The Ones” and the Fate of Societies

Mehmed the Conqueror 

When I examine the natal charts of famous people in the history, I think about the relationship between those mighty people and the fate of the societies they live in. Some of those people are really intuitive about the fated mission they undertake. They do their best to realise that fated mission in an obsessive way. 

Mehmed II, the 13^th ruler of the Ottoman Empire, also known as Mehmed the Conqueror is an important example to such people. Being a lover of Istanbul, Mehmed II even played games on Istanbul when he was a child. Growing up with the spirit of a conqueror, he planned to conquer Istanbul when he ascended the throne in 1451 after the death of his father.  He said “Either I conquer Istanbul or it takes me!” He was so determined that he could even risk death. Istanbul, being besieged for twenty-two times before it was conquered, was heralded by Muhammed the prophet with the one of his hadiths: “Verily you shall conquer Constantinople. What a wonderful leader will he be, and what a wonderful army will that army be!” Mehmed II knew that he was the one to realise this ideal.

Could we see the astrological source of Mehmed II’s strong intuition and his obsessive decisiveness about the conquest of Istanbul? It is stated that Mehmed II was born in Edirne Imperial Palace in Edirne in March 30 1432 by the sunrise.^[1] Through my rectification studies, I confirmed the time of birth as 05:27AM. (Figure 1)

Figure 1

For erecting the chart for Istanbul, I used the date May 11 330 which was the day Empire Constantin made this city the capital of Roman Empire and announced it with an official notice. As the official opening of the city, I used the time 04:00PM[2]which I also believe it is accurate.  (Figure 2) 

Figure 2

When we place these two charts in a bi-wheel configuration, as Istanbul’s chart in the inner wheel and Mehmed II’s chart in the outer wheel, and make a comparison we may easily see all the things fall into place. (Figure 3)  The first thing that attracted my attention was that Mercury in Aries 19°in Mehmed’s chart was in conjunction with the North Node in the same degree of Aries in Istanbul’s chart. Nodes in astrology represent the karmic energies that we carry from the past to the future and the inevitable and fated events that we encounter.  

Figure 3

North Node represents the point where we should reach and what we should achieve in the future. As this is the chart of a city, North Node here may indicate the things that this city will face. In astrology, the words “conquest, to conquer and the conqueror” are related with Aries and its ruler Mars. So, this event is a fated one; an absolute destiny. On the other hand, it is not a coincidence that North Node in Istanbul’s chart has an exact conjunction with Mercury in Mehmed’s chart and a conjunction with a 1 degree orb with his Sun!   

Mercury is related with our mental processes, the things that keep our minds busy, our logical and judgement abilities and the things we keep thinking on. Based on this, retrograding Mercury may represent that the native would mentally be busy with the same issues and would keep rethinking the same things. We all know Aries is related with conquest. The conjunction between Mercury – which is in retrograde motion – in Mehmed’s chart with the North Node in Istanbul’s chart may explain why Mehmed II was so obsessed with the idea of conquering Istanbul, why he always think and even dreamed about Istanbul and made plan to conquer this city.

The conjunction between the Sun in Mehmed’s chart and the North Node in Istanbul’s chart almost indicates that he was the one to conquer the city! There is a weaker but an in interesting indicator, too: Mars, which represents Mehmed being the ruler of Ascendant, is placed in Taurus 10° and it is in conjunction with Vertex (fated encounters) in Taurus 9°in the chart of Istanbul.

There are other connections between these two astrology charts. For example;

–                     Nodes, Saturn and Neptune in Mehmed’s chart are in aspect with the Moon in Leo in Istanbul’s chart.

–                     Pluto in Mehmed’s chart is in conjunction with Venus and Jupiter in Istanbul’s chart in Cancer.

–                     Jupiter in Mehmed’s chart is in conjunction with Mercury and Mars in Istanbul’s chart in Gemini.

–                     Mars in Mehmed’s chart is in conjunction with the Sun in Istanbul’s chart in Taurus with a wide orb.

–                     Venus in Mehmed’s chart is in exact conjunction with Pluto in Istanbul’s chart in Pisces and in conjunction with a wide orb with Uranus.

All these connections show us that there are many fated links between Istanbul and its conqueror, Mehmed II!

Öner Döşer, AMA, MAPAI

AstroArt School of Astrology (ASA)

http://www.astrolojiokulu.com/eng/