Chart USA: Saturn as National Teacher

  The United States' Capitol Dome in Washington, DC

(photo credit: Mary Ann Reitano, 2008)

After listening to the Congressional bollox this week, it occurred to me that it was time to catch up with the celestial doings when it comes to Chart USA.

Chart USA (the Appomattox Surrender chart)

April 9 1865  - 3:53 p.m. (LMT +5:15) - Appomattox VA

The chart is dated April 9, 1865 and is specifically timed for Appomattox, Virginia. The ins and outs of why this is can be found in a whole series of posts on the US Chart which can be linked to in the 'corporate and political posts' list in the sidebar.

For those who don’t need those details, let’s hit the high points on what’s going on. (Or the low points, if you prefer.)

October 2012 saw Saturn move into Scorpio. This was the month of all the political debates and, if you remember, a general heightening of everyone’s concerns about who was going to win the election. Prior to October, things were merely partisan. As of October, people really got focused, which fits with Saturn having moved from the theoretical ‘let’s talk about it’ airiness of Libra into the ‘hey, this is really important’ water sign emotionality of Scorpio.

The North Node of Chart USA is at 0 Scorpio 01. That’s a degree which is about bedrock qualities and choices which have the potential for much good or much destruction.

The Congressional moment which got my attention this afternoon – that of Congress picking up its toys and going home for Christmas with the nation’s fiscal issues still unsolved – comes as Uranus as gone direct and Saturn (reality) has just crossed over the nation’s Industria in the 2nd house of values and money.

Anyone who listens to politics – or who has listened to the news for the past week knows that the United States is heart-deep in discussions about gun control, mental health…and in general, the values of Americans as people. As a symbol, Saturn is about structural growth which as often manifests as useful rules and limits as it does with walls and refusals to consider anything but that which suits your needs. In the 2nd house of the national chart it speaks to the national coffers as well as the vital question of what do the people expect of their government. The 2nd house of this chart being ‘colored’ by Libra, the give-and-take of negotiation is a value to be held by the US government and which the people will always grade its government on.

Oh yes – the natal Saturn in this chart is at 27 Libra. That means the nation experienced a Saturn return rather recently – back on September 13th, to be exact. Saturn’s orbit being 29.46 years long, this means that the (2nd house) values and (Saturn) rules which came into play early in 1983 are over.

1983 was during the Reagan era. What the Saturn return tells us is that the US has learned the lessons which began back then. The nation is ready to - and needs to move on.

Saturn will come back to the degree of this Industria next September. What we have therefore seen is the opening round of a year when we are going to see a lot of hard choices and changes being put into the works.

And being resisted.

And getting torn down, torn apart and getting rejected.

A lot which was, will now end. A lot which needs to be built will be taken on. Saturn periods are not known for being kind or carefree. Often the bad news gets delivered in such a manner that the thing you have been avoiding or postponing taking on becomes the imperative which hits you in the face.

A lot of people don't like Saturn because they think life is about the reward and not the work which earns the reward. Saturn times teach us otherwise. 

Since you know I’m all about eclipses, November’s solar eclipse at 21 Scorpio opposed the national Venus (at 24 Taurus) in the 9th house of foreigners, education, law/legalities, religion, medicine and media. Since Venus is conjunct Algol (emotional reactivity) and Deucalion (finding the moral path) it’s not surprising to see things evolving as they are, touching on all these subjects from the perspective of the eclipse conjuncting Sisyphus and Child – the choice to do something back because you are childish or to children.

Pluto is moving through the 4th house of the people (and real estate). With the 4th also being the traditional house of families, habits, cultural values (traditions) and ‘setting the course’ this is a time when we would expect the US citizenry to be going through a lot of self-questioning changes with regards to who they are as a people…and what they really value. Pluto has been conjuncting Facies for everyone, of course…but in this chart Facies is at 6 Capricorn (fixed stars do move!) and thus Pluto ‘turned’ on Facies during that evidently fateful September period then came forward across Europa (getting carried away) and Niobe (pride goeth before the fall) at 7 Capricorn…and by February will be hitting Kallisto.

So as a people and as a people who are supposed to be in an ongoing partnership with their government, the US as a nation – politicians and citizens alike – are now moving between having realized where we have failed utterly and what really caring as a nation means.

The conjunction to Kallisto spans 2013 to 2014 and will see the US (and its citizens) struggling with what caring really means. The priorities of the nation at home and abroad will be looked at. The priorities about what resources should be put to and whether the US is a nation of individuals or a nation and national ‘family’ of sorts will be debated and thought through. Kallisto’s story is one which requires that you face the ‘bear’ you have been or acted like to others and survive through accepting that you have acted less like a person and more like an animal.

(Don’t look at me…I don’t write these myths, I just report on them!)

It’s worth noting that the Neptune of this chart sits at 8 Aries, too. Uranus will conjunct this point during 2013 and in doing so, create an opposition to 8 Libra, a degree known for loss.

Given the length of this transit, the fact that Neptune is involved and that we’re going to be experiencing a series of solar eclipses in Taurus and Scorpio which are going to hit several other Chart USA planets, it’s likely that some very bad things are going to be seen, learned and found out before things get straightened out….which should happen somewhere around 2017.

I did also look at the chart of the GOP, seeing as it was the Republican-led House of Representatives which led the exit from Washington today.

The Republican Party

March 20, 1854 - noon (LMT +5:55) - Ripon, WI

The thing which seems striking about this chart (which deserves a full discussion of its own) is that Neptune is currently in the process of ‘dissolving’ the GOP’s Venus…and from there will move on to working over the party’s Eris. With this Venus involved in a grand square which includes the nodes of this Chart GOP, we can expect there to be a lot of strain on the party's relationships individual and public.

