I am sitting at home watching President Obama in the city of Hiroshima in Japan, the first sitting president of the US to visit the site of the first atom bomb to be dropped in anger. It is a historic moment, and it made me look back at the chart of that attack. It is a truly remarkable chart.
On that day, 6th August 1945 at 08.15 in the morning, the Sun was sitting close to Pluto, the planet ruling radioactive elements and huge destruction. Sextile to this conjunction was Mars, the planet of war and violence connected to Uranus, the planet of shocks and unexpected events. Uranus sits at 16.29 Gemini, the Midheaven at that moment was 16.30 Gemini, an exact hit at the very top of the chart. This is a quite frightening sextile. Uranus not only connected to the Midheaven, it also made a tense square to to Ascendant too at 17.41 Virgo, linked in to both the most important angles at that moment.
Mercury ruled this chart through the Virgo Ascendant, and the messenger of the heavens was sending a message alright, a message sent via an airplane (ruled by Mercury), and a message of aggression (Mercury squares Mars). Linked into the Ascendant as well via a sextile was a very tight Moon Saturn conjunction in Cancer, the sign of the family, the homeland and the nation. Here is a harsh event, public loss, mourning and sadness at that moment.
In the first house we find a triple conjunction of Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune. This triple conjunction brings a deep wound, hurt, sacrifice, suffering, chaos, on a wide wide scale as Jupiter expands the extent of anything it touches. This was an international event, one that literally sent shockwaves around the globe. This triple conjunction squared Venus, the social planet, the planet of relationships and values. The cost of this event destroyed relationships, smashed alliances and brought about a re-evaluation of the world's values and of those of Japan, the victim in this attack.
The fixed star conjunctions to the planets were remarkable too. Mars sat on the star Aldebaran, the star in the eye of the bull in the constellation of Taurus. This star is a royal Persian Star and known as the "Watcher of the East". All royal stars promise success but there is always a test to make sure that one is held true to one's values, and if those values are compromised then all gains will be lost. With Aldebaran, this test is one of ethical integrity. If one is not honest and true within one's actions despite temptation to do the wrong thing, then one will lose everything you have and you will come crashing down to earth or in tradition condemned to an ordeal of fire. Never has a Mars Aldebaran conjunction been more true to word than in this case as Japan did unspeakable wrongs as a nation during the Second World War and literally was condemned to ordeal by fire, losing everything in a split second.
The Sun on this chart was on the star Acubens, the main star in the constellation of Cancer. This star is linked very much with the formation of life and of death and of resurrection. The Egyptians likened the effect of this star to a scarab beetle, which they saw as a symbol of immortality. Here we have the cycle of life embodied in one point in the sky, and again in that moment, life and death became reality and a period of resurrection for an entire nation began.
Uranus on the Midheaven was conjunct the star Rigel which sits in the constellation of Orion and is also the final star in the huge constellation of Eridanus, the river. The ancient story goes that Orion was charged with killing all of the beasts on earth, however for his brazen and rather arrogant attitude, the goddess of the earth Gaia sent the scorpion to sting Orion which it did on his foot (or heel) poisoning him to death. This is where Rigel sits, on Orion's heel. This is a star that does promise a constant flow of riches and achievements that the waters of the river constantly provides. It encourages a positive attitude too, especially in spreading knowledge, through one's actions, examples or ideas, through education and teaching or through the spread of one's faith for the benefit of others. I think that this Uranus Rigel conjunction was the ultimate shock lesson, bringing about a rapid change in the attitudes that Japan had. From severe aggression came contrition and it is funny and ironic that this event preceded the reinvention of Japan as the world's technological powerhouse, something that Uranus rules.
Finally, the South Node on that day was conjunct to the star Facies. This star sitting in the constellation of Sagittarius is a nebula which represents the penetrating stare of the archer. Going back through ancient astrological texts, nebulae were often associated with eye problems and blindness, however this nebula has no such problem in obtaining a sharp focus. In days of yore, this faint star cluster was used as a sight test for prospective archers, and only those who could pick it out in the night's sky were deemed worthy enough to become the most feared of all the foes faced in medieval combat. Wielding a longbow or crossbow, the archer could pick out a target with unerring accuracy from long range. No wonder the stare of the archer was so feared and this nebula lives up to the reputation. The South Node is a place of detriment and loss and Facies here represents the arrow shot at blinding speed and accuracy to the target with terrible consequences. Japan felt the hit with terrible consequences and it forced her to go back to square one and reassess the direction that she was going.
As you will know, this was a seminal moment in the history of the world and the planets so accurately portrayed the moment that it is truly scary, even for myself, an experienced Astrologer. Astrology works and one never ceases to be amazed by the power of the movement of the planets and the stars as they explain, predict and foretell all of our fortunes.
#hiroshima #astrology #atombomb
