It’s always understandable that people vote on the basis of self-interest, but what happens on the “wonky” collective level really matters this time, and the broader, more inclusive our perspectives, the better.
We’ve tackled many hot topics this election season and
applied the principles of mundane astrology to them, but perhaps no topic is as
pressing as the perceived inability of the U.S. government to get anything of substance done. The Cosmos has not dealt kindly with those dedicated,
results-oriented folks who keep plugging away in our political mine fields—not
surprisingly, this may explain why so many despair that no matter who we elect in November, the gridlock
will continue.
In the past few decades we have simply convinced ourselves
that government itself is a hollow, meaningless enterprise that never quite
advances the interests we care about—on either
side of the aisle. In a world that shouts out today for big, bold solutions
to pressing challenges, we’re more often found debating the latest Twitterstorm
and judging each other unkindly.
In fact, it’s so apparent from this election year’s discourse
that we’ve forgotten what the U.S. government is supposed to do for us, and how it’s supposed to lead in today’s world. Maybe
we’ve also forgotten what our own responsibilities as citizens are to each
other and to our government.
According to an article entitled “What’s Ailing American
Politics” in the July/August The
Atlantic, journalist Jonathan Rauch addresses how our politics has devolved
into what he calls a state of “chaos syndrome:”
“…a chronic decline in the political system’s capacity for
self-organization. It begins with the weakening of the institutions and
brokers—political parties, career politicians, and congressional leaders and
committees—that have historically held politicians accountable to one another
and prevented everyone in the system from pursuing naked self-interest all the
time.”
Rauch points out that the system of political middlemen that
used to keep our politics sane and functional was “reformed…to death,” as government
was sold to Americans as being the cause
of our problems, not the solution to
them. As we’ve seen all during this election season, seasoned political
professionals are routinely reviled as “the Establishment,” and being an
“Outsider” is celebrated. Actual experience
governing is optional, or even a negative! “Americans,” he says,
“have been busy demonizing and disempowering political
professionals and parties, which is like spending decades abusing and attacking
your own immune system. Eventually, you will get sick.”[1]
Rauch uses this biological disease model very effectively,
to analyze how our politics became so chaotic and how it might recover. This model
works well for an astrological perspective, as well, using the U.S. Sibly chart
as our astrological “body politic.” To keep Election 2016 in our sights as the
current context, we’ll examine the biwheel between these two. Before we look at
the actual charts, however, let’s consider some basic planetary correlations to
Rauch’s biological model:
Stage 1: Immunity
This first stage in Rauch’s model addresses how the checks
and balances the Founding Fathers built into our Constitution function as our
national “immune system,” protecting us from “demagogic excess and populist
caprice”—too much power concentrated either at the top, or at the bottom. In
the Sibly chart, this balancing act is represented by the “power centers” of
the chart: the Sun (the Executive
branch), Saturn and Jupiter (together, ruling our
two-chamber Congress, the Judiciary and our two-party system), and the Moon (We the People).
According to Rauch, the Framers were visionaries, but in his
view, they “left a serious omission” in the nation’s basic immune system—a way
to “hold politicians accountable to one another.” In an otherwise strong chart,
we can look to the Sibly’s Gemini Mars
square to Virgo Neptune for this
unfortunate “Achilles heel.” Medical astrology considers these two to be
co-rulers (along with others) of an individual’s immune system, so we can see how
the hard mutable square aspect here might cause problems in our “body politic.”
As to the difficulty posed by miscreant politicians, it
takes a major crisis like the 1970s Watergate affair to actually bring a criminal
president down in mid-term. Erring Congress-people have resigned under the
weight of public opinion, but to be forced out, they must commit an actual,
prosecutable crime. We have, Rauch reminds us, no “vote of confidence,” as
parliamentary systems across Europe do.
In fact, Rauch says that “By itself, the Constitution is a
recipe for chaos.” He then describes the “second, unwritten Constitution” that
evolved to fill in the procedural and operational blanks with party infrastructures,
political organizations, and so on.
“If the Constitution was the system’s DNA, the parties and
machines and political brokers were its RNA, translating the Founders’
bare-bones framework into dynamic organizations and thus converting conflict
into action.” [2]
Historically, a culture of reciprocal relationships and
bipartisan team structures provided incentives for compromise and
cooperation—the only way to consistently get things done in politics. This
culture of so-called “middlemen” was deliberately and incrementally dismantled
(excessively “reformed”) from the 1980s to the present, leading to Rauch’s
second stage.
Stage 2: Vulnerability
Our political system’s vulnerability is closely related to
all of the above, and Sibly Mars’
square to Neptune remains one
culprit. The flood (Neptune) of money in politics has clearly helped disable
the system, especially, as Rauch describes, in the way it has driven a toxic
overhaul of the nominating process.
This overhaul doesn’t reward the tough political organizing
work that used to be rewarded: in the case of Donald Trump, Rauch points out
that he “…seized the lead in the primary process by winning a mere plurality of
a mere fraction of the electorate.”[3]
In other words, the Republicans did not get a candidate who embodies
their interests, but a candidate who knew how to exploit the media for free
publicity, and knew how to game the nominating system. It’s no surprise he
didn’t do well in Iowa
caucuses—first, he didn’t show up for the Iowa debate, fearing “mistreatment”
by the press, but more importantly, the caucus system requires one-on-one
accountability between candidate and caucus participants. Primaries allow for
easy pickins’—especially for a candidate who knows how to play people’s
emotions.
