The Promised Land

This is a watershed moment for Israel, and although ex-Prime Minister Netanyahu, recently ousted, thinks he can return, he will never get the job back. When observers look at the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the irony is striking. Historically Jews were exiled repeatedly from their country, and now the same fate has struck Palestinians, particularly those suffering in Gaza. A look at the history of the Jews provides an answer to Israeli motivations and their fate in the 21st century.

The Origin of Western Religions

When God told Abraham that he was going to have a son with his wife Sarah, Abraham was understandably skeptical. Sarah was barren and Abraham was old. Abraham got around this by making their Egyptian servant Hagar pregnant, and she gave birth to Ismael when Abraham was 86 years old. Meanwhile Sarah was not so pleased to have Hagar and Ismael around and they were sent away. Ismael was later to have 13 children. His descendants are said to have formed the Arab nation of whom the Book of Genesis (Genesis 16.12) says: “… his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”

But you can’t fool around with God, and when Abraham was 100 years of age Sarah miraculously gave birth to Isaac. Christians, Muslims and Jews all agree about these biblical roots. At the age of 60 Isaac and his wife Rebekah had twins: Esau and Jacob. It was from Jacob’s line that the Jewish nation issued forth, whilst it is said that the Roman nation and Christianity (via Roman Catholicism) issued from the line of Esau. One of Jacob’s 12 sons was Joseph, who was later to help deliver the Jews out of captivity in Egypt. The Book of Exodus describes this journey, and how Moses took 40 years to lead 600,000 Jews to The Promised Land.

Occupation and Exile

On arrival at the Promised Land these Jews were not so keen to invade what was then Canaan because is was heavily defended – even though God had ordered them to do so. So God, who has always been tough on the Jews even though they are his Chosen People, ordered them to wander for another 40 years. Around 1300 BCE the Jews finally occupied Israel and could call it their homeland. Here they prospered for centuries, not least under King David and King Solomon. However, whenever the Jews start getting involved with other deities, God gets really mad. So he sent the Assyrians and later the Babylonians to conquer Israel, and they experienced exile and captivity once more (586 BCE) in Babylonia.

Jews were later freed from Babylon and re-established their nation in Israel until first the Greek and then the Roman occupation. In this period the Jewish priests became very corrupt at a time when the Jewish people suffered under foreign cultural domination. There were a number of insurrections, and after the third and final revolt against the Romans in 136 AD, Israel was crushed. Half a million Jews were killed and the rest sent into slavery. Nearly two millennia were to pass before the Jews could return to their homeland.

The miracle is that the Jewish diaspora could remain cohesive in all this period. As a people, they have been amazingly adaptable whilst preserving their religious language Hebrew and their rituals. They have spread through Europe, Russia and the Middle East; some have lived in their own communities, some have integrated, but they rarely gave up being Jewish. They have been expelled – from England in 1290, from France in 1394, from Spain in 1492 – but they still remained cohesive.

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The First Zionist Conference

On August 29th 1897 the First Zionist Congress was held in Basel, Switzerland, organized by Theodor Herzl. At this historic event Jews from all over the world assembled, and in a spirit of euphoria they united around the goal of returning to their historic land – then Palestine and under the control of the decaying Ottoman Empire. There was no intention to achieve this aim by violence, but rather by buying land and bringing prosperity, which was to also benefit the existing Palestinian population of some 700,000 people. This Congress took place with an exact Saturn-Uranus conjunction at 25 Scorpio, which reflected the Jewish diaspora’s traumatization from ongoing pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe. For the first time in millennia, elements of the Jewish people wanted to stand their ground instead of remaining passive.

First Zionist Congress. August 29, 1897. 9.00 am Basel (AS 11.21 Libra)

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Immigration to Palestine

From this time and up until the actual creation of the State of Israel in 1948, there were several waves of immigration into Palestine, so that the Jewish population increased from about 25,000 to half a million. The Palestinian inhabitants were not so happy about this, and there were several riots in the intervening period, most particularly the Hebron Massacre in 1929 which resulted in 67 Jews dead.

