THE ASTROLOGY of POSITIONS, PERSPECTIVES, & METAPHYSICS
by Boots Hart, CAP

Friday, August 14, 2015

Special Edition: America’s 2016 Presidential Candidates


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With the United States now diving into its next round of presidential politics, debates, campaigns and the inevitable mud-slinging which goes with all such ... while some already have made their choice of candidate and others are as yet totally disinterested (it is, after all, yet over a year to Election Day), lots of people are simply saying ‘who are these people - like for real?’ as they scan a list of names.

As it happens, that’s the sort of question astrology is particularly helpful about, especially when you’re comparing apples to apples - as we are here, looking at one giant list of politicians.

So in the interest of providing a few facts to a citizenry which hungers for a few items one can hang their proverbial hat on, here at astroPPM we’re going to take a once-in-a-cycle look at this round's candidates from the astro-perspective. Since there is a wealth of candidates this election cycle - and they’ve hardly started debating, this isn’t any ‘inspect them down to the cellular level’ sort of look, of course. That’s the sort of thing we would look at after the general election ballot is set. Besides, there are people still noodling with the idea of running and thus far we only have five birth times across the whole slew of them - which for your purposes (as a reader of this epic recitation) means all of the horoscopes you’re going to be looking at will have been cast as Aries wheels - generic images of the zodiac wheel without house bias ... and they will also get pictured without the Moon, apart from those five cases where we know the actual time.

Why without the Moon for the others? As the Moon changes signs every couple of days it covers a good part of a sign every day. So for the sake of not generating false impressions, leaving the Moon out seems best where we have no time, though I will furnish the information on what two signs it may be in from chart to chart.

Also, for those prone to wondering what happens in the astrological world if someone we don’t have a birth time for gets nominated in the general, that I wouldn’t worry about much. Once we know who it’s going to come down to, if there is no time yet publically known, you may be sure some enterprising astrologer will go digging around until they find it and pass the information along, furnishing the source of the data as is the generally standard in professional astrological circles. In fact, someone is already moving in this direction as a petition has been posted at Moveon.org asking the US Congress to pass a law requiring presidential candidates to provide long form birth certificates as part of their ‘documentation of eligibility.'


Mind you, I have no idea if the person or people behind this petition even like astrology. But from one astrologist's perspective (mine), it might be a good idea. After all, it would prevent the use of ‘dirty data’ by astrologers hither and yon across the internet - which can only be good for all concerned.
 
In the meantime, we can do a bunch of other interesting things with the public data as it stands. After all, some things don’t depend on specific-time-of-day, so please accept this as a contribution from a (perhaps) not-so-local astrologer and an invitation to join in a romp through modality counts, possible elemental lacks, planetary patterns, eclipses and such. I’ve always found such things educational - maybe you will too. More than that, maybe it will help you sort through those ‘where are they coming from?’ questions We the Voters always seem to have (and which voters have likely been pondering since shortly after politics began!).

Beyond that, you may be interested to see how some patterns repeat from politician to politician. It’s quirky ... if also informative on the human front.

So with all that laid out, there remains only one disclaimer and one question to consider. The disclaimer is simply this: for any chart we don't have an exact birth time for, the degree and minute of planets may well be a tiny bit off. For instance, the Sun may be pictured at the end of one degree instead of the beginning of the next - which yes, is why astrologers want times of birth, and (also yes,) a very good reason to never do any full-scale, 'look under the rug' sort of dissecting of charts without a proper birth time.

(And if any of the candidates want to send me their birth time, I'll be very happy to accept it - just send a message via astroPPM on Facebook.)

As for the question, that would concern the always ‘political’ choice of how to order such a wild herd of candidate charts. Fortunately the answer is simple there: we're using the time-honored ‘alphabetical order, by last name’ convention - just like back in grade school.

Lastly, please remember: this is not a political post, even if it’s a post about people who happen to be politicians, starting with...

JEB BUSH

Jeb Bush (glyph chart)
 February 11, 1953 - 20 50 CST (+6) - Midland, Texas
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Jeb Bush (text chart)
 February 11, 1953 - 20 50 CST (+6) - Midland, Texas
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(Note: Jeb Bush has left the presidential race as of February 20, 2016)
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This is a horoscope for we do have a birth time. Thus we also have an Ascendant sign too – which is Virgo, a factoid I mention as the sign of Virgo often figures rather prominently in the charts of politicians, doctors, members of the military or civil service and others whose lives are about the embodiment of the health, work, service keywords so central to Virgo. So the reason we see Virgo in the charts of politicians is because they want to help people and serve their country – as opposed to those who want to ‘run’ everything (which may be a reference to structural Capricorn leadership attributes and may be a Scorpionic desire for control), the ‘cool beans’ types who simply like the rough-and-tumble of the Aquarian ‘politics game,’ or those who are into politics for the showy Leo applause of it all.

Ergo, score one for Jeb Bush in the help, work, service department with his earthy Virgo ascendant, but let’s remember – ascendants are what people ACT like, not who they ARE on the inside. Many a person in this world walks around acting like one thing when they’re really another – that’s the difference between ascendant and planets. 

Furthermore, with the positives of any rising (or ‘ascending’) sign come all the sign’s negatives – which with Virgo would be the nagging, the habit of criticizing first and praising eventually (maybe) and more than a little self-indulgence of the negligent kind. Moreover, being a calculated point (as opposed to a planet, which has mass) the ascendant of any chart represents the Now and that quality of ‘being in the moment’ which is so very hard to manage effectively on a 24/7/365 sort of basis – hence all those peculiar human foot-in-mouth moments.

So Jeb Bush has a Virgo Ascendant. But if that’s what he ‘acts’ like, what’s behind that? Well, he also has an air sign Sun (in Aquarius) and an earth sign Moon (in Capricorn), which adds up to an elemental combination which says Jeb Bush naturally thinks in ideas which will work both for individuals and for society ... which he then works at thinking how to apply in (earthy) reality. That the two ‘lights’ (the Sun and Moon) of his chart are both part of the last, and most worldly and ‘non-personal’ quadrant of the zodiac indeed marks Jeb Bush as someone who thinks most easily in global ‘big picture’ terms.
 
Here’s where thinking in terms of an ascendant can help. That Jeb Bush has a Virgo Ascendant tells us that ‘in the moment’ he will be willing to ‘do’ things (personally) which embody that help, work, service quality. It isn’t who he is, perhaps, but it is what he’s willing to do with who he is, as it were. To this we add the pluses of an Aquarius Sun: a willingness to think ‘systemically’ and inclusively of others when working to balance old and new in creating a system or synthesis which works for everyone. (There’s also the fact that Aquarius Suns tend to have a wacky sense of humor, but that’s another thing.) The negatives with Aquarius are where there’s a focus on one idea, one method, one goal or one opinion to the exclusion of others, a general tendency towards exclusion, ‘exclusiveness’ or the sort of ‘can’t see the forest for the trees’ perspective which rejects the ideas or individuality of others (in other words, who they are) with some sort of irony, hypocrisy or contradiction in evidence.

Of the ten ‘standard planets,’ six are in cardinal signs. So Jeb Bush is not a man who is hesitant about doing things (many and varied things), though with his Sun in the fixed sign (Aquarius) immediately adjacent to the sign his Moon is in (Capricorn), with that Moon being placed in a sign which tends towards moving too fast, we have the kind of semi-sextile by sign which can indicate stress, tension, turmoil, hesitation, indecision and various kinds of situations which produce both frustration and a need to work patiently through challenges.
 
Elementally (and again using standard planets), with Moon and Jupiter in earth, Sun, Saturn and Neptune in air, Mercury and Uranus in water and Venus, Mars and Pluto in fire there is a very even spread, suggesting someone who considers multiple factors and approaches. Against this, when we add in the major asteroids (Pallas, Vesta, Chiron and Ceres) plus today’s near-standard additions of dwarf planets Eris and Sedna and the lunar nodes, then Bush’s chart becomes far more cardinal, defining him as someone who ‘learns through doing’ and who would rather give something a try than try or do nothing because there’s no ‘guarantee’ of success.
 
Is Jeb Bush particularly duplicitous? When astrologers think in that direction, most of us look for connections between Mercury and Neptune, Neptune being the thing which ‘isn’t’ and Mercury being all about thought, communication, choice and priority. The various aspects between these two change by aspect nature and the signs involved, of course, but where thought, talk or choice meets the barrier dissolving, ‘that which is unknown’ quotient which is so Neptune we find the wonder of inspiration and imagination - and the ‘illusions’ of deceit, denial, delusion and lies.
 
Jeb Bush doesn’t have any aspects between this interesting pair, so he’s no habitual liar. With his Neptune conjunct Saturn in Libra, he does resort to some degree of ‘soft soaping’ on occasion, but with the ruler of Libra (Venus) in Aries, he’s not necessarily happy about any necessity to do so.

Saturn/Neptune connections are themselves noteworthy as this is another form of ‘fact’ (Saturn) meeting ‘fiction’ (Neptune). The challenge of this combination being more about reality versus non-reality, a possible lack of reality, the management of expectations and a need to ‘stay on schedule’ in one’s own life (which in Libra would add a ‘despite others’ quality), this is a combination known to need constant attention and a lot of internal discipline, fortitude and sense of proportion (i.e., lack of tendency towards excess).

When in square, Saturn-Neptune often manifest as problems with alcoholism and addictions, but as they are in conjunction in Bush’s chart that speaks not to addiction, but to a ‘dual edged sword’ which brings chances for (Neptune) altruism, idealism and an ability to ‘over-idealize’ factors (or one’s part) which affect one’s (Saturn) career and/or commitments (the Saturn career or commitment itself OR one’s ability to carry through on it effectively) as well as the willingness to stand for that which though not popular, is best.
 
As all of this occurs in the relationship and relating sign of Libra, all of this manifests through who, how and why Jeb Bush relates to others - in other words, through his choice of relationships, commitments, that he chooses to relate to (or to by rejecting, not relate to) and who he chooses to ‘be’ through this process. It’s sometimes a strength and sometimes a detriment or limitation - and that depends on his balance between realism and idealizing, as it does for everyone born under this conjunction every time it comes around.

Between now and Election Day 2016 we will see three eclipses: the September 2015 eclipse at 20 Virgo, the March 2016 solar eclipse at 18 Pisces and a 9 Virgo solar eclipse which will occur on September 1, 2016. Of these three, the 20 Virgo eclipse will hit Jeb Bush’s Ascendant, the 18 Pisces eclipse will hit his Descendant and the 9 Virgo eclipse will oppose Jeb’s Black Moon Lilith.

All of this denotes a very active and dynamic year - the kind of year one might expect from someone running for President of the United States. That last eclipse should be particularly interesting to all of us, in fact, as its ‘ripple effect’ lines up (time-wise) to be active through November’s Election Day.
 
Does the fact that all three of these eclipses tag Jeb Bush’s chart mean his is going to be one of the names on the 2016 Presidential ballot? Maybe. Astrologically, if these three eclipses hit Jeb Bush’s chart and none of the other charts on the candidate list, that would say a lot.

So let’s move on and look at a couple of those other charts and see, shall we?

BEN CARSON

Ben Carson (glyph chart)
September 18, 1951 - (no time) - EST +5 - Detroit, Michigan
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Ben Carson (text chart)
September 18, 1951 - (no time) - EST +5 - Detroit, Michigan
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(Note: Ben Carson has left the presidential race as of March 4, 2016)
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Ben Carson has a Sun in Virgo - the sign of ‘health, work, service’ which goes well with either a neurosurgeon or a politician. And though we have no birth time for this nativity, we do know that the Moon moved out of fire sign Aries into earth sign Taurus in the wee small hours on the day Ben Carson was born.

With that in mind, Ben Carson either has three or four (depending on his Moon) of five personal planets in earth signs, with the other one (or the other two, should his Moon be in Aries) in fire signs. And that, combined with his Saturn and Neptune in air and Uranus in water, describes Ben Carson at a most general level as someone who is pragmatic and oriented towards facts and concrete evidence (“proof”) in the best of earthy traditions ... while also being capable of various (Mars-driven) acts based on his theoretical understandings.

And as all of this - all of Ben Carson’s planets fall within two-thirds of the chart, the whole of that chart falls into a pattern known as a ‘locomotive,’ denoting great strength which is somewhat limited (as a train is by being on rails) in some fashion.

The ‘lead planet’ for this locomotive being Jupiter, we are told that Ben Carson will approach challenges with an aim to apply what he knows while learning from the challenge itself as he goes along. With this lead planet natally in square to Uranus, his approach, method, ability or attitude towards what he does may appear unusual, brilliant or radical ... even nonsensical to some.

Plus there’s some degree of possible additional conflict coming from Uranus being the sole planet in water, speaking to difficulties with/caused by avoidance of the feelings, values and emotionality of others. This can be purposeful and can be accidental. It can also make for difficulties where a consistent ‘connectiveness’ of an instinctive or emotional type is needed.

Then there’s Ben Carson’s Leo Pluto/Mars conjunction. On one hand it says he is (by now) used to facing tough challenges and sticky situations which require an ‘extra dose’ of personal confidence. Considered an indication of an intense nature and penetrating focus, Pluto-Mars in a person’s chart also points to the acquisition and/or possession of personal power, a need to interact with people in power and people who will challenge one’s power (i.e., “power struggles) and a variety of situations and personal confrontations with power as a transformative issue - which on a metaphysical level may represent a good part of why people with this configuration (and there are a plural candidates with this conjunction) are drawn to politics.

Getting back to Virgo, among the candidates, Ben Carson’s chart has more symbols in the Virgo polarity (i.e., Virgo and its polarity sign, Pisces) than others. His Nodes are positioned in Pisces and Virgo (Pisces being his North “should do” Node, telling us Ben Carson has to care on a visceral level, lest life cause him to care on a visceral and Piscean level) ... with his Venus (which is actually Venus-conjunct-royal-star-Regulus), Mercury and Sun on the Virgo side .... and Ceres-conjunct-royal-star-Fomalhaut on the North Node (Pisces) side, a configuration which speaks to success so long as Ben Carson ‘colors inside the lines’ and does things in a moral, ethical, responsible and universally caring manner.

