By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 43
NewMoon Chart, September 29, 2008
Push is coming to shove, my friends! I am interrupting our
regularly scheduled programming to comment on an upcoming event that
will likely affect every reader this article reaches. What follows is a
short dissertation on generational astrology; followed by an analysis
of the ways the transits that are happening right now -- especially
transits of the outer planets -- are affecting the American
presidential candidates' charts at this crucial time.
Generational Signatures in Political Astrology
Our
main focus will be on the five outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
Neptune and Pluto, in the candidate's birth charts and in their current
course through the heavens. These planets are all such slow movers
(relative to the smaller-orbit, closer-in planets) that they can stand
in the same place sometimes for weeks, and even occasionally months at
a time. The poses they strike in the sky end up being engraved into the
birth charts of all those souls who take birth under these
arrangements. All through their lives, the impacted age-cohorts will
resonate with the special sensitivities and attributes that the outer
planets' footprints left in their astral bodies. These signatures not
only shape the candidates' characters as individuals, but also
determine the natural responses they will share with their astral peers
during unfolding events unfolding over time. By looking at the
contender's charts, we see what kind of reception current events will
get in the psyche of each one, and what aspects of their own innate
makeup will resonate in response to the collective situation.
The current outer-planet positions that will define this election are
- Jupiter unwinding from his retrograde summer in Capricorn, arriving at 17 Capricorn on November 2;
- The Saturn/Uranus opposition in Virgo/Pisces (at its peak of exactitude the first two weeks of November);
- Neptune taking his retrograde station at 21+ Aquarius (from mid-September till the end of November), resuming forward motion the very day of the election;
- Pluto completing his thirteen-year tour of Sagittarius, having just ended his retrograde at 28+ on the 8th of September, and finally entering Capricorn the 27th of November, 2008.
Of
course, nobody is foolish enough to think that the entire future of our
vast, influential nation turns on a tiny tick of the cosmic clock!
Nevertheless, I can't help but notice the exact timing of Neptune's
return to forward motion. Nor can I miss the coincidence of the long,
slow Saturn/Uranus dance culminating in early November. Pluto wrapping
up his extended transit of Sagittarius in the same narrow time-window
is yet another marvel of synchronicity. Therefore I think it is not
amiss to investigate the ways these transits fit into the charts of the
movers and shakers who are making their bids to stand at the helm of
our fair Union for the next four years.
Let's take the candidates in age order:
John McCain: (not concerning myself with houses here as the time is mildly contested)
Aug 29, 1936, usually calculated for 9:00 am, in Panama.
http://www.astrologyweekly.com/data-archive/us-presidential-candidates-2008.php
- Sun 6+ Virgo
- Moon 27 + Capricorn
- Mercury 2+ Libra
- Venus 22+ Virgo
- Mars 12+ Leo
- Jupiter 15+ Sagittarius
- Saturn, 20+ Pisces
- Uranus 9+ Taurus
- Neptune 16+ Virgo
- Pluto 28+ Cancer
ARCHETYPE IN YOUTH:
SOLO WARRIOR
Note the generational signatures:
A three-planet ballet spreads across the year of McCain's birth:
Jupiter in Sagittarius and Neptune in Virgo have their opening mutable
square in early Feb, '36. Following that, Saturn in Pisces moves to
collect the energy of the Jupiter/Neptune event by making an opposition
with Neptune in Virgo across degrees 12-16, during March and April '36.
On the verge of summer, Saturn proceeds to return the energy of the
Saturn/Neptune event back to Jupiter via their closing mutable square,
exact in late May '36. Subsequently, the Saturn/Neptune opposition
becomes exact again Sept-Oct across the 17th degree of Virgo/Pisces,
then for the final time during Dec '36 - Feb'37, at the19th degree.
Meanwhile, in Dec '36 Jupiter enters Capricorn within trine range of
Uranus in Taurus. This relationship plays out across Jupiter's entire
progress through Capricorn in 1937, including a breakup in spring
followed by a retrograde tango at the end of summer. In the background
of all that, between June ‘35 and August '38, Pluto is back and forth,
burning a hole in the last 5 degrees of Cancer.