Initially the Jews had the support of the British, who ruled Palestine after the Ottoman Empire’s collapse, and the Balfour Declaration on November 2nd 1917 established (in British eyes) Palestine as a “national home for the Jewish people”. A Saturn cycle later, the State of Israel would be established. Up to and after the Second World War however, the British occupation forces actively opposed Jewish immigration, turning back ships carrying Jews – even concentration camp survivors. Indeed, prior to the war, about half a million Jews had escaped from Nazi Germany and Austria, but many were refused entry into other countries, and some ships even had to return to Germany with their Jewish passengers still on board.

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Jewish DNA

The point of this long introduction to the current situation in Israel is to highlight what the Jewish people have been through historically without their losing a sense of connection with their homeland. They had been repeatedly exiled from their land, and had been persecuted throughout the centuries. This history, and the Holocaust, which killed a third of all Jews worldwide, is embedded in the DNA of the Jewish people. They’ll never willingly give up their rediscovered homeland, and experience has taught them that they cannot rely on any other country than their own.

Israel. May 14th 1948 16.00 Tel Aviv AS 23.02 LI

The State of Israel was declared in the midst of a savage yearlong war on independence, prompted by UN recognition of Israel, when poorly armed Jewish settlers initially held out against concerted attacks from the local Palestinian population as well as invading forces from Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Ironically it was shipments of armaments with Nazi swastikas from Czechoslovakia, as well as surplus arms from the USA that finally swung things in Israel’s favor. But it was touch and go – the CIA had already concluded that the Jewish settlers could not survive.

In the midst of the war a hastily gathered parliament, known as the Knesset, was gathered on May 14th 1948 in Tel Aviv, and Israel’s first prime minister David Ben Gurion declared the State of Israel to exist at 4 pm, whereafter everyone spontaneously rose singing the Hatikvah – the anthem of the Zionist movement.

Israel’s horoscope is enormously sensitive, and rumor has it that even Israeli intelligence uses it. Of great significance are the Moon’s nodes with the South Node at 14 Scorpio in the 1st house in close square to Saturn and Pluto in Leo in the 10th house – at 16 and 12 degrees respectively. An eclipse of the Sun (which opposes Chiron) less than a week earlier activated this fateful constellation and indicates the tragic past of the Jewish people and the recent Holocaust. Israel was formed on the ashes of its wounded people. The mission of Israel is to process the trauma of the past, and build up a secure and stable country at peace with the world – but the nodal axis square Pluto shows that the threat of destruction is ever-present.

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Old Jews and New

The Jews that created Israel wanted nothing to do with this past – they saw themselves as “new Jews” – confident and secular, and no longer as victims. It took the trial of Adolf Eichmann (December 15th 1961), who consigned millions of Jews to concentration camps, to force the population of Israel to revisit the horrors of a past they wanted to forget, and to remind them of their history. This took place after Eichmann was abducted from Argentina by Mossad and put on trial in Israel, just as the Ascendant progressed to 4 degrees Scorpio, in square to the nation’s Moon and trine Venus in Cancer. The trial awakened all the repressed emotions of the population, who were glued to their radios for months listening to the stories of Holocaust survivors. This reckoning with the past took place as the progressed Moon opposed Pluto and Saturn.?

?Israel’s Libra Ascendant is on Spica – the fixed star associated with wealth, creativity and good fortune. The Ascendant ruler in Cancer and the 9th house shows the powerful religious traditions growing ever more dominant in Israel, and it also shows the good fortune and support from the Jewish diaspora, not least from USA, which is committed to the nation’s survival and supports it both financially and militarily.

The position of Saturn and Pluto, along with the Moon, in Leo and the 10th house shows the strengths and weaknesses of the Jewish state. In establishing themselves on what they consider to be their land by birthright, they displaced one million Palestinians in Gaza, 750,000 in the West Bank and 250,000 in Israel proper. Unfortunately they have to use dictatorial methods to keep these people under control.

