Maya del Mar's Daykeeper Journal: Alex Miller-Mignone

March 2003 proved to be a dizzying roller-coaster ride through the military and diplomatic loop-de-loops in preparation for implementing Bush's War on Iraq. Events had a highly energized, unstable feel, like the tensing strands of gossamer when a spider's web has been breached.

Pluto resting at his station point atop Black Hole Ereshkigal at 19 Sagittarius has sat serenely contemplating the depths of confusion, chaos and uncertainty about to be wrought upon the world via the medium of his divine hostess' homeland, and must think it a very good and efficient use of his death and destruction aspects, albeit a bit cliché.

Many Galactic factors impinged upon this time period, too many to chronicle completely here, but the Sun's passage from mid-Pisces to Aries is a good overall indicator of the timing of world events, and the impact that activated Black Holes have had upon them. Black Holes evoke dramatic, sweeping change, and act as energy drains and energy absorbers; once activated, they leave us a very different world from the one that went before.

Black Hole Ereshkigal is a key player in the drama due to Pluto's visit. Pluto has been at the degree of the Black Hole's singularity, or center, since January 23, stationed retrograde there on March 23, and will remain at the degree until May 25, pumping massive amounts of transition and transformation energy into her yawning maw, and reaping global manifestations of terror and destruction. As discussed in my prior article on the War [see Alex's "Dubya Dubya III" in the February issue of Daykeeper Journal] all the countries of Bush's "Axis of Evil," as well as that of the USA and Bush himself, are strongly tied to this Black Hole.

As it turns out, so are all the countries on the current UN Security Council, as enumerated below. This body has been an incredible thorn in the Administration's side—remember that among Bush's contacts to Ereshkigal are his South Node conjunction, his point of karmic undoing. The permanent members' contacts to Ereshkigal at 19 Sagittarius are as follows (chart data omitted for brevity, horoscopes from Nicholas Campion's Book of World Horoscopes):

the USA has Neptune in square from 22 Virgo and Mars opposed from 21 Gemini, and we can certainly read 'oil' and 'conflict' into that;
the UK (1801 chart) has Mercury at 17 Sagittarius conjunct, and has been the US ally most involved in the daily machinations of setting up the war, and providing troops;
France has Saturn at 20 Sagittarius conjunct, which says a lot about its recalcitrance in the Security Council and the threatened veto, but also its important role as a brake on the US Mars;
Russia has Mars exactly conjunct at 19 Sagittarius,
while China's Pluto trines from 17 Leo,

and for these nations the decision is about expressing their own power on the world stage.

Even the rotating Security Council members have significant contacts to Ereshkigal:

Angola has the Moon at 20 Aquarius in sextile;
Cameroon's Jupiter at 18 Sagittarius and Mars at 20 Sagittarius straddle her neatly, while
Chile's Uranus at 19 Sagittarius lands squarely on the Black Hole's singularity;
Guinea's Saturn lies at 20 Sagittarius,
Mexico has a Mars/Uranus conjunction at 17 and 19 Aquarius in sextile, and
Pakistan's Mercury at 19 Pisces exactly squares.

Germany's contact is the least dramatic, a semisextile from Saturn at 18 Capricorn.

The month began with a Black Hole parallel reality moment when Iraq commenced the destruction of al-Samoud missiles which it said it didn't have. The rockets have a range capability 17 miles further than the 93 mile limit imposed upon Iraq at the end of the First Gulf War in 1991.

On the same day, Turkey's parliament, which was considered to have been bribed into the Bush administration's back pocket, neatly denied the US permission to deploy ground troops on Turkish soil, via the use of a parliamentary procedure which passed the measure numerically, but with so many abstentions that it failed to become law.

