The Astrology of a Forbidden Book: Salman Rushdie (The Satanic Verses)
The Astrology of a Forbidden Book: The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
& Primary Directions and others techniques
“Language is courage: the ability to conceive a thought, to speak it, and by doing so to make it true.” – Salman Rushdie; The Satanic Verses
The fourth novel The Satanic Verses, was a massive repercussion which was later felt worldwide, from book-burning and firebombings, the profound impact it had on freedom of expression in a multicultural sensitive society.
Many were the people that died because of the book; What does is take in a natal chart to have to live life in a continuous danger with many death threats and actually not be wounded or killed, but others are the unfortunate victims in which have nothing personally to do with the life of the author?
The author/book was accused of being part of a Zionist-imperialist intellectual artifice hidden in the form of an art in order to persecute Muslims. Thus the book began to be banned and Salman’s head was wanted and he received a threatening Official Fatwa – a death sentence
Posted originally on – Now Updated with Primary Directions (2019; Jenny Dusky). THE CONTROVERSIAL AUTHOR & THE STELLIUM IN GEMINI (WITH URANUS)
The air signs rule the culture of any civilization and at the personal level, the air signs Gemini, Libra and Aquarius govern the human’s intellectual approach to society and citizens in general without much discrimination except for the sign of Libra, which aesthetically can be very superficial and scale down every cultural involvement to any cause, bringing justice rather than choosing only one side of the coin. Aquarius shows no social distinction in citizens of a nation and cares about mankind as a whole, the sign integrates the whole knowledge of humanity, the sign is ruled by Uranus. Gemini on the other hand among with Mercury and its higher octave Uranus, govern over the literacy world of a nation’s culture (Mercury) or even the generalized global’s reading culture (Uranus), remembering the Uranus is the cosmic enlightening planet of the new age that is most likely to freely express one’s geniality and superability despite the disruption it may cause in the traditional society. The air signs worries about the whole culture development of society, naturally these signs are freed in the “air” where invisibility rules the environment; when talking about political domination, people hardly overthink the impact in culture it has, as history has proven, culture is shaped by powerful structures and the present only do but must decide if rather it shall be kept intact or broke apart from its root in order to evolve into another stage of evolution, and in literature that happens on the intelectual and even psychological levels of mankind and not at the physical level, thus the term domination here is generalized to humanity’s cerebral dictatorship.
Salman whose fame made him earn the Whitbread Prize for Best Novel (twice), was born while an exact New Moon in Gemini was taking place at his birth time, and hey the Sun, Moon and Uranus in Gemini fall in an exact conjunction to his natal 3rd house cusp, the house of Gemini – the sign of dualism! Let’s explore the chart of a writer, which in behalf of his name (because of one of his book), many were killed even the ones trying to kill him, because of a single book (Gemini) where he exposed his own version of a history in a very magical yet confusing text, a fictional book that wasn’t interpreted as such. What does is take in a natal chart to have to live life in a continuous danger with many death threats and actually not be wounded or killed, but others are the unfortunate victims in which have nothing personally to do with the life of the author? This question intrigues me, so is the answer. It also seems that the author is “immune” to certain kinds of danger scenarios. Astrologically, we are in front of a very interesting and curious chart here. It has been 27 years (in 2016) so far since Iran’s religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini attested a death sentence on Salman Rushdie for ‘insulting’ Islam when published the his fourth novel The Satanic Verses. There was a massive repercussion which was later felt worldwide, from book-burning and firebombings, the profound impact it had on freedom of expression in a multicultural sensitive society, was well understood as a fight for the “right”sentences to “explain” the nature of a “religion” or an ideal, a different point of view (Gemini) and perspective (Mercury) that according to some authorities it had put the religion in “danger” of misunderstanding on the global level. As a result, the severe reaction was exaggerated and purged many good man into an unnecessary battle inside and even out the Islamic society; Rushdie was accused of mocking other’s faith and an Islamaphobic writer in literature, even when though that wasn’t the case. A powerful person and a Stellium Gemini (Sun, Moon, Uranus, Venus), according to the astrodatabank the Salman’s birth time is authentic and can be trusted with an “A”, and here what has been written at the website:
“Indian writer, a Moslem famed for the condemnation by the Ayatollah of Iran along with his death sentence given on 2/14/1989, for writing his book “Satanic Verses,” 1989. The Muslim community accused him of blasphemy over certain parts of the book, creating such a storm that a death contract was put out on him. Naturally the publicity created a best-seller as he fled incognito to England. The danger was real; his Japanese translator was murdered; his Italian translator was beaten and stabbed; his Norwegian publisher was shot and wounded.” – Astrodatabank