So how does
McCain's chart do with the outer-planet transits we are currently
enmeshed in? The wobbling stance of transiting Neptune around 21+
Aquarius doesn't seem to engage his chart at all, whether by
conjunction, opposition, square or trine. This is curious because
Neptune is the closest companion of McCain's Sun in Virgo, so I would
expect there to be more of an affinity highlighted at this pivotal
time. Neptune, in the context of the Presidency, would tend to grant an
intuitive connection to the collective sentiment, an attunement to the
group organism of the USA and a sense of vibrating in common with the
dominant themes of the people. In this area, at least, any charges
leveled against McCain of "disengagement" are literally true, astrally
speaking.
What does engage his chart is the current Uranus in
Pisces opposition with Saturn in Virgo, marching relentlessly towards
his Venus/Saturn opposition with perfect deadeye accuracy! McCain is
lucky in that his birthday is early enough in the sign that his Sun
(personal ego) is not involved in this thing! Transiting Saturn will
feel its retrograde impulse right at Venus' feet, in McCain's putative
12th house, on the last day of December 2008, within a degree of being
exactly opposed McCain's natal Saturn position. This concerns me for
his personal life, perhaps suggesting a setback reaching him through
his mother or his wife. On the other side of the zodiac, Uranus is
pressing into conjunction with McCain's natal Saturn (from November
right through February 2009), which sounds stressful, unpredictable and
messy to me, especially if this really is his 6th house of health. If
I were his doctor looking at this chart, I would say "do you really
want to undergo such an uniquely stressful experience during this
erratic and scary transit?"
Since McCain's natal Moon is in
Capricorn, he can hope that the ending of Jupiter's retrograde and its
progress into the 20's of Capricorn will signal McCain to get lucky in
November. (Although I wonder, can anybody who wins the Presidential
position for this election cycle can be called 'lucky' in the true
sense?) Pluto's final push through the last degrees of Sagittarius and
into the first degrees of Capricorn will engage another opportunity
point for him, as McCain's North Node sits at the first degree of
Capricorn. Perhaps, no matter what happens, McCain will have the
support to see the outcome of the election as a positive development
for himself personally, giving him the strength to absorb whatever
happens when the transiting Uranus/Saturn opposition hits his natal
Venus/Saturn line at the end of the year.
Joe Biden
Nov 20, 1942, at 8:30 am, Scranton, PA
http://www.thereluctantastrologer.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/bidensyn.gif
(Don’t trust the chart of Obama shown at the link above, as it was created before his birth certificate was posted online)
- Sun 27+ Scorpio
- Moon 0+ Taurus
- Mercury 21+ Scorpio
- Venus 28+ Scorpio
- Mars 12+ Scorpio
- Jupiter 25+ Cancer,
- Saturn 9+ Gemini
- Uranus 2+ Gemini
- Neptune 1+ Libra
- Pluto 7+ Leo
- Ascendant 15+ Sagittarius
- MC 0+ Scorpio
ARCHETYPE IN YOUTH:
LIFEGUARD - BACK-UP PLAN
Generational signature:
[Thanks to http://ccrsdodona.org/m_dilemma/1987/aw87sp.html for the chart]
Biden
was born during the Saturn/Uranus conjunction in Gemini, with Neptune
making a trine with the two from Libra (opposed Biden's Sun, T-square
his Nodes). This started with the Saturn/Uranus conjunction (and
Neptune trine) unfolding from late Taurus/Virgo in May of '41 through
the near-exact conjunction/trine at 29+
Taurus/Virgo in April- May of
42. Neptune slows down at this stage, remaining in Virgo as
Saturn/Uranus roll together into Gemini in May '42. But ultimately
Neptune enters the Air sign Libra in October of '42, retaining the
trine with Uranus till Saturn finally pushes out of orb at the end of
May '43. One could say the Saturn/Uranus-trine-Neptune conversation,
which started in the earth signs (Taurus/Virgo), was fairly far
developed at the point when Biden was born into the airy (Gemini-Libra)
final stages of it. Biden's Scorpio Sun/Venus conjunction there at the
cusp of late Scorpio communicates with the swath of degrees covered by
this three-planet trine as it moved from late Taurus/Virgo to early
Gemini/Libra, making an opposition to the Saturn/Uranus pair and
sextile to the Neptune as their trine crosses the cusp of the earth
signs into the air signs. The fact that the majority of Biden's
planets fall between 25 degrees and 2 degrees of the signs (six out of
ten) gives him a certain finesse with transitions. His life experience
has taught him not to take stances that depend on events holding still
and conforming to our fixed expectations!
