I have been pondering this blog since the breaking news of the attack on Israel by Hamas at 6:30 EEDT on October 7, 2023. As the story continues to unfold, and Google searches about the history of Israel and the Palestinians surge, I have been analyzing the birth chart of Israel as well as the transits at the moment this horror began. Not being an expert in middle east history, or more specifically the Israeli – Palestinian conflict, I don’t intend to weed into the nitty-gritty of this sad situation from a political perspective.
Before providing a detailed astrological take on this event, I want to address an inquiry I had a few days ago from a friend asking a very legitimate and commonly asked question about the role of astrology in such things. Paraphrasing… “How can this event or others be stopped/avoided if they are being driven by astrology?” I asked to call him to provide an answer. Here is a brief summation of what I said. I asked him if there was an outdoor thermometer at his house he could see. If so, when he looks at it, there is a temperature that is displayed. My next question to him was if that thermometer was causing the weather to be what it is or merely providing you with a frame of reference from which you can make judgements about what to wear, or even if you want to go outside at all? In other words, the weather is separate and distinct from that thermometer and being controlled or influenced by something higher, something different.
For me, this cuts to the core of how I have come to understand astrology. I do not believe it is casual in nature but rather reflective of the divine zeitgeists at work throughout the multiverse. Astrology is a means of taking the temperature of the cosmic weather. It can tell us about a singular moment, like your birth, as well as moments yet to occur. This, again, is no different than the weather in that at any given moment we can ask what the temperature is, and look into the future for an idea of what weather is coming.
So then, it is with this backdrop I want to explore what did the moment when Israel was attacked indicate in relation to its founding chart. The official record seems to agree that Israel as we know it today was founded on May 14, 1948 at 4 pm. When I cast the chart for Israel and began studying it, there was something that jumped out immediately. At the time of its founding, Israel had the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Uranus, Pluto, and Vesta all in a state known as out-of-bounds (OOB). This is something I have never encountered, six astrological bodies in a single chart being OOB. Quoting from AstrologyUniversity.com:
“When a celestial body goes beyond this maximum declination of 23°27', either north or south, it is considered out-of-bounds. In that position, the planet is outside the boundary limits of the ecliptic plane − that is, beyond the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun.”
The significance being that in astrology when a planet is OOB it acts differently, in other words in a person’s chart, or in this case a country, the manifestation of planetary energies can’t be interpreted in the normal manner. The OOB signature is very much Uranian, the strongest common denominator being the desire for freedom. Other characteristics of OOB are bucking against the system, being a maverick, marching to one’s own drum, and following one’s own rules. When I saw that Israel had 5 planets and 1 asteroid OOB at its founding I wasn’t surprised. There is no country quite like Israel on the planet and it definitely has marched to its own drum since inception.
At the time of the attack there were a large number of notable transits that immediately jumped out as warning signals that this moment, lamentingly, held the potential of this type of development. Again, the reason I began this blog with a discussion of the non-causal nature of astrology was to dispel any postulations that I am in any way indicating what I am about to describe is the reason what happened, happened. As the oft repeated expression goes… the reason for it all is “beyond my pay-grade”. What I can say with certainty is that the astrological clock astrologers use, can and does assist in understanding moments in time, by providing sometimes eerie glimpses into the great mystery. When this type of information is provided in advance it can be beneficial to the recipient, but that is not how it always happens.
Anciently, you may or may not be aware astrologers were often consulted on matters very much like the tragic event we are all watching unfold in Israel. They were known as court astrologers and they provided counsel and guidance to royalty and other leaders throughout history. This was a very prized position, but also a dangerous one. Astrologers who were good at what they did are now part of the historical record, while those whose skills were found lacking, … let’s just say they had friends wondering where they had disappeared to. If you want to read more about royal court astrologers, go here: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/history-royal-court-astronomers
Let’s now take a moment to analyze 6:30 EEDT on October 7, 2023 in Israel. Below is Israel’s birth chart, it’s in the middle, and the positioning of the planets at the time of this gut-wrenching situation (the transits) are placed in the outer circle. The south node is at Libra 25:25 and Libra Mars at 26:36 by transit. In astrology, the south node of the Moon is a point associated with unresolved karma, and patterns that keep repeating themselves. Next to it resides Mars, the God of Aggression, War, Soldiers, and Military matters. It is also important to note that this is not a comfortable placement for Mars, here in Libra, as it is in a condition known in the astrological world as detriment. Planets in detriment tend to deviate from their natural inclinations, which in this case would be a deviation from the qualities of Libra… fairness, balance, compromise, or justice. So here is an uncomfortable Mars positioned next to the stagnant and stubborn energies found in the south node.
