Ghana’s 1st Coup
The Lunar eclipse of 8 December 1965 was one of the precursors to the Ghana Coup that replaced the Nkrumah regime with a military Junta, on 24 February 1966. In July of 1965, President Nkrumah dismissed Major General J.A. Ankrah, on suspicion of coup planning. The 9th House is the 12th House from the 10th (operations behind the scenes).
The eclipse occurred in the 9th House and the eclipsed Sun was less than 2 Degrees from the progressed Moon. The Progressed Moon ruled the 4th House of forces opposed to the ruling Convention People’s Party (CPP) and the president. Ankrah assumed leadership as the first military head of state in Ghana, while the tripwire of Ghana’s coup d’etat led with the progressed Ascendant, still in Aries, at 16 degrees and 19 minutes of arc. The transiting Moon passed over the progressed Ascendant by 30 minutes of arc. Both were at the same eclipse degree at 16 SA 25. At close to 0600, on 24 February 1966, the announcement of the takeover, by Colonial Kotoka, occurred: “Fellow citizens of Ghana, I have come to inform you that the Military, in co-operation with the Ghana Police, have taken over the government of Ghana today.”
The timing of the coup is poignant when considered from four angles:
. Transiting Moon ruled the 4th House (forces against the government status quo).
. Less than an hour before the coup, the transiting Moon squared natal and progressed Saturn (Constitutions) the 10th House ruler of the Executive Branch.
. Transiting Uranus and Pluto in the 6th House of the military opposed transiting the Mercury-Mars-Saturn conjunction in Pisces, in the 12th. Saturn rules the presidential 10th House and co-rules the 11th House.
. Solar arc Mars (military) ruler 1st House and co-ruler of the 8th, trined the prog. MC.
Transiting Neptune retrograde was backing into a semi-square to the MC, by one degree and 19 minutes at the time of the takeover. Neptune rules the 12th House of subversion and if related to the constitution, governs its dissolution. Considering the stealth involved (transiting Neptune in the 8th of presidential advisors, including generals) to dissolve the Nkrumah government while the president was away in Vietnam —this measurement, still in orb, from the intrigue-laden 8th House, is an additional confirmation related to the event.
Dodowa
—7 August 1826—
“In an open plain, some three miles south of Dodowa, a military division of Ashantis, under King Osai Yaw Okotu, The King’s drum was soon heard beating the advance, and at about half-past nine the Ashantis attacked from right to left.[1]Just three minutes earlier, the waning Moon had crossed into the region of Libra, the sign of war.
“Led by many kings, a queen, and numerous chiefs, the stage was set for warriors—for blood-spilling and spattering—as African muscles flexed and knives slashed and stuck, and muskets fired, during the comingling of designated enemies; weapons flashing and smoke billowing in the din, in the winds of Libra, bringing lively bodies, of fellow Africans: Ashante, Akra, Akwamu, Agona, and others, to their denouement on the slack grass and dirt, of the earth of Dodowa. Below is the Cancer Ingress for Katamanso 22 June 1826, 00:41:37 am.
22 June 1826 0041—
An astrologer living in the Gold Coast would have noted Thursday’s ingress of the Sun into Cancer, for 22 June 1826, at 0041:
Interplanetary Battles Fought on Earth
A profound African geo-political metamorphosis, conditioned by internecine rivalries and aggravated by British, Dutch, and Danish interest—was starkly illustrated through the layout of the sky over Dodowa, where Pluto’s position was 6 degrees above the Aries-dominated horizon.
The heat of impulsive Aries was on Dodowa’s Ascendant and Mars of war, its ruler, was tactically positioned late in the 7th House of war, on the hidden side of the 8th House of death. Mars and Pluto were frustratingly inconjunct or unable to blend their specific qualities. A chaos of elements! They were in mutual reception. Pluto was the 8th House ruler, in the 12th House of endings, near the hidden side of the 1st House.
There was time for mitigation, there was time for another play:
The Sun, ruler of kings and chiefs, was in Cancer, in the 3rd House of messages, and neighboring tribes. It ruled the 5th House of royalty and ambassadors (these were more like governors sent into the villages to insure the Crown’s interest). It was trine to Mars, in the 7th of foreign relations. Mars projected the potential narrative for the three-month cycle of the ingress.
The Sun also sextiled global Jupiter, ruler of the 9th House of foreign affairs, and just passed the cusp of the 6th of the armed forces. The Sun revealed foreign influence over affairs of the Protectorate, the coastal tribes. The Sun’s square to Pluto introduced an extreme determination by all of the leaders of the coastal tribes, British, Danish, and Dutch strategists, as well as the king of Asante, to push tensions to their limits.
Jupiter added its Inconjunct (lack of fusion) to Pluto and was sextiled by Mars. Jupiter was also past its aspect with Pluto, by 2 degrees and 50 minutes. The result! A Yod configuration with Pluto as the explosive vector, leading the chronicle of mass casualties, with Martian saber rattling, as a trigger. Jupiter on the cusp of the 6th House (armed forces) ruling the 9th House of international law.
The allied tribes to the south were Protectorates of the British and submitted themselves to their Jurisprudence. And the 12th House of subversion, also ruled by Jupiter (foreigners), represented about 60 Marines and the British officers that led the African militias. Remember the 6th House Jupiter? It shows the importation of foreign troops on African soil joined to the local militia, mainly to train up their subjects.
