After more than a month of war in Ukraine, it is clear that Russia has underestimated the difficulties in this invasion: they are suffering great losses, morale is low, logistics are faltering and the Ukrainian army is defending the country fiercely and effectively, they are now counterattacking on several fronts.  Yesterday it was announced in the Kremlin that the strategy from now on would be directed towards the Donbas, the eastern part of the country. Instead of military strength, Russia has so far mainly shown weakness, is Ukraine becoming a kind of second Afghanistan, where the Russian army once lost their war with the Afghan Mudjahideen?

What does the horoscope of the beginning of the war show? In order to be able to interpret it, the best perspective is  to imagine that you are the astrologer of the Russians choosing an optimal time to start the war. Click on the download link above to see the chart of the beginning of the war.  Kiev has been taken as its place, although military actions probably started in several places at the same time, Kiev is the capital of the battlefield. The big question, of course, is whether this looks favorable for Russia?

Russia started the war and so it is reasonable to assign the first house to the Russians and the seventh house to Ukraine. That means that Lord 1 Saturn symbolizes Russia, Saturn is essentially very strong in its own sign and at first glance that seems very positive.  But for an invasion, a naturally slow planet in its own house and its own sign – a fixed sign moreover – is  not the optimal position, do we see here the stagnation of the Russian attack?  You do indeed want to see strength through dignity if you were to make an election, but that must be appropriate strength! It is still a bit far away but Saturn will also go retrograde (at 25° Aquarius), not good for the Russians either.

Antares

Better for Russia, is the fighting planet Mars is strong in its exaltaion in the first house, but it does conjuct Venus. That is not good for the fighting power, Venus symbolizes the counterforce of Mars which stops it.  It is not a good idea to start a battle under such a conjuction.  The conjunction falls on the star Nashira, in the Tail of Capricorn which is Pan changing shape running away from death.  So the two planets which seemed to be strong for Russia have considerable downsides, but how does it look for Ukraine ? Lord 7 is the Moon which has no essential dignity, but it is accidentally strong at the cusp of the eleventh house.

The Moon also falls on Antares, the mighty royal Scorpion’s  heart, the most martial star in the heavns . Scorpio is the beast that stabs the overconfident Hunter Orion to death and that is extremely favourable for Ukraine in this situation! If you interpret a star, you have to  grasp the accompanying mythical story in context to assign the roles in the myhical story . And it will be clear that Russia here is Orion.  Next week we will see how the course of the battle can be followed with a progression technique appropriate to this chart.

This weekend I read an article by the Flemish professor of political science Jonathan Holslag (Vrije Universiteit Brussels) in which he sharply analyses the problem of Western Europe. Western Europe is decadent, weak,  lazy and naïve and relies on others (the US) for its security. The politically correct “intellectual repentance battalion” also blamed  Western Europe in recent years for its colonialism and slave trade, stimulating the idea that one had to make way for other countries and could not be strong. The question of the criminal activties of, for example, Indonesia and black African or Arab empires (massive slave-traders!) could not to be raised any more.

To be clear, this man is not an extreme right-wing populist but an advisor to Frans Timmermans, the first vice-president of the European Commission. He calls on Western Europe to wake up and rebuild its military strength before it is too late. It is to be hoped that he will be heard, for the mundane- astrological analyses seem to support him. Last week we looked at the solar return for Europe this year, based on the chart of the Great Conjunction of Saturnus and Jupiter in 2020 (“GC,” calculated for Brussels as the capital of Europe).

Given the geo-political situation, it is of course interesting to also see what the solar return indicates for next year, this SR will start to work on 22 December this year. Of course, the big question is: does it look peaceful or does  it indicate that the war begun by Russia against Ukraine may be spreading? Click on the download button below to see the solar return for 2023 in Europe. 

There can be little doubt about this chart, it looks extremely martial! The Ascendant falls on Antares, the Scorpion’s heart, the powerful royal death star announcing the end of a cycle which has a pure Mars character. On the descendant, Mars himself stands on the equally martial royal Aldebaran, the Eye of the ferocious Bull, only reinforcing the indications on the Ascendant. The Moon is Lord 8 of death, emphasized in the first house in opposition to that Mars on the descendant, while Jupiter/  Lord  1 (Europe)  has just left its comfortable position in its own sign.

Venus is the important Lord 10 is on Vega, the Vulture coming down, not nice in this context. Lord 7 of  opponents is Mercury landing on the Ascendant via antiscion, the opponents come to Europe. Let’s say it clearly this chart boils over with conflict indications. That is not nice  of course but let us not be carried away by your own images. So what does this mean. War? That is a bit too quick as a conclusion, but it clearly shows that next year will be marked by conflict and the continuation of violence, it does not look peaceful. It is indeed high time to build up military strength as quickly as possible, fortunately the German government has now understood this well.

This blog is also read by quite a few astrologers who are in the conflict regions in Ukraine and I have already had several reactions to my posts. Of course, those who are in the middle of the battle zones have much more knowledge of the situation, I have to base myself on what the media have to say here which is certainly not complete or always correct. So I would like to expressly invite everyone to mail me if what I write based on the news we get here, does not match what is really going on!

Terebellum

In recent weeks we have looked at the charts of Russia and Ukraine, but the question is how this war can be seen in other mundane charts, not yet specifically made for a country.  A good point of departure for this is the Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter (GC) of 2020, calculated for Brussels. This horoscope shows what will happen to Europe in the next twinty years. We have to take into account as a background that it was this GC that changed the element after about two hundred years, from Earth to Air and then you can expect more dramatic events  (after all, this only happens once every two centuries!).

