Jordan, usually one of the quieter Middle Eastern monarchies, is having a spasm of crisis, with Prince Hamzah, the former Crown Prince being put under house arrest for reasons of ‘security and stability’ after an alleged coup threat. He in turn accused the country’s leaders of corruption, incompetence and harassment.
There are indications of a gathering storm on the three key charts. Jordan, 25 May 1946 12 am Amman, looks discouraged and logjammed at the moment, not surprisingly with the Covid problem looming large and the country also sheltering one million Syrian refugees from the recent ongoing conflict. The tr Uranus square tr Saturn is also disrupting the Jordan Mars Pluto in Leo this year and even more so in 2022. With further shocks and setbacks mid 2022 from Solar Arc Sun conjunct Mars; and rising uncertainty and panic in 2022/23 with Solar Arc Saturn conjunct the financial 8th house Neptune.
King Abdullah 11’s accession chart, 7 February 1999 3.30 pm is blocked this year with Solar Arc Sun square Pluto; with conflicted push n’ pull influences from tr Uranus square tr Saturn tugging on the Uranus then Sun Mercury this year and next. With a really tough uphill slog from tr Pluto square the 10th house Saturn in 2022/23 – and more upheavals and alarm towards 2024/5/6.
King Abdullah 11, 30 January 1962 5.23am (from memory) Amman, Jordan, has his Sun and four other planets in Aquarius as well as Neptune and possibly Moon in Scorpio and Uranus in Leo – a very Fixed chart so he doesn’t bend easily. But the next three years with tr Saturn and tr Uranus in hard aspect to his Fixed planets will test his mettle, especially with tr Saturn heading downwards into his less successful first quadrant now for several years ahead. His Solar Arc Pluto is approaching a road-blocked square to his Sun in 2022 and that is when tr Pluto picks up the trapped, high-risk and acutely frustrating conjunction to his Mars extending through 2023 as well. This crisis has been brewing for some months through last year and has only now burst into the open and is nowhere at its worst.
There are strenuous denials from Saudi Arabia of any involvement but I wonder? MBS, the ambitious Crown Prince, 31 August 1985, has his control-freak Pluto sitting conjunct Abdullah’s Midheaven and his Saturn conjunct Abdullah’s 10th Moon; with MBS’s Virgo Sun and Mars in Leo conjunct Abdullah’s 8th house Pluto and Uranus. MBS’s superficially charming Venus opposition Jupiter falls across Abdullah’s 7th/1st so he will sugar-coat his smiles, but that is a potent, explosive and power-struggling mix.
Here is King Hussein’s data. Amman, Jordan 11/14/1935 2:30 am. Its a C Rodden rating and has been rectified. He ascended the throne at around age 17, after his grandfather was assassinated and his father abdicated 13 months later, I believe. Don’t they say in astrology that even after death a chart lives on and you can see things.
Sy Scholfield quotes from news report, “Jordanian Queen Gives Birth to Son,” The Washington Post, 29 March 1980, p. A19: “Amman, Jordan, March 29.–Queen Noor of Jordan gave birth to a baby boy early today… named Hamza.”
Queen Noor writes in her autobiography, “Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life” (Miamax, 2005), p. 183: “The medical decision was finally taken to induce labor. After six agonizing hours our son Hamzah finally decided to be born just hours before his older brothers departed for school, on March 29, 1980.”
The above I found online. So probably not accurate as to 2 am. But close enough.
Joyce Rodden has time of birth for King Abdullah 5:23 am. A rating. And Prince Hamzah as 2 am C rating. Which would put each one with a Capricorn ascendant.
Thanks. That is v helpful. Have amended Abdullah
@Marjorie, Saudis are always going to play two or more sides. Mean while, Queen Noor is retweeting accusations of Jordanian justice of a cover up.
I don’t know, but I think Hamzah might have trickered something they don’t really understand by relying on popularity of King Hussein among tribes. Jordan has a very young population that has almost doubled since King Hussein died. There are almost 2 million Syrian refugees still in country, but many are younger, urban population. They might not feel as strongly about their tribal roots Hamzah hopes. I may have mentioned this, but literally the only “foreign” kids at my high school in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s were half Jordanian. And while their father was still adhering to tribal culture despite being married to a Westerner (and they divorced later), only one of the sons seemed to want to keep up most traditions.
Hmmm, I think it might be helpful to include Queen Noor’s chart here. While she may not be directly involved, I think that a lot of what’s happening now can be traced to King Hussein’s marriage to her. King Hussein’s “private life” may not have been messier than that of many Arab Monarchs, but it was more visible due to Hashemite Queens and Princesses having had public roles since his mother Zein Al-Sharaf’s times in the late 1940’s.
Therefore, people following Middle Eastern affairs always new there was tension in particular between King Hussein’s children from his second wife, Queen Muna nee Antoinette Gardinier, and his “final” family with Queen Noor. In fact, Prince Hamzah was named Crown Prince by his father at his death over two older brothers, Prince Faisal who is King Abdullah’s full brother and Prince Ali with beloved Queen Alia, and apparently, this hasn’t gone unnoticed by larger Hashemite family. An ex-wife to King Hussein’s brother Muhammad, Princess Firyal, took this to Twitter, where she accused Queen Noor and her offspring of “blind ambition” and essentially called Hamzah a spoiled brat. It’s hard not to agree, given how much Hamzah’s position is result of the very corruption he claims to fight.
Agree its much wider than Hamzah who does seem to have delusions of grandeur. What intrigues me – and time will tell – is where Saudi Arabia, despite rushing out releases to support Abdullah, fits in. Two of the senior aides also arrested both had strong connections to Saudi. And Abdullah’s relationship with the bullying MBS is more troubled than with Hamzah. The FT suggests that the Saudis want to take over the Hashemite (Jordanian) custodianship of Jerusalem’s holy sites which they’d had since 1924. Will comment further when more emerges.