Eyeless in Gaza
Detail of Samson Blinded by Lovis Corinth
“…Ask for this great deliverer now, and find him
Eyeless in Gaza at the Mill with slaves …from Samson Agonistes by John Milton
John Milton’s play Samson Agonistes, based on part of Judges in the Old Testament, begins with the hero, “the great deliverer” Samson, blinded and in exile in Gaza, his dalliance with Delilah over, his famous strength lost. Samson is both literally and metaphorically blind.
Thou art become (O worst imprisonment!)
The Dungeon of thy self; thy soul
(Which men enjoying sight oft without cause complain)
Imprisoned now indeed,
In real darkness of the body dwells,
Shut up from outward light
To incorporate with gloomy night
For inward light alas
Puts forth no visual beam.
Today, Gaza is a prison again, this time for its nearly two million inhabitants. And the Israeli army rages blindly, just as Samson did.
There is some debate as to whether Israel was born at 4pm when the meeting to declare independence began or 4.47 when David Ben-Gurion asked everyone to rise. Anyone who has been through Israeli security knows the latter time is the correct one. This is a nation with Scorpio Rising.
The astrology of Israel’s relationship with Gaza is quite straightforward. On June 5 1967, Israel launched the Six Day War which resulted in the annexation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Jupiter had just entered Leo and was conjuncting Israel’s Moon, the Lion of Judah at the very top of the Israeli chart. The Moon is, of course, our home, where we live. Jupiter is expansion. Israel expanded her territory — and power. Jupiter’s transit through Israel’s 10th house that year saw a huge increase in the country’s power and prestige in the world.
This took place during the mid-60s conjunction of Uranus and Pluto in Virgo. Mars, the warrior was, as it is today, in Libra, and Saturn was trining that Israeli Moon.
On 15 August 2005, Israel’s borders shrank again. In the intervening 30-odd years, Israeli settlers had moved into Gaza. They were forced to leave. Saturn, the planet of contraction, was on that Israeli Moon. Jupiter was at 15° Libra, the very same degree that Mars had occupied during the Six Day War.
Today, we are in the fourth Jupiter in Leo cycle since 1967. (1978/9 – peace treaty with Egypt, 1990 – First Gulf War, 2002/3 – Second Gulf War). Jupiter is on Israel’s Moon again, but this time Uranus and Pluto have reached the hostile square aspect, and Saturn is, of course, in Scorpio, Israel’s first house in the horoscope. Saturn is about taking responsibility, its about borders, its about foundation.
This transiting Saturn is exactly squaring Israel’s natal Saturn, and it turned direct two days ago, which means it’s pretty much stationary. Israel is being tested. Israel’s standing in the world is being tested too, but also Israel’s sense of identity. What does it really mean to be a “Jewish State”? How has it come to this — you start with a dream of freedom and you end up creating the biggest open prison on earth on your doorstep?
Samson’s final act was to pull down the Philistine temple, killing himself and thousands of Philistiines.
“And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.” Judges 16, King James Version
But Uranus the planet of the unexpected is trining that Israeli Saturn too, and it’s exact, so the choice is there to do something radical, out of character, surprising, to change the rules of the game.
‘On 15 August 2005, Israel’s borders shrank again’ – you mean ‘Gaza’s’, no?
No, sorry, my mistake – it was the one moment in the whole story when it was Israel’s borders shrinking and not those of the Palestinians.
Just after publishing this piece, I turned on the radio. I am listening to two blind women talking about what it’s like to be living in Tel Aviv and the Gaza Strip.
This coming New Moon will be exact Israëls New Moon while at the same time there will be Jupiter squaring Mars and Mars opposite Uranus.
How on earth is this going to work out for both sides ?? I’m really not looking forward to this weekend !! Here in the Netherlands we have enough on our plate already this week.
Christina, where in the chart of Israel could we find the Palestinians ?? Which planet(s) would represent them ??
I think maybe Chiron (in 1st house). Saturn is going to conjunct natal Chiron this year ! Israel is scratching open its wound again and thus will have to come to terms with it again !!!
This will go on forever unless they learn how to live with their wound (the Palestinians).
mimi
Entitlement and ethics clash. Saturn demands we be our best selves, under fire. Intertwining of commerce and weapons in the labyrinth of tunnels. Gazans live atop powder kegs, and pay dearly for it. Could this be Pluto- the under world? Israel is held to a higher standard, as the so-called chosen.
Praying for peace, compassion and humility for all.
Yes, I’ve been thinking about that New Moon also. It’s clearly going to have impact on Israeli “lebensraum” – again. I haven’t got the software to look back and find the last time the Leo New Moon was this close.
I agree with you about Chiron too. Watching what’s happening in Gaza (again) is like watching someone hitting themselves in the eye again and again. It’s a form of self-harm. Taurus on the cusp of the 7th (friends and enemies) is also habitual, and Venus the ruler of the 7th is essentially unaspected – more on that later.
But here’s where astrology becomes complex and manifold because that Chiron also is the wound of the holocaust. It’s in the first house of identity and opposite the Sun, the core identity. So Israel’s Sun is continuously reacting against that Chiron, rearing away from “victimhood”, which is the province of Chiron.
Israel’s behaviour is motivated by fear, so we should look at Saturn and the condition of Saturn for that & there he is conjuncted by the dark lord himself right at the top of the chart. Saturn is just past a conjunction with Pluto, so recent a recent history of hell.
