We've chronicled the military and diplomatic build-up in the march to war (see Part I of this article, in the April 2003 issue of Daykeeper), and analyzed the chart for the conflict itself (see Part II in May's issue); all that remains of this Three Act Drama in Khaki is the denouement, which was never much in doubt, given the mismatched standings of the adversaries.
Although many other celestials contributed their energies to the making of this war, for simplicity's sake we will continue to use only the Sun's daily position vis-a-vis Galactic Points as a guide to marking important turning points and developments in the conflict. In brief, Black Holes promote dramatic shifts in the status quo and indicate massive energy use or drain; Quasars promote pervasive, lasting manifestation; Pulsars are informational in nature; and Masers stimulate erratic and volatile energy disbursal.
Following the opening missile barrage on Baghdad in the wee hours of March 19/20, 2003, US and UK troops crossed the Kuwaiti border into Iraq, beginning the ground war. Key moments in the three week conflict all reflect considerable Galactic activation, beginning with the first Iraqi resistance met by Coalition forces, and the see-saw fight for Umm Qasr, Iraq's only port.
The Sun's annual opposition to Black Hole Adonis at 1 Libra, supermassive Black Hole Center of Galaxy M-87 and the largest anomaly of its kind of which we are aware, fell on March 22, coinciding with the siege of Basra, and parenthesizing the struggle for Umm Qasr. On the 21st, the day before the exact opposition, Coalition forces were deemed to have taken the port, and an American flag flew briefly over it, until some brighter bulb in the Administration realized how much more like conquest that appeared than was prudent.
By the 23rd, the day after the opposition, control of Umm Qasr was strongly disputed by Iraqi forces. This type of see-saw, now-you-see-it, now-you-don't activity is common with Black Hole activation, and the Sun from 1 Aries not only opposed Adonis, but formed a Mirror Configuration, neatly bisecting the square from Black Hole Eurydice at 16 Taurus to the information-evoking Pulsar at 16 Aquarius, thus in semisquare (45 degrees) to each. Also on March 22, Iraqis set oil fires in trenches in and around Baghdad, in an effort to wreathe the city in smoke that would cut down on the effectiveness of Coalition bombing raids.
On March 25, with US forces pausing to consolidate within 60 miles of Baghdad, Bush submitted a preliminary bill to Congress for the cost of the war: $75 billion, including $63 billion for the mobilization costs and additional funding for the War on Terror. Also on this date British forces reported rumors of an anti-Hussein civilian uprising in besieged Basra. Black Holes govern huge expenditures and large sums of money, as well as the rumor mill, which attempts to alter reality before its time. The Sun at 4 Aries was exactly trine Black Hole Isis at 4 Sagittarius and square Black Hole Parvati at 4 Cancer.
On the following day, March 26, the heaviest fighting yet was reported at Najaf and Nasiriyah, brought on by extensive Quasar activation. Quasars promote pervasive manifestation, and may be linked with Black Holes via that staple of science fiction, the wormhole, thus ejecting back into physical reality whatever matter and energy the Black Hole has consumed. In addition to a square to Black Hole Durga at 5 Capricorn and a trine to Black Hole Horus at 5 Sagittarius, that day saw three Quasars activated by the Sun at 5 Aries—an exact opposition to the Quasar at 5 Libra, and a hit to the Quasar polarity at 5 Scorpio and 5 Taurus, by inconjunct and semisextile.
At midnight on April 1, US forces achieved a well-publicized and dramatic rescue of American POW Jessica Lynch from a hospital in Nasiriyah, with intelligence supplied by an Iraqi civilian who walked six miles through the desert to reveal Lynch's location. The Sun at 10/11 Aries was highlighting a Quasar at 10 Aries by conjunction, while also semisquare the Quasar at 25 Aquarius, sextile the Pulsar at 10 Aquarius, and trine Black Hole Anubis at 10 Sagittarius. Quasars often produce memorable, show-stopping, larger-than-life moments such as this incident, while the Black Hole involvement reveals the dramatic volte face reversal of Pvt. Lynch's circumstances, and an information-evoking Pulsar assured a high profile with the press.