At the same time, Mars in Leo trine Jupiter in Sagittarius reflects the Lion of Judah, and shows the prowess and good fortune of the Israeli military. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF), has been very successful in wars, but enforcing an apartheid-like policy in Israel itself greatly undermines the Jewish self-image as a non-violent people, reflected by their Libra Ascendant and Venus in the 9th.

Venus as Prime Mover

Following the wanderings by progression of the ruling planet Venus reveals a lot about the fate of Israel. In 1967 Venus turned retrograde at 11.06 Cancer and re-entered its shadow, where for a period of almost 80 years it will remain. This means that the period from 1967 – 2045 is a self-contained time loop when Israel is destined to repeat and process its history and its relationships.

Wars of Survival

The 6-Day War began in 1967, on June 5th, and was a preemptive attack by Israel on Arab forces building up with a declared goal to obliterate Israel. This was a decisive victory for Israel and led to the occupying of the Palestinian part of Jerusalem, the taking of the Golan Heights from Syria in the north (from where they had been constantly shelling Israeli kibbutzim for years), and the occupation of the Sinai desert and Gaza. It was at this time that Israel’s progressed MC conjoined Pluto and squared the nodal axis. The horoscope for Israel is one of victory. Mars in Leo in close trine to a dignified Jupiter in Sagittarius, and sextile Uranus, speaks of military prowess and technological superiority. It’s an optimistic, almost invincible combination.?

On October 6th 1973, as the progressed Ascendant conjoined the South Node in Scorpio, the Yom Kippur War took place – this time with a surprise attack by Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt on Israel. There were heavy casualties on both sides, and the war was in danger of escalating into a conflict between the USA and Russia, which supplied their respective sides with arms. Israel turned the tide against its Arab foes, but was chastened by the experience. This ultimately led to the Camp David accords on September 17th 1978 organized by President Carter. Israel’s prime minister Begin and Egyptian president Sadat subsequently received the Nobel peace prize. Progressed MC was in trine to progressed Jupiter at this time. (Sadat was considered a traitor for doing this and was shortly afterwards assassinated at an Egyptian army parade).

The Two-State Solution

After a tumultuous period in the 1980’s with a particular focus on the first invasion of Lebanon, the first Intifada, and worldwide terrorist attacks masterminded by The Palestine Liberation Organization led by Yasser Arafat, the groundwork was laid for the Oslo accords, the first of which was signed on September 13th 1993 and the second September 28th 1995.

1993 was an absolutely key year for Israel, for it was at this time that Venus and Mercury – both moving retrograde – simultaneously crossed back into Gemini. The Oslo accords led to a “roadmap” that promised a two-state solution – Israel and an independent Palestine. Transiting Uranus and Neptune conjoined Israel’s IC at this time, as the international community used all the power at its disposal to create peace in the Middle East. But these “peace accords” actually unleashed more terror than if they had not been made – Palestinians could not countenance anything less than the return of their lands, whilst Jewish fundamentalists thought this was the ultimate act of betrayal by Yitzhak Rabin, their prime minister. More people were killed by terrorism in these two years than at any other time in Israel’s history. This chaos is associated with the Uranus-Neptune transit into the 4th house.

Rabin was skeptical of the process too, but held a rally for peace in November 4th 1995 which attracted well over 100,000 supporters. As he was leaving, he was assassinated. This took place at the exact conjunction of progressed Mercury and progressed Venus, both retrograde at 29 Gemini as they approached the opposition to Jupiter in Sagittarius. The Sun on this day was exactly square Israel’s Pluto and about to conjoin the South Node in Scorpio, whilst Mars in Sagittarius on this day exactly opposed Mercury. Rabin was shot by a fanatical law student.

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Venus and Uranus

The fate of the two-state solution, espoused even today by the United Nations, is linked to the wandering of Venus through the sign of Gemini, where it repeatedly meets Uranus, which effectively describes the disruption that has consistently sabotaged the idea. Whether it was due to Israeli repression and settlement-building or Palestinian acts of terror, after 25 years, the two-state solution as a project is a faint and receding possibility.

