Note to Readers: Egypt’s snorting bull, Hosni Mubarak, has stepped down as president, setting off wild celebrations. Knowing the story was likely to move early today, here’s how I called the chart as of 9 this morning. The real clue in the chart was that Venus — who represented Mubarak — was conjunct Pluto, which is an astrological way of saying that he’s a done deal. Mars conjunct Nessus suggested that his treatment of his own generals was going to come back to bite him on the ass, and it was indeed the military that tipped the power in favor of the people. Here is some confirmation that the U.S. was moving resources in the 5th fleet toward the Suez Canal. As I mentioned at the end of the letter that follows, the situation is far from resolved by this, as the Moon waxes toward full phase and the momentum continues. This is the ‘extra’ lead from today’s edition of Planet Waves’ edition for subscribers. –efc
Dear Friend and Reader:
After yesterday’s very strange day in Egypt — beginning with early reports by numerous supposedly reliable sources that Mubarak would resign and ending with him transferring power to Vice President Omar Suleiman, but keeping the title of president — nobody can say for sure what is happening in Egypt. Today is expected to be the biggest day of protest since the demonstrations began 18 days ago.
Outrage at Mubarak’s refusal to actually quit has pushed the country to the point of explosion.
As we go to press Friday morning, it seems like everything rests in the hands of the military, which is holding space between the Egyptian people and Mubarak, whose ouster they are demanding. His refusal to step down seems calculated to push a showdown between the people and the army. Though the military is in a sense neutral, “That neutrality helps the crowds and hurts Mr. Mubarak,” historian Juan Cole said on Thursday night’s Rachel Maddow Show.
This morning there were news reports that ‘Al Arabiya television reported that Mubarak and his family had left Cairo to an unknown destination from a military airbase in the suburbs’.
A heavily armed contingent of Marines has moved into the American embassy in Cairo and has been maintaining a perimeter from the inside for several days. Egyptian security forces are guarding the embassy from outside. After considerable research last night we could not confirm reports that American warships from the 5th fleet had moved into the Suez Canal, which connects the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
Most sources on-scene are saying that the Egyptian military — while divided in its support for Mubarak, who has ruled under a state of emergency for 30 years — is not going to open fire on the people. Thursday, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces issued what it called Communique #1, at 5 pm Cairo time, confirming this. The Supreme Council has convened only twice before: during the wars against Israel in 1967 and 1973.
“In affirmation and support for the legitimate demands of the people, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces convened today, 10 February 2011, to consider developments to date,” an army spokesman declared on state television, in what was described as communiqué No. 1 of the army command, “and decided to remain in continuous session to consider what procedures and measures that may be taken to protect the nation, and the achievements and aspirations of the great people of Egypt,” The New York Times reported.
The chart for communique #1 seems like a decisive moment, or at least a turning point, at the end of a really weird day. It’s an interesting chart, which illustrates the stance of the military as stated in its letter. Here is what I see.
The Moon is the highest planet. It’s in the 10th house of government, extremely strong in Taurus (its sign of exaltation). The Moon represents the people, who are solid in their values — the generals, as they have said, perceive that the people are in charge and that they have legitimate issues. Cancer (which the Moon rules) is on the 12th house, so the Moon comes out of the vast and overwhelming 12th — the Egyptian public, the most populous in the Middle East. The 12th is an intangible; the Moon’s presence in Taurus gives it a more solid form.
Notably, Mubarak, born in early May, has become the brunt of a good few Taurus jokes, based mostly on his tenacity in the face of extreme resistance. But he does actually appear to be going through a transformation. The ruling planet of that midheaven, Venus, is currently conjunct Pluto and Vesta. He has given up something, namely the powers of the presidency.
There is a massive crowd showing up in the 7th house, shown by all those planets on the right side of the chart. That would be the opposition movement. Leo is rising, which tells us about the matter in question — the military’s statement. And the military (the Sun, ruler of Leo) is aligned with the people in Aquarius, opposite the sign rising. So far, so good. [A second indicator of the army, the ruler of the 6th house (which is Saturn) lands in Libra, retrograde — another sign of restraint.]
There is, however, something that indicates how fragile the situation really is. Though you cannot see it clearly in the chart, when you look at the numbers, Mars is exactly (to within one degree) halfway between the Sun and Mercury. Mars, always a co-ruler of the military in a public chart, is also conjunct Nessus, a centaur planet of karma coming back through a cycle of events. Nessus also indicates an injury based on psychic abuse of some kind; it would seem the armed forces have also struggled under the dictatorship.
That midpoint is tricky and a little unstable, and if there is peace it’s a delicate state of affairs. In addition, the Sun — the military and its ideas — are headed toward Neptune. There may be a loss of the apparent solidity of the Sun: a message gets lost, its power gets lost in a fog, or there is a deception going on. And there is stuff they don’t understand and that they don’t know. Obviously Mubarak is concerned that there could be a military coup — that is more likely than the army firing on the people.
