As promised: the grace of having Elizabeth Teissier, far and away the most popularized and known astrologer in Europe, as our guest for the Analytical Techniques essay this month! She presents an overview of Solar Arcs principles at work among nations, a theme of never-ending fascination.
Most recently, in April -and this news has been trumpeted internationally most deservedly, including the New York Times (June 2, 2001), the front page of Le Monde, numerous magazine cover stories-after nine years of hard work and a 900-page thesis, Elizabeth received her PhD in sociology from the Sorbonne. Her thesis was on Astrology -“The Epistemological Situation of Astrology in Relation to the Ambivalent Fascination/Rejection of Postmodern Societies”-has created quite a storm throughout highest academic circles in Europe. The point is Dr. Teissier has made it happen, and the prognosis is that Astrology is heading back with respect into University curricula. She has brought honor to us all!Discovering How Solar Arcs work for Countries too!
Most astrologers know the ancient method of Solar Arcs, and many practice the technique in their work with individuals. Solar Arcs reveal to us the major milestones of people’s lives. It is a fact, indeed, that longitude degree-distances separating two planets in the chart or, especially, one planet from an Angle give precious indications about important events in life, these events being of psychological or physical nature, or referring to turning points, successful periods or misadventures on a professional level.
My own experience of more than 25 years has confirmed to me the resourcefulness of this very easy method to point out the essential moments on our life path. We astrologers have to get beyond the more or less unconscious way we have of thinking that a simple method (in its calculations) of forecasting can only be false and that a more complicated method is by definition the more accurate.
As we study this system, we must recognize a tolerance (a one-degree orb) in time of about one year before and after the exact number of degrees that are converted into as many years. Among hundreds of examples beginning years ago, one of them convinced me definitely of the fantastic accuracy of this method, also called “Symbolic Directions”: it was the case of Sofia Loren, whose chart I was given to do, with her approval, of course.
During the consultation that took place in Ms Loren’s apartment in Paris, I remember that she answered without any hesitation ALL my questions concerning her Solar Arcs. This told me clearly that there was no angular distance in her horoscope without a corresponding, important event in her life. And, as well, her corroboration told me that ALL the major events of her life until then (1980) had found a corresponding date (or age) in her Symbolic Directions! About fifteen different dates referred to corresponding strong events in her career or private life (her meeting Carlo Ponti, her first and subsequent movies, miscarriages, the birth of her two sons…). As a typical Virgo, she seemed to have a computer in her head for accurate recall! It was of course possible to point out the coming important phases of her life as well, marked by such or such astrological measurement.
As well, it is important to see Solar Arcs as a simple, rapid and precise way to rectify the time of birth. Before any consultation, I always test the given time, which may be false for all sorts of reasons, even, for instance, the clock of the hospital being late!Solar Arcs with Nations
Now, as presented in two of my books published in France, I had foreseen an international political crisis to begin in August 1990, in which France, Germany, Switzerland, the United States…and Israel would be involved. (Not suspecting the possible involvement of Iraq, I did not consider that country’s chart). The crisis turned out to be the “Gulf War”.
Having been counseling the French president François Mitterrand since 1989, as his astrologer, I was asked by him to research how things would evolve after Saddam Hussein had invaded Kuwait. One night, deeply concentrated on Israel’s chart, a “crazy” idea occurred to me: since astrology considers a country as a “living” entity having its own destiny comparable with a human being’s, with a birth, an evolution and an end, why wouldn’t this entity not obey, respond to all the astrological methods used for individuals?
As a matter of fact, I was looking for a vector for my intuition, an orientation and even a confirmation of my forecast for the Gulf War. Symbolic Directions led me to a real revelation: they do work for an abstract entity !
Let me focus specifically on Israel. Of course, I knew the dates of the numerous wars that Israel had passed through since its formalization as a state on the 14th of May 1948, proclaimed in Tel Aviv. I adopted the time that I was given by an important Jewish political personality: 3.20 P.M. local time (or 1.20 G.M.T). This was the moment where the solemn meeting had begun which would end with the Ben Gurion’s proclamation of the State of Israel at 4.00 P.M. (the time given by N. Campion in his Book of World Horoscopes; researched and adopted too by Noël Tyl, as I learned later).
So I looked for the inter-planetary distances [arcs] in relation to Israel’s historical development. In the simplest way I can, let me share that discovery with you here:
– 1° or 1 year (First Israel-Arab war, 1948-1949);
– 8° or 8 years (Suez War, July 1956);
-19° or 19 years (Six Days War, June 1967);
-25° or 25 years (Yom Kippur War, October 1973);
-34° or 34 years (Lebanon War, 1982).
What a surprise when I discovered that:
– The First Israel-Arab War can be deduced from the distance between Sun (23° 38′ Taurus) and Lilith (22° 24′ Aquarius), a distance of 1 degree 14′ to the square between them, that’s just over one year, the time of the war! Lilith symbolizes challenges and trials of all kinds.
– The Suez War between Israel and Egypt after Nasser’s decision to nationalize the Company of the Suez Canal is to be seen in the distance Moon (ruling the MC) to Pluto in the Xth and ruling the IInd House: this war was a success which gained great prestige for Israel.
