Muslim riots in France

by Robert P. Blaschke

On October 27th, while Neptune stationed direct in 14 Aquarius 49, two Muslim teenagers of North African descent were electrocuted at a power substation in a suburb of Paris while hiding from police after vandalizing construction sites. The accidental electrocution of these two youths in the impoverished town of Clichy-sous-Bois, and the subsequent erroneous blaming of the local police for their demise, led to overnight riots in the streets by hundreds of Muslim teenagers of North African Arab or Black African descent who live in the ghetto tenements there.

The nightly rioting has now gone on for eleven consecutive days, spreading to fifteen other cities throughout France and resulting in the burning of over 3,500 motor vehicles. The French government has mobilized 2,300 additional police to patrol these slums, and over 800 arrests have been made. Right as this nationwide chaos was breaking out, the French progressed Sun was ingressing into the religious and cultural sign of Sagittarius at the same time that their secondary progressed Moon was leaving the 12th house and conjoining the national Ascendant. With that progressed Moon about to also conjoin the South Node in Aries, one can only imagine that the French public feels like the whole country is going down the toilet just now.

The 5th Republic of France came into existence on 6 October 1958 at 6:30 PM in Paris (Nick Campion, The Book of World Horoscopes, Bristol, UK: Cinnabar Books, 1996). http://www.earthwalkastrology.com/images/5th%20Republic%20of%20France.pdf This French national horoscope has a stationary progressed Uranus, with the Awakener having turned retrograde earlier this year on 31 March 2005. Right on cue, as Neptune now opposes the French progressed stationary Uranus, many of the young Muslim teenage boys rioting in the streets had the Uranus-Neptune conjunction at birth and are now defiantly protesting (Uranus) their underclass status (Neptune) in French society. It is additionally of note that Uranus and Neptune are now forming a semioctile (22.5 = 360/16) aspect in the heavens.

Pent up anger emerging like this is quite common during a retrograde Mars period, such as the one occurring now between October 1st and December 10th. With Mars retrograde in Taurus, it is of interest that the rage of these young Muslim boys over their lack of societal opportunities has been directed mostly at property, such as cars, buses and buildings. With the recent "shoot to kill" orders given by the New Orleans Police Department to its officers during the violent looting rampage after Hurricane Katrina, one wonders how long the French government will tolerate this nightly anarchy before resorting to draconian measures to restore civil order in the streets. The French progressed Mars is also now retrograde in Taurus, being conjoined by transit Mars three times until the end of January 2006. The French Mars is square to their national Pluto, from the 2nd to the 5th houses, and the youth of the country (5th House) are violently acting out the financial inequalities (2nd House) in their society.

One would hope that the present violence will reach its peak and then begin to subside after the Sun-Mars opposition perfects early tomorrow morning in France, both celestial bodies being in the power degrees of 15 Scorpio-Taurus as the opposition becomes exact. The Saturn-Neptune opposition now forming in the heavens is also reaching its closest point before Saturn retrogrades back to 04 Leo, and these two pairs of oppositions are forming a powerful Fixed Grand Cross. With Pluto about to transit over the French progressed Saturn, ruler of the nation's MC, it is certain that the French government will now have to go through an intense reformulating of its policies and attitudes regarding the six million Algerian Arabs and Black Africans who live there and make up the largest Muslim minority population in Europe.

One ray of hope on the horizon in the middle of all of this violence and anarchy in the streets of France is that the Republic will experience its fourth Jupiter return on November 22nd. A new twelve-year cycle of growth and improvement is about to begin in France and one hopes that it will restore peace and order to the streets, and help to initiate new social and economic policies that allow the disenfranchised Muslim youths to find jobs and educational opportunities to lift themselves out of poverty, ending this nihilistic and senseless, criminal desperation. The French progressed Venus recently perfected an opposition to their national Mars on July 22nd, and as the rulers of the French horizon one can clearly see astrologically how this nation has descended into such violence and chaos over economic inequity. It would perhaps behoove the French government to contemplate the symbol from La Volasfera for their rising degree, Aries 21: A strong and prosperous looking man stands with arms extended forward, holding in his hands a bowl full of wine.
 