At 10 Pisces the transit Sun was exactly square Black Hole Anubis at 10 Sagittarius, semisquare (45 degrees) Black Hole Hades at 25 Aries, and inconjunct Black Hole Cernunnos at 10 Leo. [In addition for this date Mars on the supermassive Black Hole at the Galactic Center suggests the global importance of this conflict, while Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune conjoin Black Holes, Venus opposes one, and Saturn is sesquiquadrate another; Mercury is conjoined a Quasar and square a Black Hole.]

On the fifth of March the push for a second UN resolution specifically sanctioning war came to a screeching halt when the ambassadors of France, Russia, Germany and China indicated they would block its passage. Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix gave opposition forces a talking point by describing Iraq's continuing destruction of its al-Samoud missiles as signs of genuine disarmament, and the Pope's emissary Cardinal Laghi delivered a letter from His Holiness to Bush, condemning the planned conflict (most religious organizations, including Bush's own United Methodist sect, oppose any pre-emptive strike on Iraq). The transit Sun at 14 Pisces was exactly sesquiquadrate (135 degrees) Black Hole Pele at 29 Libra.

On March 7, the US and the UK jointly issued a 10-day deadline to Saddam Hussein for Iraq to completely disarm or face invasion. Hans Blix undercut this position with a speech before the Security Council stating that real progress in disarmament was being made; however, he made no reference to the raw data in the accompanying report, which revealed the discovery of a prohibited Iraqi drone plane and cluster bombs, both suitable for chemical weapons disbursal. The transit Sun at 16 Pisces was exactly sextile Black Hole Eurydice at 16 Taurus. [Additionally Mercury and Mars each squared Black Holes, while Jupiter through Neptune maintained their earlier Black Hole aspect status.]

Events clustered heavily around the 10th and 11th March, a period which saw the transit Sun at 19 Pisces in square to both Pluto, just days away from his retrograde station, and his hostess, Black Hole Ereshkigal. On the 10th the US and the UK made a final push for the UN war resolution, with France and Russia closing ranks and promising a veto.

Additionally, North Korea and Iran, those other two spokes on Bush's "Axis of Evil," put in their oars with revived nuclear programs, with North Korea testing a cruise missile and Iran reopening a nuclear fuel processing plant capable of refining nuclear power waste into weapons-grade material. This occurred on the exact square to Pluto/Ereshkigal. [Also on that day Mars conjoined a Black Hole, and Jupiter through Neptune maintained their positions vis-a-vis Galactics.]

On the 11th, with the Sun moved to 20 Pisces and in exact sesquiquadrate and semisquare to a manifestation-evoking Quasar polarity at 5 Taurus/Scorpio, the US put Pluto's massive power into effect with the test of their new MOAB bomb, the most powerful non-nuclear ordnance ever created. The 21,000 pound Massive Ordnance Airburst Bomb (AKA "Mother of All Bombs") was dropped from a Samaritan C-131 aircraft on a test range at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida; the weapon is designed to release a flammable mist over the target, which it then ignites, producing a highly destructive blast and a mushroom cloud similar to a nuclear detonation. (Intriguingly, both the Moabites and the Samaritans were significant players in ancient conflicts with the Israelites, continuing the biblically-themed references pervading current events which began with the Space Shuttle Columbia's destruction above Palestine, Texas.)

Also on that date, temporary Security Council member Pakistan declared that it would abstain from a UN war resolution. Lobbying among the remaining five undecided members, who were suggesting Iraq be given an additional 45-day extension to comply, reached fever pitch, with France's Foreign Minister barnstorming through three African nations and the Bush administration issuing dinner invitations to the President of Cameroon. Mercury at 9 and 10 Pisces opposed one Black Hole and squared another.

On March 13, reports surfaced that Iraqi forces had moved prohibited SCUD missiles into the western desert, within firing range of Israel, wired their oil fields with explosives set to detonate in case of invasion, and moved artillery capable of firing chemical warheads close to the Kuwaiti border, the major point of embarkation for Coalition troops. The US and UK, who had been scrambling for a compromise resolution in the UN, announced they would not call for a vote for at least three more days. The transit Sun at 22 Pisces was exactly sesquiquadrate Black Hole Dionysos at 7 Scorpio and square transit Saturn, also sesquiquadrate Dionysos.