This becomes more of a focus as we remember that the eclipse cycle is currently moving through Virgo and Pisces. So we know Ben Carson is in the middle of a several year period during which his relationships and relationship to life as a whole will be experiencing change whether he’s running for President or not. Moreover, there is much in metaphysics which suggests he’s doing a ‘metaphysically healthy thing’ (as any doctor and Virgo should do!) by purposefully focusing this dynamic period on something which merits its potential - such as being a presidential candidate.

And yes, there is ‘big energy’ flowing through Ben Carson’s life. The March 2015 solar eclipse at 29 Pisces opposed his 24 Virgo Sun, and the 2015 September solar eclipse at 20 Virgo will conjunct it, speaking directly to a change of life which involves ‘letting go’ of some previous ‘conception of Self.’

Then there’s the September 2016 solar eclipse (at 9 Virgo) which in conjuncting Ben Carson’s South Node and natal Mercury indicates a ‘reinventing’ of plans, thoughts and choices in advance of the national election. Something which seemed easy isn’t going to seem as easy any more.
 
Without a time of birth, we can’t really say what all this means, it’s certainly worth watching - and Ben Carson’s path through life is going to be taking some interesting turns in the months ahead, so stay tuned.

LINCOLN CHAFEE


Lincoln Chafee (glyph chart)
March 26, 1953 - (no time) - EST +5 - Providence, RI
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Lincoln Chafee (text chart)
March 26, 1953 - (no time) - EST +5 - Providence, RI
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(Note: Lincoln Chafee has left the presidential race as of October 23, 2015)

We don’t have Lincoln Chafee’s birth time, but he was born under the sign of Aries with his 5 Aries Sun conjunct a 7 Aries Eris, giving us to know that Lincoln Chafee is a person who will be often considered ‘unusual’ simply because he - like others born with this conjunction - have an uncanny ability to pose questions or represent/embody ideas (or quotients) which cause others to think about and see things differently - or to think about that which otherwise they wouldn’t consider.

And though without a birth time we can’t know the exact degree of Chafee’s Moon, we do know that if you were born in Providence, Rhode Island on the date Lincoln Chafee was, your Moon was somewhere in the second half of Leo. So his Sun and Moon are both in fire signs - as are Pluto, Pallas, Juno, the South Node, Eris and (last but never least,) Sedna. And though Lincoln Chafee does have planets in each of the other three elements (meaning he has no elemental lacks), fire is purely by count his strongest elemental ‘suit,’ describing Chafee as a man who has no lack of ability to imagine or envisioning what could be, or become useful.
 
Against this, with everything but Mercury, Ceres and Black Moon Lilith in signs fixed and cardinal, Lincoln Chafee is also described as a man willing to try and learn from results (the cardinal way) with some things while simultaneously internalizing information which ends up building a ‘repository’ of facts and opinions from which he makes decisions on what to do, how to do it and whether it merits doing at all.

With all the planets in his chart falling into two-thirds of the zodiac (leaving one-third of the zodiac unoccupied as far as planets are concerned) Lincoln Chafee’s chart pattern is defined as a ‘locomotive,’ meaning he’s generally self-determined and, once headed towards his goal is difficult to turn aside or stop, much as a train is. With this chart patterns also comes a bit of an issue with overcoming inertia either in the life of the locomotive native OR as pertains to whatever they are trying to get done.

The first planet in Lincoln Chafee’s locomotive ‘lineup’ (his ‘lead planet’) being Mercury, we know that it is ideas, conversations, things he reads, things Lincoln Chafee says, does and decides to build on which drives his man. We know his is an active mentality which with motivational Mercury in the mutable water sign of Pisces motivates differently than most, but his perspective is inexorable.

Apart from that, Lincoln Chafee has two interlocking planetary ‘pictures’ in his nativity. The first is a t-square which begins with Neptune-conjunct-Saturn in Libra, is challenged through themes associated with Chiron at 20 Capricorn (at the ‘t’ of the t-square) and which resolves and/or finds its goal in solutions typified by Sedna and Pallas in late Aries (maturation of perspective on one’s place/purpose in the world) which Lincoln Chafee will (to some degree) literally need to take on as only by ‘doing’ can he fully appreciate the importance of what he has done and come to learn.

The second planetary picture interlocks with the first through that Chiron at 20 Capricorn in that said Chiron is not only the apex of the first t-square (as we just discussed) but also one of the ‘limbs’ of a Yod.

And what is a Yod? A Yod is an astrological figure of ‘fate,’ indicating a lesson which the native is destined to confront, experience and master. Shaped like the capital letter “Y,” this Yod is ‘rooted’ with Pluto in Leo at its base, with one inconjunct (one side of the “Y”) focusing on Chiron in Capricorn and the other on Mercury in Pisces.

Yods are “solved” by finding the point which is half way between the ‘legs’ of the “Y,” that being the point opposite the base (in this case, Pluto). Thus we know Lincoln Chafee is destined to find some great solution through ‘facing’ and factors within the Aquarian realm of systems, energy, income, groups, organizations, friends, finance, politics and how all of this applies (or doesn’t apply) to the ideas of universalism-versus-individualism and freedom-versus-anarchy (this latter being a factor which is bound to be ever more of an issue as our planet/world moves into the Aquarian Age).

The bottom line here is that Lincoln Chafee’s challenges are described and challenging (if not plain old everyday difficult), with the achieving of same requiring that Lincoln Chafee alter his approach to things, particularly when working to harness interest and the power or potentials which go with that form of attention, scrutiny, focus, critique and support.

With regards to solar eclipses, the March 2015 eclipse at 29 Pisces semi-sextiled Chafee’s 1 Taurus Venus, speaking to a change in approach or application of resources. This process may or may not apply to events when will then take place around the time of the September 2015 solar eclipse at 20 Virgo, that being positioned to oppose Lincoln Chafee’s Mercury, providing some testing (and possibly testy) moments.

And that, in turn, will lead to a ‘turning of tables’ as the March 2016 solar eclipse at 18 Pisces conjuncts that same Mercury, clarifying some need to eliminate some old thought, plan or project which no longer works, or holds merit.

The last of the eclipses prior to the 2016 election - that at 9 Virgo in early September 2016 - aspects Chafee’s chart by conjuncting his Black Moon Lilith conjunct Terpsichore, speaking to a time when it’s difficult to know what’s right and when some old solutions are no longer practical in the face of current realities.

Whether any of this is about a setback or a success we can’t know without a birth time. But given all of the solar eclipse aspects to Lincoln Chafee’s chart, we do know he is in for an ever-changing year, one which is unlikely to end with his feeling like the same person he was going in.

CHRIS CHRISTIE


Chris Christie (glyph chart)
September 6, 1962 - (no time) - EDT +4 - Newark, NY
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Chris Christie (text chart)
September 6, 1962 - (no time) - EDT +4 - Newark, NY
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(Note: Chris Christie has left the presidential race as of February 10, 2016)
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As yet another of the nativities for which we have no birth time, we don’t know the exact degree of Chris Christie’s Moon. But we do know the Moon was in Sagittarius from midnight to midnight where he was born. And that, in combination with Chris Christie’s 13 Virgo Sun, gives Christie a natural Sun-square-Moon (by sign) quality, that being one which like all squares seeks to learn how to find balance in all things, lest various factors get out of hand, creating a problem, conflict or the kind of glitch which brings many an effort (or thought) to a halt.

People with Sun square Moon tend to be very outgoing and very private by turns. Often there will be situational challenges to these habits.

With both Sun and Moon in mutable signs, Chris Christie is person fully capable of tacking this way and that, finding his way forward while never losing sight of his goal - the comparison usually being to a sailboat which has maneuver to safe harbor despite changes of underlying currents and life’s ‘fickle’ winds. Some people will inevitably see this manner of mutable progress as evasion. And on occasion it may be just that. But that doesn’t negate the fact that all mutable people (that’s all the Geminis, Virgos, Sagittarians and Pisces people) find their way to their goals one step at a time, learning as they go.

It’s just their way.

That said, Chris Christie has planets in all three modalities - with a bit of a tip-of-the-hat towards mutable, including that Sun and Moon we just talked about. He also has planets in all four elements with an emphasis (if a fairly equal emphasis) on both earth (things tangible) and water (emotionality and all things which trigger emotions), the combination of which often manifests as a person who isn’t afraid to ‘get their hands dirty,’ either literally or figuratively, whether this means they dig ditches, bake cakes or participate in any form of activity or interaction which is less than purely savory.

Falling into a ‘locomotive’ chart pattern with a Mars in Cancer as lead planet, Christie ‘leads’ (others or himself) in an active, personally assertive manner reflective of Mars. And when he does that in a manner which reflects caring about people, culture and native traditions and a willingness to ‘grow’ that which must be done in order to foster eventual success, things are likely to go better than when Christie leads aggressively or in a headstrong manner. This is a Mars in Cancer challenge - Mars in Cancer always carries with it some possibility for ‘overages’ (excesses) or the triggering of responses due to a lack of nurturance or caring.

By way of natal planetary pictures, Christie has two. The first is a grand trine between that very Cancer Mars we were just thinking about, Neptune in Scorpio and Chiron in Pisces, a water sign grand trine which speaks to easily sparked feelings - both positive and negative.

As for that second ‘picture,’ that’s a magic rectangle whose ‘corner points’ are North Node/Ceres in Leo, Mercury in Libra, the South Node in Aquarius and Eris in Aries. Plus, these two separate pictures connect. How so? They connect through Neptune (part of the grand trine) being in the right spot to also be the apex of a t-square featuring those same lunar nodes which are part of the magic rectangle.

Why this matters is straight-forward astrology: magic rectangles are defined as planetary pictures which reflect some ‘good as gold’ quality or grace as part of one’s life which lasts until it gets ‘eclipsed’ or transited by outer planets. After that, it’s hard for the native to ‘fix’ things and return to their former status quo, in part because they didn’t build to work it to begin with. It was a gift, a grace ... it was just ‘magic.’
 
With regards to Mercury-Neptune, Christie’s Mercury is at 9 Libra, conjunct fixed star Diadem (‘the crowning glory’) and Apollo, an asteroid which carries a theme of enlightenment, music and truth. And with this Mercury in a semi-sextile with that Neptune we just talked about, that can be a bit of a pressure valve ... or a wiggle point. Christie’s Mercury + Diadem + Apollo points to ‘speaking strongly to truth’ and with Mercury being in opposition to opposition to Eris in Aries, Christie is always in his own strongest corner when working (fighting) to correct injustices - or when he’s carrying the banner (or the load) for the hapless, helpless or underdog.

And when he’s not, sometimes he can surprise himself with what happens.

This September’s 20 Virgo solar eclipse will not aspect Christie’s chart (that we know of, granting that we don’t have a birth time). Yet we do know that Chris Christie’s Scorpio Neptune was hit by a solar eclipse at 11 Scorpio back in November of 2013 - and that was in the wake of the September 2013 ‘Bridgegate’ fracas.

And that that eclipse, which would have destabilized both of Christie’s planetary ‘pictures,’ is set to begin ‘emerging’ from that 2013 eclipse beginning in early 2016 with next March’s solar eclipse at 18 Pisces - which conjuncts Chris Christie’s Sun.

It would seem to mark a period of general intense change and personal transformation.

We’ll have to see what happens.

HILLARY CLINTON

Hillary Clinton (glyph chart)
October 26, 1947 - 20 04 CST (+6) - Chicago, Illinois
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 Hillary Clinton (text chart)
October 26, 1947 - 20 04 CST (+6) - Chicago, Illinois
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(Note: Hillary Clinton has become the nomination of the
Democratic Party as of August 26, 2016)
 
Hillary Clinton’s chart is another of those for whom we do have a time - and thus an Ascendant - for. As a result, we can say with some assurance that her chart has a water sign (Cancer) Ascendant rising.

And that, in combination with her Pisces Moon in Pisces (by element, water) and Sun in Scorpio (again, water) means Hillary Clinton is astro-elementally a triple water sign.

Water sign people are sometimes thought of as ‘weak’ because water represents (among other things) the willingness to display emotion as part of the life process of learning. This is why all water sign people (and hence Hillary Clinton) attract emotionally evocative or provocative situations, people, challenges - and so on.

Water signs tend to give off an aura of something which can come off like “passivity” or “non-resistance.” Yet it’s an odd passivity and non-resistant quality which often makes others feel a wee touch wary.It’s as though they are aware of water’s ‘quiet’ power.

For instance ... If you your hand into a bowl of water, the water doesn’t resist. And when you pull your hand back out, within a few moments the water will still, appearing as though nothing had happened. Yet that same element, drop by drop can quench fire, destroying earth’s stable solidity by turning it into mud, wear stone away grain by grain ... and even affect air signs by being that which air often ‘binds’ itself to at an elemental (emotional, instinctive) level, creating a ‘fog’ through which the air sign native can’t see ... yet which ends up betraying their airy ‘movements’ (Read: attempts to escape).

This also brings up the ‘up’ side of charts heavily weighted to one element. When such a chart is found (as with a unified Sun-Moon-Rising in any element), that quality or elemental force (in this case, water) that quality can be used by that native as ‘a force of nature’ and felt as such by others in their nature.

So what’s the ‘down’ side? The ‘down’ side of a chart heavily weighted to any one element is how the native tends to rely too much on that quality to the exclusion of other ‘approaches’ - or conversely, how through their attempt to ‘prove’ they are anything but that, they fall into some ‘shadowy’ (negative) elemental habit. (Negative here meaning non-productive or negative in the native’s life, not depending on whether others like it or not.)

Water: feelings, memory, money (especially business money), instinct, habit, fluidity.

This situation can become more complicated if (say) there’s another element which also has some sort of planetary emphasis - as it does in Hillary Clinton’s chart, as she also has an emphasis in imagination-vision-oriented fire.

Fire: imagination, vision, energetic potential

On the other hand, she also has an elemental lack, as Hillary Clinton’s natal horoscope has no earth (which given earth’s ‘tangible’ or ‘concrete’ elemental nature makes it small wonder people keep asking her for tangible ‘proof’ of this or that.) Sometimes an elemental lack is a difficulty we express through not caring. Then again, sometimes people place an extraordinary effort to ‘prove’ their worth in whatever realm that lack points to, or when we ‘play’ on that field. Or sometimes others just ‘poke’ that lack because they perceive it as an elemental lack, whether it’s a lack to one’s life or ability or not.

