Heart-breaking. That’s the only word I can think of when considering what is transpiring in the country of Syria. A civil war has been raging for 2 years, many thousands on both sides have been killed including women and children, mass graves have been found and now news of chemical weapons being used. If you look at the astrology chart of Syria, one can clearly see the horrible situation that has developed.
One has got to say that President Assad of Syria is nothing if not a clever operator. The fact that he is still holding onto power despite a year and a half of violence which turned into full blown civil war in Syria shows he has been able to keep the core of his support on his side. No less than 7 planets in mutable signs, all except Mars, Venus and Neptune make him able to twist and turn his position to his advantage. Now however, the heavens are turning against him. David Cameron, the UK Prime Minister on tour in the Middle East signalled today that he would agree to the safe passage of Assad out of Syria, if it meant an end to the bloodshed there. It just so happens that the next two new and full Moons are eclipses, and they will hit vital areas of Assad’s own chart and the Assad family regime one, so that request for Assad to go may well be heeded.
A bit more on the Syrian crisis which continues to dominate the news channels across the world. President Assad is continuing to assert his iron grip over an ever desperate population. Unlike in Libya, the world powers seem reluctant to step into the viper’s nest that is Syria, possibly because there are no oil reserve in the country, and a whole lot of potential religious problems to deal with if you get stuck in there. The world it seems has no more stomach for a drawn out conflict, as happened in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Russians who vetoed the latest round of proposed sanctions have self interest at heart, as they have provided Assad with much of the military hardware that he is using on his population, and China’s veto against sanctions probably was related to it’s own problems with Tibet which is bubbling again. The Chinese view seems to be that they do not want to sanction any intervention, because they themselves are supressing the Tibetan minority against their will, and their view is that the leaders of each country must be able to do exactly as they need to control their own people, and their right to national sovereignty is absolutely sacrosanct.
Oh my here we go again. Over the past few weeks the temperature has been rising in Syria. Yet another Arab country with this time the ruling Assad dynasty under pressure. President Bashar Al-Assad has been in power since 2000, when he succeeded his father who had been in charge for the previous 30 years. Seeing what has been going on in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, it seems the people are in a mood for change, however they have a huge obstacle to overcome in the name of President Assad and the Ba’ath party.
The Syrian chart based around the country’s accession from France shows a very dominant and brutal mini grand trine with Pluto being at the point of the formation completed by Neptune in trine to a very disruptive Mars/Uranus conjunction. Often easy going aspects (trines and sextiles) with malefic planets can precipitate violence easier than stressful aspects. The quindecile between Mercury and the 10th house Pluto which is secretive and controlling shows that much of this brutal control goes under the radar than most people see.
The transit charts for Syria are looking quite fraught. Transiting Pluto is approaching the Syrian Sun and is quindecile to natal Saturn, so change of the Assad regime does look a potential on the horizon. Transiting Saturn which has just crossed into the Syrian first house is now square to the Midheaven so pressure will now be brought to bare on President Assad. transiting Uranus is trine to the second house Venus, so there is potential social unrest in the air and it is also opposing the 12th house Neptune, so mobs of groups may now be forming in response to the unrest, however this also may precipitate some suffering too. I suspect the Syrian leader may be readying his forces and the police in response as transiting Mars is now trine to the Moon representing the general public.
President Assad has a brutal chart. Born on 11 Sept 1965 in Damascus (no birth-time), he has a Sun, Pluto and Uranus conjunction in nervous critical Virgo opposite harsh Saturn in deceptive Pisces and maybe Moon forming a wedge pattern with Mars and Neptune in deep dark Scorpio at the point. Here is a man who is sly, sneaky, able to adapt to situations as he has 7 planets in mutable signs, and has no scruples in using brute force (Mars), torture (Pluto), unusual underhand (Neptune) or shock tactics (Uranus) to keep his hand on the levers of power (Saturn). By the astrology, this is someone not to be messed with, and a man who will cling onto power by his fingernails if possible. The transits on his personal chart favour him for the minute. He has a constructive sextile between transiting Saturn and natal Jupiter and a trine between that Saturn and natal Jupiter. It would be nice to see how his Ascendant and Midheaven is affected but unfortunately with no birth-time it isn’t possible. I have to rely on the national chart and it’s aspects to see how the head of State may be affected.
In my view, Assad will see out this wave of protests, however his power and standing will be weakened, and when Uranus comes round at the end of the year to complete it’s retrograde cycle finally stationing on Syria’s Midheaven in December, then it will be crunch time. It is going a lot of force and sacrifices by the people to get the change in power that they so desire.