The Asante were for the most part successful in securing coastal forts, and demanding ground rent by the European traders, their private concerns as well as the British government, that was originally paid to other tribes, save for when those tribal heads were brought under Asante power. Now, a powerful stand, ordered by men in smoke filled rooms in London, the home government, had to be made to compel control by cooperation, by sending embassies to Kumase to negotiate and sign Treaties or by force. This mirrored early growing domination by members of five Oyoko clan states, which became Asante power in most of the Gold Coast, north of the Pra. Asanti, as far back as the mid 1660’s used “cunning diplomacy, intermarriage and war,” to bring many petty states under one umbrella.
To add a little more background, the summoning of the Golden Stool from the sky “in a black cloud and amidst rumblings” relates to symbolism that unites Neptune of spiritual unity and Aquarius of brotherly solidarity. The Golden Stool is a mystic representation of the powers of the Sun, which rules the heavens and all the planets in our system. So, a spiritual concept united several city-states, with their clans, into one huge family, while Pluto was in Cancer. Also, the dissatisfaction with the Denkyira, who ruled the land before the Asante, gave the union states another reason to align themselves with Asante king, Osei Tutu, (who tradition says was a shield-bearer in the court of Denkyira).
Neptune’s position near the 10th House cusp, reveals a subterfuge. There are layers behind this signal conflict that opened the way to increased European control over the Gold Coast. There were soldiers on the battle line who saw not their real commander, who existed beyond the commissioned and non-commissioned officers on West African soil. The chemistry of the luminaries tensed with new energies were forging regional matters (the antagonism of warring factions) in alignment with their natures (i.e. Moon/Uranus opposed Venus and Mars Inconjunct Pluto) into resolution.
The principle of temperance was required here. The smelting of primal emotions (Cancer Ingress) into their highest expression of harmony. The souls catapulted out of their bodies, in the thousands, would be a major adjustment to absorb. Death, destruction, renewal, were prophesied 15 days, before kettle-shaped war-drums from both sides were beating; before horns were blowing, and war-cries seared the air, giving more fuel to the burning ground of Aries. The Moon passed the conjunction with Uranus, ruler of new technologies that would be used against the people of the land (Moon rules the 4th House.
Then it passed the Inconjunct with Saturn, ruler of the 10th House. This illustrates the incompatible Ashanti dominance with the allied opposition. Then the Inconjunct with Mercury, ruler of the 3rd and the 6th House, which pointed to a failure to communicate and probable misinformation. Even with all of the preceding sinister aspects and the Void of-Course Moon, still the Aries Ascendant pointed to aggressive action, impulsive and impetuous posturing, not war, yet.
There are no fixtures in nature. The universe is fluid and volatile…said the Transcendentalist. There was still 15 days (the tempering of time) for something to change. That heavenly script prognostication was still a transparent law, a mist, and not yet a crystallization of facts.
This Ingress had the same signs on the horizon/midheven axes, for Kumasi and Accra. Except that in Kumasi, Pluto was closer to the horizon, about 4 degrees, so as the Ashanti marched away from their capital toward the coast, the Ascendant degree increased, thus causing Pluto to precess more into the 12th House.
The battle surged in earnest within the astral plane, for if we turn the chart so the 12th house becomes the 1st, what is seen is the insistence of Pluto in Aries, within the unconscious of the region. This was truly a war being fought at inner levels before it became physical. And as Pisces was on the 12th House cusp, now brought to the turned Ascendant, this illustrated the beginning (Ascendant) of the end (Pisces).
The Cancer Ingress also coincides with the advance (Aries) of the Ashanti forces of more than 10,000, for, they were the aggressor nation. The Moon-Venus opposition, with the Moon ruling the 4th House and Venus the 7th gives notice of the conflict between designated enemies, like the Akras, who were once friends (7th House) of the Ashanti, fighting with large families (tribes), over a plot of land and plunder and the restoring of loyalty by force. (4th House).
All of these streams pour into the same sea of war. Fatalities are indicated by the Sun close to the degree of the nodes. The 3rd House represents neighboring countries and both the Sun, ruler of kings and Saturn, ruler of the 10th House of government leaders are in the 3rd. They both testify to the head of a great empire going forth from his country, across the border (Pra River) into the region of the tribes to the south. This one ingress is full of insights when examined in the context of history.
“Is this cast of combatants reminiscent of the War of the Nine Kings as recorded in Genesis 14:1-17, in the Vale of Siddim? The results of this clash of colossal scope eventually led to the drastic alteration of organization in Ashanti government—a bastion of political, commercial, and military power, throughout the Gold Coast, since the mid-1600’s.
The Asantehene (king of Ashanti) smarting over a defeat less than two years before, decided, after consultation, to march toward the coast once again. This began, according to most histories, a few days after 1 January 1826. The timing of this was revelatory, as that date, which offers insight for the year, has Libra on the local horizon of Kumasi, with Aries to the west, Cancer north and Capricorn south.
This simple division of power signs on the four quarters of space was a duplication of the Winter Ingress chart for Kumasi the capital, calculated for 22 December 1825. All three charts, which includes the one for the present battle, all had Libra Rising in the east.
[1] W. Walton Claridge, A History of the Gold coast and the Ashanti, Vol I, (John Murray, Albemarle Street, W, London, 1915, page 386.)