In this election season I am reminded of a story Rob Hand told about astrologers in the Thirties. Astrologers at the time, unlike now, tended to be conservative. Even though there was an accurate chart for Franklin Roosevelt, which put his Uranus in the Twelfth House and thus not prominent, many astrologers refused to accept that and were sure his Uranus was in the First House, because such a radical person must certainly have a prominent Uranus. They were letting their political beliefs overrule their astrological knowledge and thus they drew the wrong conclusion.
I need to do a lecture in this month about the election, and make some charts, so this will just be a display of those charts and a brief interpretation of them. I will try not to draw any conclusions — and you can draw you own. This is the most controversial election in recent memory, as several commentators have said, and since I value my life and friends, I will not take a stand.
The first thing we must do is look at the overall tenor of the times. From this graphical ephemeris we can see that Pluto was running opposite the Sun of the United States between 2013 and 2017 (top of graph), with the tightest periods 2014 and 2015; there is a close pass in October of this year right before the election. Also note that Uranus was square the Sun and thus Uranus was square Pluto, both transiting during part of this period. Also note (just to the right of the center bar and in the lower half of the graph), and to make it even more interesting, that there is a Saturn square Neptune (discussed previously) happening during 2016, and exact a couple of months before the election. The Sun in the US chart represents the government and the President; the Pluto opposition indicates that the people of the country are not happy with the government and this has been growing for awhile. One can see this in the primary elections candidates of both major parties — people are unhappy. Even though this has been going on for decades, since the beginnings of neoliberalism it has now reached a critical point. Politicians who pretend that things are rosy and even getting better are ignoring the mood of the country. While the news media can’t totally ignore such a crisis, they do their best to put on a positive face. While the Pluto transit is just about over, this crisis of confidence has reached a critical stage during the passage of Pluto, and it will have to be dealt with. When things are left hanging, they often work themselves out finally in ways that are not pleasing to most people, but that seems to be the way things operate — ignore a crisis for as long as possible and then try an ineffective way of squelching it.
We have an accurate timed chart for Donald Trump, which was discussed before. Unfortunately we do not have the same accuracy for his opponent, Hillary Clinton. One would think that after all the years she has been in the public eye there would be a accurate chart. The best is a time from her mother’s diary, about 8AM. I will use 8:02. There is also an 8PM chart floating around so that is a possibility. With two charts 12 hours apart, the actual chart time could be anything.
October Surprise
Traditionally, there occurs before a Presidential election what is called an “October Surprise” which is exactly what it sounds like. And from astrological indications, there will be an October Surprise this year. In this chart for October 19 (this is only the day it is exact), we have a Mars Pluto conjunction opposite the Sun of the United States and also square natal Saturn. Also transiting Saturn is conjunct the Ascendant of the United States, Neptune is sesquiquadrate Mercury and square Uranus, and even transiting Uranus, the third outer planet, is making a loose aspect to natal Mercury and Uranus. A lot is happening. The Mars-Pluto conjunction is problematic to say the least. Some think that this portends some type of terrorist incident, while others think this chart suggests the long-rumored financial meltdown which is the second act of the Great Recession of 2007 and 2008. But of course a war could break out between the United States and Russia or China since we seem to be itching for one, or a war between India and Pakistan. Or it could be a surprise, something that we can’t see happening. Since Clinton has a tight Mars-Pluto conjunction in her natal chart, this transiting conjunction could be a harbinger of her success in the upcoming election. The hard aspect between Mercury and Neptune suggests deception or outright lying, but predicting that at this time is like shooting fish in a barrel, as the saying has it. Finally, Saturn on the Ascendant has been talked about before, and says that America’s self-image could take a hit.
US Lunar Return
It turns out that election day in the United States is also a lunar return — the transiting moon returns to the position of the natal moon — and so I thought it would be interesting to look at the lunar return for the US, to get an idea of what the next month for the country has in store. In the lunar return, the Sun is at the Midheaven, indicating the importance of the month starting with the election. The other important feature is Mars and Pluto conjunct the Ascendant, with their midpoint on the Ascendant. I’ve already talked about Mars and Pluto before, and this location in the lunar return only emphasizes the point and again the importance of this month following the election, and that there may be a (unpleasant?) surprise in store.
Clinton Solar Return
Hillary Clinton has a solar return — where the Sun returns to the position it was at birth, and is a forecast for the next year — just before the election, so I decided to look at it to see if there is any indication of her success in the election less than two weeks after her birthday. Note that these solar returns are done for the place of birth. I’ve done experiments with solar returns and been convinced that the return at the location of birth is accurate whereas the one set for the current location is not.
