Sunday, May 14, 2006

Zarqawi - A Study In Rectification

Zarqawi - A Study In Rectification
mumin_bey@yahoo.com

3:33 AM 05/07/2006 Sun

Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi is one of the most wanted men in the entire world, second only to Osama Bin Laden in importance to USA & Coalition Forces. He is one of the highest ranking members of Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terror network, and heads up the Iraq wing of the organization (known in the West as "Al-Qaeda in Iraq"), masterminding dozens of bombings that have killed hundreds of people, not only US/Coalition soldiers, but most often innocent Muslim citizens of Iraq. Not only has Zarqawi himself confessed to killing many people, but it is widely believed to be him that beheaded American Nick Berg which was seen around the world via streaming video on the internet. At present he is wanted by both the US and Jordanian governments; Jordan has placed two death sentences on his head, as well as an additional 15 year prison term sentence for his conviction of various crimes, most notably the horrendous bombing of a wedding party at the Radisson Hotel in Amman, Jordan last year; and the USA has placed a $25 Million dollar reward for information leading to the killing or capture of Zarqawi. He has both released his own videotape message to the media, and the US military has obtained, by way of several raids of Zarawi's safehouses, outtakes of said video, which appears to show a chunky Zarqawi wearing American made sneakers and having trouble firing his weapon. This was done in order to discredit him in the eyes of the Islamic World, he does his recruiting. At least as many rumors persist about him as does Bin Laden himself; and while all of this makes the rectification of such a man's horoscope daunting, it still is not as hard as it seems, if you know what you're looking for.

It has taken me less than an hour to rectify what I think Zarqawi's chart might look like, and I mention this not to brag, but to give hope to those of you out there who are a bit scared of rectification. As I said, it's not as hard as it seems, once you know what you're looking for. So, in this essay, I'll share a few of my tricks of the trade, in rectification.

First off, what you want to do is get as much detailed, yet concise information as possible on the person in question. I went to Wikipedia to get a bio on Zarqawi, which supplied me with all sorts of background info on him, as well as photos. According to it, Zarqawi was born on Oct 20 1966, in Zarqa (his name, which may well be an alias, literally means "man from Zarqa", much like the name Bill Scranton, or Grover Cleveland etc.), Jordan, and raised in abject poverty and squalor. At the age of 17, he dropped out of school, and at some point in the 80s, he was imprisoned.

Now, let's stop right here and go back and re-read what I just said. 17 is about the age when most kids transition from high school to college, a very, very important time of life in our time and culture; Zarqawi's NOT going on to higher education, has to shown in the chart in some way; the 9th House looms large as one of our clues, especially in light of the fact that he is a religious fanatic. So, we should be looking for a conspicuous 9th House, perhaps with considerable tensions on it in the form of hard aspects to the planets in the 9th and/or 9th House ruler.

Our next clue lies in the fact that Zarqawi grew up the hard way, amidst poverty; this too should be reflected in his astrology, perhaps by way of strong Saturnian overtones, since Saturn and its Sign Capricorn often denote austerity and times of want. Since we're looking for a potential Asc Sign and degree, perhaps these factors will be most evident here.

Now, we have 2 clues. Next, we take a look at Zarqawi's birthdate, in order to get a feel of what we're working with...

Zarqawi's Sun is in Libra conjunct Venus, also in Libra; the Moon is in Capricorn; Uranus conjuncts Pluto, with Pluto in Virgo in Mutual Reception with Mercury in Scorpio, itself conjunct Neptune; Saturn is in Pisces and Rx (weak family and especially, father structure) and opposes the Uranus-Pluto combo; Mars is Peregrine in Virgo; and finally, Jupiter is in Leo. The date tells us that this man has the capacity for being immensely popular in his circles, a capable organizer and leader, a charismatic speaker, writer and propogandist, a revolutionary for sure, and a penchant for unparalleled violence and brutality.

The Saturn-Uranus/Pluto opposition sticks out like a sore thumb, and should play a huge role in all of this here. It's the only hard aspect in the entire chart!-And when I think of the words "radical", "militant", "fanatic" I think of Uranus, for sure. Putting Uranus in the 9th would certainly make sense, all the moreso when we consider that Pluto will be there too; and this would mean that Saturn would be in the 3rd House - there's the narrow, fundamentalist view of Islam, alright - expressing itself in the mindset, the approach to the world.

