In
Feb 2009 I wrote: “The US handed over
power to a new Iraqi government at 9.26am on 28 June 2004. The Sun-Moon-Angular
Uranus Grand Trine suggests to me a natural instability and fragility which is
unlikely to last much beyond the departure of US troops…. There is no reason to
suppose that militant Islam will not also make advances in Iraq as the US
presence recedes.”
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| Iraq 2004 |
I’m not
claiming particular prescience for the astrology here, because it seems a
fairly commonsensical position to have taken. But all the same, this chart does
seem to work quite well for the current incarnation of Iraq, reflecting events
well and therefore allowing us perhaps to dig a bit deeper. It’s often hard to
define THE chart for a country. There are usually several charts, describing different
aspects of the country, or periods in
its history, and exact times can be hard to find.
(PS It turns
out the time zone for the chart I was using was an hour out. Uranus is not in fact Angular, but the
Sun-Moon-Uranus Grand Trine stands. And the source for the chart? Can't find it, but I know I noted down the exact time from the news when the event occurred.)
The recent foundation
of the Islamic State Caliphate is a case in point. There are a number of
conflicting accounts of when the declaration was made, and we may never know
for certain. (See
my recent piece on the subject.)
 |
| Islamic State Caliphate |
Now here’s
the spooky thing: the natal chart I use for the Caliphate and the 2014 Solar
Return for Iraq each occurred on 28 June 2014 within 25 mins of each other. The planets are virtually identical by sign
and degree, it’s just the Angles that are a bit apart.
 |
| Iraq Solar Return 28th June 2014 |
This occurred
because the Iraqi SR Chart for this year happened to coincide closely with the
start of Ramadan – the Muslim holy month, which also was the time that Islamic State,
for reasons of religion and power, chose to found the Caliphate. Any chart for the Caliphate would be within a day or so of this one, so the overall point still stands.
It’s a
bizarre coincidence. It suggests that the fates of IS and Iraq are
intertwined this year – which is obvious. And it also suggests, to my mind, that it is not just a matter of enemies
opposing – IS vs the Iraqi government. It is as much the rulers and people of
each moving towards each other, becoming one. That is understandable for some
of the Sunnis, not so much for the Kurds and majority Shias. However it works
out, willingly or unwillingly, there is a curious sympathy between the 2, and a
movement towards becoming one country. It’s like twins born 25 mins apart, who can be both opposites yet closely tied to each other.
And even if
you don’t accept the Caliphate Chart, the Iraqi Solar Return occurred within 25 mins of
the technical start of Ramadan (the first sighting of the New Moon), the
holiest month of the year, strongly linking the fate of Iraq this year to
Islam.
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| The territorial ambitions of IS? |
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What I want
to do now is to analyse the Iraq Chart and look at the transits etc and see where they lead.
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| Iraq 2004 |
The Grand
Trine, which involves the 2 biggies, the Sun (also the chart ruler) and the
Moon, is fundamental to the Iraq Chart. A preponderance of Trines isn’t
necessarily what one would expect in a chart of a troubled country. But the
Trine, a harmonious aspect, doesn’t mean ‘good’ so much as ‘easy’.
It has been
said that Grand Trines are sometimes found in the charts of psychopaths: they
expect life to be easy, and if someone gets in their way, they simply dispose
of them.
Uranus is an
outer planet, invisible to the naked eye and therefore beyond conscious
control. He doesn’t have to mean instability, but in this case it’s a fairly
obvious interpretation. The leader (Sun)
and the people (the Moon) between them won't be able to control the country. A
further instability is created by Uranus squaring Venus, the ruler of the MC.
The Sun in Cancer trine Uranus reflects
the divisive tribalism of the Iraqi government. It has always been tribal. Under
Saddam Hussein, the minority Sunnis controlled the majority Shias. Under the
present government, it has been the other way round. The Sunnis have a grievance,
facilitating the invasion of the Sunni Islamic State. The Americans have been
pressuring the government, which was led by Nouri Al Maliki, for a long time
now to be more inclusive. But it’s not the way they think. It shows what can
happen if you invade a country and try to impose your political system –
‘advanced’ liberal democracy – on a country to whom it is alien. Countries
often have nasty dictators for a reason, which is that the alternative –
warring tribes - is worse.
Uranus
opposite 1st House Jupiter suggests that the divisions are religious as well as ethnic.
Natal Mars
in the 12th square to the Moon suggests a country whose people will not easily fight for it. There have
been reports of Iraqi fighters simply fleeing the advance
of IS.
Neptune is
currently passing over natal Uranus and will soon square Venus, ruler of
the MC – suggesting a dissolution of the
State.
