Tragedy in Yugoslavia
Zip Dobyns
I wrote much of this article in the last week of March for the ISAR journal that is now called The International Astrologer (TIA) instead of Kosmos. The Pisces 1999 issue of The Mutable Dilemma was at the printer when the bombing started, and we were only able to include a couple of pages of text plus charts. I think there are few subscribers to The Mutable Dilemma who also belong to ISAR, so rather than try to write another long article about the ongoing crisis, I decided to expand on the TIA article for our Gemini Mutable Dilemma. I will be adding a discussion of several U.S. charts which have dramatic asteroids that fit the current struggle, as well as the chart for the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.
After two months of NATO bombs, the world continues to watch in horror the destruction of Kosovo by a mixture of Serb genocide and NATO bombs. The Aries 1999 cardinal ingress in Belgrade showed the danger, but we also have an unusual number of relevant auxiliary charts. From Campion’s Book of World Horoscopes, we have a chart for the founding of NATO, one for Serbia’s original freedom declared by the countries of western Europe in Berlin in 1878, and one for the relatively new legal establishment of Serbia and Montenegro in 1992 after Milosevic was forced to give up trying to keep parts of Croatia and Bosnia to form a “greater Serbia”. We also have the charts for the initial NATO bombs in the air campaign, and even a tentative chart for Milosevic, the Serbian version of Saddam Hussein, who is turning Serbia into a European version of Iraq. With this much data, a book could be written, so an article can only hit a few key points.
First, we need the data, for those who want to calculate the charts for themselves and work with them. Though my emphasis is on the relatively new asteroids, astrology also offers planetary nodes, midpoints, Arabic Parts, many other systems for future projections in addition to the secondary progressions which I will mention, heliocentric positions, fixed stars, etc., that can be tested by innovative students. Astrology is as limitless as the sky.
Serbia freed itself from the Eastern Roman Empire in 1180, only to be conquered by Turkey in 1459. It regained independence in stages, with full independence recognized by the Treaty of Berlin signed at 2:30 P.M. LMT on July 13, 1878. This chart seems to “work” well for the current crisis, including the local angles in Belgrade. Yugoslavia was created by combining several regions after World War I, and transformed from a kingdom to a republic in 1945. It started to disintegrate in 1991. After several of its member republics won their freedom, a very shrunken Yugoslavia, a combination of Serbia and Montenegro, was proclaimed on April 27, 1992 at 2:04 P.M. zone -1 DT in Belgrade. UT is two hours earlier. This chart also has dramatic progressions for the beginning of the NATO bombing campaign. The chart I am using for NATO, which also seems to “work” well, is set for 11:42 A.M. EDT on August 24, 1949 in Washington, DC.
Yugoslavia had its beginning after World War I by adding parts of the defeated Austrian Empire to Serbia and Montenegro. Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Macedonia, ended up as part of the new kingdom, with the royal family of Serbia as leaders. Tito rose to power by fighting the Germans and Italians, as well as a Balkan group called the Chetniks, during World War II. He abolished the monarchy, proclaimed a republic, and became Premier in 1945. He continued to hold power in the region to his death in 1980. Tito was a communist, trained in Russia, but became a dictator who was able to resist Soviet control. Milosevic was also theoretically a communist, though his wife, a university professor with a Ph.D., is much more doctrinaire. Thanks partly to her family connections, Milosevic rose through the Party ranks, but once in power, he discovered that appeals to Serbian nationalism were more effective in maintaining his power. He encouraged the Serbian myth of Kosovo being their “sacred homeland,” even though few Serbs were living there. Turkey had defeated them in Kosovo, and their honor required them to retain control in the region. Tito had given considerable autonomy to the Kosovars and they overreached, making Albanian the required language for government service and monopolizing the official positions. Milosevic took away the autonomy in 1989, and put Serbs back in control in Kosovo, even though they were only about 10% of the population.
The most serious miscalculation of the western nations which make up NATO is probably their failure to realize the intensity of the Serb attachment to Kosovo. Milosevic used this passion to gain power when he promised that Serbia would never relinquish control of the region, but then he had to make good on his promise by defying NATO. He may also have thought he could bluff NATO, that after threatening for a year, they would not follow through, while NATO ended up feeling that they would lose all credibility if they did not follow through.
Following their loss of autonomy in 1989, the Kosovars initially hoped to find a political solution, but by 1997, a military group known as the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) began guerilla warfare against the Serbs. The KLA were totally outclassed militarily, of course. The major successful industry of Serbia had been the manufacture and sale of weapons, and they had a large, powerful, trained army. Kosovo was almost totally agricultural.
The Kosovars have their own myth about the region and their roots. They say they are Illyrians and modern Kosovo was their original homeland. Historians support their belief that they were in the region before the Serbs started moving in around the 6th century. The two ethnic/language groups lived peaceably in the region until it was conquered by the Turks who were Moslems. Many Illyrians converted to Islam, while the Serbians clung to Eastern Orthodox Catholicism and considered the converts heretics and traitors. Over the years, the Serbs have continued to leave the region while the Kosovars have continued to have large families, but the Serb myth of their sacred homeland propels them into playing “dog in the manger.”