 

As the astrologer observes the violence in France and attempts to correlate its causes with celestial phenomena, he is drawn to a reconsideration of the transit of Neptune through Aquarius every 165 years. As the sign of social justice, and also as the sign of the redistribution of wealth and resources in society, Aquarius can be understood as a symbol for the ills and neglects in society that any decent person with a humanitarian soul would want to see made right.

Neptune is presently passing through the middle of this eleventh sign of the Zodiac, a period of history lasting from 1998 until 2012, and has shone the spotlight on the disappointment and disillusionment of the poorest in French society, as well as on the impoverished residents of New Orleans who were left to fend for themselves after the catastrophic damage from Hurricane Katrina. Can we look back in history and gain an understanding of this cycle? Yes, and let us do so now.

In March of 1998 at my former astrology school in Lake Oswego, Oregon, just after Neptune ingressed into Aquarius, I taught a workshop about the historical cycles of Neptune in the sign of the Water Bearer. During my research, I found that a repeating pattern of peasant revolts and civil unrest coincided with the previous transits of Neptune in Aquarius. These earlier periods in history were from February 1834 to December 1848, from March 1670 to December 1684, and from March 1506 to January 1521. Studying the most recent Neptune in Aquarius historical period, one finds that:

1. In 1836, The People's Charter initiates the first national working class movement in Great Britain.
2. In 1840, French socialist writer Pierre Joseph Proudhon publishes "Property is Theft".
3. In 1843, social reformer Dorothea Dix reports to Massachusetts legislature the shocking conditions in prisons and asylums; Maori revolts against Britain in New Zealand.
4. In 1846, Neptune discovered.
5 . In 1848, revolt in Rome - Count Rossi, the papal premier assassinated - Pius IX flees to Gaeta; Revolutions in Vienna, Venice, Berlin and Milan; Revolt in Paris, Napoleon elected president of France; Communist Manifesto issued by Marx and Engels; First Public Health Act in Britain.

1. In 1670, a rebellion of Ukrainian Cossacks.
2. In 1676, Nathaniel Bacon gains support for Virginia rebellion against authorities.

1. In 1509, persecution of Jews in Germany; Emperor Maximilian I authorizes confiscation and destruction of Jewish books; Humanist Johann Reuchlin opposes action.
2. In 1513, peasant revolts in Black Forest.
3. In 1514, peasant revolts in Hungary.
4. In 1517, Martin Luther posts his 95 theses on door of Palast Church in Wittenburg - Reformation begins.

One can only hope that this will be the case for the French government, as it struggles with the cultural clashes and societal inequities brought on by decades of North African and Sub-Saharan Muslim immigration into their country. The 5th Republic of France's MC will progress over the next year through the degree of the February 2010 Chiron-Neptune conjunction. French politicians with courage and foresight would have an opportunity to take steps, once law and order is restored, to heal the wounds of the poor during this time period. However, if inferior leadership is exercised, brought on by the jockeying for position ahead of presidential elections in 2007 between Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, the upcoming French progressed Sun opposing Mars and in square to their national Pluto between April 2007 and February 2010 will surely bring even worse violence to this embattled European country.

On December 17th, Jupiter forms the first of three waxing squares to Saturn, reaching the first quarter of the twenty year interplanetary cycle begun in May 2000. Jupiter will be in the 11th degree of Scorpio at the time of the first square, and an examination of the symbols for this degree will be instructive.
 

Sabian Symbol for Scorpio 11: There is great excitement upon the narrow and treacherous beach; at length a drowning man is saved, brought ashore.

This is a symbol of the outreaching warmth of real human character, the effort of individual consciousness to justify itself socially at every turn. Positively it is a degree of faithfulness to ideals; negatively, a sense of constant spiritual obligation.

Charubel: A lamb at a distance from its dam (mother), but looking towards her.

Denotes one with strong filial affections; he cannot be happy without one to love or to cling to

La Volasfera: A hare seated upon a knoll above its burrow, behind it is the rising Moon.

It is the indication of a timorous and watchful nature, apprehensive of dangers that are not apparent and unmindful of those which are inevitable as the nightfall. Such an one is liable to be taken unawares and deceived in the chief affairs of life; and while showing astuteness in all that he has regard to, he will yet prove himself to be more watchful and cautious than wise and far-sighted. It is a degree of INSECURITY.