OK, we've got that out of the way; placing the Uranus-Pluto combo in the 9th gives us either a Sag Asc or a Cap Asc. Either could work, but Sag rising makes more sense to me in light of what we know about Zarqawi - his religious zeal, his travels to many countries, and, his forays into newspaper reporting and publishing, which he did right after the war against the Soviets ended in Afghanistan in the 80s. Besides, the Cap Moon would most likely be rising in the Asc anyhow, and this Moon position also makes sense, as a 1st House Moon expresses itself as a "do your own thing" sort of Moon. Clearly, Zarqawi has had a very free hand to conduct operations in Iraq, to such an extent that some observers have suggested that he is a rival of Bin Laden's not a subordinate. Another reason why I would opt for the Sag Asc is because the Signs Sag and Virgo in particular, and Mutuable Signs in general, are very prominent in the charts of the Arab countries in the Middle East - Saudi Arabia's chart, for example, has Sag rising with a cluster of Virgo planets in the 9th House. This is vital in our discussion here, because Saudi Arabia is the stronghold of Islamic belief, where Mecca is located. In OBL's chart, note again the prevelance of Mutables, with his Sun in Pisces and his Moon most likely in Gemini (and the Al-Qaeda trademark of multiple bombings, synchronized to go off either at the same time, or one right after the other), and so on. Also, giving Zarqawi a Sag Asc would put the Asc ruling Jupiter in the 8th House, one of the most mysterious and secretive Houses known to Astrology. Like Bin Laden himself, he is a very hard man to capture or kill, having survived at least one attempt on his life, though not without injury.

Just that quick we've established a potential chart for Zarqawi. Now we refine it by way of adjusting the chart-clocktime...

Using the EET timezone, at about 10.45 in the morning, the Asc would be in late Sag; now, remember Zarqawi's dropping out of school at age 17? Well, this is where good ole Solar Arcs come into play. Uranus in Zarqawi's chart is 22 Virgo; that means it has to travel 8 more degrees to hit Libra. 8 from 17 leaves 9, so that means that we'll need about 9-10 degrees Libra on the MC in order for Uranus, by Solar Arc, to make contact with the MC. So, we roll back the potential birthtime to 10.25AM EET. By the way, Zarqa is right outside Amman, the capital of Jordan, so use that as the birthplace if you have trouble finding Zarqawi's home town.

Let's check in with the transits at around the time he dropped out of school - transit Pluto would have been sitting on his Sun (1983), while transit Neptune was going back and forth over his Asc. Keep in mind, that all three of these planets - Pluto, Uranus and Neptune, are very, very active in his natal chart to begin with, and now are re-activated by way of Solar Arc and transit. It's very hard for something NOT to happen when you see such a highly charged chart to begin with. SA Uranus coming to an Angle in the horoscope usually correlates to the person moving away, or in some way standing up for oneself and making a fresh start. With Pluto and Neptune in the mix by way of transit, this is the period that I fully expected Zarqawi to become radicalized Islamically.

Now, the rest of the picture should come into focus easily. He was arrested and spent 7 years in prison from 1992-1999; at the time of his arrest, the Uranus-Neptune conjunction would have been going over his 1st House Cap Moon. Neptune=prisons. And his crime was plotting to overthrow the monarchy and replace it with an Islamic Caliphate - there's the Uranian role again! Note how Zarqawi's natal placements in this regard keep coming back again in the transits and arcs. Additionally, transit Saturn was gearing up to square his natal Mercury-Neptune conjunction, another debilitating, weakening period. So again, it all makes sense.

Between Sep 11 2001 and the Summer of 2002, Zarqawi is said to have seriously wounded in Afghanistan at the hands of combined USA military and Afghan Northern Alliance forces in fierce combat; he is said to have gone to Iraq for medical treatment, where some say he lost a leg. There is little doubt that he would have been in trouble during this time - beginning in Oct 2001, he had transit Uranus square his Neptune, followed in Mar 2002 by SA Asc=Mars/Pluto, SA Mars=MC in May 2002, and SA Mars=Sun/Saturn in Jun 2002. Perhaps the big kicker in all this was TR Saturn square Pluto in the same month, Jun 2002! All of these measurements point to pain, strife, even death, which many have said Zarqawi was near, and the treatment he received in Iraq helped him to recover from the injuries. But could he have lost a leg in the battle? Saturn is one of the planets that most correlates to the legs, so it certainly is possible, probably likely.