Beyond that, sometimes they’re a good thing simply because elemental lacks tend to show us where, why and what people do what they do as they do it ... plus they create a ‘soft spot’ for alliances (as the native seeks to ‘fill that lack’) which makes them a natural ‘team player’ ... which is sometimes good and sometimes bad, as we all know.

As for modalities (the manner of how one goes about their business), though with a mutable (Pisces) Moon Clinton may sometimes appear ‘soft,’ indecisive or incapable of holding her own, with six of ten standard planets (plus the lunar nodes) in fixed signs (and much of that in Scorpio), indecisiveness is not an issue. Whether ice cold or molten hot, Scorpios are masters of personal interaction and endurance, and they often win more as pressure(s) increase simply because as pressure increases, so does their focus, fueling that famous Scorpio patience, tenacity and insight which tests the Scorpio willingness to build alliances based on differing abilities and aims so that everyone ‘wins’ equally - in the terms they define as winning.

Clinton’s chart pattern is that of a locomotive, speaking to a lot of strength which takes a bit of time to get into motion (or to stop), but which once in motion carries momentum and determination forward in a ‘full steam’ manner over a great distance or lengthy period. With locomotives, the planet which ‘leads out of’ the ‘empty’ third of the chart (we’re counting just true planets here) is defined as a strength - which is another interesting note (to take note of) with Hillary Clinton’s chart as that lead planet is her Pisces Moon, a planet/sign combination some will think problematic particularly when the normal ‘ripple’ of Pisces self-consciousness-of-feelings becomes visible, but which here is defined as a strength.

As with Ben Carson, Hillary Clinton’s natal horoscope is also marked with a Leo Pluto/Mars conjunction, which means all the things said about Pluto/Mars and power dynamics in conjunction with Ben Carson’s Mars/Pluto also apply to Hillary Clinton. And with the ruler of Leo (the Sun) being her Scorpio Sun in a  natal opposition to Eris, we have the image of a potential/tendency to be externally motivated to taking on complex challenges requiring extensive and/or resourceful effort, emotional insight (of self and others) and/or a ‘negotiating’ of complicated dynamics having to do with circumstances, financial, fiscal, emotional, life-and-death, having to do with physicality, power, issues of dealing with power and confrontations with the power of others, however that comes to be manifested. Pluto-Mars expresses through creatively, vigorous defenses and transformational destruction/recreation cycles, meaning it can ‘destroy’ a workload, a bowl of pasta, a plan, someone’s day or the native’s own goal, aim or interest with equal metaphysical aplomb.

As for eclipses, Clinton’s Sagittarius Jupiter and Moon was hit by the March 2015 solar eclipse at 29 Pisces as something about what she is doing and how she has been going about doing it caused some old way of growing her world, knowledge of that world and things 'of value' in that world became unworkable.

The September 2015 solar eclipse at 20 Virgo will semi-sextile her Leo Saturn, indicating a challenging or ‘bruising’ time experienced through, or as part of her career. Following that, come March 2016, the solar eclipse at 18 Pisces will aspect her natal Scorpio Venus by semi-sextile, speaking to a deal of general complexities and some uncomfortable ego challenges.

The September 1, 2016 solar eclipse at 9 Virgo doesn’t aspect any of Clinton’s planets, but as this is a chart we do have a time for it seems unreasonable not to mention the fact that the 9 Virgo eclipse will conjuncts her IC (the foundational degree of the chart) a sign that her innermost and personal life, perhaps her place of residence, real estate holding or family status - is going to be changing over the next several months.

TED CRUZ

Ted Cruz (glyph chart)
December 22, 1970 - (no time) - MST +7 - Calgary, Canada
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Ted Cruz (text chart)
December 22, 1970 - (no time) - MST +7 - Calgary, Canada
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(Note: Ted Cruz has suspended his campaign as of May 3, 2016)

We don’t have a birth time for Ted Cruz, but we do know his Moon falls somewhere in Libra, which with a Sun at 0 Capricorn speaks to a life-long Sun-square-Moon-by-sign challenge to (Sun) consciously (square) balance his own values, opinions and desires against (Libra) the values, opinions, needs, and goals of others against his own (Capricorn) aims, ambitions and personal ‘rules of the road’ such as we all have.

With true planets in all four elements, Ted Cruz has no elemental ‘lacks,’ though with Neptune as the only true planet in elemental fire his sense of imagination (or what he thinks of either as imaginative, or ‘made up’) can seem vague or mysterious to others.

And on modality side (speaking to the ‘mode’ or ‘rate’ of activity with which Ted Cruz goes about being Ted Cruz) Cruz has planets in each of the three modes. However, with the mutable list containing only outer (transpersonal) planets Pluto and Neptune along with asteroids Vesta, Pallas and ‘shadowy’ Black Moon Lilith, we do have some indication that he is ‘vulnerable’ to rejections/feeling rejected and critiques/feeling criticized, much of which comes from lack(s) of perspective and the ‘cost’ of weak commitments (or) being committed to some discounted/discountable position.

The chart pattern underlying Cruz’ horoscope is one known as a ‘bucket,’ ‘wedge’ or ‘sling’ with a ‘handle planet.’ Defined as having all true planets but one in one half of the chart with that singleton planet forming the ‘handle,’ such charts are said to ‘contain’ a ‘bucket’ of ideas or attributes which the single planet’s attributes (in this case, Saturn, symbol of career, efforts to achieve and social standing) ‘carries,’ showing us the metaphysical ‘why’ as to where the native places their emphasis. People will thus see Ted Cruz as someone who works hard at whatever he works at, even if his rationale for working at that thing escapes them.

We also know that while Ted Cruz’s earthy 13 Capricorn Mercury doesn’t aspect his 1 Sagittarius Neptune, it is both retrograde (meaning he will often need to review, edit or do research to be effective in his thinking/speaking) and, as part of an earth sign grand trine with Juno/Saturn in Taurus and Black Moon Lilith conjunct Eos in Virgo, part of a configuration which on one side to commendable self discipline and on the other points to the need to work with/for others (‘for’ meaning either as an employee or as a service) in the harnessing of efforts and energies - particularly those which are evocative or emotional - at their outside, lest he not advance his cause, personal or otherwise.

With regards to solar eclipses, Ted Cruz’ Pluto (at 29 Virgo and conjunct Lachesis, symbol of duration) was eclipsed by opposition as his Sun was simultaneously this past March (2015). And as this is natal Pluto is natally square Cruz’ Sun, it speaks to the ‘eclipsing’ of things which Cruz’ ‘determined’ nature has used in advancing his personal cause(s), possibly exposing some crudeness or manipulation in the process. Beyond that - and granting how we don’t know his house cusps or Moon degree - his chart will not be hit by hard aspect by another solar eclipse until September 2016, when the 9 Virgo solar eclipse will conjunct his Black Moon Lilith, which conjunct Eos marks an period of time (call it July through November 2016) which may be very ‘eye-opening’ in Ted Cruz’ life for various reasons.

CARLY FIORINA

Carly Fiorina (glyph chart)
September 4, 1954 - (no time) - CST +6 - Austin, Texas
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Carly Fiorina (text chart)
September 4, 1954 - (no time) - CST +6 - Austin, Texas
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(Note: Carly Fiorina has left the presidential race as of February 10, 2016)
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Being born under the sign of Virgo marks Carly Fiorina as someone who during her life, and through the processes and experiences which are her life, will face whatever circumstances and opportunities are required for her to learn the classic Virgo lesson, that being how ultimately, the accomplishments of one’s life are only accomplishments if they are ‘healthy, moral, effective and fair’ which is to say, if they make things better all the way around, inclusive of others and long-term repercussions.

As for her Moon, without a birth time we don’t know what sign her Moon is. But we do know that the Moon changed signs on the date of her birth shortly before dawn, moving into Sagittarius from Scorpio - which in the world of astrological Moons means a good deal as the Moon in Scorpio tends to ‘suffer’ for what it learns while the Moon in Sagittarius learns by correction and various forms of ‘rebuff’ from others and the general world environment.

With the whole of her chart falling into a pattern known as a ‘bowl,’ Carly Fiorina’s basic attributes come together as a whole with a quality which is ‘contained’ and/or capable of ‘containing’ matters and responding to things based on what they ‘contain’ as a matter of course. The lead planet in this bowl chart being Jupiter in Cancer (a sign Jupiter is exalted and strengthened in), she has a native ability to appeal to, and to be seen by the masses which with Cancer being a sign ruled by the Moon, we would read the positive or negative of through the chart’s Moon (which we don’t know about at present).

But whatever that ability is, with Jupiter conjunct Uranus, Fiorina is not about any status quo - ever. Jupiter conjunct Uranus can be innovative, discordant, insightful, disruption, and endlessly restless. So depending on the Moon - and what planet would contribute to the rulership of that Moon, this Jupiter/Uranus conjunction functions as a tool for finding agreement despite all (Scorpio) or one which registers reactions and ‘re-tools’ to try, try again.

Yet again, we just don’t know that time. Yet even without it, we know Fiorina’s Jupiter-Uranus marks her as a dynamic force which can launch Carly Fiorina very effectively even while simultaneously defining occasions when (given Uranus as part of his mix) Fiorina merely responds to ‘urges’ or ‘urging’ (whether from others or her own nature) without having that based in a fully informed notion of what is being done and why. Jupiter-Uranus can be brilliant. Then again, it can also represent a willingness to risk and ‘roll the dice,’ sometimes on a very large scale.

As for elements and modalities, Carly Fiorina has no elemental lacks (whether her Moon is in Scorpio or Sagittarius). Having planets in each of the three modalities with the greatest number in cardinal signs (again, regardless of which sign the Moon falls in) suggests Carly Fiorina is someone whose own process of ‘self-education’ (i.e., the life-long learning we all experience) is accomplished through trying things, whether she succeeds in one go, through repeated attempts, or not at all.

Lastly, with respect to solar eclipses, the March 2015 eclipse at 29 Pisces in opposition to her Juno caused Fiorina to ‘shed’ or let go of maintaining something/things which had been her status quo. And as both the September 2015 and March 2016 solar eclipses (at 20 Virgo and 18 Pisces respectively) are going to aspect her 23 Virgo Mercury (first by conjunction and then by opposition) we are given to know that things about how she thinks, speaks and goes about making decisions are going to change over the next year or so.

After that, the September 2016 solar eclipse at 9 Virgo would seem to be the most telling as it conjuncts Carly Fiorina’s 11 Virgo Sun, outlining the letting go of some aspect or function of ‘self-identity’ which is no longer valid. Solar eclipses to the Sun can be very good, are generally seriously consequential and never easy to go through as they change the ‘trajectory’ of what one does over the next 2-2.5 years. Yet as one door closes, another one opens, making this late 2016 solar eclipse one worth watching out for as Carly Fiorina leaves the past behind and moves into a new and different personal future. 

JIM GILMORE

Jim Gilmore (glyph chart)
October 6, 1949 - (no time) - Richmond, VA - Aries Wheel
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 Jim Gilmore (text chart)
October 6, 1949 - (no time) - Richmond, VA - Aries Wheel
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(Note: Jim Gilmore has left the presidential race as of February 12, 2016)
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Jim Gilmore was born under the sign of Libra with an Aries Moon. Given that we don’t know what time he was born, we don’t know the degree of said Moon. But as the Moon was in Aries for the whole of the day on which he was born, with the Sun in the opposition sign of Libra, that describes Jim Gilmore as a ‘Full Moon’ person, or someone who aims to complete each thing in turn, and who by nature is determined to complete whatever he is involved in.

With six planets in cardinal signs, this idea of drive, determination is likely to be typical of Jim Gilmore. Though with his Venus, Mars and Pluto in fixed signs he is not described as being easily ‘suckered’ into things, and once he likes or dislikes something, changing his mind isn’t easy. With both Saturn and Jupiter in earth signs his approach to most things is likely to be pragmatic and considered - less about ‘fireworks’ than long term developments and/or accomplishments.

Against this, Gilmore’s Saturn in Virgo against Jupiter in Capricorn also potentially describes his “extremes” as durable and enduring or compromised by insufficient time or standing.’ To go with this solid (some would stogy) quality however, Jim Gilmore also has an expressively confident list of cardinal planets (including his Sun and Moon). So he’s not anyone’s ‘fossil’ - this is a man who trusts facts and experience and is willing to bring what he’s learned to today’s questions and problems, whatever they may be, and with no elemental lacks and an elemental emphasis on fire (imagination and vision) and air, (concepts, ideas and systemic thinking) topping Gilmore’s symbol count though his values may feel ‘old fashioned’ his thinking seldom is.

With Mercury at 7 Libra and Neptune at 15 Libra there is no Ptolemaic aspect between these two planets, so Gilmore is not the classic liar. However, with Neptune squarely conjunct Ixion (to the degree) there is not just the capacity to repeatedly ‘not see’ the reality or end game, but one of those Ixion ‘promises’ that the native will do exactly that until they learn why they need to change some given set of internal priorities - which may have happened in Jim Gilmore’s past, and which may yet happen again.

(In case you’re not familiar with Ixion, the astroPPM blog post - Ixion: Our Conflict of Mind - can be linked to HERE.)

The chart pattern associated with Jim Gilmore’s nativity is that of a ‘splash’ ... which is actually something of a contradiction as ‘splash patterns’ are charts which have no ‘theme’ or pattern. In this, they describe someone who doesn’t seem to ‘fit’ any established mold - not that Jim Gilmore has nothing in common with anyone else on the candidate list. He absolutely does in being one of several with a nativity including Mars conjunct Pluto in Leo. So like Ben Carson and Hillary Clinton (and others) Jim Gilmore understands his own personal power and beyond that is attracted to power, issues having to do with power (personal or systemic) in general and situations which will test what he is ‘made of’ as a person. With this conjunction conjunct Sappho and Eos plus being trine Black Moon Lilith and Gilmore’s ‘should do’ Aries North Node, there is an (Aries) personal (North Node) reward to Jim Gilmore when he is able to embrace (or embody) that which expresses (Sappho) universals, especially where that pertains to the world or Jim Gilmore are (Mars/Pluto) changing, working to change or being transformed by some new (Eos) dawning of (Leo) awareness of potential, challenge or ability.

