Burkina Faso in Flux, Part 1

The 4th house rises in the Solar Return (SR). Are you surprised? I’m not. Take note of the MC at an anaretic degree of 29 Taurus 46. Mars sits at the apex of this chart, and yet it seems Mars–just about a week after the Independence Day anniversary–came and went at the apex without much ado. That seemed odd to me, so I decided to see what else was happening. It seems quite possible that the timing was actually planned with an element of surprise since SR Neptune would have squared the MC at the time of the actual coup.
In my effort to understand more, I brought up the Lunar Return (LR) chart next and had a look, and lo and behold, the 9th house was rising in this chart for the 29th of July. A 2-minute partile conjunction of the Moon to the LR ASC with natal Saturn following suit at 21-minute partile conjunction and LR Pluto at a 55-minute partile conjunction to the ASC. I wondered whether the intention had been either for a peaceful coup, or something happened to make it fall through perhaps at the last minute. Everything certainly appeared to be in place, complete wth the element of surprise from LR Uranus making at 17-minute partile conjunction to the LR IC! But natal Mercury at that time was receiving a 9-minute partile conjunction from LR Mars, making me suspect there might have been some infighting among those who generated the coup perhaps in terms of leadership. It’s also possible that the coup’s planners had attempted to reason with the current government since there was even a 16-minute partile conjunction of LR Mercury to the natal Sun. Natal Pluto in the LR 8th house was still in a 53-minute partile conjunction to the LR Vertex, and I wondered whether they coup organizers had worked to ensure the absence of violence especially so close to Independence Day events.

But lest anyone thinks this was a quiet coup, think again. According to CNN, Burkina Faso: Military takes over after presidential guards detain President, PM the likelihood of this having been a quiet takeover was more troublesome than we on the outside might have realized. Al Jazeera indicated “Military takes to airwaves and declares it now controls West African nation, just weeks before planned elections” under the headline Military claims control of Burkina Faso amid unrest, implying that martial law may have been imposed.
The third house rises in the most recent LR with Mercury conjunct the ASC and transiting Uranus conjuncts this new LR’s MC. But again, I didn’t see the timing of the coup showing in these Lunar Returns as I should have, leading me to suspect that the coup actually happened hours before. CNN validated my suspicion by noting the actual seizure and toppling of the government had occurred during a Cabinet meeting. Highlights to the story I noted in the very beginning of this analysis pointed to fury rising in the nation days ago (“Days before the raid, a commission had recommended the disbanding of the presidential guard“), which does appear to align itself with the SR MC progressed to the 17th of September and SR Neptune’s 1°21′ square to this point. CNN also noted the coup actually taking place on Wednesday, the 16th and not the 17th as the video implied. However, the video I saw on the New York Times – Interim Leader Challenges Burkina Faso Military Coup offered the time of the military making the announcement of the coup.

Moving back to the SR and finally confirming my suspicion that Neptune had been key to the timing, I then moved into considering this chart more closely since it now seemed more relevant. I went through the process of all of the other charts, however, because I couldn’t confirm the timing of the coup initially with the Solar Return, and the Lunar Returns pointed to rising frustrations and anger without a clear focus like I normally see with these charts. The problem in this case was not the timing of the Lunar Returns rather the timing of the coup. The shifts are clearly shown that unrest appeared to be coming with this kind of timing as the progressed SR MC crossed the squaring position to Neptune from last week to now.

Al Jazeera’s headlines later noted, “Protesters against military coup killed in Burkina Faso” with a subheading of “Street clashes erupt after army declares full control of West African nation, weeks before planned elections” and pointed to at least 3 deaths and another 60 injured. Lieutenant Colonel Mamadou Bamba read a prepared statement in which the electoral code was criticized since it blocked members of former president Blaise Compaore’s party from participating in the October 11 elections. Compaore had held office for 27 years before an uprising last year.

Amidst protests, leaders of the coup announced the release of interim President Michel Kafando and the reopening of the borders although the prime minister Isaac Zida would be remaining under house arrest. According to an article in Reuters, “Burkina Faso coup leaders offer olive branch as protests mount,” leaders of the coup tried to reassure protesters that their stay in charge was only a temporary one.

I don’t really see anything of significance for the October elections, which makes me think the elections will go smoothly and as planned. On the other hand, February’s Lunar Return suggests the possibility of more upheaval again between the 8th and 10th of the month, tensions rising again in March–and here as well as in April, the situation appears to be potentially deadly. While the days between the 30th of March and the 2nd of April seem to indicate tensions waxing and waning and even deadly, I don’t see April quite as volatile as March is for this country. I’ll continue to watch as I can and perhaps be able to focus further in the coming weeks. For now, while the United Nations, France and the United States have urged a softer, gentler approach to government in Burkina Faso, I question whether these elections set for October 2015 will actually work in the long run. We can certainly hope so however.

Namaste, I love you.

©2015 Michelle Young