Regarding Biden's
interconnectivity with current events around election time -- he also
seems to be conveniently bypassed by the drama and trauma of this
ultimate beauty-contest. Whether age does truly confer wisdom on its
possessor, or whether this is just a convenient accident in the charts
of our two oldest contenders, each one of them seems to have a basis of
objectivity and philosophical distance to fall back on during this
election. Because Biden has Sagittarius rising, both the transiting
Jupiter and Pluto fall into his first house, which of course is great
for name recognition and having the spotlight fall on him. However, he
has no planets here or in the opposite degrees, so he doesn't have to
'take it personally', so to speak. Neptune in Aquarius stands in the
large empty spot in his first quadrant (making no conjunctions), though
it does square his Mercury in Scorpio (and less powerfully so, his Sun
and Venus). Once Pluto arrives in Capricorn, it'll be squaring his
early Taurus Moon, which could help him stimulate a calming response
during the craziness of transition between the old administration and
the new. The Uranus/Saturn opposition also misses his planets by a
comfortable margin, though it does tease his ascendant a bit due to
it's location near the fulcrum-point of their conversation. 
All
in all, this chart looks like he can provide calm and steady sidekick
services and supply a certain kind of ballast during the shakeout that
follows the election, whether he is swept into high office or not.
Plus, since he was born during a Saturn/Uranus conjunction, Biden
should have excellent psychological equipment to navigate the potential
upsets ahead -- he actually lives with these kinds of energies all the
time, so I doubt he'll fall into a black hole or get overwhelmed by our
near-future national adventures, whatever they turn out to be, and
whatever his role in them.
http://www.astrologyweekly.com/astrology-news/financial-astrology.php
Barak Obama
Aug 4, 1961 at 7:24 pm in Honolulu, HA
[Birth certificate: http://www.astrologyweekly.com/astrology-news/barack-obama-natal-chart.php
http://www.astrologyweekly.com/astrology-news/barack-obama-natal-chart.php
- Sun 12+Leo 6th
- Moon 3+ Gemini 4th
- Mercury 2+ Leo, 6th
- Venus 1+ Cancer, 5th
- Mars 22+ Virgo 7th
- Jupiter 0+ Aquarius 12th
- Saturn 25 + Capricorn 12th
- Uranus 25+ Leo 7th
- Neptune 8+ Scorpio, 9th
- Pluto 6+ Virgo 7th
- Asc 18+ Aquarius
- MC 20 + Scorpio
ARCHETYPE IN YOUTH:
TEAM PLAYER - CENTER OF DIVERSITY
Generational signature:
[Thanks to Astrology Weekly for the chart]
Obama
was born in the wake of the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction in Capricorn
that happened on Feb 1961. Conjunctions between The Limiter and The
Opportunizer have, since antiquity, been seen as co-signatories of
"socio-politico-cultural change" on the grandest scale (remember --
these are the outermost two of the visible planets; Saturn's orbit
marks the "edge of the universe" for our ancestors). This convention
of watching Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions for their political
implications has circled the astrological world, appearing in every
established tradition east and west. Therefore it's not something that
can be ignored in the chart of a contestant for the office of President
of the United States! (For some remarks regarding the two most recent
Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions and some of the implications political
astrologers have drawn from them, see
http://hometown.aol.com/tonylouis/home/jupsatpr.htm and
http://www.noeltyl.com/techniques/040227.html) This sign alone makes it
clear why Obama would see himself as eligible for the office and ready
to face the challenges it brings.
