Mars, Saturn, Vesta Station/Retrograde / Eclipse Effects Begin

A Christmas Tree at Home

(photo credit: Yatharth, December 2010)

Twice a year I begin talking about solar eclipse effects. And every time I begin this conversation, I wonder if its going to matter to anyone.

It always does – mightily and hugely - and yet I still go through my chat with Self when the appointed two-months-out-from-the-eclipse date rolls around.

In this case, the solar eclipse in question will occur on April 29th (UT/+0) at 8 Taurus, a degree which if nothing else tells us this incoming eclipse is going to feel very person to those it most affects.

As for who those people are, anyone with a Sun, Moon or any prime (horizontal or vertical) axis point between 3 and 13 degrees of Taurus, Scorpio, Aquarius or Leo had best pay attention. Something about the way you actually ‘process’ life (your Sun) or about work through life’s days and ups and downs (your Moon)…or who you think you are in your own mind (the vertical Midheaven/Nadir axis)…or something about what you’re doing, how you’re doing it or who-where-why you’re doing it – that’s about to get re-energized.

And in the process of getting re-energized, it…and you…will be in some vital way, remade.

Also – for those of you who would ask ‘what if the eclipse orb (above) hits something else?’ Then I suggest you find out what that attribute is on the psychological level…AND that you acquaint yourself with a list of things (items, professions…even countries) that symbol connects to.

All that is about to change. Solar eclipses bring out whatever is ‘hidden’ under “normal” (day to day) conditions. Known for thousands of years as part of the cosmic, karmic, energetic means by which life promotes cyclic changes of an inexorable sort of type, solar eclipses (as opposed to lunar eclipses) indicate a change of life circumstance which manifests through bringing out whatever has been missed, avoided or denied full voice. (That last, by the way, is why solar eclipses are associated with the fall (and rise) of kingdoms, societies, terms of rulership, etc.)

The two months which precede a solar eclipse are typified by a ‘breaking down’ of whatever needs changing in order for us to move ahead in our life – which unbeknownst to us may have been designed to be a whole other thing than we thought it was. Yes, sometimes solar eclipses also herald rewards and achievements. But with that thing we have ‘always wanted’ always comes something unexpected.

Whatever happens in the weeks and months ahead, remember this: with the bad (or from the hard time) will come good – though not right away. With the good (or the reward) will also come a cost as well. That cost may be levied up front…or it may reveal itself as the ‘shadow’ of something we didn’t suspect would or could happen.

The hard part to swallow here comes when we recognize that in order to get us to and through whatever change is coming, those metaphysical ‘girders’ (if you will) have to get shaken… then loosened… then finally knocked out of place.

Solar eclipses are not gentle. Even when they’re wonderful, they represent a period when surprises feel like shocks and when delights come with down sides – some of which we ignore or dance by at our own eventual cost. If your chart is getting hit directly by April’s eclipse there is every chance your values and sense of security is going to get a going over, so expect cooing and crying…whether it’s yours or not.

Since the degree being eclipsed here involves specific types of security which have to do with emotional rather than physical defensiveness, this would be a time which examines involvement and involvements as well as various forms of isolation, elitism, rejection (or marginalization) and the difference between ineptitude and unwillingness.

We’re all about to learn a lot about ourselves, most of all. And much of that will be learned through or with the help of others. The lessons – ultimately – are about what we value…but how we get to that lesson, its implications and utilization?

That we cannot do alone and will not do in short order. When April 29th arrives the eclipse isn’t over - we merely ‘shift’ from the ‘breaking down’ to the ‘learning better and rebuilding’ phase…a phase which lasts about three years and which comes with a bit of a twist right towards the end.

With all of that in mind, there are also four stations marking the onset of solar eclipse effects. One of them – Mercury’s station/direct at 18 Aquarius – we talked about in a separate post.

- link -
Mercury Direct at 18 Aquarius

To be exact here, as this post hits the internet (on February 27, 2014), Mercury’s station/direct is still in tomorrow’s future. But meanwhile, as of today Ceres will go retrograde (or will have gone retrograde, depending on when you read this).

- link -
Saturn, Sedna, Ceres, Jupiter:
Manifest Gearing in Motion

(If you haven’t checked in here recently, you may want to catch up. Knowing the lay of the mental and emotional landscape means beaucoup at the moment.)

As of February 27th, a lot of projects and attempts to deal with commitments are needing to be attended to. Sorting the ‘merely finished for now’ from the ‘I’m actually done with that’ is part of this process – and it’s a necessary part of the process, though haste isn’t suggested.

Part of our challenges from here through the end of April come from how we deal with the difference between being just plain headstrong as opposed to properly determined on a personal level. As Mercury goes direct on the 28th and February slides into March, much of what we encounter and deal with in our own right will center on such questions.