At the end of 2006, Mercury, now direct, returned into Cancer. This took place as Israel moved out of Gaza and Hamas – designated as a terrorist organization – took over. Israel’s progressed Descendant had just conjoined Mercury in Gemini in the 8th house and trined Neptune. In this period Israel’s relationship with its neighbors was chaotic initially because of a second incursion into Lebanon to neutralize Hezbollah, and subsequently because of Gaza from which repeated terrorist incursions would take place. ?

By 2008, when Venus went stationary direct by progression at 24.26 Gemini – conjoining natal Uranus at 24.21 Gemini! – Gaza had become a source of constant unprovoked rocket attacks continuing to this day. The establishment of Gaza as a quasi-independent entity represents the fruits of stationary Venus conjoining Uranus, and these fruits are bitter for both Palestinians and Israelis. Progressed Venus goes on to conjoin progressed Uranus in 2026, and it is likely that the period from 2006 – 2026 will be seen as the failed experiment of the two-state solution.

In November 2028, progressed Venus will move into Cancer and all talk of a two-state solution will die out.

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Benjamin Netanyahu

Israeli politics has always been chaotic. Perhaps this is due to the MC being at the midpoint of Mars and Uranus, perhaps it is related to Mercury in Gemini trine Neptune representing among other things the disparate peoples of different races, languages and cultures, who have immigrated. Because the Knesset is elected through proportional representation, and because Jews like to disagree about everything, many small parties form the government and no single party ever has the majority. With the Sun and Moon in Libra, Netanyahu, who had been prime minister for 12 consecutive years, was a genius at building coalitions, and he was completely without scruples about what he promised to whom in order to remain in power.

Benjamin Netanyahu. 21st October 1949. 10.15 Tel Aviv (AS 9.56 SG)

?Benjamin Netanyahu’s Ascendant at 9.56 Sagittarius is exactly on Antares (9.46) which is one of the four Royal stars and is said to have the nature of Mars and Jupiter. He has Mars at 26 Leo (like his mate Donald Trump) on Israel’s Mars (28 Leo) and his Sun and Moon in Libra straddle Israel’s Ascendant. His Uranus at 4.58 Cancer is exactly on Israel’s ruling Venus at 4.47. His Jupiter is exactly on Israel’s IC. In other words, Netanyahu and Israel have perfectly aligned interests.

The huge weakness in Netanyahu’s horoscope is the square of his Sun and Moon to his ruling planet Jupiter, which is in fall in Capricorn in the 2nd house. His Mercury-Neptune conjunction is dragged into this square by the Moon – it is said that Netanyahu has no one left in the Knesset to lie to. His political colleagues tired of him and wanted him out. So, Pluto’s transit to his Jupiter and square his Sun from 2020 to 2022 exposes him to a series of court cases regarding economic corruption. He won’t be able to make a comeback, not least because transiting Neptune repeatedly conjoins his IC in 2021, dissolving his political foundations.

Reconstruction in Israel

A much clearer indication that it is the end of the line for Netanyahu is the transit of Pluto to the IC of Israel’s chart. This indicates a domestic situation which the population of Israel is absolutely exhausted with, not least the fact that there have been four elections in just two years. The changes now taking place in Israel will lead to a transformation of Israeli politics.

This major transformation is further indicated by the transit of Uranus, which moves on from a square to Pluto and Saturn in 2021 and conjoins the Sun, essentially dwelling on the Sun from August 2023 to January 2025. Uranus will go on to square Mars in 2026, so the period from 2023-2026 will be a fraught period for Israel, with a strong likelihood of military action over and above what is normal.

The conjunction of Uranus with Israel’s Sun is boosted by Jupiter’s transit of the Sun in April 2024, and this Jupiter-Uranus conjunction falling at 21-22 Taurus will probably mark a major event, not least because it resonates with the Jupiter-Uranus opposition in the foundation horoscope. It helps that Israel’s progressed Ascendant is at 26 Sagittarius and soon to conjoin Jupiter, so it seems quite likely that there will be an expansion of territory or some international triumph. From 2025-2026 the Ascendant goes on from Jupiter to trine Mars – the signature of military prowess. The only danger here is hubris – and Israel can certain get over-confident, as it did before the Yom Kippur war. In this period I would expect Israel to completely ignore critical voices from the international community, and if they play their cards right, they could win acclaim.

