Libya’s Turmoil

 Um el Maa Oasis

photo credit: Michael Diederich (November 2005)

There are at lot of charts for Libya. For centuries it’s been ruled by treaty, partitioned by war and overrun by invaders. Not meaning this to sound cavalier, if your nation has been a power in the Mediterranean region north, south, east or west, its likely that at some point in history your nation has been in charge of the area we know today as Libya.

That nation – that collective/collected territory seem to have its roots in a peace treaty struck between the Allies and Italy which, as of February 10, 1947 has Italy relinquishing its command of Libyan lands.

February 10, 1947 - Italy relinquishes all control of Libya

in a treaty with the Allies (Tripoli)

This chart, in many a way – describes Libya as a nation as one which arose out of war (WWII) and which in that metaphysical formulation is created replete with the  groundwork for the Libya we know today, a Libya which is now painfully showing us its 'wartime-like' roots.

This concept starts with a chart which has 23 Libra on the 6th house of national health, work and service. Not only that, but this Libra 6th house contains the whole of the sign of Scorpio. Known as an interception, this ‘sign wholly encapsulated by a house’ is Scorpio. And in this intercepted pool of captive Scorpio energy is Chiron conjunct Niobe/Klotho and Jupiter conjunct Charybdis, Panacea and Eros/Hera.

The 6th house of any national chart is the nation’s ‘health’ as a nation plus its health care system, the general health of its people and the ‘health’ of its civil service and infrastructure, replete with whatever efforts are made to maintain the country in working order.

Modern Tripoli - Shari al Coiche

photo credit: Jaw101ie (June 2009)

A national 6th house also pictures the civil service, those who work to create or keep up the national infrastructure and – probably important here – the military.

One of Scorpio’s aspects is about death, conception and resurrection – hence the idea of the Phoenix being associated with Scorpio. So to have Scorpio intercepted in the 6th speaks of the war through which Libya was created, the warriors which created it and as a means of foreshadowing, the military man who would come to rule it.

The ruler of Libra (the sign on the cusp of this 6th house) is Venus. The Venus of this chart is in the 8th house of power, control, sex and joint finances – which in a national chart would be more like the nation’s use of credit and debt and/or what it uses money for.

Venus as a concept is about bringing things into being.

 We often think of Venus as the beauty of Aphrodite which inspires results. But the reality of Venus is more about what you earn, you have, what you have, you get to use as a resource. 

Which yes, would be why the concept of beauty is that ‘if you’ve got it, flaunt it!’ Of course that does sort of ignore how much work often goes into being that casually beautiful…

…But that’s another blog.

My point here is that the Venus of this chart is in the administrative/governing sign of Capricorn - is conjunct calculated Lilith. Calculated Lilith is either what we deny about our society or what our society denies (“refuses to know or acknowledge”) about us. And with this pair conjunct Scylla, there’s a whole stubbornness about this, plus a “whirlpool” effect – the ability to get ‘sucked in.’

In the 8th, this could easily be seen as Italy being…uh… ‘cajoled’ by the Allies into surrendering Libya. I mean, who thinks Italy woke up one morning saying ‘I want to set Libya free!!!’

 The ancient rock art of Tadrart Acacus bears mute testimony to

Libya's past as an area which was once far wetter - a land of

savannas which would have supported large animals like giraffes.

photo credit: Roberto D'Angelo (December 2005)

I don’t know about you, but WWII doesn’t strike me as a war which inspired such moods. As if any war does?

But moving on. In some houses (such as the 12th) Venus can indicate a free flow of creativity, no question. In the 8th however, it tends to be very controlling. And since it rules that 6th house (replete with its ‘impounded’ military) there’s the whole sense of ‘mandate’ to be associated with this Venus-Lilith-Scylla in the 8th. And that metaphysical essence would not only be part of Libya coming to be, but in what it is as it starts out.

No, not exactly what you would call a liberal start to national identity.

But we could go very ‘maybe yes, maybe no’ on whether this was going to be good or bad for the new nation…until we see how this 8th house is ruled by the Scorpio Jupiter intercepted in the 6th house.

It’s a closed circuit which turns itself a bit inside-out, right? The sign on the 6th is ruled by a Venus in the 8th with the 8th house ruled by a Jupiter which is intercepted in the 6th.

