A Bridge to Middle East Peace: Obama, Emanuel, and Israel

If you look up the bio of Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, you’ll notice right away the deep roots of Zionism in his background. His father was a member of the militant Zionist group Irgun who raised his children in the conservative Jewish tradition. Now Emanuel and his family are members of a Modern Orthodox congregation in Chicago.

Does this have implications for our new policy with Israel and the Middle East? I would say, “yes,” but not entirely for the reasons you might think. To understand my reasoning, we have to look at the State of Israel, Emanuel, and Obama from an astrological perspective.

Israel’s Difficult Chart
Israel was created out of nothing but a dream, a memory, and the sheer force of will on May 14, 1948 at 4:32 pm in Tel Aviv. Dominant in the sky at that time was a conjunction of Moon, Saturn, and Pluto, the most elevated planets in the chart. This makes them the most powerful energy in the chart in several ways — by location, proximity, and nature.

Saturn and Pluto in combination are associated with the use of power by authority, or in structured environments, such as government. Their cycle together is about 35 years long (approximate because of variations in Pluto’s orbit) and reveals the interplay of power with those who would use it. Both Saturn and Pluto are cold energies, and many people who have them in difficult combinations in their charts can be cold or ruthless. However, underneath it this behavior is prompted by fear of being under another’s absolute control (Pluto = absolute, Saturn = control).

Israel was born out of the very real fears that Jewish peoples had about their survival following the genocide of WWII (and before). The Zionist movement rose alongside anti-Semitism, to create a homeland for Jews where they would be safe. Israel was created through a complex and interminable series of events that could roughly be boiled down to a botched British exit from the region that did not do enough to pave the way for peace.

The new Jewish state was shoehorned into a region where Arab resentment was an extension of hatred and distrust toward the West. The mere fact of its existence created instantaneous and resolute enemies in the neighboring Arab communities, including those whose turf was included in the new state.

The chart of Israel speaks to this reality. It shows itself to be an unwanted child, or at least one born with many enemies. So you can understand the chart showing us that fear is the biggest factor in Israel’s modus operandi.

Saturn-Pluto also shows Israel’s tendency toward militancy in its political inclinations and militarism in its foreign policy. Israel’s governments and their leaders have frequently felt it necessary to take military action against their neighbors in order to protect their borders, and have often ended up taking land as a result. Their success is that of the desperate struggle to survive, if Saturn and Pluto are to be believed.


The Saturn-Pluto Cycle
The 35-year Saturn-Pluto cycle provides a blueprint for historical events in Israel’s history, as well as the evolution of consciousness and identity in the state (more than I can go into here). While all nation-states have to grapple with the combination of power and authority, Israel’s identity and raison d’etre are uniquely tied to this cycle. When these two planets are harmoniously interacting, Israel experiences more peace and is more conciliatory toward others. When they are in challenging interactions, Israel’s level of conflict rises.

So it stands to reason that those who have strong Saturn-Pluto contacts will “speak their language” when it comes to talking to Israel. They will understand the strong compulsions that come from the primal drive to survive. They may understand how that can be misused to create enemies instead of friends.

Emanuel’s Role
Emanuel has Saturn and Pluto very tightly tied together in a very harmonious contact, a trine from Saturn in Capricorn to Pluto in Virgo. Not only is this a very pragmatic pattern, with both signs in the Earth element; but Saturn is has to be on its best behavior in Capricorn because it’s a sign of its rulership. That is, if Rahm Emanuel misuses his authority, it comes back to bite him immediately.

Whatever the type of contact, when Saturn and Pluto are combined, the person has natural power and authority. But because Emanuel has the trine, he is not defensive about it. He does not easily feel threatened by others, yet he understands the dynamics of fear and violence. He knows how to speak the (astrological) language of Israel — the language of the struggle for existence. This is very true in visible terms as well — surely his father taught him about Zionism and the reasons for the creation of Israel from a personal level.

Enter Obama.
Obama was born nearly two years after Emanuel, and this is long enough for Saturn to have moved on. Although Saturn is still in Capricorn for Obama, he is driven by other patterns and has other urges to lead him in a different direction. However, his Pluto is at the same degree as Emanuel’s. This means that he can be awakened to the purpose(s) that Emanuel is drawn to — that Emanuel can plug him into his pattern and imbue him with dreams of peace in the Middle East.

One of Obama’s signature personality traits is his self-discipline. “No-drama Obama” is an oft-repeated moniker. This comes in part from his Capricorn Saturn in harmony (a trine) with Mars in Virgo. Again, two pragmatic Earth signs harnessing the God of War with the disciplined structure of Saturn.

This is the energy that Obama brings to all his experiences and initiatives. He is a man of peace and diplomacy — a bridge-maker, not a war-maker.

Building a Bridge
When we take all these factors into consideration, we have a new possibility: Obama, with the help of Emanuel, could bring new insights to a Middle East process. Like Obama, Emanuel does not have the reactionary feistiness of those who came before them and paved the way for their work. Where Obama stands on the shoulders of Martin Luther King Jr and Jesse Jackson, Emanuel stands on the shoulders of his father and the other Zionists. Yet neither carries the scars of those struggles. They carry new priorities that will carry their predecessors’ dreams forward in ways that may not always smooth feathers but are the right medicine of honesty, practicality, peace, and diplomacy for the illness of deeply entrenched battles and hatreds.

Adding Strength to Strength: Hillary in the Mix
If we add to this mix Hillary Clinton, who was born within months of Israel and has the same Saturn-Pluto pattern in her chart, we may find a bridge to peace in the Middle East. She has learned and refined her use of this energy over her life and done well with it. Not only is peace absolutely essential, but it is time. And with this team in the White House and the help of some supportive planetary trends for Israel, the stage is set for positive results in the region.