I had only been studying astrology a little over a year when a tragedy hit someone close to me at the time. A complex tale, the person’s father, years before, had moved to a country far from his and his father’s birthplace. Over the course of the next roughly 20 years, the father had launched a highly successful, internationally known restaurant and had established a relationship with a woman from the new land where he had settled without his small children and their mother. And in a moment, that woman changed the lives of three families when she murdered the man with his own gun.
The person I knew–now living in the USA–had had plans to see his father again for the first time since childhood. Instead, he was going to the other country to wrap up his father’s affairs and attend the funeral. I thought about this back then and had lingered on Uranus, of course, remembering how this “expect the unexpected” planet had touched anyone’s life, often with broadsiding moments.
“The best laid plans of mice and men…”
But learning in astrology never stops. The more one studies, the more one develops additional understandings through knowledge, experience and growth. Observation–like required lab sciences in school–serves as an integral part of this process. Whether or not we consistently and consciously recognize these studies as part of the broader historic astrological curriculum, observation has been the best teacher any astrologer or student has ever had. My speaking of this or that planet touching our lives either through personal or mundane analysis is, of course, a symbolic reference to previously observed aspects and transits in historic mundane event charts or even personal charts where certain trends and results came into play. That old saying “history repeats itself” lies at the heart of our need to observe these patterns.
Continuing this journey through the years, I realized how my observations and experiences enabled me to develop an additional awareness about major transits in general: Any number of major transits can point to the same kinds of events on both mundane and personal levels. The timings will be contingent on the natal charts involved; the expression of these events will often reflect the subtle or volatile energies in play, whether Cardinal, Mutable, or even Fixed.
Since 2009, we’ve seen the nightmares associated with the Cardinal Grand Cross as they’ve evolved and continue to evolve now from the Cardinal to Mutable energies. While some may think this shift points to quieter times, I can’t help but encourage readers to behave with compassion, love, and a celebration of the world’s peoples while remembering that illusions are often cloaked in what we think is reality.
What better time then to begin this article as the first of a long overdue series?
I don’t see this as a period in which we can clearly identify a specific starting date. It’s more like an evolution, perhaps an intermarriage of several historic events that should have been linked long before this. I had actually started this passage prior to the sentence you’re reading now back in October with the bombing of Ankara. Ankara will come into this series too; but first, I need to address Paris in Peril.
“This is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values we share.” President Barack Obama’s words encompass all of the thoughts and prayers, spoken and unspoken, most of us felt on Friday night, the 13th of November.
And so even though we’ve seen several other attacks that will fall into this Holy Terror series prior to last night, it’s only right that I start with Paris, the best place to start this series. Paris affords me the privilege of using a recognizable symbol of the City of Light: L’Arc de Triomphe, standing in the center of La Place de l’Etoile offers each path bringing us to the point where we are now. And just as I believe this is the right way to do so, I believe–as much as I would prefer not to–all of the paths haven’t yet been laid in l’Etoile, “the star,” that will create the crux of this article series known as “Holy Terror.”
Wikipedia (not my first choice for reference but they have referenced a video that notes the time) writes, “On the evening of 13 November 2015, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks—consisting of mass shootings, suicide bombings and hostage-taking—occurred in Paris, France, and Saint-Denis, its northern suburb. Beginning at 21:16 CET,[13] six mass shootings and three separate suicide bombings near the Stade de France occurred.[13][14] The deadliest attack was at the Bataclan theatre, where attackers took hostages and engaged in a stand-off with police which ended at 00:58 on 14 November.” Wikipedia – Paris Attacks
En français: [(13) “Soudain, l’une des bombes explose en plein match”. 20 minutes. On entend clairement, sur cette vidéo, la détonation de 21h16“
“On entend clairement, sur cette vidéo, la détonation de 21h16, qui sera suivie plus tard d’une autre explosion.”
If ever a chart pointed to a totally coordinated attack, this, incredibly, may be it: While one might expect an independent, in-your-face approach, the focus of the chart is actually of the moment of the first of the suicide attacks launching this series of attacks on Paris on the night of the 13th of November. And yet I get a clear sense of equally well-coordinated timing rather than the bomber’s simply random choice to do so. Pay attention to the Western below-the-horizon, 2nd quadrant dominance pointing to considering others with a decision at a time we could, I suppose, call the “trigger moment.” The bomber was part of a very tightly knit network we can’t miss: Take note of both luminaries (Sun and Moon) and five of the planets, which can point to the magnetic pull of the terrorist network possessing more control over its members even than one may normally think of as blood ties, those we usually know as family from birth to adulthood.