My sense is that the military is not entirely trustworthy. While they are not opening fire on the public, there have been reports of disappearances and torture. We also see this untrustworthy quality in the natal chart for the Republic of Egypt, which we covered last week. There is something two-faced about the beloved Egyptian army, in which people have so much faith.
The real tension point in this chart is that the Taurus Moon is about to make a series of square aspects to all those Aquarius planets in the 7th, starting with Ceres, Mars, Nessus, the Sun and last, Neptune, ending this chapter of the story. As the Moon makes these squares, it will push the situation closer to the edge, and it may seem like it’s bent well past the breaking point. If the sides or the meaning of events are unclear or uncertain today, they only seem headed for greater uncertainty as the Moon waxes toward full phase and popular momentum gathers.
There is plenty we don’t know about that is not being reported by the U.S. media. For example, the Global Intelligence blog reported last week that, “US intelligence sources disclosed that exactly a week ago, on Jan. 29, an attempt was made on the life of Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman in central Cairo as his convoy left the presidential palace. He had just been sworn in by President Hosni Mubarak as Vice President. Suleiman escaped unharmed but two of his bodyguards were killed. The sources said the attack bore the marks of professional, well-trained hitmen. The attack was denied in Cairo but US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confirmed it in Munich when she said the assassination attempt was a sign of instability in Egypt.”
We will update the Planet Waves blog with details as we learn them.
Yours & truly,
Hi there Joie,
In working with this type of astrology — or any type of astrology — there are going to be multiple significations. It is common for one object to represent two or three different things; and for there to be multiple significations of one entity in the chart.
For example, in the chart for the statement of the Supreme Council on Thursday, we could take the ascendant ruler (Leo-Sun) as the army and its statement; we can take the ruler of the 6th house (representing the military, which being Capricorn gives us Saturn 6th) or we could take Mars. They all describe something in different ways. A good chart is holographic and will start telling the same story over and over again. I recognize this cohesion is primarily mental in nature! But one cannot deny the chart is there. And when the chart has a specific theme, it helps to peg that theme with a primary significator. So in the Supreme Council statement you go right to the ascendant and its ruler, and the other images of the military become secondary significators. And as the story unfolds in the chart, none of these conflict with one another.
At the outset it’s helpful to remember that in some charts Saturn is going to represent a child and Venus is going to represent a man. There are two basic kinds of significators — natural ones (the Sun can describe the ruler of a nation, or father) and specific ones (the ruler of the ascendant tells us about the issue in question).
Respecting time constraints and attention span of less technically savvy readers, I cannot go through every permutation of every symbol; I summarize a much longer inquiry. I will often give a few sides of the issue, but in writing spot news one must be a little pointed. I trust that my readers trust that I’ve done my homework and speak from some experience.
In the examples you give, contrasting two charts, remember they are different charts with different purposes. The first was my own inquiry into the situation. The second was a concrete event — the statement of the Supreme Council.
I noticed that the charts are strikingly similar, with Leo rising and a Taurus Moon. But one is an event in my life (a horary question) and the other is an event in the world (the statement of some generals).
I’m going to approach them from a different framework. The themes are related — both charts were about the same situation in Egypt, for example. Leo rising is a highly suitable identity for Egypt, since everyone has seen that cat woman right outside of Cairo next to the pyramids.
As Lilly explains in his section on horary, the chart provides a lot of information, and you have to weigh and balance each factor and each side of the issue. Sometimes horary gives fast, easy answers, and you can certainly program a simplified horary to do so. Usually though it gives a complex image of a complex situation. The complexity will involve multiple significators, just like in life. Often people have numerous roles in our lives, and we have to sort out the interests and the themes.
Yes, it’s necessary to be flexible, but doing this kind of morph of event/horary, you need to have basic guidelines, that you know when to bend.
Responding specifically to your question about the signification of the Moon, taking the Supreme Council statement chart, you could argue that the Moon represents the dictator who is about to fall (the Taurus big boss up in the sky, coming out of the ominous 12th house) or that it represents the people who are toppling that dictator. Both are true, but in the statement chart, the Moon seems the more fitting image of the people and the ruler of the Taurus MC/10th house (Venus in Capricorn) conjunct Pluto seems the more fitting image of Mubarak.
Venus in Cap illustrates this as Venus rules the 10th (a house associated with the president) and it lands in Capricorn (the sign associated with government). Pluto represents transformation and it also represents his encounter with ‘the millions’ represented by Pluto and the sacrifice represented by nearby Vesta.
So part of what I’m doing is asking, gee does this look like what I’m talking about and what am I looking at and what does it seem to be saying?
Charts are picture books and when you put words to pictures, there is a necessity — if you want anyone to read — to have a cohesive narrative. In making up the story it’s necessary to be judicious and a bit judicial, weighing and balancing the possibilities, and cross checking against other symbols. That is different than being overly declarative, certain, etc. It helps to be able to argue both sides of the case like a good lawyer can.
I would say yes, deeper receptivity comes with time and experience. I had help reading the Supreme Council chart from David Arner, who I called up at 11 pm like I often do when big news breaks, and we went over it together. The bit about Mars sitting at the Sun-Mercury midpoint was his; he doesn’t use minor planets but he trusts that I do so in a coherent way. We worked out the interpretation together.
