Honduras is not a country that has been much in the news, but in June of this year president Manuel Zelaya, who had attempted to rewrite the constitution of that country to permit a president to serve two terms, was ousted by a military coup ordered by the Honduran Supreme Court. Zelaya re-entered the country illegally last week and demanded reinstatement and the fall of the replacement government. The government reacted by suspending civil liberties and instituting martial law in many places in the country just as Saturn opposed Uranus exactly.
My bible for national charts is Moon Moore’s Book of World Horoscopes, but written back in the 1960s it lacks the benefit of knowledge of more recent history. Moon used the date that Honduras seceded from the Central American Federation as the date for the national chart of Honduras, but the military ruled the country for many years until 1979 when the country returned to civilian rule (source: WIkipedia). A new constitution was approved in 1982. Still, the new constitution did not particularly change or alter the country in any way so I am going to go with Moon’s original date of November 5, 1838.
That chart reflects very well the nature of the Honduran government, which like many Latin American countries has bounced back and forth between civilian and military rule The Sun in this chart is in Scorpio, the planet of power and drama. Scorpio is not very concerned with democracy or the will of the people – there is an intense desire and passion with Scorpio that holds on to power with an iron grip. The Sun conjoins Mercury, planet of communication and movement, signifying that despite the fixed nature of the Scorpio Sun, the national identity (Sun) is changeable or Mercurial (Mercury). The national identity is further stressed by a square from Neptune, planet of illusion and confusion, making it difficult for this country to settle on a role that suits it for any length of time.
The Mercurial nature of the country is reflected in the unaspected Gemini Moon, since Gemini is ruled by Mercury. The Moon in a national chart describes the common people and the public mood, and in Honduras they are not afraid to make changes where changes are needed.
Mars (aggression) in the chart is opposed by Uranus (revolution), so we would be surprised not to see a continual erosion of the power structures (Scorpio Sun) by rebellion and radical changes. However, Saturn (restriction and oppression) forms a square to both planets, reflecting the power (Scorpio Sun) of the military (Mars) to squash any such rebellion (Uranus).
Over the past few months transits to the Moon in the Honduras chart revealed that change was coming (Uranus square to the Moon) but that this change, though potentially uncomfortable, would ultimately facilitate healing for the nation (Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune trine Moon). But now that Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune have moved away there is just the square of Uranus and Saturn to the Moon, and martial law has been declared to quelch (Saturn) the rebellion (Uranus) that has resulted from the militarized society.
Transiting Pluto is in a tight square to the nodes of the Moon in the chart – the evolutionary path of the country, an indicator that the current events will have an ultimately transformative (Pluto) effect that will have the power to create lasting change.