LESSON 10 - by Magi Ken Humke - part 1 of 4

 

June 1, 2003

 

THE BIRTH OF AL QAEDA

 

The Magi Society has recently discovered documentary information on the founding of Al Qaeda.  The original source documents were seized last year (2002) in a raid on the Bosnian offices of an Illinois-based Al Qaeda-front “charity” called Benevolence International Foundation, and were described in court documents filed in the Chicago prosecution of the charity’s top official, Enaam Arnout, who pleaded guilty to racketeering on Feb. 10 of this year.  The seized documents included the minutes of a three-day meeting held at Osama bin Laden’s home (according to numerous other sources he lived at the time in Peshawar, Pakistan) from Aug. 18-20, 1988, for the express purpose of founding this terrorist organization.  Anyone wishing to view the relevant excerpts from the court documents may do so where we found them at the following link: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/bifladen1.html.

 

The posted documents do not specify on which of the three days Al Qaeda was actually founded, but our take on it is that most likely it happened on the second day, Aug. 19, 1988.  This day was selected on the basis of the negotiation among the founding parties of the terms and conditions likely having taken up the first day, with the post-founding steps to be taken being decided on the third day, leaving the second day as the most likely for the approval of final terms and conditions, and oaths of allegiance, constituting formal founding.  However, even if the founding date were actually one of the other two days, most of the important chart factors were common to all three days.  The geocentric and heliocentric charts for this event are presented below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first thing that strikes one about the geocentric chart is the five-planet longitudinal synchronization of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Neptune and Pluto.  This synchronization gains far greater power because it is repeated, minus Mercury, in the heliocentric dimension.  Because it occurs in both dimensions, albeit at different angles, the Venus-Mars-Neptune-Pluto synchronization is the defining feature of this chart.  We call this a TRANS-DIMENSIONAL synchronization, and it is interpreted in this case as desire (Venus) for long-term (Neptune) war (Mars) and empowerment (Pluto) to wage it.  In this case the energies work well together to this end even though geocentric Venus, Neptune and Mars form a T-square, because of the positive synchronization of Pluto, notably the trine it forms with Venus.  This synchronization would, of course, be more favorable with more enhancement aspects and the T-square not part of the mix, but Mercury helps in this connection by synchronizing a loose Grand Sextile with the T-square, serving like Pluto to make the overall geometry much more favorable.

 

Adding Mercury gives mobility to this potent planetary combination, so that the organization’s product, terrorism, can be delivered where it’s targeted.  It’s all too fitting considering this chart feature that America’s transportation system (transportation per se is ruled by Mercury, although Uranus rules aviation), in this case civil aviation, was usurped for this purpose to such devastating effect in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.  On other occasions, such as the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, truck bombs (a favorite weapon) were used, and in the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, a boat bomb (boats are ruled by Mercury and Neptune).

 

Of the individual aspects among these planets, the most important are those between Mars and Pluto, of which there are three out of a mathematically possible four – a geocentric quincunx and contra-parallel, and a heliocentric trine.  This aspect in all of its forms combines power (Pluto) with force (Mars), and when so heavily emphasized is a hallmark of aggression and the drive to dominate. 

 

Another trans-dimensional aspect, separate from this multiple-planet configuration, is the conjunction of Saturn and Uranus, which has two significant sides to it.  First, because Saturn rules control and Uranus rules anything of a massive scale, and also the masses of the public, and change per se, this aspect engenders the impetus to dominate and control people in the collective sense and impose arbitrary (Saturn) change on them on the largest possible scale.  Because Uranus also governs independence and the desire to be free, and Saturn governs loss, this can be a sign of an entity that would deprive people of their freedom.  This is enormously compounded in this case by the heliocentric opposition of this conjunction to Chiron, which rules freedom actually attained. 