But what is even more striking is where it is located in relation to the chart of Israel, it is conjunct (on top of) their ascendant. The ascendant in the astrology of a country is the country itself and the people in it as well as its general condition of prosperity and health or not. If all you knew was this, I suspect it could be a reason for caution. The significator of the unresolved, the south node, and the agitated energies of Mars are in a tight relationship with Israel itself at this moment.
Diving deeper, this same transiting Libra Mars is in a cardinal T-Square with a Capricorn Pluto and a Cancer Moon. Cardinal energy is associated with beginning things, taking action, starting stuff. Mars is at the apex of this T-Square. I have just discussed the qualities of Mars but what about Pluto and the Moon? Well, Pluto looms large in this chart of the moment of attack because it is also part of another powerful and ominous configuration known as a Yod in which Pluto sits in the apex position. Of note, a Yod is also known in the astrological world as the “finger of god”. Pluto was also retrograde and in the late degrees of Capricorn. More on this in a moment.
In this T-Square we find Pluto, a significator energetically of disempowerment (as well as empowerment), sabotage, and destruction in opposition to the Moon, a significator of security, women, children, and also vulnerability. Oppositions present a situation that can get overdone at the expense of something else. In this case sadly it seems that this moment resolved itself through the uncomfortable and agitated Mars conjunction with the south node of the moon.
This same Pluto in Capricorn forms a Yod with planets Mars and Uranus in the chart of Israel. Something clicked in mind when I first observed this… as I was listening to talking heads, also known as the news, there were references to Nazis echoing everywhere. And justifiably so I would add because we all have some level of memory of what happened to the Jewish people during the rise of Nazism. I thought I would check the chart of Adolf Hitler, who in 1933 was appointed Chancellor of Germany. As an aside, but I believe profoundly significant, I wrote a blog a few months ago about the dream my daughter had on June 3, 2023 in which regular readers may recall she and two other young people her age were on a mission to save the broken world, at one point she recounts the following:
“We found our way to sit on it and the Ferris wheel kept moving. I was looking out of the Ferris wheel feeling the wind when we were now in a car that had just driven under a bridge. I was with my friend and I asked where on earth were we or better yet- when were we. We were in an old-fashioned town but I did not know where- it was America though. We were driving in this red old-fashioned car while we were investigating where we were when I looked to a bridge to see the year 1933. We were on another mission.”
Just sayin’…
So, what did I find when I referenced Adolf Hitler’s birth chart? He had a Yod!! This actually left me distressed for several minutes… Coincidence? Perhaps… It felt to me, however, more like an evil apparition grinning from the grave.
A Yod for the non-astrologer is made up of what are known as a semi-sextile and a quincunx. The nature of this aspect is intense. It is most frequently associated with problematic differences, blind spots, and something that needs an adjustment. It is also associated with the 12th harmonic, which is indicative of fate and destiny. This to me seems confirmatory of what the south node/Mars conjunction seemed to be signaling, a moment where the unresolved and seemingly karmic in nature explodes! At the apex of this Yod is Pluto, God of Death, Destruction and Rebirth. Pluto also is associated with the evolution of our souls. At the moment this clandestine operation commenced, Pluto was retrograde. Why might that be significant? When a planet is retrograde by transit in a chart it tends to stir up matters of the past associated with its energy. In this instance, this astrologer’s take is this is a continuation of questions about empowerment and disempowerment, integration, and a revisiting of questions that have hovered ominously over this situation for 75 years.
Pluto was connected to two planets that in my estimation add fuel to the fires… Mars and Uranus. Here we have the involvement of Mars again in the energies at play in this moment. And then we add Uranus, the God of the Unexpected, Change, and Liberation and it seems that things were providential for such a tribulation to unfold. It is also important to highlight the fact that Pluto is connected to Israel’s natal Mars and the transiting Mars at 6:30 EEDT on October 7, 2023, with both being in challenging aspects of a square and quincunx. This was quite simply a moment of great tension.
There is more, much more I could write about this moment through the astrological lens. But at this point I suspect you are getting a sense of what this astrologer saw upon casting this chart of the moment for such a horrific development, which as you read this, rages on and has the whole world watching, praying…
In conclusion I just want to add my voice to those calling for a somber reverence for the victims, and there are victims on both sides. Please remember these are human beings and not just pictures on your computer screen or TV. This is also an ancient wound that has yet to heal. We as a collective are living at a time when the cosmic clock is calling for change, big change, transformational change. Unfortunately, our experiences here on this planet involve, and always have, sickness, conflict, disagreements, and death. But this life also involves love, happiness, joy, and hope. My hope is that we emerge from the current tumult with a new enlightenment, one that helps us to release the madness of war and arguments over whose God is bigger or better, and we begin to embrace love, compassion, and understanding. It’s up to us, and the stars are just telling us what time it is…
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