Interestingly, Lynch hails from Palestine, WV, a second newsworthy incident in as many months involving a namesake of the most troubled hotspot in the Middle East (the first occurred February 2 when the space shuttle Columbia self-destructed in the skies over Palestine, Texas.
On April 3 the Battle of Baghdad was begun when an advance division of the US 3rd Infantry launched an attack on Saddam International airport on the city's outskirts, and the body of US troops approached to within 12 miles of the city itself. Baghdad was mysteriously plunged in darkness by a power outage for which both Iraqi and Coalition officials denied responsibility.
The Sun at 13 Aries was igniting a stellar array of Galactic points—opposed Black Hole Nemesis at 13 Libra, sextile Black Hole Attis at 13 Aquarius, trine the Maser at 13 Leo, semisquare the Maser at 28 Taurus and Black Hole Hekate at 28 Aquarius, and sesquiquadrate (135 degrees) the Quasar at 28 Scorpio.
On the 4th, with these aspects still resonating, the airport was secured and rechristened "Baghdad International," and both Houses of Congress passed the war funding bill.
On April 5, with the Sun exactly opposed the Quasar at 15 Libra, US forces made their first foray into the heart of Baghdad, meeting little resistance. On the 6th, with the Sun at 16 Aries in semisextile to Black Hole Eurydice at 16 Taurus, US tanks entered Baghdad for a second time, while British forces staged their largest raid to date on Basra.
On April 8, with the Sun at 18 Aries in trine to Black Hole Inanna at 18 Sagittarius, British forces took Basra, and a disturbing friendly fire incident took place in Baghdad. Alleging sniper fire from its roof, US tanks fired on a hotel headquartering foreign journalists, many of whom had been reporting negatively on the war; two reporters died and four others were injured. Incredibly, the name of the hotel was the Palestine, the third incident of international noteworthiness to include that place name in its circumstances.
As readers of this chronicle will recall, this War is heavily tied to the Pluto retrograde station exactly atop Black Hole Ereshkigal at 19 Sagittarius, and the Fall of Baghdad was perfectly timed to reflect an ongoing interest on the part of this dynamic duo. On April 9, with the Sun at 19 Aries in exact trine to Pluto/Ereshkigal, US forces took control of Iraq's capitol, while the Hussein regime evaporated like water on the sands, and looters took over the streets. The key photo op moment occurred with the downing of a 20 foot black metal likeness of Saddam in a central square of the city. Briefly obscured with an American flag across its face, the statue was pulled down by ropes attached to an army truck, and its severed head dragged through the streets in triumph by apparently jubilant Iraqi civilians who had felt the dictator's brutal grip for decades. The Sun was also square Black Hole Hel at 19 Capricorn and sesquiquadrate Black Hole Isis at 4 Sagittarius.
Additional key moments followed: the fall of Kirkuk on April 10 saw a 20 Aries Sun in sesquiquadrate to Black Hole Horus at 5 Sagittarius; Mosul surrendered peacefully on April 11 with the Sun semisquare the Quasar at 6 Pisces and sesquiquadrate Black Hole Tiamat at 7 Virgo; on the 15th, with the Sun at 25 Aries exactly conjunct Black Hole Hades, Tikrit fell, Hussein's birthplace and the last significant center of resistance. Declaring an end to major fighting, the Pentagon began withdrawing troops, warships and aircraft from the Gulf region. Finally on the 17th, with the Sun at 27 Aries exactly conjunct Black Hole Kore/Persephone, the Bush administration announced the war had cost $20 billion, with another $20 billion estimated for the reconstruction and recovery efforts in the next five months, and called on the UN to lift the economic sanctions against Iraq.
And so the war ends, and the reconstruction begins. Is it a good thing that Hussein's regime is no more? Certainly. Could it have been accomplished by means other than massive force? Possibly. Does this circumstance make the US safer, or more of a target for Islamic terrorism? Only time will tell.
Alex Miller-Mignone is a professional writer and astrologer, author of The Black Hole Book and The Urban Wicca, former editor of "The Galactic Calendar," and past president of The Philadelphia Astrological Society.