Last week the news was dominated by the chaotic and dangerous evacuations of embassy staff and others from Kabul in connection with the seizure of power by the Taliban in Afghanistan. The evacuation is a disgrace for the governments involved, yes some people have been brought into safety, but that is all you can say. It is extremely annoying that you could have seen this coming for months, Dutch MP’s have been trying to move the responsible members of government to action, but they were like paralyzed rabbits staring into the Taliban headlights till it was too late and lives are in danger now.       

In last week’s post Afghanistan ‘s chart was discussed, and the question was if mundane astrology could be of any use to a government in cases like this one. You bet! A good example are the progressions you can calculate on the basis of this Afghan radix. By analyzing the progressions you could have predicted the month of the power seizure. The context was that the foreign soldiers were going to leave and the Taliban had not been beaten at all, so then it is not too difficult to make a good prediction. The current progressions can be viewed by clicking on the download link below. 

You cannot oversee the almost exact progressed New Moon! The standard interpretation is the start of a new cycle often after a crisis. It is good to realize the progressed Moon moves at a speed of a degree per month and its distance to the Sun is now half a degree, so two weeks ago it was New Moon exactly. So even without looking at lunar returns the month something will happen can be found by following the three fast progressed factors (the Moon, the Part of Fortune, the Part of the Sun). So you could have seen this coming for years! The progressed NM is also in opposition with the all-important natal Mars in Afghanistan’s radix (see last week’s post).

The Poisoned Cup

The star on which the NM falls is of course also important, this is Algenib, connected to over-confident Bellerophon who dramatically fell from the Flying Horse Pegasus… This picture is repeated on the Ascendant on which the Pars Fortunae  (Part of the Moon) and the Pars Solis (Part of the Sun) conjunct, something always happening when we have a New Moon. So this conjunction has no special meaning, but the fact that it is taking place on Labrum has. Labrum is the Cup that will not pass you by and one the three stars of fate. These progressed parts also move at a speed of one degree a month so two weeks ago they were exactly on it!      

This week the radical-islamist Taliban seized power again in Afghanistan, power they lost twenty years ago in the aftermath of 9/11, when a Western alliance led by the US occupied the country. Despite the fact that this seizure of power could be seen coming for months, several countries among which The Netherlands had not evacuated their local staff. The consequence was a chaotic dangerous situation at the airport, reminding very much of the notorious panic-stricken evacuation of Saigon at the end of the war in Vietnam.

It is an understatement that the history of Afghanistan is quite “eventful” and that this chaos at the airport fits in very well with this history. It is a not a country of strong central government and a whole series of wars were fought in this region. That is why it is not easy to find an effective chart, but what seems to work quite well is the chart of the Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter (GC)  in October 1861 before emir Dost Mohammed brought the country under one government just before his death. This produces the mundane radix below (click on the link to view the chart).

Lord 1, one of the most important house rulers, is malefic Mars in its detriment is the sixth house of misfortune near Vindemiatrix, the Sorcerer’s Apprentice on which things tend to get out of hand enormously. This is not very nice of course and this Mars is also by antiscion in opposition with the degree of the Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter itself! The GC is of course a central point in this chart and this opposition with nasty Mars emphasizes the fighter planet very strongly.The GC is on Denebola, the Lion’s Tail associated with the provocation of authorities, on the MC is Vega the Vulture coming down because there is something to eat.

Alcyone

So the stars in this chart look quite dramatic and the Moon is also on Alcyone the main star in the Pleiads, associated with struggles, blindness and discord. The other Luminary the Sun has a lot of influence because it is in the seventh house of others near the Descendant.The Sun is the symbol of power, it is essentially weak in its fall and in opposition with the country itself in the first house.The seventh house of others containing the Sun in its fall points to the many foreign interventions which have caused so many struggles and discord harming the country so much.

Lord 7 of the others intervening in the country, is on Antares the martial Death Star in the eighth house of death. After 20 years of Western occupation, it had become a complete cul-de-sac. The Taliban had never really been beaten. The whole illusory project of “nation-building” has cost more than 800 billion dollars and many thousands of military and civilian casualties. It was a grotesque overestimation of power. Afghanistan’s radix breathes a sphere of anarchy, division, violence, a lack of central authority and prospectless interventions.