 

On top of all this, there is a further trans-dimensional aspect that figures into the mix, that being the Saturn-Neptune parallel.  In a person’s natal chart, absent countervailing factors this combination would incline (but not compel; unlike organizations, people have personal volition to choose how to utilize their planetary energies) a person to agnosticism or atheism.  How then does one square this aspect with specifically religious militancy?  Simple.  Neptune governs anything long-term, and Saturn, cold-heartedness, malevolence, punitiveness and cruelty.  At the Magi Society we take the intrinsic benevolence of the universe as revealed by Magi Astrology to be proof of the Infinite, Unconditional Love and all-forgiving compassion of God.  However, by no means all religions see eye-to-eye with us on this – least of all the indiscriminately bloodthirsty and insatiably vengeful arch-fundamentalist version of Islam embraced by Al Qaeda.  A religion that subordinates Divine Unconditional Love and compassion to vengeance, misogyny and rigidly enforced social conformity is a false religion devoid of the Divine – such a religion’s “God” in effect has horns and a tail.  The enduring (Neptune) hatred and cruelty (both Saturn symbolisms) of Al Qaeda are perfectly consistent with this aspect in a mundane chart of this sort.   

 

Taken together, all of these planetary configurations in a mundane nativity describe a remorseless totalitarian entity bent on conquest and the crushing of all dissent from its dictates.  A further aggravating factor is the Venus-Jupiter declinational parallel, which imparts fidelity to whatever value system a person or entity subscribes to.  This is a great asset if one subscribes to a benevolent and honorable value system.  However, if one subscribes to a criminal system of values, this aspect imparts faithfulness to that criminality.  No one can fairly accuse Al Qaeda of inconsistency in its practice of the totalitarian arch-sectarian terrorism that it preaches. 

 

To put all of this in its proper context, however, it is now necessary to introduce a concept that has been recognized among astrologers only within the Magi Society.  There is one aspect in Al Qaeda’s chart that explains why all of the other aspects in the chart manifest in the worst possible way for the well being of the world.  This aspect is to be found in the heliocentric latitudes.  There, you will see that the Saturn-Neptune parallel is contra-parallel Jupiter.  The contra-parallel in the heliocentric chart is the most potent aspect of any kind that can be found in any chart, and to distinguish it from the same aspect in declination we’ve given it a name all its own: CONTRA-LATITUDE.  What makes this aspect so special, and so all-important?  The answer lies in the intrinsic nature of latitude, which is measured from the ecliptic, as distinct from declination, which is measured from the celestial equator.

 

The ecliptic is the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, meaning that since latitude is measured from the Earth, this planet never moves in latitude and is always at the zero degree position, both in real time and in every chart of every entity, human or otherwise.  The Earth in latitude is therefore the UNIVERSAL REFERENCE POINT both in real time and in every chart, because all planetary positions in latitude are measured relative to it.  It is also therefore necessarily the UNIVERSAL FOCAL POINT both in every chart and in real time.  This is because all transits to the Earth in latitude are UNIVERSAL TRANSITS.  No planet can be parallel to the Earth in the sky without also making a simultaneous parallel transit to the Earth in every chart of every kind (it’s not possible to be contra-parallel to zero degrees).  And likewise, no planetary midpoint can be parallel the Earth without likewise making this transit simultaneously to every chart of every kind.  This is critically important because whenever any two planets are in a contra-latitude aspect, their midpoint is always parallel the Earth, and the midpoint parallel always reaches exactness simultaneously with the contra-latitude aspect. 

 

Those of you who have read the Secrets of Magi Astrology preamble to The Magi Society Ephemeris will be familiar with the Magi Astrology Theory of Midpoint Equivalence, found in the book on p. 30.  For the benefit of everyone else, we will repeat it here verbatim:

 

Every midpoint acts as if it were a planet.  All midpoints influence planets and other midpoints under the same rules as planets themselves.  All midpoints are influenced by planets and other midpoints under the same rules as planets themselves.

 

What this means in the Al Qaeda chart is that the Jupiter-Neptune and Jupiter-Saturn midpoints are parallel to the Earth, and that means that they form this interaspect in this chart’s synastry with everyone.  Moreover, the orbs are excruciatingly tight – 0.01 degrees for both – and that will still be the case even if we should learn that either the Aug. 18 or Aug. 20 date is actually correct, because these three planets move so slowly in latitude.  The significance of this in practical terms is to be found in the meaning of the particular midpoints in question.