Asteroid aficionados will be pleased to find that we have asteroids named Illyria, Srbija (Serbia), Beograd (Belgrade), Yugoslavia, and Slavia for the Slavs, which includes the Russians. Of course, we also have the frequently cited war goddesses, Bellona and Belisana, the death goddesses, Hel, Hela, Libitina, and Atropos, the overreach ones who crashed, Icarus, Phaethon, and I recently added Bellerophon to that list, Tyr, the Norse Mars, and many more relevant ones including those named for geographic regions which are involved in the struggle.
The data for Milosevic came from a friend born in Germany, and the Germans got it from Serbia. However, it is definitely “dirty data.” A different birth date and birth time are reported, with the birth place the only certain data. The data I am using is August 20, 1941 in Pozarevac, Serbia, 44 N 37, 21 E 11. The reported time of 10 P.M. zone -1 DT (two hours after UT) gives him 5 Taurus rising with five planets in Leo, including the Moon on Pluto and P Pluto holding a lifetime square to his Ascendant. Both his described character (power-driven, secretive, and somewhat paranoid), and his early life (both parents and an uncle committed suicide) do fit this chart. The Saturn-Uranus conjunction in the first house is also appropriate for an identification with power, as is Mars in Aries, tightly conjunct the East Point (an auxiliary Ascendant), in the 12th house. He seems totally indifferent to his responsibility for the deaths and displacements of well over a million Croatians, Bosnians, Serbs, and now Kosovars, as long as he maintains his personal power.
Having stirred the Serbs by his demagoguery to be willing to die to keep control over Kosovo, he seems to be gambling that, like Saddam Hussein, he can endure air attacks which, at least short-term, are keeping the Serbians loyal to their nation. He has been told by NATO that they are not willing to send in ground troops, and he hopes that the NATO alliance will eventually splinter. He has assumed total control of Serbia with war powers, so Serbians only have access to government press information. By killing and/or driving out the Kosovars during two months of NATO bombing, he can confront NATO with a region devoid of residents to demand autonomy. The refugees allowed to escape (or driven out) into neighboring countries are being robbed of all documents, as well as their money, so they will not be able to claim any rights to property or citizenship. To counter this attempt to destroy even the identity of the Kosovars, a group in the U.S. has collected phone books from Kosovo to be able to establish prior residence in the region.
Russia is protesting the bombing and looking for a solution, but Primakov’s report that Milosevic will withdraw “some” forces and let the refugees return if the bombing stops, is a no-starter. There is no way the refugees could return unless most of the Serb army was gone and NATO troops were present to guarantee security – the treaty Milosevic rejected. The refugee reports of rape, torture, and mass murder continue to accumulate, repeating the barbaric attacks against unarmed civilians which the Serbs (and the Croats) carried out against the Moslems in Bosnia. One of the Serbs’ claims on Kosovo is the presence of several ancient Christian monasteries in the region, but the Serbs and Croats systematically destroyed every Islamic mosque in the areas they captured in Bosnia. Rumors suggest that Milosevic freed the criminals from Serbian jails on the condition that they would join the army fighting the Kosovars, but whether the violence is being carried out by the official army, by paramilitary forces, and/or by released criminals, we have been watching a modern holocaust.
If we have his accurate birth data, Milosevic has the expected collection of relevant asteroids, including Nemesis (who “got” you if you flouted divine justice) on the IC with Yugoslavia just over a degree past it. He has truly been a nemesis for his country! Karl Marx and Wisdom are on the Ascendant. Remember, astrology shows issues which often point to a need for the principle. Milosevic is crafty, but very lacking in wisdom. The south node of Pluto is on his MC, repeating the lesson shown by his Pluto square his Ascendant. He needs to learn to share power and to know when to stop. The south node of Saturn is just past the Pluto node and opposite asteroid Yugoslavia. Icarus is on the Descendant. Karma is on Jupiter, the key to beliefs, ethics, etc. His whole nation is sharing the karmic consequences of their beliefs. Atropos is on the south lunar node, Srbija opposes Themis (divine justice) which is on Washingtonia with both in Leo quincunx the MC, and the south node of Mars squares the MC. Phaethon in 22 Gemini conjuncts America and Dresden, and they square the lunar nodes. Beograd in 24 Cancer is octile the Part of Death in 9 Virgo, and quincunx Illyria in 24 Aquarius. United Nations on Saturn squares Mercury, and Williams, for Bill Clinton, is on the Moon!