In next week’s post the progressions will be discussed which will show clearly why governments need competent mundane astrologers. Maybe this could help to prevent failures so that governments will not endanger the lives of their citizens and allies again and again.     

While Germany had to contend with lots of water this last month, in Greece it is fire causing big trouble. The fire had even reached the outskirts of the capital Athens and although the acute danger seems to be over there now, the fires are still burning. As we discussed in last week’s post big trouble like this can be seen in a country’s charts in some difficult period. This means trouble could be predicted, although context is as always of great importance. In a dry and hot area where you have some fires every summer, you will look at the relevant charts from another perspective than in countries like Sweden, where this almost never happens.

It is true that Turkey and Italy also have fire problems, but it seems to be the worst in Greece, where the fires even threatened the capital! This triggers the question what there is to be seen in Greece’s chart, maybe astrology could be used in this way to be better prepared for trouble. Several charts could serve to check the developments in modern Greece, but what seems to work quite well is the radix based on the time the colonel’s dictatorship was replaced with the modern democracy Greece now is (time is 24 July, 4:00, Athens, Asc Cancer, the chart picture is not given here, it is a chart with lots of problems). This was a very important moment in Greece’s history, although other, earlier charts could also be chosen.

The lunar return for this disastrous month of extreme heat and fire can be viewed by clicking on the link above. In countries like Greece in the summer months you regularly have extreme heat and by checking the lunar returns from June to September, you can get an idea of bad it will be. The lunar return in Greece starting on 15 July indeed looks very troublesome. What strikes he eye immediately are the planets on the MC/IC-axis, always a sign in a lunar return that something noticeable will happen.

Fixed Fire

In this lunar return chart overwhelming nasty Pluto is on the MC in opposition with the Sun on the IC, the Sun of course is a Fire planet. It is also on Pollux a powerful royal star characterized by the planet energy of fiery Mars alone. Venus/ Lord 1 in this return is most specifically the country this month and it narrowly conjuncts fiery Mars in Leo, the sign of the Fire element in the fixed mode on Algenubi, a nasty star in the Lion’s Mouth. This narrow conjunction is the second clear indication of trouble.

The third indication is the fact that this conjunction of Lord 1 (Greece) with scorching Mars in the fixed Fire sign Leo is by antiscion on the Ascendant! This emphasizes this conjunction very strongly. With three clear indications you know enough and then you can effectively complete the picture on the basis of context knowledge (more heat and dryness in our times, Greece, summer).

The last few weeks your reporter was in Germany to hike, but immediately the skies opened and water came down in streams, unseen for a long time. Germany had not experienced such a flood in almost sixty years, the damage done is enormous, the number of deaths is more than 180 now. Other countries were affected too but Germany clearly was most badly hit by the waters. This is not a small thing, so what is there to be seen in the German natal chart? As the German mundane radix we will use as always the chart of the Great Conjunction Saturn and Jupiter (GC) , preceding the foundation of the German Empire in 1871, which marked the first German unity (the GC took place on 21 October 1861, 13;15;54 LMT, Berlin, Asc 14:43 Capricorn, chart picture not given here).

Such a GC chart can be delineated like an individual radix, all the methods you use for a ‘’normal” chart can be applied. If we check the progressions  first, it immediately strikes the eye that there is a progressed New Moon now, always indicating a moment of crisis. The progressed conjunction of the wet Moon and the dry Sun takes place in the ninth degree of Aries in opposition with Mars in the German natal chart, which is a malefic in its detriment placed in the natal eighth house of death. The progressed NM is on Algenib, an unpleasant Pegasus star.

So the progressions indicate the serious problems quite clearly and again it is remarkable how exact the progressed Moon is. The New Moon conjunction of the Luminaries takes place in the month of the flooding, the secondary Moon moves one degree a month, so it is a quite precise prediction tool. If we check the lunar return made on the basis of this mundane radix, the problems are indicated too (click on the link above to view the July lunar return). The nodal axis is on the return MC/IC-axis within a four-degree orb, the Saturn-like South Node falls on the MC and on Death Star Antares. Saturn Lord 1 in the mundane radix and in the return chart is retrograde in the miserable twelfth house. It opposes the conjunction of Venus return Lord 8 of death and malefic Mars. Note the Moon on Algol has no special meaning, as this is a lunar return it will always be there!