It’s been about 150 years or so since the Civil War and Lincoln as the Republican President of the country. That’s about half a Deucalion cycle – Deucalion being the symbol of ‘finding the moral path.’ Today the US has a black President whose powerful ability with oratory makes him sometimes seem like a modern Lincoln.

The nation is struggling with what it has been and what it wants to be. Ten years from now the GOP will be a substantially different party and the US will be set on a new course.

 The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC

The day I went to see this statue I was in so much pain I probably should have been in a hospital. 
But I wasn't. All I remember is wanting to walk up those steps and see Lincoln for myself.
By the time I got there, I was in such terrible pain that some kindly tourist came to help me
up the steps. I was so moved...I just stood there and cried.     

(photo credit: Erich Robert Joli Weber, June 2012)

But in the interim, there is bound to be some pain. When it began, the Civil War was a war of economics which involved the very vital question of what being ‘human’ means, and what rights – and responsibilities – go along with being human.

Those same questions seem to be coming around again. Back then, the nation and its people went through hating each other because it seemed some people cared more about human dignity than economics. Then, as now, it was the rich who protested and the poor who went on working.

I doubt the Republicans are going to cede (even if Texas has toyed with the idea).

I’m also not surprised to know the nation is going through its Saturn return...and that such a time in the history of the United States would be filled with tests and needs and pain and challenges galore.

We are also told that if we accept the hard work Saturn brings, if we will put ourselves through the course of living up to our own very best standards, we will come out the better for it, too.
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Venus enters Libra

Dawn in Southern California

(photo credit: Jessie Eastland, January 2012)

Venus enters Libra on Sunday, October 28th and 1:05 in the afternoon, UT/+0 time.

And maybe not a moment too soon for many of us! Three-plus weeks of Venus in Virgo has (obviously) led to Venus traversing Virgo’s higher degrees where we’re most apt to encounter challenges and critiques. And nobody likes that part much! Even those of us equipped to use the Venus-Virgo effect for streamlining our effects and getting things done are probably plumb worn down with being patient, checking to-do lists and listening to people announce what else needs doing. (Not to mention all that difficulty with the when such things need doing, right?)

All this is to say that as Venus enters Libra, we may (for reasons we can’t quite place), heave a sigh of relief and begin to relax. Under optimal conditions Venus in Libra drains off ‘focal tension’ which will allow us to complete tasks with less stress…maybe even attract a helping hand.

It’s simply a more generous people-to-people time. Where a couple of weeks ago Michelangelo could have unveiled the Pieta and a few Italians would have grunted as they hurried by on their way to some meeting, now he would whip off the cover and people would ‘ooooh’ and ‘ahhhh.’

The Pieta of Michelangelo Buonarroti as it is housed in the Basilica di San Pietro in Rome, Italy

(photo credit Rsuessbr, September 2004)

But lest you think all done under Venus in Virgo would be for nothing, naught and nuisance value, if what you were doing was part of a greater process, then you did the right thing. Acts of utility (which may have felt like futility) but a couple of weeks ago will now tend to bear fruit.

And so we sigh collectively saying…’so they DID notice…!’ and we cheer.

Libra being the sign of connecting to others, attracting others and ‘exchanges’ of ideas on the abstract plain, the next three-plus weeks of Venus in Libra will be good for finding out what works and what doesn’t work. Venus in Libra tends to evoke whatever charisma we have…and teach us how to be more effective through rewarding that others like.

In other words, it’s not guaranteed they’ll like everything we say or do, but it is more or less guaranteed that they’ll let us know the pluses and minuses OF what we say or do. And that cues us into how we can achieve ever greater success.

That Venus is entering Virgo some twelve-plus hours prior to Mercury entering Sagittarius (and half again that prior to this month’s Full Moon) signals either a ‘piling on’ of responses or things you have ‘set up’ prior to now falling into place.

Think dominoes. If your dominoes are properly lined up, you’re now all set for a spectacular display, much glee and a great Full Moon moment. If your dominoes are not in alignment, or if you have tried to include a few ‘tricks’ that you haven’t yet figured out, between October 28 and 29 life will show up what has gone wrong, derailing some portion of your effort.

 Apparently kittens like to play at dominoes, so why shouldn't we?

Katjesspel by Henriëtte Ronner-Knip

(c 1860, oil on panel, housed at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam)

After the Full Moon however, what we effectively have is a personal planet ‘line up’ of sorts: Venus will be in Libra, the Sun will be in Scorpio and Mercury and Mars will both be traversing Sagittarius.

Under any estimation this marks the next several weeks as a time when interactions and efforts aimed at creating agreement and a ‘forward path’ will be focal. Not necessarily pleasant or happy making, but focal.
And what’s the issue? Why, with Venus in Libra should there be any flies in our luscious, deliciously unguent ointment of life?

There are actually two flies here. The first is Mercury’s shift into Sagittarius, which often manifests as the tendency to substitute volume for common sense. Undoubtedly there will be more sound and less sense now for a while.

And yet, we won’t get as annoyed as we otherwise might get with such people. We’ll look at them, we’ll give half-a-listen and we’ll decide that we need to do what we know is right. At least right for us in terms of what works for us. That’s Venus in Libra.

Then there’s the Sun in Scorpio, a far more volatile problem especially since there will be a Solar Eclipse on November 13th. The tension we feel now which will covert on that date to a feeling of having to cope will cause many of us to quail. And yet some of us – notably those who have been too headstrong or too ‘my way or the highway’ may now realize the wisdom in working together.

It all depends where and how you come into this time.

And what you come into this time doing. And how you’re going about doing it.

Considering the Solar Eclipse, there is a shift in social and societal patterns going on which is global, yes. But it’s also personal to you. This is part of the natural ‘breakdown’ process which happens in advance of any solar eclipse. Prior to now, the tendency will have been to ‘judge’ others. But once Venus enters Libra, we may see wisdom in their choices we hadn’t taken into account. We may recognize that even if what they have to say or what they aim to do isn’t our cup of tea that doesn’t mean it isn’t a valid path for them.

