Asteroid-World Summer 1991
Zip Dobyns
What a week! For years, commentators have anticipated an attempt to overthrow the liberal leaders in Russia, to turn the clock back to totalitarian control by right-wing conservatives. They have speculated on the reaction of the Russian people: how many would welcome a turn to army and/or KGB enforced law and order despite a loss of freedom and how many would dare to resist, to stand and fight for freedom? Would the hard-liners, be as ruthless and as effective as Lenin and Stalin? We now have at least some partial answers.
A chronology offered in a local paper (Knight-Ridder Daily News) says that Gorbachev’s phones were cut and KGB representatives appeared at his door at 4:50 P.M. on Sunday, August 18. He rejected their demand that he give up power or declare a state of emergency, so the eight leaders of the coup announced his “illness,” and declared that the Vice President was in charge. I have been unable to locate the town Foros (or Phoros), the location of Gorbachev’s vacation home where he was relaxing with his wife, Raisa, his daughter and her husband, and his two granddaughters. The chart I am using for the beginning of the coup is set for Simferopol, the town to which some of the coup leaders flew to talk to Gorbachev after the coup started to fall apart. I am assuming that it was the nearest airport to Gorbachev’s vacation home in the Crimea on the Black Sea.
The chart certainly indicates issues involving power. The Capricorn stellium is in the Aries house along with the Antivertex and Saturn (ruler of Capricorn) in the sign it co-rules, Aquarius. In the Scorpio house are Jupiter and Sun in Leo and three planets in Virgo. Mars in the eighth house is an especially important indication of the issue of personal power versus shared power. Ceres and Pluto are both in the sign of Scorpio (the lesson of shared power) in the house of Capricorn, the LAW including authority figures who enforce it. The total emphasis on letters one, five, eight, and ten certainly hammers in the issue of learning to deal with power. If the place and time are close to accurate, Saturn is almost exactly square the midpoint of the natal and local (Moscow) MCs, one of many ways to symbolize a conflict between personal will (first house) and the limits of personal will (tenth house). Chiron and Vesta in Leo in the seventh house and Ceres-MC form a T-square with Saturn, and the asteroid Russia at 4 Taurus completes a fixed grand cross in cardinal houses; a classic picture of a power struggle. Mars is in an applying square to the Moscow Ascendant, fitting the fact that the armed struggle actually occurred in Moscow.
Some relevant additional asteroids include Crimea square the true lunar nodes, Yalta (a town in Crimea famous for a political meeting between Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt) square Neptune, Wladilena (Lenin) square Moskva (Moscow), Latvia and Volga conjunct Mars, and Estonia in Aquarius square Russia which connects Estonia to the fixed cross. I limit aspects to the “new” asteroids to a one-degree orb, but if planet “A” aspects “B” and “B” aspects “C”, even though “A” and “C” are over one degree from an aspect they are tied in to the network. The aspects to asteroids Estonia and Latvia are very meaningful since the Republics for which they were named took advantage of the uproar during the coup to declare their independence. The third Baltic, Lithuania, had already declared its independence in 1990. The Moon went through a square to Michel (French equivalent for Mikhail) while the coup forces were getting in place and it was square Raissa when the forces confronted the Gorbachevs. News reports suggest that Mikhail’s wife and daughter were very emotionally disturbed by the experience. His wife, Raisa, may have had physical repercussions. Rumors include a heart attack, a stroke, and a paralyzed hand. Another report claims that she was ill and receiving treatment before the coup and that she is now improving. She held a brief news conference after the Gorbachev’s returned to Moscow and said that she was better. Mikhail has assured the public that she is recovering but said that it will take time, and the current consensus is that she suffered what in lay terms is called a “nervous breakdown” rather than a heart attack or stroke.
