By Baris Ilhan

The world is shaken with the cartoon crisis. Because of the cartoons that satirize the prophet Muhammed, the Islamic world stood up with protests and attacks. Many countries are stirred up, people are burning the flags and the consulates. If we are to investigate the indicators of these events in the symbolism of astrology, which researches the connection between the movements of the celestial bodies in the sky and the events on the earth, first we need to look at the symbols of religion, then the representatives of cartoons, anger and fire as the triggering factors.

The representatives of religion and belief are the planet Jupiter and the sign Sagittarius. Pluto which symbolizes the dark side of the life, our own shadows, the masses, transformation, destruction and rebirth is moving at Sagittarius since 1995 and will stay there till 2009. It is no surprise that in the background of most of the different events in recent years, we see the religious factors. The ones that attrack our attention immediately are 9/11 and Turkey’s (the first Islamic country) joining the EU. These two forced the western world to learn more about Islam, after 9/11 Quran became a best-seller in USA. On the other hand, the Islamic world is fighting with the image of the Islam which is closely connected with terrorism. Eventually, towards the good or the bad, the religious beliefs are reviewed and scrutinized. Of course we can add to these, the popularization of the Eastern philosophies and people trying to become more spiritual with the help of New Age currents. At the end, inevitably, our religious views will be transformed and the religions will be reformed.

Recently, the background that I briefly summarized, is triggered by the cartoon crisis. The cartoons are represented by Venus¹, the masses by Pluto, anger and fire by Mars.

In astrology there is a planetary model called The Finger of God. In this model, three planets are connected to each other by aspects. You can think of it as a long triangle or the letter “Y”. The planet at the far midpoint of the model attracts the energy and becomes a focal point. This planet is referred as the Finger of God, and the model shows fatality. We can also call it the finger of fate. In a way it symbolizes invisible tensions that can explode unexpectedly and unpreventably. Just as, the ones who caused this crises said that they couldn’t foresee this to be a huge issue. And now the events are spreading all over the world and becoming more intense.

On October 1, 2005 this finger of God was ‘perfectly’ formed in the sky by the planets Jupiter (religious beliefs), Pluto (masses) and Mars (anger and fire). In a way, a fatal web was sewn in the sky. The only planet we can’t see in this model is Venus (cartoons), that on that day Venus opposed Mars and trigged the finger of God. The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten first published the 12 cartoons on Sep. 30, 2005. That is, on that day the finger of fate had pointed out these cartoons will create a crisis.

Now, we can ask why the crisis didn’t become so intense on these days. The answer is, Mars had started its retrograde motion the next day, Oct.2. The intense and violent energy of Mars had withdrawn from the outer world till December. In February, with its direct motion, Mars reached the exact degree of the finger of God and triggered the manifestation of this fate.

The astrologer Wayne Moody, who visited Turkey in December for a workshop, issued an international “red alert” in Sep. 2005, pointing out a complete Yod waxing to a high degree of perfection on Oct.1. He said “Mars stationed retrograde on the ‘unfortunate’ fixed star Zaurak and returned there when the cartoon crises burst across the globe. Now Mars is approaching the notorious ‘very unfortunate’ fixed star Algol” on Feb. 10-11.

In Turkey, besides the protests, the only violence was the homicide of the priest of a church in Trabzon. In Turkey’s chart Mars is positioned at the area which symbolizes home and country, so the anger and violence were directed inside.

One way of dealing with this crisis is using the constructive energies of the planets that formed the Finger of God. Venus is peace, Pluto is win-and-win situations, Mars is asserting your rights and Jupiter is tolerance. So we can say, create win-and-win situations while asserting our rights with tolerance for peace.

In the east, Persians, Turks, and all other tribes and cultures in the Middle East, Mesopotamia and Asia had been celebrating the Vernal eqinox as the beginning of the new year for thousands of years. In common language that day is celebrated as “Nevruz”, a Persian name which means “nev” new and “ruz” day. Celebrating nevruz had always been a very important religious and cultural activity. In Anatolia it is still a very important festival, “bayram”, though now it has some political associations also.

At first the Arabs didn’t have the nevruz tradition, but after Muslim Arabs invaded the Sasanis, nevruz took its part in the Arabic world also. For Persians nevruz was the time to collect taxes, and Arabs started collecting taxes then. In Turkey we are still paying the taxes in March.

The religious scholars of Islam didn’t approve the celebration of the days like nevruz or easter, but couldn’t stop it, so they had to find appropriate meanings for that day. They had considered that day as the day God had created the world. Also Adam was created on that day. And many other stories...

According to the tradition, astrologers were supposed to prepare calenders for the new year and do their predictions for the coming year. The main thing they were doing was determining the day of the week for the nevruz and writing their predictions for that day. In the Ottoman Empire that tradition lasted till the twentieth century with more sophisticated techniques. The last chief astrologer/astronomer of the Palace had died in 1924 and this position had been abolished.

In 2006 the Vernal Eqinox will be on Monday and the Moon will be in Sagittarius.

Just to show you an example of the prediction, I had chosen “the greatest Sufi Master” Muhyiddin Ibn-i Arabi’s (1165-1240) book “The News that the Holy Hours Give” or “The Treasures of Hours”¹.

- If the year starts on Monday, that year people will be revolutionary and their attitudes will change. In such a year, the force and influence of the kings and the rulers will weaken. There can be a very dangerous war. This year the conditions of the rulers will be very vulnerable. There can be threats to their lives. Or their servants can die.

At the end of the season the crops will be less, then it can get better. There will be a lot of rain. People will be sick, high fever and pain will increase. The situations in this year will not be stable, because we can expect changes in people’s lives and attitudes. Lies and falsehood will increase. Agriculture will be productive, but incests can harm them, especially at the areas of two miles around residential areas. Still, there will be abundence.

Towards the end of fall, there will be heavy snow and a lot of new illness. Chilling cold can freeze the trees. God knows better.

- If the year starts on Monday and the Moon is in a fiery sign, this can be a sign of peace among people. For honorable scholars and women this is a blessing. Trade will increase. New babies will be born. There will be good rain, fruits will increase. Magicians and carpenters will die. Hunters will be in a good condition. There will be a lot of fish at the sea, but the citizens who eat that fish will get ill. God knows better.

- If the year starts on Monday, you should give something white as an expiation.

March 5, 2006

Muhammad Ibn 'Arabi, mystic, philosopher, poet, sage, is one of the world's great spiritual teachers. Known as Muhyiddin (the Revivifier of Religion) and the Shaykh al-Akbar (the Greatest Master), he was born in 1165 AD into the Moorish culture of Andalusian Spain, the center of an extraordinary flourishing and cross-fertilization of Jewish, Christian and Islamic thought, through which the major scientific and philosophical works of antiquity were transmitted to Northern Europe. Ibn 'Arabi's spiritual attainments were evident from an early age, and he was renowned for his great visionary capacity as well as being a superlative teacher. He travelled extensively in the Islamic world and died in Damascus in 1240 AD.

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