i have meant to discuss the charts and data i have for syria the past few days.. it is clearly the biggest international issue on the scene at present.. it appears assad's 'regime' has fallen.. their are a number of ways to articulate this... the usa had taken over the wheat and oil resources in the eastern, fertile part of syria many years ago, so the gov't was deprived of these assets... the takifi jihadi terrorists were given air support from israels air force and began almost immediately as the temporary ceasefire was declared between lebannon and israel, about a week ago - nov 27th... i liked trumps twitter quote from the past 24 hours, which is actually pretty accurate - Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump - 23:17 UTC · Sep 5, 2013
"The terrorists in Syria are calling themselves REBELS and getting away with it because our leaders are so completely stupid!"

actually it was obama who much earlier stated "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"... with a philosophy like that, a lot can go wrong!!

another relevant quote - Mark Sleboda @MarkSleboda1 - 4:27 UTC · Dec 8, 2024
RIP Syria. My God so fast. Western/Turkish intel co-opted/bought/blackmailed essentially the entire Syrian military & admin into just standing down, and the economy was so hallowed out by sanctions and occupation of Syria's oil and wheat that the state was incapable of resisting."

well, where to begin?? i have done astro on syria over the past 12 or more years here at skyscript... unfortunately i and other astrologers are handicapped by accurate birth times for much of it, beginning with bashar assad... lets start with bashar assad.... astrodatabank has a chart for him which is rated x... isaac starkman did a rectification ( or is that a wrecktification?) which some astrologers like marjorie orr use... below is the starkman rectification chart for consideration.. the details for this chart are on the adb page immediately below... i am posting the chart in tropical zodiac for the moment..

https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Al_Assad,_Bashar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria

perhaps the most relevant astro to immediately comment on is the saturn transit which is very much a saturn return at this time for assad... natal saturn is at 13 pisces and change - depending on the time of day he is born and transit saturn at present is 13 pisces and change.... i think the station was at 12 pisces, but don't have the details in front of me, so this would have weighed heavily on him, especially the past few weeks/month.. i am loath to dig down into a chart that i don't have an exact birth time for, but perhaps it is fertile ground for other skyscript posters??? if the 443 pm birth time is close - mars transit right on the descendant is not helpful and would have added to his own thought of evading the responsibilities he's been associated with handling..

it might be a gloomy overview but craig murray, uk journalist who was very involved in the julian assange case, has written a report about 36 hours ago prior to assad leaving which i think is very accurate and worth consideration, if anyone would like to understand the dynamic of all this better..
the appropriate title is - the end of pluralism.. https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives ... ddle-east/

there are 2 charts in nicholas campions book of world horoscopes covering recent history - 20th century.... essentially the defeat of turkey after ww1 led to a series of events immediately connected to syria at present.. the mandate over syria was assigned to france by the league of nations in 1922.. fast forward to the 2nd world war which prompted a declaration of independence by france, in order to gain arab support.. this is the basis for the first chart - syria 1 - sept 16, 1941, noon in the absence of a specific time - damascus.. bashar assads birth time is sept 11th - close sun connections with the 2 charts... below is the chart for tropical zodiac syria 1..

update! - see my reply for the chart for syria 1.. it seems the attachment feature of skyscript only allows for 3 charts which explains the confusion with some of these charts here...


although i would like to point out the close proximity of transit jupiter to natal jupiter in this chart, and the transiting mercury-jupiter which has also been very active the past 1-2 weeks, i will just stick with the occurrence of what is a jupiter return in this chart... the other interesting astro phenom is the position of the conjunction of sun-neptune-rahu or north node in late virgo... as it happens the transit of the nodal axis brings the eclipse events for this coming year into an immediate relationship with this chart for syria.. i believe the solar eclipse for 2025 is on approx march 13th - exact opposite time of year to sept 16th, when this charts sun rests.... that would be some astrology to consider in relation to syria moving forward into 2025 here... the position of pluto at about 5 leo in this chart for 1941 is also highlighted due the ongoing mars-pluto opposition in the same general vicinity... in fact, pluto will be making a long opposition to this position in the syria 1941 chart.. at present the transit of mars speaks of the violence on display within syria the past week...

the 2nd chart for syria is when france finally let go of all the mandate powers they were given ( under pressure from britian and usa), depriving the syrian gov't of any real authority... december 27th, 1943 france finally conceded and agreed to transfer all the mandate powers to the syrian gov't on january 1st, 1944... in the absence of a specific time 0 am jan 1st, 1944 to damascus is used for the second chart for syria in nic campions book and is shown below..
i haven't really studied this chart.. no comment for the moment..

the last chart i want to share is the one for bashar assads presidency from july 17th, 2000, set for noon in damascus.. this chart is shown below..
this chart is close to the important jupiter-saturn conjunction of 2000 - not exact, but brings up the question of the importance of these conjunctions in world events.. the past week has seen the transit of mercury-sun - opp jupiter in the same area as the natal pluto in this chart.. there may be more, but i will have to take a closer look... perhaps others will be interested in commenting on the astro to all of this..