Another interesting question is the land or territory of Israel. That’s 4th house stuff, fixed Aquarius on the cusp ruled by Uranus in the 8th (constant problems) and Saturn in the 10th (on the world’s stage continuously too). Then Taurus on the cusp of the 7th is also about land, the earth itself, and that’s ruled by Venus in the 9th, foreign land. Finally, there’s Lilith in that Grand Cross, an unruly, wild, untameable land opposite the might of Mars. Of course, one of the early claims of Israel was that the settlers made “the desert bloom”, which made it sound as if the land had been barren and empty, waiting for that iron Martial plough to come along and furrow it.
What would make Israel truly strong would be to get that Grand Cross working together, in other words getting opposites working together. It’s easy to see from the outside: Israel is Palestine, Palestine is Israel. What’s missing from the equation is love — unspected Venus.
I have just found something interesting and potentially significant astrologically. By progression Israel’s Venus has been retrograde for most of its existence (1969-2011). It’s currently stationing direct at 24° Gemini on the natal Uranus.
‘Israel’s behaviour is motivated by fear’ – exactly, and it’s mythically tragic that the Jews should have been relocated, after the holocaust, in a place in which they were, once again, surrounded by people who hated them, thus perpetrating the situation. Chiron’s wound, open and aching forever. As for ‘rearing away from victimhood’ – don’t agree, I think the opposite is the case. And if you believe yourself to be the victim, you allow yourself anything. Which is where Israel is right now and has been for years. The problem with being permanently surrounded by enemies is that it makes you at best paranoid, at worst mad.
I hear you about the victimhood, and I think it works in several ways. Terrified of becoming victims again, playing the victim card and turning other people into victims. Reading that part of Judges was a real eye-opener for me…
Chiron gets to break the rules, because of victim status. Also transforms the structures alchemically. The Path Not Taken.
PTSD rampant and reactive interactions lock everyone into cycles of violence. A feature of every relationship with power imbalance.
… and on the subject of Saturn transiting through Israel’s first house — which a transit of maturation — here is a link to an article on Ha’aretz called The Country that wouldn’t grow up — http://www.haaretz.com/mobile/the-country-that-wouldn-t-grow-up-1.186721?v=9328D951C29F2365084636962340486B
That is really astonishing, for Venus to be going direct after this period.
Who knows how this will work out?
About Chiron: I believe it was Dharmarucci / Barry who wrote : “Chiron in your chart represents what you should allow to die in yourself so that you can be healed.
Maybe the time has come for Israel to look itself in the eye and start a thorough investigation into itself and the reasons why they are at war for so long now and this will also mean looking without compromise at what it is in themselves that has to die! And then allow Venus to heal their people and nation.
mimi
wow. so appreciate this post and also the comments. great presentation and great audience. brilliant!
Vivid flashback to going through Israeli security from Egypt when we were, what, 13? I didn’t know that Dad was there to lay groundwork for the Camp David Accords until well after.
Much to think about, as ever. Your delicate touch on a horrifically sore subject for so many is as impressive as ever. I cannot duplicate it, so I won’t go into my thoughts 🙂
I still mourn for the loss of Ytzhak Rabin, and hope that Venus will finally help the whole region’s collective psychosis shift.
Interesting note on Chiron: what, in yourself, needs to die. I do my best work when I’m quite certain I won’t last the year, but after fighting to stay alive for so long, I’ve gotten rather attached to living. Mind you, I’ve gotten a lot less attached to others’ rules for my life…
I rectified the Israel horoscoop as 16h04m07,7s.
This could be the start of the proclamation reading by Ben Gurion after the auditorium sung the anthem after 16h.
Six day war.
4 June 1967 Israel decided to go for war.
4-Jun-1967 010°,22’44 Aries Sat 60 Merc transit
4-Jun-1967 022°,25’21 Scorpio Nep 0 C–2 transit
5-Jun-1967 006°,24’32 Cancer Merc 135 Chiron transit
6-Jun-1967 011°,01’26 Tweeling Zon 45 MC progressive aspect
6-Jun-1967 010°,34’21 Aries Sat 180 Nep transit
10-Jun-1967 016°,25’19 Libra Mars 60 Sat transit
Ruler Ascendant 24 Libra Venus 5 Cancer opposite Pars Frt. 5 Capricornus.
See Sabian degrees meanings.
At the moment I am busy to publish my book Gecorrigeerde horoscoop Israel by Kirjaboek.nl.
Articles are in English language.
In have published more books on rectified horoscopes by Kirjaboek.nl.
Israel’s borders did not shrink – Israel’s only legal borders remain the UN mandate. Everything else is Occupied Palestine. Israel has no legitimate borders beyond the UN mandate and even that has never been tested in law.
Israel’s problem is it wants all of Palestine but Palestine comes with now, nearly six million indigenous Palestinians and Israel wants none of them.
The only outcome now is a one-state solution and BDS will cripple Israel’s economy and bring that within five years.
Very interesting read. It could be revealing to do a similar exploration on say the PLO including looking at dates of the various violent events, stages eg start of Fatah and splits, formation of Hamas etc and then compare the readings. How do national-international- key individuals’ profiles present?
[…] John Milton’s play Samson Agonistes, based in part on the פְּסוּקִים in שׁוֹפְטִים detailing the downfall of שִׁמְשׁוֹן, begins with the hero, “the great deliverer” Samson, blinded and in exile in Gaza, his dalliance with Delilah over, his famous strength lost. Samson is both literally and metaphorically blind: […]