Location, Location, Location
As in real estate, location is always an important factor in astrology. Where you were born is just as important a when. This equally true in mundane astrology, or the astrology of events. In particular, the charts done for the New and Full Moon change according to which city you do the chart for. Since I am mostly interested in events in the United States, I set my lunation charts for Washington D.C. However, after the explosion in Beirut on Tuesday, I couldn’t help but wonder what the Full Moon chart for that city was like.
In my assessment of the Aug. 3 Full Moon chart for Washington, I spoke in terms that were pretty ominous. (Click here to see the article and the chart.) That chart is full of nasty indicators. The chart done for the Full Moon in Beirut has all those same stressful aspects. The difference is that the time for that Full Moon was 11:59 AM in Washington and in Beirut it was 6:59 PM. This means that, though the planets are at the same locations in the sky, their placement in the chart is shifted. (Click here to see the Full Moon chart for Beirut, Lebanon.)
This difference in location moves the opposition of the Sun and Moon, which was in the Tenth and Fourth houses in the Washington D.C. chart, to the First and Seventh houses for Beirut. Of course, in both charts the Sun and Moon are square to Uranus. In the Washington chart the opposition of Mercury and Saturn bracketed the M.C./I.C. axis. In the Beirut Full Moon chart, this opposition brackets the Ascendant/Descendant axis. What the means is that the Beirut Full Moon chart, though different, shows the same tension and potential for disaster that I talked about in the Washington chart.
One major difference between the charts is that, in the Washington chart, Mars is conjunct the Descendant and square Jupiter in the Third House. In the Beirut chart, Mars is in the Third house and Jupiter is in the Twelfth. At first glance this change would seem to make the potential for a violent outcome less likely, but then you consider the cause of the explosion.
A shipment of fertilizer (ammonium nitrate) that had been left stranded in the Beirut harbor in 2013 and then stored in a warehouse and forgotten, blew up. This is the same substance that Timothy McVeigh used in Oklahoma City, only in a much larger quantity. The Twelfth House rules things that are lost or hidden, while the opposition of Mercury and Saturn smacks of a business deal gone awry, which was how the ammonium nitrate came to be in Beirut in the first place.
Another difference between the two Full Moon charts is the sign on the Ascendant. In the chart done for Washington, Libra is rising. That makes Venus the ruler of the chart. In the Beirut chart, Aquarius is rising. That would make Uranus the ruler of the chart and, as I said, Uranus is at the center of a T-square with the Sun and Moon. Essentially, we have the three most important factors in the horoscope involved is one very tense aspect. This would seem to make some sort of explosion almost inevitable.
This situation in Beirut is tragic, but this Full Moon chart does point to something that makes me a little more hopeful for the United States. As I said, the ruler of the Washington chart is Venus, and Venus in that Full Moon chart is actually rather nicely placed in the Ninth House, where it forms a sweet little semi-sextile to Mercury and is conjunct the South Node of the Moon. This gives me hope that this placement of Venus will allow the U.S. to slip past all the ominous indicators that dominate the next two weeks relatively unscathed. Figures crossed.