The author was born in Bombay (then British India) into a Muslim family of Kashmiri descent, thus was raised in as a Muslim, as Rushdie’s friend Christopher Hitchens once expressed: “…so in theory he’s within the jurisdiction. He can be sentenced as an apostate, and the same can be done to Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Taslima Nasreen [the Bangladeshi novelist under threat of decapitation who has just been offered refuge in Paris]. But what people haven’t noticed sufficiently is that now people who are not Muslims, like the Danish cartoonists, have been threatened with violence for criticizing Islam. That’s sort of new, and ought to be more controversial than it is.”. – the critic writer and faithful friend of Rushdie was an irreligionist and a polemicist who once said that Christianity, Judaism, Islam were the three leading monotheisms of these times making an analogy to the ‘axis of evil’, blaming they lack of evidence of such ‘gods’, going further even pointing to religions as “the main source of hatred in the world”. The generalized view can be confused to prejudice when the subject is the superficiality that follows religion while observing from a detached perspective. Uranus-Jupiter combination is mainly known for its rebellion against the land one was born at, but when Uranus conjoins the Moon, the touch can be almost of the same when the Moon represents our homeland while Jupiter represents the international land and its appreciation more than the home one was born in, also, the Sun add the character an extra element which is perceived by far when the Sun rules over humanity’s ego and Uranus rules over uniqueness and the original, but the planet can rebel against the planet it touches, as a conjunction the subject is intensified to maximum. Many times, the Uranus person is accused of not valuing all what was given, this is because the geniality of Uranus to detached from the personal perspective is an ability considered dangerous to many extremists, geographical or religious fanatics. I have Venus opposite Uranus sextile Jupiter and was many times accused of not honoring my own homeland and of Brazilianphobism, when I see many disgrace, why should I lie to myself I live in paradise? It not a matter of not being proud of being born where I was, but seem the reality and not denying it as it is. Back to the quoting cited, Hitchens had a point expressing his worries about the discourse of free-speech, sharing his thoughts about how extremists are not only targeting their fellows that are considered all terror they could judge, but the none-Muslims people who critics them are also dangerous and a potential foresight. Although a genetic defect, such configuration had a tremendous effect on his physicality, in 1999 the author had to go through a surgery to lift the upper folds of his eyes, the Moon in astrology governs the man’s left eye while the Sun symbolizes the right eye, can you notice the obvious heaviness in his right eye? At the time of New Moons there is no light available but of other stars, knowing that, Salman’s natal Sun and Moon conjunct the cusp of the 3rd house which is located our sensory nervous system, thus compromising his ‘vision’ through the visual sensorial organ that brings humans the sight.
This is an intense object of studying, grab your cup of tea, water, wine or whatever and join me ahead in a reading adventure that will make you intellectually instigated.
The Radix
Speculum & Aspects
The Book & Gemini Dual Nature
“One of the most controversial and acclaimed novels ever written, The Satanic Verses is Salman Rushdie’s best-known and most galvanizing book. Set in a modern world filled with both mayhem and miracles, the story begins with a bang: the terrorist bombing of a London-bound jet in midflight. Two Indian actors of opposing sensibilities fall to earth, transformed into living symbols of what is angelic and evil. This is just the initial act in a magnificent odyssey that seamlessly merges the actual with the imagined. A book whose importance is eclipsed only by its quality, The Satanic Verses is a key work of our times.” – http://www.salmanrushdie.com/
The book’s title refers to a set of verses allegedly deleted from the Quran, where the Prophet Muhammad would ask the intercession three pagan goddesses of Mecca. According to legend, these verses were eliminated from the holy book because they were not in accordance with the monotheism of Islam. He thought to have approached The Satanic Verses artistically, and actually he did. After the fall in England, one of them, Saladin Chamcha (accustomed to uninhibited pleasure and playfulness), develops horns, hooves and a tail. The other, Gibreel Farishta (who understands limits), creates a halo and have a dream of meeting the prophet Mahound (Muhammad’s old derogatory term used much of the Middle Ages). All the metamorphosis begins with Gemini, the first mutable sign. “A novel of metamorphoses, hauntings, memories, hallucinations, revelations, advertising jingles, and jokes. Rushdie has the power of description, and we succumb.” —The Times (London); From the sign of Gemini we begin to multiply; as an astrologer, I cannot dismiss the fact the very sign the author has as Stellium is the very topic and content of this book: Gemini, the existence of dualism, the duo nature, the personification of the good and the evil, the two facets of our bi nature that is undeniable; through the first air sign we recognize the duality in nature, what is positive and what is negative etc., put putting aside all the dualism, the sign’s main quality provides a union of these things; the sign is widely represented by two human beings bounded to each as if they were ever inseparable, also, it can remember the Roman symbol for the number two, or indeed the two pillars of life. In Salman’s fictional book, both Indian actors are extremely distinctive to each. In Gemini, we understand we all have a split personality which each carries within a total new form to direct the energy, and that can be reached by intelectual means, by discussing to each genius inside us we are giving an opportunity to listen to the self as if we were a totally different person, giving therefore, two convincing perspectives that can be seemed many times as a gift, other times can be misinterpreted as dishonesty.