We may, in short, learn more about who we want to be with/to others (or maybe who we need to be in order to maintain or improve things) BECAUSE we stop feeling so disappointed that ‘they’ aren’t who we’ve been wanting them to be!

About now…and through the period of the Full Moon and into the first few days of November emotions may well run high. We’re likely to be very concerned about whether we can make things work the way we want them to work.

During this time, Venus in Libra is likely to manifests in two very different ways. Some will try that old ‘power of persuasion’ thing. Or the ‘I’m going to charm your socks right off of you!’ thing. And some will take a step back and think about what works…and WHY it works.

You may think along one theme, you may think along the other. Or maybe you’ll vacillate between both.

As will everybody else, hence feelings of ‘doing a little dance’ which may seem evident – even amusingly so! – during this time.

But since the bottom line is likely to be whether we want to insist on our way OR whether we want to aim for that which will help us build a profitable future…

You get where I’m going with this, right?

And why CAN’T we have our own way? Why CAN’T things be what they’ve always been?

The answer to that is the famous Bob Dylan line: ‘the times, they are a’changing.’

They simply are. We’re moving into a time which is going to be very ‘make it work’ period (that’s for all the Project Runway fans!). Hardly anyone is going to get to continue doing what they’re been doing (or how they’ve been doing it) and most of us are going to face some sort of personal crisis which forces us to take that ‘same set of skills’ and transport it into some new avenue or outlet.

Sunrise in orbit above Earth reveals Venus and Mars

(photo credit: NASA-JPL, August 1995)

 
There are those who aren’t going to be affected directly by this November’s solar eclipse directly. (They wouldn’t be any of my friends, but I’m sure such people exist, she says gallantly…!) But as I look ahead, you know – as the online astrologer – I’m doing calculations and seeing that very, very, VERY few of us (if any of us) are going to get through the next year-and-a-half (or so) without some serious transitioning.

This Venus in Libra time is going to be a boon to those who have already embarked on their purposeful life shifts. Since it spans a set of weeks during which Mercury goes into retrograde, news which comes in during the last part of this Venus transit (in other words, while Venus is transiting that ‘input from others’ 3rd decanate zone)…that’s going to be useful grist for the mill and something you can apply to your ongoing evolution. Against that, those who haven’t let go of the old assumptions, the old assertions, the old ‘I want what I want and I want to do it the way I’ve always done it’ (or ‘how it’s always been done’) folks are going to find themselves stalled during the days between November 14th (ahem – the day after the eclipse…) and early on November 22nd (which would still be November 21st in the Americas) when Venus moves on into Scorpio.

There’s a lot coming down the pike next month: Neptune is going direct, we have a solar and then a lunar eclipse…and nobody’s favorite (Mercury retrograde) will tend to muck up the works.

And then Venus goes into Scorpio, a combination of sign and planet which signals emotionally challenging efforts at the very least!

All that is to say make the most of Venus in Libra…which is sometimes easier said than done. But then again, all depends on your definition of ‘making the most of things’ too, right? Venus in Libra is a great time for socializing. It’s also a great time for networking, making good impressions and working to improve the positives while…well, doing our best to avoid the negatives.

Speaking of that trend, this will be the Venus passage under which the United States goes to the polls to elect not just a President, but a giant chunk of the nation’s Congress. Venus transiting Libra at this point in the campaign promises some glossy last-minute ads and serious outpours of campaign and pac/super pac money.

 Franklin D. Roosevelt campainging in Topeka Kansas in September of 1932 (National Archives and Records Administration, Catalogue No. 196072)

The Mars and Mercury in Sagittarius merging with this speaks to the fervency of positions and a fine walk (certainly for the candidates, if maybe others too!) between ‘right’ and ‘righteous.’ One describes a path, the other evidences the nature of a human ego – and the candidate who knows which is which and who is able to manifest the right choice is going to (Venus in Libra) probably get the response they want at the ballot box.

I can well understand if you’re sick of politics by now. Personally, I think an entire tree has given its life for the number of political mailers which have ended up getting stuffed in my box during these past couple of months. But the comments above do have bearing in our individual lives as the “patterns” which lead to success on the ‘big stage’ don’t change just because we’re not running for high political office.

That’s one of the interesting things about astrology – and probably why its kept my interest through more than thirty years now. How this universe manages to manifest so that the same ‘shapes’ of things seem to challenge us…with everything fitting together just so with each person responding to their generation and their family and a nation which was founded when and re-founded at a later date…

It’s just plain ol’ interesting.

And useful – which is why (I am guessing) you come to read this blog!

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Election 2012: Debate #3 – Foreign Policy

 Billed as a foreign policy debate, this is the chart for Presidential Debate #3 which is scheduled to take place on October 22, 2012 at 9 p.m. (EDT) at Florida's Lynn University

The third (and last) 2012 Presidential Debate is scheduled for Monday, October 22nd at 9 p.m. (EDT) at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida.

And the chart? It’s above. And its 9th house Moon in Aquarius is slap-dab on the money.

Foreign money? Maybe. The 9th house is, after all the house of all things ‘foreign.’ And Aquarius is the sign of economics and income.

But in a national chart (or discussion), Aquarius is more the sign of social systems which in the 9th suggests things like foreign students and foreign workers. International trade. Students getting jobs when they graduate with higher degrees. The cost of education and whether a nation should-or-shouldn’t support those educational institutions, particularly as that concerns foreign-born or immigrant students.

