The big news over the last few days was the assassination of Qasem Soleimani. He was a war hero in the Iran-Iraq war, and he was regarded as being one of the most important people in the Iranian regime. He was instrumental in projecting Iranian power across the Middle East, through the creation of loyal, Shiite militias. In the process he made many enemies, and not just in the US. Many Sunni Muslims, for example, celebrated his death, and few tears have been shed for him outside the Shiite world.
Qasem Soleimani was born on March 11 1957, making him a Pisces. When you look at how his life unfolded, you can see how Pisces was manifesting. Pisces represents ideology and faith. Taking action without asking questions, having total loyalty to the cause. For a Pisces like Soleimani martyrdom was a culmination of a life’s work.
Going into further detail, I don’t have a time of birth. So I will just have to go for a midday horoscope. It’s a chart that has four of the five inner planets in Water signs: the Sun, Mercury and Venus in Pisces, and the Moon in Cancer. Elsewhere he had Mars in Taurus, Jupiter in Virgo and Saturn in Sagittarius. This means that Soleimani was a Water person. He worked through his feelings, and he had his finger on the emotional pulse. Matters were further helped by the fact that his Mercury and Venus were in conjunction. He had a natural ability to deal and emphathise with the people who mattered, and he could also mould himself into whatever situation he found himself in.
I should say something about his Mars. It was at around 26 degrees Taurus, conjunct the South Node and the fixed star Caput Algol. Mars is the planet of violence, and Soleimani seemed to have issues in this area. With the South Node, it is the kind of violence that comes easily. It’s the line of least resistance, which may have a Karmic dimension. Caput Algol, which literally means “head of the demon”, is the nastiest star in the book. It is connected with murder, strangulation and decapitation. Soleimani was both a perpetrator and victim of this violence.
Talking about two-edged swords, Soleimani’s Venus in Pisces was not just conjunct Mercury, but also square Saturn. Together Venus and Mercury are a sensitive and creative combination, and there is a video of him reciting poetry. You might also argue that violence can have its own creativity, particularly with the Saturn aspect. But seriously, the Venus-Saturn square gives the ability to separate violence from its human cost. The Soviet dictator Josef Stalin also had this aspect.
We might ask whether Soleimani was a great general. It is true that there are great generals who had their Suns in Water signs. Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar were both Cancerians, while Patton and Rommel were both Scorpios. But Soleimani was not really in that league. I suspect with no planets in Air signs, and one planet in a Fire signs (Saturn) he lacked both the imagination and the intuition. He played on the emotional currents of the moment, and became whatever other people wanted him to be. In times of violence, violent people flourish.
In this light, I am reminded of Reinhard Heydrich, who was a leading light in the Nazi SS. He was a Pisces, born on March 7 1904, and he was completely absorbed by Nazi ideology. Like Soleimani he was brave, and in spite of his high rank he didn’t shy away from conflict zones. Indeed during the early stages of World War Two he spent time as a combat flyer. Also like Soleimani, he was assassinated. The reason the assassination was successful was because he chased after his assassins, rather than run away from them. And on his deathbed, Heydrich remarked “The world is just a barrel-organ which the Lord God Himself turns. We all have to dance to the tune which is already on the drum”. I doubt Soleimani had any last words, but he might have said something similar. With all that Water, he was a creature of fate, following its tide until it blew him apart.