As for eclipses, Jim Gilmore’s Pallas (conjunct Tantalus) was hit in March 2015 by the solar eclipse at 29 Pisces, indicating some sort of serious change of perspective. With this September’s eclipse at 20 Virgo, Gilmore’s Black Moon Lilith will be inconjuncted as his natal Jupiter is trined, suggesting a ‘change of prospect’ due to current news or information which surfaces at or after September’s eclipse.

From there, the March 2016 solar eclipse at 18 Pisces will oppose Jim Gilmore’s Saturn as it also semi-sextiles his South Node and inconjuncts Ceres-North Node-Neptune, speaking to a external (or externalized) challenges to, and the reassessment of those areas of life or life efforts in which Jim Gilmore depends on someone else. And after that, the last solar eclipse prior to the 2016 general election (at 9 Virgo in early September) will conjunct Jim Gilmore’s Juno while also trining his Uranus and square his Chiron - a complicated list which points to changes in Jim Gilmore’s life which concern ‘breaks with tradition’ or the walking of some path previously only talked about.

LINDSEY GRAHAM

Lindsey Graham (glyph chart)
July 9, 1955 - (no time) - EST +5 - Central, South Carolina
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 Lindsey Graham (text chart)
July 9, 1955 - (no time) - EST +5 - Central, South Carolina
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(Note: Lindsey Graham has left the presidential race as of December 21, 2015)

Lindsey Graham’s horoscope is yet another we don’t have a time for, but we do know he was born with the Sun in Cancer, Cancer being a cardinal water sign which indicates an assertive and feeling nature, which given the Sun as the chart’s symbol of ‘consciousness’ also indicates an awareness of the feelings of others. We also know that the Moon was in Pisces on the day Lindsey Graham was born.
So right off the bat, Lindsey Graham is an emotional person whose (Pisces Moon) feelings may change by the moment, but whose (Cancer Sun) opinions about life are rooted in conviction and a willingness to stand or speak about whatever matters to him personally.

The totals here are even more telling: with six planets including his Sun and Moon (plus asteroid Juno) in water, Lindsey Graham is a very emotionally-driven person. Like Hillary Clinton, his Moon in Pisces may cause him to look ‘weak’ in certain moments, though true to greater gender biases, Pisces Moon men tend to be taken as being ‘concerned’ as opposed being the label of ‘overly emotional’ which women with Pisces Moons often get tagged with.
 
The truth of all this is as simple as it is obvious: regardless of gender, neither Cancer nor Pisces is weak. Yes, Cancer Suns are known for their ‘moody moods,’ but Cancer Suns are neither intrinsically shy nor incapable of standing for what they believed in.

Far from it, actually.

As for Pisces Moons, as Lindsey Graham’s Pisces Moon acts as the ‘handle’ on his chart’s ‘bucket’ pattern (which will be true no matter what time of day Lindsey Graham is born) Graham ‘carries’ his efforts using very ‘feeling’ methods. Pisces Moons in particular, being the challenge to ‘feel that you don’t want to feel’ are often projected by the native as they try to warn others about that they don’t want to contemplate feeling. Sometimes this works - and then again, sometimes this backfires on the Pisces Moon, teaching harsh lessons on how Piscean avoidance, and denial are more often than not about the Self, not those (or that) we don’t want to interact with.

Conjunct dwarf planet Huya and a ‘you’ll be okay once you’re used to it’ asteroid named Amphitrite, part of how all this may operate would be seen through Graham Mars-Uranus’ conjunction, a strongly defensive and aggressive pairing which for reasons good and bad demands action, attention and comprehension ... if only to the extent that Lindsey Graham is either not understanding the situation or where he has not dealt with his own fears or feelings of vulnerability. With Mars-Uranus natively conjunct Huya, while what Graham learns along the way can fuel Huya’s ability to be a ‘rainmaker’ in one’s own life or that of others, there is some chance that Lindsey Graham’s haste or ‘explosive’ emotionality can actually damage his ability to ‘bring on the rain’ and provide for all.

(If you’re not familiar with the astrology of Huya, there is information in the astroPPM post - ‘Huya, Rainmaker’ which you can link to HERE.)

In terms of modalities, Lindsey Graham’s chart has five planets in cardinal signs, describing him as a man unafraid of standing up, being heard or starting things ... and also someone who learns from results, good or bad. With his three planets in fixed signs being Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto, Graham’s strengths and reservations are largely generational and he is likely to take his time ‘building a case’ about many things (personal or public) which have the potential to affect his greater plans and aims.

That leaves just two planets (plus the lunar nodes, Pallas and Black Moon Lilith) in mutable signs, telling us that sometimes Lindsey Graham is affected by others, and sometimes he simply is his own person, regardless of what others think or say.

More to the point perhaps is told when we look at Graham’s chart elementally. He has no earth apart from an asteroid (Ceres), and since earth represents all which is concrete and tangible, views, acts and choices of people with no true planets in earth are said to often strike others as ‘impractical’ or ‘ungrounded.’ There is an interesting astrological rule which applies here however. It says ‘if there is no earth in the chart, look for fixed water’ - as the natural form of ‘fixed’ water is of course ice, a substance which if ‘properly formed’ (and cold) can indeed ‘hold our weight.’

So... astrological ‘fixed water’ being Scorpio, we look for Scorpio in Graham’s chart. And in Scorpio we find Juno (protection and management of one’s ‘household’) ... and Saturn (symbol of career and achievement) - which together says a lot about how important Lindsey Graham’s work is to him, metaphysically and probably otherwise.

His chart also shows us a Mercury in Gemini (one of Mercury’s two signs of rulership) in conjunction with the South Node, a combination which describes someone with many interests, a busy schedule, an active mind, many opinions and in general, a fondness for ‘looking into things,’ ‘getting around,’ and speaking their mind. And all of this can be very good and positive, but when (South Node) overused or used as a ‘fall back’ position or as a substitute for making proper efforts to understand something or someone else can indeed backfire.

To this, we then need to add the idea that this Mercury/South Node conjunction trines Neptune. And with Neptune in Libra, that speaks to opinions and ‘views on’ (or of) others.

Neptune-Mercury contacts are the intersecting of (Mercury) that which needs to be understood with clarity and that which can never be clear, or that which eliminates clarity - which with trines representing ‘ongoing energy,’ indicates things which Lindsey Graham believes/believes in, or which he treats as a basis for operation which either aren’t what he thinks they are, or which won’t (even can’t) operate as he wants to think or say they will.

As for solar eclipses, the March 2015 solar eclipse at 29 Pisces squared just what we were just talking about - Lindsey Graham’s Mercury/Nodal axis, calling for a change of relationships with others (the nodes always indicate relationships) and with that which is ‘easy’ for him to say or take a stance on. Possibly as a result of this, the 20 Virgo solar eclipse of September 2015 will also square Graham’s Mercury, renewing the need to review and possibly discard, change or rethink, none of which is likely to be comfortable as this September eclipse will also be semi-sextile Graham’s Neptune, indicating an exposure of ego and challenges to areas of long-held ideas and/or ideals.

After that comes the eclipse of March 2016, which at 18 Pisces will be the last solar eclipse Graham will be strongly affected by prior to the general election. Positioned uniquely as to trine Lindsey Graham’s Sun while also trining his 14 Scorpio Saturn, the resulting ‘grand trine by eclipse’ points to substantial and basic changes being made as a result of realizations or recognitions which occur around this time, often due to external events over which Lindsey Graham has no control.

This is the sort of eclipse people remember. This is also an eclipse which will have occurred before in Lindsey Graham’s life as eclipses reoccur on a 19-year cycle (the Metonic cycle). So the reference here would be the eclipse period of March 1997, though there is every reason to think these two events are not similar in context, merely on the breadth of their effects.

MIKE HUCKABEE


Michael Huckabee (glyph chart)
August 24, 1955 - (no time) - CST +6 - Hope, Arkansas
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Michael Huckabee (text chart)
August 24, 1955 - (no time) - CST +6 - Hope, Arkansas
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(Note: Mike Huckabee has left the presidential race as of February 1, 2016)

We don’t have a birth time for Mike Huckabee, so we don’t know the sign (or degree) of his Ascendant, nor the degree of his Moon.

So what do we know? We know that the Moon was in Scorpio all day on the day Mike Huckabee was born. And as we also know he was born with a Sun at 0 Virgo, the combination of same means Mike Huckabee’s Moon (the image of, among other things, his most passionate feelings) is in the third derivative sign to his Virgo Sun, which is a zodiacal way of saying he thinks and speaks with feeling and he’s not afraid to show his feelings or passions about something if it means a lot to him. It means Mike Huckabee is capable of great focus and great compassion just as surely as he is capable of denying facts he doesn’t want to deal with.

Beyond that, his Sun is also involved in an out-of-sign natal kite involving the lunar Nodes (relationships and that one ‘relates’ to forming the ‘backbone’ of the kite) with the kite’s grand trine appearing in fire, indicating an ongoing allegiance to certain personal ‘inner visions’ and ideals ... and the ‘goal’ of the kite being the South Node in late Gemini - harmonious conversation and easily expressed thoughts. And though this kite doesn’t involve Huckabee’s Sun, it does connect to Huckabee’s 0 Virgo Sun by having that Sun conjunct the 28 Leo Venus/Mars fusion which itself is part of the kite’s grand trine.

Kites combine ongoing, intrinsic (grand trine) energies with a (double sextile) idea of ‘what we can do with them’ (which is where Huckabee’s Sun/consciousness enters the picture), asking that we see the difference between what things appear to be and what they really are by knowing why something matters and building on that. This ‘format’ (as it were) is a hallmark of Mike Huckabee’s life, and people who know him probably have seen him get attracted to things and eventually taken them on many a time. Some will think it’s flexible and adaptive of him to use his talents in so many ways. Others will be more likely to think he’s ‘scattering’ his energy.

Which is right - or is there any ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ here?

As for the aforementioned Venus/Mars, that’s not ‘just’ Venus/Mars, but Venus-Mars-Pluto-Vesta, or ‘the unbidden costs we may pay’ as an ‘add-on’ to all the power pluses and minuses we’ve already spoken of with regards to Pluto/Mars in the charts of Ben Carson, Hillary Clinton and Jim Gilmore - and yes, we do expect to see things like Pluto/Mars in the charts of ambitious people as that’s part of what marks them as ambitious people!

The new wrinkle here - in addition to the issues with personal power, power in general and/or the acquisition and use of power (including generalized power struggles) which is so very Pluto/Mars - to this we have to add the ‘Venus touch,’ that being a promise of reward and/or punishment or loss which is part of this conglomeration, part of the kite and, by virtue of Mike Huckabee’s Sun being conjunct Venus-Mars-Pluto-Vesta, part of Mike Huckabee’s consciousness and life - and his concepts of duty, responsibility, morality and service.

Beyond that, Huckabee has true planets in all four elements, with fire being the most prominent and air being the least emphasized - an interesting parsing of the difference between fire as the element of vision and fire and air’s quality of concept, theory and systemic effectiveness.

With all of Huckabee’s standard planets falling within one-third of the zodiac, his chart falls under a ‘bundle’ or ‘cluster’ pattern. Bundles tend to indicate people with deep interests in a relatively ‘confined’ area, from which the native views other things. And though we don’t have Mike Huckabee’s birth time and thus his Ascendant sign (or degree of Moon), we do know that with a ‘score’ of five cardinal symbols, six mutable symbols and nine symbols in fixed signs, Huckabee is willing to approach things from many angles or perspectives, but that ultimately he tends to require that all the ducks are in a line and all the ‘t’s get crossed before he’s willing to commit to anything which either matters to him or which costs much, be that cost physical, financial or emotional.

There’s no Ptolemaic (standard) aspect between Huckabee’s 26 Libra Neptune and his natal 17 Virgo Mercury, but in being positioned at 17 Virgo, his Mercury will be hit by this September’s 20 Virgo eclipse, indicating some sort of ‘necessary’ change of outlook, position, choice or priority. This same natal Mercury is also going to be eclipsed again next March by a solar eclipse opposing from 18 Pisces, speaking to some form of overall (if distinct) challenge to Huckabee’s thinking, communication and/or choices which lasts into mid-year 2016.

As for the last of the eclipses prior to the 2016 general election (said eclipse occurring in September 2016), with that eclipse being positioned at 9 Virgo, it is in square to Huckabee’s Pallas, speaking to a discarding of some old perspective (singular or plural) and the evolving of new perspectives over time - all of which is likely to be worth watching.

BOBBY JINDAL

Bobby Jindal (glyph chart)
June 10, 1971 - 12 27 CDT (+5) - Baton Rouge, Louisiana
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 Bobby Jindal (text chart)
June 10, 1971 - 12 27 CDT (+5) - Baton Rouge, Louisiana
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(Note: Bobby Jindal has left the presidential race as of November 18, 2015)
 
As we have a birth time for Bobby Jindal I will mention here that his Ascendant is in Virgo, the quintessential sign of ‘health, work, service’ we so often see emphasized in the charts of anyone who sets out to make this world a better place.

That said, Bobby Jindal was also born under the mutable, thought-priority-mentality-‘all-about-choices’ Sun sign of Gemini (with Sun conjunct Ceres, indicating a somewhat protective outlook) and a Moon in Capricorn, a sign the Moon is said to be a tad hasty and less gracious than usual in, having something of a ‘pushy’ or ‘pushing’ quality which may or may not work well in a person’s life.

As for his other planets (dwarf planets, asteroids and nodes), with true planets in air, earth, fire and water, Bobby Jindal’s chart has no elemental lacks. That said, with Neptune in Sagittarius as his only planet in fire, we expect to see as much passion and fervency than ‘imagining’ and, with Jupiter (ruler of Sagittarius and positioned in conjunction to Neptune) as his only planet in elemental water (Scorpio), Jindal may well lean towards valuing the wisdom of emotional experience rather than ‘book facts,’ as some call them.

As for that Jupiter, in being at a critical degree (29 Scorpio) that idea may well be more pronounced or obvious in Jindal than - planets at 29 degrees of any sign tend to ‘stand out’ and this particular Jupiter, while being the heart and soul of expansiveness and ‘let’s get the word out’ is also conjunct idealistic Neptune and in opposition to a Saturn which is also at a critical degree - at 29 Taurus.