“According to this tradition, Muhammad (Mahound in the book) added verses (Ayah) to the Qur’an accepting three goddesses who used to be worshipped in Mecca as divine beings. According to the legend, Muhammad later revoked the verses, saying the devil tempted him to utter these lines to appease the Meccans (hence the “Satanic” verses). However, the narrator reveals to the reader that these disputed verses were actually from the mouth of the Archangel Gibreel.” – wikipedia
Migration, not Exploration
The book is considered a radical literature at the turning point of the 20th to the 21st century at the end of the 90’s, initiating a new decade of the 2000 with a revolutionized and progressive framework narrowing a cultural debate worldwide and the freedom of expression in many forms especially in literature. Surely the book wasn’t taken literally as a fiction by many Muslims, particularly ex-religious leader and the fatwa emissioner’s Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini who used the moment as an opportunity to empower the clergy, was directly offended by the The Satanic Verses, as Salman depicted him as a caricature. The years of 88 and 89 were critical to many minority activists, the fall of the Berlin Wall took place antecedent after 28 years politically closed to West, cultural discrimination was rising in its social concerns; although the long-running war between Iran and Iraq had ended in a United Nations-brokered ceasefire in August 1988, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion and occupation of neighboring Kuwait in early August 1990; Tens of thousands of Chinese students took over Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in rally for democracy (April 19); even the very first World Wide Web (www) server and browser was developed at this sensible times by Tim Berners-Lee (England) while working at CERN, revolutionizing a new digital decade of social transformation through the internet and virtual reality concerning its freedom of speech and expression.
Salman added to The Observed in 1989 holding the position the book wasn’t any kind of “…an anti-religious novel. It is, however, an attempt to write about migration, its stresses and transformations.” – one of the Indian actors in the book is attached to the place of origin, the other is determined to become an English man. In the following story, the plane the Indians were in was blown up by terrorists, and from this very point are convinced in the first pages of the book how really fictional the book is, both characters escaped either the explosion and the fall, arriving at the ground healthy and intact but transmuted into physical demon and an angel, symbolically representing how society usually sees the immigrants, as demoniacal creatures or angelical beings. A critical novel but hardly offensive, the book is an artistic and intelligent demonstration of the existence xenophobia specially in English society, but as further as we have gone thus far, I believe this serves as a worldwide constructive and entertaining critic. Amidst all the controversy, the mainly teaching of the book remains over the struggles of migration and the attrition and eminent shock of cultural exchange.
Transiting Uranus opposite natal Uranus
The Book is Published
The Satanic Verses book was published on 26 September 1988, on the day the Moon was conjunct Mars in courageous Aries activating a fiery Grand Trine involving eccentric and controversial Uranus and successful Saturn in exact conjunction Salman’s 9th house cusp of publishing while opposite natal Sun, Moon and Uranus in Gemini; the author was also going through his first Uranus opposition synodic transit, a culmination point of unpredictable events that marks a turmoil and sometimes a drastic turning point relatively to the house it transits opposite to the natal Uranus. Thus, publisher Jupiter the planet that gives natives popularity among with Venus – the lesser benefic, was transiting in exact conjunction Rushdie’s Venus in the 2nd house (which is also in terms with Jupiter), the planet which is in the house it feels comfortable is the ruler planet of the chart, that is, the ruler of the Taurus 1st house. Uranus is the genius inside of us all, and only a few have total access to it or even partially; the important configuration in the chart of when the book was released out to the market, is the fire grand trine involving transiting and natal Uranus in the house of international affairs and also publishing, giving birth to an unconventional cycle in the life of the novelist and his international affairs, the 9th house is also where we experience religion. From this point, take notice on North Node which is always involved in the events precedent to the author and the book’s publishing astrological charts, giving the information this was a case of public affair among certain groups of people, and at its most mystical interpretation, a karma is highly involved. In this scenario, we see transiting Jupiter conjunction the author’s NN in lord of books Gemini. It almost feels like the publisher knew the astrology of the moment and the author’s. When Jupiter seeks freedom of and publishing of, Gemini does the speech.
Protests against Rushdie – Image: dailymail.co.uk/
The 7th House of Open Enemies
It seems that Rushdie and his book Satanic Verses were already hated by some communities, firstly in India and Britain, then in Iran, where it even had a review in a newspaper before all the assassination and controversy randomly took over it. Realize this wasn’t a case of secret enemies (12th house) but a case of public affair and an exposed and self-declared enemy, the chart of novelist Salman Rushdie reveals his natal Jupiter in the 7th house of open enemies (Jupiter also governs religious fanatics), a real case of mortal threats coming from a very well-known supreme Iranian leader at that time Khomeini, which by the way had Moon in late Sagittarius (the next second full Moon in Sagittarius at the same degree people!). From both charts, we can clearly see what is/was behind the scenes between these two. Jupiter in the 7th house gives the novelist too many enemies with many resources when the scenario is pre-disposed to such happening as was his case where a religion leader (Jupiter) follows him to death (Scorpio), the planet is in Scorpio which could mean powerful open enemies as well as powerful allies and alliances, at the same time Jupiter preserves and is best known for its benefic qualities since old ages, giving us the information of some kind of ‘divine’ protection against these “open enemies” (The British government offered Salman a round-the-clock police protection), something that is obvious in the life of the novelist, this configuration itself gives ‘immunity’ to anything coming directly from any public threat, however the situation could have been different if the fatwa was issued anonymously (12th house or 8th indeed).