Raisa was born on January 5, 1932 in Rubvsovsk, 51 N 33, 81 E 10. Based on her activity, I suspect that she was born shortly before dawn with Sagittarius rising (for her education and career as a teacher of Marxist Philosophy) but with her Capricorn Sun, Mars, and Saturn also in the first house (for her atheism and ambition). Individuals with heavy first house Capricorn can alternate between “my will is law” and “the world has all the power and I’m helpless and vulnerable.” Intense anxiety often accompanies the latter state. A speculative chart for Raisa set for 6 A.M. (UT 1 A.M.) puts the asteroids Russia and Hybris (hubris) on the local MC in Moscow and Michel (for Mikhail) on the IC in Moscow. P Moon would be at 13 Aquarius for the coup, in a square to her natal Ascendant in Moscow. P Raissa (her namesake asteroid though it has an extra “s”) would be conjunct her Antivertex and P Ascendant in Moscow. Regardless of birth time, P Winchester, so often associated with guns, is conjunct P Mars with both opposite Neptune. Her faith has definitely been challenged. Mikhail may have some faith in a Higher Power, thanks to a mother and a grandmother who were believers, but Raisa’s orthodox atheism may have provided little support when she faced potential death. In Stalin’s day, her prospects would have included torture. If this birth time is close to accurate, Raisa now has P Philosophia conjunct P Ceres approaching natal Sun. She may be approaching a change of both job and philosophy. There are many other relevant asteroids, but I will just mention that her P Moskva at 19 Aries is conjunct natal Atlantis (for power abuse) and they square natal Mars and Juno which oppose each other across Capricorn-Cancer. The July 11, 1991 eclipse at 19 Cancer made a direct hit in what becomes a cardinal cross when we include Apollo (a Sun god for power and fame) at 20 Libra. The January 1992 eclipse will put Sun-Moon-Uranus on Raisa’s natal Sun square her natal America and opposite her P Juno. Something important is coming for the Gorbachevs.
In spite of the tension in the coup chart, there are also some very protective aspects to the Ascendant suggesting that the Gorbachevs might be safe, at least for the moment. Venus and Mercury trine the Ascendant and sextile Ceres-MC. Mars is trine and Pluto sextile the first house Juno-north lunar node. Sun-Jupiter trine the Ascendant in Moscow. While the fixed cross shows a power struggle, the quincunx of Mercury-Venus to Saturn fits a major change in the executive power and the LAW.
The hero of the hour is Boris Yeltsin, elected President of Russia, the biggest of the 15 Republics in the Soviet Union. Yeltsin is just one month older than Gorbachev, born on February 1, 1931. Most of my references put his birth in Sverdlovsk, the one of three in the U.S.S.R. which is in the Ural Mountains. Mark Lerner writes that he was born in Butka, 56 N 47, 63 E 47 and Lois Rodden received information from Russia that he was born in Talitza, 56 N 45, 63 E 45. One of our atlases lists three towns named Talitsa in the Sverdlovsk region. The one closest to Lois’ coordinates is given as 57 N 4, 63 E 44. Since we don’t have a birth time for him and have to rectify the chart, perhaps the minor uncertainty over exact L & L is only a minor nuisance. I worked a little with a speculative birth time of near dawn with his Aquarian Sun just above or just below the Ascendant, giving him a Leo flavor. But putting Leo on the Ascendant with Mars rising seems even more probable. Until I am more sure of his birthplace and have more time to work with events in his life, I’ll deal with his chart in a future article but I’ll include a copy of my speculative chart with this issue of Asteroid-World.
Yeltsin has been a rebel and a leader all his life. He called on the people of Moscow, including the soldiers sent to control, capture, and/or kill him, to defend the freedom of the country. Thousands of people turned out to form a human wall around the Parliamentary headquarters (along with hastily produced barricades), and an increasing number of soldiers came over to the Russian side against the coup leaders, one of whom was the Defense Minister who theoretically controlled the military. Other than one tank which was trapped and attacked by the civilian defenders, and which killed three people, the coup was a huge drama without bloodshed. By Wednesday evening, Gorbachev announced that he was back in power, and he returned to Moscow at 2:15 A.M. Thursday. One coup leader, Pugo, committed suicide, and the rest were arrested. Yeltsin has given major credit to about 20 KGB commanders of the elite anti-terrorist Alpha Group for their refusal to storm the 19-story Parliament building on Tuesday, August 20. According to Yeltsin, the men were ordered and bullied, one by one and then in a group, to disperse the crowd in front of the Parliament and to take Yeltsin and 11 of his supporters dead or alive, preferably dead. But the modern KGB were not Stalin. They refused to carry out the wholesale slaughter that would have been needed to put down the popular protest. And new stories continue to appear describing military officers who resisted orders from higher up to attack their own people. Cynics suggest that some of the KGB and army hesitation to attack the Parliament building was due to the fact that some army units were defending Yeltsin. It is also possible that the army and the KGB learned something from Tiananmen Square. Even the Soviet Communist Party denounced the takeover on Wednesday evening, though by that time it was clear who was on the winning side. Russia and the world are in a new ball game.