Then the new day comes and we test the theories.
The first question ask when doing a chart for an event or an issue is, “Does this chart look like the event? Why or why not?” Then you go from there. If you like this kind of astrology, I suggest you chart anything in the newspaper for which a time is given, such as the time of a crime or the last time a missing person was seen. The time is your invitation to cast a chart on the spot, and tell yourself the story. Then see how you did.
A great book on this kind of astrology is The Moment of Astrology by Geoff Cornelius. It’s great fun, witty, humane and scholarly. He handles the theme of multiple significations very well.
I hope that helps.
Re describing a life with a natal chart we need to remember that it’s a work of fiction. Unless you have a subject who is willing to be deeply revealing and honest in an open forum (or access to the years of person’s private diary and testimony from their friends and lovers, etc., etc.) we don’t have confirmation of the inner life that the chart represents. But we can have a good story. I am extremely leery of the absolute statements of past life stuff that EA purports to discern. Past life material in particular requires, in my view, multiple sources of confirmation, such as one or more regressions, present life confirmation through contacts, the astrology chart, direct memory, and so on. You cannot bounce on a trampoline hung by one or even two springs.
Hi Eric,
I’m using the following excerpts of your recent posts to articulate a question for you on the interpretation of symbolic language.
Posting of 2/10: Moon = image of Mubarak
“The MOON in Taurus doing this is also an image of MUBARAK (who has a mid-Taurus Sun) square (crossing) the angry people, who are represented by Mars, Sun and Nessus in Aquarius. The Taurus Moon is in the 10th house of government, so we have clear image of HIM. The popular anger this represents is about the people of Egypt having long sustained a psychic and psychological injury (hinted by Nessus).”
Posting of 2/11: Moon = image of People
“The Moon is the highest planet. It’s in the 10th house of government, extremely strong in Taurus (its sign of exaltation). The MOON represents the PEOPLE, who are solid in their values — the generals, as they have said, perceive that the people are in charge and that they have legitimate issues. Cancer (which the Moon rules) is on the 12th house, so the Moon comes out of the vast and overwhelming 12th — the Egyptian public, the most populous in the Middle East.”. . . “The real clue in the chart was that VENUS — who represented MUBARAK — was conjunct Pluto, which is an astrological way of saying that he’s a done deal.”
For context, my question is related to a discouraging experience I had some time ago of reading through a very long thread on an evolutionary astrology forum. many students had offered confident interpretations of a well known figure’s chart and some posters were commenting on how great it was that E.A. could describe the life of this individual so elegantly. these were long term students and i was agreeing with them on the apparent elegance of the technique as i read their interpretations. and then, in the final post, there came a clarification with apology from the original poster – the information was incorrect and they had been looking at the wrong chart. these students were just seeing WHAT THEY WERE LOOKING FOR in the GRACIOUS FLEXIBILITY of symbolic language.
to clarify: i don’t mean to cast doubt, be difficult, or cause offense. your confidence in what you offer is justified. I’ve felt the resonance of your interpretations and I value them. I’ve also experienced major planet transits consciously and have felt the precise energies that this language describes. I’ve felt pluto cross my ascendant, uranus on my sun, I’ve felt the stirring in the earth as the sun moves into Aries, the underlying change as it shifts into Taurus, Gemini, etc. I can name the energy I feel in people I meet. I can find what i feel in the chart when i look at it. I am building an understanding of distinct categories of energetic expression through experience and have come to know that we share a beautiful language for compelling and distinct dynamics. its because i have respect for your insight and for this language that I’m asking you difficult questions with the assumption that you’ve encountered them yourself and have come to a personal resolution.
While I respect that, by nature, symbolic language has a certain fluidity that allows for different levels of interpretation. While I accept that, with a change of focus, the moon can be both the people and the man. I find that as i study and try to build my own understanding, I regularly encounter an apparent . . . slipperiness of interpretation that raises all kinds of uncertainty as i try to develop confidence as a student. this uncertainty is raised when i hear different people express confidence in different house systems, when teachers suggest students use the house system that works best for them, when western astrologers admire the effectiveness of vedic techniques that use a sidereal zodiac, when teachers say they don’t worry about house systems because the chart always seems to work, and of course, when students, see the answers they want to see in the wrong place.
this is confusing, no? this free and easy way of finding what one wants to find? could you please address the general issue of slipperiness at some point? how have you encountered this? how do you navigate it? how do you know what to trust? where is the line between what we want to see and what time wants to say, is there a line? what advice do you have for students who are questioning these ambiguities? does the gradual mastery of symbolic language require a certain intuitive understanding that cannot be taught or memorized? does a deeper receptivity come with time and experience?
my guess is a lot of well intentioned but unintuitive students are getting their signals crossed. i’d like to not be one of them. how do i avoid it?
I don’t mean to overwhelm you with questions – just to express an uncertainty that you might feel prepared to offer some clarity on, in whatever way you choose, in whatever time you find.
Thank you.