 

The Jupiter-Neptune midpoint parallel to the Earth is one of the sweetest aspects that ever happen.  It was one of the good things that were happening in the sky on Sept. 11, 2001, when other factors that we’ve described in a posting about that event were anything but, and it continued to apply, which is to say, gain strength, until it was exact on Oct. 29.  Jupiter and Neptune are the most forgiving and generous of the planets.  This aspect was largely responsible for the outpouring of love and support from (almost) the whole world for the United States and the citizens of New York and Washington, DC that the attack occasioned.  It also accounted for the amazing absence of popular blame and recrimination against the president, defense and intelligence officials or anyone else in the government for failing to prevent or stop it, which it was their collective responsibility to do (so unlike the aftermath of Pearl Harbor 60 years earlier).  However, because of the Jupiter-Saturn midpoint parallel to the Earth, the influence of this aspect in the Al Qaeda chart is, needless to say, not nearly so pronounced.

 

The first thing to consider about the parallel of the Jupiter-Saturn midpoint to the Earth is that it is always associated with the contra-latitude aspect.  As with its declinational contra-parallel counterpart, the contra-latitude is always an enhancement except when it involves Saturn, in which case it is always a turbulent or clash aspect, akin to the square and opposition.  In the case of the contra-latitude this is critical because the focal point of the clash is always the Earth.  What this means is that the combined energy of the clashing bodies in the form of their midpoint is delivered as a simultaneous transit to the most important body in everyone’s chart.  The impact that this has is determined by the nature of the body that is contra-latitude Saturn and which along with it consequently forms the transiting midpoint.  In the case of Saturn and Jupiter, the intrinsic character of the two planets is so mutually antithetical that even at a linkage angle (trine, conjunction or parallel), by their very nature they still clash.  At a clash angle their always-conflicting combined energy is so explosive that when one person or other entity’s Saturn makes such an angle (square, opposition, quincunx, contra-parallel or contra-latitude) to another’s Jupiter, we call it a NUCLEAR CLASH.  And similarly, because of the intrinsically and irreconcilably conflicting nature of these two planets’ combined energy, we call their midpoint the NUCLEAR MIDPOINT.  At the contra-latitude angle, that is the midpoint that these two planets literally bring to Earth, both in general and for everyone personally

 

If one considers the Magi symbolisms of Jupiter and Saturn, the exact nature of the conflict that their combined energies bring to the world (which is always in the background, but especially emphasized under these circumstances) becomes all too clear.  In this instance, the relevant symbolisms of Jupiter are, above all, Divine Unconditional Love; Providence; and benevolent power, along with forgiveness; compassion; courage; protection of the weak & vulnerable; charity; morality; wisdom; kindness; selflessness; honor; fidelity; lawfulness and order; tolerance of differences in others; and faithful service to others in general and humanity as a whole, done for its own sake.  The corresponding antithetical symbolisms of Saturn are, most especially, Demonically inspired fear, terror and hate; despoliation; and the malicious abuse of power.  Also included are vengeance; cruelty; cowardice; bullying; greed; immorality; foolishness; heartlessness; selfishness; deceit; betrayal; lawlessness and chaos; and narrow-mindedness and pedantry, dogmatism and sectarianism with their attendant intolerance, punitiveness and repression.  These characteristics combine to associate Saturn with all coercive, fear-spreading fundamentalist ideologies, whether religious or secular.

 

As you can see, the Jupiter-Saturn midpoint is intrinsically at war against itself, and in functional terms can be metaphorically related to the ancient concept of the eternal war between Heaven and Hell.  Considering over how many thousands of years astrology has been practiced, and that the respectively benefic and malefic nature of Jupiter and Saturn has been known from so far back, it is not only conceivable, but likely, that the notion of such an eternal war of Good versus Evil originated with this astrological knowledge.  If this is in fact the case, it’s certainly understandable how the ancient astrologers reached this conclusion.  In this connection the Magi Society has a rather different conception of the exact nature of Heaven and Hell than the commonly accepted model, and Al Qaeda presents a very strong case study in support of it. 

