10:44am // unedited
It’s a full moon in Aquarius today. It was fullest maybe 2 hours ago? After 8. I think this is the first full moon in a while that caught me off guard. I hadn’t spent much time keeping up with the phases of the moon this month, even though I paid attention to its transits. I remember scrolling twitter yesterday and seeing an astrologer say something about a full moon happening soon and that gave me quite the jolt. I love full moons.
This full moon in Aquarius takes place in my 5H. But it’s coming at a time when many other transits are happening, and interacting with my natal planet energies. We’re in the middle of multiple Retrogrades, a Mars-Saturn opposition, and a Venus-Jupiter conjunction. Many energies are swirling about. I saw tweets yesterday lamenting the transits and talking about how tough it’s been for everyone and felt a little surprise since I’m been having such a wonderful time. I know transits manifest beneficently or maleficently based on a person’s natal relationship to the planets, but this was the first time I noticed a difference between my experience and the general consensus, in such a big way. It not only feels like I’m having a good week, it feels like I’m having the best week of my life. There have been things that haven’t gone as smoothly as I would have liked and yet the actual feel of the week hasn’t changed much for me. I’m doing pretty good. But in Ghana, some unexpected and significant things happened earlier this week, during the Mars-Saturn opposition. On Wednesday, the country’s defense minister died in a military helicopter crash, along with the environment minister, and some other political figures. it’s pretty sad. quite the tragedy, this doesn’t happen often in Ghana — we’re not usually a site for helicopter crash. Another death was announced on Sunday, the death of the Asantehema — the king maker of the asante people. before ghana was a country, they were the largest political force in the land, and still play a huge role in our political scene. her death was announced sunday but it is known she died within the week, just like the ministers. for traditional reasons, the asantes announce deaths in the royal family days after it occurs. But how interesting for the person who holds the role of kingmaker to pass on during a transit like this. Mars which represents military power and defense in a country, opposed Saturn, the indicator for govt, structure and leadership. I’ve spent time thinking on this, on it’s significations, and what might erupt behind the scenes as a result — as much as I can delineate from the astrological chart of the moment. Moon was in Capricorn, and in its last stages before fullness, the chart’s ascendant was Libra. The placements all gave me pause — I tried to figure out which natal chart to compare the transit with. Ghana’s independence day? republic day? the sitting presidents inauguration day? since this happened within his cabinet. Or the day the defense minister was appointed? I thought about all these things, trying to figure out which angle would be the best. There was a lot of mourning and grief both with govt and citizens. This was a significantly heavy moment and incident, with national and possibly global implications. I felt it was important to understand the map of the cosmos behind the incidents.
I think this is how I will learn a lot. My interest in the astrology of moments, makes me research these moments. My feminism, political understanding and my emotional journey all interact together with my astrology during my research.
I found out while researching that the ones who died were very beloved by those who knew them at least. People sang their praises over and over again in different ways. It was very unlike the usual atmosphere around the death of politicians. From what I could put together, If politicians could be ranked from most corrupt to least corrupt, in an already corrupt government, these ones were the least corrupt. the ones who died. this got me really thinking, about state power and how it somehow relieves itself of ones that would seek to redeem it. I wonder if it’s cause it can’t be redeemed, only done away with. With this sense of loss permeating their words and condolences, the air became heavy with grief. It didn’t matter much how you personally felt about it, there was notable grief in the air. I also found it significant that the defense minister’s death, while heavily shocking did not seem to take up all the space of the grief. this stands out given the wieght thats ascribed to its position usually. the death of the environment minister who was also the MP for Tamale central was lamented just as much, if not more. There were undertones there though, so that might be why it seemed he received so much expression. for example, many of the comments I read placed quite an emphasis on his practice of his religion and faith as a muslim person. I separate religion and faith as a gesture of goodwill. but due to the nature of faith, and how it acts as a chosen container for one’s soul, people felt very strongly about how righteous his faith had been while he lived. they sent prayers and affirmed his deserved rewards in the afterlife. it could be that this fervor is what made me perceive he was being mourned very significantly. I thought about the last time a politician died and everyone was this sad. I thought about atta mills, about the current rule of the neocolonial state — and started to wonder about ghana’s role in the global regime. what does neocolonialism need ghana for? what exactly is being extracted here? what does the death of a defense minister mean for a country that is was unintentionally weak in defense. i thought about hat the death of an environment minister could mean within a rule that does not really mean to develop ghana’s environment, science or technology. I mourn for a different reason. I mourn for all the people with good hearts who wrestle throughout their lives to make a difference in the ways they feel they can. I’m deeply saddened that any good will could even be found in the deep death institution of the neocolonial state. what would one experience within its walls and halls while trying to save it? death permeates my thoughts.
“looking for something to replace whatever be the case”