As this fateful conjunction
unfolded across the year of Obama's birth, Jupiter crossed the cusp of
Aquarius in March but the two stayed in conjunction even as Saturn and
then Jupiter were pulled into retrograde motion starting May of 61. In
late September of '61 they were close again, both returning to forward
motion in the late degrees of Capricorn. But by the end of 1961 Jupiter
had sped away, being more than halfway across Aquarius by mid-January '
62, when Saturn has attained to 1 degree of Aquarius.
Running
simultaneous to the above is a persistent Pluto/Neptune sextile that
blanketed early 1960's, Virgo to Scorpio. From my experience, a strong
combination of these two signs in a birth chart give rise to a special
kind of intensity that allows its possessors to hang on like a
hell-hound, no matter what sort of opposition or competition or
resistance they might be encountering. Combining the pit-bull
unstopability of Scorpio with the righteous indignation of aroused
Virgo unleashes a fearsome force to be reckoned with! In this case
these energies are being symbolized by the two outermost orbs, Neptune
and Pluto, which are invisible to the naked eye but operate entirely
without hindrance in the sub- and superconscious of the collective
organism. Individuals with this signature to whom cultural power is
given will likely consider it a mandate for them to "clean out the
stables and establish a renewed basis from which to go forward". They
won't hesitate for a minute to do what needs to be done, no matter what
sacred cow is gored in the process.
Obama's chart is also
very strongly colored by the current transit of Neptune through
Aquarius, since the candidate's rising sign is only a few degrees away
from Neptune's current station. This transit highlights one of Obama's
most identifiable qualities -- his oratorical abilities to enrapture
and spellbind a crowd, and the near-religious response of his
followers, which was parodied by McCain's crew in the early days of
Obama's candidacy. Neptune's forward progress was halted in late May,
so from that moment till the election, the labor of campaigning is
likely to feel like a long uphill run for Obama personally. He can't
help but be feeling the collective roller-coaster sensations that the
whole nation has been undergoing as a result of the shakeouts in the
financial world, being so intertwined with his own astral constitution
as it is. At this moment, for better or for worse, Obama's got a
direct pipeline into the zeitgeist, and if he just relaxes into it, he
should be able to channel exactly those visions and ideas his
constituents need to hear the most. (Let it be noted that whether
those visions and ideas turn out to actually be the needed solutions
remains to be seen!)
This stage of Uranus' transit through
Pisces is also energizing for Obama, as it fills his first house,
opposes his Mars and makes a Grand Trine in the water signs with his
natal Neptune and Venus. The sign of Pisces represents the peasantry,
the poor, and the least-of-the-least who are the "great unwashed".
These are the souls who are always last in line, but being so, are also
the mythical "last who shall go first; the meek who shall inherit the
Earth". These are, by definition, Obama's base constituents. There's a
sense of mission here that infuses his Leo ego (and aren't all
presidential contenders narcissists, really?) with a bit of the
Charleton-Heston-as-Moses archetype, struggling and suffering under the
responsibility of leading his tribe to higher ground. Obama's
sixth-house Sun assures him that he's a healer, just as this watery
Uranus brings forward his compassion for the little guy and all the
families in trouble around the world. In turn, the masses "feel Obama
feeling my pain", which evokes the classic water-sign empathy bond. I
think we are going to see Obama being perceived as the more humane and
practical one of the two, whether or not that turns out to be true in
practice. (Remember how shocked the electorate was to discover that the
affable, good ol' boy Clinton was a micromanaging temper-dervish?
Let's not forget the Pluto/Neptune sextile mentioned above...)
Meanwhile,
seeing Obama having Pluto at the cusp of his 12th house for the
election makes me wonder -- if he wins, does that mean that his time in
the White House will have the significance of an "incarceration" for
him? Pluto's march into Capricorn begins by opposing Obama's Venus in
Cancer, which suggests stress upon his wife and daughters (down in his
5th house). He will have to work hard to defend his private life and
his inner feminine from the corrosive forces that Pluto signifies, no
matter where he lands in his political career.
