper, dominates! I must finish her
astrology chart first! Meenaa knowingly made a Faustian Bargain, a pact with the
Devil! She made a choice to accept emotional intimacy with her Goodness
Gatekeeper and then she reacted by giving me the shaft! The police will not be
able to understand the intricate plan that I will devise to destroy my rightful
victims because I will use my astrological expertise and my Tarot cards to receive
divine enlightenment. Meenaa, for a while you played along. You accepted your
Goodness Gatekeeper… your devil’s Faustian Bargain! You were a whore for
my money! After all that I did for you… you bitch… you had the audacity to
announce that you’re reconciling with your husband – the Afghan!
The scene that follows shows Blackburn in a kind of primal rage shuffling Tarot
Cards then deliberately setting aside the Blasted Tower, the Typhon – or the Devil card,
and the High Priestess. He says,
These cards will bring calamity, overthrow, accidents, evil, willfulness, mystery,
controversy, and fatality. These cards will give me the necessary negative energy
that I will need to give birth to my ideas. Typhon – is not just any Devil, but a
one-of-a-kind quintessential Devil! The Blasted Tower! Bombs! The tarot card
says I should set a number of bombs in and around Falls City.
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One could argue that Jack Blackburn is similar to other archetypal Faustian
characters and is the epitome of evil because he also sought knowledge for his own
selfish desires and he defied all social norms of acceptable behavior for personal gain and
supremacy. Like Faust, Jack Blackburn never repents for his sinful nature.
The amount of research and literary influences that went into my work for both
the real-life trial as well as for writing Faustian Bargains was thorough, exhaustive, and
extensive. Besides the overall Faustian theme and references to Faust in Faustian
Bargains, there are also many other literary references and works cited throughout the
piece. In chapter one Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Shakespeare’s Hamlet and The Tempest,
and Stephen King’s Tommyknockers are referenced. In chapter two, Jack Blackburn is
listening to Chopin’s Scherzo in B Minor and in the body of the chapter there are several
references made to Angus Fletcher’s Doctor Faustus and the Lutheran Aesthetic and to
Bernard McGinn’s Visions of the End: Apocalyptic Traditions in the Middle Ages. In
chapter three there is a brief mention of William Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida.
One will find a number of rich and substantive references to Otto Heller’s Faust and
Faustus: A Study of Goethe's Relation to Marlowe, Bradley P. Nystrom and David P.
Nystrom’s The History of Christianity, Jeffrey Burton Russell’s Witchcraft in the Middle
Ages, and Patrick Collinson’s The Reformation: A History throughout chapter four. If
one jumps ahead to chapter six through chapter seven they will find a wide variety of
references from Manly P. Hall’s The Secret Teachings of All Ages, Robert Graves’s The
Greek Myths and Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis, Robert Macoy’s A Dictionary of
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Freemasonry, James R. Lewis’s The Astrology Encyclopedia, Barbara H. Watters’s
Horary Astrology and the Judgment of Events, William Page Andrews’s Goethe's Key to
Faust: A Scientific Basis for Religion and Morality and for a Solution of the Enigma of
Evil, William L. Reese’s Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion, Paul Foster Case’s The
True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order, and finally from Virgil’s Aeneid. From chapter
twelve through fifteen there are references to works such as Heinrich Kramer and James
Sprenger’s Malleus Maleficarum, Reinhold Elbertin and Georg Hoffman’s Fixed Stars
and Their Interpretation, Vivian E. Robson’s The Fixed Stars and Constellations in
Astrology, Bernadette Brady’s Brady's Book of Fixed Stars, June G. Bletzer’s The
Encyclopedic Psychic Dictionary, Peter Berresford Ellis’s The Druids, Llewellyn
George’s The New A to Z Horoscope Maker and Delineator, and Doris Doane’s Modern
Horary Astrology. Chapter sixteen involves the study of alchemy as it was practiced in
the medieval period and because of that there are a number of references to E. J.