As the Jupiter-Saturn cycle has direct impact on global economic conditions, and especially since the conjunction at the start of this cycle in May 2000 coincided with the Dow Jones, dot.com and NASDAQ market crashes, one should place these symbols within a financial context. The Sabian Symbol appears to point to the necessity for ongoing costly rescue operations over the next five years (until the three Jupiter-Saturn oppositions in 2010-11), such as those which follow hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disasters.

One could interpret Charubel's symbol for Scorpio 11 as referring to the increasing importance of "remittances" from immigrant workers in rich countries being sent home to the "motherland" to help feed and house the impoverished relatives still living there. Immigration reform legislation, also a manifestation of the Jupiter-Saturn cycle, should also become a hot and divisive political issue affecting elections during the next five years.

The La Volasfera symbol seems to refer to the enormous costs being incurred by the newly created Department of Homeland Security in the United States. Each time that the terrorist threat level goes up a notch, police departments around the country, because of security regulations imposed on them by the federal government, are saddled with enormous costs for the overtime hours of their forces and other related expenses.

When one overlays the first Jupiter-Saturn square into the chart for the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security (25 November 2002; 2:26 PM EST; Washington D.C.), one finds the position of Saturn exactly conjunct the Department's Moon, along with Mars square to the Department's Neptune within one minute of arc. http://www.earthwalkastrology.com/images/Dept.%20of%20Homeland%20Security.pdf These aspects are also part of the Fixed Grand Cross forming in the heavens at that time. The Washington D.C. Midheaven for the first Jupiter-Saturn square is in Gemini 28, exactly conjunct the Department's Saturn (and the progressed ASC in France's horoscope). The South Node is also exactly in the degree of the October 3rd solar eclipse.

From this scenario, and from the implications of the degree symbol from La Volasfera, a potential terrorist attack in mid December could come from the obvious and inevitable dangers existing within the country, such as an under secured chemical facility or unprotected chemical rail transportation, and not from where counter terrorism officials are focusing their vigilant attention on threats from abroad. When one examines the La Volasfera symbol for the Department's rising degree, Aries 15, one does not feel very confident in the agency's ability to protect the American people from attack:

A man struggling in the water with a broken footbridge above his head.

It denotes a nature prone to mistakes of judgment; liable to be too trustful of others and to misplace his confidences, so that he is often deceived, not only in his own powers, but in his estimate of the character of others. In a speculative life, the native of this degree would in the end be hopelessly unsuccessful, and he ought to cultivate self-knowledge and self-reliance and to exercise extreme caution in all his dealings and associations. This degree is one of TREACHERY.

On a more personal level, during this time of the Jupiter-Saturn waxing square each of us can beneficially revisit our state of heart, mind and soul in the Spring of 2000 when this cycle's conjunction occurred. The house position in your nativity for that Grand Conjunction in the 23rd degree of Taurus was activated five years ago, and now something is trying to take you forward in that area of your life. This will not come without a struggle, and one should expect that effort will be required to grow in this way until late October of 2006, when the third and final square occurs.

This correspondent had the conjunction of 2000 fall near to his 9th house cusp, and just yesterday (with transit Jupiter exactly conjunct his natal Saturn) he received an email from an astrologer in Athens who offered to translate all of his books into the Greek language. On Tuesday, he departs for Cape Town in South Africa, where he will be delivering his books to the Argo astrology conference taking place there, and also making arrangements for wider distribution of his publications in that foreign country. One should presume that efforts taken now that are relative to the natal house position of the 2000 Grand Conjunction, will bear fruit in five years from now at the three Jupiter-Saturn oppositions in 2010-11.

Source notes:

The Economist (various recent issues).
Charubel, The Degrees of the Zodiac Symbolised, London: L.N. Fowler & Co., 1898.
Charles E.O. Carter, The Astrological Aspects, London: L.N. Fowler & Co., 1930.
Charles E.O. Carter, An Introduction to Political Astrology, London: L.N. Fowler & Co., 1951.
Marc Edmund Jones, Lecture~Lessons, Stanwood WA: Sabian Assembly, 1931.
Bernard Grun, The Timetables of History, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1975.
Nick Campion, The Book of World Horoscopes, Bristol, UK: Cinnabar Books

by Rboert P. Blaschke - All Rights Reserved