Now, you see that the cusp of the novelist’s 8th and 9th houses is Sagittarius, therefore the ruler of the house of death and rebirth (8th) and the house of publishing and editors (9th) is Jupiter, which by the way, is opposite Mars in Taurus located in the 1st house of the physical body of Salman Rushdie. From this fact alone, we can tell how the translators and international publishers (9th) were killed (8th) while joining Salman’s adventure into the taboo and danger (7th house – Jupiter in Scorpio), then being killed instead (opposition) of him (Mars in the 1st house). Powerful chart dear ones! Powerful chart… The South Node tells me these deaths were something out of his past in astrology since his birth as it conjunct the cusp of the 8th house of mysteries, telling us this was a case of karma and those killed in his name were “owing” (like some debt) their deaths to Salman Rushdie, and more, he would make a life out of all of this, as the North Node is conjunct the 2nd house of personal possessions and personal income from one own’s ability, and the NN is part of all that Gemini Stellium brightening up the chart, the author then became very famous worldwide, something that I think he may have had in his mind since the beginning.
CULTURAL DOMINATION AND POLITICAL INTERESTS
“It isn’t easy to be a brilliant, successful woman in a city where the gods are female but the females are merely goods.” Narrator, Page 120 (Satanic Verses)
Khomeini was an Iranian Shiite and a religious authority, also worldwide known as a spiritual and political leader of the Iranian Revolution settled in 1979. Astrologically, novelist award-winning Rushdie and ex-Iranian leader Khomeini have a very disturbing combination of charts. For a start, Khomeini’s Sun is conjunct Rushdie’s Mars the planet of war only by a few orbs, translating the astrologer the fiery combination if both would find each other eye-by-eye and teeth by teeth, a very explosive and violent dynamic, and at its most positive vibration, one would empower the other, and that was exactly what also happened amidst all the panic. Secondly, see that the ex Iranian leader had Mars in Taurus at 0°degree, the same degree of the novelist’s 1st house cusp, indicating the volatile existence between these two, where the leader with natal war planet Mars in the 8th house of revenge would ask for the deadly (Mars) body (1st house) of the polemic writer; this tells me it was also very personal for the ex Iranian leader. And it seems I am right, well, the interpretation and the astrological facts favor the reality of the situation, someone opened a section of the book to Khomeini the part featuring a mad imam in exile, which was seemed as an undeniable caricature of Khomeini. But the general misunderstanding itself was over the published book, bringing consequently some kind of congeneric war.
Observe a “Full Moon” is created by joining Salman’s Sun and Moon in Gemini with the enemy’s Moon in Sagittarius in anaretic degrees, creating an atmosphere of intellectual pursuit as those planets form a natural opposition. Thirdly, notice Salman’s Sun and Moon in Gemini conjunct Khomeini’s generational planets Neptune and Pluto in Gemini, meaning a toxic, dissolving, manipulative relationship shared with the public where the polemic topic is concerned. Finally, take note on the fact they have inverted lunar nodes, while Salman’s North Node is in Gemini (the path one shall follow), Khomeini had in Sagittarius, the opposite happens with Salman’s South Node in Sagittarius (the path one shall leave behind) and Khomeini’s South Node in Gemini. The scenario was serious for the author, consequently the war was proposed against the British Indian novelist, which was accused of being falsely profaning against Iran, the book was dramatically called a “blasphemy against Islam” as said by the last Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini whom had governed Iran until his death in 1989 when he was 89 years old, coincidentally the year the fatwa was issued, and ironically, who ended up dead was the leader. While incognito, Rushdie responded to a reporter “If you don’t want to read a book, you don’t have to read it. It’s very hard to be offended by The Satanic Verses – it requires a long period of intense reading. It’s a quarter of a million words.” – which I think it was smart to say and he unequivocally had a point. Gemini people have a very distinctive vocabulary, they respond immediately while framing their answers cleverly and dexterously, they don’t let people simple slam words into their faces as if they wouldn’t react back with an intelligent and quite intellectual reply, offending the other not because the lack of empathy or sentimentalism, but because one just ‘won’ the battle with smart words, utilizing each in their right position in order to inform the other how badly misunderstood the other has been, you see, Gemini people wants to reach your potent intellectual and most rational being. Another interesting detail in the chart is hidden in the mutual reception that Moon and Mercury are found, while the Moon in Gemini occupies a sign Mercury rules, the same happens withe Mercury in Cancer occupying the sign the Moon governs, and for a professional writer, this pattern by itself is an unconscious desire to have in one’s own astrological chart, as it brings clarity of thoughts and a person how intuitively knows how to deal with the public at the mental and emotional level.