In the solar return for Clinton, less that two weeks before the election, we see the Moon closely conjunct the Ascendant and Neptune just above the Descendant in the Seventh house, and square Venus. Moon on the Ascendant does not seem terribly strong for taking office. Since the Moon represents women, it could signify her role as the first woman candidate for President of a major political party. It may also show the emotions she has invested in this candidacy. Neptune near the Descendant may indicate the deceptive nature of her race for the position of President, or that she is being deceived by people close to her.
Trump Solar Return
Having done the solar return for one candidate I decided to do one for the other candidate, Donald Trump. In this one the most obvious significator is Uranus on the Midheaven. The obvious meaning of this is a change (Uranus) in career (Midheaven). It was suggested that this could indicate being sent to prison. There are always alternate ways that an astrological forecast can work out, so one can interpret this however one wishes, or whatever your political desires demand. Every election season reality is interpreted according to one’s political leaning, more so than at other times when the cues are not as obvious.
One idea that has been used to predict a successful election is to see if there are transits involving Saturn to a personal point, Sun and Moon, of the candidate after the election. While Saturn gets a bad press by many astrologers, it is obviously a needed planet, like all the others. In this case, the Saturn transits indicate the responsibilities incurred upon taking office. An alternative explanation is that Saturn would indicates that the candidate is extremely depressed upon losing the presidential election.
We previously discussed the position of Saturn in Donald Trump’s chart after the election, but I will go over it again. Saturn crosses his moon, and thus opposes his sun, shortly after the election. In the first image we see Saturn exactly on his Moon at the end of 2016. After it has moved a ways beyond his Moon, it turns retrograde in April of 2017, as shown in the second image, and then moves back to a close conjunction with his moon again. In the third image we see that finally Saturn turns direct on his moon in August of 201 7, having been stationary on his Moon, and opposed his Sun, for a while earlier in 2017. It then moves away. All told, Saturn is on both his personal points for many months following the election. Either Mr. Trump has an awful lot to learn (Saturn) about the office he has just assumed or he is extremely depressed about having lost the Presidency.
Trump Election Day
On election day, transiting Jupiter is approaching its natal position, and is only five degrees away. The exact return is almost a month after the election. A Jupiter return is a time of opportunity. Jupiter was on his Neptune in early October (as is Clinton’s Jupiter on election Day) and is half way between the two planets. This suggests a change from the delusion of Neptune to the promise of luck that is Jupiter. On election day it is at the midpoint of the two planets; perhaps this suggest his delusion about his fortunes in the election that day.
Clinton Election Day
For Hillary Clinton, Saturn hangs out in her first house for the end of 2016 and much of 2017, making no obvious aspect except an opposition to her Uranus, which is not considered a personal point. In general, Saturn opposite Uranus indicates a conflict between the old and the new. Clinton also has a hard aspect between Pluto and her Ascendant, in this case it is a semisquare and it is to her relocated (Washington, DC) Ascendant and not her natal Ascendant. This is similar to the Pluto semisquare Ascendant in the natal US chart and perhaps reflects her paeans to American Exceptionalism, most notably in her speech before the American Legion. Saturn is making a trine to her Mars-Pluto conjunction. Perhaps this will give restraint to her bellicose proclivities that are indicated by that conjunction and in that speech. But here again neither Mars nor Pluto are considered personal planets. Mercury has come to her Ascendant on election day, and Venus is opposite her Uranus — perhaps this indicates change in fortunes for a woman.
On election day, Clinton has Jupiter conjunct her natal Neptune. Apparent happiness is what Ebertin says about this combination. Neptune tends to delude one about whatever it touches; it this case the good times promised by Jupiter is what is not seen clearly. Perhaps she sees a victory but it is just an illusion. Hand also suggests happiness (Jupiter) through seclusion (Neptune) for this conjunction.
I imagine whichever candidate loses there will be an awful lot of bloodletting going on. As I write, the consensus of the chattering classes is the Clinton will win, and the loss by Trump will further weaken the Republican Party, but his loss is expected. Her victory will assure the elite classes that their program for America is going swimmingly. Conversely, if Clinton loses it should strike many Democratic leaders that perhaps they put their money on the wrong horse and perhaps they should change their ways. Possible, but not likely. They will consider that all those deplorables who voted for Trump just didn’t like a woman. Or perhaps it will be blamed on Putin interfering with the election. Since every pundit has predicted a Clinton victory, her loss should provoke a major rethinking of America’s democracy.
Looking at the transits on Election Day, we see that Trump has hard aspects between Pluto and the Ascendant: Trump has a sesquiquadrate between Pluto and his Ascendant, with orb of 25 minutes. Pluto is stationary and right on his Ascendant for all of September and the first part of October and then it gets farther away though still by election day it is less than one half degree from exact. Pluto Ascendant hard aspects can either be read as charisma — someone who is immediately noticed when he walks into the room — or increased bellicosity and a desire to control things. Both seem to be playing out for Mr. Trump.
500 Year Party 