Many more asteroids could be mentioned, but with so many charts, this is a “hit and run” article. Looking very briefly at his progressions, Milosevic’s P Moon was just about to end a two months conjunction with his Part of Death when the bombs started. Grand fire trines can warn of over-confidence, and Milosevic had P Mars in Aries on his Antivertex (auxiliary Ascendant) trine P Beograd, P Fama, and P Hela in 14 to 15 Leo, trine Winchester (guns), Slavia, P Pallas and P Icarus in 14 to 15 Sagittarius. The mixture fits both success in his ground war which has been mostly fought against unarmed civilians, but also destruction from the air with a variety of asteroids connected to the fire trine with conflict aspects. Milosevic’s P MC stands out in 14 Pisces square the Sagittarius group, quincunx the Leo group, and also quincunx P Libitina in 13 Libra. Milosevic’s local angles in Belgrade are less than a degree earlier, and they add to the powerful network of aspects.
I have recently added Erigone to my default list, an asteroid named for women in two myths, both of whom committed suicide. N Erigone in 29 Virgo is octile the cluster in 14 to 15 Leo, which includes Vaticana in addition to Beograd, Fama, and Hela. P Srbija in 13 Aquarius is in orb of an opposition to P Chiron (like Jupiter, signifying beliefs, ethics, and judgment), so overlapping orbs bring it into the network. In time, P Srbija will move into a trioctile to Erigone. P Erigone in 26 Libra is quincunx P Saturn and P Antivertex. The P Sun will reach P Erigone in around 3 years while the asteroid is still quincunx N Saturn. Milosevic is leading his country into suicide. The question remains open whether he will finally follow his parents and Hitler by killing himself, or whether his country will eventually realize what is happening and he will end like Mussolini in Italy and the Ceausescus in Rumania.
One of the reasons that I think Milosevic’s birth time is accurate is the positions of his Quotidian angles at the start of the bombing. Q MC in 21 Libra opposed Mars and the East Point. Q Ascendant in 24 Sagittarius was on Ceres and P Winchester (guns), square the mean lunar nodes, and opposite America and Dresden (military attacks on civilians). Q East Point was on the MC opposite Nemesis. Local Q Antivertex in 6 Leo was still in orb of an opposition to P Pluto while the birthplace Q Antivertex opposed Chiron.
Next to the Quotidian angles, the P Moon is the fastest moving factor in secondary progressions. It looks like a grim summer for Milosevic, with P Moon crossing into the 6th house while conjunct P Moskva (Moscow), opposite his P MC, quincunx P Mars, the Antivertex, and P Srbija for a yod, octile P Vesta on one side and Hela on the other side, trioctile the P 8th house cusp, and square the collection of asteroids in mid-Sagittarius. Whatever is going on, the Russians will certainly be involved with Milosevic’s P Moon on P Moskva and trine Russia in 13 Capricorn. They may eventually broker a partition of Kosovo, leaving the Serbs in control of their monasteries and letting some of the refugees return to some of their scorched earth with NATO troops to protect them, as originally formulated in the Rambouillet agreement rejected by Milosevic. A diplomatic settlement became more complicated when, on May 27, 1999, Milosevic and four of his top officials were indicted for war crimes against humanity. The action was taken by the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal in Amsterdam, Netherlands. If they are actually brought to trial, one of the chief witnesses will be a British officer who was told by a highly placed officer in the Serbian army that he had direct orders from Milosevic to destroy the KLA and to drive out all the Albanians from Kosovo.
Turning to the chart for modern Yugoslavia, composed of Serbia, Montenegro, and the two so-called autonomous regions, Kosovo and Vojvodina, the secondary progressions for the first NATO bomb are dramatic! P Moon had just reached P MC where it formed a T-square to P Jupiter on the N Ascendant and N Moon on the Descendant. P Guernica was on the MC in 29 Taurus and P south node of Mars was on the IC. P Ascendant was on P Vesta (with its potential for ruthlessness) opposite Wright, the inventor of aircraft, and quincunx Mercury in the 8th house. P Vesta squared P Yugoslavia in 11 Gemini. P Sun formed a grand cross in 14 degrees of the fixed signs, opposite Winchester (guns), conjunct P Hephaistos (weapons), and square Hybris (hubris) in Aquarius and P Anubis (an underworld god), which was on P Antivertex in Leo. The latter two were also quincunx Atlantis and P Wright in Pisces.
P Erigone (suicide) in 12 Leo was quincunx Urania in Capricorn and trioctile P Bellerophon (who overreached and crashed) in 27 Pisces on the 8th house cusp along with P Brita (England) and P Dresden. P Mars was just past them, conjunct P Williams at the end of Pisces, with both forming octiles or trioctiles to the fixed cross. They were also quincunx Beograd (Belgrade) in 29 Libra. P Beograd had retrograded to be quincunx P Bellerophon, P Brita, and P Dresden and to square Tyr, the Norse war god in Cancer. Four P asteroids with overlapping orbs from 7 to 9 Aries included Srbija (Serbia), Croatia, Europa, and Orpheus. Orpheus was within orb of Mercury and square Illyria while Srbija squared P Hela and the two in the middle of the Aries quartet squared the P Part of Death. Illyria, Hela, and the P Part of Death were all in Cancer. (I use Placidus cusps for this Arabic Part which includes the 8th house cusp in its formula.) P Mercury opposed Libitina and was connected to the originally described mutable cross with an octile to P Moon and a trioctile to Jupiter and N Ascendant. The last of the asteroids relevant to the involved region, Slavia, was natally in 7 Aquarius on Belisana, a war goddess, and P Washingtonia was just coming to a one-degree-orb opposition to it. P Slavia and P Belisana had moved into an opposition to Erigone (suicide) and were trioctile P Nobel (dynamite) in 24 Gemini. I hope that, by now, readers remember the meanings of some of these frequently mentioned asteroids which are associated with war and violence, so I don’t have to keep repeating their meanings.