March 1st is the date when our planetary neighbor, Mars, goes retrograde. Mars retrogrades deserve their reputation as particularly trying (sometimes frustrating) times – but they don’t have to be. All you have to remember is that the object is to be who you are, and to own what comes of that. With Mars being sort of the standardized symbol of assertion and assertiveness, action, heat (emotional, physical or chemical) and thought we’re sorry to say it ego, self-centeredness and any kind of obsession which focuses on the Self to the exclusion of others…“normal” Mars dynamics are outward. We do what we need to do to get what we want from life and all that. We go after our goals. We assert our opinion.

Under Mars retrograde, that ‘other’ feels like it’s missing because we’re being called to pay attention to our Self. This can be the physical self – and particularly as Mars is going retrograde in Libra, there is every chance this March 1st through May 20th, our actions…or the lack thereof…is going to be being called into question – most of all by us.

This isn’t about guilt. This is about better understanding ourselves in the grand scheme of things so we have a better sense of consequence when it comes to whether we do something or ask that question or pay attention to what that person over there is saying…or screaming…or not.

And yes, I say that last part (the screaming, in particular) for a reason. Mars retrograde can feel oppressive. Mars retrograde in Libra is going to bring out a lot of errors, maladaptions, loneliness and all those unpleasantries we either didn’t think of as possibilities…or which we didn’t want to know about.

Situated at the equator of Mars, Valles Marineris is a canyon system some 4500 kilometers long, 200 kilometers wide and 11 kilometers deep, meaning it's about seven times as 'grand' as Earth's Grand Canyon in Arizona (USA). 

(photo credit: Nasa, JPL, Caltech, USGS)

As I say that, there is an entirely different route through this next several months of Mars retrograde which some of us will take. For some this will be a time all about increased dialogue, and some of that will be difficult. Why? Because Mars retrograde is about self development. Astrologically, Mars is a personal planet – which means by astro-definition this is an element native to our basic personality. It’s inside of us. It can’t get under our skin because it already started there.

And the truth is that Mars (through its rulership of “I Am” sign Aries) is related to ego. The same sort of energy which is assertiveness is a form of being personally present. And that present tense ‘being-ness’ is all about ego.

So no matter what sign Mars retrogrades in, it feels personal. In this case the retrograde begins at 27 degrees of Libra and ends at 9 Libra.

That means Mars moves…what, a whole 18 degrees in the space of about two-and-a-half months?

(I pause to take a breath, thinking of how to break this to us all gently…)

Mars orbits once around the Sun in 687 days…which to spare you fetching out calendar or calculator equals 1.88 years. Thinking about this in terms of averages, this would suggest…because 687 (days) divided by 360 (degrees in a cycle, circle or the zodiac) equals 1.908…we would think Mars would move one degree very two days, give or take.

And that’s what normally happens. But now we have a two-and-a-half-month (81 day long) period where Mars is only going to move eighteen degrees?

That’s a ratio which comes out to about 1/9th the ‘normal’ amount. (Yes, I’m rounding a tad, but still…) Considering that metaphysics translates motion as any form of ‘getting somewhere,’ specific to Mars as a symbol of action or activity, there would seem to be very little happening.

So will things be slow? Will we feel…bottled up or unable to get out of our own way? Or is this about doing something slowly so that sufficient care is taken?

Whatever this kind of energy means in your life, the implication isn't 'rapid.' This is Mars in something of a metaphysical metamorphic energy state, which is helpful for those of us who are coal willingly poised on the edge of becoming diamonds...facing only whatever our process of ultimate purification is.

The months ahead will pit us against our Self, purging many of unmerited vulnerabilities masquerading as vanity.

And yet, that’s all on the outside. Remember, retrogrades are about apparent movement. They’re about how things ‘look’ from here on Earth – not how they are in the overall realm of existence. The fact that relative speeds should cause us to ‘go back through’ some issues – that’s real. But so is the fact that in reality, Mars is moving along as it always has even if from the ‘Earthly’ …which is to say mundane human and everyday…perspective, Mars appears to be hardly moving at all – and when it does move, it seems to be doubling back on its steps.

So shall we. The real question is why we will do that, how we will do that, how well we will do that, and how we will deal with what has been found. Plus – seeing as this retrograde has Mars in Libra, much of the effect here is either real-time or effectively about how we connect to others…how we are connected to them, what connects us…whether that works or is viable…whether we need to make some effort or make changes to get to our goals…

…all that stuff and all those many things. The details of life and the details of how our lives intersect, intertwine, compliment, confront, question, learn from and – most of all reflect – will be being bestirred within. Relationship matters will be of great import whether you do or don’t have a relationship – and despite any specific relationship nature. Friend, enemy, guru, lover, authority and authoritarian, buddy, chum and huckster, we’re all alike under the Mars in Libra guise in the sense that we’re all equally human.

