Paris. Attacked. The fabled city of light and love, a centre of all that is good and civilized marked by violence and death. Who can believe it? As I write this, reports and reactions are ongoing and the news is completely dominated by this tragic event.
Much is unknown at this time but what is being reported, I believe accurately, is that the set of coordinated attacks began at 9:20 p.m. in Paris, France on Friday, November 13.
Of course, a horoscope for that moment can be drawn up for that time and place and it is most revealing.
Like every horoscope, it is a moment in time from the perspective of a specific time and place.
Mars has just entered Libra. Usually when Mars changes sign, it does so without much notice, but in this case it was conjoining the nodes of the Moon and the horoscope’s IC, which just happens to be connected to what is considered the “world axis.”
So much for the astrological jargon. What does it mean?
Mars at its best is the principle of assertion, but all too often, humans express Mars as rage and aggression. It also rules guns and explosions. It’s an obvious culprit for such a violent event as the Paris attacks.
And sure enough, its placement is emphasized in the event horoscope.
First, it’s what astrologers call angular. In fact, it’s right on an angle. This reflects its conjunction to the IC: the point that most represents the immediate location the neighbourhood and home or root of an event. Planets here, like on any angle (there are three others) have the greatest power to directly act. The IC opposes its external counterpart, the MC, which among other things represents the established order.
So we have Mars placed with an ability act locally in a way that contravenes what is considered acceptable. This would not be a big deal by itself: Mars reaches this point for every location on the planet once daily. But there’s more to this Mars factor.
Secondly, Mars is placed in the sign of Libra, a sign where it is traditionally considered not to be at its best. In a person’s chart, it is typically reactive. It tends to see itself as force for counterbalancing what it perceives as injustice: an equalizer that can even the score. Quite an ominous placement in light of what has happened.
So on top of having Mars with the power to act, we are contending with a planet inclined to behave badly. This by itself is not necessarily a big deal: Mars in a sign stays there for on average for about two months.
Thirdly, Mars is conjunct the nodes of the Moon. The nodes of the Moon are not like planets, which are material and classically observable points in a horoscope. The nodes of the Moon are where the orbit of the Moon intercepts the Earth’s orbit. They are only two and are always 180 degrees away from each other. When the Moon crosses its North Node, its pathway forward lies in the northern hemisphere i.e. north of the Earth’s orbit. When the Moon crosses its South Node, its pathway forward lies in the southern hemisphere i.e. south of the Earth’s orbit. The nodes of the Moon move backwards through the Zodiac on average slightly more than 3 minutes of arc per day, getting completely around every 18.6 years.
Even though they are not planets, the influence of the nodes of the Moon are significant. When the Sun and Moon together align with them, solar and lunar eclipses occur. It is for this reason that the nodes of the Moon have sometimes been viewed as representing a dragon that can consume, at least temporarily, the light. The North Node is sometimes called the Dragon’s Head (Caput Draconis) and the South Node the Dragon’s Tail (Cauda Draconis). Mars connected to the nodes of the Moon has a very bad reputation: two memorable occurrences were in September 2001 (911) and July 2005 (London bombings).
Fourthly, the beginning of Libra is just any point. It is the first degree of a cardinal sign. These degrees (there are four cardinal signs) make up what astrologers consider to be the world axis. When significant activity occurs here, it is more likely to manifest at a global level and affect a great many people.
Fifthly, the horoscope for the event configures very strongly in one of the horoscopes for France itself. For anything that comes into existence at a particular time at a particular place, an astrologer can draw up a horoscope. So nations have them too.
There are many horoscopes for France, as the nation has been re-constituted a number of times. The most recent one is its Fifth Republic, which came into affect, according to Wikipedia, on October 4, 1958. Many astrologers use October 6, 1958 at 6:30 p.m. because it was then that the seal was affixed to the constitution itself.
However, the referendum in which the people of France decided to proceed with the constitution of the Fifth Republic was held on the previous September 28, with the polls closing at 10 p.m. Given this tragic attack on Paris, it seems to be the relevant horoscope.
In the September 28 horoscope, the angular Mars at the critical world axis degree in Libra conjoined with the North Node and the event horoscope’s IC is conjunct the Mercury placement of the referendum’s horoscope. This is a critical placement in this horoscope for France as it is the ruler of the rising sign (Gemini). In a person’s chart, the rising sign among other things is the body of a person: the birth point from which the primary defenses of the personality come from and it has a similar meaning in a nation’s chart. It is the body of the nation, the memory of its origins and its survival drives.
A significant impact on the ruler of the rising sign will affect these levels of a nation. So a charged Mars, flavoured by its sign and empowered by its position in the event horoscope and its relationship with the light-swallowing Dragon’s Head and its link to global reach through the world axis, impacts the planet most associated with the intrinsic defenses of the nation. The coming together of all these factors coincides with national tragedy for France with reaction across the globe.
This of course begs the question. Was this tragedy fated to occur?
Astrology does not answer this question. It merely shows that there is a relationship. I believe these relationships are not causal in nature but are one of signification. As my mentor Julie Simmons used to say when she had a daily radio spot, “the stars and planets do not control us, they merely reflect what is happening already.” Mars did not “make” this happen; Mars shows the nature of a global reality that has the power to reach into the heart of a sovereign nation and kill and maim its citizens.
Now it is for France to respond and because it perceives that this is a threat to its civilization, it will take whatever actions prove necessary to defend itself going forward. France is a smart, sophisticated, and global superpower. The terrorists have awakened this power and given it new reasons and motivation for it to move against them. I would not want to be them in the days and weeks and months to come.