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A Decade of Change

Over the next few years we have:

2021: Pluto transit over IC

2021-2022: Descendant progressed conjoining Uranus

2022: Saturn opposing and Uranus square Israel’s Saturn in 10th

2024: Uranus conjoining Israel’s Sun in the 8th (joined by Jupiter)

2025-26: Uranus square Israel’s Mars in 11th and Ascendant progressed on Jupiter

2026: Pluto opposing Israel’s Moon, Ascendant progressed trine Mars and Venus progressed conjoining Uranus progressed.

2028: Venus progressed finally leaves Gemini and enters Cancer

?Each of these influences deserves a deeper analysis, but suffice to say that the next seven years are going to see major changes to the State of Israel.

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Tunnels and Missiles

One obvious area of crisis is the supply of more advanced missiles to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Both the Descendant on Uranus and transit Uranus to the Sun could very well indicate rocket attacks. Israel acquired nuclear weapons immediately after the 6-Day War with the help of France, and increased missile accuracy makes them vulnerable. Whilst Iraq fired Scud missiles in the 1991 Gulf War, they were hopelessly inaccurate. This will no longer be the case. In the event of an attack, Israel would very likely send forces to neutralize launching sites and interdict the supply of arms from Iran via Syria. Of course, another scenario could be a preemptive attack on Iranian nuclear sites.

The Pluto transit of Israel’s IC will also bring up the questions of tunnels, which Hamas use to smuggle arms and send terrorists into Israel. Major events connected with these tunnels can arise this year (and of course many were destroyed in recent hostilities.) But on a deeper level, this Pluto transit raises the need to sort out the occupation once and for all.

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The West Bank

Here Israel is split. Historically and from a religious point of view, they don’t like to subjugate people, but at the same time they do want to occupy the biblical lands of Judea and Samaria – and that is the West Bank. But if they were to do this, then the Arab population would increase by a factor of 10, and for Israel that spells trouble.

They’ve tried one solution, and that is to build a wall separating both Gaza and the West Bank, to protect Israeli citizens. But then there is the problem of the settlements on the West Bank where 400,000 Jewish people live, necessitating protective occupation forces. It is possible that Pluto’s transit through the 4th house opposing Israel’s Moon – the people – could bring a huge relocation in 2026. Israeli settlers abandoned Gaza when Mercury moved into Cancer, so perhaps these settlers will abandon the West Bank when Venus moves into Cancer in 2028… they go “home”.

However, Jewish fundamentalists are very dominant in the Knesset, so it is difficult to see this ever happening. God gave the Jews the whole of Israel, end of discussion. Netanyahu has now been replaced by a broad coalition of parties, with Naftali Bennett, who is an avid supporter of settlements, as acting Prime Minister. At the same time, for the first time, Arab parties are now part of the government. This is an extraordinary cocktail and the Saturn-Uranus transits to Saturn in Israel’s 10th house is going to test this structure to the utmost.

There is another possibility – the end of the two-state solution. In this scenario, Israel absorbs the Arab population. There are advantages to this. One is that they would have to give up the current apartheid-like situation which very few in Israel are comfortable with. The other is that in a nuclearized Middle East, no one is going to try to eliminate an integrated state of Israel. A third is that the poverty and second-class citizenship of the Arab population in occupied Israel would radically improve. A fourth is that the motivation for terrorism would decrease. When God “gave” the Jews the land now called Israel it was for “the twelve tribes and the strangers in (their) midst”. Historically Jews and Arabs have actually shared Israel, and Jewish communities often thrived in other Middle Eastern countries.

It’s important the Israel finds a solution this decade. Next decade, as the Sun progressed activates Pluto, the Node and Saturn from 2031-2035 survival issues threaten again, and the Jews need to make sure that God is on their side.

Adrian Ross Duncan - June 17th 2021

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