Sharon Inauguration
by Zip Dobyns
I planned to write about the chart for Sharon's inauguration, but delayed because our web master was going on a trip at the time it happened. The events in Israel that followed his inauguration have confirmed my initial interpretation of the chart, and they have been so dire, that I really hate to write about them. Since playing the fabled (head in the sand) ostrich is not a solution, we will bite the bullet and look at the chart. Sharon's scheduled time for the inauguration was 10:30 PM on March 7, 2001 in Jerusalem. According to astrologers watching the ceremony, he took the oath of office just 5 minutes later at 22:35 (20:35 UT).
It is obvious that no competent astrologers were consulted when the time was chosen, but for those who accept the reality of karma, that actions produce consequences, the horoscope shows the consequences of the situation in Israel. I have previously written about the chart of the country and the personal chart of Sharon. The chart of latter's inauguration is an outgrowth of the tension and turmoil that preceded it. All three charts feature the fixed dilemma, with its potential for intractable, stalemated power struggles. As is typical with a series of related charts, many of the same degrees are occupied in all three. This has to be the case for transits to be meaningful in all the charts of the series.
In the inauguration chart, the scheduled Ascendant was 19 Scorpio and the reported oath of office Ascendant was 20 Scorpio. They are part of a grand cross in fixed signs with Mercury in 20 Aquarius, Uranus in 22 Aquarius, Moon in 21 Leo, Saturn in 25 Taurus, and the MC in 26 or 27 Leo, depending on which of the times is used. Since it will be tedious to keep specifying the small shift in the angles, I will mostly focus on the 10:30 PM chart, but indicate some of the important progressed aspects which last longer if we consider both times meaningful.
Among the most important of these is the Moon. N Moon is square the oath time Ascendant, so that P Ascendant holds a square to N Moon for over a year. The P Ascendant at the scheduled time will start a square to N Moon before the previous aspect ends. The fixed dilemma is also maintained by P Mercury squaring N Moon and P Moon opposing Uranus, then squaring Saturn, and then crossing the two MCs during the summer of 2001. To spell out the trouble in spades, P Saturn holds a square to the scheduled MC for years, and moves into the square to the oath MC to extend the time of the aspect. Saturn and the MC carry the same meaning, hammering in the message of karmic consequences of how the 'law' has been handled: natural and cultural laws, the actions of authority figures, and the internalized conscience when applicable.
The asteroid Sharon is in 26 Taurus 36 along with Herberta in 26 Taurus 18. Both conjunct Saturn and square the scheduled MC, with Sharon also square the oath MC. P Saturn will hold the conjunction with Sharon for years!!! Herbert is one of former president Bush's middle names, and his son, the current U.S. president, looks to him for advice. Sharon and Saturn also square three asteroids on the IC. Bellerophon, like Icarus and Phaethon, overreached and crashed to his death. Chaldaea was an ancient empire in the area of current Iraq and Syria. Zeus was the Greek name for Jupiter, king of the gods of Mount Olympus.
The asteroid Israel in 6 Cancer 36 in the 8th house is octile the Moon. Could the message be any clearer? Sharon is a disaster for Israel, for both the country and its people.
The asteroid Israel connects a cardinal sign to the fixed sign cross. The chart also includes a T-square in cardinal signs with Juno in Aries square Ceres, the Antivertex axis, and the nodal axis. All except the lunar nodes are direct in motion, moving into octiles and trioctiles to Saturn, the MC axis, and the asteroids in 25 to 26 degrees of the fixed signs. The P nodes retrograde to join in the network of aspects, with the south node already in aspect, within one degree of the oath Antivertex. The cardinal dilemma shares the same issue as the fixed dilemma, the need to balance personal rights and desires with the rights and desires of others. The cardinals tend to keep changing the situation while the fixed sides of life tend to get into stalemates that are periodically interrupted by explosions when the irresistible forces and the immovable objects generate enough power.
Israel is connected to a cluster of other asteroids with overlapping orbs in 4 to 6 degrees of Cancer and Libra. These include Tunguska, Russia, Nemesis, Aletheia, and George in Cancer and Nobel, America, and Attila in Libra. Hephaistos in 7 Aries is beyond my one-degree orb used with the 'new' asteroids, but the Cancer asteroids will move into squares to it in time. Where the names are not obvious, for new readers who are not familiar with the meanings of these asteroids, Nemesis was the Greek god who punished you if you flouted Themis, divine law. Tunguska is an area in Siberia which was decimated by an explosion and fire that was theoretically caused by an asteroid or comet: destruction from the sky. Human bombs and missiles do the same, though not usually over as wide an area. Aletheia was the Greek goddess of truth. Nobel invented dynamite. Attila was a destructive warrior-chief who came out of Asia. Hephaistos made weapons for the Greek gods on Mount Olympus.
Adding to the Cardinal sign conflict patterns, Themis and Phaethon were in 17 Aries conjunct Venus, and Libitina in 13 Capricorn was on the lunar true south node. As indicated previously, Phaethon overreached and crashed to his death. Libitina was the Roman goddess of death. Three asteroids in 5 to 7 degrees of Aquarius were quincunx Israel and square a pair of asteroids in 4 to 5 Taurus. In Aquarius were Astraea (justice), Busch (Bush), and Tantalus (inability to attain one's goals). Neptune was within one degree of Tantalus and conjunct Icarus within one degree, so they were connected to the aspect network. In Taurus were Rubicon (point of no turning back) and Moskva (Moscow). The quincunx aspect of 150 degrees tends to produce separations. It indicates discomfort and feeling the need to change the situation to be more effective. We may change minor details, or make radical changes to move in a new direction.
