Somalia Astrology Piece
Somalia’s tropical Ascendant (10AR16)
Somalia’s tropical Midheaven (8CAP32)
Somali Statehood
Mogadishu, is Khartoum, toward the southeast is. The day is Thursday, 30 June 1960 in the capital Mogadishu. When midnight comes northern and southern Somaliland will merge into one nation-state and become known
internationally as the Somali Republic. The atmosphere in Mogadishu is festive and upbeat. The city is jam-packed in the flat East African terrain and moderately hot temperature. There is a sea of men wearing white, western-style, shortsleeved shirts and Somali caps (Benadiry kufia). Women are wearing full-length dresses without the veil.
The sign of the fishes (Pisces) is on Mogadishu’s Ascendant. Aden Abdullah Osman Daar is preparing to speak to the jubilant crowd. They become silent. The green, white and red Italian flag kerfuffles down the pole for the last time. A new day has started on Friday, 1 July 1960. Now the silence of the crowd transforms into cheers and clapping as the white five-pointed star rises. Like the flag ceremony in Seychelles, this action resembles the glyph of Pisces. The two fish swimming in opposite directions, one up and one down. The merger of north and south is like the horizontal cord that binds the two swimmers together. The hour has struck and a new history of the Somali people has begun. Aden Abdullah Osman Daar wears glasses. At 52, the elder statesman often wears a cap, not red like the former Libyan king, but a white Somali cap. His demeanor is humble and his smile is authentic, not one just displayed for the cameras.
Central Mogadishu in 1936. Arba Rucun mosque to the centre right. Shown on a postcard from the 1930’s.
As I looked at footage of him walking with Gamal Abdel Nassar or with Emperor Haile Selassie I, or sitting with
Julius Nyerere, I sense his graciousness. It is obvious that his spirit is engaging. If you ever see a video or still picture of Daar, you may be affected with admiration. Especially upon knowing that he will lose the presidential election in seven years to his Prime Minister, Dr. Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, and will congratulate the new president-elect without attempting to maintain power.
The flag of the Somali Republic is composed of a five-pointed star with a sky-blue background. The star eloquently proclaims, “We Are Brethren” to all Somalis living in the Ogaden region, in Djibouti, Kenya, Hargeisa, and in Mogadishu.
The sidereal Piscean Ascendant, symbol of two entities bound together by a cord, is just one fitting augury of the difficulties in communication: One half of the nation spoke Italian and the other half English. The shape of Somalia is said to be “of an inverted fish hook capping the northeastern horn of Africa opposite the Arabian Peninsula.” The Ascendant also suggest the close ties with the west for economic aid. One million dollars was used to celebrate the event and New Castle News wrote that, “Somalia was born today in pride and poverty.” Somalia’s sidereal-Aries-ruled Second House has Mars in Aries, 4º from the cusp, and opposed Neptune in the Seventh House, co-ruler of the Ascendant.
These two planets in opposition do suggest pride and poverty respectively, because they bring into focus Somalia’s economic conditions at the beginning. For the first year, Italy, the U.S. and Britain pledged 6.2 million dollars to Somalia. Retrograde Jupiter’s rulership of the Ascendant and placement in the Ninth House of foreign relations supports international relations.
Somalia became independent at midnight. (Charleston Gazette, page 12) (The Herald Press, page 3) In the capital, Mogadishu, according to these papers, “At midnight the Somali Republic flag went up over the government palace.” The actual ratification by the national assembly took place in the early morning on 1 July. The New York Times
for 2 July, page 4, reported that the National Assembly met at 8:00 am in the Parliament Building to elect the President of the Republic. At this writing, I am still searching for the precise time when Aden Abdullah Osman Daar took the oath of office.
Progressions
Wednesday, 15 October 1969. The beginning of a major shift in the life of the Somali Republic occurred on this day. Dr. Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, who became the President after Aden Abdullah Osman Daar, was traveling through Las Anod, now the capital of the Sool region of Somalia near the Ethiopian border.
At 1:30 pm, the President was assassinate by his bodyguard. At the time, the papers reported that the assassin was wearing a police uniform. (The Odessa American, page 1) The symbolism of the planets is precise in this regard, as follows:
This tragic event coincided with the transit of Mars, in conjunction (by degree and minute) with natal Saturn.
Saturn rules the 11th House (National Assembly) and the conjunction happened in the (presidential) 10th House.
Also, T Pluto (from the 6th House of law enforcement and the military) squared progressed Jupiter in the 9th House (the secret enemy 12th from the 10th).
Jupiter is the ruler of the 10th House and the Asc. Tr. retrograde Saturn was conjunct natal Mars, ruler of the 2nd and 9th Houses, and opposed natal Neptune, co-ruler of the Asc.
The natal Mars/Neptune opposition was further stimulated by the square from the Prog. Moon just across the cusp of the 11th House.
The sidereal charts of the Somali Republic and Somaliland have mutable signs on the angles, and their Sun, Moon, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn are also mutable. Saturn and Jupiter, the two planets that represent governments and their laws, were receiving intense impacts at the time of the assassination. Add to this dynamic the fact that the mutable cross is the cross of constant change and instability.
From the beginning of the Somali Republic, there was lacking a common administrative language to run the unitary government, there were many clan-based political units, each with their personal point of view. There was a polarity
between traditional Somali particularistic political forms and a newly installed centralized government.
Taken from Celestial Configurations of Africa and the Caribbean