The nation of Lebanon, and indeed the entire world, experienced a major shockwave on August 4th when a gigantic explosion destroyed much of the city of Beirut. Although investigation and recovery are still a long way from being complete, it would appear that the explosion was the result of an industrial accident involving stored supplies of ammonium nitrate at the docks.
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Ammonium nitrate can also make a pretty good bomb if you know what you’re doing with it, or are careless. As an example: the Oklahoma City bombing involved a rented truck with 2 tons of ammonium nitrate in it, as tons are measured in the United States. The explosion in Beirut, by comparison, involved almost fifteen hundred times as much ammonium nitrate.
As is always the case with a sudden violent event, like a mass shooting or rioting, there are major transits involved. Usually Mars acts as the trigger, and the local Ascendant and/or Midheaven play a final role in triggering the whole thing. In the case of the Beirut explosion, transiting Mars was precisely square transiting Jupiter. That, in and of itself, wouldn’t normally lead an astrologer to say “hey there’s going to be a big explosion in Beirut tomorrow.” Certainly though, in both the literal and figurative senses, this can be an explosive transit.
There are two important lessons in this for astrologers attempting to make predictions, either for individuals, organizations, or places.
The first one is readily apparent in the chart for the explosion. Not only is transiting Mars exactly square Jupiter, at the time of the explosion Jupiter was closely conjunct the Ascendant. In other words, Jupiter was rising. Second: the Midheaven, which can represent the purpose of a mundane event, is in Scorpio. Scorpio is traditionally ruled by Mars, and (to add a dash of the unusual), transiting Uranus was opposite that point.
The second lesson in this when it comes to making predictions? In order to make highly specific predictions, one needs to know more details about the person, place, or thing one is making predictions about. And let’s be honest here: was there an astrologer anywhere who was aware that there had been concerns about ammonia nitrate storage near the dock in Beirut for years now?
Remember this when you’re seeing potentially difficult transits for someone or something in your life. There’s always a chance to head off disaster if you are aware of the circumstances that could lead to disaster.
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