The horrible violence in Egypt and the armed forces’ aggressive response to the protests by the pro Mohamed Morsi supporters have shocked the world. The violence that precipitated on the 14th August where more than 600 people were killed really showed that Egyptian society is now deeply divided. Morsi’s party the Muslim Brotherhood still has a lot of support in the country, but the feeling is that General al-Sisi and his backers want to outlaw them and return Egypt back to the kind of military rule that sustained Hosni Mubarak for 30 odd years. In Astrological terms a return to conditions of the past are often seen through the movement of the Nodal axis or transits to them. On the Egyptian natal chart, this is exactly what is happening.
I am just going to look at the transiting Nodes and the natal ones, and both have significant aspects associated with them. The natal Nodal axis can be seen with the North Node sitting in the 10th house of the rulers of the nation and the South Node in the 4th house of the opposition. In the past month or so, transiting Saturn, the planet ruling the Midheaven (via Capricorn) has been square to that Nodal axis. Notice that Saturn sits natally in the 6th house of services and traditionally this is the place on a mundane national chart connected to the military forces. Saturn is harsh and authoritarian in nature and can bring fear and loss. Saturn square to the Nodes as I see as driving a wedge between the people in charge and those who oppose them, and thus the country has become bitterly divided. Saturn sits conjunct in this house to Neptune and here Neptune is a planet connected to faith and spirituality of an especially conservative hard line nature. As it is conjunct to Saturn, this connection shows that the armed forces are inextricably linked together with religious matters on this chart.
Personally I see the Nodal axis as a line of destiny, with the South Node indicating were we came from, it shows our roots and the talents we brought into this life. The South Node indicates the moment soul entered the embryo and it’s connection with the mother. This is also why I consider this axis on the natal chart the maternal one as I indicates the link between mother and baby. Generally we are happy and comfortable at this point in the chart as these are things we are familiar with, but in terms of our development siding with the qualities of the South Node does not allow us to progress. To do that we have to go towards the the other end of the Axis, the North Node. Here are skills that we have not developed, areas of our lives where we have to challenge ourselves, but should we learn the lessons suggested by this point on the chart, then we will gain ultimate satisfaction from our lives.
In the same manner, you can see the South Node being indicator of the past, and it is often the case that when the South Node hits a natal planet on your chart, you revisit a time before, an issue resurfaces, you go back to what you know best. Now looking at the Egyptian chart, you can see that the South Node is transiting the 1st house and is just leaving a conjunction with Venus. Now Venus has a powerful impact on this chart not only because it sits in the 1st house of the nation but also it is Taurus, a sign completely intercepted in this house. This effect is twofold and this very powerful on the nation of Egypt itself with a military takeover harking back to the year of 1981.
Just look at the chart for when President Anwar Sadat was assassinated back on 14th October 1981 in a military coup and at that point Hosni Mubarak assumed power. Where was the Nodal axis? Square to the Egyptian Ascendant moving through the 4th/10th house axis. That coup was precipitated 8 months earlier in February 1981 by a plot by the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, a radical Islamic group who were at the time recruiting military leaders to launch an overthrow of Sadat’s government. Sadat got wind of the plan and over 1500 people were arrested. At that time, the transiting Nodes were square from the 4th and 10th houses to the Egyptian natal Venus.
All this looks very reminiscent of today with the transiting Nodes now square to the positions they were at back in February 1981. It shows that this chart (as do all charts) resonates very much to the movement of the Nodes. Moving back to Venus, this planet is associated with relationships, of relationships between the government and the opposition (a link to the polarity of the natal Nodal axis), between military rule through Aries in charge of the Ascendant and first house where the South Node is moving and democracy with Libra ruling the descendant where is found the transiting North Node.
All this begs the question, what will happen when the transiting Nodes reach 29 degrees Libra and Aries and connect with the Ascendant Descendant Axis, this will happen in April 2014? My best guess is with transiting Saturn square to natal Pluto, the military will gain full official power over the country again and a new dictatorship like the previous one of Mubarak will officially begin. I think that Egypt will then drift back to a form of rule that has provided stability in the past, just as the Nodes suggest. The North Node, Egypt’s perpetuating destiny as you will see sits in Aquarius in that 10th house, the sign of revolution, of revolt and of swift and shocking changes of power.
This is a deeply divided country and I think that to keep some kind of stability, the military will want to assume a hand on the controls for a period of time at least so that the kind of violence and antagonism seen in the past couple of weeks dies down and is kept to a minimum. Much as the US and Europe want democracy in Egypt, at what price does it come to such a strategically important country? Watch the Western powers criticize from afar, but ultimately sit back and watch as they let the Egyptians sort themselves out.