In being conjunct Venus, this critical Saturn says a lot about the durable strength and conviction of Bobby Jindal’s opinions and values. It also speaks to a personality which can be very discerning if also often hard on the Self (and to be fair, also often equally demanding of others). Especially when in natal aspect as they are here, Saturn and Jupiter speak to a generational ‘cause’ and the desire to ‘all do things together,’ though in opposition - as Saturn and Jupiter are here - there is also the willingness to go one’s own way. Saturn-Jupiter energies are interesting in this regard as they are both generational and a form of ‘bonding’ (as is experienced if not ‘felt’ by members of a generation) and a personal emblem of individual achievement, accomplishment and goal-setting.

In a tight conjunction with Venus, Saturn also tends to express itself through the kind of conservative thinking which as a priority seeks to maintain a status quo rather than risking same for unproven (Jupiter) advancement and/or expansion(s) - even though with a Gemini Mercury in opposition to Neptune in Sagittarius there are questions of ‘realism’ brought out simply because Neptune, in ‘defining how some things can’t be defined,’ in combination with Mercury as our symbol of thought, clarity, ideas and choice, represent the duality. That duality is ‘faith’ on one end ... and ‘fuzzy thinking’ on the other - and to make it all a little more quirky, where Neptune is concerned it is the thing we ‘pin our belief on’ as a matter of ‘I know’ or ‘I’m certain’ ego and not simple ‘what will be, will be’ acceptance are the people most likely to be proven wrong.

Why? Because Neptune negates ego. So with Neptune in conjunction to Jupiter and in opposition to Mercury, Saturn and Venus, Bobby Jindal is going to occasionally cross his own wires and, as with all project the ‘flaws’ (mistakes, lies, lacks of clarity) onto others - even where that isn’t quite the case. 

Against this however, with four standard planets in earth and four in air signs, Bobby Jindal also has a lot of distinctly down-to-earth attitudes and getting things organized and done.

These very different ‘thematic’ statements are part of what we would expect from someone whose chart falls into a seesaw pattern. Seesaws often describe a life where the native deals with ‘this’ then runs off (in their mind or literally) to do ‘that.’ Some people use seesaws productively by utilizing one part of the chart for one thing (say, work) and the other for another (personal time, perhaps). But for those who don’t want to live two entirely different lives (and to some extent even in the lives of those who do like separation) seesaw present lessons in integration and compromise within the Self. Seesaw natives are always being challenged by something which will resolve some ‘split’ and how they deal with those challenges reflect in their ability to live a balanced life and find success.

As for modalities, Bobby Jindal has planets in all three modalities with the fixed and mutable modes being most emphasized, telling us he likes to know what he is getting into and that he has a tendency to approach big problems ‘piece by piece,’ whether that represents a benefit or a frustration to others.

Lastly, with regards to eclipses, while the March 2015 solar eclipse at 29 Pisces opposed Bobby Jindal’s Pluto-Lilith-Black Moon, causing him to let go of certain denials about his and how that applies to his relationship with his world and society, which seems sensible in someone running for President.

The next solar eclipse in line is September 2015’s solar eclipse at 20 Virgo. This will square Jindal’s Sun-Ceres, indicating some sort of change and/or personal recalculation. Moreover, as with many who will be affected by the September 2015 eclipse, Bobby Jindal will also find early 2016 unpredictable as the March 2016 eclipse again squares his Sun. With this eclipse taking place at 18 Pisces, the elemental suggestion here is that issues raised will be more emotional than those faced in late 2015 and more emotional than those Jindal will face the September 2016 solar eclipse at 9 Virgo which squares his native Mercury - the whole of which suggesting that the first half of 2016 is going to turn out to be important not just to Bobby Jindal’s life in politics, but in terms of how he sees life in general.

JOHN KASICH

John Kasich (glyph chart)
May 13, 1952 - (no time) - EST +4 - McKees Rocks, PA
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John Kasich (text chart)
May 13, 1952 - (no time) - EST +4 - McKees Rocks, PA
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(Note: John Kasich has suspended his campaign as of May 4, 2016)
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This is yet another chart for which we have no birth time. But even without that, we do know that John Kasich’s Moon is in the worldly earth sign of Capricorn (conjunct Chiron), and that his Sun is in earth sign Taurus. This Sun/Moon in earth marks John Kasich as a man oriented towards pragmatism and tangibles - he’s no air sign theorizer, fire sign person who lives to inspire (or who functions from a personal core of inspiration) ... and no, he’s not a natively water sign person who appeals to or relies on emotionality.

All of which is not to say that John Kasich is at a lack elementally. With the Sun, Moon, Venus and Jupiter in earth signs, earth is his most ‘populated’ element and he will come back to facts, tangible proofs and other forms of reliable (some would say staid) estimation as his basis for judgment ...and perhaps choice. But without a birth time we can’t be sure.

When it comes to modalities however, (modalities being the indicator of method and pace associated with any given sign), Kasich has five standard planets in cardinal signs (including his Moon) and five in fixed signs (including his Sun). And given how there are only ten standard planets, that means Kasich has an absence of planets in mutable signs - a so-called ‘lack.’ Mutable signs being those qualities which cause us to flex and adapt all along the way (through each day, throughout life, during any particular process), this ‘lack’ of mutable energy describes John Kasich as someone with either a habit or preference for either jumping right in and seeing how things turn out from there (the cardinal method) ... or holding back until you’re sure you know the lay of the situational land and your best estimations for success (that being the fixed sign methodology).

This doesn’t sound like much of a problem, and most often it won’t be. But to have no mutable planets (we aren’t including asteroids here) means Kasich’s way of doing things paints him more in the ‘all or nothing’ mode-mold rather than the ‘let’s give it a try and see what we learn as we go along’ man.
 
Is this about trying to ‘work’ a situation to one’s benefit, maneuvering as you go? We can’t be sure without a birth time, but John Kasich’s 28 Aries Mercury certainly doesn’t aspect his 19 Libra Neptune (nor does his Mercury aspect his Pluto) so it’s unlikely John Kasich is either a habitual liar or a born-to-manipulate type of fellow.

He does however, have a grand square in his chart. The Moon may or may not be involved here from the Capricorn corner, but even without the Moon we have Chiron in Capricorn in opposition to Uranus in one direction with Eris in Aries in opposition to Saturn in Libra square Chiron/Uranus. This is an interesting grand square, one which describes Kasich as someone who both keeps his head when people around him may be losing theirs and someone honestly conservative about his choices.

This latter comes from Saturn being at a very particular degree - 8 Libra, a degree which lends to any object a quality of ‘learned through loss’ which applies through a need to utilize the lesson learned, lest you end up learning it again. With Saturn exalted (i.e., made stronger) by merely being positioned in Libra AND with 8 Libra having been at the time of Kasich’s birth the position of fixed star Diadem (the ‘crowning glory’), this quality of needing to (or having) graduate from the ‘school of hard knocks’ is an ingrained feature in Kasich’s character. How it plays out, we don’t know without a birth time. But we do know that Saturn is a structuring and ‘structural’ influence wherever we find it, so we know this ‘learn from your lessons’ quality will certainly be expressed in whatever John Kasich takes on.

As for the grand squares (or grand cross, as some call this configuration) they indicate a life which takes on big challenges and which is repeatedly tested - even if the native has to go find new challenges and test worthy of their capacities. Some people deal with the endlessly restless energies of a grand square by finding ways to handle many things at once (sometimes well, sometimes not so well) ...  while others experience their grand square as the need and benefits of learning how to be involved while maintaining some kind of independent perspective which in time allows for greater understanding.

Finally, with regards to eclipses, while John Kasich’s Pallas (at 27 Pisces) was hit by the March 2015 eclipse ‘exploding’ some previously held idea, and while John Kasich has no planets in mutable signs, the September 2015 solar eclipse at 20 Virgo will inconjunct his Juno while trining his Sun, indicating a changing situations which he is forced to deal with differently than planned - a situation which will cause some sort of confusion. After that, the March 2016 solar eclipse at 18 Pisces will semi-sextile his Juno and Sun, allowing for necessary ‘course corrections’ as some fog ‘lifts,’ representing the eclipse’s inconjunct to Kasich’s Neptune.
 
Last but not least, the 9 Virgo solar eclipse which will occur in early September 2016 semi-sextiles John Kasich’s Eris and Saturn while sextiling his Mars and Uranus and trining his Chiron and Venus, speaking to a process which eliminates some of John Kasich’s old values and ways of seeing his own potential which, even if not comfortable in present tense are providing opportunities which well may blossom within 2-3 years. 
 
MARTIN O’MALLEY

Martin O'Malley (glyph chart)
January 18, 1963 - (no time) - EST +5 - Washington, DC
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 Martin O'Malley (text chart)
January 18, 1963 - (no time) - EST +5 - Washington, DC
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(Note: Martin O'Malley has left the presidential race as of February 1, 2016)
 
Born with Sun in Capricorn conjunct a critical (29 degree) Capricorn South Node and Mercury in Aquarius (ruled by a self-ruling Saturn in Aquarius), right off the bat we know that Martin O’Malley is a person who is both very involved in the life of the world around him - and someone who can at times ‘escape’ his life by being or becoming too involved in the world around him.

As for his Moon, though we don’t have a birth time affording us an exact degree we do know that O’Malley has a Moon in Scorpio, a placement which ordinarily manifests in an intensity of focus and which can be extraordinarily determined, magnanimous, manipulative, undecided, generous and selfish by turns. Of Scorpio Moons it is said ‘they are thoroughly invested in anything they invest it’ - which doesn’t mean this man’s interest or innermost feelings are easily accessed, even when he’s being perfectly friendly.
Martin O’Malley has no aspect between his 2 Aquarius Mercury and 15 Scorpio Neptune, so his chart isn’t obviously marked as someone who falsifies, fudges or otherwise is frivolous with facts. Yet with this 15 Scorpio Neptune in trine to O’Malley’s Jupiter in Pisces (Jupiter and Neptune being the co-rulers of Pisces) and with Neptune sitting in tandem with asteroid Psyche, we are given something of a suggestion that Martin O’Malley’s greatest life lessons come from situations where he becomes ‘invested’ in something where someone doesn’t know their facts, their own mind - or where someone gets ‘off track’ due to an unshakable (even untouchable) belief in something which may or may not be true - or applicable timely or likely to lead to a workable, moral, effective and peaceful conclusion.

(If you’re not familiar with asteroid Psyche, the astroPPM post ‘Eros and Psyche: Falling In Love with Our Mind’ can be linked to HERE.)

As for the ‘how he does’ modality count and the ‘what values motivate what he does’ elementals, Martin O’Malley has no lacks in either list. Among the modalities, his has the greatest number of planets in fixed signs (among which is his Moon), describing a lineup of traits which aim in a determined manner at an answer, but which - perhaps ‘especially’ given how O’Malley’s lunar nodes are in cardinal signs - aren’t going to be driven to haste by others. (That his mutable planets are in second place to the fixed planet list also backs this notion up.)
 
Regarding his elemental outlook, Martin O’Malley has planets fairly equally in distributed between the elements with a mild but evident emphasis in earth and water. That his water planets combine the rulers of Pisces with an ‘in-detriment’ Moon tells us O’Malley has something south of a frivolous, ‘life of the party’ emotional outlook on life and given the residing of Jupiter and Neptune (rulers of Pisces) in water, some may think Martin O’Malley is a little too intense or sensitive about (or to) certain themes, subjects or issues. They may be right in some venues, yet it’s also likely that it is this very intensity which is greatly behind Martin O’Malley having gotten into politics to begin with. Without a birth time (or without asking!) we can’t be sure about such things. But given the connection (by sign rulership) between Martin O’Malley’s water planets and his Mars (by virtue of Mars being co-ruler of Scorpio), we can see how O’Malley’s Leo ‘I can tackle this’ (Mars as motivation) is supported by his emotional values to the extent that said Mars - as the lead planet in Martin O’Malley’s locomotive chart ‘toots the horn’ and fires his engine of determination and willingness to get out there and try to fix the problem.

As for eclipses, Martin O’Malley’s Sun (consciousness), Juno (management of one’s personal world) and nodal axis was aspected by the conjunction (Juno), trine (Sun and North Node) and sextile (South Node)) by the March 2015 solar eclipse at 29 Pisces - which as it did in many charts we’ve seen probably indicated the ‘timing’ which prompted the decision to run for President.

For this season, the effect of September 2015 solar eclipse at 20 Virgo - that and the eclipse which follows it at 18 Pisces in March 2016 will first conjunct his Ceres and asteroid Child (September) and then oppose his Ceres-asteroid Child (March), affecting his perspectives on (and possible experience of) ability, willingness or level of effort, some of which will need review, recalibration and rethinking.

The last solar eclipse prior to the 2016 general election occurs in early September at 9 Virgo, conjuncting Martin O’Malley’s Uranus as it opposes his Chiron and Jupiter, suggesting a change of direction which, while emotionally galvanizing, is also challenging on the practical and pragmatic level as something unanticipated (unanticipated by Martin O’Malley, that is) is involved.    

GEORGE PATAKI

George Pataki (glyph chart)
June 24, 1945 - (no time) - EWT +4 - Peekskill, NY
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 George Pataki (text chart)
June 24, 1945 - (no time) - EWT +4 - Peekskill, NY
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(Note: George Pataki has left the presidential race as of December 29, 2015)

With Sun in Cancer and a Moon positioned somewhere in Sagittarius (we don’t know where, as we don’t have a birth time), George Pataki is generally described as a man who enjoys a good challenge - in part because he learns so much through tackling them. Liking the challenge isn’t as important to him as taking it on, and though he has suffered many a setback and defeat in life in efforts big and small (as have we all), he is less daunted by negative results than some, in part because his chart suggests he was raised to have a discerning if universalist perspective on life.

In other words, life isn’t supposed to be perfect, and learning to understand that is as much a part of life and the opportunities life affords us as anything else.

That said, George Pataki does have a chart which describes him as singularly suited to live such an outlook as well. Of ten standard planets, he has three in fixed signs, three in mutable and four in cardinal signs, giving him a cardinal ‘do, and learn from the doing’ edge - said edge being sincerely underscored by the asteroids, nodes and dwarf planets.And when we look from modalities to his elemental spread, there we find a similar stability: planets in every element with a Sun in water and  a Moon in fire adding a little ‘steam’ to the operation - which once can either think of as ‘steaming’ (as in hot or passionate) or as the ‘steam’ which fires the steam engine - an idea which works very well in considering a chart which presents itself in a classic locomotive format.