the way i see it, syria, lebannon and iraq form a space between israel and iran, these last 2 countries described as sworn enemies of one another - not sure why... this destruction of these countries seems to be the destruction of a type of pipeline running from iran to israel essentially... i don't believe it is a coincidence the timing of all of this, but it has happened very quickly and doesn't especially bode well moving forward - all as i see it..

further reading for consideration -
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/12/s ... .html#more

marjorie orr's take from today -
https://star4cast.com/assad-falls-a-shi ... ower-game/

that is the chart syria 1 which i was unable to place in the above post... hopefully this works.. i am new to using the attachment option on skyscript and have used postimage.org in the past which is no longer working for me.. cheers..

here is my commentary on this syria 1 chart from the previous post..
"although i would like to point out the close proximity of transit jupiter to natal jupiter in this chart, and the transiting mercury-jupiter which has also been very active the past 1-2 weeks, i will just stick with the occurrence of what is a jupiter return in this chart... the other interesting astro phenom is the position of the conjunction of sun-neptune-rahu or north node in late virgo... as it happens the transit of the nodal axis brings the eclipse events for this coming year into an immediate relationship with this chart for syria.. i believe the solar eclipse for 2025 is on approx march 13th - exact opposite time of year to sept 16th, when this charts sun rests.... that would be some astrology to consider in relation to syria moving forward into 2025 here... the position of pluto at about 5 leo in this chart for 1941 is also highlighted due the ongoing mars-pluto opposition in the same general vicinity... in fact, pluto will be making a long opposition to this position in the syria 1941 chart.. at present the transit of mars speaks of the violence on display within syria the past week..."

Hi James - thanks again for starting this thread. The following charts are the tropical ingresses for Aries and Libra 2024, set for Damascus.

Aries


With mutable Pisces rising, traditional lore says that this chart will be relevant for the first six months of the year. The most striking thing about this chart is the powerful Moon-Pluto opposition in the early degrees of Leo-Aquarius. My thought is that this immediately sets up a much wider context relating to the ingress of Pluto into Aquarius and its impact on populations across the world. However, how to relate this ingress to the Syrian people? Setting aside Starkmann's rectification of Assad's chart for the moment, without any need for a time of birth we know that he has Saturn in 13 Pisces opposite Uranus, Pluto and Sun, ranging between 15-18 degrees of Virgo. At the Aries ingress for Damascus 16 Pisces rises. Assad's Pluto is at 16 Virgo, the degree setting at the ingress - his power has gone, or will go in the course of the year.

Libra


The chart above is for the Libra ingress, set for Damascus. This chart is read as the second ingress relevant to the year. The degrees associated with the Moon-Pluto opposition at the Aries ingress come to the Libra ingress ascendant. In fact 3 degrees Aquarius rises, bringing the Aries ingress Moon precisely to the Libra ingress descendant. The 'promise' of the Aries ingress is brought to horizon for Damascus at the time of the Libra ingress and shows the critical importance of events to the Syrian people during the second half of the astrological year.

The Libra ingress Moon is joined with Uranus in the 4th house of this chart - sudden, dramatic changes that impact on the homeland of the Syrian people. Fallen, out of sect Mars is precisely aligned with the malefic 6th Porphyry house cusp. My reading of this chart is that what happens in Syria will impact the wider region in very profound ways. The angles of the ingress will not vary much across the Middle East, but my guess is that it is only in Damascus, the Syrian capital, that the Aries ingress Moon will be so precisely aligned with the horizon. The fate of the Syrian people is that fate of the all the peoples of the Middle East.

If we accept Starkmann's rectification, the angles of the Libra ingress in Damascus are very close to the rectified angles of Assad's chart. In fact, the very recent Mars station at 6 Leo falls exactly on the Assad's rectified ascendant. The rectified meridian is in 24 Scorpio (MC)-Taurus (IC), the precise location of transiting Uranus over the last few weeks. Uranus moved back into 24 Taurus on 22 November and will leave this degree on 19 December. It will move direct through this degree from mid-March 2025 to early April 2025. There may be further developments relating to Assad at this time.

We spent a lot of time discussing events in Syria in our local astrological group yesterday and the chart interactions were profound and astonishing.

thanks ed!

those are all good astro observations - some of which i had wanted to talk about, but in a different light.. although the degrees will vary slightly, the ingress charts could just as easily apply to amman, beirut, or tel aviv... applying them to only syria is tricky, don't you think??

you are lucky to have an astro group to discuss astrology! mostly all i have is skyscript, which probably explains why i am on this site as much as i am!!

the notation of mars station at 6 leo which happens to closely coincide with starkmans rectification is interesting.. i had picked up on it in my earlier comments, but didn't realize it was the station of mars on friday past... i have always thought planet stations are very important.. i wonder when the next one is, because now mars is going retro, so it won't be long til the next one.. fortunately i have an actual ephemeris - book! it says feb 24th it goes direct at 17 cancer - tropical.. that is fairly close to the assad presidency charts midheaven/mars conjunction in the chart i posted up above..

