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Astrology
by Hand Week 45
Ariel
Sharon and the Palestinian Crisis
This week
we are going to look at the current prime minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon.
He is of particular interest not only because of his involvement in what
seems to be the unending Arab-Israeli conflict, but because in that conflict
he is widely perceived as a hawk. Many believe that his appointment as
prime minister means that peace is further away than ever.
Ariel Sharon’s
birth data is from Lois Rodden’s Astrodatabank:
February 27, 1928; at 7:36 am EET in Kafr Malal, in what was then Palestine.
The coordinates are given as 32N11 and 34E54. The time is indicated as
being “from memory,” and may be up to a half hour off. This could be critical
to the chart because in the half hour before birth, the rising sign changed
from Pisces to Aries. However, I believe that the chart for this time is close to the correct time and that he does have Aries rising. Here’s
why I think so.
 The
given time gives Sharon a Twelfth House Sun. As we have already seen with
President
Bush, a Twelfth House Sun is no barrier to becoming successful
or famous. But Aries rising makes Mars a ruler of the Ascendant, which
is appropriate for someone with not only a military background, but a
military style as well. This time also gives him a rising degree
that is straddled by Uranus just above the horizon and Jupiter just below.
The Uranus gives him a brusque demeanor, impatient of the niceties of
everyday diplomatic language, while the Jupiter in Aries gives him the
appearance of being large, imposing and dominant. Furthermore, Mars, the
planetary ruler of his Ascendant, is in Capricorn, the sign of its exaltation.
This is the ultimate military Mars, and it is in the Tenth House of career (although on the cusp of the Eleventh).
The Twelfth
House Sun simply tells us that there is much to Sharon that we do not
see. Specifically, I believe that Sharon exemplifies a common pattern
found in men with the Sun in Pisces or Cancer, a pattern that is reinforced
by other factors in the chart as well. (Note to any male readers with
this Sun placement: this pattern is not by any means inevitable and tends
to occur in males with a very traditional masculine upbringing.)
Pisces and
Cancer are the most female of all of the signs of the zodiac. And note
that I said “female,” not “effeminate.” There is a difference! Both signs
indicate an extreme sensitivity, and their natives normally develop a
rich, inner emotional life. However, this very sensitivity causes difficulty
for men who exhibit it, and who are not encouraged to develop it in a
positive manner. As a result, many men with this placement go in the opposite
direction and develop an exaggerated kind of macho behavior and what appears
to be an unfeeling shell to protect themselves.
If the Pisces
or Cancer Sun is in the Twelfth House, this makes that much easier to
do, because then we have a much stronger appearing and more traditionally
masculine fire sign rising, Aries in the case of the Pisces Twelfth House
Sun, Leo in the case of Cancer. (George W. Bush with his Twelfth House
Sun in Cancer may be another example of this syndrome, although his Cancer
Sun is a bit more obvious in his behavior than Sharon’s Pisces Sun.) I
am sure that in his personal and domestic life, where it is safe for him
to do so, Sharon can be very emotional and sentimental. But to the outer
world he will always appear the hard, strong man, the classic alpha male.
Another combination
in Sharon’s chart that reinforces the difference between an inner sensitivity
and an outer hardness is the Moon in close square to Neptune. At the moment
he was born, the square was getting closer. This means that the combination
was intensifying at the time of his birth. This configuration can either
increase one’s sensitivity to the feelings of others, or result in a peculiar
kind of emotional confusion and lack of clarity.
The Moon-Neptune
square is in turn reinforced by Sharon’s natal Mercury moving backward
(retrograde) in Pisces. Mercury’s next aspect (after it crosses into Aquarius)
will be an opposition to Neptune. All of this indicates that his thought
patterns are not necessarily logical, rational or obvious to other people.
If I were negotiating with Sharon on any issue that he holds dear, I would
not rely on sheer logic to make my case. If he does not feel that something
is right, if his gut does not tell him so, he will not be easy to persuade
by logic or facts.
So this is
the man who is heading the government of Israel during these times.
Is the world in greater trouble for this, or will Sharon surprise us as
other conservatives have done by doing exactly what conservatives would
not allow liberals to do? Next week we will look at the transits.
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