The Stellium involving outer planet Uranus which is conjunct Moon and Sun in Gemini, enriches Rushdie’s eccentricity while adhering a completely different approach to the verses cited in the Quran within a very detached perspective from the author, upbringing a series of calamities along the way causing a rupture in the history of literature with progressive consequences like the freedom of speech, from national to international proportions, something that Salman acknowledges the fact it can also be our worst enemy. The daringly and controversial book entitled “The Satanic Verses” was published by the end of winter of September 1988 causing protests all across the Middle East, it was seemed as an insult and a fraudulent depiction of Muhammad (known as holy prophet); the title is influenced by a disputed Muslim tradition that is related in the book referring to some verses of the Quran known as the “Gharanigh verses”, thus it was seem more of a critic than an imagined story (fiction) told by a very dexterously mind. The book is a fiction work of an art, and should be read as such by any mind, some Muslims even found the book to be very entertaining and neither remotely insulting or controversial, and some believed such event was part of something higher going on behind the scenes, which was coincidentally after Iranian Revolution chaos (started in 1797) was consumed after (as earlier mentioned), the Iran-Iraq War, indicating perhaps the Islamic Government of Iran saw an opportunity in Salman in order to recover a great part of followers, turning him a scapegoat to distract attention while conducting a well strategic marketing campaign for themselves, something that may would sound: “we still have our principles and faith”.
Primary Directions
BOOK IS PUBLISHED AND JUPITER (THE PUBLISHER) DIRECTION
The Direction if from the Radix and not from any solar return chart, and although the date given with the dynamic key gives a twenty seven days before the actual publication, it is nonetheless, impressive and pretty literal. Jupiter is the promissor of the direction, and the planet rules over the sphere of publication. Jupiter in natal Rushdie’s chart is ruler of 9th house of publishing, and the planet if in terms with itself. The Sun on the other hand is the significator of the direction, is thus ruler of 5th house of business and entertainment (the book is a fictional story). The Sun also conjuncts the 3rd house of writers and books in the shelves. And, Jupiter when directed to the opposition of the Sun converse, it also reaches the 9th house cusp and thus, opposition 3rd house.
However, by a few seconds minus, the date can be found exact. But I am not rectifying this one, as the website astrodatabank rates the birtchart details with an A. Or even when it says “Catriona Mundle quotes him for “approximately 2:30 AM, maybe a bit earlier (which if rectified it would be the perfect hour according to my directions investigated),” given to fellow novelist Ian McEwan whose wife is a friend of Mundle. – (The Astrological Journal of India gives 6:05 AM, no source.)”. I will stick to 2:30 nevertheless.
DEATH SENTENCE (FATWA) AND PLUTO (DEATH THREAT) DIRECTION
The Direction if from the Radix and not from any solar return chart, and although the date given with the dynamic key gives a week later, the death threat perfectly synthesized the direction of malefic Pluto in a hard aspect to malefic Uranus converse.
Pluto in Rushdie’s natal chart is ruler of 7th house of open enemies (see more on transits below the article). In the square direction, it falls in the 7th house as well. Uranus then ruler of Rushdie’s natal 11th house of radical groups. And again, Pluto is the planet of death threat.
Transits and Progressed Moon
Death Sentence & 3.3 millions reward for the head
“I inform the proud Muslim people of the world that the author of the “Satanic Verses” book, which is against Islam, the Prophet and the Koran, and all those involved in its publication who were aware of its content, are sentenced to death. I ask all the Muslims to execute them wherever they find them.” – The Official Fatwa
All was normal until February 1989, the book was on sale in most Muslims cities and countries until someone decided it was relevant to discuss the content of it and literally bringing more attention to the book and popularity (Jupiter and Venus) to the author. For a few months nearly no one shared the same thinking of the few conspiracy-minded Islamists who would passionately agree upon Khomeini’s destructive vision of the book, which was accused of being part of a Zionist-imperialist intellectual artifice hidden in the form of an art in order to persecute Muslims.
At that time of the serious accusation, the planet of restriction and censorship Saturn was conjunct Neptune and Uranus in Capricorn and the three celestial bodies were actually transiting Rushdie’s 9th house of international affairs, after that day, the book was forever banned in many different countries ( Iran, India, Bangladesh, Sudan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Thailand, Tanzania, Indonesia, Singapore, Venezuela, and Pakistan were the majority of these places); although nowadays (2016) different relations rely upon, on 7 March 1989, the United Kingdom broke diplomatic relations with Iran due to the controversy surrounding Rushdie. Also, a fixed T-square (mostly why the fatwa is still alive) was going on where the Sun followed by Venus were activating in the sign of Aquarius while both planets were square to both Mars in Taurus opposite Pluto in Scorpio by 0° orb. The intriguing part is again, Jupiter, the planet was still transiting Salman’s 1st house of self, generalizing a spiritual protection of his body as already discussed the planet’s nature while conjunct the North Node, intensifying the nature of the accusation on the public level.
“Damn you, India … To hell with you, I escaped your clutches long ago, you won’t get your hooks into me again, you cannot drag me back.” – Saladin Chamcha, Page 35 (Satanic Verses)
On Friday of February 14th, 2014 marking the 25th anniversary of the fatwa when transiting Saturn (transiting karma) was in Scorpio back and forth Salman’s natal 7th house also transiting North Node had just hit Scorpio 0° degree in an exact conjunction the cusp of that house, senior cleric Ahmad Khatami reminded the followers to be faithful to the fatwa saying “The important thing is that this fatwa is as fresh as ever for Muslims. Faithful Muslims are looking for an opportunity to implement Imam’s fatwa.” while complementing “…our enemies thought that with the acceptance of the resolution, Imam had retreated from his principles. Then this incident happened. It showed the world that the revered Imam had not retreated one bit.”