Despite its failure to support the coup attempt, the Communist Party is a big loser. Yeltsin and leaders of other Republics have signed decrees banning it as a political party and Gorbachev has resigned as a member and as General Secretary of the party. Gorbachev remains the President of the Soviet Union, but the central government is rapidly becoming a fiction, with its power increasingly challenged by most of the Republics. Gorbachev has clearly lost face and power to Yeltsin. He is being compared to a constitutional monarch who is primarily a symbolic figurehead for the country, with a largely diplomatic role in foreign relations. Another comparison equates him with Moses who led the Hebrews out of captivity in Egypt but was not able to take them into the promised land. Joshua played that role, and Yeltsin is currently nominated as the modern Joshua.
I have been using a rectified chart for Gorbachev with Uranus rising in Aries which seemed to fit his revolutionary role in the world, but in light of his performance in recent years as he tried to straddle the liberal and conservative sides, I am now testing a new speculative chart which is almost 12 hours later, putting Libra on his Ascendant. I had expected the major upheaval and power struggle (for Gorbachev personally and for the country) in the winter of 1991-2 when my previous chart would have brought P Moon into a fixed grand cross opposing P Sun and squaring P Mars and P Atlantis. The later birth time brings P Moon into that configuration during the summer and early fall of 1991, fitting the momentous crisis occurring at this time.
The early arrival of the crisis also forced me to reevaluate what had been my preferred chart for the country, set for 3 P.M. for Lenin’s first public appearance after master-minding the Bolshevik revolution behind the scenes. Rectified charts can be set for UT, ignoring the question of local time. But when we base charts on historical information, the type of time becomes vitally important. An article in our Los Angeles Times in 1990 claimed that Russia had been on daylight time ever since the revolution, but the whole question of time is far from settled. Currently, the International Atlas from ACS is showing daylight time for Moscow, putting it 4 hours ahead of UT, but news broadcasts make it clear that Moscow is currently only 3 hours later than UT. There is also the known fact that the country was using Local City Time (LCT) at the time of the revolution; that is, using the longitude of its capital Petrograd (now Leningrad). So I am still basing my revolution charts on LCT.
The 3 P.M. chart for LCT on November 7, 1917 seemed the best fitting one for the continuous suffering of the people with P Pluto holding a square to the Ascendant until a few months ago, and still square the Sun/Moon midpoint which opposes the Ascendant. P true south lunar node has also remained on the 3 P.M. IC for many years, with squares to both the East Point and Antivertex, the auxiliary Ascendants. P Mars is now moving slowly, approaching a station to turn retrograde, holding squares to P true nodes and, (with a 3 P.M. time), oppositions to East Point–Antivertex. But P Mars is also holding a long trine to P Jupiter, so there are indications of crisis but also the potential for constructive change, partly with the help of other countries and partly with a change of basic faith and values. Also, within a few months depending on the time we use, P Sun will move into Aquarius, and in another six months to a year, it will form a grand trine to P Mars and P Jupiter. A grand trine of fire factors in air signs could signal a period of explosive growth in freedom and knowledge.
Many other aspects might be mentioned, emphasizing the combination of stress but still hope. P Mercury is opposite Pluto and square Ascendant-Descendant, (with a 3 P.M. time), forming a cardinal cross: independence, dependence, equality and power. P MC in Moscow just started a quincunx to natal Moon, fitting the shift of power from the traditional leaders to the people and also fitting the separation of several of the Republics from the executive power of the central government. As this is written, one Republic after another is declaring independence from the central government. P Moon just ended a square to natal and P Neptune but it will continue to square the midpoints of natal and P Neptune and Saturn until it moves into the square to P and natal Saturn during the winter of 1991-2, which seemed to support the timing I was getting from my speculative chart for Gorbachev.