The 2020 GC for Brussels as the European capital (not given here) has the GC degree itself on the descendant, which shows the possibility of a conflict, reinforced by the fact that the GC is on the very fiery and powerful Altair (“makes natives guilty of blood-shed”)that has a Mars/Jupiter nature. To see now how that will develop over the years, you can simply make solar and even lunar returns based on this horoscope. These return charts can be interpreted just as you would delineate charts of individuals. This  gives us the solar return below for the year Russia invaded Ukraine.

In this solar return, which started working just before Christmas, Venus is Lord 1, that is Europe this year. Venus is conjunct Pluto, the Lord of the Underworld striking unexpectedly and overwhelmingly, dragging Princess Proserpina into Hades. That is not very nice, but this dark conjunction also falls on Terebellum, one of those three miraculous stars of fate, with a luminosity only of the sixth magnitude but it has a very powerful effect.  So those are already two factors directly affecting Lord 1, but that is not all. Through antiscion, the South Node, always requiring a painful sacrifice, is also on Lord 1 and Mars the war planet makes a conjunction with Pluto-Lord 1 via antiscion too. So we have an ominous concentration of five factors Pluto, Terebellum, Lord 1, the South Node and Mars that is also a Lord 7 of the opponent.

Antares  The  fact that these are antiscia indicates that the largest part of Europe is not directly involved in the fighting now. But the question is of course how will this develop? And that looks worrisome, the next solar return that will come into force just before Christmas this year, we  will discuss next week. But it seems that the German government has made the right decision to pump 100 billion into the army. In the Netherlands, the neo-liberal destruction policy of the past ten years has even destroyed the army, it is high time to fix that as quickly as possible

In our prayers and thoughts we are with the people in Ukraine who are suffering so much from the war. The merciless tactics used by the Russians in the war in Syria now also seem to be used in Ukraine. Putin, who is no longer the youngest, probably wants to go down in history as the Great Restorer of the Russian Empire.

It is also clear from the reports that the army of Russia is poorly organized, the logistics are not in order, the equipment is not well maintained and morale is low. Most soldiers are just ordinary Russian boys, sons of Russian mothers who have to give  their young lives in this nightmare.  Despite the heavy losses Russia does make progress, much slower than hoped for, but still. In the lunar return under which Russia opened the attack, this is all clearly visible, the lunar return is based on the mundane radix of Russia, the data of which can be found in last week’s post (click on the download link above to view the LR ).

The Vulture

In a lunar return, which must always be interpreted in the context of the progressions and the curent solar return, the first attention always goes to the angles, and they make clear that something is going to happen. This LR went into effect on February 12th and we see Lord 1 and 7, the land itself and the adversary on the IC, these are also the planets Mars and Venus, war and peace! The conjuntion, which indicates that peace will be broken, falls on Vega, the Falling Vulture, and why vultures come down needs no explanation. Wega is a powerful star of the first magnitude and on the MC opposite there is another one, Sirius. Sirius is the Mouth of the Big Dog, to be associated with brutal intimidation and violence.

The fact that the Moon is Lord 10 and is almost on the MC confirms that the war, already indicated in the progressions, will now begin. The star on the Ascendant shows that it will be difficult, that is Vindemiatrix, the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Vindemiatrix is a  star of overestimation of your powers and that is what we see happening now, on  March 12 a new LR  will go in, which will show itself  in a changing situation on the battlefield.

Less than a month ago I wrote here that I was relieved that the transition of the Great Conjunctions of Saturn and Jupiter into Aquarius had only brought Corona, but not war! And now we have ended up in this terrible conflict. Last week we already looked at the current lunar return of Ukraine in which Pollux was on the Ascendant and this was interpreted as a good sign for Ukraine, Pollux is the immortal Twin Brother and indeed the Russian army has had a much harder time than expected so far. 

It is now time to also look at the Russian chart, but the question is of course which one that is. The best possibility is the chart of the Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter of July 23, 1444 (6:01:50 LMT Moscow, Asc 21.12 Leo) that preceded the moment Ivan the Great, after the fall of the Byzantine Empire, began to call himself “Tsar of all Russians”. He saw himself as the successor of the last Roman (Byzantine) emperor and in the years that followed he established the power of Moscow by eliminating rival states.

Regulus

A first indication that this is a good chart for Russia is the fact that the Ascendant is on Regulus. Regulus is the Lionheart consumed by imperiousness and ambition, the whole problem in a nutshell. We will not now interpret this radix of Russia, but look directly at the progressions, there must be some things to see there if this radix is indeed an effective one. And this turns out be the case, click on the download link below to see the progressions.

It is not to be missed, there is a progressed Full Moon to be seen, always an indication of great tensions. The Sun is also Lord 1 in the Russian radix so that makes the tension even stronger, with the Moon moving over the current position of this imperious Regulus playing such a prominent role in Russia’s radix. A progressed Full Moon automatically leads to a conjunction of the Parts of Sun and Moon on the progressed Descendant which therefore has no meaning, but they also move over Saturn,  Lord 7 of opponents and battle in the radix!  Both the radix position and the progressed position of Pluto are close to it, which does not make it all much better.

So the war can be seen very clearly, but what is going to happen if we move the progressive factors forward? The Full Moon has not yet reached its point of highest tension, that will take another two months. The progressed Part of Fortune will in the next three months move over the progressed Saturn / Lord 7 and then over Pluto, the direction of the Ascendant completes ist opposition with the progressed Lord 7 at the end of this year. The progressed Part of the Sun is applying to a square with progressed war planet Mars, which will perfect in two months. Only increasing tensions are to be seen.  And we thought that rocket man Kim Jong-un of North Korea  was an insane, dangerous prune!