I remember reading Machiavelli’s The Prince on the night before my Western Civilization final in college and groaning as I realized that 125-page book was far from an easy read and needed much thought, much note-taking, and a completely tighter grasp than a quick read could give me. By the time I finished the book, I had 15 minutes left to scan a nearly 500-page history text in hopes of refreshing my memory. I wanted a A for the course. Machiavelli’s The Prince was my choice of response to the required essay in part 1 with the alternative being an essay reply to an in-class dialogue we had had sometime during the semester! I was blessed and somehow managed to ace the exam and the course.
It seemed to me back then that Hitler had perhaps read the same book, or his closest colleague had. Frankly, I’m amazed no one has brought up the parallels noted in the rise of Nazism and its branches between the close of WWI and the end of WWII and the similarities of organization among contemporary terrorist groups today. It seems to me Islam–fundamental or not–may be an ideology that links its members in the same ways in which Nazism did; but not all of the members of these terrorist groups are Muslim, at least not when they first join. About two days after the attacks, Anderson Cooper interviewed a lawyer representing the mother of a 16-yo boy who left for Syria and joined ISIL. The mother raised him as a Christian. Yet clear patterns are now pointing to internet-savvy terrorist networks with the same kind of magnetic pull I noted in a couple of paragraphs earlier.
A huge emphasis on the 2nd quadrant with Uranus and Chiron still in play commands our attention yet again to a Blooming Undecaquartisextile (UQSXT) formed with the Mars-North Node conjunction. But don’t stop there: Mercury and Jupiter form a yod to that intercepted Uranus which is still squaring Pluto in the 6th house! Again, some may disagree with calling the aspect between Uranus and Pluto a square; but at least for now, consider it. The orb may not be as significant in the greater scheme of things, which is why I’m not really concerned about addressing it. But in the long-range perspective, its presence can be important. Despite my penchant for wide orbs, I might be less inclined to use it with this analysis as it stands.
In part, I’m seeing some other dynamics bringing Pluto clearly into play with a significantly tighter square to Uranus that took place earlier this year. The Antiscia (Solstice Points) of these two bodies are falling in tight aspect: Uranus’ antiscion at 12 Virgo 43 forms a 53-minute partile trine to transiting Pluto while Pluto’s antiscion at 16 Sagittarius 24 makes a powerful conjunction to the Sagittarius Moon in a 38-minute partile triggering square to 9th house Chiron. I call this “triggering” because of the Moon’s interplay that sets off the Blooming UQSXT. As for the earlier, tighter square from earlier in the year, this too plays a role.
Take note as well of the perfected square between the Part of Fortune and the North Node! Yes, that also means it’s squaring Mars, but it’s perfected (0°00’00”) in the square to the North Node. If you think back to various events of the last year–from the beheadings in Syria to kidnappings in other nations–you may recall a key demand in these situations focused on money–lots of it. I suppose we all knew the ransom demands would obviously finance more nightmares over time. And certainly we’ve seen them.
As for Mars, this particular placement–00 Libra 34–sits in a 1-minute partile conjunction to the Antiscion of the March 20, 2015 Solar Eclipse at 29 Pisces 27! At the same time the eclipse fell in the 11th house of the chart, the Antiscion fell in the 5th house Libra interception while Uranus–intercepted in the 11th house–made an 8-minute partile square to Pluto in the 8th house! All this, remember, takes place with the Part of Fortune in the attacks chart forming a 15-minute partile square to the March 20 Solar Eclipse as well.
Authorities keep declaring “fundamental Islam” is the focus of these events linked to what I’m calling “Holy Terror.” Please understand, I am not saying anything about whether “fundamental Islam” is the crux of the issue or not. On the other hand, I’m really amazed that no one has noted the parallels between the rise of the network seen in Europe from the close of WWI and the 1950s with the onset of the Cold War era. The concepts of these eras still relate to the same ideology of scapegoating any group of people.
Now that doesn’t make the actions of those involved in any attack–whether we’re speaking about Kristallnacht of November 9, 1938 or the McCarthy era of the 1950s (the Cold War era), whether we’re speaking about the “who did what to whom” related to China, Korea, Japan, Iraq, South Asia, the Middle East, North America, Europe or any other region of the world. When we buy into a particular ideology that ultimately blames “the other guy,” we’re falling into the trap that sets the stage for war whether based on revolution or a quest for freedom. War still requires two sides of the argument and the unwillingness to pull feet out of the mud.
New York Times – In Rise of ISIS, No Single Missed Key but Many Strands of Blame
Is it possible that the smoke screens, the confusion of Neptune in its square to Saturn, has contributed to the current state of affairs? According to one reporter I heard on CBS nightly news, ISIL–or, as media and national leaders have begun to refer to them, “DAESH“–is killing more Muslims than any other group. (Please note, dear reader, if you don’t understand the decision of world leaders to use Daesh, or “dash” as I’ve heard some media personalities saying, click on the link “DAESH” before this sentence, and it will become crystal clear.) Through these actions, they’re simultaneously turning these killings into both a fear mechanism and a recruiting tool. In this way, they tap the mindsets of the Muslim community to show power to the oppressed while slaughtering those they perceive as forces who are oppressing. In the midst of hostilities between the Shiites and the Sunnis, DAESH continues to wreak havoc in the Muslim populations around the world through fear via the same historic focus the world witnessed with previous political ideologies.