Sarah Palin:
Feb 11, 1964 at Sandpoint, Idaho (no birth time, therefore no houses.)
http://astrotribe.tribe.net/photos/5368cd57-7d71-451c-8e6b-b039723604b8
- Sun 22+Aquarius
- Moon1+Aquarius
- Mercury 1+ Aquarius
- Venus 1+Aries
- Mars 23+ Aquarius
- Jupiter 16 + Aries
- Saturn 25+ Aquarius
- Uranus 8+ Virgo
- Neptune 17+ Scorpio
- Pluto 13+Virgo
ARCHETYPE IN YOUTH:
1984 BEAUTY QUEEN
Generational Signature
I had a rush of recognition when I first saw Palin's chart. I became an
astrologer in the late 1970's, so the first family astrology groupings
I got a chance to investigate often included people of this vintage. I
came to view them as a special contingent of warrior souls send down
from above to clean up after the "sins of their fathers". This is by
virtue of the signature that they all bear in their charts, the
Pluto/Uranus conjunction in Virgo.
A very slow-moving, agonizing
process accompanied this astral situation, which some have connected to
America's internal and external war with the 'Viet Kong of our
collective soul'. Astrologically, the figure started in September of
1961, just a few months after Barak Obama was born. The faster moving
of the two, Uranus, had just pushed into Pluto's aura by arriving at
the fringes of conjunction (Uranus 28+ Leo, Pluto 8+ Virgo). Remember,
Neptune was throwing a sextile to Pluto from Scorpio all during this
period, providing a veil of distortion that allowed any number of
underground, off-budget, extracurricular shenanigans to take place in
the backrooms of power. Uranus, the upsetter, started pressing forward
into Virgo in November of '61, but then in December both planets
endured a retrograde that set their forward progress back till May of
'62. In August of that year, Uranus returned to Virgo again and the
team engaged in earnest. Their mutual retrograde during winter '62-63
held them back till May, then they returned to their march through the
first half of Virgo as a team, with Uranus steadily gaining on Pluto.
Another December retrograde depressed them through May of 64, at which
point the gap between them narrowed down every month, to a mere two
degrees by December '64 (a few months after Sarah Palin's birth). At
this point they turn together and endure their winter reversal till May
of 65, when their power-lust to mutually self-immolate hits its apex.
In September of 1965, they engage intimately and are virtually
simultaneous right up to the December retrograde, wherein they dance
backwards in a positive ferment of mutual intensity and explosiveness,
until they reach the point of 15 degrees Virgo in June and melt down
utterly as one.
By August of '66, Uranus begins to put some
distance between himself and Pluto, but the story is by no means over
yet. The winter retrograde of '66-'67 has them running four degrees
apart, which shrinks to three degrees before they reassume direct
motion on the cusp of summer '67. By the winter retrograde (hitting in
January '68), Uranus is nearly at the end of Virgo, but they both have
to put the brakes on again till June of 1968. Uranus leaps out of the
starting blocks (relatively speaking) and enters Libra a few days
before the Fall Equinox of '68. He's actually four degrees into the
sign when his chain is yanked in January '69, whereupon both Uranus and
Pluto start plunging backwards again. Uranus is dragged back in to
Virgo and held there until the end of June 1969. But this year, for the
first time in almost a decade, he makes it out of the orb of
conjunction with Pluto before the retrograde hits in January 1970. They
complete this entire retrograde with that 11-degree interval between
them, but Uranus gets to remain in Libra this time. After this
retrograde (which ends in June of '70), they still require another few
years before they got far enough away from each other to no longer have
a chance to be drawn into an aspect together again. Even as late as
1974, those who were born with important planets falling in the space
between Pluto and Uranus would be imprinted with a mini-version of this
clash of the titans, through "splitting the difference" between them.
