Quick Note on a Short War

By Sue Kientz

Early this month, the world nervously watched as neighboring nuclear powers India and Pakistan exchanged accusations, insults, and ultimately attacks against each other’s territories, deadly skirmishes that were kicked off when Islamic terrorists singled out and killed non-Muslims in India’s section of Kashmir.

But all-out war luckily didn’t happen. Why? Apparently, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wasn’t in a good position to challenge Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even as Sharif could credibly insist that he and his military had nothing to do with the devastating terrorist attack on mostly foreign tourists that took place on April 22.(1) Both leaders have remarkably similar natal astrology charts as they were born almost exactly a year apart, Modi on 17 September 1950(2) and Sharif on 23 September 1951.(3) Both had Sun, Mercury, and Venus in Virgo, and both had Sun conjunct Saturn. The key difference was, where transiting planets were for these two men.

At the time of India’s first retaliatory attack on Pakistan on May 7, Modi benefited from several extremely fortunate outer planet positions, with his Sun (23 Virgo), Mercury (24 Virgo) and Saturn (22 Virgo) transited by a square (90 degrees) from opportunistic Jupiter (22 Gemini) and a trine (120 degrees, very supportive) from Uranus (26 Taurus), representative of higher knowledge, perhaps indicating his government’s intelligence was superior to Sharif’s or Modi was more nimble in his decision-making. It’s also telling that Modi’s Sun/Mercury/Saturn is sextile (60 degrees) to his Mars (24 Scorpio), a remarkably helpful figure for a leader faced with a military response, especially with the transiting Uranus opposite (180 degrees) that Mars. Meanwhile, Sharif was under the heavy thumb of transiting Saturn (28 Pisces) directly opposite his Sun (28 Virgo), neutralizing him in some way. We will probably never know exact specifics, but we can guess that Sharif’s salvation had something to do with that Saturn opposition and transiting Venus (3 Aries) opposite and Pluto (3 Aquarius) trine his Saturn (4 Libra), the latter forming an Easy Opposition to his deepening troubles (Saturn: harsh reality), which suggests a possible “exit.” Reinforcing what looks like some extraordinary act of kindness (Venus) going on is transiting dwarf planet Haumea (1 Scorpio), symbolic of great change, healing, repairing something, is sextile Sharif’s Venus (2 Virgo), portending a powerful influence. We do know that while outwardly appearing to simply wish the warring prime ministers good luck with their crisis, the U.S. government acted behind the scenes, reaching out to both sides. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was able to broker a tenuous ceasefire by May 10 that finally stabilized by May 12. One might say that the neutralizing Saturn opposite PM Sharif’s Sun, was a government (Saturn), the steadying influence of the United States.

Title Image credit: Sue Kientz

Notes and References

1. Butt, R., “Nuclear rivals India and Pakistan step back from brink of war. Here’s a timeline of how it happened,” 12 May 2025, API, https://apnews.com/article/pakistan-india-tensions-timeline-kashmir-d43f29a59c31e2cf5e56c119aa098cb9
2.  Modi, Narendra, 17 September 1950, 9:35 a.m., Vadnagar, India; https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Modi,_Narendra
3. Sharif, Shehbaz, 23 September 1951, 7 a.m. used, Lahore, Pakistan; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shehbaz_Sharif

For more details about the angles or relationships between planets, see Lynne Hyde’s “Astrology Basics,” ANS, 12 November 2024, https://astrologynewsservice.com/articles/astrology-basics/