In a locomotive pattern, all of the planets occupy only part of the chart, ‘concentrating’ their energies into a formulation and layout which leaves 120 degrees (a third of the zodiac) unoccupied. With the ‘lead planet’ which starts this process (the ‘lineup’ of planets) always being considered thematically important emblematic (and strengthened by a position one might liken to being ‘planetary pack leader’) we look to George Pataki’s Mars and find his ‘lead planet’ at 9 Taurus and conjunct asteroid Nessus (holding the ‘deadly grudge’) and fixed star Schedir - which if you remember was eclipsed in March 2014, which means George Pataki’s Mars was eclipsed in March 2014.

(A short discussion on fixed star Schedir was included in the April 2014 eclipse post which you can link to HERE.)

As that eclipse will not finish its work until 2017, we will guess that changes which took place in George Pataki’s life last year are still evolving and playing out. Are they part of why he is running for President? Probably at some level, but without knowing his personal experience of the April 2014 eclipse at 8 Taurus we don’t know for sure - and it’s to understand that though certain factors and kinds of eclipse effects on a person are obvious and visible from outside, solar eclipses are always about a deep and deeply personal recognition about how life works and what about one’s personal life has to change.

In the meantime: the solar eclipse of March 2015 at 29 Pisces would have opposed Pataki’s Chiron and Pallas, creating a need to let go of some (Pallas) perspective which results/has resulted in (Chiron) ‘not knowing what to do’ - like as not, in light of current necessities.

The next eclipse in line - the September 2015 eclipse at 20 Virgo - along with the March 2016 eclipse at 18 Pisces, that will aspect George Pataki’s Virgo Jupiter. Apart from the fact that with Jupiter’s current presence in Virgo this means Pataki will be experiencing a Jupiter return (beginning a new decade-plus of growth) as his Jupiter is undergoing a lengthy period of shedding old expectations, goals, standards and requirements. Without a birth time we can’t know much about how this is going to work - or if the net of this process is going to ‘feel’ like a positive or negative in George Pataki’s life. What we can say however, is that his values and Virgoan attitudes (appreciation and support or otherwise) towards anything and everything which is/isn’t ‘healthy’ or perhaps moral, responsible, timely, caring or inclusive of the needs, concerns and values of others - all this is in flux and is going to be in some sort of flux (even if all that amounts to is responding to the pressures of campaigning) at least through the middle of 2016.

As for the last solar eclipse prior to the general election, the eclipse of September 2016 at 9 Virgo trines George Pataki’s Mars (indicating something akin to a shift in priorities or preferences) from a position which, in also trining his natal South Node creates a ‘grand trine by eclipse’ in earth signs - which with this same eclipse semi-sextiling Pluto suggests a need to change some underlying values, ‘standards’ or (possibly) ‘standard ways of dealing with things’ (i.e., methodology) which though inconvenient, are not anything George Pataki will escape, alter or resist.

RAND PAUL

Rand Paul (glyph chart)
January 7, 1963 - (no time) - EST +5 - Pittsburgh, PA
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 Rand Paul (text chart)
January 7, 1963 - (no time) - EST +5 - Pittsburgh, PA
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(Note: Rand Paul has left the presidential race as of February 3, 2016) 

We do not have a birth time for Rand Paul, but his Moon is in Gemini, giving him three planets in air (including said Moon) and three in earth, including his Capricorn Sun. Air against earth is thought of as a combination which trends towards a pragmatism which, in being based on earthly and tangible (i.e., ‘earthy’) facts, isn’t precisely emotional though it is caring - in spite of which (and sometimes because of which) can sound a bit ‘hard-hearted’ to some, especially with the Sun we’re discussing here being placed in achievement-oriented and Saturn (structure-ruled) Capricorn.

With Capricorn people, results speak for themselves. In other words, you may not like them, but they’re still results - and that’s a fact.

Considering how Rand Paul’s Capricorn Sun is ruled by Saturn, with his Saturn in its other sign of rulership (Aquarius) and conjunct Mercury in early degrees, all that speaks of Rand Paul as someone who needs to see and understand things for himself. In fact, when you go around his horoscope looking to see which planet is disposed by what other planet (creating a ‘chain’ of disposition), Rand Paul’s chart comes back to a ‘circuit’ - a Saturn-Uranus-Mercury ‘circuit,’ which is the kind of thing we would expect to see with those who look for the facts, and who build on facts.

As a natal aspect, Saturn-Mercury conjunctions often indicate a very (Saturn) focused (Mercury) mentality which, appearing here in Aquarius is as capable of patience, tolerance, insightfulness, determination, understanding and productivity as it is capable of displaying disinterest, rejection, criticism, sarcasm, and the sort of distance which may or may not be taken as arrogance, haughtiness, elitism or shyness. With Nemesis positioned right between these two, an ‘I told you so’ factor also inhabits Rand Paul’s life - which is to say, he is as likely to be on the receiving end of life’s ‘I told you so’ moments as he is likely to be on the ‘warning others of impending peril’ side.

And with regard to any relationship between clarifying Mercury and fog-enshrouding Neptune, there is no standard aspect between Rand Paul’s 15 Scorpio Neptune and his 5 Aquarius Mercury, except through Saturn.

How does that work? Well, with Mercury at 5 Aquarius, Saturn 10 Aquarius and Neptune at 15 Scorpio, given the maximal standard orb allow being 5 degrees, Saturn is square Neptune and Saturn is conjunct Mercury but Mercury is not technically square Neptune except through Saturn’s auspices, which points to career and work. This sort of ‘aspect by implication’ happens not infrequently and in this case speaks to Rand Paul at least as someone who believes in (Saturn) work and self-discipline as that which ‘gets between’ a person and their doubts.

He doesn’t believe in a free ride, in other words - especially a free ride in the thinking department.

With standard planets in all three modalities, Rand Paul is a man who can vary the speed at which he pursues his chosen aims. In fact, with five planets in mutable signs, four in fixed signs and only his Sun in a Cardinal sign, Rand Paul is described as someone who though he may see something at once is disinclined to make assumptions until he can (mutable) piece together the various aspects of whatever he’s seeing.

Regarding elements, Paul has planets in all four elements with a planetary emphasis on air (marking him as a thinker) with a little bit of an asteroid/nodal influence in both water and earth - leaving fire and its capacity for imagination and creativity as something he likes, but which he probably relies less on in the totality of his life than other things.

And when it comes to the always important subject of solar eclipses, there we know that Rand Paul’s Vesta (the ‘cost’ we accept for what we choose) was opposed (polarized) by the March 2015 eclipse at 29 Pisces and that the 20 Virgo eclipse of September 2015 will conjunct his Ceres and trine his Sun, pointing to changes in what Rand Paul does and how he does it over the course of 2015.

As for the solar eclipse of March 2016 at 18 Pisces, sextiling his Sun as it oppose Rand Paul’s Ceres, prompting changes of attitude towards his Self which in turn prompts further changes in how he goes about doing all the many things he does.

Only one more solar eclipse will occur prior to the general election. That eclipse will occur in early September 2016, and it will be at the degree 9 Virgo, a degree which by virtue of its being in opposition to Rand Paul’s Jupiter (and Chiron) while also inconjuncting his Aquarius Saturn and Aries Eris forms a ‘Yod by eclipse’ - a configuration which speaks to ‘fate’ in the sense that sometimes life is what it is and does what it does, and our job is simply to accept that.

Yods are a fairly unusual configuration to begin with, and to have one created (or ‘set off’) by an eclipse is not anything most of us will ever experience. But Rand Paul not only will, he already has - 19-years ago when September 1997 also hosted a 9 Virgo solar eclipse.

The theory with eclipses is that they’re like a helix. We all get tested time and time again by eclipses, but while those who learn their lesson the last time around will see the test coming and know how to cope with it (moving on to bigger and better things) those who have proven resistant or reluctant to learn will get ‘stuck’ in old problems.

Hopefully Rand Paul has learned whatever lessons he’s needed to - as otherwise this could be a discouraging time. 

RICK PERRY 

Rick Perry (glyph chart)
March 4, 1950 - (no time) - CST +6 - Paint Creek, Texas
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 Rick Perry (glyph chart)
March 4, 1950 - (no time) - CST +6 - Paint Creek, Texas
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(Note: Rick Perry has left the presidential race as of September 11, 2015)
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With a Sun in Pisces opposing natal Saturn and a Moon somewhere in Virgo (though without an exact birth time, we don’t know the degree), Rick Perry is a man looking to ‘fill’ and fulfill functions through which he can have a ‘self-fulfilled’ life.

As for how he is likely to go about all that fulfilling effort to find fulfillment, with Sun, Moon and Saturn in mutable signs. his is not a ‘direct shot’ at his goal, but rather a working through a series of step-by-step questions, situations and challenges which offer opportunities to learn about life and one’s Self.

And some of that may well cause Rick Perry to change his mind about his goals - or why his goals are (or aren’t important) along the way. In looking at how his chart falls across the elements we even find this theme more or less ‘echoed,’ as with planets effectively spread through all four elements Rick Perry not only feels, thinks, imagines and has opinions - and yet he’s willing to listen, reconsider, and as they say in politics, ‘evolve.’

On the other hand, his chart pattern is a seesaw. Defined as a chart which appears as two ‘distinct’ bundles on opposite sides of the zodiac, seesaws are easy to imagine as the idea of a life or personality which first ‘runs in one direction’ and then in another - or even someone who tries to keep things balanced when a lot of things are ‘up in the air.’ There is a school of thought which says seesaw charts ‘ask’ natives to reconcile the extremes of their life with some reality of experience ... and there probably is some merit to saying seesaw nativities are a sign that life’s ‘tipping points’ will need to be learned about and understood, but without a time of birth, we can’t say more.

Beyond that, Rick Perry has another of those oft-seen politician charts with planets (or a dwarf planet, in this case) aligned with the lunar nodes, which we shouldn’t be surprised at as the lunar nodes symbolize our basic social, societal and relationships and the ability to relate - so it planets and dwarf planets (providing they’re not problematic) are just the thing for a politician, one would think.

With Rick Perry, it’s TNO Typhon and dwarf planet Eris which are standing with the North Node in early Aries. So he should be (Eris) fighting for what costs or threatens the (Typhon in Aries) life of others, lest his not following the ‘should do’ instruction of the North Node turn into experiencing the loss (Mars at 8 Libra) of some ‘ability to relate’ or relationship he treasures (Diadem) above all.

With regards to solar eclipses, Rick Perry’s 29 Virgo Juno stands in exactly opposition to the March 2015 solar eclipse at 29 Pisces, causing an end or a discarding of some ‘maintained control’ - which may have to do with his entering the presidential race, among other things.

If so, it may tie into the next solar eclipse - that of September 2015 eclipse at 20 Virgo and that one is going to conjunct Rick Perry’s 16 Virgo Saturn as it also squares (challenges) Rick Perry’s Chiron-Ras Alhague in Sagittarius, a combination which will speaks to career as well as a specific quality to hurt or harm his own progress having to do either with not knowing what to do ... or a reluctance to do it.

After that, the March 2016 solar eclipse at 18 Pisces again opposes Rick Perry’s Saturn while squaring his Chiron - and maybe more to the point, it will also conjunct the Sun the 9 Virgo solar eclipse of September 2016 is going to oppose even as it opposes Perry’s Vesta - the ‘cost’ of something, or accepting that there will be a cost if he does something.

There being nothing quite as convincing for most people as an eclipse (never mind two) aspecting their Sun, it is certain that 2016 - and the 2.5-3 years which follow are going to see an huge evolution in Rick Perry’s life no matter what else comes to pass. What that means, we don’t know because we don’t have a birth time ... but in good time we surely will all find out!

MARCO RUBIO

Marco Rubio (glyph chart)
May 28, 1971 - (no time) - EDT +4 - Miami, Florida (text chart)
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 Marco Rubio (glyph chart)
May 28, 1971 - (no time) - EDT +4 - Miami, Florida (text chart)
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(Note: Marco Rubio has left the presidential race as of March 15, 2016)
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This is another candidate chart for which we have no birth time. And with Marco Rubio’s birth date, as the Moon changes signs shortly after two in the afternoon (Miami time), all we can say is that his Moon is either in Cancer or Leo.
Apart from that, Marco Rubio was born under the sign of Gemini with his Sun within orb of royal and fixed star Aldebaran, a star which guarantees success only when the native’s choices, priorities, statements, thoughts and general mental state functions within the boundaries of integrity.

To be clear here: when someone violates the ‘prohibition’ associated with one of the royal stars, the ‘guarantee’ is that something you want will not ‘succeed.’ In the case of a presidential candidate, the ‘goal’ seems pretty obvious - but to ask the royal star question, why do they want to get elected?

It’s that thing which is unlikely to ever succeed.

Apart from that, one would think a Sun-Aldebaran conjunction would make Marco Rubio a guy you could “see right through.” And no doubt some feel they do, trusting Rubio and his 6 Gemini Sun implicitly. But again, the question would be why - and the ‘why’ we should ask ‘why’ about concerns the fact that Marco Rubio’s Sun sits in opposition to Neptune at 1 Sagittarius.

Ah yes, Neptune: the ideal and the illusion. The real dream which cannot be ... the expectation with which we so willingly, even preferentially, fool our Self...

Yes, that Neptune. Marco Rubio’s Neptune is positioned conjunct Jupiter (with fixed star Toliman nearby) which ... well, cutting to the chase here endows a ‘Vaseline lens’ to Rubio’s (Sagittarian) aura - that thing he ‘transmits.’ His 0 Sagittarius Jupiter is itself actually outside the orb of being in opposition to the Sun, meaning it’s probably not going to be ‘overdone,’ but these Neptunian veils can be entirely tricky, as they work both ways.

Let’s hope he knows. If not, he’s bound to find out at some point!