Basically, these people are Special Forces sent here to
grab the wheel of the spaceship Earth as the assigned leaders fail in
their commissions or drop dead in their seats. As a group, these souls
have camouflaged themselves as ordinary citizens, and then humbly
become servants to the powerful, watching over their shoulders and
memorizing how everything works down to the tiniest details. Making
themselves essential, members of this age cohort are found in the
innermost circles of the powerful and influential, standing at the
elbows of the titans, enabling and supporting their every move. In this
way, they will be on hand and at the epicenter of the issues when the
various emergencies start to knock the current leaders out of their
saddles. It will be these Pluto/Uranus souls who calmly step in and
assume the leadership positions, for good or for ill. They will not
come to power through flash or force, and they don't need subterfuge
either. They will simply step into the leadership deficits created by
the hubris of their forebears; one by one we will see them popping up
in the vacated seats of power when the moment is ripe.
Governor
Palin's life story reads very much in line with what I am describing.
Her election was a bolt out of the blue for the Alaska establishment.
She sees herself as literally "on a mission from God", an attitude that
allows its adopters to ignore most of the gradations of reality between
stark black and pure white. Bravely, Palin has taken on the mantle of
Republican Reform, which will certainly mean some double-helix
maneuvers to accomplish! Interestingly enough, this bloodless-coup
scenario is exactly what many people fear will play out should McCain
be stricken with a return of his cancer or some such while holding the
office of President!
The arc of Uranus transiting through Pisces
suggests there might be more revelations forthcoming about events that
were set in motion during the first half of her term as Governor of
Alaska. From February '05 through March '07, Uranus in Pisces was
opposing Palin's natal Pluto/Uranus conjunction over there in Virgo.
Uranus also had another retrograde pass back to the opposition-point
from October through December '07. Simultaneously, in the period
between October '07 and this very week, Saturn has been raking back and
forth across Palin's Pluto/Uranus conjunction. All these forces coming
together in the context of her assumption of the Governorship and then
her appointment as Vice-Presidential candidate could suggest that Palin
has been moving through a climate of great moral and legal temptation.
It looks as if she's being tested on her core convictions, having an
encounter with forces equal and opposite to her original intentions.
Even if she wasn't in the unique position she currently occupies, this
period reveals itself as fraught with double binds and inside-outies,
as befits an Uranus/Uranus opposition. This is the classic signature of
the late-midlife crisis, when we find ourselves embroiled in and
addicted to the very same failures and weaknesses we decried so
strenuously when we were young and pure and fervent with the True
Faith. As the election works its way through its stages, and all the
submerged details work their way to the surface, my prayer is that we
as a nation witness that Palin has passed her tests with flying colors!
In
the meanwhile, look at what Neptune is doing to Palin's chart right
now: Her Sun/Mars/Saturn conjunction is directly implicated by virtue
of occupying the same degrees being transited this fall by visionary,
idealistic and delusional Neptune. Rocketing from virtual unknown to
media sensation over the weekend after the Republican convention, Palin
took the stage as "everymom", "a small-town gal", a "frontier babe"
hitting all the populist notes untouched by her aristocratic and super
wealthy ticket mate. Due to the energy and focus put into packaging
her, it was difficult at first to see beyond the beauty-queen surface
and awe-shucks hometown demeanor. But as time unfolds I think that what
we are seeing is a fairly accurate representation -- a pure-type double
Aquarius, with 7/10ths of her chart crammed between Aquarius and Aries,
having seven signs (including Pisces) totally empty. All the masculine
planets are packed around her Sun, and her Venus is with Jupiter in the
fiery sign of Aries, so she's suitably militaristic, projecting a kind
of girlie-macho to harmonize with McCain's military background. But at
the same time, astrologically Palin is the exact opposite of
splay-patterned John McCain, who has a finger in every pie compared to
this single-minded and predominantly airy chart. Let me repeat the line
"glittering intelligence utterly unmoored from traditional sympathy or
empathy", because it applies to her Aquarian qualities, right down to
her lack of mercy even on her own pregnant body (as testified by the
birth story of her youngest son)!
Palin's Sun bundle is
literally half of her chart, including the Moon, Mercury, Mars and
Saturn, so we are on notice that there's quite a bit more iceberg below
the visible surface, a suspicion that was immediately borne out in
revelations about her colorful family and historical affiliations.
