A Taste of Ghana’s Astrology

Excerps from Raphael’s Forthcoming Book

360 Astrologiocal Facts of Africa 

The New Republic of Ghana

14. A Taste of Ghana’s Astrology. It is indeed symbolically important to note that the Meridian of Longitude for London and Accra is a common 0 degrees, west of Greenwich, England. These two capitals share the same degree of longitude on great circles that surrounds Earth, which is at the beginning of Aries. When considering the Ashanti Wars, especially against the Fante Federation, on the southern coast, the Aries theme may provide a key as to why various Ashantehene had to establish direct trade with Europeans. With the Ashanti being located inland and the Fante on the coast, and blocking access to the trading Forts, built by Dutch, English, Danish, and Portuguese trading concerns, there was a real urgency to aggressively insist (Aries) access to those coastal areas for economic expansion.

At Ghana’s independence, there was an acceleration of industrialization for a similar outcome: trade, even though gaining access to the coast wasn’t an issue of war with another people, because. Ghana was now one nation. What was needed was a means of refining the raw materials of trade into usable commodities, like aluminum and timber, cut into various widths and lengths, and automobile tires instead of latex sap, to name a few. This refining of raw materials for export drove Ghana’s Prime Minister, who became President of Ghana, to invest so much capital in machines and roadways to get those products out of the country.

Here we can feel the Aries connection, as it is the first of the tropical astrological signs. The headline from page seven of the Nevada State Journal read: Ties to Britain Severed by Ghana. This cord was politically cut at midnight, 1 July 1960, according to the paper. The new constitution of the Republic of Ghana, the Queen of England ceased to be titular head-of-state, and Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was now the president of Ghana.

At midnight the Ghanaian Ascendant was in enterprising Aries, whose ruling planet, Mars, resonated with all levels of law enforcement. Even though the local MC at the time was Capricorn, which is associated with the theme of the State, Ghana’s geodetic sign was still Aries—the sign-behind-the-sign. What was present was a double dose of the enterprising force of Aries, combined with an executive force (Capricorn energy) bent on managing the direction of the ship-of-state.

Less than six years later, on Thursday, 24 February 1966, the Moon was coming up toward Ghana’s horizon. The Moon was in Aries. Police and senior army officers, who would later form the National Liberation Council (NLC) were getting ready to strike a “blow against the state”, a coup d’etat. Sunrise in Accra was at 0614. It was the first of six coups that Ghana would experience.

Ghana was the first completely sub-Saharan country to emerge from colonialism

15. It has been argued that South Africa achieved independence much earlier and therefore Ghana wasn’t the first. Yet, when South Africa became independent, it was from the United Kingdom (May 31, 1961, at 00:00:00) it was not for the majority of indigenous South Africans, in the total sense, of running their own country, it was for the dominant group that appeared to control the destiny of the majority. Though technically, South Africa did achieve independence from a European power, the ruling class were also Europeans.

When considering the question of independence, then, some definitions can be sited first, to deflect misunderstandings. It was when Nelson Mandela took the oath of office, on May 10, 1994, at 12:20 pm that black South Africans now had more of a say in the direction of their home country. In this context, it was one of the last countries to gain independence.  Right now, South Sudan holds that rank. Sudan is partially in sub-Saharan Africa. It is also classified as a sub-region of North Africa, located in northeastern Africa and sometimes an east African country. It is a member of the Arab League and is a geographic part of east Africa. This multiplies Sudan’s extraordinarily interesting connection with several regions in Africa: northern, southern, and eastern.

As an independent African nation, Sudan achieved independence from Britain, on January 1, 1956, at 09:00 am, and in the same year, 1956, as Morocco and Tunisia.

The Bond of 1844 Revisited

16. An agreement (the Bond) between the British and Fante chiefs, formed a baseline for future astronomic measurements of the Gold Coast, which was renamed Ghana on 6 March 1957. The Fante lived near the Gulf of Guinea, of the Atlantic Ocean. The Ashanti, an Akan people like the Fante, lived north of the gulf and further inland. If Ghana’s geography is depicted as a clockface, then the Fante were closer to its edge at 6 o’clock, and the Ashanti closer to its center. These people were in polarity with one another, when The Bond was established between the Fante and the British, on Wednesday, 6 March 1844.

