The 1918 Armistice

[Minderwiz]

Between today and Sunday, countries around the world will be remembering the members of the armed forces killed in wars. In the UK Remembrance Sunday is the day of ceremonies, but the 11th November is the important day - the anniversary of the armistice that ended the first World War at 11:00 AM on 11th November 1918.

I've attached a chart for the Armistice, signed in a railway carriage at Compiegne in France. Given the time it's not surprising that the Sun is angular in the tenth House. More interesting is that the Sun rules the 8th House of Death Thee Ascendant ruler is Saturn, the greater malefic, in detriment in Leo and conjunct the cusp of the 8th House. Venus is conjunct the MC at 15 degrees Scorpio. Venus in Scorpio is also in Detriment. Venus rules the ninth House, the House of God, dreams and visions. More importantly Venus rules the IC and the fourth House - which is often used to denote the End of the Matter. Venus is in a partile trine to exalted Jupiter conjunct the Descendant and Almuten of the Seventh. Jupiter rules the 11th House of Hope and Aspiration showing the hopes that there will be a better future. Venus in Detriment and Jupiter Retrograde and also ruling the Twelfth House, the House of Bad Fortune, show that these hopes and dreams are fragile and may not last.

Mars, the Planet of War and ruler of the MC has just entered Capricorn, where it is Exalted and is placed in the twelfth. So was this the 'War to end War' or has War come out of it as strong or stronger than ever?

The Moon is a natural significator of Peace and is Peregrine in Aquarius, a humane sign. The Moon rules the Descendant and it to is at 15 degrees, though it is inconjunct from its own House. Peace is not strong in this chart, it is alienated from it's own House and being Peregrine is heavily dependent on the goodwill of others.

Within 15 years the Nazi Party had taken power in Germany and the Second World War began just 21 years after the Armistice Now Armistice Day has been transformed into Remembrance Day. Sadly we still have not vanquished War.

 

[dadsnook2000]

The role of the Sun

Looking at this chart reminds me of a recent post in which a discussion of Sun, Moon, and rising signs occured. I had mentioned that the Sun was an "integrating force" according to Jeff Mayo of the Faculty of Astrological Studies in London. I'd like to pursue that narrow line of thought with this chart.

Sun in the 10th house has several aspects:
** Conjoins Venus by 3 degrees
** Squares Moon by 3 degrees
** Trines Jupiter by 3 degrees
** . . . and by virtue of its conjunction with Venus, semi-squares Mars (42--45 degrees) in the 12th house.

Using the "Sun's integration" qualities, we might state the following:

** The day is dramatized by peace and harmony themes (Sun-Venus). Libra-9th denotes this drama as being in a foriegn place (from the Sun's position) and is concerned over resources (Taurus-4th). Allotments of building and having ships, planes, etc. were part of the deal---which Germany violated prior to WWII.

** Enemies and partners (Jupiter 7th house) are received (trine) with optimism into the day's goals (MC). Jupiter inconjuncts North Node in Jupiter's sign of Sag suggesting that hopes and future outcomes (11th house) will make this association (N.Node) uncomfortable and in need of adjustment (inconjunct). Pisces, Jupiter's other sign affinity is hidden in the 3rd house and might be taken (in hindsight) as having the details of the documents (3rd and 7th house linkage) being unclear.

** Public views on this day's ceremonies are hopeful and alturistic (Moon in Aqaurius) and concerned with maintaining (succedent house) an order or rhythm of relationships (Moon rules the 7th). The square aspect to Venus is one of discord and struggle and (again in hindsight) probably points to the German's intention to resist the nature of this treaty. The inconjunt aspect of Moon-Jupiter amplifies the struggle with the enemy's intentions.

** "War is behind us" is one way of viewing Mars in the 12th. "Our anger is being hidden" is another way of looking at Mars. The semi-square to Sun-Venus shows that this is indeed a real struggle that must be rectified in some way. Mars trines Saturn, 12th to 8th. I've always seen the 8th house as "un-equal sharing". Diligence and productive efforts will permits war plans (Mars, Saturn) to move foreward.

In all of this, the Sun as a symbol was not mentioned in terms of will, attitude, positiveness or other keywords. My intention was to paint a picture of how all of these factors were brought into the day's goals of achieving peace and balance while also pointing to the contrary factors at play between the planetary actors that thwarted this goal.

Dave

 

[Minderwiz]

Thanks Dave

** Enemies and partners (Jupiter 7th house) are received (trine) with optimism into the day's goals (MC).
Dave

I cast the chart to look particularly at that one event but clearly it has wider ramifications and crosses from Event Astrology into Mundane Astrology, especially given the Mars ingress into Capricorn. Reading Lilly's associations of signs with 'kingdoms', Lilly associates Cancer with Prussia. From 1871 onwards the King of Prussia became Emperor of Germany and that unification of Germany was the product of Prussian military might. So it's appropriate that Prussia is 'the enemy' in the chart.

Interestingly Lilly attributes the sign of Capricorn Brandenburg (amongst others) and Brandenburg was the core of Prussia, the area surrounding and (then) including Berlin. The Armistice took place whilst Germany was in the throws of revolution, with a new government installed in Berlin, the abdication of the Kaiser, and an attempt by politicians to move to a political democracy and a republic. The Ascendant/Descendant axis thus also shows that Germany was struggling with itself and it's own past. Saturn in Detriment and in the eighth House, thus also signifies the weak position of the new German government - the Armistice was not a partnership but a surrender under another name and as Dave says, involved requirements for the Germans to surrender their fleet and to withdraw back to their own borders.

I found the exalted Mars, something of an enigma in the chart, till I remembered that first Ludendorf (the Quartermaster General of the German Army) and later Hitler used the move to a civilian government to create and further a myth that the German Army was not defeated but betrayed by the 'November Criminals'. Ludendorf himself had told the Kaiser and the high command on 29th September that the situation was hopeless and that they should send out peace feelers. The army had indeed failed and was defeated yet it managed to come out of the war with it's reputation not in the shreads it should have been. So Germany may have been defeated but German militarism was not.

 

[dadsnook2000]

Disappointed a bit

Minderwiz, I am disappointed that others on the list did not jump into this discussion. The approach that I took was not a "technique" as such but merely a way of playing with astrology. We can do many such inquisitive things with our craft once we know the basics. Playing with charts is a way to learn more.

If any have particular interests in astrological techniques they may wish to to apply Arabian Parts, symbolic degrees, midpoints, harmoics, or whatever. You don't have to "know" or be an expert in these methods ---- just be curious. It's how we learn more about natal charts or event charts, and how we can more easily progress onward.

Any takers? Dave

 

[Minderwiz]

Yes, we focus a lot on natal Astrology and I manage to get some takers for the Horary threads,but there's much more to Astrology - looking at events that have affected us, or our countries is a good way of gettig going. An event, such as the Armistice, that we know about gives us a head start - we know what happened but does a chart show that Astrology works? Testing Astrology against something we know about is a very useful in the learning process.

So I'll echo Dave's call to have your say - even if it's asking a question or tentatively suggesting something that occurs to you