Nobody should assume that she is unintelligent with five planets in
Aquarius, no matter what her education level may be! She may not have a
lot of country stamps on her passport or decades of experience in
Washington under her belt, but from her chart we would explain that by
pointing out that Palin runs deep rather than wide, grounded in her
family, her church and her community instead of spreading herself thin
and pretending to be all things to all people. (At least that's what
her handlers want us to think about her!) Palin has certainly shown
her fixed-sign dedication through her spiritual affiliations, standing
solidly in her Christian fundamentalism just as her chart implies would
likely be the case.
Whatever happens with the election, next
year will be a powerful time for Sarah Palin. Jupiter will be
transiting (and retrograding in) the sign of Aquarius, setting off the
whole chain of planets and Lights -- Mercury, Moon, Sun, Mars and
Saturn. We think of Jupiter as the Great Benefic, which might mean that
she gets a lot of help and support in rising to her true potential and
really becoming a visionary leader, at whatever level she finds
herself. It could also mean that her challenges, and the stressful
spotlight she is currently under, will increase exponentially. Whatever
happens, she needs to remember that Jupiter likes to multiply whatever
he touches, for better and for worse. Even if she merely remains
Governor of Alaska, it looks like Palin will be called out to locate
her social altruism and enact policies that assist "everyman"
(Aquarius). Aquarians tend to place themselves in a superior position
relative to the generic citizen, whom they study from the remove of
technicians in an animal-testing facility. But Palin is a good old girl
and supposedly has grass roots under her feet, which should help her
transition into a "friend in need of the people" for the sake of her
state. Knowing how much Aquarians cherish the opportunity to make a
difference for future generations, there's every chance for her to put
her sudden prominence to good use.
Some personal opinions, some of it based on these charts:
Right
off the top, it seems obvious that Barak Obama's chart is full of
charisma around the time of the elections, whereas McCain's chart seems
oddly detached, marching to a more personal beat. Fashions come and go
as to how we want our Presidents to relate with the electorate, but
right now the tone seems to be that voters want the president to "feel
our pain". Obama's current romance with the planet Neptune puts him
miles ahead of McCain in this arena. Plus he carries the sign of the
Saturn/Jupiter conjunction, which is the ancient mark of the authentic
change-agent, since time immemorial. This might be the reason that the
popular polls tend to give Obama an edge when people are asked who is
perceived as most likely to implement policies that will support "the
little guy".
Obama was born before Uranus entered Virgo,
though Uranus and Pluto are only 11 degrees apart in his 7th house
(accompanied by North Node in Leo and Mars in Virgo). The stabilizing
influence of his Leo planets makes Obama more concerned about his
long-term image and reputation than the group who came after him, the
Pluto/Uranus in Virgo conjunction generation (Palin's cohort). With
six items in Fixed signs, Obama is by far and away the more stable and
steady of the two presidential contenders, possessing a very parental
feeling for the role of setting a strong and sustainable example that
future generations can guide themselves by. By comparison, McCain's
fixed signs are mostly empty, tenanted only by Uranus in Taurus and
Mars in Leo -- solid gold proof of the reliability and steadiness of
his hotheaded temper and 'maverick' unpredictability! Unless we want
our near future to be full of impromptu bellicosity and unconsidered
reflexes, it seems prudent to empower the thinker over the doer.
Because
of the upcoming Virgo/Pisces events landing smack-dab upon his third
Saturn/Saturn opposition (benefit of his death-cheating longevity),
McCain has some profound challenges scripted into his near future, no
matter what happens with the election. It is distinctly possible that,
were he elected, he might find himself gravely distracted right out of
the start-gate of his new presidency. Palin also already has a full
plate, even before stepping into the White House, though she has a
Jupiterian tail wind in 2009 that might provide the support she and her
family need to make the transition. For some reason I get the feeling
that Obama and Biden are more likely to be able to hit the ground
running -- towards the future -- from day one, whereas I fear that the
Republican ticket would quickly find itself enmeshed in entanglements
and distractions brought forward from the past, personal and party.