Every time I want to quit, I keep seeing additional appropriate aspects. P Saturn squared Hel in 18 Taurus and the P north node of Mars in 17 Taurus. P Potomac, the river in Washington, DC, and P Aeternitas (immortality) were on N Mars and Dresden, and P Potomac opposed P Atropos, another death goddess. P Nobel squared P Atropos and N Bellerophon, and P Atropos was in orb to connect the T-square in 24 degrees of the mutables to N Mars and Dresden. P Atropos was also quincunx both N and P Icarus in Aquarius. P America had just entered Taurus and was conjunct P Fanatica as we try to deal with the extremism of the Kosovo war. Adding to the religious overtones of this territorial struggle for power between ethnic groups, three more progressed asteroids were in 5 Gemini on the P Moon/P MC: Columbia (for the site of our government), Mithra (an ancient Near-Eastern religion of soldiers and pirates), and Ankara, the capital of Turkey. Modern Turkey is a member of NATO, but it is in an uneasy position. The seeds of the hatred of the Serbs for the Illyrians (the ancestors of the modern Moslem Kosovars) were sown in the 14th century Serbian defeat by the Turks, and modern Turkey is doing its own lesser version of ethnic cleansing with its Kurds.
In Milosevic’s chart, we saw the likelihood of a critical turning point during the summer of 1999, based on aspects involving his P Moon. In this modern Yugoslavia chart for the country’s new phase that started in 1992, the summer of 1999 will have P Moon crossing the asteroid P Yugoslavia and squaring P Ascendant and Vesta in Virgo while P Moon is also trioctile P Beograd. By fall, it moves into the midpoint of Tyr in 28 Cancer and P Phaethon in Aries. P Gaea (earth) is also in 28 Aries, where they oppose P Beograd. Needless to say, there are also intense conflict aspects throughout the spring, but enough has been said to show that the chart, and the asteroids, are an accurate picture of the Balkan tragedy.
With so many relevant charts, I am tempted to skip the chart for the Berlin declaration of Serbian independence, but it is also dramatic so perhaps we can just hit a few highlights. The original chart has Uranus on the MC, a truly appropriate place for a country attaining freedom at that time. Calculating the chart for Belgrade puts P Uranus on the local MC as Serbia risks military and economic suicide in order to deny freedom to the Kosovars. It seems megalomaniacal for Milosevic to defy almost all of Europe, which is allied against his genocide. The daily pictures and stories of refugees are certainly showing the potential barbarity of religious fanaticism seeking to maintain power over a few medieval monasteries while resisting another defeat by non-Christian infidels. Many Serbs seem to equate the current Moslem Kosovars with their ancient Turk enemies. By late May, well over a million refugees and uncounted deaths have been produced in the name of religion and a defense of National Honor. Popular ballads celebrate, and Serbian school children are taught to revere, the 14th century hero who died in the battle against the Turks, preferring death to surrender. Psychological theorists suggest that the Serbians have a victim complex which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Joining P Uranus on the Belgrade MC is P Hela, one of our death goddesses, and they are all quincunx Jupiter in Aquarius, key to religion, ethics, and judgment. With P Uranus still in orb of a quincunx to N Saturn, a yod is formed. The chart’s Belgrade Ascendant is on the heliocentric south node of Mars in 19 Scorpio, with P Sun and P Columbia just about to reach it. The P Part of Death will square the group during the summer of 1999 as it moves from 19 to 18 Leo. It retrogrades at about the speed at which the P Moon is moving forward. At the start of the bombing, the P Part of Death was in 22 Leo, square P Nobel and P United Nations in Taurus and P Icarus in Scorpio. P Pluto has held a square to the N MC since the chart’s beginning, and Erigone (suicide) was just past Pluto, square Uranus. At the start of the war, P Winchester (guns) was in 4 Sagittarius, square the local MC and P Uranus. P Hela and P Potomac in 3 Sagittarius had reached the square to P Uranus. P Themis (divine justice) was on P Saturn quincunx P Libitina, and there is just too much more to cover.
