Astrology Predicts the Next Likely War Zones by Jim Lewis

      According to the dictionary, war is an "open armed conflict between nations or states." It is also perhaps the most puzzling of human options: love, ambition, and other motivations seem understandable for their rewards, but the perennial practice of pitting one society’s strongest and best against another’s in a fight to the death, in which more is destroyed than ever could be plundered, remains an unexplained enigma of human behavior. Societies never seem to learn; generation after generation, having just recovered from the last conflagration, busies itself preparing for the next.

      What has modern astrology to say about this periodic human appetite for collective destruction? Can it shed light on the reasons for this societal violence and perhaps predict future manifestations? To answer this question, I propose we look to locational astrology - the branch of astrology that seeks to assign geographical correlates to astrological archetypes. I particularly refer to a process that I have devised by which planetary power zones are inscribed on a world map for graphic presentation. However, a brief explanation as to the rationale and origin of this process is necessary before it can be applied to the enigma of past and future wars.

      Astrology is, above all else, a study of time.  The astrological horoscope represents the positions of the planet at the birth moment, relative to the local horizon (the ascendant) and meridian (midheaven).  Standard techniques of progression and transits are also essentially time measures, as they show symbolic or actual motion of planets in space and the new relationships that come into being over time in the nativity, standing for growth and personal maturation. But time and space are very closely associated.  When it is noon in Chicago, it is evening in London. Clock time is really a function of the earth’s rotation, as it is designed to depict the height of the sun in the sky; thus, if you move rapidly over the surface of the earth, you change your time as well as your space.  As any traveler knows, if you move fast enough, you also travel in time - gaining or losing several hours.

      Since the horoscope is a product of an exact birth time, motion across the earth has a definite, changing effect on it. This does not say that the chart itself can be changed - or that if you have an aspect that suggests difficulty in financial gains, you can move to Fiji and automatically become a millionaire.  But it does indicate that you can change the emphasis of your chart through moving and bring its various natural factors into sharper focus at different places.

      Astrologers refer to this as a "relocation" chart and usually recast the horoscope as if you had been born in the new place, but at the same actual time, and see what planets are emphasized there.  In this way, you can be told that you will tend to act out more of your Mars, Jupiter, etc., in a new location.  They do this by seeing which of the natal planets come to the angles of the new chart. This means that as you move across the earth, the natal ascendant and midheaven also move; in places where these relocation angles hold a planet nearby, that planet is apt to dominate your personality in the new location.

      The angles of the chart are like a spotlight that illuminates certain parts of the entire horoscope and brings them to immediate, outward and significant manifestation.  As you travel, it is like shifting the spotlight - illuminating first one, then another of your natal planets, bringing it and all its potentials into direct manifestation in that place where it appears on some angle. For example, if Jupiter in your natal chart is 15 degrees west of the midheaven, in the ninth house, you could bring it and all it stands for into greater prominence by moving about 15 degrees west, maybe from New York to New Orleans.  This is to say that if you had been born in New Orleans at the same time you had been born in New York, your chart would have Jupiter on the midheaven.

       I have contrived a method that simplifies the selection of a location where certain astrological conditions should prevail.  Instead of casting a new chart (complete with its houses and signs) each time a person moves, I computer generate a map on which lines are drawn that show where certain planets would occupy the spotlight of angularity. All the places at which, for example, the Sun would occupy the exact ascendant (that is, where it was actually dawn when you were born) lie on a line; therefore, instead of drawing up hundreds of new charts for each of those places, I calculate a map that shows a line, labeled "SUN ASC," identifying where those places are. At first glance, the resultant map appears quite complicated, as its forty lines (consisting of ten planets, each with four possible angular positions) cross each other in various patterns.  However, a brief familiarization with the map makes reading it easy, and you can see at a glance where your Moon, Mars, or any other planet is most apt to manifest its potentials geographically in your life.

      Since I devised and offered these copyrighted maps for sale two years ago, I have calculated hundreds of them for individuals throughout the world.  Some of these individuals have been kind enough to inform me as to those events that have befallen them or to parts of their personalities that have developed under various lines in places at which they have lived. From this feedback, as well as from the standard astrological meanings of the planets, certain correlations have become clear. Among the most definitely consistent is that the Mars line on an individual’s map shows places where he or she is apt to become either the victim or instigator of violence, assertion, belligerency, or aggression - as well as identifying those places where the individual can expect courage to be tested and challenges to beckon.