Then, he was anointed by OBL himself in a audiotaped messgae aired by Al-Jazeera on Dec 27 2004: ""the prince of al Qaeda in Iraq" and asked "all our organization brethren to listen to him and obey him in his good deeds." After the grisly beheading of Nick Berg earlier in the year (May 2004) and the bombing of the UN Iraqi headquarters in Aug 2003, this was Zarqawi's defining moment, being heralded and recognized by Bin Laden as his righthand man in Iraq. In that month, Dec 2004, transit Saturn had squared Zarqawi's Sun (ambition), transit Pluto had squared his Uranus (major noteriety) and transit Jupiter squared the Moon. Before that, transit Jupiter conjunct Zarqawi's Pluto in Aug 2004, and in the weeks that followed, he would have SA Sun=Mars and transit Jupiter conjunct MC.

Will Zarqawi be captured or killed anytime soon? If my rectification of Zarqawi's chart is anywhere near accurate, Sep 2006 will be a key month to look for, when transit Pluto not only crosses his Asc, but also moves to square his Saturn from the 12th House. Saturn-Pluto anything normally registers as very, very difficult, and keep in mind the deep trouble he was in during his firefight in Afghanistan. I am hopeful that they do either capture or kill him, because he has brought so much misery, pain and death to so many others and must be stopped. We'll see how it goes.

At any rate, there's a rectificationcase done up for you. Again, once you understand the principles of Astrology, know how they work and so on, and once you have some facts about the person in question, it all then comes down to some detective work on your part. Don't be afraid to mess things up, that's how we all learn, including me, LOL.

Salaam,
Mu

New Orleans: Nagin's Chocolate Factory, Or Landrieu's Great White Hope?

New Orleans: Nagin's Chocolate Factory, Or Landrieu's Great White Hope?
mumin_bey@yahoo.com

6:51 AM 05/14/2006 Sun

With the 1st year anniversary of one of the USA's worst natural disasters ever, Hurricane Katrina, fast approaching, another storm of sorts grips the Big Easy - the upcoming runoff elections between the Crescent City's embattled mayor, Ray Nagin, and Louisana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, of the famed Landrieu Clan. Like any good political campaign, this one has plenty of meat on the bone and stars for us astrologers to study, in determining who will win out in the first of many very important races in this year's 2006 Elections.

Both men are very well known; Nagin, born Jun 11 1956 in New Orleans, was at the helm along with Governor Kathleen Blanco during the Katrina crisis, and Nagin's "chocolate city" comments and related remarks have got him into a bit of trouble with New Orleans White sections, who view the comments as divisive. On the other hand, Nagin, who has had unusual support from both Whites and Blacks in his run for and eventual victory for Mayor, a few years back. This time around, however, with Katrina's aftermath aggravating tensions along racial lines, Nagin clearly has more support among Black voters than Whites.

Which could prove key for Landrieu, should he choose to play that card; born Aug 16 1960, also in New Orleans, he is the 5th out of 10 children sired by "Moon" Landrieu, one of the Big Easy's Big Daddys. Moon was mayor from 1970-1978 and enjoyed quite a bit of popularity among African Americans for his refusal to go along with anti-desegregation proposals in the lates 60s and early 70s. If Mitch is successful in falling back on his father's good deeds for Blacks, he could parlay his daddy's good track record into the winning votes he needs.

It should be pointed out, that in the primary last month, Nagin won 38% of the vote over all, while Landrieu got 29%. Nagin got the majority of Black voters, Landrieu, the majority of White ones. Whether either wants it to be or not, the Mayoral Election for the future of New Orleans is indeed, about Race. If Landrieu wins, he will be the first White mayor since his daddy completed two terms, ending in 1978 - almost three decades. All eyes will be on the Big Easy next Saturday, so let's see what astrology has to say about who will win...

