Needlepoint Warfare and the Profection of Venus

Needlepoint Warfare and the Profection of Venus

During France’s annual musical festival, held on 21 June 2025, the day of the Summer Solstice in the northern hemisphere, 145 people were pricked with syringes. News outlets throughout the world reported it as a bizarre phenomenon attributed to the rise of malign actors on social media, one that began in 2022 and has since spread across Europe.

The national music festival, attended by millions in nearly every city of the country, was the target of these attacks. Fourteen people were arrested, most of those targeted were teenage women, and it remains unclear whether there was anything toxic in the syringes. Based on previous incidents of this nature, the likelihood of a toxic substance is low, though French health officials are conducting due diligence by testing victims’ blood, saliva, and other samples.

Regardless of toxicity, a more serious health threat remains–unclean needles. It is unclear whether any of the needles used in the attacks were recovered, and determining their cleanliness is virtually impossible. Being attacked via syringe may seem bizarre, even dismissable, but it may also be one of the most violent assault methods imaginable. It verges on biological warfare, even if the syringes contain nothing, because a dirty needle can introduce bacteria, disease, or viruses directly into the bloodstream of an otherwise healthy individual.

Unfortunately, though understandably, the news of this large-scale syringe attack in France was overshadowed by reports that the U.S. had dropped three bunker busters on Iran in an effort to eradicate its nuclear program. Both events occurred on the same day, and the escalating war between Israel and Iran in the Middle East took priority.

That the attack in France was overshadowed by a geopolitical crisis is understandable both because of the nature of geopolitics and because of what France’s own chart reveals.

The profected 1st house of France for 2024-2025 (which France is in, since the year doesn’t turn until 6 October 2025) is the natal 7th house, placing Libra on the Ascendant and making Venus the Time Lord for the year.

Venus resides in the natal 6th house, alongside the Sun and a combust Mercury. Pluto is also in the 6th, though in Virgo, as France’s 6th house spans a wide range. What matters most is that the natal 6th, which governs public health. is the profected 12th house for the year.

The 12th house, in mundane astrology, rules prisons, criminals, and secret enemies, while the 6th house governs public health. So, when the 6th house profects into the 12th, public health becomes the domain of a covert threat, a fusion that manifested physically during the Solstice festival.

What helps explain the nature of the attack, via syringes, is the tight conjunction between natal Pluto in Virgo and transiting Mars in Virgo, applying at just 1°17’ on the day of the festival. Mars in Virgo already expresses through practical precision, efficiency, and honed execution. In the context of public health, there is no more exacting weapon than a needle.

France’s Virgo Pluto in the 6th has long defined the country’s national relationship to healthcare: rigorous, methodical, and renowned for its systematized excellence. As of 2023, the World Health Organization declared France to have the best healthcare system in the world. According to the Center for Restorative Breast Surgery, “France has more doctors per capita than the U.S. and more hospital beds. The French are not shy about visiting the doctor, making about eight visits per year compared to five in the U.S. They take more pills and receive more injections than Americans.” Health insurance is publicly funded through nonprofits, patients cannot be denied care for pre-existing conditions, and everyone 16 and over must carry a Carte Vitale and be enrolled in a public health fund. It is an exceptionally meticulous and well-organized system.

That meticulousness, the public nature of funding, and the cultural willingness to engage with medical infrastructure all point clearly to Virgo Pluto in the 6th. And in most charts, that is one of the more constructive placements Pluto can take.

But in a year when the 6th house becomes the profected 12th, and Mars comes into a tight conjunction with Pluto in Virgo, public health becomes the avenue for criminal activity. The 12th house is the house of criminals. The 6th is the house of public health. With two malefics in tight conjunction (Mars, the Lesser Malefic, and Pluto, which many modern astrologers consider the most severe) in Virgo, the sign of surgical precision and methodical action, it is no surprise that criminal activity was expressed through an attack using syringes.

Overshadowed News

The same profection–natal 6th as profected 12th house–is responsible for the overshadowed nature of the news concerning the attacks in France. With natal Mercury combust in Libra in the 6th house, the debilitated Libra Sun (the Sun is in fall in Libra, making it express at its weakest point) receives just enough energy to ensure that, in good years, news about France’s healthcare system stays relatively balanced.