      Many males confessed to having become more combative and irritable in places where their natal Mars was angular - often responding to challenges to their masculinity and finding it more of an issue than in other places.  One basically non-aggressive personality wrote of several fistfights and four auto wrecks while he resided in Darien, Connecticut.  Another, a Vietnam veteran, noted that he had been very lucky in Vietnam, surviving intense combat and prolonged exposure to danger under his Jupiter line there; however, as soon as he was ordered for an overnight stay in Cambodia, under his Mars line, his helicopter was hit by gunfire. Accidents, fights and enhanced sexuality and assertion seem consistent responses in people traveling through the zones marked by Mars.

      This will come as no surprise to the astrologer, as Mars has been known since antiquity as the god of war. Martian types have been demonstrated by Gauquelin to be attracted to professions like surgery.  Even the planet itself - extolled by poets for its ruddy color - seems confirmed by space explorations to be a place of harsh extremes and climactic violence.

      Mars then, on an individual’s map, denotes where he or she is apt to express assertion, initiative, and often belligerency.  Is there some way to find a similar set of zones that apply to a nation and, thus to identify likely zones for war and conflict? Seemingly so.  I have calculated the maps for the last eight presidents, and they show an inescapable pattern. A president is, of course, more than just an individual doing his job. He is a symbol for the whole nation during his time in office. Elections are tremendously intricate process and seemingly select one member of society to act for the whole (or at least most of it.) It stands to reason that a person would be selected who reflects society’s needs, desires, and specific intentions.  Thus, the president’s Mars lines should show where the society he led or presently leads is most apt to wage war. (All birth times utilized are those commonly accepted).

     The map of Franklin D Roosevelt (see Figure 1) shows startling confirmation of this possibility. In this case, I have drawn only the Mars lines because they are so illustrative and explicitly show how the four angular power zones tend to distribute themselves across the world. The line labeled MA ASC shows where Mars was actually on the eastern horizon at the moment of Roosevelt’s birth (the lines are calculated with declination compensated for and, thus, depict actual rising.) The MA DSC line shows where it set, while the MA MH line shows where the war god rode highest in the sky when Roosevelt came into the world. The MA IC line shows where Mars was lowest, beneath the earth; not surprisingly, this line passes very near Pearl Harbor. As the IC stands for the origin of a situation, its roots, this line would identify where Roosevelt’s expression of Martian potentials would likely begin.

      The other lines seem also to have historical portent: the MA MH line through Poland reminds us that Hitler was allowed to take Austria and Czechoslovakia but that the Allies united against him when he proceeded to seize Poland.  The same line traverses Libya, where the important North African campaign took place. The MA DSC line passes very near Japan and (significantly) would pass through Tokyo if the map were adjusted a few minutes of time to put the MA IC right through Pearl Harbor. So, of the four possible Mars lines, three of them identify areas where World War II actually took place, and the DSC line (keeping in mind that the descendant represents the location of things coming to you from the outside) identifies the prime attacker of the United States.

      But Roosevelt didn’t live to finish the war.  His successor, Harry Truman, succeeded in that, but did so with the atomic bombing of Japan. Five years later, Truman was involved in yet another war, the Korean War. The detail of his map illustrates these events with much clarity and precision: Mars is on the IC exactly through the Korean peninsula, and Saturn was also on the ascendant in the north, as well as in Japan. While Mars is near enough to Japan to affect it as well, it is Pluto that reigns almost exactly over the spot on which he ordered the first A-bomb dropped, ushering in the atomic age.  It seems almost incredible that a planet that would not be discovered for forty-four years rose at Truman’s birth moment directly over the spot that would be obliterated by a device not to be invented for five decades.  It was also Truman who supported the Shah of Iran when the latter was almost deposed in 1952, and Truman’s Mars sets exactly over Tehran.

      Dwight D Eisenhower did not wage war while in office and, as his birth time is somewhat disputed, his chart is not considered here. John F. Kennedy had the unenviable distinction of having been the first president to commit troops to Vietnam, early in 1962; his map shows, not surprisingly, Mars, Saturn, and Neptune angular in the China Sea. Significantly, it is the Mars ascendant that dominates here, suggesting an initiative on his part.  Of more than a passing interest is the fact that his natal Pluto culminated in Dallas.

      Lyndon Johnson’s chart shows less personal initiative and also hints at the great personal sacrifice that the war cost him. Mars, Jupiter, and the Sun are on the descendant near Vietnam; however, they rise in Washington, showing that his "Great Society" was to be clouded by the social cost of the escalating war and that his expensive and ambitious "war on poverty" would seem insignificant next to the impossible war in the Far East. The conjunction of Mars and Jupiter, prominent in Kennedy’s, Johnson’s, and Nixon’s charts, has been traditionally associated with extravagance. The bills from Vietnam will be coming due for the rest of the century in inflation and cheapened dollars.  It is perhaps a hopeful sign that Jimmy Carter (like Gerald Ford before him) does not have this aspect.

