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Peace talks resume in Geneva



The Birth of Venus, by Sandro Botticelli c. 1485–1486.


Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his armed forces to withdraw from Syria and instructed his diplomats to step up the push for peace, as United Nations-mediated talks resumed in Geneva.Syria said President Bashar al-Assad had agreed on the "reduction" of Russian forces in a telephone call with Mr Putin, in a move that comes on the fifth anniversary of the conflict. In Geneva, United Nations mediator Staffan de Mistura warned the warring parties there was no "Plan B" other than a resumption of conflict if the first of three rounds of talks which aim to agree a "clear roadmap" for Syria failed to make progress. Mr Putin said at the Kremlin meeting he was ordering the withdrawal from Tuesday of "the main part of our military contingent" from the country. "The effective work of our military created the conditions for the start of the peace process," he said. March 15





The ingress of a planet into a new sign is always an important event in mundane astrology. On March 12, Venus entered Pisces, the sign of its exaltation.  A chart for the event at Geneva where peace talks have started is shown here. Notice that it is placed very prominently on the MC. Also on the Ascendant is the star gamma Columba of the peace loving dove.


Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, peace and reconciliation. Her Roman equivalent is the goddess Venus. She is identified with the planet Venus. In the most famous version of her myth, her birth was the consequence of a castration: Cronus severed Uranus' genitals and threw them behind him into the sea. The foam from his genitals gave rise to Aphrodite (hence her name, meaning "foam-arisen"), while the Erinyes (furies), and the Meliae emerged from the drops of his blood. Hesiod states that the genitals "were carried over the sea a long time, and white foam arose from the immortal flesh; with it a girl grew." The girl, Aphrodite, floated ashore on a scallop shell. This iconic representation of Aphrodite as a mature "Venus rising from the sea" [1].  In astrology  Cronus or Saturn represents authority figures whose task it is to establish law and order while Uranus stands for renegades or rebels bent on overthrowing that order. Therefore, the image of Venus, the goddess of peace, being born when Saturn castrates Uranus is so beautifully appropriate!





In addition, a chart for the First Quarter Moon at Geneva has a T-square on the horizon axis. Here the Moon is conjunct  beta (β) Columba, Wazn, a star on the back of the Dove, an ancient symbol of peace and reconciliation. 










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