Beware Moon Square Mars in Taurus!

The Moon in Aquarius will shortly square Mars in Taurus, and I am reminded of a Moon-square-Mars-in-Taurus story. This is part of a larger list of astrological precepts of Abu Ma’shar that I am compiling from Lynn Thorndike’s 1954 translation of *Albumasar in Sadan.* Here is the story:

A group of travelers, including Abu Ma’shar, went to Baghdad, where they stayed with a friend of Abu Ma’shar’s who knew some astrology. The friend asked Abu Ma’shar about the Moon’s condition on the next day, when the group was scheduled to depart. Abu Ma’shar said: “The Moon will square Mars,” and his friend warned him not to leave that day, and instead postpone his journey. Abu Ma’shar said he did not plan to leave under such a malefic configuration, but the other passengers were eager to depart and would not listen. Abu Ma’shar and his friend told the other travelers the day for departure was unfavorable, and that they would feed their animals for the day to compensate them. But the other travelers were eager to go, so Abu Ma’shar stayed behind with his friend, noting that Mars in Taurus was rising just then, squaring the Moon in Leo. He once more attempted to convince them not to go, but they laughed and left.

Abu Ma’shar and his friend sat down to eat and drink, and while they were still at the table, some of the travelers returned. They had been attacked by robbers, who killed and beat them, and stole everything they could. The returning travelers who survived attacked Abu Ma’shar with sticks and stones, blaming him for their misfortune. Abu Ma’shar barely escaped and swore that he would never again “discuss the science of astronomy with the man in the street.”

Two lessons here: Don’t embark on dangerous journeys with Mars in Taurus in the Ascendant, as the Moon squares Mars, and don’t cast your pearls before the proverbial swine.