Free Astrology Advice: Horary Question – Will the U.S. Go to War Against Iran?
February 14, 2007 by admin
Will the U.S. go to war against Iran? I was just reading in the Guardian (British newspaper) that George Bush is going full steam ahead to bomb Iranian nuclear sites before he leaves office.
—G.
Nina Gryphon:
Dear G.,
Yours is certainly an interesting question, and it is unusual in that it affects many more people than just yourself and those around you. Horary astrology can be very helpful in answering specific questions, and it usually does best in answering questions in which we ourselves have a direct personal stake. Things like wars between nations are best ascertained from eclipse charts, charts for great conjunctions, and so on. However, at the very least, answering this question will showcase some of the techniques that ancient astrologers used for answering such questions with horary. Again, we must emphasize that the old astrologers used to work for the people who were actually waging the wars, as many of them were in the employ of kings, princes, and various war-loving nobles. We have to expect different levels of accuracy if Bush asks this question than if you, the average American, ask the question.
I cast a chart for the moment that I understood your question, and the horary chart is below:
We first see that the ascending degree is 28.5° Aries, a late degree. This can show that the questioner feels the situation is somehow inevitable. Given the overwhelming pressure that the US has been putting on Iran, your feelings are not unjustified. Since you are an American, we will give the US the first house and its ruler, Mars in Capricorn. Iran is ruled by the seventh house of the open enemy, and its ruler, Venus in Pisces. We also look at the Moon as the general flow of events, and notice that it is in Scorpio and void of course. When the Moon is void of course, absent any other testimony, we assume that nothing will happen.
We notice that Venus and Mars are in mutual reception by triplicity, giving us a sense that both parties have a lot at stake here, and the incentive to resolve issues without going to war is quite high. William Lilly, the 17th-century astrologer, writes that armies will clash when the Lord of the first and Lord of the seventh houses are conjunct in an angle, or aspecting one another with a square or opposition. It can also happen if the above aspects between the two planets are created by the translation or collection of light. We see that Venus and Mars are applying to a sextile; so under Lilly’s rules, this would not indicate war. However, we can expect some kind of contact between the two countries, given that it is a sextile, one would hope it is diplomatic rather than military.
Another way to analyze this horoscope is to treat it as a “is the rumor true?” type of horary. For that, we look at the angles, looking for fixity. We have Cardinal signs, which is not terribly encouraging as far as reliability. We have Gemini on the third house of rumors, which is highly unreliable, and its ruler Mercury is highly afflicted by its placement in Pisces, which is another mutable sign. So, though I am not a fan of “is the rumor true?” questions, I believe that from this perspective, the rumor is shown to be untrue. All this, of course, taken with a big grain of salt for the reasons explained above.
Badges
