Will Gaddafi Be Toppled?

The Sun and Mars have been together in the sky since the beginning of the year, increasing the likelihood of protest (Mars) against leaders (Sun). For much of this time the conjunction took place in Aquarius, a sign associated with democracy. Put this together with the wider applying square from Uranus (revolution) to Pluto (power) and we have the uprisings against dictators that we have seen in the Middle East.

In late Feb, the Sun then Mars left Aquarius and entered Pisces. As I wrote on 22 Feb (when Gaddafi looked certain to be toppled imminently):

From 23rd Feb, however, the Sun and Mars will both be in Pisces. They will remain conjunct for another couple of weeks, so we can expect the protest (Mars) against leaders (Sun) to continue, but with a different flavour. It may be, for example, that the ideological basis (Aquarius) becomes less clear, and the remarkable restraint that the armies have shown will break down (Pisces can be a lot messier, even savage, and lacking in boundaries.) We have perhaps seen the start of this in the recent deaths of hundreds of protesters in both Bahrain and Libya.

What followed, of course, was the successful fightback by Gaddafi and, over the last day, the imposition by the western powers of a no-fly zone in Libya to stop attacks against civilians, as they put it. In reality, what we have is a civil war, and the West wants Gaddafi to lose for all sorts of reasons. As with Iraq, it’s no use toppling a dictator just because he’s a bad guy – which Gaddafi is – unless you can be fairly confident that’s what comes after will, in the long-term, be an improvement. With Iraq, it was a disaster in the short-term, it seems like an improvement just now, but in the long-term you have 3 tribes – the Shias, the Sunnis and the Kurds – all wanting power, but with the Shias in a clear majority and able to dominate the other two. Who knows where that will lead. With Libya, it seems unclear what the opposition is made up of, but hopefully (unlike with Iraq) the West has done its homework before backing the anti-Gaddafi forces.

There seem to be 2 main possibilities for charts for Libya under Gaddafi. Both are for 3 Sept 1969, when the coup took place. One is for 6.30am, when Gaddafi announced the new regime. The other is for 4.30am, the time that according to Gaddafi was when ‘we made our arrests and occupied the radio station and other strategic points.’

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(Skip the next paragraph if you don’t like your astrology too technical!)

The 4.30 chart seems to work better. The Sun (leader) in Virgo, ruling the Leo Ascendant, gives that odd mixture of autocrat (Leo) who claims to be serving the people (Virgo) and therefore does not have a title. The Asc is the way a country expresses itself, and Leo here suggests that Gaddafi IS the country. The government itself is the MC and has retrograde Saturn conjoining it, in square to the ruler of the MC, Venus: this suggests oppression. The leader himself is drawn in through the Sun being the dispositor (ruler of the sign) of Venus in Leo. With the MC ruler, Venus, also hidden away in the 12th, ‘outside of society’, you could draw the conclusion that the leader and the government are the same thing. The Sun is square to the Moon (the people) which suggests that the country is not in fact ruled by the people and that they feel oppressed by the leader.

The uprising in Libya began quietly on 14 Feb with Facebook calls for peaceful demonstration against Gaddafi, and this turned into actual demonstrations over the next few days.

The preceding New Moon, which often indicates the start of events, was on 3rd Feb. It has a Sun-Moon-Mars conjunction in democratic Aquarius, close to the Descendant of the Libya chart. Being Angular, it was very powerful for Libya. And being opposite the Leo Ascendant, it was also opposing its autocratic ruler. Such a powerful New Moon – which has Mars on its side – suggests to me that that the anti-Gaddafi forces will ultimately be successful.

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Not only is the New Moon Chart remarkable, so is the current Solar Return Chart for Libya (the Solar Return is the moment the Sun returns to its natal position, your true birthday, and it gives a chart for the next year):

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There is Uranus-Jupiter straddling the MC and opposite Saturn. Revolution (Uranus) versus the establishment (Saturn), intensified and given fire and self-belief by Jupiter in Aries. The MC at the very end of Pisces, the very end of the Zodiac cycle, could not be stronger in suggesting the end of a form of government (MC) for Libya.

So I have no doubt that Gaddafi will be gone during the course of this Solar Return. It is just a matter of when.

The New Moon on 3rd April is in Aries in the Libyan 9th House of the law. With the UN now backing the rebels, it suggests the beginnings of a legal legitimacy for the rebels within the country. Aries is new beginnings, as is a New Moon, so New Moon in Aries really does begin new things.

Remarkably (again!), the New Moon MC is exactly conjunct the Libyan Moon (the people), uniting the people and the government. Meanwhile Pluto, the planet of raw power, will be standing still, about to change direction, and trining the natal Saturn-MC. So this suggests an easy (trine) shift of power.

The following New Moon, on 3rd May, has a Sun-Moon conjunction at 12 Taurus, in the 10th House of government and conjunct the natal Saturn-MC.

So the timeline seems to be that during April the rebels will acquire increasing legitimacy, and during May will move on to form a new government.