Crisis in the Air
Zip Dobyns
Probably many of our readers have calculated the chart for the destruction of the Korean commercial plane by Russian missiles, but you may not have some of the auxiliary charts that highlight key factors in the horoscope of the actual crash. Traditional astrology would have a hard time dealing with the chart since it has Venus on the Ascendant sextile Pluto and Saturn and trine Neptune. The Sun is rising, semisextile Mars (widely), and in a grand trine with Pallas and Juno, but square Jupiter-Uranus in the fourth house and widely square the Moon in the tenth house. Mars is exactly sextile the Moon but also conjunct the East Point (read as another Ascendant) and square the MC. Mercury and Pluto are exactly semisextile.
The aspects are more harmonious than otherwise. All charts have some stress aspects, but these are not especially threatening. However, when we check some of the earlier charts for the flight, and run local charts for the countries involved, we get a repeated high focus on that Mars. The flight originated in New York, taking off at 15:50 U.T. on August 30. The Ascendant at the time was 10 Scorpio 50, closely square Mars. The next leg of the flight left Anchorage, Alaska at 14:00 U.T. on August 31 with the MC at 11 Taurus 43, square Mars and, incidentally, within a degree of the MC at the time and place that the missiles were fired. Mars was therefore closely square the MC when the order was given to destroy the plane. When the chart I am using for the U.S. Declaration of Independence is calculated for the location of the crash, the progressed MC is 10 Leo 22, conjunct Mars. The Aries ingress (positions when the Sun enters Aries) is traditionally a key to the world until the next Aries ingress a year later. The 1983 Aries ingress calculated for Moscow has 11 Taurus 39 rising, so the incident occurred when Mars reached the square to that Moscow Ascendant- Descendant. Remember, it is the repeated themes we are looking for in astrology.
Current information as I write this article suggests that a pilot error was responsible for the flight across Russian air space. A wrong button may have been punched, so instead of the plane following the normal flight path around Russian territory, the computer- operated system selected the most direct way to Seoul. Or, the pilot may have mixed his latitude and longitude coordinates when he gave the instructions to the plane’s computer. Since he reversed the two coordinates in his last message to a Japanese control tower, he obviously did not know where he was. The Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in Sagittarius offers a bit of insight into the problem. The pilot trusted his mechanical system and apparently failed to make the proper personal checks on his flight path. Computers are fantastic aids but not substitutes for the use of human minds.
On the Russian side, they watched the blip on their radar screen for over two hours as it crossed their space, and were apparently unable to make visual contact with it until just a few minutes before the final tragedy. The KAL plane was almost out of their space when it rose above the cloud cover. Apparently, the Russians had spent the 2+ hours believing it was a spy plane. I suspect that the rigidity and paranoia were so firmly fixed by the time it was spotted and seen to be a commercial plane, and the idea of letting it get away so unacceptable (it was too late to force it to land on their territory), the two hours of frustration could only be assuaged by shooting it down, regardless of consequences. They could not let a foreign plane fly over their territory for over two hours and get away with it.
I had been wondering what this fall would bring, in light of transiting Icarus in a station on Reagan’s natal Mars for the last half of September and the first half of October. It will also cross his Mars in the middle of January, 1984. I had thought the action might involve Central America or Lebanon (or both), so the confrontation with Russia over the plane just adds more potential for overreach or premature action, the danger when Icarus is involved with fire planets (or to a lesser extent with fire signs or houses). So far, Reagan is being cautious, but Icarus has not reached his Mars yet. By the time readers receive The Mutable Dilemma, there may be more action. One possibility is a personal threat to Reagan. Hinckley shot at him with Icarus on Reagan’s and Hinckley’s natal Icarus.
Some of the newest asteroids in my collection, the ones named for geographic areas, I am only using in mundane charts. If the asteroid “Russia” is properly named, we would expect it to be prominent when the country shoots down an unarmed plane, kills 269 civilians, and brings the wrath of most of the world on its head. Would you believe that the asteroid “Russia” was on the MC when the plane crashed? The MC was 15 Taurus 35, according to the coordinates given by Schultz. Russia (the asteroid) was 15 Taurus 30, or possibly even a minute or two more since it is about to go retrograde and with positions at ten day intervals, it is difficult to be precise to the minute.
But there is even more in this eerie business. I have been working with several possible charts of Russia, and had just started checking one for the date that the country actually celebrates, when several areas were unified on December 30 to 31, 1922. On that day, the asteroid “Russia” was at 16 Taurus, so during September-October, 1983, the asteroid is making a station on its natal position in one of the charts for the country. In the earlier candidates for a horoscope for Russia, during the November 7-9, 1917 period of the revolution, the asteroid “Russia” was at 5 Pisces, which completes the mutable grand square in the crash chart, opposite Sun, square Jupiter-Uranus and Chiron, with the Moon more widely involved. Do any astrologers still believe in chance?