Given that Aquarius is also the sign of ‘sticking with the system or rebelling against (aka changing) it’ and how you go about it, the cost of changing or not changing how America functions is bound to come up. It may be an undercurrent, it may be front and center, but it will be there – as will be the spoken or unspoken issue of foreign cultures, religious or state sponsored fanaticism. Religion is a 9th house subject. Fanaticism is Aquarian – as again, so is a ‘social state’ which in combination with the 9th house is easily translated as ‘nations who see things differently than the United States does.’

But there’s a whole other issue which is just as potent as this 9th house Moon. That’s the fact that this chart has 9 Gemini rising and 9 Sagittarius thus at the Descendant. Those two degrees are currently inhabited by Royal Stars Aldebaran (at the Gemini Ascendant) and Antares (at the Sagittarian Descendant).

This is a tricky sort of thing which will have the candidates debating who’s acting (Ascendant) with integrity and who’s obsessed (Antares) with what others do, how they do it, what they don’t do (the way you do, maybe) and what people think of you.

Many an American President has said what they wanted to say, regardless of what others
thought of it.  But when it comes to HOW things have been said,few can hold a candle to
Abraham Lincoln, a man who said more in fewer words while touching more hearts than perhaps
any other President throughout United States history. I'm the first person to say that reading

history can be incredibly dull. But when I sat down to read a collection of Lincoln's writings and
speeches, I came away inspired, gratified and far more aware of history as something current,
not something which exists only in the past.

Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

(photo credit: Erich Robert Joli Weber, June 2012)

On one hand, this lays out a playing field which tests the sheer communicating skills of both candidates. How much of what we will see and hear will be about policy? How much will reveal the nature of each man? How much will each of them play to the audience?

The ruler of the Aldebaran/Ascendant (the integrity of/in what you do) is framed here in theoretical Gemini terms – which may bring out a bit of the preacher in both men. But the ruler of that Gemini is at 23 Scorpio in the 6th house of necessity and conjunct the North Node.

This brings a focus to what responsibility does a government have versus what responsibilities do people have for their own lives. With Mercury and the North Node in 3rd decanate degrees (degrees between 20 and 29 of a given sign) this signals a response which will definitely come after the debate on this topic, whether it gets discussed or not.

And the signs involved here - on the 6th house cusp and its polarity 12th house cusp – because those are Scorpio (on 6) and Pisces on the cusp of the 12th, plainly that which has so far been summarized as ‘the level playing field’ underlies this whole discussion.

With Sedna, the South Node and Algol in the 12th (all in Taurus) we’re likely to hear the ‘out of touch’ conversational touchstone being evoked. Heck, one or both of the candidates may verbally throw it at the other guy!

But the thing to watch out for is probably denoted by  Black Moon Lilith at 4 Gemini conjuncting (take a deep breath) Hybris…arrogance…conjuncting Aldebaran (integrity) at the Ascendant.

This becomes sort of a conversational “he who sounds most arrogant loses” signal. And since the Gemini Ascendant leads through Mercury in Scorpio to (Scorpio’s two rulers) Mars in the 7th house and Pluto in the 8th house, that’s were the emotional cord doth lead.

About the only question is whether that cord is long enough for either candidate to trip over…or hang themselves with.

Mars is not strong in the 7th house. Conjunct defender of the household Juno, this would be a conversation about Leadership. Throw in Hidalgo (manners, protocol) and we have a conversation about the many (Sagittarius) things a national leader (Juno) has to deal with with and manage through governmental channels (Hidalgo) before they go pronouncing their opinions or ‘facts’ not yet in evidence.

This last is very Mars in Sagittarius. Sagittarius is a sign known for ‘pronouncements’ (and rhetoric, and dictates) which may have a place in national leadership but probably isn’t the default position for any successful  President.

As for Pluto, Pluto in the 8th in Capricorn suggests two topics at least: the national debt and war. With Pluto still working over the ‘many tangled threads’ symbol we know as Facies, the combination of Mars and Pluto sounds a bit like ‘haste makes waste’ which on the world/national/governmental/military stage could be seriously deadly.

A yellow-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax violaceus) enjoys the beach in Boca Raton. It's not likely

any of them will attend the Presidential Debate, but you never know!

(Ianare Sevi, June 2009)

One more item well worth noting here before turning to individual charts…Vesta is going retrograde on the very date of this debate: October 22nd. Which means Vesta is going on station as of the 20th - which is why this post is hitting the digital airwaves now.

You know...it's that old 'station allowance' thing. Two days (maybe a bit more) before and the same after the date of station? That means Vesta's station effects begin on the 20th and run through the 24th.

We also know that Vesta is doing its ‘turnabout’ at 25 Gemini. And since 25 is a 3rd decanate degree, we know that other people are going to get input and say on the  standard Vesta question of ‘promises.’

But to equate Vesta just with the word 'promises' is to short-change the subject. Yes, Vesta does sometimes surface in someone getting all miffed because ’you promised that…’

So this would not be the moment to go and break your word. Not even for cutting corners on your word!

Although...well, this might be the moment for thinking over corner cutting you've already done. Or how you can explain that promise you didn't mean to break but...

You know, that stuff.

So Vesta is promises, plain and simple. but Vesta is also all about what it takes to keep a promise. All those comments you make to yourself about what you need to do or get done. All the feelings and working out of schedules to meet that schedule.

With Vesta in Gemini, and with Gemini being ruled by Mercury, that does leads us right back to that Mars and Pluto as rulers of Scorpio conversation.

But it also indicates a choice. And that combination of 'promise' plus 'choice' is both the choosing to promise and the hard-nosed concept that nine times out of ten when we do break a promise (if we do) we choose to do so knowing what we're doing.

Oh, what a nuance to add to a political debate!

But that Mercury quality...considering that the Mercury of the debate chart is in the 6th house that points to one's 'functionaries.' And when it comes to a President or a presidential candidate, there are functionaries a-plenty.

Let's see...foreign affairs...functionaries...matters to be debated...one could guess we will hear more about recent tragic doings in the Middle East.