The big
transits that have been going on for some years are Pluto and Uranus hard-aspecting the (wide) Sun-Saturn conjunction. This will reach its conclusion in
2 years time when Pluto makes his final opposition to Saturn. Pluto opposite
Sun described, amongst other things, the exclusion from power of the Sunnis and Kurds.
Uranus square Sun and Saturn describes the ongoing shakiness and instability of
the leadership (Nouri Al Maliki was forced to resign in August) and law and
order, the basic structure of society. Pluto’s opposition to Saturn suggests
the destruction of the current Iraqi system of government.
At the end
of April there was an eclipse of the Sun at 9 Taurus, 1/2 a degree off the
Iraqi North Node. Eclipses often catalyse significant events, and this occurred
at a point that is suggestive of the country’s destiny. It occurred as
transiting Mars, Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto created a Cardinal Grand Cross over natal
Saturn. Six weeks later ISIS fighters began to take over Iraqi towns and
cities.
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| April 2014 Eclipse over Baghdad |
So will Iraq
fall? The answer from the transits seems to suggest yes.
The natal
chart is highly unstable. The transits now and over the next couple of years reinforce
this take. The April eclipse suggests the arrival of a moment of truth in the
country’s destiny.
 |
| Iraq: Progressed Chart Oct 2015 |
In the
Progressed Chart, in 9 months time the Sun-Moon Cycle will enter the closing –
or Balsamic – phase, which suggests an ending, or the beginning of the end. A
year after that, the Prog Asc will change sign from proud Leo to submissive
Virgo, while the Prog Moon activates the country’s North Node: we have already
seen what the eclipse to that point did.
And then
there are the Solar Returns. 2014,15 and 16 all have either Pluto and Uranus on
an Angle, suggesting instability and destruction. 2017 does not, but it has a
Mars-Jupiter-Pluto Cardinal t-square, suggestive of religious brutality.
So it’s not
good news for the Iraqi people. With IS being Sunni and Iraq being mainly Shia,
that will add to the brutality. It will be worse than under Saddam, because he
did not insist that everyone had to be Sunni.
The US and its allies, as we know, are undertaking airstrikes, which they will probably keep up and which will slow IS down. But, as one US General said after Vietnam, if there was one thing they had learned, it was that you cannot win a war against guerrillas by bombing alone. And there seems to be no appetite for sending in ground troops. The airstrikes are as much a face-saving exercise as anything else, the western governments having to appear to be doing something to oppose IS.
I’d say from
the astrology that Iraq will fall to IS in 1 to 2 years’ time.
5 comments:
Hello Barry
For once, I don't agree with you! I think IS will probably last, but I think it has achieved more or less its full extent now. It relies on the psychology of military momentum, and this is sagging and will break. I don't think Iraq will fail - though it might break up into IS, Shi'a and Kurdish areas (more or less the original Ottoman provinces).
I think it's relevant to look at a chart for the creation of Iraq in 1920, the beginning of the British Mandate - though I don't have a date for that. That's the beginning of Iraq as a concept and nation. There's also an interesting chart for 5.30am, 14 July 1958, Baghdad, when British control ended and Iraq became independent (Moon Moore's date, Book of World Horoscopes).
I think that, also, the grand trine in the Iraq chart you examined can equally accommodate changes very well. Witness the way the Kurds have suspended their urge for independence, at a moment when independence was a viable possibility, in order to support Iraq as a whole through its time of difficulty. In a sense, the grand trine represents a shepherd herding an unruly flock.
I think IS could last, but this is not stabilised yet, and equally it can fall, imploding from the inside more than being defeated from the outside - jihadis are not good at maintaining unity over time, and testosterony Uranus in Aries and rigidising/cracking Pluto in Cap do not promise an easy ride for the IS hierarchy. It survives more on psychology and belief than actual strength, and the people now ruled by IS have not yet sorted themselves out.
But we shall see! I think IS' expansion has now been checked. Though the background reasons why it emerged in the first place - through either laxity, support or intervention by a host of meddling foreign influences - is yet to be exposed. There's funny stuff here, yet to unravel and be revealed (Uranus grand trine) - Turkey, the Gulf billionaires and the West are all in a state of flux.
I think your prognosis is one possible reality though. The coin is in the air. And the Shi'as and Iran have not played their cards yet. Israel is a smouldering bomb too - more under threat now than it has loudly advocated in previous decades (re: 'boy crying wolf'). There is much yet to emerge. I suspect a hidden factor will come in - a sort of ebola of Iraq, which changes the equation. Oil prices are worth watching - and their effect on the wider geopolitical geometry.
All the best
Palden
Looking at Wikipedia, some viable dates (if exact data can be found) might be 23 Aug 1921, the crowning of King Faisal (a statement of the separate post-Ottoman identity of Iraq), or 10 Oct 1922, the signing of the Anglo-Iraqi treaty by dear old Sir Percy Cox, certified imperialist!
Palden
History will show.
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