The New Moon at 7+ degrees Sagittarius takes place on Nov. 29 in exact square to the lunar nodes, the invisible points in the sky, which form an axis in the astrological chart. “The nodes tell us about what we get to do here on the Earth, and they help us do it,” has Eric Francis expressed their meaning. The south node is associated with the past and the north node with the future. The point square to the nodes in halfway between them is a balancing point, and the Sun and the Moon are there now.

Jupiter is the ruling planet of Sagittarius. Jupiter at the mid-degrees of Libra squared Pluto in Capricorn less than a week ago, on Nov. 24. This was the first square in the series of three. The other two will occur next year. The Uranus-Eris conjunction is retrograding in Aries, opposite Jupiter. The opposition is tightening.

The day after the Jupiter-Pluto square, on Nov. 25, the iconic revolutionary leader and former long-term prime minister and president of Cuba, Fidel Castro died. Castro represents the generation which was born during the previous Uranus-Eris conjunction in the 1920s.

The time for Fidel Castro’s birth is controversial, but the data I am using is August 13, 1926, 2:00 AM, Biran, Cuba (classified by the Astro-Databank as Dirty Data). Castro’s Uranus is in the late degrees of Pisces, but Eris is right at the Aries Point. There could not be more fitting place than this for the goddess of strife and discord in the chart of a revolutionary, who became the leader of his country. According to astrologer Robert Hand, the Aries Point “indicates one’s relationships with the larger world around one and is associated with fame and greater social significance.”

Eris is a polarizing force, and Fidel Castro was a controversial person. Many Cubans think about him as a beloved father figure, while others consider him as a dictator. Exclusion is one of the themes that can be associated with Eris, so the long-lasted economic and diplomatic isolation of Cuba can be linked with her symbolism.

Castro’s ascendant is in conjunction with asteroid Bacchus in the late degrees of Gemini. The ascendant signifies the impression we make on others. In Greco-Roman mythology the Roman Bacchus is equivalent to the Greek Dionysus, the god of winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and fertility. Bacchus traveled around and was followed by singing and dancing women. Castro was a womanizer who had many mistresses and several illegitimate children.

Bacchus was also known as Liber Pater, “the liberator”. A quote from Wikipedia: “In Roman culture, Liber, Bacchus and Dionysus became virtually interchangeable equivalents. Bacchus was euhemerised as a wandering hero, conqueror and founder of cities.” In my opinion, the image below, taken in 1957 when Castro was celebrating his victory in Havana, expresses perfectly Castro’s Bacchus at his ascendant.

Fidel Castro survived more than 600 assassination attempts. Perhaps centaur planet 346889 Rhiphonos has something to do with his extraordinary survival ability. In his natal chart, Castro’s Saturn is in conjunction to his Rhiphonos, to the degree. His Sun is in exact square to the conjunction. In mythology, Dionysus’s mother was a mortal woman, and his father was Zeus. When Dionysus was an infant, Zeus set twelve centaurs to guard him against Hera’s anger. These centaurs drew the chariot of baby Dionysus. One of the Dionysian Centaurs was Rhiphonos.

Fidel Castro’s last public appearance was on April 19, 2016. He delivered a farewell speech. “Soon I will be 90 years old,” he said. “Soon I will be like all the rest. Everybody’s turn comes.” We don’t know if anything specific concerning his health had occurred then, because his health was a national security matter and kept secret. From the astrological point of view something notable had happened recently.

On March 9, 2016 there was a Total Solar Eclipse at 18+ degrees of Pisces in conjunction with Chiron. The eclipse fell on Fidel Castro’s Midheaven in Pisces. Midheaven, or the cusp of the tenth house represents not only our career, but in larger sense also our life purpose.

The eclipse was of Saros series 18 South. Each eclipse is a member of a particular eclipse series, and each series has a distinct characteristics. Astrologer Bernadette Brady has delineated the Saros series 18 South like this: “This family of eclipses is concerned with endings or separations. Thus when it affects a chart, individuals will find themselves dealing with a parting. This parting can be anything from a friend traveling overseas and the saying of goodbyes to the ending of a relationship with a loved one, which could bring much anguish or grief. However, the pain of the separation is lessened by encountering new situations which lead to very positive outcomes.”

At the time Fidel Castro died (Nov. 25, 2016), he was experiencing a transit of Pluto. The transiting Pluto at 15+ degrees of Capricorn was tightly opposing his natal first house Pluto in Cancer. Castro’s Pluto is conjunct his north lunar node. In fact the current transiting Jupiter-Pluto square was affecting not just his natal Pluto (power), but also his nodal axis (the past and the future). A powerful transformation was inevitable.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 29th, 2016 at 9:54 pm and is filed under New Moon. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.