Iran in Transition
Zip Dobyns
The Imam has gone to meet his “reward.” I really wonder what kind of experience awaits a man with so much blood on his hands? If the Spiritualists are right, he may join other souls of “like mind” and continue to think he is doing God’s will. Theoretically, on the next level, we live within the world of our beliefs even more than we do here, attracted to others who share our beliefs. But eventually, we have to return here to face the consequences of our character.
June 3-4, 1989 was an appalling weekend! The New Moon in Gemini formed a yod (double quincunx) to Pluto in Scorpio and Saturn-Neptune in Capricorn. Aspects were very close, with Vesta conjunct Saturn-Neptune but not as close. Within a few hours, we had Khomeini’s death, the massacre of the Chinese students and civilians in Beijing, and the gas pipe explosion that killed about 500 Russians in trains passing each other near Ufa. The riots in Uzbekistan continue to kill or injure hundreds. Mars was less connected to the patterns than might have been expected, but heliocentric students will have noted that H Mars was square H Pluto and H Ceres with one degree orbs.
Both of the charts which I had for current Iran had appropriate aspects. In the chart for Khomeini’s return to Iran in 1979, P Ascendant was just short of the one degree orb quincunx to P Saturn, and its sextile to natal Sun which remained in the quincunx to Saturn provided a case of the overlapping orbs which made the yod functional. P Sun was conjunct Ceres, quincunx the Descendant and octile natal Moon and P Venus with the latter conjunct P MC. P East Point squared P Venus and was still conjunct natal Moon. P Moon had just reached the opposition to P Mars after entering the sixth house. P Mercury was conjunct natal Vesta. Oppositions and especially quincunxes are typically associated with separations. Other aspects showed conflict involving power or power figures. Pallas, our political asteroid, opposed Jupiter and was octile Neptune and the south lunar node. P Uranus in Scorpio in the eighth house had held a trioctile to natal Moon from the beginning, and P Venus and P MC were octile to Uranus. Pluto had held a quincunx to the south lunar node from the beginning of the chart.
The asteroids were also dramatic. P Atlantis was conjunct the Ascendant for several years in the earlier part of Khomeini’s reign, pointing to the abuse of power. The danger of overreach was clear in the natal chart with Icarus conjunct Mercury, and P Chiron held a long square to both Mercury and Icarus suggesting questionable judgment. I just never get over my sense of astonishment when I find Herbert conjunct to the minute of longitude the MC of a country that is going to be dealing with a U.S. Vice President and later President named George Herbert Walker Bush. Anubis, an Egyptian god associated with death, was also on the MC within 8 minutes of longitude. To further emphasize the issues, Washingtonia was on the mean south node of the Moon while America was on the West Point. In recent years, P Washingtonia has been progressing over the Ascendant while P America has been progressing over the Descendant! Natal and P George were quincunx the East Point while Arabia was quincunx the Antivertex. Relations between Iran and the Arab countries have been tense, to put it mildly, except for their one ally, Syria. In the ancient world, Chaldaea covered much of Iraq and a small part of modern Iran. The asteroid Chaldaea was conjunct the Sun in this chart. The horoscope may no longer be relevant, now that Khomeini is gone, but it is a graphic demonstration of how astrology works, including the new asteroids.
The other chart for current Iran is drawn for midnight between April 1 and 2, 1979 when their new Constitution went into effect. Presumably, the chart will remain useful as long as the country retains this Constitution. This chart also had very appropriate aspects for Khomeini’s departure and the consequent changes in the country. P Ascendant formed a yod to natal Moon on the sixth cusp and natal Jupiter in the eighth house, and just over two months after Khomeini’s death, P Ascendant will move into Capricorn. P MC was conjunct the tenth house Pluto, fitting the possibility of the death of a power figure. It was also opposite natal Washington. Pluto had remained in that aspect from the beginning of the chart. P Moon opposed P Mars at the time of Khomeini’s death, fitting the emotional loss for the people. P Sun was also quincunx Uranus in Scorpio, but trine Neptune-Ascendant. The long-term P Neptune in Sagittarius conjunct the Ascendant fit the identity of the country as a religious state. P Venus was conjunct P south node and natal Ceres in Pisces, pointing to the possibility of health issues, escapism or martyrdom if the south node lesson is not learned. Pisces in the third house has to integrate blind faith with the ability to see the world around us as it is and to take it lightly. The chart shows the potential religious zeal with the Pisces stellium including Vesta conjunct Mars and Mercury.
