October 9, 2000
Resolution 181: The Israeli-Palestinian Interface
The first serious international attempt to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict was debated by the fledgling United Nations General Assembly on
November 29, 1947. UN Resolution 181 to Partition Palestine recognized the
political and religious rights of both groups, and after a long debate was
passed by a majority that evening, or midnight in Jerusalem.
A horoscope drawn for this moment (November 30, 1947; Jerusalem; 12:00 am*)
reflects the inherent, crisis-oriented division in the homeland with the
Moon-Uranus conjunction in Gemini. When the Sun passed over the fateful North
Node on May 14, 1948 David Ben-Gurion unilaterally declared Israel's
independence. Yasser Arafat did the same for the Palestinians on November 15,
1988 (12:40 am Algiers), and the geopolitical astrologer will note key
transits to the Resolution 181 chart, especially transiting Uranus exactly,
to-the-minute conjunct the 4th house Venus.
At the moment, the Palestinian-Israeli interface is under extreme
astrological pressure. Mars in the isolated, repressed twelfth house shows
the underlying resentment and righteous anger (in Leo) which characterizes
both sides. Mars here can act out only though terrorism or explosive rage.
Since July transiting Saturn has been squaring this Mars, testing,
challenging whether the seething bitterness can be subdued diplomatically.
At the same time, transiting Uranus is squaring Chiron, the planet associated
with national feelings of woundedness. Chiron's extreme alienation and hurt
is hyper-inflated, perhaps extending though many generations, as shown by the
square to Pluto. Throughout October transiting Uranus remains in extremely
close range, trying to break free from this Chiron wound. Watch around
October 25 when Uranus turns direct for the most significant actions toward
liberation.
Mercury Retrograde Targets Border Areas
On October 18 at 9:41 am EDT Mercury turns retrograde. Mercury's retrograde
phase happens three times a year and lasts for about three weeks. Generally
this interval doesn't bring alarming changes other than the usual misquotes,
missed travel connections, and lost memos. However this time Mercury's
retrograde point is exactly square the U.S. Midheaven, indicating important
changes in the most significant political processes.
With Mercury pausing for an extended linking to the Midheaven (the nation's
destiny and point of honor), we can expect that the presidential campaign
season will be entering a frenzied pace of advertising and disseminating
information. Mercury turning retrograde infers a change of attitude and
opinion. This could mean that advertising strategies become meaner, more
attack-oriented, and extra deceptive. Opinion polls should show a noticeable
shift.
The national Midheaven is in Leo, the sign associated with Hollywood and the
entertainment industry. The first major film studio, MGM, used the Lion as
its company logo, and established Hollywood (and the U.S.) as an
international image factory. Mercury turning retrograde in Scorpio, the sign
often associated with sex and violence, points to lurid movies as a pivotal
issue around October 17-19.
Within one day of Mercury's station Venus enters Sagittarius and Saturn
returns to Taurus. These simultaneous symbolic crossings have physical and
political translations. Watch for stories about people crossing borders,
perhaps in the sense of "crossing over to the other side." Tensions around
border areas should increase, such as around Southern Lebanon or the Rio
Grande. Important people change parties, take charge, resign, retire, get
fired or denied entry.
Vojislav Kostunica, Redeeming Hero
Last Thursday Vojislav Kostunica, the newly elected president of Yugoslavia,
addressed the jubilant crowd in Belgrade, "What we are doing today is
history, created by the people alone, without anyone's help." Slobodan
Milosevic had just conceded defeat, and was convinced by mass rallies and
visiting Russian diplomats to step aside.
Kostunica was born a defiant Aries (March 24, 1944; Belgrade; time unknown**)
with several planets in intellectual Gemini, including an out-of-sign square
to Mars. His anti-communist stance led to his dismissal from Belgrade Law
School, and alone among the 18 opposition candidates, Kostunica could not be
bought off, nor would he compromise his principles for democratic reform. The
heavy dose of Aries-Mars energy is subdued by a square to Ceres in Cancer,
giving him the kind demeanor of a paternalistic headmaster.
Unlike Milosevic (August 20, 1941), he does not have the instinctive drive
for absolute, dictatorial power, a characteristic often associated with the
Sun in hard aspect (conjunct, square, or opposed) to Uranus. Kostunica is
what astrologer Donna Cunningham refers to as an OPP, or an
outer-planet-person. His Sun is closely aspecting all three of the outer
planets, with a soft sextile to Uranus, an empowering trine to Pluto, and a
self-sacrificing, idealistic opposition to Neptune.
Each of these three slow-moving, outer planets tunes the individual toward a
generational theme. The individual hears the collective call to fulfill an
archetypal, heroic role of redemption. Then, as transiting Uranus opposed his
Jupiter, sudden victory and fame arrived, all according to the will of the
people.
* Described in Michael Baigent's The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered.
** source for birth date is from the Serbian Unity Congress web site
(http://news.suc.org/bydate/Aug_04/16.html). Some astrologers have reported a
speculative, unverifiable birth time of 1:55 pm. Reader feedback is welcome.
Email: [email protected].
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