Frankly,
I have as much concern for the person who steps into Cheney's office as
I do for who becomes President, and there's no way to take this choice
lightly. I hope this isn't heresy to say out loud, because it seems to
be an under-examined issue, to tell you the truth. Our current
Vice-President has single-handedly turned the office of Vice President
into a veritable Department of Manipulation and Control, and I say this
even fully realizing that he was not the first one to bring substance
to the role of Veep. From where I sit, it was during the Bush/Cheney
watch that the office of the Presidency has been converted into a
figurehead position, existing mostly to provide cover for the Vice
President to manage everything from behind the scenes. In all
sincerity, this has been sickening for my patriotic soul to watch.
Therefore,
although I surely do not want to see another Darth Veep taking over,
the nation really needs to have a mature and seasoned professional
sitting in that chair, inheriting the whole hydra-headed machine that
is due to fall to earth when Cheney moves out. I have no doubt that the
Cheney team will have disemboweled his "pet" and taken all the best
bits away by the time they allow it to crash, cold and clanking, onto
Joe Biden's head. But I find that thought infinitely superior to the
idea that Cheney’s network might *not* be decommissioned -- that
somehow Palin might find herself at the helm of even a reduced version
of Cheney’s dark mechanism! It's time for a breakup of the governing
cabal at the highest levels, as a part of the overall housecleaning
that is happening in the wake of the implosion of the financial
markets. I'm all for the planned demolition of those long-leaning
towers, so we can begin the clean up.
A new broom sweeps clean! Obama/Biden '08!
To read up a bit more on this NewMoon in Libra (with an accompanying Mercury retrograde!) you can visit these sites for well-worded interpretations this month:
http://lightworkers.org/content/47162/new-moon-libra-september-29-2008
http://realastrologers.com/?p=492
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/roshhashanah1.html
_______________________________
CURRENT STAGE OF THE MOON - September 29, 2008:
NewMoon is at 6+ Libra on Monday September 29th, at 4:13 AM (EDT) -- 1:13 AM (PDT). From this moment, the Moon begins to wax, or increase.
FUTURE STAGES:
1st Quarter, Waxing Half Moon at 14+ Capricorn, on Tuesday, October 7th, at 5:05 AM (EDT) -- 2:05 AM (PDT).
Full Moon 21+ Aries on Tuesday October 14th, at 4:03M (EDT) -- 1:03 PM (PDT). From this moment, the Moon begins to wane, or decrease.
4th Quarter, Waning Half Moon at 28+ Cancer on Tuesday October 21 at 7:55 AM (EDT) -- 4:55 AM (PDT).
Next NewMoon 5+ Scorpio on Tuesday October 29th at 7:15 AM (EDT)-- 4:15 AM (PDT). From this moment, the Moon begins to wax, or increase.
ArkLetter 43
September 29, 2008
copyright christine payne-towler 2005-2008, all rights reserved
Subscribe to the TAROT ARKLETTERS
Classes, Readings, and Private Sessions on personal and business matters
1-800-981-3582
TAROT ARKLETTERS are published by:
Christine Payne-Towler and Noreah Press
Tarot Interpretation & Charts
Tarot Reading text creation at Tarot.com
Bishop, Gnostic Church of St. Mary Magdalene
Founder: Tarot University Online
Author: The Underground Stream
Since the copyright information for images is radically inconsistent across the web (and even this site), we attempt (!) to attribute images where appropriate by placing a relevant link connecting the originating site when possible. Anyone objecting to the use of their image in this free publication can have it removed immediately - Ed.
this is pure genius cake with insight frosting!
Posted by: stephen | Monday, 29 September 2008 at 12:13 PM
Hi Stephen --
Well, I was quite pleased to see that the two Prez contenders behaved just as their charts would predict in their first debate. But now we have ~much~ bigger fish to fry, referring to the "rescue" plan, so we shall see who comes out the other side of that looking presidential....
C
Posted by: christine | Wednesday, 01 October 2008 at 11:04 AM