Other asteroid aspects included a long-term Saturn conjunct Medea who killed her children. Khomeini is responsible for the death of thousands of young teen-agers who were sent into the war against Iraq almost totally untrained. In recent months, P East Point has been conjunct natal Herbert and it will continue into the conjunction with P Herbert. We can assume that George (which stays on Pluto) Herbert (on the East Point) will continue to have to deal with Iran. Future aspects include the P Moon entering the tenth house in October 1989, after which it will oppose the natal Sun and then progressed Juno. The patterns would fit additional changes in power figures or in their handling of power. P Sun remains quincunx Uranus for almost another year. It is also conjunct P Asia (Iran has supposedly bought missiles from China) and it will move into conjunctions to P Winchester (often associated with rifles), then P Gaea (the earth), and then P Washingtonia. P Mercury is moving into a conjunction with P Vesta which can be effective work or health challenges or ruthless tunnel vision. Eventually, P Mars will cross the IC which could indicate a time of major challenges for the people and the land. Let us hope that the more rational and pragmatic leaders are able to encourage a return to more sanity.
I had hoped to finally have a horoscope for Khomeini when a birth date was published in our L.A. newspaper after his death. Even though he is gone, his life impacted and still influences so many people, I figured it would be worth trying to rectify it. But his data remains questionable. The L. A. Herald Examiner gave a birth date of September 23, 1902 in Khomeyn, Iran. The Los Angeles Times mentioned only the year of 1902 and said that he was 86 years old. An article in “Asia and Africa Today” listed Khomeini’s birth date as September 24, 1902. We might suspect that he was born late on the 23rd and it was reported to relatives or neighbors the next day. But then Newsweek and U. S. News both claim that Khomeini was 89 years old when he died!?! So he remains dirty data, which has not stopped me from making a very brief gesture at rectifying a date of September 23, 1902. I first found a great chart that fit beautifully for a 10 P.M. birth. Unfortunately, two sources say that his father died when he was five months old, and we need an earlier time to give proper P Moon aspects for such a dramatic event. A late afternoon birth time would put P Moon quincunx Saturn for the early death of the father. An early afternoon birth time would put P Moon conjunct Pluto for the father’s death. At the moment, I am toying with a time of 1:15 P.M. LMT. This time puts P Neptune in a lifetime opposition to the Ascendant to match the constitution of Iran with Neptune conjunct the Ascendant. P south node would have been conjunct the IC for some years, and P East Point would be conjunct both this year. P Ascendant would now be quincunx both natal Sun and P Mars which has been on the Sun for over a year. At the same time, P Sun is trioctile natal Mars in Leo, so the potential for heart problems was very strong. Using this time, P Moon in Leo in the eighth house is in a grand trine to IC, P south node, P East Point, and P Uranus, as well as quincunx natal Saturn. If Khomeini was born in the evening, P Moon would quincunx P Saturn.
The chart fits Khomeini’s life and death fairly well, but that is no guarantee that it is right. The rising Capricorn and Vesta-East Point-Saturn conjunction in Capricorn match the chart of Jim Jones. Even the degrees are almost identical, including the eighth house Mars in Leo, but Jones had his Sun in Taurus where Khomeini’s is 29 Virgo if this date is correct. Khomeini’s gaunt, glowering appearance certainly fits everyone’s nightmare of a Capricorn Ascendant or a first house Saturn, while Neptune on an angle and Mars in Leo fit the charismatic power that he wielded, at least over his own religious followers. This birth time also put P Jupiter on the Antivertex for some years which would be appropriate for both personal religious commitment and the ability to influence many people with his own beliefs. The air focus is strong enough to indicate a prolific speaker or writer, which he was, but the heavy Virgo-Capricorn emphasis points to the overly serious, and potentially constricted and traditional focus of his life. I wish that I had more time to work on the chart, but am going to include it as a speculative guess. If any readers discover more reliable data for Khomeini, please let me know.
We would have one more possible chart for Iran based on Khomeini’s time of death, if we could get the exact time. It could be called “Iran after Khomeini.” All sources which I have seen have said that he died on Saturday evening, June 3, 1989. The most precise statement was quoted in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner on June 10. The source is given as Tehran’s Resalat newspaper. “As the night moved closer, the imam slid further into silence and finally at about midnight, the long spirit of God joined celestial heaven.” One of Khomeini’s daughters has been quoted as confirming that her father had stomach cancer but that the primary cause of death was his heart. He had five heart attacks in the ten days following his surgery on May 23, 1989.
The choice of midnight for Khomeini’s death may well be poetic license. However, I did calculate a chart for a minute before midnight. It shows us the intense configuration (described at the beginning of this article) which was present on the wild night. In the chart, the New Moon is on the IC in a yod to Pluto-Saturn-Neptune-Vesta. The nodes are on the Ascendant-Descendant with Mercury square them. We can watch the chart to see whether it fits the future developments in Iran, but I would put the most reliance on the chart of the Constitution.