Chinua Achebe – an Astro-obituary

Chinua Achebe born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe, (16 November 1930 – 21 March 2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic. He was best known for his first novel and magnum opus, Things Fall Apart (1958), which is the most widely read book in modern African literature. Set in Pre-colonial Nigeria, 1890s Things Fall Apart highlights the clash between colonialism and traditional culture. The protagonist Okonkwo is strong, hard-working, and strives to show no weakness. Okonkwo wants to dispel his father Unoka’s tainted legacy of being cheap and cowardly (feared the sight of blood). Rather than seem weak and feminine to the other men of the village, Okonkwo participates in the murder of a boy (entrusted to him as hostage) despite the warning from the old man and his own liking for the boy whom he had begun to treat as a foster son. In fact, Okonkwo himself strikes the killing blow as Ikemefuna begs his "father" for protection.

Regular readers are by now aware that the effect of eclipses lasts a very long time and that the central theme of the eclipse is carried forward and makes itself obvious in events that occur on days that it is activated. We will see that in the life of Achebe born on a day when the lunar eclipse of April 13, 1930 (above) was activated.

From the chart of the eclipse we recognize  that it is very powerfully placed on the horizon axis forming a Grand Cross with Saturn-Uranus-Pluto.

Saturn-Uranus: a conflict between the old and the new; between change and resistance to change;  buildup of problematic tension within an overly confining, rigid, closed, or outmoded system until there is a sudden unexpected breakdown or collapse.

Uranus-Pluto :  intense acceleration of the pace of change;  intensified cultural ferment,  increased social and political turmoil

Saturn-Pluto : cultural crisis and transformation that ends an age of relative security, innocence, or naïveté  that divided the world into simplistic good versus evil categories.

With the key phrases from Richard Tarnas [1]  describing the zeitgeist of Saturn-Uranus-Pluto periods, we can see that the title of Achebe’s magnum opus was very appropriate.

Progressing the eclipse chart to 16 November 1930, Achebe’s birthdate, we find that the Grand Cross is once again on the angles activating the eclipse theme.

So let us now look at the eclipse chart in more detail.

The eclipse Sun  [22°Ar35] is conjunct the star Acamar [22°Ar17]

Theta (θ) Eridanus, Acamar, is a star in the River Eridanus often called The River of Life. Acamar, represents a stoppage  or a dam along the long and winding river and indicates a need for  a breakthrough or emergence from the belly of Cetus (the monster of collective human consciousness) and into a greater freedom of being. [2] 

Pluto [17°Cn28] is conjunct the star Castor [19°Cn16] of sidereal Gemini associated with intellectual communication and therefore the star of a writer.

Pluto transits  define generations. Pluto was in Cancer from 1913 to 1938. The generation born during these years (which saw the Depression and two World Wars) was fiercely protective, security-conscious, and nationalistic. These are deep Cancer traits, along with its sentimental focus on home and family [3]....and of course on culture and tradition.

The Shadow of Pluto in Cancer. Under the umbrella of face saving silences, horrors multiply. Keeping the dangerous world outside the shell allows what is inside to fester, to grow strange and unnatural. Privacy (tradition) is a delicious luxury, but too much of it can potentially rot the human spirit, rendering it immune to the stabilizing, corrective influences of social interaction. Should these darker aspects of Pluto-in-Cancer’s passion for safety breed monsters, where will they reside? Where should we seek them? In Cancer territory! [5]. The home ..in tradition and culture. 

Saturn [11cp50] is conjunct the star Nunki. According to Ptolemy it is of the nature of Jupiter and Mercury [Robson*, p.180.]. A  star of the nature of Jupiter-Mercury  is indicative of an authoritative orator [or writer] .  [The Living Stars, Dr. Eric Morse, p.95-96.]

Uranus [11°Ar59]  is conjunct the star Alderamin [11°Ar48].  

The theme of the star, Alderamin conjunct Uranus appears in Achebe’s story in the character Okonkwo, who instead of rescuing his foster son strikes the  killing blow as   Ikemefuna begs his "father" for protection.

Alderamin, the Alpha star of Cepheus, is the right shoulder of King Cepheus, father of the Royal Family and Princess Andromeda, often portraying one in an authoritative position. With afflicted alignments, Alderamin can expresses as denial, avoidance, or turning one's head from dealing with the manipulative power plays causing our or other people's entrapment with a flippant attitude to do anything about them. Here we can live in submission to manipulative forces rather than to stand up for self and for those unjustly held in bondage, even when it is our responsibility to do so. [4]

[1]http://www.cosmosandpsyche.com/pdf/cosmosandpsyche/ArchaiWorldTransits.pdf

[2] http://www.lunarplanner.com/LunarMonths2007/lunarmonth.07.04.17.html

[3]http://www.astro.com/astrology/in_dg_pluto_e.htm

[4]http://www.lunarplanner.com/Uranus-Pluto-Square/index.html

[5]The Book of Pluto, Steven Forrest (p.159)