The “fatwā” was directly understood as a death sentence by the Muslims which was dealt by the ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who had pointed the sentence to: “The author of Satanic Verses, which is against the Islam, the Prophet and the Qur’an (Koran) and all those involved in its publication who are aware of its contents”, this of course had spelled many troubles ahead for writer Rushdie. In 2012 the Iranian religious leader and head of the state-funded 15 Khordad Hassan Sanei, raised the bounty on the author’s head by offering the payment from $500,000 to $3.3million as a reward for killing Rushdie stating next “I am adding another $500,000 to the reward for killing Salman Rushdie and anyone who carries out this sentence will receive the whole amount immediately.“, but the threats and the death sentence were only and still are, just words; Hassan would furiously continue saying “Surely if the sentence of the Imam had been carried out, the later insults in the form of caricatures, articles and the making of movies would not have occurred” – believing Rushdie the be the percussionist of Islamaphobism in literature and in the 7th art. In the same year of 2012, Rushdie became the subject of a computer game in Iran called ‘The Stressful Life Of Salman Rushdie And Implementation Of His Verdict’ – designed to educate the younger generation the importance of such fatwa.
Progressed Moon in 8th house and a Decade of Hidden
When the Fatwa was issued, Salman was a 41 years old man with his progressed Moon in Capricorn conjunction the 8th house of mysteries and what is alive and hidden, was this a cycle of his life likely worse than death itself? After that day, the author was forced into hidden for over a decade of his life, which led him devastating consequences in personal and professional life, although he did have small appearances on TV or well cared seminaries, nevertheless the author resigned from writing, after the The Satanic Verses, the author accomplished more than 16 official published books. Both rules of the 9th house of beliefs and religion and the 11th house of groups and friends were in the 1st house; notice the Mars-Uranus conjunction in the 1st house? This is one of the hardest and most violent combination in any horoscope, this shows an unexpected event would follow his body precedent to the Moon entering the 8th house when the Fatwa was publicly announced. In Rushdie’s progressed chart set for fatwa day, the ruler of the 8th house of death and rebirth is Saturn, and you see Saturn about to conjunct Pluto, the ruler of Scorpio, thus we see Saturn (reputation and world-status) going into hide (Pluto), the world was getting to know a dark status for Rushdie. Salman since then wasn’t known as a writer, but Rushdie the “The Satanic Verses”author, his self-image was transformed over night worldwide.When the author was 41 years old, his progressed Sun had already moved into the fire sign of Leo in the 3rd house of writing skills, the Satanic Verses was the book which gave him worldwide fame and popularity, for last, observe the powerful Saturn-Pluto conjunction sharing the house of the Sun? Pluto is the lord of the underground where Hades presides in mythology. This combination itself assures an extreme personal power in the house it transits, specially at old ages, but the conjunction to Pluto intensified the dread environment for Rushdie to extremes, needing to isolate himself from friends and family while forced to move from house to house. Astrologically, it is wise to investigate when the sentence was set into motion to clearly judge the timing of the events and their qualities attached.
Transiting Planets & Pluto in the 7th house of Open Enemies
“Whores and writers, Mahound. We are the people you can’t forgive.” – Baal, Page 405 (Satanic Verses)
EXECUTE RUSHDIE, ORDERS THE AYATOLLAH – … it would be written in a London’s evening newspaper headline. The historical fatwa sentence was first dealt in February 14th in 1989 about 5 months later after the book was published at the day of the funeral of his close friend Bruce Chatwin, the lethal period was officially initiated from this date to the author and his associates, and as you can observe at the chart above the Moon was waxing in Gemini the whole day just passing after through its first quarter phase, and was indeed about to conjunct Rushdie’s Gemini Stellium, and the coming transit of the Moon in Gemini to his natal Moon in Gemini indicated a new beginning for the author. Transiting Pluto in Scorpio was conjunction Salman’s natal Jupiter in the 7th house of public and open enemies, increasing (Jupiter) the amount of enemies (7th house) Salman would have to defeat before a massive repercussion takes over if ever caught by religious fanatics. In August of the same year while in a sadistic attempt to murder Salman, Mustafa Mahmoud Mazeh accidentally blew himself up in a Paddington’s hotel room. The website theguardian added at their page’s news (in 2009):
“The years following the fatwa were also a damaging and sometimes lethal period for many of those associated with The Satanic Verses, few of whom had any protection. In April 1989 Collets, the left-wing bookshop, and Dillons were firebombed for stocking the Rushdie novel. A month later there were explosions in High Wycombe and London’s King’s Road. There was a bomb in the Liberty department store which housed a Penguin Bookshop (Penguin was the publisher of The Satanic Verses) and at the York Penguin bookshop. Unexploded devices were also discovered at the Nottingham, Guildford and Peterborough branches of the store.” – Andrew Anthony (The Guardian)