Now, however, though my new chart for Gorbachev continues to show tension for years, the P Moon aspects provide a better fit for the big showdown in the summer of 1991. This encouraged me to look again at another possible time for the Bolshevik revolution and the beginning of Communist power in Russia. Countries are born in stages and I have 9 different times during the 3-day revolution which could be logically supported as steps on the road to communist power. Life is not really tidy, despite our efforts to make neat patterns to explain and predict it. Countries usually have more than one chart which “works” to some extent and helps to “make sense” of the situation. Prior to getting the 3 P.M. chart, I had gotten the best fit of a chart with events in the history of the country using the opening of the Congress of Soviets at 10:40 P.M. Local City Time (LCT) on November 7, 1917 in Leningrad. This chart, like the later birth time for Gorbachev, advances the crisis aspects which picture the major changes in leadership and power from the winter of 1991-2 to the summer and early fall of 1991. The P Moon is still in orb of its long square to P and natal Neptune, to midpoints, and then to P and natal Saturn when it starts an opposition to natal Sun-Ceres. We will have to see what the coming months bring to judge the relative merits of the two charts for the country. P Moon will oppose natal Mercury later in the year, which would fit mental changes, communication, transportation, etc., but the simultaneous conflict aspects to Saturn and Sun are most appropriate for the changes of power figures and laws.
Saturn symbolizes the ultimate, rigid, hierarchical, bureaucratic power, the Laws and the people who enforce them. If it is not modified by compromise with other sides of life, it can freeze traditional limits and lead to paralysis. Neptune symbolizes the ideal of empathy without any limits, with each component of the whole experiencing oneness with the whole, giving and receiving in a state of harmony and trust. If it is not modified by compromises with other sides of life, it can lead to total lack of discrimination, to dissolution into mush. But when, as is inevitably the case, some individuals lack empathy, when they are just “normally” self-centered, we still need laws and policemen (Saturn). The ideal of communism and socialism proposes that everyone gives what they can and receives what they need. But in actual practice, communism has only worked for brief periods in small, religious groups led by inspired gurus. Individuals unable to live by the high ethical standards either left voluntarily or were exiled. In the current (and foreseeable) state of human nature, laws are needed to prevent wealthy and/or brilliant individuals driven by greed for power and money from making slaves of the less competent. Capitalism encourages aggressive self-interest and “the devil take the hindmost.”
The secondary progressed Moon aspects especially symbolize this transition period as the Soviets try to reshape their ruling belief system, being told now to give up the Neptunian ideals which, of course, were not practiced by the power elite who maintained a totalitarian form of Saturn, but which were constantly preached to the common people. At the same time, the totalitarian form of Saturn is shifting to a more democratic expression with laws under which people are theoretically to be given equal treatment and opportunity and a voice in the government; a combination of Saturn’s two signs, Capricorn and Aquarius. The people and the land, symbolized by the Moon, continue to face the dissolution of all their familiar systems along with uncertainty over the final form of their laws and their leaders as the country’s Moon squares the two planets and their midpoints. Our challenge is to make the best match between the aspects and the actual timing of the historic events. Aspects to midpoints mark periods which emphasize the principles of both the planets which form the midpoint, so they may conceivably be even stronger than the periods of aspects involving a single one of the two. During this whole conflict period, the people and the land are confronting both Neptune and Saturn, seeking a more effective faith and laws. Since the highlighted period ends with the Moon square Saturn, that stage should mark the actual change of laws and/or leaders. Mutable factors operate at the mental level. Cardinal factors mark overt change.
The months ahead will obviously be a very stressful time as many of the older Soviets sink deeper into poverty and mourn their discredited faith. Gorbachev’s 68 year old personal military advisor has committed suicide, saying that everything he had worked for was being destroyed. The young, the educated, the aggressive will be trying to build a new order with new values. Uncertainty over who is in charge, local or central leaders, is being added to food shortages, job disruptions, inflation, and general economic pressures as the Soviets try to shift to a market economy. As mentioned above, while still square Saturn, P Moon will also oppose natal Sun-Ceres. Ceres is goddess of the grain, basic food supplies and the fertile earth along with workers and jobs in general. It will be a tough fall and winter, but other countries are promising humanitarian aid.