The asteroid “America” was at 26 Libra at the time of the crash, conjunct Pluto and trioctile Moon. If the 1922 chart for Russia is a valid one, its progressed Icarus is conjunct Reagan’s natal Sun through his four years as President, leaving the one degree orb toward the end of 1984. Around the middle of 1989, progressed Icarus will reach the natal position of the asteroid “America” in the the 1922 chart for Russia. Reagan’s natal Icarus is within one degree of the asteroid “America” in the Russian chart. If my speculative time for Reagan is right, his progressed Ascendant in Washington, DC is now on his natal Icarus.
Of course, there are so many contacts, all we can do is notice a few appropriate ones. As the hostile words have flown back and forth during this week following the tragedy, transiting Mars has moved through the exact square to the MC of the crash, which, coincidentally, puts Mars conjunct the progressed Ascendant of the U.S. Declaration of Independence calculated for Moscow. I mentioned earlier the progressed MC for the U.S. Declaration chart relocated to the scene of the crash. The progressed Ascendant in this chart calculated for the crash coordinates is 29 Libra 57, on transiting Pluto-Saturn. The progressed East Point for the same area is 15 Scorpio 18, on the IC of the crash chart. The progressed Antivertex is 2 Sagittarius 5, conjunct Jupiter, opposite Chiron. As I have written before, I usually find Jupiter involved in death, and I think Chiron is much like Jupiter. The progressed eighth cusp (Placidus) was at 27 Taurus, on the Part of Death in the chart for the time the missiles were fired. By the time the crash actually occurred, 12 minutes later, the Part of Death had moved to 2 Gemini 16, on Chiron and opposite Jupiter as well as on the U.S. local progressed Antivertex. The Russian chart for 1922 has progressed heliocentric Mars at 27 Taurus. Of course, the Ascendant at the crash was 27 Leo. Andropov, the current Russian chief, has natal Mars around 24 Leo, (depending on his unknown birth time), with his progressed Mercury conjunct it. The Russian missiles were fired with the Ascendant on his natal Mars. His progressed heliocentric Mars is 27 Libra, on transiting Pluto. His natal asteroid “Russia” is very close to “Russia” in the 1922 chart, at 19 Taurus. Andropov’s natal Icarus is 17 Aries. Reagan’s progressed Icarus is 19 Aries, retrograding at more than one degree a year. The 1922 date for Russia has natal Icarus at 19 Capricorn and Saturn at 19 Libra. I do not find those combinations reassuring. Andropov’s progressed Icarus is just about on the degree I think is rising in the U.S. Declaration of Independence chart, and will be on it for at least a good part of a year. Perhaps we can be thankful for small favors. It is moving at about 3 degrees a year, so will not stay there long.
The 1922 date for Russia came from Judy Johns, a mundane astrologer in Los Angeles, and I have found it in several other references since she mentioned that it was giving her better results than the charts for November 1917. We hope to track down a time when the new Union was considered official. Many countries make a new government official at midnight, and a chart for midnight between December 30 and 31 gives very interesting results, including progressed Moon octile Mars when Hitler invaded Russia and progressed Moon opposite Uranus when they orbited sputnik, and were first into space. That midnight birth time also shows the crises in the country more clearly than the 1917 charts. If that time is right, Pluto stayed square the Ascendant and Uranus stayed quincunx the Ascendant for many years.
At present, progressed Sun is conjunct Uranus and will be conjunct natal Mars in late 1986. Progressed Mars is octile progressed Uranus and progressed Venus is octile natal Uranus and progressed Sun. At the time of the plane crash, progressed Moon was conjunct Neptune and square progressed Jupiter. Calculating the chart for Washington, DC puts the progressed Ascendant at 27 Leo 47, exactly on the crash Ascendant. The natal MC at 14 Cancer 52 would be close to our 13 Cancer Sun in the U.S. July 4 chart. The time is speculative, but the patterns certainly fit the massive bad judgment, lack of faith, deception (which is practiced when we lack trust enough to be open), of the current situation. With progressed Icarus opposite Neptune, approaching the square to progressed Jupiter, and progressed Mercury coming into the fixed t-square in the next year (and when “Russia” is added to the picture, it becomes a fixed grand cross), we wonder about the state of mentality and paranoia being developed as they see the world aligned against them. If we get any more information on the timing of the 1922 date, we will let you know, and if any of our readers has time to dig in the library, we would really appreciate it. In the meantime, we can hang on to our own faith that things will work out eventually, though our feedback time (major planets in Capricorn) that is rapidly approaching may involve some tough lessons for the Earth.