Some good news for a change.   The 18-day popular uprising against Egypt’s autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak succeeded yesterday as he finally relented and resigned. The unprecedented surge in opposition to his 30-year regime galvanized Egyptians from all social classes and religious backgrounds as they demanded a greater say in their government. The military has stepped into the breach here and will rule the country until elections are held in September.

In my earlier post on the demonstrations and unrest, I thought there was a reasonable chance for a change in leadership.  There were several key afflictions to planets that symbolize government and leaders such as Sun and Mars.  The key transit was perhaps the Uranus and Ketu square which was afflicting the natal Sun in the Egypt horoscope.  Both of these are planets can represent change and their combined effect was enough to shake the foundation of a well-entrenched repressive government like Mubarak’s.  In keeping with the standard interpretative notions of Western astrology, the Uranus-Sun square is definitely disruptive of the status quo as it pertains to leaders (Sun).  But Vedic astrology also imputes a separative influence for the nodes, Rahu and Ketu.  Ketu is perhaps more malefic in this respect and creates new circumstances whether they are desired or not.  Transiting Ketu’s conjunction to the Sun-Mars conjunction in the Egypt horoscope was definitely a key factor in the unrest and the violence that has characterized this uprising for the last two weeks.

On the question of why Mubarak finally gave up power on Friday the 11th, we can see that the transiting Sun-Mars pairing was exactly opposite natal Pluto.  Pluto represents power and large institutions and this double dose of fiery Sun-Mars may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back and finally forced the immovable object from his seat of power.  In addition, we can see that the Sun-Mars transit formed a trine aspect with the natal Saturn-Neptune conjunction.   While Saturn does not cast a full strength trine aspect in Vedic astrology, it is important to note that even the partial strength aspect will have an effect when the orb is very close as it was here.  Since Saturn symbolizes structures and routines, the Sun-Mars duo injected a major dose of initiatory energy into the static edifice of the Egyptian state.  The double Sun-Mars transit therefore acted as the trigger that exploded the stable power structures as represented by Saturn/Neptune and Pluto.  As critical as the Sun-Mars conjunction was, the heavy planetary lifting was likely done by Uranus and Ketu. 

Mubarak’s resignation was announced on television at 18.03 pm local time in Cairo.  This moment represents the chart of the interim military government and will be useful as a guide to events until the next government is elected in the fall.  In many respects, this chart embodies the nature of this popular revolution in Egypt.  The Moon is at the top of the chart near the Midheaven.  In mundane astrology, the Moon represents "the people" and its prominent place in the chart reflects the primacy of popular feeling in bringing about this change.  The demonstrations began improbably enough in Tunisia back on December 17 when a 26-year old vegetable seller, Mohammed Bouazizi, set himself on fire in protest from the unfair treatment he had received from the government and police.  The demonstrations grew and eventually toppled the dictator Ben Ali on January 14.  Taking their cue from Tunisians successful revolt, Egyptians launched their own protest against decades of repressive rule and failed economic policies on January 25.  Once the army publicly refused to shoot at unarmed protesters, Mubarak’s fate was sealed and the people only had to wait it out until the endgame.  So this is very much a people’s revolution, as seen by this strong, waxing Moon that was high in the sky at the time of Mubarak’s resignation. 

Egyptian Revolution: February 11, 2011 18:03 EET Cairo

The other key planet in this new Egypt chart is Neptune.  Like the Moon, it was angular as it was setting in the 7th house on Friday evening.  Angular planets tend to be dominant energies in a chart.  The closer they are to the exact angles of the chart, the stronger they become.  So not only are the Moon and Neptune in the kendra houses (1,4,7,10), but they are each less than one degree from their respective angles.  Neptune on the 7th house cusp here is perhaps symbolic of the idealism of this popular revolution.  Neptune often represents the perfected image or ideal, even if it is ultimately unobtainable in real life.  It becomes the object that motivates and is sought after.  The combination of Moon (people) and Neptune (ideals) reflects the enormous hope that this popular revolution has generated in Egypt and all across the Middle East as millions of Arabs are venturing to bring democracy to their long-repressed societies.  This popular revolt has unleashed the pent-up hopes of many Arabs that they can finally enjoy the benefits of stable government and a prospering economy that has been denied to them up to now.

The 6th house represents the military and police and it is perhaps significant that the Sun-Mars conjunction in Capricorn is placed in this house.  This reflects the leading role of the military now in Egypt as government (Sun) and military (Mars) are fused into one body and will rule the country in caretaker fashion until the elections.  The importance of this Sun-Mars conjunction is even greater since Leo rises in the chart and Leo is ruled by the Sun.  The lagnesh, or chart ruler, is therefore the Sun and it is conjunct Mars (military).  Mars is exalted in Capricorn so that may reflect the military’s esteemed position in Egyptian society and the trust and prestige it enjoys with the people. 

The revolution was successful while the Moon was in the nakshatra of Krittika, ruled by the Sun.  Krittika means "the cutter" and is symbolized by a blade.  The people therefore seem to have acted as the cutters in this instance by cutting out and removing Mubarak from power.  It is also worth noting that the Sun will be the first dasha lord for this new horoscope.  The Sun’s placement with Mars in the 6th house of the military is entirely appropriate for this government for the foreseeable future.  More specifically, we can see that the revolution succeeded during the Sun-Jupiter dasha.  Jupiter is usually a hopeful influence, and its role here as the minor period lord is quite telling.  However, the Sun-Jupiter period ends in mid-March according to the Krishnamurti ayanamsha, and Sun-Saturn will then begin and run until 2012.  Saturn minor periods are usually tougher and rewards typically only arrive after much effort.  So we should expect the euphoria to wear off fairly quickly as the new military government will have its hands full after March.   In July and August, transiting Rahu will move into tight aspect to the Sun-Mars conjunction so that may indicate a stressful and conflictive period for Egypt.  Interestingly, I had mentioned this time frame in my previous post as a time to watch.  The natal Mars in the 1953 Republic horoscope is heavily afflicted in August by the Uranus-Pluto t-square.  This affliction appears to be duplicated here by the aspect from transiting Rahu to the natal Sun-Mars.  It is likely to be a volatile time where more unrest and violence may occur.