On March 16, with the Sun at 25 Pisces, in exact sesquiquadrate to Black Hole Cernunnos at 10 Leo and semisextile Black Hole Hades at 24 Aries, the US, UK, Spain and Portugal held a Summit on Iraq at the Azores islands, attended by Bush, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. Bush called the disarmament deadline, which loomed the following day on March 17, a "moment of truth for the world." Mercury that day was at 19 Pisces, in exact square to Pluto and Black Hole Ereshkigal.

On March 17, with the transit Sun at 26 Pisces forming a T-Square with the Galactic Center at 26 Sagittarius, suggesting the universal impact of the message, and a manifestation-evoking Quasar at 26 Gemini, Bush addresses the nation and issues a final 48-hour ultimatum to Saddam Hussein and his sons— leave Iraq or face bombardment.

Regarding the abortive second UN resolution and the powers accorded by the previous, unanimous Resolution 1441, which decreed nonspecific "serious consequences" should Iraq not comply with disarmament, Bush stated: "This is not a question of authority; it is a question of will....The UN Security Council has not lived up to their responsibilities, so we will rise to ours." He added a message to the Iraqi people: "The tyrant will soon be gone; the day of your liberation is near."

Operation Iraqi Freedom began little more than 48 hours later, when at approximately 9:30 PM EST on Wednesday, March 19, 2003 (5:30 AM March 20, local Baghdad time), the US sent 40 cruise missiles into Baghdad at a "target of opportunity," an underground compound where Hussein and top aides were expected to be. The next day Hussein appeared on Iraqi TV to condemn the US action in what may have been a taped message, and reports surfaced that the dictator had been carried from the bunker on a stretcher with an oxygen mask.

The transit Sun at 28 Pisces was exactly conjunct the singularity/center of Black Hole Quetzalcoatl and activating the most populous Deep Space Shield of Galactic energies of which we are aware, with 8 anomalies at the 28th degree of various Signs, all in aspect to the Sun that day. Mercury at 25 Pisces was one degree shy of an exact square to the Galactic Center, Venus at 19 Aquarius was exactly sextile Pluto/Ereshkigal, Mars at 9 Capricorn opposed a Quasar, manifesting conflict, and the rest of the planets held their Galactic allegiances from the start of the month.

Ground Troops entered Iraq from Kuwait within hours, and advanced on the southern oil fields and Basra, about 300 miles from Baghdad. On Friday, March 21, Coalition forces began the long-mooted "Shock and Awe" campaign, launching some 500 cruise missiles on selected targets in Baghdad, in a military barrage unrivaled in the annals of war. The Sun moving from 0 to 1 Aries that day was exactly opposed Black Hole Adonis at 1 Libra, the supermassive Black Hole center of Galaxy M-87, and the largest anomaly of its type of which are aware.

And so, the world's last remaining Super Power has begun its invasion of one of the poorest Third World nations, debilitated by more than a decade of UN sanctions which have sapped its energies and destroyed its economy, but left it the steward of a rich depository of natural resources, specifically, oil.

It has done so without UN sanction, but with full Congressional backing, based in part upon falsified documentation of Iraqi intent to purchase materials necessary for nuclear weapons production; and with the assertion that the leader of this rogue state has concealed weapons of mass destruction, an allegation for which there is no proof; and that his regime is linked with the Al Qaeda terrorist organization, an accusation which is supported with the flimsiest of circumstantial evidence.

This has been done at the behest of an unelected head of state whose demagoguery, manipulation of evidence and callous opportunism in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy have herded a reluctant populace into stony-faced acquiescence amid an atmosphere of paranoia and fear. We are setting a very dangerous precedent on the world stage of international relations and war ethics, and sowing the seeds of a very bitter harvest indeed.