For instance, as soon as Khomeini’s decree was announced, for the surprise of many, it provoked many reactions from very respectful and well known writers like Suzannah Lessard, who commented on the March 6, 1989 the following: “The terror we feel when we put ourselves in Salman Rushdie’s shoes is a new kind. As far as we know, never before has an international lynch mob of millions called for the blood of someone like him—someone who is not a leader or an official, someone who until now was probably unknown to most of the people calling for his death and of whom they still know little…”. Transiting Pluto in the 7th house was conjunct Salman’s natal Jupiter which rules over ‘publishers, editors and international translators’, suggesting potential death to his associates or any professional relationship, ironically the fatwa was emitted on valentine’s day; according to the dailymail 3 publishers were murdered, also a Japanese translator named Hitoshi Igarashi was stabbed to death in the face at work, a Norwegian publisher shot and an Italian publisher coldly knifed. In 1993 thousands carried the book to the streets to burn copies of it while thirty-seven people were bloodily massacred in Sivas, Turkey in a coward attack attempt intended to target Aziz Nesin the Turkish translator of the book. Obviously, the period was intense and danger atmosphere was eminent in all situations, many politicians had chosen not to appear in public by Rushdie’s side, neither flight companies (such as British Airways) were able to let the author be their passenger because the fearing of bombing or any other kinds of violent mechanism of revenge ending up been a bait for such scenario, even Salman’s friends had to meet him in secret which could compromise their lives if been watched together as Christopher Hitchens once pointed out by saying: “When he was staying at my house back at Thanksgiving of 1993, so were about a dozen heavily armed members of the United States’s finest anti-terrorist forces.” Definitely, an adrenaline rush mixture with fear is/was felt among Rushdie’s circle of friends and associates. Also, the 7th house represents the native’s marriage, in Rushdie’s case back that time he was then married to the American author Marianne Wiggins, but the life without visibility wasn’t something the wife wanted, perhaps the pressure of the whole situation made her encasements seemed like a prison to herself and her career as well, writing: “I often tell him that if the Rushdie Affair were, for instance, the Amis Affair, then I would, by now, be a tearful and tranquilized 300-pounder, with no eyelashes or nostril hairs, and covered in blotches and burns from various misadventures with the syringe and the crackpipe.”, the couple didn’t survive the storm. In Britain, one of the first places to campaign against the book, an independent publisher at Gibson Square took the courage to publish it with terrible consequences, when on 27 September 2008 the Martin Rynja’s London home was firebombed.
Everyone was feeling intimidated (Pluto) and deadly becoming reluctant to share any critic of Islam even if that one is constructive or based on real evidences, the world of art became less and less a tool to transform this kind of thinking as it was ‘forbidden’ through the personal war between Rushdie and Khomeini (as explored their astrological nature and precedents events in this article), for example, the associate director of the Royal Court Theatre named Ramin Gray wouldn’t cooperate by staging a play critical of Islam admitting: “You would think twice,” he said. “You’d have to take the play on its merits but given the time we’re in, it’s very hard because you’d worry that if you cause offence then the whole enterprise would become buried in a sea of controversy. It does make you tread carefully.” Realize this incident happened in recent years, 2 decades after the fatwa. Soon (in 2018) will be the fatwa Saturn’s return and I already wonder what kind of schooling will society extract from all massacre? I am doing my sharing through my thoughts and perspective utilizing astrology, and I’ve learned so much just by writing about all the confusion the author had gotten into, which I confess I wasn’t aware until the recent New Moon in Gemini (2016), as a very free Citizen born in Brazil I am literally shocked and sick by all this bloody history of political manipulation, egocentrism, which tells much about the personal Sun (ego) conjunct generational planet Uranus (disruption) in the natal chart of Salman Rushdie. The most famous Arabic part called Lot of fortune is in exact conjunction the cusp of the 1st house in Rushdie’s chart by exactly 0° orb! Which means the part was about to “rise” in the 12th house; it is said that, the lot of fortune here indicate enemies that become later supporter of the native’s cause. Of course, not everybody feared being by Salman’s side, including Germaine Greer, John Berger and John Le Carré which are major players and conspicuous cultural figures who supported the author while in his personal nightmare, Rushdie’s awakened many misguided minds that confused the book with intentional profanity to harm Muslims, for example critical and ex-Egyptian novelist and Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz who firstly reacted unsympathetically to the Satanic Verses finding it to be insulting to Islam, later reviewed his opinion and concluded in a petition by declaring “no blasphemy harms Islam and Muslims so much as the call for murdering a writer”, reading such ratification, I suppose Mahfouz kept the same opinion about the insult but also was a defender of free-expression, nevertheless the Islamic extremists didn’t regard it as a normal reaction and five years later another author was stabbed in the neck outside his Cairo home, fortunately he didn’t die from the attack, the author however, was another radical intellectual which caused many controversies as well, thus he was already part of the Islamic fundamentalists “blood list”, but once called Khomeini a terrorist after the fatwa the murder attempt happened, as a consequence Mahfouz also had to received police protection, only because he believed in free-speech.