Meanwhile, Gorbachev is torn between abandoning his lifetime associates in the Communist Party and being pushed by Yeltsin to take drastic (and as Gorbachev pointed out, undemocratic) action against them. For the moment, he feels forced to accept the demands of Yeltsin, but he is still fighting for some kind of Soviet Union and says that he will only resign if the union is rejected. In my new speculative time for his birth, his personal crisis is now and immediately ahead. A break with Yeltsin is possible, or personal health problems, or another revolution in the country (perhaps by young people rather than old conservatives?), or increased civil strife between the Republics, etc. Gorbachev might decide that it is time to step down and play the role of statesman-guru, or he might campaign hard in an election and lose. He might be assassinated.
He also might be discredited by the investigation planned by select committees of the Supreme Soviet and modeled after the U.S. investigation of Watergate, which could lead to impeachment. The August 28 issue of the Los Angeles Times has an article by a Rand (Santa Monica Think Tank) analyst describing plans to investigate the KGB or military (?) killings in Tbilisi in April 1989 and in Vilnius in January 1991 as well as attacks on border guard etc. Gorbachev has claimed that he did not order these actions or know of them in advance. As with Nixon, the question remains “what did he know and when did he know it?” Or was his only “sin” the failure to control the hard liners who still thought that Stalinist terror would work. The Black Berets have left the Baltics but they carried a defiant sign saying “We will return.” Both the charts of Gorbachev and of the country point to this period as a time of crucial testing and changes in leadership and the handling of power. Gorbachev has revolutionized his own country and the world. I wish that he could retire with honor but the odds are not good in his own country. Perhaps we can support the suggestion that he be elected the next head of the United Nations?! He could certainly make a lot of money if he did a lecture tour in the U.S.
Our readers will remember that I was concerned about a possible civil war in Russia in the summer of 1991 because Winchester was on the seventh house cusp in the Cancer Ingress chart calculated for Moscow. It had been on the Baghdad MC for the Libra and Capricorn Ingresses in 1990, and on the seventh cusp for the Aries 1991 Ingress, marking the shift from a war of governments to a civil war. In addition to Winchester marking Moscow, the Cancer Ingress clearly showed that the U.S. would have a finger in the situation since Herbert was on the IC in Moscow and square the Antivertex, America was square the Ascendant, and Washington was on Mercury quincunx Saturn. The coming Libra Ingress in September (which is relevant for the world situation for the following three months) moves Winchester away from a conjunction with the angles (in both Moscow and the Middle East). But it is on Mars square the lunar nodes which are conjunct the Moscow Ascendant-Descendant within 3 degrees, so it may lessen but it does not rule out the use of force in Russia. The Moscow Ascendant is also on the midpoint of Uranus/Neptune with Mars exactly square Neptune and Winchester just 15 minutes past the one-degree orb which I require for aspects involving our huge quantity of asteroids. Winchester is connected to the square to the Ascendant in Moscow by being within one degree of Mars while Mars forms a wider square, permitted for the traditional planets. The chart supports the logical deduction that the aftermath of the recent coup attempt will still be shaking up the country.
Also in the Libra Ingress, Saturn is rising in Moscow conjunct the Ascendant/East Point midpoint, square the south node of Mars on asteroid Crimea and opposite Herbert; all at 0 degrees of the fixed signs. Asteroid Russia is out of orb at 2 Taurus but retrograding back toward the fixed T-square to complete a grand cross. Russia is also exactly trioctile the Ascendant/MC midpoint, which is equivalent to holding conflict aspects to all of the major angles. Asteroid Michel at 0 Pisces is octile North node-Juno, symbolizing the obvious fact that human Mikhail is still concerned about his relationships.
We will have to continue watching to see whether Winchester on an angle in ingress charts is a reliable clue to violence with guns. The new asteroids were not included in our program to see where planets fall on angles in the world, so since it will be conjunct Mars in the Libra Ingress, I estimated that it would probably be near the Ascendant on a line running north-south across the U.S. near 85 degrees of longitude. When Mark saw what I was doing, he added a sub-routine to the computer program so I could get the map coordinates for chosen asteroids. Winchester will be on the Descendant near Katmandu, Nepal and even more closely near Calcutta, India. It will be on the MC near 0 longitude (across England) and on the IC close to 180 longitude. The one point in the northern hemisphere where it will be on an angle while another factor is on a different angle will be in east-central Alabama where Winchester will be on the Ascendant while Juno is on the IC. I’m not sure how far that will be from the prison where the Cuban inmates were rioting. Planets (or asteroids) conjunct angles are not necessarily the most important positions though I do consider the conjunction to be the most important aspect. But squares, octiles, etc. may be very stressful so Russia is still clearly under the gun in the fall of 1991.