We have not yet mentioned the mutable sides of life, but they are obviously also very important! The Sun for Sharon's inauguration forms a mutable sign grand cross if we include the Arabic Part of Death and the midpoints of Saturn and the lunar nodes. The two midpoints are in 18 Pisces and 19 Gemini, using the mean or average node for one and the true node for the other. Both ways of calculating the lunar nodes seem to 'work,' so I look at both. The midpoints are keys to major life lessons. The scheduled time puts the Part of Death in 17 Virgo, while the oath time puts it in 19 Virgo. Deaths were on-going before Sharon's inauguration, but they have increased afterwards, and this chart suggests they could continue for another 3 or more years. The mutable sides of life are all mental. Gemini and Virgo try to understand and cope with the world around us. Sagittarius and Pisces seek the Absolute: truth with a capital 'T' and mystical oneness with the Whole. The mutables are, thus, crucial for an effective use of intelligence and for ethics and morals that are based on our beliefs about the nature of the cosmos. The Saturn/north node midpoint is also conjunct the 8th house cusp, one of the keys to endings, including death, while the Saturn/south node midpoint and the oath Part of Death square it. The P Sun was opposite the scheduled Part of Death and will move into an exact T-square to the other factors. One wonders how long Sharon will last to perpetuate this disaster.
Mars, Pallas, and Pluto are clustered in mid-Sagittarius square the Sun. I use a wider orb for the traditional factors, so Pluto's aspect to the Sun completes a grand cross in the mutable signs. The asteroid Sumeria, named for a region in the ancient near east that could include Iraq, Syria, and possibly part of Iran, is also in 15 Sagittarius. Transiting Mars stations on Pluto and Sumeria for over a month in the summer of 2001, and it sets off the whole cross as it retrogrades and returns over the range of 17 to 19 degrees of the mutable signs. Since most astrologers allow a 3-degree orb for transits, T Mars can be interpreted as activating the mutable sign grand cross through the whole summer. Can anyone change this tragedy that seems to be scheduled for this summer of 2001? Remember, where Saturn is involved in current patterns, we are being given information on the consequences of past actions. Where Mars is involved, we feel we should have the right and the power to do what we want. Pallas seems to be a Libra asteroid, signifying the need for compromise, fair play, and social justice. Pluto, with its Scorpio nature, also calls for learning to share power, possessions, and pleasure with others. Actions follow beliefs, and consequences follow actions. Pain is the warning signal of life that it has overreached and needs to turn back.
Additional transits include Uranus stationing and turning retrograde in 24 Aquarius, to set off the fixed sign T-square of MC axis, P Moon, Saturn, and Sharon through the summer, Neptune going back and forth over its natal position with its quincunx to asteroid Israel, and Pluto stationing on Pallas. Last, but definitely NOT the least of the outer planets, Saturn reaches an opposition to the inauguration Mars in late June, sets off the mutable cross continuously until it stations on Pallas in September, then retrogrades into its station in February 2002 in 8 Sagittarius when it will still be within orb of Mars, and until July 2002, it will continue to activate the Sun, Saturn/node midpoints, and the Parts of Death. Major compromises are the only way to resolve the cardinal and fixed dilemmas. The inclusion of dogmatic religions in the mix, that are possible with the mutable dilemma, can sometimes make compromise almost impossible. We will go on praying that love will someday win over fear, hatred, and desperation.
PS. Among the many news reports and columns in recent weeks, one of the most unsettling was written by Georgie Anne Geyer in the May 21, 2001 issue of the San Diego Union-Tribune. She described the fear that Saddam Hussein, the ruthless dictator of Iraq who is sending money to the Palestinians each time one of them is killed by Israel, will invade Jordan and take over part or all of it with the help of the Palestinians who make up around half of the population of Jordan. Jordan has been a buffer next to Israel, trying to maintain peace in the near east. The rest of Geyer's scenario includes Sharon taking over the other part of Jordan, or pushing the Palestinians in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, into moving into Jordan and Lebanon. That would leave Israel flanked by three hostile Arab states; Syria, Lebanon, and former Jordan under the control of Saddam. Sharon reportedly still believes that all of Palestine was given to the Jews by God.
The next step in this series of articles on the near east may need to look at the astrology of Iraq, Syria, and Jordan. We do not have firm horoscopes for these countries as we do for the independence of Israel when the British mandate ended, but we can work with what is available.
George W Bush could be reelected in 2004, in spite of the defection of Jim Jeffords who has just announced his intention to leave the Republican Party, giving the Democrats in the Senate the majority position. Dubya's chart also looks like a possible military engagement late in his term, as a way to get the U.S. to keep him in office. Americans love army heroes, except for the aberration of Viet Nam. I have the birth date and place of Jeffords, so I may do a speculative chart for him. For astrologers who like to explore rectification techniques, try 6:21 AM on May 11, 1934 in Rutland, VT. Also, now that we have a birth certificate time for Dick Cheney, we need to take another look at his chart. Our mundane articles will be continued.
Zip Dobyns
Copyright © 2001 Los Angeles Community Church of Religious Science,
Inc.
Back to Current Articles