The planet Saturn signified (an agreement or arrangement) …to justify the exercise of power by the British governor[1]… (Governor is another reference to Saturn.)

Saturn, by the way, was at 3 AQ 21. Jupiter was at 11 PI 40. These measurements are important points whose significance will be shown later.

According to Ghanaian politician Joseph Kwame Kyeretwie Boakye Danquah (J.B. Danqua), independence for the Gold Coast was also the “liberation of the chiefs and people of the Gold Coast from the legal effect of the Bond of 1844.”[2] The contract between the Fante Chiefs and Britain was made null and void at the midnight hour when Ghana came-into being. When the Gold Coast became Ghana at independence transiting Uranus opposed the place that Saturn occupied when the Bond went into effect. The Bond was a written agreement that brought the Fante Chiefs under better control and their relations with the government more clearly defined.[3]

The Bond’s Saturn Return

17. Twenty-nine years and a month later, after the Bond was enacted—transiting Saturn completed its circuit of the Sun and returned to natal Saturn, at 3 AQ 29, on Sunday 11 January 1874.

The Saturn Return inaugurated new releases of revolutionary (Aquarius) power, for the Ashanti. As a conjunction, transiting Saturn to natal Saturn was a focal point, corresponding to an adjustment to the Bond, not in writing. This adjustment brought the Gold Coast under more British control. British troops were already headed to Kumasi since December of 1873. The third Ashanti War ended not long afterwards.

18. By Friday, 6 February 1874, transiting Saturn was at 6 AQ 36, just 40 minutes of arc past the Bond’s progressed Saturn, at 5 AQ 56. At a quarter-past 8 o’clock[4], on the 6^th—five days from the exact Saturn Return—the Ashanti capital of Kumasi was set on fire, including the royal palace headquarters of King Kofi Kakari (spelled Karikari by Claridge). According to Henry Brackenbury, Engineer labourers[5] (sic)…applied their torches from the north edge of the town and down to the south. Transiting Saturn applied to an opposition with transiting r/Uranus (explosives) in Leo. There was a 1 degree and 31-minute orb of separation.

At the time cited in the previous paragraph the order was given for the palace to be blown up (Uranus). By 0900 Kumasi was a …heap of smoldering ruins[6].

Saturn, One of the Lords of Karma

When Saturn returned to its exact degree it brought together through the law of cycles, these two points (peoples) in polarity, suspended between the 29.5-to 30-year cycle of Saturn. From great warships, British soldiers disembarked and landed on the coast, to move inland for the express purpose of confronting the Ashanti; to …show the power of the British to punish. The Bond was ostensibly a diagnostic touchstone in which to measure this.

Had an astrologer been on hand before the first boats landed in December of 1873, the Ashanti would have been advised of the eventual third challenge to their way of life.

The Attack at Amoafa

19. On Sunday, 21 December 1873 at 5:52 pm, Kumasi’s Capricorn Ingress occurred in the 7^th House. In light of historical events the chart portended war. The Ingress Sun, representing a force of 2,217 European and African troops, was organized efficiently (Capricorn) under General Wolseley.

The Ingress was keyed to the coordinates of Kumasi. Another testimony to a war was Antares’ conjunction with Mercury in the 6^th House (military). Mercury ruled the Gemini Ascendant. Gemini relates to war because of its reference to duality or the pull of the opposites. Yet Gemini also holds the ideal of synthesis between the opposites. Antares is associated with war, yet its higher manifestations are related to the initiation into a higher domain of consciousness.

The Capricorn Sun inside the war house (the 7^th) squared the 4^th House Jupiter in Libra. Both were at zero longitude, a critical degree, which is also known as the Aries Point. The Ashanti outnumbered the whole European force, composed of 1,509 men, plus 708 Africans. Jupiter in Libra in the 4^th House represented a huge (Jupiter) army ready for military engagement (Libra) to defend the Ashanti capital (Kumasi) The Sun-Jupiter square aspect showed tensed currents of conflict between the people of the land (4^th) and their conflict with foreign powers (7^th).