Campion in his Book of World Horoscopes suggests that President Truman’s signing of the NATO Charter following its ratification by France marked the full legal existence of the organization. The time is given as 11:42 A.M., and the chart does “work” well, in both Washington where the signing took place, and in Belgrade where NATO started its bombing campaign. The asteroids are like a stamp of validity on that birth time, with P Srbija conjunct the birthplace P MC and square the P East Point, which is joined by P Prometheus (who looked ahead) and P La Paz (peace), with the P Moon forming a T-square, and Nemesis completing a grand cross. Washingtonia and Fama in 11 Scorpio formed octiles and trioctiles to the cross in 26 to 27 degrees of the mutable signs. Libitina in 12 Leo was also connected to the network of aspects, and Atlantis was just one degree beyond Libitina, to be pulled in as well.
Turning to the Belgrade angles, N Erigone was on the MC and P Slavia was on both of them, as the Slavs seemed to invite a suicidal confrontation involving the handling of power and the “rules of the game.” The MC carries the same meaning as Saturn. P Kaiser, the title of the former German ruler, opposed the Belgrade MC, while the war god Tyr squared it from Leo, along with P Dolores (sorrow) and P Mars. Illyria, for the original Kosovars and the region, completed a grand cross in 20 to 21 of the fixed signs. Mars was at the high end of this fixed cross, and, with overlapping orbs, it brought more asteroids into the network. Epimetheus (who looked back), Belisana (war goddess), and Aeternitas (immortality) were in 22 Scorpio, and P Karma was in 22 Taurus, within one degree of N Beograd in 23 Taurus.
Aspects to the Belgrade Ascendant include Jupiter closely conjunct it and Mars just over two degrees from an opposition to it. Obviously, we allow wider orbs for the major planets, and this fire emphasis fits the rash over-confidence of Milosevic and his generals. He has replaced the reluctant ones, including the one in charge of the forces in Montenegro where he may try to impose his will on that reluctant, supposedly autonomous and democratic Republic. Bellona in Aries, another war goddess, squares the Belgrade Ascendant and Jupiter, while P Ceres and P Sun in Libra and P Ascendant in Aries have reached squares to N Illyria. P Hela is closely opposite the N Ascendant and Jupiter. The P MC in 9 Capricorn is on Ate, the one goddess considered by the Greeks to be the personification of evil. Dunant is within one degree of the P MC and Ate, as well as conjunct Nobel (dynamite). (Dunant was named for the founder of the Red Cross, which is helping the refugees, trying to counteract the evil.) P East Point squares Nobel, with Hela completing a T-square.
Where will the NATO P Moon be during what looks like a critical summer in 1999? It is currently square P Srbija, will move over P Europa and quincunx the Part of Death and square Ceres, among other aspects during the spring. By summer, it will be conjunct P Yugoslavia in addition to forming an octile to Juno and Pluto and a trioctile to the Belgrade East Point, plus it will cross into the 6th house. During the fall, P Moon reaches Uranus, opposes P Vesta, is quincunx Chiron and P Venus, square P Pallas, P Mercury, and N Venus, octile Moskva, and more. These aspects suggest heavy challenges on both sides of the confrontation.
We have still not looked at the chart of the first missile which was reported as hitting Belgrade at about 8 P.M. on March 24, 1999. One report claimed that it was exactly 2 minutes before 8 P.M., while the first strikes against military targets in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, came at 9 minutes after 8 P.M. I have not tried to fine-tune the angles for these times, having worked initially with the time of 8 P.M. Subtracting 2 minutes from the 8 P.M. Belgrade angles would change them by about a half degree, so Williams (for Bill Clinton) would still be exactly on the Descendant, and Neptune would be exactly on the IC. The whole year of 1999 will feature fixed grand crosses repeatedly, and this chart is a good example. Saturn in 2 Taurus is just past Nobel, Tantalus, and the north node of Mars in 1 Taurus, Psyche is in 1 Aquarius, Bellona is in 2 Aquarius, and Belisana is in 1 Scorpio to provide an appropriate statement for a war. The Part of Death in 16 Virgo forms octiles or trioctiles to all factors in 1 to 2 degrees of fixed signs. To reinforce the message, the MC/Ascendant midpoint was also in 16 Virgo, providing the same information that would be given by having both of the primary angles conjunct the factor. Also within one degree are Siva and Amnestia, describing the stark choice between destruction and amnesty.
Photographica in 5 Aquarius says it will be a much-photographed war, and the fixed emphasis is supported by Venus in 7 Taurus, Vesta and Hybris in 7 Leo, the East Point in 9 Scorpio, and Mars in 11 Scorpio. The placement of a series of factors separated by equidistant intervals produces a series of midpoints which point to increased intensity. But nothing could beat the intensity of the first missile on Belgrade when the chart is calculated for Washington, DC. Depending on the precise minute of the strike, the MC was 1 Taurus conjunct the north node of Mars, Nobel, Tantalus, and Saturn, opposite Belisana, and square Psyche, Bellona, and Neptune (more widely). The Ascendant in 11 Leo was conjunct Atropos (death goddess) and square Mars while trine Pluto and Juno.