Regret but Not - Transiting Mars in 1st House
The same year followed by the Fatwa’s wrangle, while on air, when asked for a feedback to the threat, Salman proudly replayed “I wish I’d written a more critical book.” – perhaps thinking about the massive popularity it was about to flourish at global level, he was confused as he couldn’t think straight the consequences that was held ahead for him, for months I think he was out of his mind (is not everyday you receive a death sentence from someone or a group of people calling themselves as authorities thinking they have a jurisdiction role over you). However, the consuming Pluto in the 7th house conjunction Jupiter was too intense to handle as the events in his life have shown him through the many killed in his name, his enemies were having what they wanted, a self-declaration of being guilty by the many forms of apology were given by Salman in order to save his body (1st house) through the former accusation. For days Rushdie was mailed an unfunny Valentine’s card, perhaps a satire of their own to make Rushdie fear the worst, next he ended up apologizing: “I profoundly regret the distress that publication has occasioned to sincere followers of Islam.”, but it wasn’t enough for Khomeini who seldom him no exoneration of the sentence.
Again in a Christmas eve in 1990, that morning when the Moon entered Pisces (the sign of forgiveness and sickness), perhaps really exhausted of much terror towards their significant others, Salman claimed to have renewed his faith in Islam – “there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his last prophet.” specifically rejecting all characters spotted in The Satanic Verses who “casts aspersions… upon the authenticity of the holy Qur’an, or who rejects the divinity of Allah.” confessing he was physically sick by putting much regret on it and wouldn’t release the book in paperback, which wasn’t something all publishers specially in America agreed upon, the author was soon to become a best seller in may countries of the western civilization. Again, the apology up-headed no advantage over him neither he aroused any form of sympathy from Islam leaders, that day Mars was retrograde (war is back) in Taurus conjunct Salman’s natal Mars in the 1st house and North Node in the 2nd house of survival, ex-religious leader Khomeini said before dying “so that no one will dare to insult the Islamic sanctity”– adverting a perverse warning to all consciously involved in the book (associates) and to the future writers and their satirical versions of their religion. Rushdie was beaten-up psychologically, everybody around him was literally dying, ‘lucky him’ he has Jupiter in Scorpio which gives him a tremendous amount of ‘divine’ power to deal with the constant fear while being suspicious of every strange walking down the street. Years after, Salman went out into public saying the fact writing such book was the biggest mistake ever, a “deranged” period of his, but I guess he was saying that completely out of fear and not thinking straight even years after the occurred, for him, the fatwa was felt like it was issued today, however, that didn’t forbid the author to write again, since then he wrote likely 16 books officially published in his website, all I can think of is that deep there, he feels proud of his work and what it has culturally caused even if all that violence took place, someone had to do it.
WHEN WRITING IMPLIES DEATH THREATS
Rushdie was not the only writer to incur the Islamic anger. In 1993, Taslima Nasrin, a native of Bangladesh, offended many Muslims of the Indian subcontinent with her novel Lajja (shame). She had to seek refuge in India due to death threats from fundamentalist groups in their country.
In 2005, the publication of cartoons humorous Muhammad by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Postensuscitou widespread protests of Muslims. Experts attest that since the attacks of September 11, 2011 and the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan by the United States, the Islamic world is strongly radicalized: the threat faced by Rushdie and Nasrin now extends to several authors and intellectuals around the world.
Lindsey German – who founded the organization Stop the War Coalition, based in London, as opposed to the “war on terrorism” George W. Bush – emphasizes the political motivation of the different reactions and the need to consider the hatred of Muslims by Rushdie in a larger context.
“I do not agree with the fatwa condemning Rushdie or increasing the reward for his head. But it is not only the author of the person, it is the policy of Western governments in the Middle East. While they do not change these policies, such things will continue happening. “
In amidst all tension, Rusdhie was able to perfom his career with extreme pleasure and dedication:
“But as well as fighting the fight, which I will surely go on doing, I have grown determined to prove that the art of literature is more resilient than what menaces it. The best defense of literary freedoms lies in their exercise, in continuing to make untrammelled, uncowed books. So, beyond grief, bewilderment, and despair, I have rededicated myself to our high calling.”
SOURCES & RESOURCES
http://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Rushdie,_Salman
http://www.salmanrushdie.com/salman-rushdie-the-author/
http://www.salmanrushdie.com/the-satanic-verses/
https://varaldamoda.com/2012/07/04/para-ler-cultura-e-dominacao-na-obra-de-salman-rushdie/
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/11/salman-rushdie-satanic-verses
http://http://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Khomeini,_Ruhollah
http://www.cartacapital.com.br/internacional/ha-25-anos-salman-rushdie-recebia-sentenca-de-morte-islamica-1694.html
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie#The_Satanic_Verses_and_the_fatw.C4.81
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhollah_Khomeini
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/salman_rushdie.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/09/17/the-disappeared
http://www.newyorker.com/books/double-take/rushdies-life-after-the-fatwa
http://www.infoplease.com/year/1989.html
http://www.history.com/topics/persian-gulf-war
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/15/salman-rushdie-on-charlie-hebdo-freedom-of-speech-can-only-be-absolute
- END OF ARTICLE-
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