Another indicator of the ensuing war was Jupiter’s rulership of the 7^th House of open enemies and the Sun’s 3^rd House rulership of neighborhood traffic, keyed to a military force marching along a main road towards Amoafo. By the end of 1873 all the preparations for the invasion of Ashanti had been completed, and with the New Year the second portion of the campaign was entered upon.[7]

African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTRA) 20.

At zero hour, 21 January 2021, in Accra Ghana, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTRA) was automatically implemented. Though the launch was official on New Years Day, it was considered to be “largely symbolic” but for the start time that released powerful energies into the psychological field of Africa, the launch is imprinted in the ethers. The free trade area Secretariat is in Accra, Ghana, so the chart uses its coordinates. The sidereal chart for the launch shows Virgo on the Ascendant. The trading of goods and services is an immediate objective of this entity and Virgo symbolism is apt. Gemini (trade) on the Midheaven further clarifies its nature and continent-wide and world reputation. The clincher for the projected scope of the free trade area is presented by Mercury’s position in the 4^th House of all African land. Sagittarius rules the 4^th denoting the expansive influence of the new entity, throughout Africa, while Mercury in Sagittarius sextiles Neptune in the 6^th House of services and continental food supply. The goal of a single market for 1.2 Billion Africans is keyed to Mercury and Neptune. The event lends itself to computation in several domains.  Ghana’s president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said that …an increase in trade is the surest way to develop fruitful relations between African countries. The tropical Libran Ascendant (the AfCFTRA itself] points to fruitful relations and partnerships, while its ruler Venus in the 3^rd of trade resides in Sagittarius. Sagittarius denotes the idealized continent-wide scope of the free trade area. It is the international sign. The symbolism is apt from the start.

African Free Trade and the Chemistry of the Luminaries

21. The AfCFTA Midheaven is 2 CAN 2 and the African Union’s Midheaven 12 CAN 3 at the 11:20 am ceremonial launch 9 July 2002 in Durban, South Africa. Both organizations were born during the beginning of a month starting with the letter J: 9 July for the AU, and 1 January for the AfCFTA. This letter corresponds to the number 1. Both of these are the huge first for Africa. The important seat-of-authority sector (10^th House) for both organizations has Cancer as the ruling sign. So, the MC of each movement reinforces the other, laying the lively stones of cooperation, which “…lies at the foundation of evolution.”

Right now, Africa has two immense continental movements, like sails on a massive vessel, that are leading the Motherland’s people. May holy angels from the domain of Cancer, whose specialty is cosmic balance, be positioned near the helms to work with the AU and the AfCFTA leadership bodies. Heliocentric Chart for Launch of AfCFTRA 22. The chart presents five planets in the 4^th quadrant. In the Sun at the Center, A Primer on Heliocentric Astrology, Philip Sedgwick wrote that the 4^th quadrant carries a …tonal quality of application of space[8]. This quadrant references a more universal way of being and doing. Applied to African space, here is group integration, through trade, encompassing the whole of Africa. The heliocentric chart as well as the tropical and sidereal ones, mirror the focus of the AfCTRA as a collective African one.

[1] J.B. Danquah, The Historical Significance of the Bond of 1844, (Historical Society of Ghana, Vol. 3, No. 1 1957, page 1).

[2] Ibid.

[3] Danquah (n4) 2.

[4] Henry Brackenbury, The Ashanti War, A Narrative, Vol. II, (Frank Cass & Co. LTD. London, 1968, page 243).

[5] ibid

[6] Ibid.

[7] W. Walton Claridge, A History of the Gold coast and the Ashanti, Vol II, (John Murray, Albemarle Street, W, London, 1915, page 100.)

[8] Philip Sedgwick, The Sun at the Center, A Primer on Heliocentric Astrology, (Phillip Sedgwick, 1990, 2005, page 71).