The Order of Bards Ovates and Druids

World Trade Center Attack Chart

A reading by Sarah Fuhro (sarahbeagl@aol.com) of the Boston Grove on the September 11th events from an astrological viewpoint. Sarah welcomes your discussion.

Mercury, the Hawk of Dawn, was rising on the Eastern horizon (exactly conjunct the Ascendant) at the moment when the first plane smashed into the World Trade Center tower. Mercury brought a message which cannot be ignored. The messenger has contact (sextile) with Pluto the god of of the Underworld, (an exact trine) with Saturn, the god of constriction and materialization and (a Square) with Jupiter, god of expansion and faith.

The Sun, center of the solar system makes a T-square with the Saturn-Pluto opposition. It is hidden in the twelfth house with a symbolic message about an attack on identity and a belief in rigid self-sufficiency. Looked at in reference to the U.S. chart the Sun was close to a conjunction with Neptune another indication of foggy self definition or looked at another way, a mystical moment when a period of compassion and universal love may hold sway. Venus is the chart ruler for the September 11 chart. It is in the 11th house of groups and social structure suggesting a potential for bringing love into the way we fashion our larger response to this crisis. Venus is in opposition to Uranus, the planet which co rules the eleventh house and who may bring surprising intelligence and revolutionary outlook to our response.

The night before this event I was reading Tarot for two friends. Each of them received The Tower card in their reading. The Tower was the poet YeatsÍ favorite card. He felt when he received this card it would signal the beginning of a new round of inspiration and creativity. Looking at the card we see a tower built on an isolated peak struck by lightning. Two people are falling out of the tower Three windows at the top of the tower symbolize the first triad of the Tree of LIfe. . A crown is blown off the top of the tower, another reference to the formation of the Tree and all around in the dark sky are little flames in the form of the Hebrew letter Yod which symbolize the first letter of the name of G-d. I read the card as a message of an isolation or overly crystalized situaltion coming to an end. It can be accomplished consciously or be received as a stroke of unexpected lightning. This card has a connection to the planet Mars in the Golden Dawn system which Yeats helped to develop. The two Tower cards made perfect sense in the context of my friendsÍ readings, but imagine my shock the next morning to see the two Towers reenacted in scenes we all have etched on our brains.

Mars in the chart we are studying is in opposition to the Moon. The Moon is a few degrees from the eclipse point which occurred shortly after the Summer Solstice this year. So we have a set up where very shortly after the beginning of the attack, the Moon returned to the exact degree where it eclipsed the Sun, at the SunÍs highest point this summer and has the planet of war (Mars) in opposition by one degree to that position!! Mars is in conjunction to the South Node of the chart, the marker of past events. Read in a natal chart we would say this person has probably experienced a past history of violence as a way to retain mastery over situations. The North Node is in Cancer in the ninth house, conjunct the Moon, which suggests that evolution must be found in a place of nurturance and philosophy rather than violent control, a hint here about Mars the warrior versus Moon the mother. The Sabian Symbol for Mars in this chart is: ÄRose Windows in a gothic cathedral; one, damaged by war. Underlying resistance to change in life foundations. Faithfulness to self. Testimony of beauty against brute force. Ä1

Astrologers have been watching an opposition between the slow moving planets, Saturn and Pluto which is taking place during this time.(August 2000-May 2003) When this combination of planets took place over the last 100 years, we have experienced war and economic depression. The time of the great depression and rise of fascism, the Korean War, the Viet Nam War, the breakup and war in Yugoslavia were all times of Pluto Saturn contact. But perhaps in this new century we can take these energetic opportunities and use them in new ways.

I am not suggesting that this or any other astrological combination ÄcausesÍ events of any kind. By paying heed to the patterns in the sky we have symbolic alignment with these planets as a way of looking at our opportunities and challenges. How can we use the deep intensity and transformative energy of Pluto, the god of the Underworld, Lord of the dead in synthesis with Saturn who is the builder and keeper of stability? Saturn shows us how to materialize our hopes and dreams or he can frustrate our attempts until we find new ways of creation. Pluto demands transformation and Saturn rejects what cannot be authorized by the past. Both are seen as harsh taskmasters in the chart, yet the hard work and courage they demand we face bring us treasure as well as pain. We are always free to take the energy symbolized by the opposition of these two planets and use it in a variety of wonderful creative ways rather than allowing depression and war to be the outlet for the impulse we receive in their travels through the sky and in our charts. So much love and caring has come out of the response of people to the attacks of September 11. Perhaps it could be said that many Americans have taken a deep (Pluto) look at what we have created (Saturn) for good and evil with all our potential for wealth and power. WhatÍs especially interesting is that if we look at this moment on September 11 as a transit on the U.S. natal chart we find that the Pluto Saturn opposition lies directly on the Ascendant Descendant horizon line. The Ascendant, the horizon of the U.S. chart is 12Á Sagittarius. Pluto, planet of deep transformative power at the moment of the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon was also at 12œ Sagittarius. The Sabian Symbol for this degree is: ÄA young widow is surprised into a new birth of love. The eternal call for fulfillment through love which over comes personal sensitiveness and set patterns. Revision of attitude. Ä The outpouring of love of people for each other during this crisis was palpable. The cries for vengeance as the only response have been buried in the concern felt over not perpetuating this kind of misery.

Saturn in opposition to Pluto on the Ascendant is in the seventh house of the U.S. chart. Might this indeed suggest what the Tower card says: the time for isolation and Äme firstÍ is over? Perhaps we are ready for the difficult (Saturn) work of seeing ourselves as equals in world affairs as we look for partners (seventh house) in trying to work on the basic issues which have brought us to this tragedy and the planet to a crisis of ecological disaster. The powerful Mercury Ascendant combination of the day is in exact conjunction to the US natal Saturn in the tenth house as well as in trine to the transiting Saturn. Can we hear the difficult (Saturn) message Mercury brings to us, and will be able to respond in a a transformative (Pluto) way?

Chart for the WTC disaster: Sept. 11, 2001 8:48 am EST, New York, New York Chart for the U.S. July 4, 1778, 5:10 pm LMT, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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