I was initially puzzled because the Moon was not strongly aspected, though it did have an exact square to Jupiter for poor judgment based on dubious beliefs and ethics, and to Victoria which opposed Jupiter. But when I checked Milosevic’s chart, I found his P Ascendant in 9 Cancer, so during the initial two months of the conflict, the P Moon of the chart for its beginning was conjunct his P Ascendant. Many people are suffering and dying because of his actions. As usual, many other asteroids were featured. Libitina was conjunct Beograd in 13 Taurus, with Phaethon and Hephaistos just past them square Uranus and opposite Moskva. Slavia in 20 Cancer squared Belgica (Belgium, where NATO has its headquarters) and Anacostia (a river in Washington, DC, for our capital). The latter two were in 20 Aries. Guillermina, with its root standing for William in Spanish, was in 20 Capricorn, and Versailles, near the site of the failed peace talks, completed a cardinal cross from 19 Libra. The Sun in 3 Aries would have squared Srbija in 2 Cancer when Milosevic did his final rejection of the peace proposal, and P Srbija will move into the square to the Sun in the first missile chart and hold the aspect for years. Western leaders know that, like Iraq, they will have to quarantine Serbia for years, providing military protection for the Kosovars to return to their homes. Bosnia also requires the continued protection of the major powers to prevent the Serbs and Croats from dismembering it.
In less than a month after the initial missiles, the P Moon of the chart will move through quincunxes to Pluto, Juno, and Urania in Sagittarius while it also trines Mars. In the initial struggle, the Serbs are accomplishing their goal of driving out or killing the Kosovars. By summer, P Moon will square Karma and Attila in Aries and Washingtonia in Libra and oppose Yugoslavia, after which it will quincunx Uranus. It is dramatic that almost all of these charts produce aspects between P Moon and the asteroid named Yugoslavia during the summer of 1999. Whatever the details, they show changes for the people of that tragic country.
Turning to the chart for the accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, the news media gave the time as just before midnight on May 7, 1999. My friend Doc Cottle was able to get the time precisely from a Beijing news channel which a Chinese friend in his university translated for him. It was 11:45 P.M. Belgrade time (zone -1 DT), with the UT two hours earlier. The NATO bombs hit the building they were aimed at, but the address was wrong on an outdated map, so instead of hitting a military target, they stirred up a hornet’s nest. The Chinese reacted with fury, insisting it was not a mistake, but a deliberate attack. They encouraged Chinese citizens to attack the U.S. embassy in Beijing, and U.S. property in other areas, bussing people in to join the attacks. They are still demanding a “full explanation” for the attack and punishment of the individuals responsible for it, though the U.S. explained the mistake almost immediately. The Chinese used the bombing as an excuse to end the joint talks with the U.S. on their own human rights abuses and conflicts over patent and copyright abuses. However, they still want to become members of the World Trade Organization, and they want to keep their status as “most favored nation” in trade to keep exporting to the U.S. without tariffs, so they continue to talk about what they want from the U.S.
Four Chinese, mostly journalists, were killed in the bombing, and more were injured, so we expect the death and war goddesses to be featured along with the standard planets. Mars in 29 Libra was exactly square the East Point in 29 Capricorn, Guillermina (William) in 28 Capricorn, and Slavia in 29 Cancer. Mars was also quincunx Libitina in 29 Taurus. Guillermina formed a one-degree square to Mercury in 28 Aries to complete a cardinal grand cross. Mars also formed a grand trine to Venus in Gemini and Winchester in 29 Aquarius. The bombs hit their targets – they just had the wrong address.
We expect aspects to Neptune for that wrong address, and it was highlighted, making a station to turn retrograde with an exact square to the MC and a quincunx to Hel in the 8th house in 4 Virgo. The chart MC was also on Bismarck, a German general who helped to unify the country and build its military power, and Moskva (Moscow), while it opposed Medea (who killed her children) on the IC. Both China and Russia were already protesting the NATO bombing campaign against Serbia. They do not want the world questioning their right to kill Tibetans and Chechnians. But the misdirected bombs have added to their efforts to stop NATO. Since both countries have veto power in the Security Council of the United Nations, the bombs may have made finding consensus there even more difficult, but the war in Bosnia had already shown that the U.N. was a paper tiger. The Serbs actually imprisoned hundreds of U.N. “peace keepers” during the Bosnian conflict, and destroyed towns and the refugees in them which the U.N. had promised would be “safe” zones. Only NATO has the military power to stop Serbia’s genocide, though their reluctance to engage in a ground war is delaying a decisive showdown.
Returning to the chart for the embassy bombing, the fixed crosses which are such a theme throughout this year included the Antivertex exactly conjunct Uranus with the latter on the south lunar node, opposite the north node and Peking (Beijing) in Leo, square the Sun in Taurus, and Tezcatlipoca in Scorpio. The latter was an Aztec war god who demanded daily human sacrifices. The Moon was just past Neptune in the first house with a conjunction to Themis, an octile to Juewa (named for China) in 21 Pisces, squares to Saturn and Pallas in Taurus, and a quincunx to Guernica in 7 Virgo in the 8th house. Other asteroids in Aquarius included Hela, Bellona, Psyche (plus the south node of Neptune) opposite Vesta and square Anacostia (for Washington, DC) in Taurus. Williams was on Nobel in 23 Taurus, missing an opposition to China in 25 Scorpio, but asteroids in 8 to 9 degrees of all the cardinal signs connected them with overlapping orbs. The chart’s P Moon will continue to square Saturn for nearly two months, so the recriminations are not going to disappear very soon.