Holmyard’s Alchemy, Thomas Norton’s Ordinal of Alchemy, Marie-Louise Von Franz’s
Alchemy: An Introduction to the Symbolism and the Psychology, and The Cloud of
Unknowing and Other Works. The only reference used in chapter seventeen was to Doris
Chase Doane’s Secret Symbolism of the Tarot because the significant theme in this
chapter was the Tarot. Finally, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust is referred to in the
culminating chapter.
Of course, when writing fiction a person may need to refer to a number of
different writer’s guide books on just how to do so. I did just that. I utilized Terry
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Brooks’s The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference. This reference book provided many
facts behind fantasies and myths. It gave me important details about fantasy, legends,
folklore, and mysticism from the classic to medieval period. Gloria Kempton’s Dialogue:
Techniques and Exercises for Crafting Effective Dialogue was very helpful to my writing
dialogue. This reference book helped me to create effective dialogue in my work of
fiction. The book points out problems and pitfalls in crafting dialogue. There are a
number of exercises included in the book and they helped me write dialogue for each
character in the work. Jessica Page Morrell’s Bullies, Bastards & Bitches: How to Write
the Bad Guys of Fiction was an excellent source. This reference book helped me with
character development. There are fantastic suggestions of how to create both a strong
protagonist and antagonist in any work of fiction. There are also specific examples and
instruction on how to develop memorable characters. William Noble’s Conflict, Action,
and Suspense provided suggestions about how to add tension and dramatic elements to
the project. It also gave specific examples of how to develop characters and how to write
dialogue scenes that are believable. Gillian Roberts’s You Can Write a Mystery provided
me with examples and exercises on how to build a story from start to finish. The book
also gives specific examples on how to develop characters, plot, and style. Carolyn
Wheat’s How to Write Killer Fiction is a short writer’s reference book. Her handbook
gave me suggestions on how to create and write mystery or suspense novels as well as
short stories.
To help with writing Faustian Bargains, I also read a variety of fiction novels.
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Reading other works of fiction inspired and helped with ideas for character development,
to create believable dialogue and to describe body movements when my characters were
speaking, thinking, and moving. Works of fiction also gave me ideas on how to set up
chapters, headings, dates, and a time-line, and to form a time sequence.
For personal research and character development I also read a wide variety of
material and made lists that I could work from. I created an Action Adverbs List, A
Writer’s Action Verb List, A Description of Body Language List, Men’s Clothing
Descriptions, Interpretations of Facial Expressions, Physiological Responses to Emotion,
The Facial Expression of Fear, Anger, Anxiety, Confusion, Disbelief or Disagreement,
Forms of Humiliation, Thirteen Rules for Dealing with Sociopaths in Everyday Life,
Nonverbal Expressions, Forms of Empathy, Signs of Alertness and Attention, Antisocial
Personality Disorders, and The Differences Between Narcissism and a Sociopath.
Concluding Remarks
In conclusion, after more than thirty years of studying astrology, the occult, and
alchemy, I am still amazed at the wealth of information one can glean from delving into
the minds of the practitioners of astrology and alchemy who were alive during the
medieval and renaissance periods. These alchemical adepts were fascinated with the
creative processes that were hidden within the universe. They used complex sets of
symbols to try to first understand and then convey their own literal as well as a
metaphoric understanding of how the universe was created because they felt this was the
divine path that would eventually lead them to God. For the great majority of astrologers
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and alchemists from the past as well as the present, the goal is to learn to live in a
harmonious way in what astrologers would call the cosmological scheme of the universe
and to encourage others to also do so.