This ‘inescapable’ quality is what tips us off that the nation is not only controlled (Scorpio and 8th house) into being, but that the factor which goes into and comes out of this incarnating of the Libyan nation is a controlling (Scorpio) and probably charismatic (Scorpio/Jupiter) member of the military (6th house).

And no, I don’t know who negotiated for the Allies in WWII, but there’s no question but that Gaddafi – the man who will end of seizing and wielding Libyan power and power over Libya – he was widely known to have been a dashing, charismatic military presence when he took power.

Of course there is the other side of this Venus-Lilith-Scylla thing…that whoever would take power would do so without paying all that much attention to the people. And the people, in reality, would not be really honest with themselves about who this leader is.

If we had any doubt about this descriptor-description, we would look to the ruler of the Venus-Lilith-Scylla in Capricorn. That would be Saturn, which positioned in the 3rd house is in Leo.

Saturn in Leo is notorious for having…well, let’s just say a bit of an issue with arrogance. In the 3rd house of mentality and communiqués it’s a rather brilliant image of a nation created through treaty: you WILL give up these lands…they WILL become a country. On the other hand, this would also tend towards a country where those in charge would want (demand) to be right, and one prone to wanting to  dictate to others – including other governments. Making this all a little less comfortable is the idea that this Saturn is conjunct Eurydike and Atropos, making the newly freed Libya a place where the cost one is made to pay (Eurydike) equals and ‘end’ or ‘loss’ (Atropos) where the Saturn dictate is not adhered to.

Tripoli's 'Old Town'

photo credit: Franzfoto (November 2010)

At the risk of sounding a little like that old song about the leg bone connecting to the hip bone and the hip bone connecting to…. to have such a Leo Saturn-Atropos-Eurydike disposing the 8th house Venus (plus stubborn Scylla plus societal denying/disliking calculated Lilith) which in turn rules a 6th house with Scorpio intercepted therein replete with Jupiter…that seems to be the basis upon which the Libya we hear of today – a country ‘formulated’ less as a ‘nation’ as most conceive of it than a  hierarchal-tribal rule, leaving it apt to being not only run by a “strong-man” figure who comes to power through the 6th house military but who grows up thinking of this as the way the world should be run.

Children tend to formulate a good deal of their ‘view’ of the world between Jupiter’s first opposition (at about age 6)/Saturn’s first quarter cycle (approximately age seven) and the end of Jupiter’s first round (11.86 years), which is just shy of Saturn’s first opposition at about age 14.

Muammar Gaddafi was born in 1942. He would have thus been 5 when Italy relinquished its hold on Libya, and he would have been 9 when the Kingdom of Libya came into being on December 24, 1951.

 Kingdom of Libya: December 24, 1951 (Tripoli)

For a country to change charts, we would expect there to be some indicator on the original chart – in this case, the Independence (from Italy) chart. And indeed there is. Libya becomes the Kingdom of Libya as Pluto is opposing the Sun of the Independence chart – a challenge which comes from the 4th house of the populace and nationalism.

Interestingly, this is also what we saw with Egypt – as Pluto moved across the IC into the 4th house of culture, homeland, national population and tradition, Egypt changed. We see the same thing here. The new chart has Pluto at 21 Leo – the ‘exiting’ of the total opposition to the 20 Aquarius Sun of the Independence chart. This is Pluto picturing emergence…and in essence, the repercussions of transformation.

(LINK to the first of the blogs on Egypt. There are others linked in the sidebar Corporate, National and/or Political Kind section.)

In the Independence chart, shape shifter Haumea is at 18 Leo; Deucalion (finding the moral path) is at 22 Leo. Pluto runs over Haumea and ‘the shape of things’ begins to shift/change. Libya becomes a kingdom and then Pluto conjuncts Deucalion.

Considering that Pluto creates, denies or destroys, this is an interesting signal. Like as not, all three forms of this dynamic were felt in the new, young kingdom. But to fast forward to today, it would seem that the transformation into a kingdom which came to be ruled by Gaddafi ultimately denied the morality of the people and represents a ‘kingdom-format’ (as opposed to some other form of national governance such as a democracy) a format which is unlikely to work for Libya in the sense of giving the Libyan people their moral rights as a people.