The Nazis did it among themselves, demanding that children turn in their parents for perceived disloyalty against Hitler and the motherland, for example. They also aligned themselves with the Croatian Ustashi. Many will remember similar approaches from the GWB administration following 9/11: “If you’re not with us, you must be against us,” lines that might also have evolved in time to “if you don’t see it our way [or agree with us], you must be a terrorist.” The words and actions become manipulative, and certainly this is where that Uranus-Pluto square still comes into play.
DAESH says this attack on Paris is the “first of the storm.” In the passing days since Friday the 13th of November, the soccer match between Germany and the Netherlands was cancelled because of a bomb threat; Air France flights already en route were forced to land in other destinations for bomb checks; and the United States was warned that Washington, DC would be attacked. The latter has now resulted in the US Congress entering debates on how to handle the current refugee immigration crisis, setting the stage for more divisive chatter even among the same parties.
Consider this: If Mercury’s pre- and post-retrograde shadows symbolically make correlations to various events in our personal lives several times a year, then surely at least the same amount of time–roughly 2-3 weeks before and about a week to ten days after–can be expected to correlate to mundane and personal events related to the outer planets, often with chaotic overtones. I don’t believe it’s coincidence that Neptune moved to apparent direct motion today, the 18th of November.
Thanks to Astrodatabank and collector Didier Geslain, the AA-rated data for Omar Ismael Mostefai, one of the attackers at the Bataclan theater, is now known. He was one of the terrorists who had killed himself after authorities identified his remains.
I wasn’t surprised to see the 12-minute partile conjunction of transiting Neptune to his Ascendant, especially with the Neptune directional shift so close by the 13th. But consider as well that his Moon sat in Pisces. While the 29-yo bomber–still in the last stages of his Saturn Return (it takes roughly a year to get fully on the other side)–was able to elude authorities beyond petty crimes, he tended to rely on others’ opinions in making decisions for himself. His closest long-term relationships would have much to do with those decisions since he not only had a Western above-the-horizon dominance, but the 3rd quadrant captured much of his focus.
If a sense of fatedness played a role from where he was in his life, that also seemed to hold true with this fervor linking him perhaps to the idea that he was martyring himself for “the cause,” very much a common vein in those who may be in the midst of such a conjunction to the Ascendant. Props to John Davenport for identifying the natal Ascendant and transiting Neptune undecaquartisextile to Mostefai’s natal Vertex, while natal Mars by antiscion made the conjunction to transiting Chiron at the same time the transit was still quincunx to natal Mars! And as if this weren’t enough, the antiscion of the transiting Ascendant was forming not only a 43-minute partile square to transiting Neptune, but a 55-minute partile square to the natal Ascendant.
Mostefai’s Mars formed a 14-minute partile square to transiting Pluto during the Solar Eclipse while forming a mere 6-minute partile opposition to transiting Uranus. The synastric aspects with the Eclipse chart created a Cardinal T-square, yet his Mars still formed the T-square with orbs that weren’t much wider on the 13th of November. If we look at the Mars antiscion, we still see Mars in square to his natal Mercury-Uranus conjunction which then squares the transiting Moon. If he knew where he was heading in his life, it would seem he was very confused and easily lead. Sadly, he leaves behind at least one small child.
No pretty pictures here, just one more piece in the puzzle as we move through the Holy Terror series. Hopefully these events will slow down long enough for me to begin to find the rest of the patterns in this web of terror. The story as it relates to Paris alone is enough for an entire chapter in a book. Perhaps more. These are just snippets of the dynamics we see here. I suspect these events will interweave since they’re so closely clustered together in the mere month since the attacks in Ankara, but time will tell.
In the meantime, quoting from the YouTube below as I share it because it has stunning ties to this series as you’ll discover even now after all these years since she sang it. For now, suffice to say while Mostefai was born in France, his natal roots apparently are in Algeria. As John Davenport noted with impeccable timing, “Home grown terror shipped abroad.” Indeed, John!
“[Edith] Piaf dedicated her recording of the song to the French Foreign Legion.At the time of the recording, France was engaged in a military conflict, the Algerian War (1954–1962), and the 1st REP (1st Foreign Parachute Regiment) — which backed a temporary putsch of 1961 by the French military against the civilian leadership of Algeria — adopted the song when their resistance was broken. The leadership of the Regiment was arrested and tried but the non-commissioned officers, corporals and Legionnaires were assigned to other Foreign Legion formations. They left the barracks singing the song, which has now become part of the French Foreign Legion heritage and is sung when they are on parade.”
In the meantime…
Namaste, I love you.
Michelle
©2015 Michelle Young