Readers who have been with us for a while know that organizations, including countries, are born in stages, so they have more than one chart. Arguing about “the right” chart for the U.S. is ridiculous. I have several charts for stages of the Declaration of Independence in addition to charts for the Constitution taking effect, the first meetings of the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Supreme Court, plus the inauguration of our first president. We could add the beginning of the war for independence, the final surrender of Cornwallis which ended the war, the Paris Peace Treaty, and more. Keeping up with that many charts would not leave much time for the rest of the world, not to mention the rest of life – eating, sleeping, reading, etc. So far, I have just checked the various potential Declaration charts and the inauguration of George Washington for the beginning of NATO’s war against Serbia.
The first major step in our declaration of independence from England took place on July 2, 1776 when the “Resolution of Independence” was endorsed by the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia. I have not found a time for this action other than afternoon. Working with many events in our history, including the extra asteroids, the best-fitting time seems to be 5:43 P.M. LAT (which is the time one would have on a sun dial, used prior to the 19th century when LMT gradually came into use). This time produces an MC of 8 Libra 55 and an Ascendant of 18 Sagittarius 25. The local angles in Washington, DC after our capital was moved to that city are just one to two degrees earlier.
Two days later, the Congress finalized the wording of the Declaration of Independence, voted for it, had it signed by Hancock, the presiding officer and the clerk, and it was sent to be engraved. July 4 is the date celebrated as our national independence day, but the time for that crucial vote and signing is one of the most contested questions in astrology. The record of the day’s activities point to a morning time as the third item of business after two short items, with several more items taking place before noon. The time of 9:36 A.M. EST works well with our historical events. Since it is a rectified chart, any type of time can be used as long as astrologers have that information. After I had worked out this time, I learned that other astrologers had arrived at approximately the same result, putting 11 Virgo 39 on the Ascendant and 8 Gemini 43 on the MC.
Four days later on July 8, 1776, the Declaration was read publicly as a proclamation in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and we have a recorded time for this at noon. Using LAT, this chart has 14 Libra 40 rising with Saturn exactly conjunct the Ascendant! The MC is 16 Cancer 56.
Just one day later on July 9, 1776, the Declaration was read to General Washington’s troops in New York at 6 P.M., producing an MC of 21 Libra 15 and an Ascendant of 27 Sagittarius 53 using LAT.
We have thus four charts for the evolution of the Declaration from a private resolution by political leaders who were almost all wealthy to a public notification to the world. The evolution is quite fascinating. The outer planets change very little in a week, while the Moon moves from late Capricorn to early Taurus. The Resolution vote put the Moon in a close conjunction with Pluto and my chosen time puts them in the 2nd house. Saturn is in its own house with a close grand trine of the MC to Uranus and the south lunar node in air signs. Mars opposes the Sagittarius Ascendant but also is in a grand trine to Juno and Pallas as well as sextile Chiron. The chart fits the ongoing war with England, which started largely over taxes, and a determination to gain control over money and personal possessions.
In contrast to the Resolution chart with its focus on wealth and power, the document designed for public consumption was intended to justify our actions to the world, to claim democratic motives. It has the Moon in Aquarius conjunct Pallas, the asteroid of fair play and social justice (plus lawyers and litigation). This chart shows our “persona,” the image we want to present to the world with Uranus on the MC. The rising Neptune in Virgo also fits our religious extremists who baffle Europe.
The Moon had moved into Aries when the document was actually read to the public, and it promised them freedom with a conjunction with Chiron and a sextile to Mars. Chiron is like Jupiter, with its potential for signifying faith and the freedom to pursue our ultimate goals, including the power to go wherever we need to looking for those goals, hence the association with long trips and foreign countries.
By the time the document reached the troops in New York, the Moon squared its own nodes and was trioctile Neptune. The frequently unpaid and even hungry soldiers might have been justified at questioning the Declaration’s optimistic goals. However, the soldiers did prevail eventually. Their Moon was also sextile Ceres and Venus and Jupiter as well as semisextile Uranus. Juno on the MC, with its Pluto meaning, fits the ongoing struggle of the war, and Chiron on the IC fits the idealism focused on their homeland which kept them fighting against odds.
As mentioned above, the outer planets changed very little in the course of that important week, so P Saturn in all four charts is in 3 Scorpio. It is when we check the asteroids that we get blown away. Using the day-for-a-year system of Secondary Progressions, by 1999 we have reached the week of February 10 to 17, 1777. The first asteroid was discovered in 1801, and most of them have been spotted and named in this century. Yet, in all four of these charts which picture our national character and consequent destiny, P Beograd (Belgrade) is within one degree of P Saturn. Saturn is karma – the law and the consequences of how we have handled it. Our karma and Belgrade’s karma were pictured long before anyone saw an asteroid.
