Bashar Bashed, Assad So Sad

This post was originally published on Astrology News Service

Alex Miller

On Sunday, 8 December 2024, Syrian dictator-president Bashar al-Assad was ousted from power when rebel forces took over the capital of Damascus, effectively ending a civil war that had raged in the country since 2011.  A militant Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, was the tip of the coalition spear which overthrew the Assad regime, and there is concern about Syria’s direction going forward.  As for Assad, he fled the country within hours, landing on the doorstep of bestie and fellow dictator Vladimir Putin in Moscow, where he has been granted asylum. 

The change in government, accomplished by military means, occurred just two days after Mars, the planet of war and conflict, reached a pivotal turning point in its cycle.  On December 6^th Mars had come to its station at 6 Leo, appearing to halt its forward motion in the sky and reverse course.  It did so while closely conjoining the 5 Leo natal Pluto placement for Syria (de jure independence on 16 September 1941), a point that represents raw power.  The Mars station was also semisquare (45 degrees) to Syria’s 23 Virgo Sun, which in turns squares (90 degrees) asteroid Basher (for Bashar) at 19 Sagittarius, itself conjoined by the Sun on the day of Assad’s defeat, at 16 Sagittarius.

A number of points in Assad’s birth chart vividly illustrate his career and the present circumstances.  Even the seeds of his overthrow can be found here.  But we may need to play a bit of astro-linguistics to get there.  Although there are currently some 29,000 named asteroids, that’s obviously a far cry from the number of names in the world, so a certain amount of tweaking is required, finding points which resonate to our target word, if no exact matches exist.  In this case, we have asteroids Basher for Bashar and Asada for Assad, as well as Jolana for Jolani, and an exact match in asteroid Vladimir, to represent Putin.

Born 11 September 1965 (no time available), Bashar al-Assad has a solar grouping that is a classic portrait of a ruthless dictator.  The 18 Virgo Sun is conjoined by Uranus at 15 Virgo and Pluto at 16 Virgo, and opposed (180 degrees) Saturn at 13 Pisces, a celestial portrait of someone with an authoritarian bent (Saturn), brutally focused on his own power (Pluto), and willing to do anything, however shocking, extreme or controversial (all Uranian keywords) to maintain it.  Asteroid Asada at 25 Virgo also conjoins the Sun, while asteroid Basher at 10 Gemini is squared it, both common placements for one’s own self-referential asteroids.  [Note also that the Sun is further accompanied by asteroid Carr (phonetic match for “car”) at 21 Virgo, making Assad’s fleet of dozens of luxury vehicles, with an estimated value of $6.8 million, somewhat self-defining (Sun, Asada) for him.]

We’ve already seen how asteroid Basher squares the Sun in Syria’s chart, but Basher at 19 Pisces in the sky for his overthrow is opposed that Sun, as well as squared the Sun of the day, at 16 Sagittarius, and also opposes his natal Sun at 18 Virgo.  Tapped in, for sure!  Asteroid Asada in the sky at 5 Sagittarius conjoins asteroid NOT (a general disqualifier or symbol of negation) at 7 Sagittarius, and Mercury (newsworthy event) at 11 Sagittarius; together these oppose natal Basher at 10 Gemini, with natal asteroid Fini (French for “the end”) at 8 Gemini.  That’s a twinned statement of “the last (NOT, Fini) of Assad (Asada, Basher)” in blaring headlines (Mercury) across the globe.

Let’s look now at Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the principal agent in Assad’s downfall.  The potential that someone of that (or a similar) name could prove to be Assad’s undoing is foreshadowed in the birth chart by asteroid Jolana (a feminine form of Jolani) at 29 Virgo, closely conjunct asteroid Nemesis at 0 Libra.  Nemesis is noted as a point which brings ruin, destruction and undoing, often self-created by our own prior acts, and by their association, Jolana can become Nemesis’ agent, when the time and circumstances are in alignment.  That’s remarkable enough, but consider now that asteroid Jolana in the sky was exactly returned to its natal degree of 29 Virgo for Jolani’s final push into Damascus and Assad’s expulsion, reactivating the natal potential for bringing ruin down on Assad’s head.

And let’s not forget Vladimir Putin.  Asteroid Vladimir in Assad’s chart is exactly conjoined Saturn at 13 Pisces, opposed the Sun.  This sets up Putin (Vladimir) as someone with a central role to play in Assad’s biography (the solar opposition) generally, while the conjunction with Saturn suggests that to Assad, Putin is something of a “daddy” figure (with Saturn ruling the father), a role model as an authoritarian leader (Saturn) and someone to turn to in times of adversity or trouble (also Saturn).  This is surely how things played out, and the cosmic icing on this celestial cake is that Saturn in the sky was also at 13 Pisces for Assad’s overthrow, returned to its natal degree when Assad ran home to daddy.  This event is termed the “Saturn Return,” occurring roughly every 29 years, and it is period fraught with consequence, accountability, and possible peril.

We may not yet be able to truly forget about Vladimir Putin, still active on the world stage, but let’s hope we can forget about Bashar al-Assad, consigned now to the ash heap of history.

Title image credit:  Syrian flag image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay; Assad insert added by author, from Khamenei.ir, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=156425933