 Who will spend the next four years living here?

The White House (south side) in Washington, DC

(photo credit Cezary p, July 2008)

Back to the 6th house. The 6th house of a national chart is, among other things its military, health care and the  civil service - which in the case of the United States includes Congress.

Oh, gosh oh golly gee...such things could get said! All of the above (health care, the military, Congress) are hot-button subjects. But with the Moon and Mercury in square by house? Part one: whoever talks about any of these topics had better know their facts. Part two, they had best have both a problem and solution on tap, lest they look petulant. Because Mercury rules that Ascedant-conjunct-Aldebaran, their statements must reek of integrity...the 'winning' attitude with this combo will be the guy who knows how to pose their statements as implied questions - not accusations.

And no matter the format, things may get feisty! Even a touch testy. Scorpio and Aquarius are both fixed signs: feelings and convictions will be there under the skin. With the Moon in Aquarius, taking the high road is a good idea, though getting haughty or arrogant (which tend to be the negative side of the Scorpio Moon) is not a good idea. Whatever sign the Moon is in, that spells out (among other things) what qualities the audience is going to be sensitive to. With an Aquarian Moon, care is advised...but evasion isn't. The job of Aquarius is to take the job on: to show what you can do and prove you deserve approval.

One other note to this square-by-sign: treating people like numbers...or using difficulties, challenges or tragedies merely for a political goad isn't going to wash. Making the point while showing that they know real people are involved (Americans or otherwise) is important to both candidates. The 'business' of war is about people, not commerce or personal power. Anyone who gets near those negatives is going to blow themselves out of the water (pardon the pun!).

Another point about this chart: it contains a Ceres-Saturn-Neptune grand trine. Among other things, one can bet there are many non-Americans listening to this debate. It's also more likely than usual that something will get said which is particularly telling...or maybe just entirely memorable.

Debates are funny that way. Get people talking and even the most schooled of politicians will sometimes go and say the gob-stopping-est things!

For Governor Romney on a personal basis, that his native Pluto (at 22 Leo) exactly opposite the Moon of this debate puts him on a tightrope between his desire to get people to think his way and an inborn instinct to be the private sort of person his personality…or his Mormonism (or maybe both) have created him to be.

Governor Mitt Romney

March 12, 1947 - 9:51 a.m. - Detroit, MI

That Governor Romney’s personal Asc-Dsc line lies at 1 Gemini/1 Sagittarius suggests he will go into this debate feeling somewhat at home. With his native Ascendant conjunct the debate’s Black Moon Lilith (at 4 Gemini)…is that a good idea? The Black Moon is always some sort of ‘externalized’ denial – as opposed to asteroid Lilith, which is about our internal issues with emotional denial. But on the outside? This is either Romney wanting to deny something that he’s done or said, wanting to deny some portion of society something, or being denied a (Gemini) hearing no matter what he does.

Romney’s Gemini Ascendant is ruled by his Pisces Mercury. This is an emotional Mercury which can charm or inspire, but which isn’t always strong. In square to Romney’s natal Uranus in the 1st house, this also the very description of the fact that Romney appears to contradict himself (or change positions on the proverbial dime) …but also why: a Gemini Uranus in the 1st ruled by a Pisces Mercury in the 11th is ‘built’ to get what is wanted in the moment. It’s not the same as lying; with both planets in emotional degrees what underpins this tendency is a genuine desire to be liked and – at some level – an insecurity with/about Self.

As for President Obama, his Ascendant is 10 Aquarius and his Descendant is 10 Leo (the later ruled by a 12 Leo Sun which makes him very adept at being in front of the public). With his Ascendant one degree off the debate’s 11 Aquarius Moon, he could be overly professorial again. Then again, he could come off as divisive.

President Barack Obama

August 4, 1961 - 7:24 p.m. - Honolulu, HI

With his natal Moon at 3 Gemini, he too has Black Moon Lilith problems, though since Obama’s Moon is natively well placed (particularly for a President) in the 4th house, he may use this Moon/Lilith dynamic to emphasize what people don’t have but need if they’re going to get ahead. Or if the US is going to be built (modernized?) to compete on the international stage.

(Mitt Romney’s Moon being intercepted in the 6th house has helped make him rich via Bain Capital, but it isn’t as likely to connect to everyday people. While streamlining companies has its pluses, right now all people are going to hear is ‘you’re getting wealthy by firing people’ and that’s not a big vote-getter!)

The Nodal axis in Obama’s chart runs from 27 Aquarius (South Node) to 27 Leo (North Node) – and in that aligns rather well with the ‘where this is going’ Midheaven-Nadir of the debate chart. With his Uranus conjunct his North Node he may get distracted and off conversation and if he does, that will hurt him. Obama’s tendency to be a ‘big picture’ thinker isn’t exactly compatible with people wanting him to talk to them.

We’ll have to see if he remembers.

Whatever happens and however the President and Governor Romney go about saying whatever they’re going to say, it’s pretty sure everyone out here in audience-land will remember what gets said.

And then…finally!…the nation will go to the polls and all the votes will get counted.

WHOEVER YOUR CANDIDATE IS,

ELECTION DAY IS NOVEMBER 6TH!

BE SURE TO VOTE!

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The Denver Presidential Debate: An Astrological View

(photo credits: President Obama - official file photograph,

Governor Mitt Romney, Gage Skidmore, 2011)

Despite all the other things which need doing at the moment, when I heard that the first (of several) presidential debates was scheduled for October 3rd in Denver, my astrological ears perked up.

Or maybe it was my antenna swiveled – I’m not sure.

Considering that the 4th is when Jupiter goes retrograde…and that the 5th is when Saturn enters Scorpio (meaning Saturn would be at 29 degrees of Libra on October 3rd) it was either ghoulish or gleeful of me to think ‘oh, let’s just give this a look at their charts!’
So we’re going to do just that – together.

