The 2012 Vice Presidential Debates

 

Official government photos of Vice President Joseph Biden (left) and Congressman Paul Ryan (right)

One of the things which strikes me as interesting about delving into new areas with astrology (such as politics) is how the obvious is not always so obvious.

Take this image from the Debate-Obama-Romney combined tri-level chart from the first debate:

A 7th house close-up from the tri-ring chart for the October 3rd (Denver, Colorado) debate between President Barack Obama (middle ring) and Governor Mitt Romney.

The 7th house is always the house of the audience, which is why it struck me as interesting thing to look at. How would Obama’s Neptune intersect with Romney’s Chiron?

As it turns out, Neptune’s infamous ‘invisibility’ factor was what seems to have come across in that debate. President Obama talked some about health care (which is what I took his ‘debate Neptune”) to be, but it manifested more…“obviously” as a lack of fiery rhetoric.

How should we have known that would be how Obama’s Neptune manifested? In the wake of the debate telecast, it occurred to me to run Obama’s transits.

And lo…there sat Mars square Nodes. The Nodes being our ability to ‘relate’ and Mars (energy, assertiveness) in square, this was the signal that whatever Obama’s intentions, they would go askew. And thus Neptune which could have indicated compassion and poetic oratory became snap, crackle, soggy.

Okay…lesson learned. From now on we look at the chart in question and the politician’s transits.

See? This is how all astrologers learn. So you...me...the presidential candidates - we're all learning together.

(Okay...the candidates? Not so much. But you and me? Sure!)

Now that that’s sorted out, here’s the tri-wheel chart for the Vice Presidential Debate scheduled to be taking place in Danville, Kentucky at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The inner chart is that of the debate’s start, the middle chart is for Vice President Joe Biden and the outer chart is for Congressman Ryan.

 A tri-ring chart for the Vice Presidential debate scheduled to take place on October 11, 2012 in Danville, Kentucky. The inner rung is the chart of the debate's dynamics with Vice President Biden's chart laid around the debate horoscope as the middle ring with the outer level being the chart of Congressman Paul Ryan.

In this chart, several things jump out. No, the first thing is not Congressman Ryan’s Neptune at 0 Sagittarius, though that does come in a close second. (See? I learn quickly.) Before I get to that wee (?) detail, the Ascendant-Descendant line – 29 Taurus/29 Scorpio grabs my attention. I’ve seen this line a couple of times in just this position of various charts and as anything at 29 degrees of any sign would suggest, there’s a note of intensity, maybe even urgency in it.

In terms of the debate’s chart, the Ascendant is Venus ruled. And the Venus in this chart is not happy – it’s at 10 Virgo in opposition to Chiron at 5 Pisces. The debate thus poses a question: what do we want to do and how can we do what we want to do (in the nation, in the world, with regards to our economy) considering the (Venus-Chiron) situation we’re in right now?

The Descendant of this chart – which is the cusp of that all-important 7th house – is at 29 Scorpio. Right away we know the audience expects passion – and let not any politician approach this debate without his passion vibe on ‘high’!

But Scorpio can also be a very…tricky…sign…in that any sort of ‘non-response’ situation (obviously the case with a televised debate since the audience will be sitting out there in audience-land)...that lack of face-to-face interaction can cause a ‘ramping up’ of convictions, an instinctive drive to 'make sure they understand' or to take control at some level...and it can get to the point where people blow themselves right out of the water.

Hmmmm….

Scorpio has two rulers. The first – the “choice” is Mars, and the outcome of those choices is indicated by Scorpio. The Mars of this chart stands in Sagittarius and conjunct Juno, a symbol of protection of hearth and home. And Pluto sits at 7 Capricorn in the 8th house. The Pluto part of this speaks to debt and the military and such…the 7th house Mars/Juno speaks more to supporting the nation rather than dictating to it... (however you define that).

Now we get to Ryan’s Neptune. And a lovely natal Neptune it is…

Congressman Paul Davis Ryan

January 29 1970 - 2:37 CST - Janesville, WI

 
Zero degrees of anything says that you’re prone to ‘starting’ things. Sagittarius rising says you’re willing to try something new. It doesn’t, however, guarantee that you know the right and wrong of it as Sagittarius is a sign in which we learn what works and what doesn’t work.

With this as Congressman Ryan’s Ascendant, he is defined as willing to suggest – but you shouldn’t think he’s thought the whole thing through in realistic terms. Sagittarius on an axis ventures and experiments but differs from Sagittarius as coloration of a planetary symbol which has ‘mass’ and therefore accumulates information and reflects before trying.

