Vladmir Putin launched an attack against Ukraine at about 5 am Moscow time on February 24, 2022. This attack should not have been a surprise to anyone who was paying attention since Putin has been announcing his intentions for quite a long time but Putin has the Sun in Libra, and Libra can be a master manipulator when Scorpio is rising in the chart.
I should point out that there is no verified birth time for Putin as birth times aren’t recorded on birth certificates in Russia, but the birth time of 9:30 am was provided to an astrological researcher back in 2000 and this is the chart that is widely used today. If this isn’t Putin’s actual chart it’s the chart he would want to have, with the power sign Scorpio rising and Pluto conjunct the Midheaven along with the South Node. These are powerful placements, especially with the ascendant ruler Mars in a trine to Pluto, Scorpio’s modern ruler which tends to facilitate the rise of power, and a square from Jupiter to Pluto which tends to bestow a sense of self-righteousness. Full disclosure: My own date of birth is five days after Putin’s and our natal charts are very similar.
Russia
There are many different charts for Russia as there are for any nation which has undergone a great deal of change. December 8, 1991 is the date that Belarus, the Russian Federation and the Ukraine announced the Minsk Declaration which dissolved the Soviet Union, but the agreement wasn’t ratified by the Russian Parliament until the 12th of December that year at 13:22 according to Nick Campion. On the other hand, Adrian Ross Duncan uses the chart of December 25, 1991 when the flag for the new Russia began flying at the Kremlin.
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The late Zipporah “Zip” Dobyns, one of the world’s most celebrated astrologers, uses yet another chart: the chart of Gorbachev’s resignation in August of 1991. Her reasoning in using this chart is because “it works” to explain subsequent events better than the other dates. With all due respect to the memory of Ms. Dobyns, this doesn’t seem a very scholarly way to approach the birth of a nation.
To me the date that makes the most sense from a historical point of view is the date that the Russian Federation declared its independence from the Soviet Union which was June 12, 1990. This is the date that the First Congress of People’s Deputies of the Russian Federation adopted the Declaration on Russia’s National Sovereignty which seems to me to be a very formal declaration of statehood and a strong basis for an astrological chart. This is the day that is celebrated as the Day of Russia and is identified by modern Russians as the birth of their nation.
This is a somewhat aggressive chart, with Leo on the ascendant needing to be seen and respected, but with Pluto (power and transformation) squaring the ascendant and opposite Venus (diplomacy and collaboration). With the Pluto/Venus opposition, diplomacy is extremely difficult and it doesn’t help that the Sun and Moon are both in Gemini which tends to be somewhat weak but also can change shape fairly easily. And then we have Mars in Aries which is very comfortable with open aggression, especially when squared by Uranus/Neptune on one end for a radical (Uranus) confusion (Neptune) and illusory sense of boundaries, and Jupiter/Chiron on the other for an expanded (Jupiter) sense of the wounds of the loss of empire (Chiron).
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Putin is the perfect leader in the attempt to return Russia to its former glory. His Gemini Moon is in a trine to the Russian Moon: a vivid representation of an emotional link to the motherland. His Mars is opposite the Russian Sun: He has the will to act out the aggression needed to achieve Russian goals. His Libra Sun activates the cardinal T-square of the Russian chart to convert the stress of the square aspects into action and results.
On top of everything else, the ascendant of the Russian chart sits right on the Pluto/MC conjunction of Putin’s chart and the South Node of the past is there too. There is a sense of destiny here, as well as a debt owed with the South Node squared by Russia’s Pluto. There are many important linkages here.
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Ukraine
Ukraine declared independence from Russia on August 24, 1991 at 6 pm and this is the day celebrated as Independence Day in Ukraine which makes it the most viable chart to me. While the independence was not formally legalized until December, the declaration of independence serves as the birth date of the nation, just as the signing of the declaration of independence on July 4th in the US marks the annual celebrations here.
The Virgo Sun is relatively modest and assuming, and the Aquarius ascendant is idealistic and geared towards equality and justice. However, Pluto figures prominently here as well, in a challenging square to the idealistic Aquarius Moon. In addition, the painful history of Ukraine’s independence is embedded into the chart with a challenging aspect from Saturn to Chiron.
February 2022 invasion
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia that occurred in February is just one episode of a war which has been going on since 2014. This is really Putin’s war – a war to fulfill what he must feel is his destiny to bring back the glory of Russia under the Soviet Union. In 2014 when the war began and Crimea was taken, transiting Saturn and Pluto were triggering the complex of planetary bodies on his Midheaven, stimulating an eruption of energy for what I think of as his Mission.
Putin has the same Sun/Saturn conjunction which I have, and like me it conjoins Neptune and squares Uranus. This bestows the ability to work diligently through hardships, but the square from Neptune can be difficult and weaken the personal identity. The Uranus/Pluto square of 2014-2018 squared this system for a few years, amplifying the urge for power and coincided with air strikes on Syrian rebels on behalf of his ally President Bashar al-Assad, flexing the muscles of Russia’s power and turning the tide of the war in Syria.
Putin’s progressed Sun made a trine to his natal Midheaven/Pluto/South Node over the past few years, activating once again the importance of the Mission. But transiting Saturn is opposite the Midheaven and Pluto this year, so the takeover of Ukraine will likely not go as smoothly as he may have hoped.
Was waiting for this.
Thank you
For once ,I agreed to you in principle. But the older govt structures, which don’t have compassion, understanding and humanity at the bottom, are bound to fail, and that is my own interpretation for next 2 to 5 years.
That makes sense to me too, Charanjit. Pluto is moving into Aquarius next year, and any outmoded structures which haven’t collapsed by then will be left behind as new ideas begin to take shape.
Today he is rattling his nuclear arsenal sabers. I pray you are right about his plans failing before too many more lives are lost.
He seems to have virtually no allies other than Belarus, so the next few weeks will be critical. Rumors of Russian tanks left in Ukrainian streets having run out of gas give me some hope.
Thank you, Lynn. It would be interesting to compare Putin’s chart to Biden’s to get a sense of the relationship between the two men. Also to Trump’s chart for that matter.