That this is a negative and not positive call here is actually underscored by the idea that the Sun of the Kingdom chart is conjunct the Black Moon (calculated) Lilith of the Independence chart. Today we hear a Libyan people saying – if nothing else – that their kingdom’s ruler (Gaddafi as monarch) has ignored them and denied them their rights.

By this chart, their Independence would be denied. And since like all astrological signals this one swings both ways, the uprising of the Libyan people suggests some pretty serious consequences (a “dire” outcome) for Gaddafi. Black Moon Lilith can certainly represent a society or social standard which we want to ignore – but it can also represent the society or social forces coming to ignore everything about us. Considering that this statement is being made via the Black Moon of the Independence chart which is in the 8th house, the acts and attitude being displayed by Gaddafi towards his people (having them shot in the street) is absolutely 8th house.

Snow in Al Bayda, Libya

But as he has turned on his people, so also does this Kingdom Sun conjunct Independence 8th house Black Moon also says everything can be turned against him. Like attracts like…what we put out will come back to us. This is always true – and doubly potent when the symbols are 8th house oriented, which is to say either posed in the 8th house or in Scorpio.

As for the Kingdom chart as a whole, with Juno-Chiron-Sun conjunct in the 10th in Capricorn accompanied by Edisona, Medusa and Scylla, there is both a need to be strong and a likelihood that rulers of this Kingdom are going to be overly strong. Juno/Sun in Capricorn is the need and existence of dominant leadership – adding Chiron means one finds their own way in the doing of it, which in this case led to strength in Capricorn commerce (Edisona would be the ‘new idea’ which helped the country along) but Medusa/Scylla is a fearful stubbornness and ability to swallow others up which has been activated now as transiting Pluto is rolling over all these positions.

But why would Libyans explode now instead of continuing to tolerate their life? As viewers in a big world of events, we can easily say ‘that’s what’s going on in the Middle East – the turmoil is spreading.’ Yet astrologically, that doesn’t work – charts are more like data: they don’t react to external “feelings” or a world ‘mood.’

Instead, what we have is (let’s say it all together!) the January 4th Solar Eclipse at 13 Capricorn – an eclipse which occurring in Capricorn is easily ‘about’ government and commerce and what governments are doing with money and about commerce (their own and otherwise) …and this is an emotionally evocative degree.

In the Kingdom’s chart, this eclipse occurs virtually atop the Part of Fortune – Fortuna, as she is known. It’s something the Kingdom needs to go through and needs to know it will need to resort to (if necessary) time and time again until/unless things function correctly. That last part – the ‘functioning correctly’ comes from this Part of Fortune appearing in the functional 11th house. And since the 11th is about income, the marketplace, societal gatherings and operations of a nation in the world and a nation’s people in the national marketplace, all that we see going on and all that we hear from the Libyan people about their lack of opportunity and what is/isn’t allowed is entirely on mark.

That this Part of Fortune is conjunct Kleopatra says the people and Gaddafi know what they are doing and that they ‘speak with or in many tongues.’ Also conjunct Icarus, this Part of Fortune stands for actions taken in a sudden, headstrong and precipitous manner.

Jabal Al Akdar - Cyreraica in Eastern Libya

Photo credit: Barghathi

But does this have to be fatal? We would hope not, yet with Damocles and Vega at 13 and 14 (which makes Damocles exactly conjunct the Part of Fortune) there are perils to be faced…and frankly, Damocles/Icarus/Vega would spell an eloquently spoken ‘plunge’ which yes, could end in death.

(LINK to article on Damocles)

And there is another little pair ‘o’ points to be considered here. One is the 12 Capricorn Part of Fortune being semi-sextile Pallas (wisdom) at 12 Aquarius, which is an ego-bruising don’t bother me which mostly/greatly flows from the top down in this kingdom society. The Pallas portion of this also underscores a lack of regard for education of the people and use of their wisdom.

But there is that other little issue…namely that this Part of Fortune is in EXACT opposition to Uranus, aka Uranus conjunct Sirius, Ye Old Dog Star which teaches that little things (and “little people”) matter – and that sometimes we need to stick our ego in a box and do what needs doing instead of humoring ourselves.