This shows when researching France’s healthcare system, as nearly every report begins by praising its efficiency and ends by noting the fiscal strain it endures. Great system, difficult funding. The scales of Libra balance. The Libra Sun ensures that France is known for its healthcare, while the combust Mercury metaphorically whispers in the Sun’s ear to ensure that the country's financial struggles in sustaining that system are also communicated.

The Libra stellium in the natal 6th (Venus, Mercury, and the Sun) keeps attention on the system’s efficacy, its comprehensive nature, and its elegant structural integration into France’s legal framework. Always, of course, with the fiscal caveat.

However, in years when the natal 6th becomes the profected 12th, any news about France’s healthcare system falls into shadow. The 12th is the house of exile. Even shocking events–like the attacks during the music festival–are overshadowed by other news stories. The 12th house cannot hold the public’s interest; attention naturally diverts away.

So instead of being horrified by syringe attacks across France on the Summer Solstice, the world watched as the U.S. dropped three bunker busters on Iran in an effort to destroy its nuclear program. Both events happened on the same day–the U.S. bombed Iran as over 100 people in France were stabbed with syringes at a music festival.

The destruction in Iran was, ironically, less structurally invasive than the syringe attacks in France. But the world paid more attention to Iran because of the region’s geopolitical volatility. The heightened tension between Israel and Iran has everyone on edge. The U.S. acted without congressional approval (a contentious issue in itself), but the bombs caused no injuries or fatalities.

In contrast, the syringe attacks in France caused 145 casualties. No one died, but the number of people physically harmed was greater. Yet what did the news report more thoroughly? The destruction in Iran. If the attacks in France were mentioned at all, it was as an afterthought to Middle Eastern instability. Nevermind the fact that, when you consider the implications, the attacks in France are far more terrifying than three delayed-fuse bunker busters dropped on a military site.

Ironically, both were precise, surgical strikes. The bunker busters were engineered to pierce the Earth’s surface and detonate deep underground. The attacks in France were carried out with needles, tools of pinpoint precision. Both attacks demonstrate the kind of calculated destruction a Mars in Virgo transit can cause.

Saturn’s Influence

France’s natal Saturn is in Sagittarius in the 9th house, indicating a structured approach to education and philosophy. This aligns with France’s historical reputation for intellectual rigor and educational elitism. The system claims to reward merit but often functions as a prestige network built on social ties.

In mundane astrology, the 9th house also rules legal systems. France’s is rooted in Civil Law rather than Common Law (as in the U.S.), meaning case precedents hold little sway. Instead, law is interpreted through codes on a case-by-case basis. France’s legal hierarchy is also shaped by its EU membership, though the French Constitution remains supreme.

In France’s 2024–2025 profected chart, natal 9th house Saturn profects into the 3rd house. In mundane astrology, the 3rd rules media, transportation, and neighboring states. When the house of law and philosophy becomes the profected house of media, news cycles naturally center on legal and educational themes.

On the Summer Solstice, when millions flooded France’s streets for the music festival, that symbolism became literal. People crowded the roadways, and the news focused on legal fallout from the syringe attacks. Much of the footage centered on street-level chaos.

These same outlets emphasized that the attackers were “malign actors” likely inspired by social media. Though the surface critique targets the platforms, it also indirectly questions how people use social media for educational purposes, again tying the 9th and 3rd together. As such, it is a clear example of profected 9th house Saturn manifesting through 3rd house themes.

But Saturn’s influence wasn’t only natal. It was also transiting in Aries, its sign of fall, on the day of the attacks. Saturn in Aries cannot hold structure. It does not limit action. It fails to enforce order. It is in its most debilitated state.

In France’s chart, Aries spans the end of the 12th house and the beginning of the 1st. On June 21st, Saturn in Aries was transiting the natal 12th. That 12th begins in Aquarius, runs through Pisces, and ends in Aries.

Some astrologers would label Pisces intercepted because it doesn’t touch a cusp. I do not. In my experience, houses with multiple signs blend those signs. The sign with the widest span expresses most strongly, unless the other signs are occupied.