In the course of the coup attempt, both Estonia and Latvia declared their independence of the Soviet Union, following the prior example of Lithuania, the third Baltic republic. The coup chronology previously mentioned gave a time of 12:30 to 1 P.M. on August 21 as the time for Latvia’s declaration. If any readers have a more precise minute or if they have the time for Estonia which took the action a little before Latvia, I would like to have the data. Scorpio was probably rising for Latvia with Saturn square the Ascendant. The Capricorn stellium is in the third house for power issues with a neighbor (the Soviet Union if they succeed in establishing their independence). The Moon is exactly conjunct Neptune and at the midpoint of Uranus/Juno-north lunar node. Jupiter, Sun, Mercury and Venus in the tenth house form trioctiles to the third house Capricorn factors, reiterating the inevitable power issues.
The move to freedom from the central government by the various Republics is gaining momentum day by day. Armenia and Georgia had already declared their intent to become independent before the coup though the Armenian vote is yet to come. The Ukraine, one of the most fertile and industrially successful of the Soviet Republics, followed the Baltics, declaring its independence on August 24. Byelorussia, formerly considered likely to remain attached to the central government, surprised the world by declaring its independence on August 25. Moldavia followed suit on August 27 and changed its name to Moldova. They were once part of Rumania and may want to rejoin it. Yeltsin signed a decree by which the Republic of Russia recognized the independence of Estonia and Latvia since they had delegates in Moscow, and he promised to recognize Lithuania when their delegates arrived, as subsequently occurred. After signing the agreement, the Baltic delegates did not say “goodbye.” They said, “now we can talk about true economic cooperation”. Finland has been almost the only real friend of the Soviet Union, and if the relationships are handled properly, the three Baltics could be three more little Finlands. Finland has already recognized the independence of the Baltics and other countries in Europe are following, starting with Iceland, Denmark, and Norway, and by now including virtually all of Europe. The Union Treaty between the Soviet Republics was to legalize a federation with more autonomy for its members and was to have been signed on August 20. It was the precipitating factor which led to the hastily and poorly organized coup but it has been overtaken by these dramatic events and will have to be revised. Day by day, the situation changes as the Union crumbles. By the time this Asteroid-World reaches the mail, the Soviet Union may be a shadow of its former self. The 6 mostly Islamic Republics of central and southern Asia had originally indicated their intent to sign the Union Treaty, to remain in a federation with Russia, the biggest Republic, but as events keep bringing new surprises, they might decide to try an Islamic Union. Uzbekistan first joined the rush by the other Republics to demand more autonomy and Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Kirghizia have now followed. Since there are serious ethnic tensions between some of these largely Asiatic peoples, religion may not be a sufficiently cohesive force to bring cooperation. We are living in unpredictable times, and Uranus hasn’t even reached Aquarius yet.
In the midst of the Soviet drama, the media has almost forgotten Yugoslavia’s ongoing civil war between two of its Republics, Serbia and Croatia. In contrast to the refusal of Soviet military forces (KGB, army, air force and navy) to kill their own people, though part of the same country since 1945, the Serbs and Croatians have roots of mutual enmity which go back for hundreds of years. The Serbs have the advantage of greater numbers and a majority of the members of the armed forces of the country, and the national army is openly fighting on the side of the Serbian citizens living in Croatia who hope to make a section of Croatia part of Serbia. I have previously printed at least two horoscopes for the country, but have just received possible birth data for two of the Croatian leaders from the AFA’s latest bulletin. The data comes from a native of Yugoslavia, but the original source is unknown so we have to consider it tentative. Franco Tudman, the current President of Croatia, is said to have been born on May 14, 1922, at 6:01 A.M. (5:01 UT) in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, 45 N 48, 15 E 58. [Web note: AstroDatabank has different time and place.] Stjepan Mesic who was to have been the next President of Yugoslavia in their system of rotating the office among citizens from the different republics, but who was blocked from assuming the office by the civil war, was given as December 24, 1934, at 11:55 P.M. (10:55 P.M. UT) in Orahovica, Yugoslavia, 45 N 31, 17 E 53. I am always suspicious that some astrologer has rectified the birth time when it is given so precisely, but at least the date and place should be accurate.