Humans have always sought to understand how and why the universe was
created, to define our position in it, and one’s personal and psychological relationship to
it. The allure for the science of alchemy for myself has always been its esoteric elements
along with the astrological symbolism; when these two studies are combined it seems to
me that one can experience spiritual progress because the state of mind is refined and
altered. Early alchemists were driven by their passion partly because they wanted to learn
how to live in a world that was uncertain and unknowable. Alchemists strove to find a
way to live in a way that would bring harmony to their world and provide a connection to
the supreme architect and divine creator – their God. These adepts were not content to
live in a world they didn’t understand. For them, learning about the elements and
experimenting with base metals was one way to understand how God created the
universe. Alchemists believed the world was one that held great possibilities and they
wanted to know all of the secrets within the universe. On the highest level, astrology
provides a key to understanding our spiritual relationship between ourselves and the
universe. The astrological language describes the workings of the human psyche and it
operates on a higher plane.
After the completion of the trial and the verdict, many people asked why I made
the decision to become involved and voluntarily use my specialized knowledge of
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astrology to translate thousands of documents written by the defendant and donate
hundreds of hours of my time to work on the case with the Fremont police. At the time,
my simple answer was that the defendant used his knowledge about astrology, alchemy,
the occult, magic, the Tarot, and medieval literature to perpetrate a malicious crime in a
dastardly and evil way because he had an anti-social predisposition and a total disregard
for society, morality, and ethics. A more complicated answer to the question was that I
was compelled to work on the trial because I felt a deep calling from within my soul and
because of my profound respect and passion for the study of astrology and alchemy as it
was used during the medieval and renaissance periods, which was for the betterment of
mankind.
One can clearly see that astrology was used to perpetrate a horrible crime in the
Fremont Bombing case. The crime was a brutal assault against an entire community.
People who were involved were terrorized and touched by the evil nature of the crime.
However, one can also see that astrology was also used in a positive way. In fact one year
after the trial, I received a letter from Governor Gray Davis and the Office of Criminal
Justice Planning that I would receive part of the reward money for my contribution and
service to the justice system. In the letter, Governor Gray Davis stated,
Thanks to your efforts, Mr. Rodney Blach was arrested and convicted for the
bombings, as well as for attempted murder. Your decision to become involved
and to donate your time made a crucial difference in this case.
After I received the reward money from the Justice Department, I decided to
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enroll at California State University, Sacramento so that I could complete my education.
For months after the trial was over, I received hundreds of requests from people in and
outside of the astrological community who wanted more details of the case. Close
personal friends and many members of the faculty at CSUS suggested that if I were to
write about my experience it would heal my tormented mind. Therefore, I decided to
write Faustian Bargains for my master’s thesis project.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Dedication ........................................................................................................ …….. vii
Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………….ix
Preface…………………………………………………………………………………x
Chapter
1. THE POINT OF ORIGIN...….……..………………………….………………...... 1
2. FESTIVAL OF SACRIFICE………..…………………………………………..... 25
3. MEETING THE GATEKEEPER …..……………….…………………………..... 43
4.
UNDER THE DEVIL’S SWAY ……...…………….…………………………..... 75
5.
MEET A STARGAZER ……..…..………..……….…………………………….. 96
6.
A FORCE OF SPIRITUAL EVIL ……...…..……...……………………………. 119
7.
SHADOWS AND DARKNESS ……...…..………..…………………………. ... 149
8.
A BREWING STORM ……...…..………………….………………………….… 183
9.
THE PENULTIMATE AFFAIR ……...…..……..….………………………….... 207
10. A SELF-IMPOSED PURGATORY ……...…..………..…...…………………… 230
11. SHIPWRECKED FORTUNES ……..…..………..……..……………………….. 260
12. A SAFE SOLUTION ……...…..………..………………………..…………….... 269
13. A CINCO DE MAYO SURPRISE ……..…..………..……………….………….. 309
14. THE STAR WITNESS ……..…..………..……………………………………..... 322
15. THE EVIL STAR BATEN KAITOS ……..….…….…………………………..... 354
16. THE BLASTED TOWER ……..…..………..……………...…………………… 379
17. THE TEN OF SWORDS …….…..………..…………………………………...... 405
xl
18. THE CULMINATION …….…..………..…………………………...…………. 423
Endnotes……………………………………………………………………………… 438
Bibliography ………………………………………………..……………….……...... 448
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