As you read just yesterday (or maybe you didn’t, and if so, if you want to you can pause here to read the previous post) that Jupiter is going retrograde at 16 Gemini.

So where does that fall in President Obama’s chart? (Presidents first, sorry Governor…)

President Barack Obama

 August 4, 1961 - 7:24 p.m. AHST/+10 - Honolulu, Hawaii

Jupiter is going retrograde in Barack Obama’s 2nd house of values, self worth, self respect and resources (talents, abilities, personal wealth). Looking around his chart, Jupiter’s station does not aspect much of anything – which astrologically means this station doesn’t (figuratively) “touch him.”

But it does conjunct Obama’s Rigel – the fixed star representing our ability to learn and our obligation to teach others. That’s not unusual, as Rigel is positioned at 16 Gemini in the natal charts of everybody born between late 1940 and October 2011. Apart from that however, this does suggest that this Denver debate is a moment for the President to give us a feeling for his values and – because this debate is happening just before Jupiter goes retrograde – how he sees exercising his values and values in general going forward.

With headstrong Phaethon at 15 Gemini (the degree just behind Jupiter’s station degree) we may hear the President verbally think through some former assertions – maybe some of the things he said during campaign 2008 or along the way?

For Governor Mitt Romney, this Jupiter station falls in his first house and conjunct natal Uranus.

 Governor Mitt Romney

March 12, 1947 - 9:51 a.m. EST/+5 - Detroit, Michigan

With Rigel in Romney’s chart, we’re likely to hear him voicing what he’s learned in life and about life and through his life experiences in more personal terms than with Obama. Some will like Romney’s plain speak first person delivery…and some will prefer what is likely to be a more “philosophical sounding” Obama.

With Jupiter not quite hitting Governor Romney’s Jupiter, he’s not quite exploding through the screen. But we may sense an excitation, even a tension in the man.

With Orcus and Medusa at 19 Gemini he’s likely to speak in terms of ‘consequences’ – both his own and those he sees as national choices. In opposition to Eros, his delivery is likely to be really endearing to some and highly off-putting to others. And with this station occurring in square to Romney’s Pisces Ceres and Mercury in the 11th house there are definitely those who are going to think Romney’s logic is ‘squishy’ or coming from a place of denial, lack of understanding or magical thinking (any of which could be seen to be Pisces on the 11th house) when it comes to social/societal resources.

Pisces on 11 is a funny animal. At once you have great faith in other people even as there tends to be a lack of clarity as to who they are or what their values (and economic stances) really are.


After looking at that, then I pulled a chart for the time of the debate, locating said chart to Denver, Colorado. That chart I then located to the middle of a tri-wheel (as it’s called) with the middle ring being President Obama’s chart and the outer rung being Governor Romney’s.

 
The point of these debates being the audience…we look to the 7th house.
 

 The October 3, 2012's 7th house (of the audience) in a tri-wheel. The inner wheel

is that of the debate, the middle wheel is the corresponding area of President

Obama's chart and the outer rung is from Mitt Romney's chart.

Mitt Romney is bringing Chiron at 8 Scorpio to the table: economics. On one hand you can expect to hear a lot about debt (and war – Scorpio often speaks to war in a political chart), on another you should expect what he says to show up his vulnerabilities.

Obama is bringing Neptune to the table. Also at 8 Scorpio his emphasis will is likely to be skewed towards health care, compassion and the ongoing discussion of the difference between what people may have hoped for in his administration (expectations) and real gains on various problems which have (or haven’t) been made.

The difficulty here for Romney is that his Chiron comes from an interception in the 6th house; there is a wall between him and the “common worker” which Governor Romney has never and will never cross. Conjunct natal Klotho and square Pluto-opposition-Venus, one of Mitt Romney’s biggest public challenges is astrologically defined as a t-square.

All t-squares are read counter-clockwise (in zodiacal order). And the rule with a t-square is that if you can’t get past the ‘t’ (in this case the intercepted Chiron) it doesn’t matter how high you hold that ‘goal’ (in this case Venus/Eos in Aquarius), you’re going to get tossed back to ‘Go’ with no collecting $250 (or in Romney’s case, maybe $250,000 dollars).

With Eos (dawning)/Venus in the Aquarian 10th, Governor Romney plainly thinks that everyone can indeed found and build a fortune. The problem – as defined by his chart – is that a.) he doesn’t recognize his own roots in established money (Scorpio here equaling inheritance and support) and his lack of real connection to hard core work.

Pluto/Circe in Leo opposition Venus/Eos in Aquarius is either a total denial of income or the blessings of having been born (Eos) into wealth. IF this configuration wasn’t a t-square…or maybe even more importantly, if it wasn’t pictured as the ‘t’ being intercepted, Governor Romney might have worked his way through the process to proving himself ‘one of the people.’

As it stands, that will probably never happen. A t-square is hard enough. A t-square with the ‘t’ intercepted? That’s an incredibly difficult things to master.
However…looking ahead, there is a solar eclipse at 11 Scorpio coming up in November 2013 – and another solar eclipse at 8 Scorpio during April 2014. If Romney is elected, these eclipses will truly show up his strengths and weaknesses.

And if he isn’t elected?

Let’s just say this is a really, truly challenging set of eclipse transits for Governor Romney. In a sense I would hope he was elected or doing something really truly tough just so that would absorb the energy.

Meanwhile…the audience? The actual audience is represented by Industria-Mercury-Saturn/Pandora. With all this positioned in Libra (and the 7th house) the ruling influence is Venus and Venus has just entered Virgo, putting it in conjunction with Regulus and Achilles.

Woe be to the politician who doesn’t just talk about ethics, but walk an ethical walk. The public isn’t feeling particularly tolerant: they’re ready to (Achilles) slay anyone unwilling to acknowledge the walk all the political talk forces upon others.