Mayor Ray Nagin has the Sun in Gemini sextile a Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in Leo, while at the same time, the Sun widely trines Neptune; in the declinations, Nagin also has the Sun, Venus and Pluto in alignment within one degree. Venus is "out of bounds" contributing to both his handsome looks and his considerable popularity despite the hurricane and his off-color (I couldn't resist the pun) remarks. Although he has Mercury square Mars, surely the force behind his now well known radio interview that was laced with profanity, if his Moon is in Cancer at the time he was born, it could go a long ways toward continuing to endear him to the public. Lastly, Nagin has Uranus=Venus/Jupiter=Venus/Pluto. Overall, his Solar chart speaks to considerable Super Aspects that should make him very tough to beat - again, keep in mind that he came out on top in last month's elections, in a field of over 20 candidates!

On the other hand, Landrieu has his Leo Sun conjunct Uranus and also trine Jupiter in Sagittarius; Venus conjuncts Pluto and sextiles Neptune, which is nice to see. But in comparison to Nagin, Landrieu doesn't seem to measure up. Not only that, but he also has the following midpoints: Mecury=Saturn/Pluto (difficulty getting his messae out without sounding too heavy), AP=Sun/Neptune=Uranus/Neptune (strong potential for looking weak or lackluster, no "ooomph"); Mars=Saturn/Neptune (possibly confusion over which way to deploy his campaign energies; lowered energy output, essential for anyone jockeying for a job) and finally, Sun=Mars/Neptune (the public not quite being sure what Landrieu stands for, as opposed to only being against Nagin). It seems that Nagin clearly has the astrological upperhand - and if Landrieu wants to win, he'll need the help of his big sister, Senator Mary Landrieu, and Big Daddy Moon Landrieu himself, to help him get the vote out in his favor. It's too much of an uphill climb on his own.

Checking the transits and Solar Arcs for this month, there is nothing exact for Nagin; but for Landrieu, last month, he had SA Mars=Venus and SA Mars=Sun/Jupiter, signs of success for sure. This month however, he has transit Saturn square his Neptune, which will be exact about a week after the elections. That can't be good, and with his Solar chart already not as strong as it needs to be to knock off an incumbant with a very strong one in Nagin, a debilitating transit of Saturn to one's Neptune at the time of a runoff isn't cool.

Mu's Prediction? Nagin in a landslide.

You heard it here...

Anybody up for some Chocolate Milk?

Salaam,
Mu

Astrology & The Culture Wars

Astrology & The Culture Wars
mumin_bey@yahoo.com

5:30 AM 05/14/2006 Sun

Last week on my way in to work, I heard something over the radio that made me wake up right out of my snooze. Here's the deal...

Guy meets gal; guy likes gal and vice-versa, and they're off to the chapel and gonna get married. After awhile, gal gets in the family way, and then there's three.

All's well for a minute; but one day, it dawns on guy that things aren't passing the smell test; gal is acting strange, and the baby, now that he/she's going on 3 years old, isn't looking anything like him or the missus. So, one day, he decides to take the kid to the DNA spot, just for his own peace of mind.

Well, don't you know, the test comes back, with all intents, a virtual 100% NEGATIVE that guy is the daddy. Gal didn't preggers until after they met, or so he thought...which only leaves one conclusion-

She was creepin'.

Well, since this is a clearcut case of adultery, guy can just call it a day and go about his business, right? WRONG - according to Pennsylvania state law, if dad sticks with the kid for two years or more, he's considered the dad, no matter what the DNA says, no matter if he was duped into believing that was his kid when in reality it wasn't. According to the "paternity rights" attorney sitting in the radio studio as a guest of the talkshow host, dad is dad, period, and this is to protect the rights and welfare of the child. Even though the host, himself an attorney by trade, pointed out that guy in the example above was clearly cheated on, it was all to no avail; the paternity rights expert insisted that the way PA law is is what's best for the child.

Just out of curiousity, I asked the fellas at the gig what they thought of such an example; now, keep in mind, there's about 30 guys in my shop. NONE of them thought that was fair in any way, to the fella, or should I say, SUCKER, in that example, and in fact, most of them openly voiced the fact that they felt the justice system was stacked against you if you were a male.

