Algol and the Nuclear Bombing of Japan

The year 1945 will always be remembered as the first time a nuclear weapon was used during a military conflict, and hopefully the last. Hiroshima was bombed on August 6th, followed by Nagasaki on August 9th, with an estimated loss of life of around 320000 people. World politics changed drastically thereafter. The resulting terror of “mutually assured destruction” was followed by decades of cold war with Russia.

While much work has been published about the astrology at the time of the actual explosions, very little work has been done on the connections to the fixed stars and the ingress charts preceding these events.

The 1945 sidereal Aries ingress chart on April 14 has Virgo on the ascendant, a mutable sign, indicating that a new ingress chart is required for each cardinal sign. Hence, according to classical teaching, it does not cover this event. Nevertheless it shows Saturn close the MC in square to the ASC, consistent with the war time difficulties Japan was experiencing at that period.

The Cancer ingress occurred on July 17, three weeks prior to the explosions. The chart is very foreboding. It shows Mars at the MC, in close conjunction with the fixed star Algol and almost exact square to the Ascendant – a very explosive combination. The first degree of Leo, a fire sign, is rising. The Sun, ruler of the ASC, is cadent on the cusp of the 12th house, squared by the Moon and parallel Saturn, indicative of the imminent fall. Mercury in the 12th house is in exact square to the MC. On top of all this, the Part of Fortune is in opposition to the MC…It is as if there was a concerted cosmic attack on the MC, which traditionally symbolises the rulers of a country.

Mars is conjunct Algol approximately every 2 years, an event that needs watching very carefully. It was there at the 1912 chart of the Republic of China...