Given how this Uranus is in the 5th house this is the quintessential ‘who gets to do what they want’ versus ‘no, you can’t do what you want!’ sort of energetic which the January eclipse went and set off, sort of like a heat-sensitive explosive encased in ice and left out in the sun.

With this all said, there’s also a teaching in astrology called progressions which, particularly with national charts functions best with a regimented ‘year-as-degree’ of movement. From 1951 to 2011 is sixty years, which in astrological terms is sixty degrees, or a sextile – equaling opportunity.

And if the Lunar Nodes represent society as a whole (which they do!)…a sextile backwards (by sign, which is how the Nodes move) would take us from the North Node at 2 Pisces to progressed North Node at 2 Capricorn. And 2 Capricorn is right smack conjunct Edisona and right between the 3 Capricorn Juno and 1 Capricorn Sun ‘ruler’s image’ of this Kingdom chart.

Oh, a new thing would be a brewing now, yes.

Being that Neptune is as of posting at 28 Aquarius about to move thru intense Aquarius 29 into Pisces as of April 2011, we have an image of Neptune in opposition to the Kingdom’s Regulus/Deucalion. Deucalion again being about ‘finding the moral path’ the people are saying their ‘morality’ is about having it be moral for them to have opportunities in life, it here joins Regulus – the royal star which promises success if vengeance is avoided.

With this combination situated in the 6th house of civil service and (yes,) military, it’s a very bad astrological idea (never mind political or humanistic!) for for Gaddafi to allow any military (particularly his own!) to fire on his own people. That several Libyan fighter pilots flew to Malta and asked to defect when asked to fire on the Libyan people is the ‘up’ side of this opposition. Neptune is opposing from the 12th house – a very strong position for Neptune. Still in Aquarius, the people will feel for the people’s plight – this is not going to be one group of Libyans saying another is out of their mind for protesting.

Moreover, all of humanity is going to object.

 The ruins of an ancient Roman theater in today's city of Sabratha

photo credit: dumidog

But this isn’t going to be easy. When Neptune reaches Pisces, the first thing it will hit in this Kingdom chart is asteroid Lilith – the cost of what one has done. This may be Gaddafi’s end, it may be the cost of revolt being paid by a people, either in human or societal terms.

This is one of those charts we could talk about for hours – the Mercury in Sagittarius at the top of the chart gives us a government (a king of the land) prone to hard-headed pronouncements. With the Mercury ruled by Jupiter/Eris in Aries, there’s an aggrandizement of the rights of the monarch with the now-being-seen willingness to serve out discordant treatment of the people (injury to members of the populace). With House and Typhon conjunct this Jupiter-Eris, there’s a comfort (House as ‘being at home’) with primal acts (Typhon), which coming from a military man turned national leader surely suggests a willingness to resort to military tactics and killing.

Plus with that Jupiter/Eris in Aries, one would surely look at the Mars/Saturn/Ixion/Lust/Medea in the 7th house in Libra. This is a weakness to entitlement (Mars/Ixion), a strong-arming (Mars/Saturn), a focus on what you love (Lust/Medea) and a craving for what suits your will even if it in time brings your downfall (Saturn/Ixion/Lust/Medea).

And for those not yet convinced, there is a 5 Scorpio Moon in the 8th – a fusion of money and power in the house of life or death, control or agreement – another underscoring of the potential for selfishness or violence. Or for that matter, terrorism or the sponsoring of same in any way, shape or form. Yes, this could be a great position for a government which really works with a people who earn being worked with. But Moon in the 8th OR Moon in Scorpio tends to feel what it feels. Combined, that becomes more of a given.

The final coup de gras here? That this Moon is conjunct Hybris and Byblis….not a pretty triad! Hybris is an arrogance to think you can get away with something. But eventually, it does come back to haunt you. And Byblis is wanting to justify something which on the face of it, should not even be argued for. But there’s something about it (namely that you want so for it to be okay) which makes you try and justify your love for whatever your Byblis quotient is.