Two weeks earlier, I got an email from a good friend, in which he delivered what I considered to be very sad news: a young lady with whom he had some intimacies some months back, had conceived and decided to abort; the baby, had it lived, would have been born this month. My friend just found out two weeks ago, when she decided, finally, to tell him.

I have no idea how he feels about the issue, although my guess is that he had to have felt something about that, due to the fact that he would email a group of friends something so personal.

No matter how you feel about the two scenarios above, it's quite clear that the LAST person who is considered is the guy; the rights of the child is protected in the former case, the rights of the woman is protected in the latter. The guy's rights however, be damned.

These and other issues are a part of the "Culture Wars", a roiling debate that has spilled out into the public square, the courtroom floor, and into the voting booths accross this country. It is so-called because there is a fight to determine what kind of society we want to be - more God-fearing or less; more government dependent or less; more libertine or less; more radical or less. While Gay Marriage and to a lesser extent, at least for now, Abortion have taken centerstage, the two instances I cited above are right on the horizon and ready to burst.

As astrologers, we should be weighing in on all of this - afterall, we've all had to, at some point, deal with these issues. And while we all know that for the most part women tend to consult astrologers in our culture than men, I can say from personal experience, that I've had both types of men mentioned above consult with me, usually, because they have no other recourse, legally or otherwise.

Most of us are at best natal astrologers, and those of us who consider ourselves interested in mundane, for some reason never get around to delving into what's been mentioned above, or the subject line of this post. I have my own reasons for why that is, one of them being, that so many of us never come into contact with the guys talked about above, and/or, many of us see no problem with the continued massiave social and legal changes afoot.

Those of us who watch the Outer Planet transits know, that Saturn has moved out of Cancer and into Leo, both of which are Signs where Saturn is said not to be at his best; in a few months, he will oppose Neptune, a further debilitating period for the Ringed One, and all he represents, like fathers and men. Perhaps not without a sense of Celestial Irony, Mars, surely a representative of men, is currently transiting Cancer.

At the time of the radio show, which I heard as I was headed to work, Saturn was sitting right in the 4th House in Leo, quindecile Neptune in the 11th and ruling both the 9th Houses of law and courts, and the 10th House of fathers. The Sun, ruling the 5th House, children - was rising in Taurus in the Taurus Asc. And Mercury, also in Taurus, was sitting right on the Asc.

At the time I got word of my friend's email, Saturn was sitting right on the Leo Asc in the 12th House, square the Sun again in Taurus, this time with the Sun in the 10th; Mars in Cancer rules the 10th; and Saturn is once again quindecile Neptune, this time Neptune in the 7th and conjunct the Moon. Jupiter rules the 5th in Scorpio, sitting in the 4th and quindecile the Sun in the 10th; Pluto sits in the 5th.

With the first of the Baby Boomers beginng to retire (those born in 1946 - Pluto in Leo, Neptune in Libra, Uranus in Gemini, Saturn in Cancer), it's a good time to consider all they have brought to us, the good and the bad, and look forward to what Pluto's transit in Capricorn will bring for the Boomers' progeny - the Gen Xers and Generation Me's, both of whom are in their mid to late 30s and late teens and mid 30s respectively. There is no doubt that the Boomers have brought along sweeping cultural shifts, but the full impact of said shifts will be felt the most by their children.

The Outer Planet passages of Uranus and Pluto thru Virgo and then Libra, saw unpreceedented shifts on the social and marital fronts, so much so that they still have large impact today.

In the late 70s to early 80s, with the passage of Uranus into Scorpio, the paternity DNA test was born, an interesting and in my view, potentially devastating follow-up to Roe v. Wade and The Pill. Although intended at first to pinpoint fathers with absolute certainty so as to force them to pay up, the DNA test has the very strong potential to do more harm than good - if the guy isn't the daddy, he can usually go about his business - and then the child is left with no father at all. In times gone by, men never really knew for sure if a child was his or not - he had to take the woman's word for it, unless it was real obvious otherwise. Now, there are increasing incentives for men not to have children, settle down and marry - and we're talking marriagable men now, not louts.

My own sense of things is that once Pluto enters Capricorn in 2008, things will begin to finally go back to normal socially, etc., but not without a fight from the ideologues.

What say you?

Salaam,
Mu