France’s 12th has no planetary placements, which means it expresses the combined logic of its three signs. Aquarius contributes around 2 degrees, Aries roughly 20, and Pisces the full 30. This gives the 12th house a Piscean core, filtered through Aquarian and Arian overlays.

In mundane terms, the 12th rules hidden enemies, prisons, and sabotage. France’s emphasis on technological secrecy and export controls (such as on quantum conductors) falls squarely into the Aquarian zone. So do espionage scandals, especially its strained intelligence relations with the U.S.

Pisces dominates the house, though. It manifests through France’s artistic ethos, its empathic social structures, and above all its approach to public health infrastructure–especially its harm reduction network.

Pisces is often linked to substance abuse, and France’s harm reduction network serves as a rehab model based on empathy and access. It offers widespread availability of opioid maintenance medications like methadone and buprenorphine. Its harm reduction network includes hospitals, treatment centers, sleep clinics, and clean needle exchanges.

France adopted this approach, modeled after the Swiss system, following the heroin spike of the 1970s and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s–1990s that exposed the lethal risk of dirty needles. Unlike the punitive U.S. model, France’s system acknowledges the loneliness beneath addiction, and its rehab network tries to restore social connection.

That entire harm reduction model illustrates the full 12th house blend. Aquarius gives the technological infrastructure, Pisces provides the empathy, and Aries delivers the initiative. France’s harm reduction network is very active, even deploying mobile harm reduction units into under-resourced areas.

This makes Aries Saturn’s transit through that house all the more volatile. The house of hidden enemies was already profected into the 6th (public health), and the 6th into the 12th. Saturn, unable to contain anything, failed to hold the line. The very technologies France uses to protect public health became the weapons used against it.

Add to this the conjunction of transiting Virgo Mars with natal Virgo Pluto–now profected into the 12th–and all of Saturn’s usual containment fails. The attack was carried out with surgical precision, using the very objects that symbolize the integrity of France’s healthcare system.

This same Aries Saturn formed a tight sextile to natal Gemini Mars and a tight opposition to natal Libra Venus.

Gemini Mars is in the natal 2nd house, which profects into the 8th, the house of public mortality. Though Mars is peregrine in both Gemini and Virgo and lacks strength, its square with transiting Virgo Mars still acted as a check. It allowed action but prevented escalation. That square may be one reason the attacks resulted in casualties but no deaths.

The nation’s resources (its 2nd house) were turned against its health system. But the fatal line was not crossed, in part because the 2nd house profected into the 8th–and because of the square between transiting and natal Mars.

The opposition from Aries Saturn to Libra Venus also played a role. Venus, dignified in Libra and ruling that sign, overpowered the fallen Saturn. Saturn could not suppress, but Venus could still balance. She held the system just steady enough to prevent collapse.

This chart demonstrates what astrologers often forget: tense aspects, especially when involving a fallen planet, can just as easily prevent catastrophe as cause it. When pressure is applied precisely, even squares and oppositions, in certain configurations, can be surprisingly beneficial.

Conclusion: Venus’s Gracious Rule

As the Time Lord of the Year via annual profections, Venus prevented what could have become an unparalleled public health disaster from escalating. Transiting Aries Saturn may have tried to sap her strength, but Venus rules Libra, the sign where she resides in France’s chart.

Because Venus rules Libra and governs the profected 2024–2025 year, she maintained her power even when profected into the 12th house. She held firm against the opposition from transiting Aries Saturn, who moved through the profected 6th (natal 12th), while Venus stood her ground in the profected 12th (natal 6th), keeping Saturn’s fall from becoming the fall of France’s public health system.

She also helped contain the impact of the Virgo conjunction between transiting Mars and natal Pluto by restricting the attack to weapons appropriate to the profected 12th: needles.

The trine between transiting Aquarius Pluto (natal 11th, profected 5th) and natal Libra Venus further limited the scale of damage. In mundane astrology, the 11th rules the public and the 5th rules entertainment. The trine channeled the Mars-Pluto conjunction through a precise setting: a public entertainment event, France’s national music festival.

Despite being profected into the 12th herself, Venus kept the event from vanishing into 12th house obscurity. Her trine to Aquarius Pluto ensured the attack wasn’t hidden, wasn’t buried, and wasn’t dismissed outright. Ruling from the shadows, Venus still pulled France back toward the light.

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