More to the point with this particular Ascendant-Neptune, the ruler of Sagittarius in Ryan’s chart is a Jupiter Scorpio conjunct Ixion (doing the same thing over and over until you totally undo yourself), Arachne (entanglements), and Atropos (endings) – all conjunct the 12th house of faith-versus-despair.

A close-up of Paul Ryan's 11th house and 12th house cusp

Taken together, especially with Scorpio being the sign of debt and passive income (which would include pensions, royalties, Social Security, Medicare, etc.) its clear where Congressman Ryan’s thinking comes from.

But does this accurately reflect his life of the United States as a nation? That would be my question. The 12th house of someone's chart can represent their understanding (intuitive or otherwise) of a complicated situation. Then again, the 12th (and Scorpio, for that matter) can represent where we face, feel and can't deal with our fears, real or not.

So this becomes one of those 'is it real, or is it mental Memorex?' sort of questions. Considering Ryan's chart, the Aries Mars in the 4th asserts for the people (and his family. And in areas of real estate, most likely.). But with Mars ruling itself (Mars rules Aries) there is something like an 'echo chamber' effect which in the 4th house can have Mars assertion focused for the sake of being focused.

And Uranus is in the area of this natal Mars. Do you call it insight - or do you call it contrarian rebelliousness? Mars is not all that graceful in the 4th - this needs to be a personal call...echo and all!

As for Congressman Ryan’s transits on the day of the debate, he has Mars trine Mars (good energy), Mars trine Chiron (will he aim at the nation’s vulnerabilities or show his own?), Ceres (the planner) entering the 8th house (he’s got a plan!) and Sun opposition Chaos – the wildcard which with everything else says he’s likely to be quick on his mental feet and willing to come up with answers on the spot.

HOWEVER…barely 24 hours later we have transiting Neptune (retrograde) square natal Neptune. Neptune being Neptune, it’s hard to say that the day before and after aren’t affected, though the real ‘what am I doing?’ questions which generally go with this – one of the famous “mid life crisis” transits won’t happen on the day of the debate.

But what does it say that it does happen the day after?

Hmmmm…

Meanwhile, Vice President Biden is bringing Juno to the 7th house party (she’s a bit of a demanding date, but…) Anyway – interestingly, Vice President’s natal Juno is also not all cupcakes and roses.

And yes, Vice President Biden also has a Sagittarius rising.

Vice President Joseph Biden

 November 20 1942 - 8:30 EWT (+4) - Scranton PA 

So if nothing else, I'm thinking we shouldn’t expect a quiet debate. No library hush is likely here!

Biden’s natal Juno is in exact opposition to his natal Saturn, which I would take to be part of the ‘bull in the china shop’ quality Biden is so well known for.
As for Vice President Biden’s transits on the day, he has Venus square Juno (the desire to please in spite of difficulties), Mercury semi-sextile Ixion (either the tendency for foot-in-mouth or receiving stern warnings against same) and (of all things) Mars conjunct Ascendant – the ‘bringing it all to bear’ on the situation.
He also has the Sun in a nice sextile to Deucalion, indicating a desire to operate with decorum (which is probably good if you’re going to be on live TV!), Venus square Saturn (conservative values or valuing conservative plans of action), Mercury trine Black Moon Lilith (the ability to block out what you don’t want to deal with/think about) and Mercury semi-sextile that audience-7th-house-Juno…a sign of some difficulty connecting with others present at the time.

A day later, Vice President Biden has a major transit too: Saturn opposition Moon. Saturn opposition Moon is seldom an emotionally peaceful transit. Regret is common and anger not unheard of.

But as with Ryan’s Neptune square, we can’t know that either of these transits have to do directly with the debate.

Still...they might - either directly or otherwise.

And there is one other fact to consider here - namely that October 11th is the date of a transiting Saturn/Neptune trine. One one hand, this could well represent the dissolution of decorum. A little taking off of the masks, perhaps?

But there is that other side of Saturn-Neptune contacts. Though they can represent artistry of high order, they can simply expose the kind of self-delusion which we associate with 'addictions' mental, emotional, physical or otherwise.

It's going to be interesting, this debate. And just a heads up on the next one - in being scheduled for Tuesday, October 16th, that coincides with the stationing of Hybris, an asteroid very much known for arrogance.

Who will be calling who out on what when? 
.
.
.