One other note here: Regulus/Achilles is also a very plain reference to soldiers and the military. In Virgo, this is both the work of the military, the safety of the military and the care the country owes its military both in terms of benefits and health care and choosing to send the US military into harm’s way.

The public is willing to listen to whatever these two men have to say. They ready to size up their choice. Contrary to what some may think, this chart validates the audience as a group of people who care about the facts - and that the candidates are honest and forthright. Saturn/Mercury as the audience against Romney's Chiron says he has to be vulnerable, particularly on subjects he's said he doesn't want to talk about. His whole litany of 'we aren't discussing my taxes, we aren't discussing abortion and contraception, we aren't discussing Bain Capital...' those are all Scorpio subjects, which is another version of an interception in the 'responsibility/obligation' 6th house. Romney has plainly said 'I don't have to talk about those things and I'm not going to.'

That doesn't mean that the audience still doesn't want to know and that on this occasion at least, they are going to judge Romney - in part - by whether he does or doesn't discuss those matters they want to hear discussed.

Obama, on the other hand, has to be his factual self, not his poetic self. His Scorpio Neptune against the audience Mercury/Saturn gives him a chance to own up to successes, failures and human(e) considerations, including a few facts many Americans don't want to hear, but which are nonetheless true.

The question with Obama thus becomes 'will he brave disgruntling some in the name of being honest about where the country is and what it needs to do?'

The big fun in writing a blog like this is in looking at the signatures and trying to see what is going to be clocked in as specific reactions to an event. Astrology gives us a chance to look ahead. This is Obama's 'no drama Obama' Scorpio Neptune against Romney's fractious-yet-veiled (intercepted) Scorpio Chiron.

Saturn is at 29 Libra: this is make or break time for both men - and for public patience. Evidently the number of  people who haven't yet decided who to vote for are few. With Libra being a cardinal sign...with Saturn at 29 degrees of Libra...it seems rather unlikely that things coming out of this debate - at least from the audience perspective - will end up settling the election ahead.

Such are my thoughts of the moment. And now...we wait and see!

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Whatever your political affiliation, if

you're eligible to vote in the upcoming election, 

 go out there and vote! 

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Presidential Politics 2012: Candidates, Anyone?

 Eisenhower inauguration, January 20, 1953

photo credit: National Archives and Records Administration

With candidates deciding (and deciding when to decide) about whether to run for President of the United States in 2012, I thought it would be fun – not to mention educational – to look at a couple of charts at a time.

This is not going to be an examination of natal charts, except where we need to do so for reference. What we’re going to look at are transits on Election Day 2012 (November 6th) and Inauguration Day.

The ‘rule’ for Election Day, should you not know it, is that elections are held on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November. Yes, it’s one of those governmental mouthfuls. Basically, if the month begins on a Tuesday…or any day from Tuesday through Saturday, Election Day falls in the following week. If November starts on a Sunday or Monday, Election Day falls in the month’s first week.

Now that we’re all ready for a civics test question on that, you may be wondering how why we would look at both Election Day and Inauguration Day. The answer there is that for some people, winning just isn’t everything. On Barack Obama’s winning election day, his transits didn’t proclaim I Am President. That his transits were much stronger on Inauguration Day suggests President Obama is less interested in the glory of winning a contest than tackling the job.

So it does depend on the person.

And if I get really good at this, maybe prospective candidates will start checking in with me before they spent all that time and energy (not to mention money) running for office.

Then again, considering the egos of some politicians, maybe not!

One thing to note right off the bat: Election Day 2012 is going to feature Mercury on station, going retrograde. That it’s doing so in Sagittarius – a sign Mercury is notoriously “sloppy” in and also the sign of law and legalities makes one wonder right off the bat whether there are going to be some legal challenges.

Is America in for another round of recounts and dangling chads? Oh, the suspense!

An election worker looking for a hanging chad on a Florida

punch card ballot (2000 Presidential election,  December

2000 - photo credit unknown)

The first politician we’re going to consider is RON PAUL (b. August 20, 1935), who being the consummate Libertarian and not bad at all at formulating a concept which will get people to talking indeed did just that rather recently.

Ron Paul - August 20, 1935 - Pittsburg, PA

(no time known)

You may have heard the ‘Ron Paul fluffle’? Taken out of context, he seemed to be campaigning on a platform which included the idea of legalizing heroin and prostitution. The reality of his specifics I’ll leave to you to research saying only that a Libertarian position is pretty much summed up as ‘less government rules: let people run their own lives and make their own mistakes - treat people as adults.’

Ron Paul, official Congressional photo portrait (c. 2007)

Ron Paul’s Election Day 2012 features nothing in particular except the Mercury station. Occurring at 4 Sagittarius, this station squares Ron Paul’s natal Mercury and his natal Saturn, which sounds like delay or disappointment. Mercury’s station trines Ron Paul’s Eris (discord). Will he be resigned to how people just continue not voting for those ideas he so believes in – or is this his listening to some giant hassle?

If there’s a problem on Election Day we would expect to see that shown across every chart we look at today an on any other day. So let’s bear that in mind and move on.

On Inauguration Day (January 20th) Ron Paul has one personal transit: Venus trine Black Moon Lilith. Venus being the ‘concreting’ of things and Black Moon Lilith being (generally) “societal denial” this suggests that the society is headed in a direction Dr. Paul (yes, he is a medical doctor) doesn’t approve of.

In the big world of transits, none of this says anything “pronounced.” If you were elected President, don’t you think it would be a giant red-letter day in your life?

This probably means Ron Paul isn’t going to be elected President. But he's often really interesting to watch.