i wanted to come back to the connection you've made with the angles of the 2024 aries angles and assads important planetary oppositions in his natal chart... as you note, the cluster of planets which includes sun, pluto, uranus and saturn are from 13- 18 mutable - pisces, virgo tropical specifically.. it is also possible assads moon is inside this degree zone as well, if he is born at a much earlier time in the day... bottom line, this outer planet set up uranus-pluto conjunction in opposition to saturn, were a time of great turbulence in the world - mid 1960s... revolutions, wars, assassinations and etc etc - it would be a tricky energy to remain balanced within, wouldn't it?? having the personal lights inside this pattern could potentially throw the person into an important role on the world stage, as it seems to have done with bashar assad here... as i understand it, he never meant to rule over syria, but it was his brother who was destined for this role who died a premature death... at the same time the mars/neptune conjunction in assads chart did offer an outlet to the tension contained in this configuration.. so i continue to believe the importance of the transit of saturn to its natal place in assads chart is very significant here... not all saturn returns are going to be the same, but perhaps he has had to live a life that wasn't exactly to his liking?? and now he has finally 'let go' or been forced to 'let go'.. that is a real pisces theme too - letting go, with all the karmic overtones associated with letting go... a very piscean thing as i understand it.. there is also a very close aspect of t pluto to natal uranus - 135 and not to the minute, but close enough...

so, its an interesting coincidence of the aries 2024 ingress angles lining up in the vicinity of this important pattern in assad, i will give you that!!

i do think bashar assad has moved on here and the jackals will feast on the remains of syria for some time... i don't expect syria to come back as a country in any real way... it was the british that carved up the middle east as i understand it and now it is a different type of carving going on... i agree with caitlan johnstones ( non astrological) overview on it all..

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2024/12 ... he-empire/

Thanks James - I'm not sure that it's too much of a problem that the angles for these other cities are very similar. The whole region is being drawn into something much bigger than any one of these nations. Your observation about Pluto being in hard (8th harmonic) aspect to Assad's mid-mutable axis and the Aries ingress horizon is very relevant. By extension, the Aries ingress Moon is in hard aspect to Assad's Sun. The Syrian people and their ex-President are in an extremely tense relationship with each other. I don't know whether these developments will resolve anything in the region. But these charts suggest the time for reckoning is probably here so let's hope that the situation improves in time.

It is worth noting that in the charts for Israel (14 may 1948) the Moon is at the beginning of Leo, very close to this Aries ingress Moon. In Campion's Book of World Horoscopes various times are given and the positions are as follows:

4.00PM - MC 25 Cancer, Moon 4 Leo
4..32PM - MC 2 Leo, Moon 4 Leo

He also refers to a 4.37PM chart which puts the MC at 3 Leo.

Whichever chart is used, Pluto has been, and will continue to be, active at the IC and opposite the Israeli Moon. This suggest that a resolution may be some time. The following chart is for 4.37PM, set for Tel Aviv, Israel. Pluto moves off from 4 Aquarius in November 2027. I've just noticed that Israel's Sun is on the IC for Starkmann's rectification of Assad's chart. More evidence for this time, or just another coincidence?

hi ed

thanks for your post! i was too busy yesterday to reply, but i sent you a pm which you probably didn't get to tell you this - or it looks like you didn't get it...

anyway... moving on... since the major events here happened in the fall, and the connections to starkmans rectified assad chart are for the aries ingress, how do you square that?? i see it more as a coincidence then not, but i am curious if you'd like to elaborate on how the aries ingress being mutable rising is only valid until the libra ingress, has such great bearing?? i see it as much a coincidence myself - like a lot of astrological observations - mine own included...

as for tying in the chart of israel, funny enough starkman was a huge fan of alexander marr who advocated for the chart for israel smack in the middle of the 2 you cite... marr liked the 4: 15: 08 pm chart.. ( i don't know if isaac is still around, but he used to post here occasionally, and was living in tel aviv)

https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Marr,_Alexander

starkman relied on rectification software - polaris - which marr invented... my problem with these rectifications is they have been proven to be wrong numerous times.. i can't remember what isaac was using for hillary clintons birth time, prior to the time finally being released, but i seem to remember it being a variation on the morning time... maybe james alexander - another infrequent skyscript poster - who used this software and was a fan of isaacs will chime in...

but to the israel chart!!! i posted 2 threads in the spring of this year which cover israel... perhaps that would be a better place to discuss this??

https://www.skyscript.co.uk/forums/view ... hp?t=12482
https://www.skyscript.co.uk/forums/view ... hp?t=12007

i raised a few hackles using the word transzodiac to imply a poster could post in sidereal or tropical..... i am not sure if you'd like to post on either of these threads, but i appreciate your commentary on israel moon and possible conjunct to the angles with the transit of pluto.. it's relevant! and it does bring in the fall ingress chart quite nicely too! i was more preoccupied with the transit of uranus to the natal sun for israel which is still very much ongoing... thanks..

Thanks James - I'll take a look at those threads on Israel.

It's an interesting point that you raise about the two ingresses for 2024, based on the mutable sign rising in the Aries ingress. I wonder if the Aries ingress is still relevant through the year, with developments in the second half of the year influenced by the Libra ingress. I will take a look at your point in more detail tomorrow. Ed