Neither chart offers much hope of a quick solution to the war. Tudman has P Mars opposite Mercury and approaching a square to Uranus which will become a grand cross in a few years as P Venus fills in the missing corner. If his birth time is accurate, P Moon will conjunct Pluto in early 1992. Tudman also has a natal conjunction of Winchester, Sun, and Alemannia (Germany). Part of the hatred between the Croats and the Serbs stems from Croatian cooperation with Hitler in World War II when many Serbs were killed resisting the Germans. Even more tragically, part of the enmity stems from allegiance to two branches of Christianity. The Croatians are mostly Roman Catholics who recognize the authority of the Pope in the Vatican in Rome. The Serbians are mostly Eastern Orthodox. Tudman has P Teutonia (another asteroid for Germany), P Vaticana, and P Winchester within one degree at 2 to 3 Cancer squaring Juno and P Saturn. P Moon will conjunct this combination during the early fall of 1991. Tudman’s P MC calculated for Belgrade, capital of Serbia, is in 0 Taurus opposite asteroid Yugoslavia in 0 Scorpio. Transiting Saturn squares them both during its station this fall. Tudman’s P Ascendant in Belgrade is on Neptune, reiterating the religious component in the situation.
Mesic has P Sun on P Saturn while P Mars conjuncts the Sun/Moon midpoint and holds a square to Pluto and Juno (a female Pluto) for some years. P Mercury conjuncts natal Saturn, trines P Mars, and is quincunx Pluto for his separation from the leadership position he was supposed to occupy. P Uranus trines Vesta-Mercury but squares P Vesta, another pointer to job challenges. P Moon is on Neptune during the late summer and early fall this year if his birth time is accurate. Natal Yugoslavia is on Jupiter and P Winchester is on P Jupiter, again highlighting the importance of religious principles in his life. P Jupiter and Winchester also form octiles or trioctiles to his natal Antivertex, to his natal local East Point (in Belgrade), and to his north node of Mars which exactly opposes natal Mars. Also, if Mesic’s birth time is accurate, his P MC squares P Yugoslavia and in early 1992 it starts a square to natal Croatia. Yugoslavia’s conflict is ruining their one economic lifeline, the tourist trade. No wonder the visionaries in Medjugorje were pleading for love and forgiveness. They are desperately needed in the country today.
One of most scary questions today involves this splintering of countries into smaller ethnic and/or religious groups. The August 28 Wall Street Journal listed the size and population of some of the smaller countries in the world, including Monaco with only 29,000 people and 0.6 square miles, suggesting that size alone is not a sufficient criterion to determine the right to be independent. Even as Europe seeks to form a common market for the continent, Yugoslavia is caught in a serious civil war, the Czechs and the Slovaks are squabbling in Czechoslovakia, the Hungarians in Rumania are talking about secession, and even a small Slavic enclave called Sorbs want to declare independence from Germany, to reinstate their own country of Lusatia. The danger lies in the issue of boundaries between groups holding ancient grudges. The Russian KGB would not fight their own people, but some of them killed Georgians and Lithuanians as mentioned above. The Chinese called in troops from a different province to kill the students in Tiananmen Square. Armenia and Azerbaijan have engaged in civil war for some years, and if the boundaries of other Soviet Republics become a flash point, the potential for future trouble is horrendous. A number of Republics are expressing anxiety over Yeltsin’s expanded power and numerous, unilateral degrees which remind them of Russia’s past imperial habits. Yeltsin’s suggestion that boundaries between the Republics are questionable has also alarmed some leaders of the other Republics. The “big three,” Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan have areas with disputed borders, and they really need to cooperate. Fortunately, that process has begun. Yeltsin has just signed agreements between Russia, the Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. We can hope that the effort continues to build a federation between the Republics, that the Soviets learn from the example of Yugoslavia where the national army, made up mostly of Serbians, has dropped British-made cluster bombs on defenseless Croatian women and children. The European Community has supposedly pressured Serbia to agree to a cease fire as this Asteroid-World goes to the copier, but they have violated earlier agreements and only time will demonstrate the degree to which they will maintain this one.
