Mariupol, a strategic city on the coast whose seizure would allow Russian forces to travel between Donbas region and Crimea has been a key target in Putin’s assault. Despite the overwhelming superiority of the encircling Russian forces, Ukrainian soldiers holed up in the Azovstal steel mill, the last outpost of Ukrainian resistance, have refused to surrender. They are living in appalling conditions in the basement, along with a number of civilians. A medical worker in the plant said on a video. “We are out of time. I don’t know if I have a tomorrow. People are dying in my hands from infected wounds because there are no antibiotics, some from hunger.”
It is assumed Putin wants his forces to secure Mariupol in time for Victory Day on May 9th when Russia celebrates the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany.
Some civilians have been evacuated but Russian forces targeted Ukrainian troops helping to rescue them. And the defenders have so far refused several ultimatums to surrender, saying they do not trust the Russians to respect their rights as prisoners of war.
The steel works were founded on 2 February 1930 and unsurprisingly both the Mars and Solar Arc Mars are under extreme pressure this year. The natal Mars at 26 Capricorn will be back under a trapped, high-risk, cornered conjunction from tr Pluto from this August but it effectively overshadows this year. Plus the Solar Arc Mars at 28 Aries is catching the tr Pluto square exactly now till June and on and off till late 2024. Plus tr Uranus is conjunct the Solar Arc Sun exactly now and on and off into early 2023.
Which doesn’t tell us much since even if Putin dematerialised overnight the damage would be considerable and take years to repair.
Ukraine see previous post April 11 2022
What I find most disturbing in all of this is that we now get to witness the death in slow motion of the people still holed up in this complex. That they are asking how to survive without water now means that they have only a matter of days left, irrespective of the bombardment. It is positively medieval what is happening there. I have decided to put my news consumption on pause for a while to preserve my sanity and my humanity. Plus it is hard to know if anything we hear via the media is true. The first casualty in war…
Two thoughts, oh ye opinionated ones. Firstly none of us who live a distance away are in any position to judge the reactions of those who are closer at hand and have a sharper sense of the appalling reality their neighbours are facing.
What many of us regrettably do after a while is sag from compassion fatigue and switch off. So no I don’t agree that tuning into the grief of the suffering is in any way questionable.
Indeed in psychotherapy being ‘in the moment’ with the human being in pain is the essence of the healing process. That demands that the listener has the emotional depth and strength to share their torment. Regrettably many have neither the empathy nor the capacity to tolerate the horror and turn to denial as a way of making their own lives easier. It’s fake news, never happened, they’re lying.
“Is the truth destroyed because it distresses you?“ Euripides. Teiresias in The Phoenician Women.
“The fight against the obliteration of the story could only be won at the cost of the obliteration of the audience.” Dori Laub.
Witnessing trauma is hard.
Wise words Marina! Yes, matching someone’s grief helps neither them or yourself. It’s like getting sick to help the sick, or becoming poor to help the poor. Insanity!
Everyone seems to have an opinion about this war. Rarely do I hear someone tell the truth that they really don’t know anything other than what they read or see on the news or social media.
I’ll hold my hand up and say I know diddly squat other than what I read from others about it. I also admit I trust neither side to tell the truth and therefore what I am reading can only be a snippet of truth at best. All war is propaganda and so the Pisces weather is perfectly suited for yet another conflict.
@Sj, well, I personally know at least 5 people whose relatives woke up on sound of bombing morning of February 24th, and they were not in Russia. Claiming this is “all propaganda” is really offensive to them.
Overall, this kind of thinking is exactly what brought Putin in power. He never told Russians to “trust him”, but rather played on “trust nobody”. And Pisces isn’t an excuse for apathy, it’s an incredibly compassionate sign as well, and I know many Pisces Sun/Mercury/Venus who manage to be on the right side of the history from this perspective.
According to an article I read from France 24, Ukrainian officials claim all women, children, and senior citizens have been successfully evacuated from the Mariupol steel plant. That was encouraging to read…the article was written earlier today ( May 7)
@Chris Romero, originally came from a blogger in the area (surename Bereza, which is interesting given I mentioned another Bereza here, but maybe this a very common surname in certain part of Ucraine), and has been confirmed by Illia Ponomarenko of “Kyiv Independent”, who is well connected and has a history of verifying everything, for instance he did tell people sinking of Admiral Makarov reported by many yesterday wasn’t confirmed, so I tend to believe women, children, and elderly are out.
Wounded soldiers still in, though, and I think there were hundreds of them at one point.
Hello Solaia,
“https://kyivindependent.com/?cn-reloaded=1”
I follow it frequently during the week. Photos are quite vivid; no blurring out of faces or body parts.
I’ve been reading reports of more and more people being successfully evacuated from Mariupol. That’s been the most encouraging.
The Ukrainian people may not be able to keep control over the city, but as long as the civilians are able to get out on the end, that’s what’s most important.
Anothet astrologer I follow (she’s been covering Ukraine and Putin) did mention that the upcoming Lunar Eclipse on May 15, 2022 could have karmic results for Vladimir Putin – she did an entire video with Putin’s chart and explained piece by piece why she interprets it this way.
Interestingly enough, many English language newspapers and news sources from India such as WION, the Hindustani Times, etc. began reporting that rumors that Putin is expected to undo surgery for some kind of cancer and has apparently chosen someone to oversee the war in Ukraine for the time being. Mind you, the newspapers reporting all of this are from legitimate news sources….but this story hasn’t gone much further.
Also, Putin recently had to apologize to Israel after one of his officials made a comparison to Ukrainian resistance, the Nazis, and the Jews during WWII. The Russian Federation has very little support of Western nations at the moment- they cannot afford to infuriate Israel (who could easily become less neutral over this and start supplying Ukraine with weaponry and technology that Zelenskyy has been asking for).