Many other relevant asteroids are equally dramatic. When the Resolution chart is calculated for Belgrade, P Annefrank is on the IC. This is an asteroid recently named for the teen-aged Jewish girl who was hiding in Holland, but was found and sent to a Nazi death camp where she died. She has become a symbol of the holocaust, and NATO’s war is against precisely this kind of genocide. Slavia is on the Descendant in the same chart, with America conjunct it within one degree. The 7th house can symbolize either partners or open enemies. P Wright is also on the Descendant, the name of the brothers credited with inventing the first heavier-than-air plane. Modern versions are dropping the bombs. Pyotr Pervyj, named for Peter the Great of Russia, is on the MC with Peking, which is just over a degree past it, square Saturn. What are the odds of having these angles connected to the contesting players in this drama? It is this kind of event which increases one’s confidence that this time for the chart could be right.
P Slavia is on the south lunar node in the July 2 and 4 charts. It was on the Antivertex in the July 8 chart, and octile Winchester (guns) by July 9. N Slavia and N America are conjunct in all four charts in 27 to 28 Libra. Srbija (Serbia) is in 12 Libra in all four charts, forming a T-square to the Belgrade MC and the Sun in the Resolution chart, still square the Sun in the July 4 chart, trine Icarus and quincunx Nobel on July 8 and still quincunx Nobel on July 9. Illyria is just past Srbija and square the MC in the Resolution chart. It is just one minute short of conjunct Saturn by July 4, and closely conjunct Saturn on July 8 and 9. P Srbija opposes Uranus in all four charts.
There is always more, including the angles in the original locations of the charts, but before this turns into a book, I want to look briefly at the chart for Washington’s inauguration as our first president. The current ceremony is held at noon, and the original one was scheduled for that time but very late. Doc Cottle was able to dig out historical material pin pointing the time as between 1:20 and 1:30 P.M. I am using 1:22 P.M. LAT, based on historical events in our country, especially on the frequency with which we kill our presidents. Using this time puts the 8th house Mars in Aries octile the local MC in Washington, DC.
When the Inauguration chart is calculated for Belgrade, the P south lunar node stays conjunct the Descendant for years, and Pluto stays square the Ascendant axis and the mean lunar nodes. Ate, the goddess of evil, is on the MC, and the feeling is certainly mutual with the Serbians convinced they are innocent victims while we see the genocide carried out by their soldiers as unbelievably barbaric. Williams, Hela, and Beograd are conjunct in 25 Gemini, sextile Mercury in 24 Aries and P Hela and P Mars in 25 Leo. P East Point conjuncts the Gemini trio. The harmony aspects fit the eventual success of the U.S. president, since this chart shows the beginning of his executive power. P Jupiter on the MC trine the United Nations and Slavia in 0 Capricorn could point toward negotiations involving the U.N. But the challenges for Serbia are also shown with P Srbija conjunct Nemesis and P Psyche, and at the midpoint of Saturn and Erigone, octile both. P Erigone is on N Illyria opposite Nobel and Ankara, the capital of Turkey. P Slavia and P Illyria are just over one degree apart with both holding a trioctile to P Washingtonia. George Washington became our first president on April 30, 1789 in New York, our initial seat of the government. Progressed to March 24, 1999, the inauguration chart has reached November 26, 1789. Earth is a school, and the class schedule is written in the sky.
PS. It looked like a breakthrough the first week in June as The Mutable Dilemma was being readied for the printer. Milosevic blinked. The Russians basically agreed to the NATO demands. The president of Finland, who is also current president of the European Union, joined the negotiations and put on more pressure. And still more pressure from came from Milosevic’s cronies whose industrial property has been hit hard. So Milosevic agreed to pull out the Serb troops and to let the armed NATO ground forces enter Kosovo along with the returning refugees NATO is pledged to protect. But one day later, as this is being written, the Serbs have not signed the six-page agreement. NATO will keep bombing until they sign and there is a clearly visible withdrawal of Serb armed forces. Unfortunately, even if the Serbs sign and their army leaves, the “paramilitary” who are responsible for many of the atrocities are already in civilian clothing and driving civilian vehicles. Many are likely to stay, trying to “pass” as civilians and making trouble. On the other side, many Serb citizens of Kosovo are likely to follow the army out, fearing reprisals from the Kosovars. The KLA are supposed to disarm, and they may be quite unwilling to do this. The hatred between the Serbs and the Kosovars has been intensified by the atrocities: rapes, the burning of some 500 villages by the Serb army, the theft of money and identification papers, and the disappearance of some 2200 Kosovar men, many of whom have been killed by the Serbs. Real peace in Kosovo may be decades away, even after the NATO bombs stop falling.