 

We at the Magi Society maintain that the Unconditional Love of an all-forgiving Deity is definitively incompatible with eternal damnation of human beings.  On the contrary, we recognize the reality of reincarnation, which is totally consistent therewith, as it enables everyone to have another chance, to learn from their errors and to live a better, more Loving, which is to say, a more Godly life the next time around.  So how do Heaven and Hell fit in?  They represent the notional poles that measure any person or other entity’s Spiritual alignment.  To be permeated with and therefore comforted by Unconditional Love is Heaven, and to be alienated therefrom and driven by terror and hate is Hell.  The true war between Heaven and Hell takes place constantly within each of us as we make real-time decisions (strongly influenced, but not determined by our progressions and transits) to align our motives and conduct with one pole or the other.  It is the results of those decisions that cumulatively and collectively create history. 

 

In the case of any human-created entity, whether a nation-state, a business, a religious organization or a terrorist network like Al Qaeda, the decisions of the human founders and their underlying motivations become incarnated in the created entity.  So the question naturally arises, if the entity itself is fundamentally a creature of this war between Heaven and Hell, how does one tell which side it’s on?  In this instance the chart tells us the answer with no less ambiguity than the network’s actions of record.  In the geocentric chart you will see that the Saturn-Uranus conjunction is trine the Sun, a configuration which in a mundane chart such as this describes a massively (Uranus) malevolent (Saturn) entity (Sun).  Now, for a moment, just reflect on how uncannily the Magi Astrochart of Al Qaeda, correctly understood, reveals the true nature of the entity for which it is cast.  The birth chart accurately diagrams the anatomy of the soul in any given lifetime, even when it’s the chart of a human-created entity. 

 

Regarding the crucial nature of aspects of Jupiter and Saturn to the Sun or the Earth in a mundane nativity such as this, for comparison purposes, the chart of the Third Reich (Jan. 30, 1933) has the Sun conjunct Saturn and the Earth opposed to it.  Likewise, the chart of the Republic of Iraq (July 14, 1958) has the Sun both quincunx and contra-parallel Saturn, while square Jupiter, which because this is a turbulent aspect is therefore in disharmony with the Sun.  Saturn dominates Jupiter in that chart because it is applying to Jupiter, which in turn is separating from it, in a heliocentric parallel.  By the way, it is only when Saturn is applying to Jupiter and Jupiter is separating from Saturn, that Saturn has the advantage over Jupiter in any chart.  That’s because only this situation creates a Saturn progression to Jupiter with no countervailing Jupiter progression to Saturn; otherwise Jupiter prevails.  While we cannot with a straight face say that Al Qaeda is in good company, astrologically speaking, it certainly is in compatible company.

 

Regarding aspects of the Sun and Jupiter in mundane nativities, it is significant that Jupiter is applying in a parallel aspect to both the Sun and the Earth in the chart of the United States of America (July 4, 1776), while Saturn is square, or disharmoniously configured with the Sun, but separating from it.  Therefore the United States by its intrinsic nature is revealed by its birth chart to be fundamentally aligned with what Abraham Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature,” and against what could metaphorically be called their fallen counterparts.  By comparison, the Spiritual alignment common to Nazi Germany, the now-fallen government of Iraq, and Al Qaeda is likewise revealed to be the exact opposite.  Now we can see the underlying condition that ultimately impelled the United States to become engaged in wars of annihilation against the Nazi German and Iraqi Baathist regimes, and Al Qaeda.  Today the Nazi and Baathist tyrannies are history, and in the ongoing U.S. war against Al Qaeda, it is the leaders of the latter, not those of the former, who are fugitives. 

 

So what would empower an entity allied with our “better angels” to prevail so convincingly over foes of contrary disposition?  Ignoring for the moment the monumental war-winning capability built into the United States’ chart, which we’ve discussed elsewhere, any entity so aligned has the advantage over adversaries of this sort that those enemies carry within them the seeds of their own destruction.  That is written in the stars, and is the symbolism of the Sun-Saturn and Sun-Earth aspects, both enhancements and turbulent, except when they occur in personal natal charts (so if you have such a natal aspect, we’re not talking about you).  Our exact words on this subject in our Love and Money book (p. 328) – in that context referring to such aspects involving the Sun (as with Al Qaeda), but equally applicable to those involving the Earth – read as follows:

 

This is singularly the worst aspect to have for any endeavor.  Success can come, but at a great price and is rarely enduring.

 

 

Click here for the second article, Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda.  

Click here for the third article, Ayman al Zawahiri and Al Qaeda.

Click here for the fourth and final article, Al Qaeda and September 11, 2001.