In the midst of the world crises, we do have some personal good news to report! Dodona, our new Retreat Center, is finally happening. The Los Angeles Church buildings finally sold, after being on the market for over a year. Escrow was to close August 22 but needed repairs and legal requirements and paper work have taken longer so we are now looking at September 6-7 for the final escrow closing and move. This issue of Asteroid-World is late, due to my travels and a complication involving my own home in L.A., and I’m not sure at the moment whether the move or the mailing of this Asteroid-World will come first. My son, Mark Pottenger, will still be here at 838 5th Ave., and I expect to come back here for a few days most months to see local clients and attend the ISAR board meetings. I’ll be doing most of my writing in Dodona, along with small seminars—5 to 10 people for 5 days. We are thinking of having the first seminar over the Thanksgiving weekend, or maybe we’ll just throw a big open house party. Maritha and I will be in New Zealand most of October and I’ll be lecturing on a cruise through the Panama Canal over Christmas and New Year’s Day. If any of our readers know anyone interested in a small “live-in” seminar in the country S.E. of San Diego, tell them to write us.
Our Montana seminar at the Feathered Pipe Ranch was quite successful this year, so we are going to add a five-day advanced seminar next year right after the basic one. Any graduates of the basic seminar, which has been presented every year since 1976, are eligible to attend the advanced one. The Holistic Life Foundation will send flyers to all graduates for whom they have current addresses. The two Montana sessions will run from about June 4, 1992 to about June 21. An optional addition next year will be a one-day river rafting trip in the middle of the basic seminar and another between the basic and the advanced sessions. Many past participants have felt that a whole day off in the middle of the eight days would be helpful to absorb the quantity of information being presented. Those who prefer can just relax during the free day, or they can go sightseeing.
Closely following Montana last July, I took off for Mexico and witnessed the total eclipse from a boat in the Gulf of California. We had a very small group for the eclipse seminar which was organized by Power Places Tours. I was the only speaker and there were just 11 of us, but we had a great, clear view of the eclipse and except for a mixed experience for a couple of participants who were down with “turista,” we had a very good time. I went on to teach in Mexico City at Ana Valles’ Center. Ana is a fantastic hostess! She had also come to the Eclipse seminar and given invaluable aid, including a rented car for airport runs and shopping. Our hotel was beautiful, but miles from town. Then after a week at home, I was off to Indiana with son Mark and brother James for a family reunion, seeing cousins that I hadn’t seen for some 50 years.
Most of August has been spent sorting and organizing, preparing for the move to Dodona. (Plus, of course, trying to keep up with the fast-breaking world scene). Since we had to lower our price in order to sell the Church property, we don’t have the money to do the building I had hoped to do. But the money earned from the anticipated small seminars will go into our building fund and we’ll be doing small projects as we are able to. We have many plans, but the important thing is that the place is there for us. We will continue to send a thank you note for any donations to the building fund and the notes can be applied against attendance at seminars or personal chart interpretations by Zip. If a group of five friends want to plan their own seminar to cover their own choice of subjects, that is another option. We will have a fairly complete little gym on the premises, including a sauna. A swimming pool and a lake for sailing are only a few miles away. There is a hill to climb and telescopes to see the stars at night. The nearest (tiny) town is ten miles away. Participants can help with the garden or just take a siesta in the hammock. We have tentative plans to host Rob Hand for a few days in the second half of January 1992, and that could be a stimulating opportunity. For that occasion, ACS will be sponsoring weekend workshops and if too many people are interested in sessions during the following weekdays, we might also hold them at ACS in San Diego. More news as it happens.
Our current information from Seraphita on the sources of asteroid names includes some repetition from earlier issues of Asteroid-World, but in view of the central position of the U.S.S.R. in today’s news, it seemed worthwhile to include them. [Not in the web archives.] We have just added Colchis to our list of calculated asteroids since it is apparently an early name for Georgia, one of the Soviet Republics that is seeking independence, and there are eight more asteroids named for regions or cities in the U.S.S.R. which we will be adding to our list.