Apart from that, the planets in Rubio’s horoscope do not fall into any specific chart pattern, and with a 13 Taurus Mercury not in any standard Ptolemaic aspect to the 1 Sagittarius Neptune we were talking about, he is neither the artist nor the classic astrological liar - which doesn’t mean with a Neptune opposition Sun everything from Rubio wouldn’t have been put through that Vaseline lens.

As for his modalities and elements, with a Sun in a mutable air (Gemini) and a Moon in either Cancer (cardinal water) or Leo (fixed fire) Rubio’s full count has planets in every element and modalities - UNLESS his Moon is in Leo, that is.

If that is true, then Marco Rubio would have no planets in water, giving him a deficit in areas of finance and/or wealth, emotionality and/or compassion and connectivity on a personal level. (So is he compassionate? Is he genuine in his willingness to connect to others? That may say all we need to know for the moment about his Moon.)

If his Moon is in Cancer, then he does has planets in all four elements and all three modes - and that lends depth to whatever real life balance he builds - and adds that quality of ‘balance’ to his aura.

Is that a plus? Maybe, or maybe not - politics does seem to be a field where strength of bias (in modality or the elemental sense) is sometimes a plus.

That said, Marco Rubio’s chart also has a grand trine in elemental air. To be specific, it connects his Sun (conjunct Aldebaran) in Gemini with Uranus (conjunct Diadem) in Libra, with the third leg having one of two end points (Mars or Vesta) as both Mars and Vesta are trine Rubio’s Sun and Uranus, even if they’re not conjunct each other.

This grand trine represents all sorts of unusual opportunities and ideas which come into Marco Rubio’s life, which one must consider as having started where he was as a youngster and how things have changed. Much has changed, and much will keep changing - that’s what grand trines do.

For Rubio, the only thing which is constant is truly change - a change which comes with (Uranus) unexpected events and challenges as to what (or who) Rubio really wants to be - the old Sun/Aldebaran game. Such a grand trine can represent enormous strengths at the very same time that they typify soured dynamics a person doesn’t know how to get out of.

As for solar eclipses, while we don’t know Rubio’s Moon or house cusps, we can say that while the solar eclipse of March 2015 opposed his natal Pluto and Black Moon Lilith (a transformation of public/personal dynamics either in real time or as an understanding) which is enough of a karmic ‘push’ to keep anyone moving, the September 2015 solar eclipse at 20 Virgo misses his chart entirely using classical aspects.

But then comes the 18 Pisces solar eclipse of March 2016, which semi-sextiles Rubio’s North Node-Medusa-Eurydike while inconjuncting his South Node and Huya, suggesting a ‘cost’ which either is going to be incurred if Rubio doesn’t change something, or which is going to happen anyway, in light of which Marco Rubio changes something. Since the lunar nodes are involved, this applies to some relationship, Rubio’s ability to relate to someone (or others) or his efforts to be ‘relatable’ in some way.

And then comes the September 2016 solar eclipse at 9 Virgo. This solar eclipse falls in a position as to inconjunct Marco Rubio’s Chiron-Eris in Aries at the same time it inconjuncts Rubio’s Aquarius Mars. And that forms a Yod - one which ‘points’ at 9 Pisces, a position one degree off Rubio’s natal Echo at 10 Pisces, suggesting some problem (internal and/or external) with having to face conflicts or unwanted realities which surface in connection with having not thought something through, or in connection with acting without sufficient personal individuality - which may well apply to the Sun/Aldebaran conjunction we started out talking about.

BERNIE SANDERS

Bernie Sanders (glyph chart)
September 8, 1941 - 6 00 am EDT (+4) - Brooklyn, New York
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 Bernie Sanders (text chart)
September 8, 1941 - 6 00 am EDT (+4) - Brooklyn, New York
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Born with a Sun in Virgo and a Moon in Aries (creating an 8/6 dynamic), we could say of Bernie Sanders that he was created as a person who feels it’s his duty to do have an opinion and to make those opinions known. And since do we have a time for Bernie Sanders birth, we can say with some security that his Aries Moon is positioned in opposition to Venus (in Libra) and conjunct dwarf planet Sedna, a combination which describes him as someone who doesn’t need a ‘luxurious life,’ a man who believes inherently in the (Sedna/Moon) need to be his own person and someone who doesn’t mind if you don’t agree with him - he’s okay if you’ll just give him a chance to say his peace, then you can think what you want.

Elementally, Bernie Sanders has three planets in fire (Moon, Mars, Pluto), three in earth (Sun, Saturn, Neptune and four in air (Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus) ... which if you’ll notice, leaves a void or ‘lack’ in water. So Bernie Sanders is not described as a conventionally ‘cuddly’ person. One shouldn’t expect him to get openly emotional, though there’s plenty of reason to think Bernie Sanders’ level of utter conviction in-and-about various things comes off sounding like passion.
But it’s not - not in the water sign emotional sense. With Bernie Sanders, what you’re hearing is how convinced he is, and how important he thinks it is that people consider alternatives to whatever gets normally bantered about.

As for modalities, for someone so intent it is something of a surprise to see cardinal and mutable signs emphasized over those which are fixed, as usually it’s the person with the fixed sign emphasis who stands for one thing or one position with such staunchness. On the other hand, when we consider that Bernie Sanders has a Sun in a mutable (flexible, ever-changing) sign and a Moon which is not just positioned in the driven, motivational cardinal sign which is Aires but also positioned in Sanders’ chart so as to be the lead planet of his locomotive pattern...?

Well, then we begin to understand. Or at least we begin asking questions such as, is any of this under eclipse stress?
The 29 Pisces solar eclipse of March 2015 falling in a position where it could sextile Sanders Saturn/Uranus in Taurus and Gemini (respectively) while opposing his Neptune and Mercury (which with Neptune at 26 Virgo and Mercury at 2 Libra are not in conjunction) will have eliminated some causes of hesitation, aiding whatever inclination Sanders had with regard to becoming more active.

Moving on to the September 2015 eclipse at 20 Virgo, that eclipse conjuncts Sanders’ Sun and North Node (while opposing his South Node), somehow changing the reason and goal for Bernie Sanders’ efforts. This isn’t a simple eclipse: even as it conjuncts Bernie Sanders’ Sun and North Node, this eclipse also square his Gemini Jupiter (challenging rationale, presentation and/or boundaries and limits) ... as it trines his natal Black Moon Lilith (which conjunct Kalypso underscores some issue having to do with prioritizing the needs of others over our personal desires or aims).

And all of that is on top of some form of irritation with, or dislike of what others do, why they do it and what the result of their doing it (or having done it) has come to be - which would be a reflection of this eclipse occurring in a semi-sextile to Bernie Sanders’ Venus in Libra.

In being on the other side of the zodiac (give or take two degrees), the eclipse of March 2015 at 18 Pisces will ‘echo’ some of these effects, although with this eclipse opposing Sanders’ Sun/North Node while conjuncting his South Node there is something which was ‘easy’ which is no longer so easy. Having a sextile (instead of a trine) to Black Moon Lilith means Bernie Sanders is going to have to work for or towards something which had seemed obvious or not anything he had to attend to, but with this comes an opportunity to (as they say) affect the hearts and minds of those he deals with.

As for the final eclipse before the election, that solar eclipse (at 9 Virgo) semi-sextiles Bernie Sanders’ Chiron in Leo and Vesta in Libra and that’s about it for the planets. Yet beyond that, as this is a chart for which we have a birth time, we can also say that this 9 Virgo solar eclipse squares Sander’s IC/MC line from a position two degrees behind his Ascendant and exactly conjunct Eurydike - which conjunct said Ascendant spells ‘the cost of the effort.’

Don’t you wonder what that means?

RICK SANTORUM

Rick Santorum (glyph chart)
May 10, 1958 - (no time) - Winchester, Virginia (Aries Wheel)
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Rick Santorum (text chart)
May 10, 1958 - (no time) - Winchester, Virginia (Aries Wheel)
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(Note: Rick Santorum has left the presidential race as of February 3, 2016)
 
We don’t know the exact time of birth for Rick Santorum, so we don’t know his Ascendant or the degree of his Moon. But we do know that his Moon is in Aquarius, as it was in Aquarius for the full 24-hours on the date Rick Santorum was born. (Score: one planet in air, one planet in fixed signs.)

As for his Sun, that’s in Taurus. (Score: one planet in earth, one in air and two in fixed signs.)

There’s a planetary picture in Rick Santorum’s chart called a ‘kite.’ It’s made up of Pallas in Gemini (mutable air), Chiron in Aquarius (fixed air), Saturn in Sagittarius (mutable fire) and Jupiter in Libra (cardinal air). Charts which have kites in them often belong to a person with some ‘high flying’ ambition or dream. Said dream is indicated by the ‘top’ of the kite (in this case, Saturn - a symbol of career and personal achievement) and it’s to be expected Rick Santorum will aim right at his career, whatever he considers it to be (like, President, for instance.) Yet as with any real-world kite, astrological kites take some ‘steering,’ and a bit of a ‘delicate touch’ - all of which is metaphysically sent through the object at the ’tail’ of the astro-kite - which in this case is Pallas in Gemini, representing the ability (willingness, and effort put towards) gaining, having, maintaining and utilizing perspective(s) on one’s own thoughts, reasons, choices, priorities and of course, the ‘correctness’ of one’s information.

As for that ‘score’ thing, the truth is Rick Santorum isn’t overwhelmingly an air sign person, so while he works with ideas he’s not locked solely into thinking of things abstractly. In fact, his chart is nicely scattered through every element except for earth - and there his only symbol is his Taurus Sun, which leads to the philosophical question: is reliance on Self enough?

With regards to modalities (his ‘mode’ of going about daily life), both the Sun and Moon are in fixed signs in Rick Santorum’s nativity, as noted - as are Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, the nodes (both) and Chiron - which is a lot of fixed energy and the indication of someone who doesn’t take easily to change, especially where it concerns something he’s built his life on.

As for a chart pattern, Rick Santorum’s chart is a splay - a chart defined as having planetary symbols in all four zodiac quadrants and ‘clumps’ of symbols here and there around the wheel. Splays generally speak to a person with many, or varied interests which they may or may not ‘put together’ as part of their efforts or personal goals.

With regards to solar eclipses, the March 2015 solar eclipse at 29 Pisces inconjuncted Rick Santorum’s Pluto exactly. And as his Pluto is natally conjunct Regulus, much has been transformed for him of late, with Regulus providing (and having provided) success only where Rick Santorum functions/has functioned without focus on his ‘ego Self.’

With the 20 Virgo solar eclipse of September 2015 squaring the Pallas/Saturn axis of his natal kite, old ways of thinking along with some long-held aims are already in the process of starting to change even as this astrologer writes (due to pre-event ‘eclipse effects’). This trend is starting now ... and though it will wax and wane in daily life, it will continue on into and through early 2016 as the March 2016 solar eclipse at 18 Pisces again squares Santorum’s Pallas (if interestingly, not his Saturn), after which the September 2016 solar eclipse (at 9 Virgo) opposes his Pisces Mars, peeling shattering some sort of ‘image’ Santorum has believed in while forcing him to confront some form of denial and/or false hope (or assumption) in the process.

In short, this is a challenging period in Rick Santorum’s life whether he’s running for president or not. But to fold this into astrological theory, there are many teachings which suggest that if you’re going to have a challenging year, it’s best to have something challenging on your plate to be involved in, rather as a variation on the biblical saying about idle hands being the devil’s ‘playground.’

DONALD TRUMP

Donald Trump (glyph chart)
June 14, 1946 - 10 53 am EDT (+4) - Jamaica, New York
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 Donald Trump (text chart)
June 14, 1946 - 10 53 am EDT (+4) - Jamaica, New York
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(Note: Donald Trump accepted the Republican Party's nomination on July 22, 2016)
 
Donald Trump was born under the sign of Gemini - sign of communication, thoughts, ideas, plans, choices and priorities, all of which (as with any Sun sign) are about experiencing a life in which (and through which) one learns about such precepts with the ‘cause’ being their own thought or choice, and the ‘effect’ often being through how such is received, interpreted or utilized others (that being the Sagittarian polarity part) ... which in turn informs the Gemini Sun.

Born with Sun conjunct North Node and Uranus, this is a man who needs to be (North Node=’should do’) and who (Uranus) is different and who seeks to distinguish their Self and/or their ideas from others. And with this Sun in opposition to a Moon conjunct the South Node in Sagittarius) and fixed star Ras Alhague (to injure or to heal) we begin to get the feeling for a see-sawing cause/effect which will like as not switch from positive to negative either with great facility OR through (Sun/Uranus/North Node) great necessity depending on the reception (Moon/South Node) to what is done.

With both the Sun and Moon in mutable signs, Trump is a man who learns as he goes. He is going to change because to go step by step is any mutable sign’s way of learning. They aren’t fixed, so they don’t ‘figure out how it works first, then try’ fixed sign method. Nor are mutable people likely to follow the ‘get the idea, do the job, then review’ methodology associated with cardinal signs.

Mutable people are just ... mutable. It’s who they are.

Not that Donald Trump lacks the other qualities. Of the ten ‘standard planets,’ it’s only his Sun, Moon and Uranus which are in mutable signs. Five are in assertive cardinal signs and two (Mars and Pluto) are in the fixed sign of Leo.

Beyond this, with all of Trump’s standard natal planets falling in one-half of the zodiac (Gemini through Sagittarius) his chart is defined as a ‘bowl’, a chart pattern which seeks to ‘contain’ and/or gather that which is desired or desirable, often through a process of choice or discernment. Bowls come with ‘lead planets’ (the planets which represent the process which ‘starts’ or ‘prompt’s the native to action). And with Donald Trump, that planet is the never subtle, always pro-different and uncontrollable Uranus. So we know Donald Trump is someone willing to investigate or try the unusual - or to do something accepted in a new or unusual way. Uranus as a lead planet usually indicates some sort of issue with control and also describes a person who likely to settle, settle down or be confined by anything - even their own previous choices.

