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Autopsy of a bomb attempt

In a previous post we had a brief look into Claus Stauffenberg’s nativity and predictions for the time of the bomb attempt; let’s now study the day of the event, 20th July 1944. The bomb attempt took place inside the Wolfsschanze (Wolf’s Lair), Hitler’s military headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia (present day Poland).

From the astrological point of view, the day of the event is extremely interesting. The day started with a solar annular eclipse at 27º 22’ Cancer, which occurred at 7:43 AM, Berlin, local time. It falls very close to Hitler’s natal MC (1), which could be a sign of loss of power, but its effects are not strong enough to overthrow him, because it is not visible in Northern Europe.

Stauffenberg took a plane from Berlin to the Wolfsschanze, having arrived around 10 AM, to attend a military conference. In his briefcase he carried a bomb intended to kill Hitler. The device had a detonator that would take approximately ten minutes to activate the explosive. The conference started at 12:30 PM, some minutes before the Sun reached the MC; the Ascendant was 18º Libra, curiously enough, very close to Hitler’s Ascendant (2). A few minutes later Stauffenberg made an excuse to leave the conference, entered an empty room and armed the bomb. From that moment, he had ten minutes to place the bomb again inside the briefcase, re-enter the conference room, place the briefcase close to Hitler, in order to kill him, make another excuse to leave the room, and finally reach a safe distance to escape the explosion – a sequence of actions that only someone with nerves of steel could perform. In astrological terms, this ‘ten-minute window’ is exactly the time the Sun-Node conjunction takes to reach the MC. Claus Stauffenberg managed to do all this without raising suspicions, and then he waited at some distance, for he wanted to be sure that Hitler would die in the explosion.

The explosion: 20th July 1944, 12:42 PM (CEDT -2:00), Wolfsschanze (Wolf’s Lair), 54ºN04’46’’, 21ºE29’37’’, East Prussia (present-day Poland)

The bomb detonated at 12:42, right when the Sun-Node conjunction reached the MC. This configuration can easily be correlated with the concentrated power of a bomb and to its ‘public’ nature. It is quite appropriate that the conjunction occurs in a watery sign, because the bomb had a ‘liquid’ detonator (the detonating process was activated by the crushing of a copper tube and the consequent release of the acid contained within; it would take about ten minutes for the acid to corrode the metal blocking the firing pin to hit the percussion cap; once released, the pin would hit the cap and the bomb would explode).

The chart has 20° Libra rising and the ruler, Venus, is in fiery Leo, a feral sign, in the 10th house of public actions, suggesting a high profile and uncontrollable event. The Moon is also in the 10th, and applying to the conjunction of Venus which rules both the Ascendant and the 8th house of death.

The explosion destroyed the conference room and mortally wounded three officers and the stenographer; Hitler survived, having suffered only minor injuries. But outside the building, at a distance, Stauffenberg heard the explosion and assumed the Fuehrer was dead. He immediately decided to drive to Rastenburg airfield, and from there take the plane back to Berlin. During the trip to Rastenburg two major changes occurred in the astrological configurations. At 12:49 PM the Moon entered Leo; as the Moon rules the MC in the chart of the explosion it can be seen as the leader (Hitler) moving away from danger (combustion, the explosion); between them is the North Node, a benefic, which can be interpreted as a protection. Two minutes later, at 12:51 PM, the MC moved from Cancer to Leo; this also suggests a change of scene. These two occurred right after the detonation when the military managed to rescue Hitler (only slightly wounded, but considerably shaken) from the debris and move him into a more secure place – therefore we have the leader, signified by the Moon, moving away from the explosion (the Sun) and going into another room (new sign).

Stauffenberg’s aeroplane took about two hours to reach Berlin, and during that time the Ascendant changed from Libra to Scorpio (at 01:38). So now Mars rules the Ascendant and Venus rules the Descendant, which is the opposite of the chart of the explosion. This suggests a significant shift in the balance of power; it corresponds to the period when the Nazi leaders at Wolfsschanze regrouped for the counter-attack.

The plane landed in Berlin around 3 PM, and Stauffenberg immediately phoned to the Bendlerblock, the centre of the military resistance. He victoriously announced that Hitler was dead, but in turn was confronted with contradictory reports, saying that the Fuehrer had survived. By that time Mars, the ruler of the new Ascendant, is culminating, pointing to the rise of a new, aggressive power. From that moment on, the plot follows a hesitant and disruptive path, with some conspiritors implementing Operation Valkyrie in certain parts of the country, and others demanding a clear confirmation of Hitler’s death, and eventually changing sides; this lack of cohesion ultimately led to the failure of the plan.

By 7 PM the situation reached another critical point: Hitler had already recovered enough to talk on the telephone, confirming that he was alive. He ordered his troops to surround and seal off (but not to invade) the Bendlerblock, in order to regain control of the situation in Berlin. The corresponding astrological movement occurs in the MC, as it changes from Libra into Scorpio, (at 7:05 PM), thus placing Mars again in control.

Inside the Bendlerblock the situation had completely gone out of Stauffenberg’s control. He and three other conspiritors were rushed to the courtyard outside the Bendlerblock and executed by a firing squad at 00:10 AM of the 21st. The execution was hastily ordered by General Friedrich Fromm, which was intended to cover his participation in the plot (a vain effort, as he was exposed and executed a few months later).

The execution: 21st July 1944, 00:10 AM (CEDT -2:00), Berlin, Germany

At the moment of the execution, the Ascendant was at the beginning of Taurus, which is remarkable, because in the attempt chart this sign is on the 8th cusp. The situation set in motion by the bomb, is now coming to a conclusion; the possibility of death (the 8th cusp in the attempt chart) is now emerging (the Ascendant in the execution chart). In addition, all the planets that culminated by the time of the explosion are now in the 4th house, the lowest point of the chart, signifying the end of things.

The opportunity to overthrow Hitler was gone; he was to remain in power for another ten months, until his defeat by the Allied troops.

Helena Avelar

(1) Adolph Hitler’s chart was originally set for 18:30, according to the time given in his birth certificate, and it was later rectified for 17h58, by Wilhelm Wulff; in any case, the MC would vary between 04º Leo and 26º Cancer, therefore not very far from the eclipse.

(2) According to the time registered on his birth certificate, Hitler has 26º Libra Ascendant; Wulff’s rectification pointed to 20º Libra.

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