      The horoscope of Richard M. Nixon alone varies from the established pattern; though Mars conjoins Jupiter again, it does not do so near Vietnam. Instead, Neptune, planet of deception and disillusion, lies at the IC in Cambodia, and (significantly) culminates over Washington.  This suggests that Nixon’s personal contribution to the Southeast Asia war was his covert invasion of Laos and Cambodia by CIA troops.

      With Gerald Ford, the old pattern returns, as his Mars dominates Saigon, and the MA DSC again shows his less-than-willing role in the continuation of the conflict there.  Mars is also near Cambodia, where the Mayaguez incident displayed Ford in his most assertive posture. His map is remarkable for other aspects. Among them, Pluto is exactly angular over San Francisco (twice he was subject to assassination attempts) and the Moon and Uranus lines cross near Washington (indicating his unexpected elevation to president.)

      What then for Jimmy Carter? Using the 7 am CST birth time usually accepted, I present the entire map here for future reference (Figure 4). Our study of past presidents has shown that the MA ASC or IC line seems to identify the beginnings of wars, and the MA DSC line seems more connected to ongoing, entangling conflicts - or those where the United States is on the defensive.  In Carter’s map, we find MA ASC through the very area we have most reason to fear - Africa and the oil-rich Middle East.  In fact, the line closely identifies these countries:  Union of South Africa; Zimbabwe (Rhodesia); Ethiopia, presently at war with its neighbor Somalia; Saudi Arabia; Iraq; and Iran.  At this writing (February 1978), the defense budget presented to Congress contains provision for the maintenance of three divisions to be dispatched to the Persian Gulf at a moment’s notice. In addition, Carter has made statements about the necessity of protecting "economic continuity" in the Free World.  Ethiopia and Somalia are at war, and each is supplied by one of the super-powers through their alliances with Egypt and Israel.  At stake is the strategic Red Sea, a vital factor in Israel’s survival.

      Mars appears with Jupiter in Iran, and this calls to mind another chart we have reviewed - that of Harry Truman. Truman’s Mars lines parallel almost exactly the incumbent’s, though they are reversed in polarity - that is, Truman’s ascendant lies on Carter’s descendant, etc.  Does this suggest that Carter may have to deal with some of the outcome of Truman’s involvement in Iran, which some historians assert was the first act in the long drama of the Western world’s need for petroleum?  Carter’s administration has been marked by intense communication with the Shah. Korea is also a zone where both share Mars Lines; assuming trouble in the Middle East, it is not unlikely that the North Koreans would seize on such an opportunity to test our commitment to the South.

      Carter’s natal Mars is opposed by his conjunction of Neptune and Venus - which are also angular in the aforementioned areas - so the scenario is to be quite different from Truman’s.  Venus with Neptune identifies the idealist.  The opposition to Mars suggests that while he dislikes violence, he gets involved in other’s problems in pursuit of his ideals.  This, in turn, calls to mind his commitment to human rights, the existence of which is often challenged by critics of the Iranian and Korean regimes. The opposition seems aptly defined by his necessary involvement with regimes he might not otherwise support.

      These potentials were intensely stressed by transiting Mars and Saturn, which conjoined one-half degree from exact opposition to Carter’s Mars in early June of this year. The most intense activation of this position will occur in the near future. The aspect is one of betrayal.  Events may move fast, leaving Carter little of the room that he needs to negotiate and balance opposing forces. Carter’s Mars opposes Israel’s, and therein lies the key to the growing tensions which heightened in the alliance in June.

      Various parts of Carter’s map point to other areas in which he could encounter problems.  Saturn rises almost exactly at Washington, perhaps indicating strain on his health from the pressures of his office; he seems not the sort to express feelings openly, and his natal Saturn in Scorpio could allow a buildup of tensions that would affect his health. In addition, Pluto is exactly overhead in Mexico City.  As Gerald Ford experienced two attempts on his life under his Pluto line and John F. Kennedy was assassinated under his, this would seemingly identify and area best avoided by Carter.

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       In summary, we have seen a distinct pattern in six of the maps for the last seven presidents.  War seems to have broken out while they were in office in those parts of the world in which Mars was angular at their births. As Carter’s map so closely resembles Truman’s in this respect, if trouble occurs, we can expect it in those areas where Truman also committed troops and material.  Korea and Iran seem most dangerous, with the horn of Africa and various adjoining areas also pinpointed.  June of 1978 was a time when these potentials were activated with unusual intensity.  Events at that time, known to us or not, may have set the stage for problems in the future.