Algeria Astrology Piece
In Algeria’s Astrology Piece, Mercury retrograde’s role in Biskra, it is useful to consider in 2024 the events in Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and probably Senegal. The idea of Francophone African States is dissolving, as all imperfect ideas do.
The following is excerpted from page 132 of my book
Celestial Configurations of Africa and the Caribbean
“In Biskra it was All Saints Day on Monday morning, 1 November 1954. In Algeria’s astrology piece, Mercury was retrograde at the time. A series of miscalculations in timing led to a number of blunders for the so called Algerian rebels. With orders from the CRUA, the rebels assailed a police station. They left two dead and a wounded commissioner of police.
Chart of Attack in Biskra
“This happened at 2:30 am in the old garrison town of Biskra near the Aurés Mountains on the brink of the Algerian Sahara. Detailed orders were given by Ben Boulaid that no shots were to be fired before 3:00 am. The 2:30 am attack (a half-hour early) was the first mistake that alerted the French of the general uprising.
“Responding to the attack, Premier Pierre Mendes of France addressed the French National Assembly saying:
“One does not compromise when it comes to defending the internal peace of the nation, the unity and integrity of the Republic. The Algerian departments are part of the French Republic…they are irrevocably French…there can be no conceivable secession.”
“CRUA was created by Ahmed Ben Bella (future Algerian head-of-state) and had nine leaders. It organized a network of six military regions in Algeria, and gained support from foreign countries in order to acquire the equipment to carry out the group’s mission: amassing arms, supplies and funds. The National Liberation Front (FLN) attacked military installations, police post, communications facilities, public utilities and warehouses.
“The first priority of the CRUA was to server communications between military installations near Aurés and the rest of Algeria. In October of the same year, CRUA evolved into
the Front de Libération Nationale—FLN. The Aurés mountains area was to be the focal point of operations for the beginning of the war for independence.
“Algeria’s astrology has Virgo was rising, and retrograde Mercury in Scorpio was in the Second House, square Mars in the Fifth House. The symbolism supports the plan, that is, to sever or cut off (Mars) communications (Mercury). Virgo requires all the parts of the whole to be well coordinated. It was essential to be precise but the mission didn’t go off as planned. Mercury, the ruler of the operation, was not only retrograde, but combust the Sun. Venus, ruler of the Second House, was also retrograde.
Algeria’s Natal Chart
“Similar problems of precision and coherence were present during Algeria’s independence on Tuesday, 3 July 1962. Virgo was rising at 10:30 am. The Ascendant and Midheaven were 1° from exact compared with the Biskra chart. Ben Bella, Algeria’s first president, would soon be removed from office. The war for independence became the Battle of Algiers on Sunday, 30 September 1956. At independence, Pluto was 2° from Algeria’s Virgo Ascendant and square the Gemini Midheaven.
“Disagreements about the details of leadership and the governing political structures were many. In his book, Modern Algeria, Charles-Robert Ageron wrote, “Algeria came to independence in the midst of division, narrowly avoiding civil war.” Saturn was square Neptune, quincunx the Ascendant, and received a quincunx from the Sun.
“The leadership and the form of government were uncertain and stressful. When his Minister of Defense, Colonel Houari Boumediene, deposed Ben Bella on Saturday, 19 June 1965,86 transiting Uranus, ruler of the military Sixth House, was 1º over the Ascendant, square the progressed Midheaven.
The progressed Moon in the Twelfth House was at the midpoint between progressed Uranus and progressed Pluto. The front pages of three newspapers recorded the time of Algeria’s independence from France, at 10:30 am, on Tuesday, 3 July 1962; they are the Portsmouth Times, the Ogden Standard-Examiner, and the Alton Evening Telegraph.
“General Charles de Gaulle proclaimed Algeria’s independence in Paris following a special cabinet meeting. In part, de Gaulle said, “The president of the French republic declares that France solemnly recognizes the independence of Algeria.” Algiers, the capital is 386 miles (631 kilometers) west of Tunis. The sidereal Ascendants for both these capitals, Paris and Algiers, are… For the rest of the story, please see Celestial Configurations of Africa and the Caribbean