Plus, with this lead planet (Uranus) in an exact trine to Jupiter in Libra (both planets are at 17 degrees of their respective signs), there is going to be an assertive, sometimes aggressive following of and responding to trends, ideas, styles and preferences displayed, requested or demanded by others in terms of ‘of the moment’ current energetics - which may or may not play well over time (or with others). Uranus as a lead planet tends to create either innovation or disruption (and often enough, both) and it’s to remember that in its own right Uranus is an energy or action (however that happens) and not associated with feelings or allegiance. 
With Saturn conjunct Venus in Cancer, real estate (a Cancerian profession if there ever was one) has been a natural avenue for Donald Trump. And as anything having to do with home, hearth, heritage, family and cultural traditions is also Cancerian, the fact that Donald Trump is himself a second generation real estate person, his ‘going into the family business,’ fits his Saturn/Venus to a ‘t,’ the ‘quality of the fit’ often being thought of in astrology as that which in part separates the wild successes from the mild successes and the regular successes from the also-ran’s.

Beyond this, Donald Trump has Neptune (at 5 Libra) in a square to Mercury (at 8 Cancer), representing the classic challenge of mentality against imagination - or hard facts against imagination, if you prefer. With the challenge being that of a square, the test is about one’s ability to keep everything in scale, under control and/or in balance, much as (speaking of real estate) an engineer has to consider the relative structural requirements of a set of walls against a ceiling. And as such a building, when this ‘engineering’ (the square) works well, it’s brilliantly inspiring and sometimes deft beyond belief. But when the matching of ‘cause’ with (anticipated) ‘effect’ is out of balance either because there are mismatches of fact or ego (Neptune negates ego), then the result can be fudging, truth-stretching, blurring, lies, questionable excuses,  evasion and - yes - problems.

As for eclipses, the Sun (Sun, North Node, Uranus) and Moon (South Node, Moon, Ras Alhague) in Donald Trump’s chart will be eclipsed by square (i.e., by some form of external or unanticipated challenge) both by the 20 Virgo eclipse of September 2015 and the 18 Pisces solar eclipse of March 2016, pointing to a fairly lengthy period which brings out things which are ‘no longer functional’ (a typical solar eclipse effect).

After that, Trump’s Black Moon Lilith will be squared by the 9 Virgo eclipse which occurs in September 2016, a couple of months before the election. The previous two eclipses are likely to feel more personal, but the second may be more important to his worldly ambitions as Black Moon Lilith always speaks to our relationships with the greater world and society and our ability to ‘relate’ or be ‘relatable.’

SCOTT WALKER

Scott Walker (glyph chart)
November 2, 1967 - (no time) - Colorado Springs, Colorado (Aries Wheel)
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 Scott Walker (text chart)
November 2, 1967 - (no time) - Colorado Springs, Colorado (Aries Wheel)
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(Note: Scott Walker has left the presidential race as of September 21, 2015)
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By virtue of being born on the date of a Scorpio solar eclipse, Scott Walker belongs to a very exclusive astro-club. The Scorpio part of this is what all Scorpio lives are about: an emotionally-based search for one’s personal ability and validity through interactions with others which always involve tests of emotional stability, emotionally provocation, reflection, or transformation … along with any sort of process which seeks to control, deny, destroy, manipulate, self-vindicate or otherwise deal with emotion (or the value of emotionality in Self or others) as something to be toyed with, discounted, discredited, falsely aggrandized, merely pleasured or in any way treated (worshiped?) as an end unto itself.

There is also a physical form of Scorpio – that which seeks to treat, purify, eliminate, restructure, rehabilitate or otherwise ‘re-create’ that which the native thinks no longer works or is ‘unworkable’ or ‘decayed,’ this being a similar test of discernment, principally of the negative Scorpionic habit of assuming control over what in truth is some form of ‘joint asset.’

Traditional Scorpio challenges require knowing, understanding one’s own feelings about things first. After that, life begins dealing out lessons on not the limits life places on desires, but whatever the Scorpio’s feelings about those limitations are. (Scorpio is a water sign, after all – feelings count first and last, no matter what a Scorpio says!)
Beyond that, Scott Walker has yet another candidate chart which falls into the definition of a locomotive pattern – and this time the lead planet is his Virgo Jupiter, a sign/planet combination famous for overdoing things, especially in the realm of ‘health, work, service’ with the typical problem involving the negation of, and lack of acknowledgement of the feelings, needs and sometimes even the existence of others. Jupiter in Virgo gets a lot of things done, yes – but with Jupiter just having entered Virgo on August 11th (2015) (which means Scott Walker is about to finish one Jupiter cycle and being in a new cycle of growth, learning and experience) sometimes the question is whether they were the right things done the right way or in the right amount. Jupiter in Virgo is responsible for many good works and a lot of overdoing, going over the line and otherwise overstepping bounds.

It just depends.

As for his chart in general, it shows two major ‘bundles’ (the astrological term being ‘stelliums’) of planets (and one asteroid). One bundle of four is in Scorpio and the other bundle of four (plus asteroid Pallas) is positioned in Virgo, which means these two major ‘hubs’ of Scott Walker energy (and activity) are in a 11-3 derivative harmonic.

What the hey does that mean? That means Virgo is the derivative 11th sign from Scorpio (if counting, remember to start by counting Virgo as “one”) … and Scorpio is the derivative 3rd sign from Virgo (ditto). What this points out is how Scott Walker put a ‘Scorpio-like’ focus on all things health-work-service (Virgo) and/or 11th house (societal, social, organizational, systemic) – and that’s where his Scorpio attributes surface, for transformative and curative positive to controlling and manipulative negative. That all this is happening as part of a locomotive nativity speaks to a diligence of effort and much determination on Scott Walker’s part when he has a goal in mind. Like a locomotive, he may be a little slow off the start (inertia, you know...) and once under way, more than a little hard to stop (a quality which applies to all locomotive charts). But when in motion, he does tend to remain in motion – which is in part due to that ‘keep doing’ quality which comes from locomotive lead planet Jupiter in Virgo.

Then there’s circuit two, which this time links that very same Virgo Jupiter to ‘knowing the ‘cost’ (Vesta) and a doughy Mars at 7 Capricorn, which in being conjunct fixed star (nebula) Faces, makes Scott Walker’s life a complicated thing and on occasion, quite a nasty thing – especially in the background (which may manifest as his also doing things against a ’background of contention’ – that being a quality Facies is known for). 

As for eclipses, Scott Walker’s natal Chiron at 25 Pisces was conjuncted as his natal Uranus at 27 Virgo and Ceres at 1 Libra (conjunct black hole M87) were hit by the March 2015 solar eclipse at 29 Pisces, forced some form of elimination of, or the discarding of some established alternative.
Come September 2015, a next solar eclipse at 20 Virgo will conjunct the center of Scott Walker’s Virgo lineup by conjuncting and eliminating some form of (Pluto/Venus) ‘power of attraction’ quality which, with TNO Deucalion at 17 Virgo being involved would seem to be about how some position, means or process which has kept something ‘above water’ becomes exposed, or is forced beyond capacity, tolerance or design … and this process will probable either be renewed or last through March 2016 as that’s when the ‘reverse’ eclipse occurs at 18 Pisces, again opposing Scott Walker’s Deucalion-Pluto-Venus.

The last solar eclipse of 2016 – the one which occurs on the first of September at 9 Virgo will conjunct Scott Walker’s Pallas (‘wiping out’ his previous perspective on something) while also exactly sextiling his Sun, suggesting a change of tact, thrust, method and goal. 
 
JIM WEBB

Jim Webb (glyph chart)
February 9, 1946 - (no time) - St Joseph, Missouri (Aries Wheel)
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 Jim Webb (text chart)
February 9, 1946 - (no time) - St Joseph, Missouri (Aries Wheel)
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(Note: Jim Webb has left the democratic race for presidential nomination as of October 20, 2015)
 
Born under the Sun sign of Aquarius with Mercury and Venus flanking the Sun is a right-off-the-bat way for Jim Webb’s nativity to image a person who as an independent thinker doesn’t depend on anyone to stand with him in order to have his own opinion.

As for his Moon, without a proper birth time we don’t know the sign of Jim Webb’s Moon. And why is that? That would be because the Moon was in late Taurus at midnight on the date of Jim Webb’s birth, moving on into Gemini by mid-late afternoon.

So we don’t know his Moon sign. But we do know it’s one of the first three signs (Aries, Taurus, Gemini), which means on an emotional level, much about Jim Webb’s reflections explore (in one way or another) ‘how things work’ - and that process both informs Jim Web and makes things easier to do and more effective in the doing as he goes along in life.

Apart from that, there’s another reason to be particularly curious about Jim Webb’s Moon sign, as without knowing that, we don’t actually know whether Jim Webb has any planets in earth - and the elements of anyone’s chart (in particular, the element which ‘colors’ their Moon) says a lot about their values or at least how those values will tend to function. Beyond that, without elemental earth, people tend to lack a ‘grounded’ quality many (if not most people) tend to take for practicality or pragmatism (realism) - and one would think that would be important in any politician’s chart.

Yet even if his Moon is in earth, with a chart which places six of the ten ‘standard’ planets in the element of air (which if his Moon is in Gemini would be seven planets in air), Jim Webb is a person who greatly ‘sees’ and considers his world in abstract, thoughtful, analytical or system terms - not generally pragmatic, tangible or emotional ones.

And that may work truly brilliantly for him. Or, with Mars, Saturn, Juno and Black Moon Lilith in water, particularly if his Moon is not in earth, might it mean others will appreciate his passion but disagree that his ideas are applicable, practical or suited to some particular purpose at hand. Without a time of birth, we can’t possibly know how this works, but given a goodly list of elemental fire in Jim Webb’s charts, we do know if he can ‘see’ what others are talking about, he can zero in on their issues.

As for modalities, there are no lacks - Jim Webb has planets cardinal, fixed and mutable. However, his mutable mode (learning as you go) list...? That is the least emphasized - so we know Jim Webb would rather know the lay of the land before he ‘goes for it’ with gusto and determination as opposed to trying this or doing things in a step-by-step (mutable) manner where any decision can get tweaked anywhere along the line.

And his nativity’s chart pattern? Using just planets (no asteroids, no nodes) Jim Webb’s chart falls roughly under the heading of a ‘tripod’ - a horoscope which has three distinct groups of planets which generally form a ‘grand-trine-like’ pattern around the whole of the wheel. Tripods tend to have a habit of ‘gathering’ ingredients or perspectives from separate sources in considering or building some greater whole, and because this process (like most trine activities) tends to go unnoticed, people with this chart pattern may be incredibly competent but appear less dynamic or ‘edgy’ to observers, which may or may not work in Jim Webb’s favor.

Events connected to (and around) the eclipse of March 2015 squaring Jim Webb’s nodes (and thus his concept of how he relates to others and his world) was probably part of what has led him to become a presidential candidate. That it semi-sextiled his Libra Jupiter at the time probably referred to (in more or less purely political terms) issues having to do with financing a campaign, and getting past that could have been a chore. (Semi-sextiles are often irritating and annoying having to deal with even when an eclipse isn’t involved!)
As for the eclipse which will occur at 20 Virgo during September 2015, that eclipse sextiles Jim Webb’s Black Moon Lilith and Saturn, semi-sextiles his Chiron and - in being positioned so as to inconjunct Sedna at 21 Aries as well as his Venus-Sun-Mercury in Aquarius - forms a transiting Yod.

This ‘sounds’ like it has to do with how others are or aren’t (Black Moon Lilith) supporting, responding to or working with Webb’s current (Saturn) goals - which one would guess would have something to do with his running for President. With the semi-sextile to Aries speaking to some form of ‘would’a, should’a, could’a’ (i.e., things not dealt with) that leaves the Yod, which in involving Jim Webb’s Venus, Sun and Mercury obviously has to do with important and central considerations in his life and in particular, how that applies to his current life efforts.

Whatever happens now will follow the ‘rule’ regarding Yods, that being that it is the point immediately opposite that at the base of the Yod (which in this case is the eclipse’s position at 20 Virgo) where we find the answer to some situation which is both requiring that we ‘do something’ even as it hems in or possibly ‘directs’ our range of choices.

With the opposition point being 20 Pisces, we look there in Jim Webb’s chart and there is no planet there. But we do know 20 Pisces is a degree which speaks to our confrontations with people or facets of character which are in their own right not strong enough to stand alone, despite best intentions. That Jim Webb has TNO Chaos (endless possibilities) at 22 Pisces and asteroid Amphitrite (comfort being conditional on getting or becoming used to something) at 19 Pisces may ‘modify’ or ‘color’ Jim Webb’s contemplations of what or how to respond to things, yet in the end the answer will like as not ‘evolve into being’ not as the idea which is wanted, but that which is ‘the only thing which will work,’ a quality which fits with the Yod’s reputation as a ‘fated’ or ‘fateful’ configuration.

Fortunately the next solar eclipse isn’t quite as trying. Occurring at 18 Pisces during March 2016, this eclipse will semi-sextile Jim Webb’s Mercury, sextile his Ceres (read: Ceres/Vega), square his Uranus and trine his Black Moon Lilith and Saturn/Mars in Cancer forming a ‘grand trine by eclipse,’ representing a change which comes into Jim Webb’s world which causes some sort of need to change either what he is doing or how he’s doing it so as to improve a ‘quality of delivery’ and effectively ‘break’ with something which had gone on, been said, or been done prior to this time.

As for the last eclipse prior to the 2016 election, that’s at 9 Virgo and will occur on September 1, 2016 rather neatly bisecting the native sextile between Jim Webb’s 10 Leo Pluto and his 8 Libra Neptune (conjunct fixed star Diadem), ‘breaking through’ some negation or resistance to certain ideas (or ideals) Jim Webb has long held onto. This eclipse on the whole will be dealing with issues of fatalism and negative thinking (speaking, activity, morality) and exploding many of its processes and myths, though what this is going to mean to Jim Webb (as to us all) remains to be seen long term - which in the case of solar eclipses means over the three years following the event of the eclipse.

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So there’s the list... and an interesting list it is with all its similarities and differences. What’s been said here is barely scratching the surface, of course - and no doubt some other astrologer looking at the same charts would have pointed out a few other nuances.

As said when beginning this traipse across the political landscape, when the day comes that we have a set ticket for the November 2016 general election, then we can (and probably should) look more closely.

In the meantime, we have the basics of the charts, so should anything particularly amazing happen with regards to anyone on this list, there’s a ready reference.

Beyond that, now that we know all their birthdays, over the next year or so we can also wish them each Happy-Happy on their appropriate day.

And maybe we should. After all, one of them is going to be the next President of the United States of America.
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