Anyway, this other astrologer did her reading on Putin and the May eclipse back in March. She doesn’t predict a full scale self destruction of Putin but she does feel strongly enough that this is the beginning of the end for him and she doesn’t think the upcoming lunar eclipse is going to help matters.
Aside from the astrology, I also don’t see Vladimir Putin or the Russian Federation coming out the successor in all of this. Some experts have predicted a “stalemate” (similar to what we see with Israel and Palestine) at some point..but not an actual victory on Putin’s part.
One article I read recently discussed how NATO’S goal is to destroy the Russian military – and they appear to be succeeding in doing so (which is fine with me). Plus, the Russian Federation is experiencing a MASSIVE “brain drain” as over 200,000 plus educated and professional Russian citizens have fled the country and are now seeking asylum in Armenia, Georgia, Finland, and other nations throughout Eurasia. The numbers are not showing any signs of slowing down either- the Russian Federation is now experiencing a major shortage of doctors, computer techs, teachers, etc. as so many are leaving.
All in all, the astrologer who did the reading on Putin back in March did say she would post any follow ups she had in upcoming months. I need to go back and see if she’s added any further thoughts.
I am curious to see how things play out after May 15th.
@Chris Romero, Putin needing a cancer surgery was first reported by an anonymous Telegram account General SVR. Many legitimate intel people think this might, in fact, be an account of a retired SVR officer. It’s also clear from wording that if the supposed conversation between Patrushev and Putin took place, it would have been either Patrushev or a very close collaborator to leak it. Patrushev collaborators might have reason to do this, because he is a truly scary character, apparently nostalgic of Soviet Union. Some of the younger generation might not be as keen on Soviet nostalgia as he, and would prefer even Shoigu to take over.
@Chris, who is the astrologer who drew the Putin chart? What nationality? Thanks!
@Nicole, she’s an American astrologer and an astrology teacher. Her name is Evon Davis and she’s based in Colorado. She hosts a video blog on YouTube discussing a wide range of astrological events. I began following her in early 2020.
Evon Davis has become one of my main astrology sources along with Marjorie Orr, Paul Saunders, Jessica Adams, Nsncy Sommers, and Maxine Taylor.
@Chris, thanks so much. I find all this fascinating, but I’m so ignorant about the workings of astrology
Aside from transiting Pluto conjunct Mars, theres that Neptune in Pisces again bang on the Moon, and Jupiter has been passing over, amplifying all, and Uranus in Taurus squaring the Sun.
Just ghastly, and all because of one mans neurosises.
Always, all through history…
“And the defenders have so far refused several ultimatums to surrender, saying they do not trust the Russians to respect their rights as prisoners of war.”
I think they have a good reason to do so, given what happened in Ilovaysk in 2014. Encircled and surrended Ukrainian soldiers were promised a safe passage to Ukrainian held area, then fired upon by Russians. There is no overestimating on how consequential this happening has been for Ukrainian vision of this war, since Ukrainian commander in that battle, Yuriy Bereza became a prominant public figure in Ukraine.
Not to mention Azov Batallion commander, Denys Prokopenko’s background. Apparently, one of his grandfathers (might actually be great grandfather, given he Prokopenko is in his late 20’s) was from Eastern Karelia, and fought Winter War on Finnish side. Prokopenko himself has told in interviews his grandfather hated Bolsheviks and Russians for the rest of his life.
And I fully get why. Stalin’s terror in Eastern Karelia is not as well known as that in Ukraine, because the area was sparsely populated. But the 1936-38 purges were particularly vicious there, in Sandarmoh North of Lake Onega there’s a mass grave with 7000-9000 executed people – number still unclear, since the main researcher of the area was sent to prison on most likely bogus child pornography charges. Many would have been prisoners from other parts of Soviet Union or Finnish settlers, but educated Karelian and Finnish speakers were certainly not spared.
As many Ukrainian soldiers, Prokopenko wears a personalized badge on his combat uniform, and his is flag designed by Finnish artist Akseli Gallén-Kallela, to honor his grandfather.
Thanks Solaia, I really do appreciate your detailed knowledge as it’s so important to know and try to understand the historical roots and background.
Thank you, Marjorie. Yes, it’s a grim, agonising situation. There have been comparisons to the 1942 seige of Stalingrad. It’s haunting to see the videos posted online from the survivors in the bunkers: a Tatar Muslim doctor from the Crimea says that people are dying from their injuries with no medical supplies or antibiotics and pleads with Turkey to intervene. While under Russian attack, with shelling and explosions above ground, a young woman sings a Ukrainian anthem. Her handle is “Ptashka” (The Birdie), it’s hard not to weep when you see the footage of her singing in the darkness.
A Plutonian scenario if ever there was one — the Steel Works is built over a network of tunnels and bunkers, hence the Mercury/Pluto opposition in the foundation chart and it comes as no surprise to see that heavy Capricorn Mars has had its meeting with transit Pluto this year. I see also that the nodal axis was hit by the April 30th eclipse, so the coming weeks will be crucial. You can only hope and pray.
“While under Russian attack, with shelling and explosions above ground, a young woman sings a Ukrainian anthem. Her handle is “Ptashka” (The Birdie), it’s hard not to weep when you see the footage of her singing in the darkness.”
Yes, this particular clip broke me completely. I spent half an hour just weeping. But other videos of the defenders, too.
Stop watching them if you are doing it repeatedly, youre not helping them at all, or yourself. Neptune in Pisces can trick us into believing if we try to match their grief we are alleviating it in some way. See also, the Neptune in Pisces popular tweet, ‘thoughts and prayers’.