– The Six Days War (Israel and Egypt) is reflected by the distance between MC (15° Cancer) and the Moon (4° Leo, in the Xth House, ruler of the MC): 15° to finish Cancer + 4°into Leo= 19°; a spectacular and immediate victory!
– The Yom Kippur War where Syria and Egypt attacked Israel by surprise; the latter had to give up the Sinaï. It corresponds to Moon >Mars (3° 58′ > 28°18′ Leo) and Mercury (10° Gemini) > Venus (4°47′ Cancer). This shows how powerful this date was in Israel’s destiny.
– The Lebanon War is marked as the distance between MC and Mercury (10° Gemini in the VIIIth House of crisis and war ).
Beside these dates having accompanied the different conflicts opposing Israel to its Arabian neighbors, I noticed some other important dates/events in Israel’s trajectory, as follows:
– Uranus> MC: 21 years and 3 months = August 1969: High-jacking of the TWA flight by the PLO, with some Israeli passengers aboard. An interesting detail is that Uranus in the IXth house reflects perfectly a drama linked with travel by air (which, curiously, I can’t be found with the chart erected for 4.00 P.M.). This period of 21 years can be found for the 3:20 PM time only in the distance of Fortuna [Part of Fortune] to the IC: Fortuna is exactly opposed to Uranus in the natal chart, but trine to Saturn. After some time, the hostages could be exchanged with some prisoners, and they were so delivered.
– MC > Pluto: 27 years = May 1975, the First commercial agreement between EC [European Economic Community] and Israel. We must notice that Pluto rules the IInd House (Financial matters) and is trine to Mercury (trade ) in the VIIIth House (commissions). Again a date connected specifically with that 3:20 chart.
– Sun > Uranus and MC > Saturn: 30 years = Feb.1979 (Saturn is sextile to the AS for 3.20 PM): peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, some months after Camp David (Sept 1978).
– Moon (people) >Uranus (violence): 39 years = December 1987: beginning of the Intifada .
– Mars> Neptune 42 years and 3 months = 25 of August 1990: Gulf Crisis had just begun !
– MC> Mars 42: years 8 months = 14th of January 1991: Gulf War (15th of January!) : strikingly exact correlation, still linked with the same time of “birth” : 3.20 PM!
– Mars >AS : 46 years, 2 months: July 1994 : Arafat returns from exile in July; some months before (Feb.1994), an Israeli in a Mosque kills 30 Arabs praying on Abraham’s grave.
– Uranus (violence) > Pluto (death): 48 years 3 months = Aug 1996: Rabin was assassinated Nov .1994, 9 months before.
– Sun > MC : 51 years 11 months= 11th of May 2000 (Sun is square to Saturn: end of a process) : Israeli troops leave Lebanon mid of May 2000! Another date linked with 3.20 PM!
On the whole, I had found 14 correspondences between Israeli history and Solar Arcs, 8 of them being correlated to the 3.20 time, with the Angles! I was at once astonished and delighted to find these correspondences which confirmed the living nature of nations; philosophically, this is a very strong consideration!
I then applied the same technique to the other chart for Israel, using the time generally adopted (4.00 P.M.). Of course, concerning the distances between planets, there was no difference to be observed. Even the Moon hadn’t moved appreciably during those 40 minutes of time. The only factors to take in consideration were the angular distances with the different planets, and these are very important.
The question became “were there –and if so, how many– some angular distances with that new time of birth (4.00 PM) which were not found in the first chart?” The answer was NO. And on the other hand, in that second chart, it is impossible to find a correlation with the Gulf War, for instance; neither with the Six Days War, a great void! And the hi-jacking appears through Venus> MC on Jan.1969, or MC> Saturn, for April 1969, far less precise than with the 3.20 PM chart.
In conclusion, let’s say that according to the first chart, the year 2010 (MC> North Node) corresponds to an essential point in the future and according to the second chart, Mars>AS is still to come: it will be for 2003: not a very good omen! But I hold for the 3.20 PM chart, which, it seems, presents more accurate correlation.
We would need much more space and time here to discuss the matter further; we have not even introduced indirect arcs and major transits!
Let’s just add that I was so enthusiastic about this discovery that I began to apply it to some other countries. Look! As a strong closing example: in the ex.USSR chart (8th of November 1917, 2.02 A.M. local time, Leningrad) with MC on 20°46′ and Mars 3° in Virgo, we notice with delight and almost mystic astonishment that the distance from Mars to the Sun (Mars is placed at the cusp of the 12th House and rules the VIIIth, the House of crisis and death) [and the projection of Pluto to square the Midheaven] gives 73 years=1989/1990. This was the time period of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the time-period of the first free elections in USSR, beginning of the end of that projection, as Nostradamus had announced it, some 340 years before!
Could all this be pure accident, pure chance, and only coincidences? I don’t think so. Arcs are very real measurements!
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**On a personal note, I want to welcome my friend and colleague Noel Tyl’s comprehensive study of Solar Arcs into our world of astrology. His book will bring Symbolic Directions to life in greatest detail for the first time in the English language, I believe.
I look forward to meeting so many of you at UAC in July 2002!
Astrally yours, Elizabeth Teissier