That Libya erupted after Saturn took its station and went retrograde atop Ixion, backing into Mars as the ignition point says a lot. It both ignites the pent up feelings of the people as portrayed in this chart and all the propensities for how the ruler of this Kingdom will act in return.

 A mosque in the city of Ghadames - a protected

UNESCO world heritage site

photo credit: Roberto D'Angelo

 

So where is Libya going? The June 2011 Solar Eclipse at 11 Gemini will be right between fixed star Aldebaran (integrity) at 9 Gemini and fixed star Rigel (the teacher – 16 Gemini) at the 16 Gemini IC/Nadir point of this chart.

Because this eclipse is conjunct the Nadir of the Kingdom chart it acts to sort of ‘blast’ the base out from under this chart – implying that there is either a ‘teaching of a lesson’ to the country or a ‘greater wisdom’ which undermines the foundation upon which this Kingdom chart has stood now for 60 years.

That number – 60 – is in astrological circles a fairly automatic reminder of Saturn, by the way. Given that Saturn takes 29.46 years to go once around the zodiac, that’s pretty darn close to 60 years when you double it. The Saturn of this Kingdom chart being at 14 Libra with Saturn in retrograde going from 17 Libra back to 10 Libra tells us that this time...these weeks...this is the Kingdom chart’s Saturn return. It's going on right now. It's in progress. And it won't be complete until August, 2011.

Put in prosaic terms, Saturn is a symbol which says what you earn, you shall reap. This Kingdom chart seems to have earned a bucket full of trouble!

But why would that be? After all, the first go ‘round of Saturn didn’t create that kind of trouble, right?

Well, right. But that first Saturn return didn’t happen in conjunction with a Solar Eclipse squaring Saturn.

This brings up something which is important to understand: in astrological terms, one big transit can indicate a problem or an advancement. But catastrophe or achieving something over-the-moon fabulous requires more than one indicator. Saturn returns are something like a “payout” …or when the bill comes due. Some people have really great Saturn returns!

But in a chart like this where we see Saturn (at 14 Libra) square the Part of Fortune and Uranus – this is Saturn sitting at the apex of a t-square. The challenge of a t-square is to get “past” the apex of the “t”, which generally represents something difficult in your own (ego) nature to put aside. If you can manage it, then you reach the ‘other side’ of the “t” and everything falls together.

In this instance, as Saturn came to its (second) return at/as the apex of the Kingdom t-square – this is when the Solar Eclipse hit the “destination” point – the Part of Fortune.

And what do Solar Eclipses do, class? That’s right – first they show up all the worst positives, then they ‘black out’ what quality.

We are now officially in the worst of the positives zone, and that Uranus is at the time of this uprising and Gaddafi’s threatening (ordering?) of a ‘bloodbath’ of government against its own people, Uranus is at 29 degrees of Pisces – the last degree of the zodiac. The uprising began with Uranus at 28 degrees – conjunct Athena (knowing, wisdom) and fixed star Scheat, a point famous for rejection of ideas. The people rejected the rule of the leader and the leader (Gaddafi) rejected the right of the people to reject him.

(Oh – and by the way…the full name of the Greek Goddess is Pallas Athena. Her name has been parted into an astronomical two-ism with one asteroid being named Athena (or Athene) and another rather important astrological asteroid being known as Pallas).

Unfortunately, the combination of these symbols in this national chart (as opposed to a personal chart) suggests this is not going to be a quick process Libya is going through. Not only will June’s Gemini Solar Eclipse hit the Nadir of this chart but July 2011’s Cancer Solar Eclipse will hit the 5th house cusp of the Kingdom chart, rousing the full expression of that Scorpio Moon/Hybris/Byblis in the 8th.

This is an awfully long post. As I started, my intention had been to continue on into a discussion of Gaddafi’s personal chart. Born June 7, 1942, Gaddafi has a Sun which at 15 Gemini falls right at the Rigel/Nadir of the Kingdom chart.

 Muammar al-Gaddafi

June 7, 1942, Sirt (aka Sirte or Surt), Libya

Aries Wheel (no time known) - no Moon shown

With that point about to be ‘eclipsed’ come June, that seems enough to say.

Besides, the future of Libya as a nation which is home to millions of people seems far more important than the fate of one man who seems to care not at all for the values of his people – or the world.