Since the ANC’s leadership elections in December 2017, where Cyril Ramaphosa, seemingly against the odds, managed to emerge as the victor, there has been much speculation about how long Jacob Zuma had as SA president before he was forced to step down.
According to party insiders, that moment has been imminent since the lunar eclipse of January 2018, with some predicting that he would be gone before February was out…
Recently, rumours have begun to surface that his career could well come to an abrupt end much sooner than anyone thought, so I thought I had better have a look at his chart for signs of what might be about to happen.
Above is his untimed chart, set for noon on the day of his birth onto which I have added today’s transits. At first glance, this doesn’t look too significant – other than a square between transiting Mars in Sagittarius to Zuma’s natal Venus in the 8th house, and an opposition by transiting Saturn in Capricorn across his AS-DS axis, there is very little that looks challenging.
Of course, neither of these transits is a piece of cake, and should not be dismissed out of hand. Firstly, Saturn in Capricorn is a very hard taskmaster, leaving no room for error or clemency. This is the Lord of Karma, par excellence and Saturn’s presence on Zuma’s Descendant (which Saturn also happens to rule) suggests that he may well be facing pressure from other people, patriarchal figures in particular, as well as personal or political enemies, to take responsibility for past actions.
Mars, too, is no picnic. Firstly, Mars rules Zuma’s Midheaven (assuming he was born close to noon) and is making a tense aspect to his natal Venus, which happens to form a loose conjunction with the south node and the Moon, which is his chart ruler. Now, the south node in evolutionary astrology is ssociated with areas where we may get too comfortable, stuck or slip up. Venus also rules his 11th house of group associations (again this is dependant on time of birth, but for argument’s sake) and is in the 8th house of sex, death, scandals and wait for it, other people’s money, which you could interpret as someone who has been ousted from his party or condemned by his political comrades for having his fingers in the till.
So far, so interesting.
But now, just look at what happens when we add on the Arabic Parts and fixed stars…
Siuddenly we have a number of very significant aspects and placements. Firstly, look at the fixed star, Fomalhaut, which is conjunct that natal Venus (and so also square to Mars). As I explained in my blog post about Hillary Clinton, this star is one of the former Royal Stars of Persia and is very much associated with the nemesis or downfall. In fact, according to Bernadette Brady, hubris is a particular nemesis of this fixed star, as is the notion of ‘selling your soul to the Devil’ – and let’s face it, Zuma has well and truly sold his soul to the Gupta family, which some might say is the next best (or worst) thing.
So here, we have the star associated with falls from grace conjunct his Venus-south node-Moon stellium. On top of that, transiting Venus in Aquarius and Uranus on Aries are about to make a sextile to each other (which reaches exactitude in the early hours of Wed morning). Ordinarily, one would dismiss as a positive transit and so not harmful, but we know that unpredictable Uranus, which was discovered during the French Revolution, has a tendency to disrupt, cause chaos and throw a few curveballs every now and again. Now, Uranus is placed right on Zuma’s Midheaven and is conjunct his Part of Profession, signalling his position in the public domain as well as his career aspirations. With Uranus positioned here, and connected to this congregation of natal and transiting Venus + south node + Fomalhaut, in Zuma’s 8th house, we could well be looking at a very humiliating fall from grace and the end of his time in public office very soon.
In addition, look at what is rising – the Part of Imprisonment – a fate that many feel is well and truly overdue, considering the litany of accusations against him and the many court cases pending…
It is also fascinating to see where the four Royal Stars of Persia, which form a grand cross in the sky, fall – in Zuma’s 2nd (money/property), 5th (lovers, children, gambling, pleasure), 8th (sex, scandals, tax, shared resources) and 11th (group membership) houses. Hmmm…need one say more…
Finally, notice the transiting Part of Enemies, which is creeping up to Zuma’s Sun-Mercury conjunction in impetuous and willful Aries in the 9th house of social justice, ethics and beliefs. It also seems to suggest that weight of legal evidence against him is mounting and that his friends can no longer support him given the turn in the tid eof moral sentiment.
Add to that the presence of Pluto, second Lord of Karma and the fury of retribution, in Zuma’s 7th house, and it isn’t looking good for him. I would pretty say that the co-called cat with nine lives has run out of chances… his number is very much up, by the looks of things.
Given that in horary astrology, it is the Moon which is the catalyst that brings things to culmination, and givne that Cancer is the sign rising on Zuma’s Ascendant, I thought it worth a quick peek at last week’s lunar eclipse in Leo, the sign associated with leadership, to see if it can yield any further nuggest for us on Zuma’s fate…
In the interests of clarity, I have switched off all aspects except for those made by the Sun and Moon. Note the Sun’s position close to Venus in Aquarius and the south node straddlign the 7th and 8th houses, seeming to mirror his natal Venus-south node conjunction and hinting at the Sun’s potential to shine its light on a possible impending scandal. Note also the opposition to the Moon, which is hovering just next to Zuma’s natal Pluto-Chiron conjunction in Leo (suggesting that he is about to become very vulnerable and perhaps even to be exposed to the wrath of the public who have been baying for his blood since at least 2016…)
Note too, the square between Zuma’s natal Sun-Mercury conjunction + Part of Profession with Pluto and Mercury in stern and disapproving Capricorn in the 7th house of open enemies.
Interestingly, the only positive contacts in this chart come from the nodes, which may hint at a ‘get out of jail free’ card that fate hasn’t yet revealed to us. This irony woudl verymuch be in keeping with his track record thus far – no doubt he has enough dirt on certain cronies to buy him some vestige of loyalty amongst his quickly fading cadre of former cronies… Although, as we know, by the time Julius Caesar was murdered, he too, was a little surprised at who ended up stabbing him in the back – hence my blog title…
Strangely, if we consider that Zumas has Cancer rising, which is ruled by the Moon, the fact that his political demise might be symbolised by a lunar eclipse (which, incidentally marks the end of an 18 year Saros cycle for the is rather ironic. The Babylonians didn’t like lunar eclipses because the Moon would turn blood red, which they saw as a bad omen for their king, so they would often hide him away and put a substitute on the throne at these inauspicious times. Perhaps Zuma should have taken a leaf out of their book?
At any rate, on a more positive note, it is also worth noting the positions of the fixed star, Regulus, in all of these charts because this star is set to come to prominence later this month on February the 28th when the Leo Moon makes a conjunction to it. Occurring almost exactly one lunar cycle after the lunar eclipse (the effect of eclipses can sometimes take a month to manifest), it may well be a key date to watch, as I sai in my post about Cyril Ramaphosa. Not only could it signal some sort of dethroning/ending, but it could also potentially signify a culmination or celebration of sorts – perhaps the ‘coronation’ of a successor.
Watch this space!…
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