The photo here is of the May 2012 Annular Solar Eclipse at 0 Gemini taken 100km

north of Tokyo in Takenezawa (Tochigi Prefecture) by Carl Drinkwater

It’s that being thing which gets us. The details of that living challenge (whatever form it takes in your life) are individual and far too many to imagine. Through confrontations (or lack of same) with others, we experience our Self in a very personal and thoughtfully revealing way. Somehow…maybe at long, long last we’re find ourselves approaching the place where we’re willing to be confronted with the essence of understanding and a window on consequences, be they personal or otherwise. Far more through that we can’t predict and couldn’t (or wouldn’t want to) control we see and experience how cause and effect manifest in a subtly dynamic way which has escaped us until now.

Or maybe it’s not so subtle. Thinking back to last November’s solar eclipse (and the several eclipses prior to that) it’s hard to remember any marker for the onset of eclipse effects to be so heavily weighted as this one.

Maybe that means this is an important time for you. Or one which is critical to some greater flow of time. Whatever is going on, since there are all these planetary (and asteroid) stations clustered right at this ‘two months to go’ marker, that seems something we can take as a workable mental calendar.

Then again, Mars retrograde was never defined as a frolicsome sort of time. So we shouldn’t be surprised if the weeks…and yes, months ahead or filled with meaningful moments of many types.

Inside, we are likely to be moved by whatever happens going forward...and to, in time, move forward based on what we either do now (Mars) or realize now (Mercury in Aquarius) …or we may come to  whole new understanding – or way to understand - ‘about’ how things do or don’t work.

And how when we get stalled along the way through life, how it’s not always about failure. Sometimes it’s so that we have more time to observe, learn, become aware, hone abilities…and in general, enable greater success in the process.

What we are going through now…and that which we will go through in a very focused or focal way over the next several months – it has portent. It’s important. It’s one of those times when life itself is flexing enough that we just might get helped by moving ahead with something extraordinary (to us, at least)…and we can see it.

Everyone around the world smells the danger and feels the potential. We are all longing to individualize at the same time that, in finding a more productive and ‘fitting’ place in life, we become theoretically secured.

Saturn going retrograde on March 2nd at 4:20 in the afternoon UT/+0 time represents all our  challenges and needs. That Saturn is going retrograde just a day behind Mars implies a good deal of effort, at least some degree of risk and the positives involved in bringing skills to bear on ‘cutting edge’ questions.

By reputation, Mars is ‘hot’ and Saturn is ‘cold.’ Together, they represent the chilling thrust, the unstoppable conviction, the deadly accuracy of necessity and the bravery to do the impossible.

Great achievements and great disasters loom ahead. We will expect some now…and some to be seeded now. After going retrograde now, Saturn will return to the degree and minute of its station in late October – within days of Mercury going direct after another retrograde (this one in Libra, where Mars is now) as  October’s solar eclipse goes off.

This is a connection which can be counted on. Life has laid out a path and bridge for us…but whether we will tread it, where it will lead us to and whether we’re willing to let go of some of our hard ‘shells’ depended on so diligently coming into this time…that’s up to us. The Sabian Symbol for the upcoming eclipse at 8 Taurus reads 'A FULLY DECORATED CHRISTMAS TREE,' an image which astrologer Marc Edmund Jones typified as 'the ability to create inner happiness in dark times.'

For some of us that will merely be about making ourselves better. For others, that will involve the bringing forth from spirit, Self, mind, heart and abilities that which creates inner happiness - hopefully for many - when things are sincerely trying.

These days are the first steps along a path which will teach us much about this precept...in whatever way it applies to you in your life...over the next two months as eclipse effects unfold. Then we will or won't do something because or in spite of all we've come to be aware of.

That will take us the next three years, during which time much else will cross our path, refining, exploring, tempering and exploding whatever it is that the current 'hard core' (martian-saturnine) has now laid in our experiential path.

One last thought here...the 'main players' in this drama apart from Sun and Moon are very much clustered all together.

Two identical detail clips from the Aries wheel (location non-specific) chart for Mars' station, one (upper left)

shown in text and the other (lower right) using glyphs. 

Eclipses being a physical (astronomical) function of an alignment of Sun, Moon and Earth, the astrological version only varies by substituting the lunar Nodes (i.e., the nodes of the moon) for Earth. And if you think of it that way, then that Saturn, Ceres, Vesta, the North Node and Mars are all clustered together is very much a  'thematic' imaging of the eclipse.

And that's how this eclipse season is starting out?

However you feel about what you're thinking about, facing and doing going forward, the image above is one which speaks to what it will take now to move forward - and the fact that we cannot do so without knowing, learning or learning better about what it means to be 'bridging' the Libra-Scorpio energetic...that which is always about who we are to ourselves because of who we are with others.

Nothing is 'about' them. It's about our experience of our Self in the light of their existence...and how when things are really working that's enough to contend with, grow from, be inspired by and survive with.

And when things aren't working? Then no matter how much we have, gain or get, we don't feel like we're really living.
.
.
.

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!

.
.
.