NEWT GINGRICH (b. June 17, 1943): There’s what’s known in astrology as some ‘dirty data’ on the time of Newt Gingrich’s birth. Here’s that chart…

Newt Gingrich - June 17, 1943/11:45pm - Harrisburg, PA

(time not verified)

For good measure, here is an Aries Chart cast for the same day without the Moon. Since the Moon moves about one degree every two hours (roughly), when we don't have the time of birth it often seems sensible to simply omit the Moon from a chart.

(And yes, there are those who say omitting the Moon from political charts is particularly apt!)

Newt Gingrich - June 17, 1943 - Harrisburg, PA

(Aries Chart/No Moon - Location Not Specific)

Either way, the 4 Sagittarius Mercury station is in direct opposition to Gingrich’s Mercury/Uranus conjunction in early Gemini. Mercury Uranus being something of the ‘shock,’ ‘surprise’ or ‘innovation,’ this could seriously make us wonder.

Except for…well…in this chart we have a grand trine which is composed of two points at critical degrees: Neptune at 29 Virgo (which is Neptune weakened by being in the sign of its fall) and Ceres at 29 Taurus, a sign of being able to lead on the merit of one’s personal self worth and values being vitally important.

The third point here is Juno at 27 Capricorn. Capricorn being the sign of government and Juno being a ‘head of household’ energy, it’s not surprising that Newt was at one point the Speaker of the House (of Representatives). Then again, he ended up resigning from the legislature after proving to be one of the great polarizing figures in American politics of the day.

That ability to polarize is very Uranus/Mercury. And with Ceres at 29 Taurus with natal Mercury at 3 Gemini plus Uranus at 5 Gemini, plainly Neptune is in an out-of-sign trine with Mercury.

Neptune/Mercury is the sign of someone who lies…or, when a configuration like this grand trine is involved, the sign of someone who is seen to ‘not be who we think/thought he was.’

And this Mercury opposition transit to natal Mercury?

Well, it’s not a classic plus, although… 

This is one of those moments when you really wish you knew your data was good, as the time we have for Newt Gingrich would give us Juno opposition Moon on November 3rd and Jupiter opposition the Moon on November 10th with Juno trining Newt’s Pallas (wisdom) and Mars (assertion) on the 7th – the day after the election.

Newt Gingrich speaking at CPAC 2011

photo credit: Gage Skidmore (February 2011)

Well, gosh. Let’s look at Inauguration Day to see what that says, shall we?

January 20th has Mercury trine Mercury (ongoing affairs), and Mercury opposition Black Moon Lilith – a facing off against the denial of society. With Pallas (wisdom) sextiling Mercury on the 19th, there does appear to be some positive activity going on in Newt’s life,  thought it doesn’t seem exceedingly…Presidential.

One more note here. With the impending Lunar Eclipse of June 15 (2011) happening just a couple of days prior to Newt's birthday, we can guess 2011/2012 is going to be a very exciting (intense?) year for him, come what may. The fact that this Lunar Eclipse precedes his birthday suggests matters which originate in his past are up for discussion...we'll just have to see what happens!

At writing, MITT ROMNEY (b. March 12, 1947) hasn’t declared himself openly, though he does have an ‘exploratory committee’ contemplating another run and he’s all over the Presidential polls.

Mitt Romney - March 12, 1947 (9:51am) - Detroit Michigan

(from official biography)

What does a poll of his natal chart say?

Election Day for Mitt Romney has Mercury going stationary conjunct Romney’s South Node, in opposition to his North Node and trine his natal Saturn. 

If nothing else, this sounds rather like the transits we would associate with a candidate – as does Mars trine Sedna (personal hopes) early in the morning followed by Venus sextile Pluto (feeling empowered) mid-way through the afternoon.

But then…?

The same Neptune which will go retrograde on June 3rd (2011) will be turning direct as part of its 2012 cycle on November 13 (2012). And that 2012 station - the one just after the election? That will be square Mitt Romney’s natal Moon and Jupiter.

Add in the solar eclipse which will occur on November 13th at 21 Scorpio (trine Romney’s Sun, square his natal Pallas, and trine his natal Ceres) and it certainly looks like Romney’s life is changing in a very big way. And that he’s finding out that he doesn’t know quite as much as he thought he knew.

If Mitt Romney does become President, one guesses he will find that he's bitten off a very large mouthful. Expect he'll go gray faster than the average Presidential office-holder - which is pretty fast, indeed!

 Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts

To Inauguration Day, which is preceded by a secondary progression (internal recognition) symbolized by Mercury opposition Romney’s 6th house Moon – a rather classic picture of taking on or relinquishing responsibility.

A 3-time Pluto square Neptune transit begins for Romney on January 18th. Given its 8th house/5th house combination, it’s a real-time echo of the secondary progression.

And on Inauguration Day itself we have Venus sextile Mars (convivial interactions), Sun trine Ascendant (matters already in motion coming into personal focus) and Mercury opposition Saturn, maybe the most interesting of the three.

When these transits are run for Washington, D.C.,  this Mercury opposition Saturn occurs at 12:34pm, with the Sun trine Ascendant happening about two hours later.

Are we looking at evidence that a new President will be inaugurated come January 2013? Or is this the message of a man with the 'winning' opinion that his party chose the wrong candidate in not nominating him?


Vindication can be very, very sweet for those who in not getting a chance to win never lose, one supposes.

As mentioned, Neptune will go retrograde on June 3rd, 2011. It will go direct again on November 9, 2011. If Mitt Romney does decide to run and if such an announcement occurs around either of these days or on one which sets off his natal Neptune…astrologically that would be news worth an eyebrow-raise. Maybe even two.

As an astrologer, I wouldn’t bet my computer’s bottom digital dollar until the tickets are announced. After all, it’s the Presidential Ticket which actually wins. But we have already discovered some interesting information which says something about the lives of these three men no matter what else happens.

More to come...!