Stage 3: Pathogens
A healthy immune system requires agents that ward off
invading pathogens—in politics, the agents playing the role of “antibodies and
white blood cells” are the “middlemen,” according to Rauch. He says such
middlemen “safely absorb the energy that insurgents unleash,” because although
it doesn’t hurt to shake up the system periodically to keep things fresh (the
province of Uranus), it’s helpful to
have a strong network of political careerists (Saturn) who monitor these incursions and send off alarm signals
when things get too far out of balance.
When an immune system is fighting off an infection, Mars responds with a fever, heating
things up and attacking the pathogens. Neptune’s rulership of general immunity
brings nearly the entire solar system into play, since it co-rules many aspects
of immunity with other planets.[4]
Long story short, if every planet/antibody, etc. is on task, an organism’s
immune system regulates itself and wards off pathogens. In political terms, a healthy Republican
party’s immune system would be able to rein in a renegade candidate like Donald
Trump, or simply eject or rebuke him. The grudging acceptance
of their fate as Trump’s vehicle suggests their “immunity” is seriously
compromised.
A call to rebuke Trump’s candidacy was the eloquent plea to
Republican Party leaders we heard these past few days from Khizr and Ghazala
Khan—the Gold Star parents whose son, Army Captain Humayun Khan, died
protecting his troops in Iraq. While
several prominent Republicans responded
with statements decrying Trump’s shameful response to the Khan family, there’s
been no move to seriously disown his candidacy. In today’s breaking news,
President Obama has even stated
that “Trump is unfit for the presidency”—quite possibly an unprecedented
statement by an outgoing president.
So, where do Republicans go from here? Extending the immune
system analogy, if they find themselves unable to act, their party may have
gone septic—the pathogen has overtaken
them.
In all fairness, Rauch identifies other pathogens currently threatening our political system, and
distorted public perception about how the system should work ranks high on the
list. Considering Mars and Neptune would also play a role in distorting that perception makes this
threat especially difficult. We’ll see
the interesting way this plays out in the Sibly chart.
Stage 4: Symptoms
Rauch emphasizes that insurgencies and disruptions to
politics-as-usual is not inherently bad—such
disruptions have played important roles in our evolution as a political
society. What he does fear, however, is that “chaos syndrome wreaks havoc on
the system’s ability to absorb and channel disruptions.”[5]
Chaos—a specialty of Uranus and Neptune, (often enabled by Pluto and others)—has a way of robbing
an organism of its resilience, the ability to bounce back from disruptions.
When the incursions cross a certain line with a democratic government, however,
the institution of democracy itself is up for grabs, and the “body politic”
doesn’t realize what it’s losing until it’s gone.
Rauch says the “trick is to
govern through” such disruptions.
Rauch cites a speaker who harked back to
Bill Clinton’s administration to admire the way it bounced back from
near-impeachment. “…we have to ask ourselves, what is it that not long ago
allowed our government to metabolize the aggression that is inherent in any
pluralistic society and still get things done?”[6]
Bottom line: the unwillingness of our Congress people to wade into the
messiness of democracy and craft compromise solutions is one major symptom of
our current political malaise.
In homeopathic fashion, however, the cure is contained in
the problem, so Uranus, Neptune and Pluto also offer wisdom and a path
forward. We’ll consider some ideas this trio might promote in the discussion
below. First, a few words about the “cure” Rauch prescribes.
Stage 5: Prognosis and Treatment
Rauch doesn’t have a quick cure, but he believes that Americans’
perception of the political process urgently needs to improve, and that the
gutted infrastructure of our parties and political organizations needs to be
gradually restored. Not for sake of structure alone, or to “rig” the system one
way or another, but to make the job of essential middlemen—who keep the “chaos
syndrome” at bay—possible. Importantly, he says:
“The biggest obstacle, I think, is the general public’s
reflexive, unreasoning hostility to politicians and the process of politics.
Neurotic hatred of the political class is the country’s last universally
acceptable form of bigotry. Because that problem is mental, not mechanical, it
really is hard to remedy.”[7]
So, at this point we can address the “patient” in question—the
nation-at-large (Sibly chart), as it will look astrologically this coming
November 8th (Election chart).
Biwheel 1: (inner
wheel) Radix, U.S. Sibly, July 4, 1776, 5:10 p.m., LMT, Philadelphia, PA; (outer wheel) Radix, Election 2016,
November 8, 2016, 7:20 a.m. ST, Washington, D.C.
Election ASC-Mercury (Scorpio) trine Sibly Mercury (Cancer), square Election
Moon-Sibly Moon (Aquarius) and inconjoin Election Uranus (Rx, Aries)-Eris
(Aries). The trine aspect here suggests a generous turnout of voters
(Mercury), but the squares to both Moons reflect the possibility of voter irregularities
and difficulties, as well. Restrictive voting laws have been passed by a number
of states, and although courts are also forcing some states to loosen these
laws, there will be heavy monitoring of the situation. A certain amount of
discord (Uranus-Eris) is likely. More on that below.
Interchart T-square: Election Mars-Sibly Pluto (both Capricorn)
oppose Sibly Mercury; this axis squares Election Uranus-Eris-Sibly Chiron (all
Aries). We can expect a police presence guarding many polling places because
attempts to disrupt the orderly process of voting are possible. This could
happen through powerful deception (Sibly Pluto), through chaos (Uranus-Eris) or
both. Not a good sign for the health of our democracy, it appears that the less
voters broadcast their plans for the secret ballot, the better. Protests—when
peaceful, a net positive for a
democracy—are likely to happen, and it’s likely the nation’s divisions and deep
wounds around those divisions (Chiron) will be in the news that day.
News stories are already circulating about the possible hacking of our voting systems by outside
players; needless to say, the havoc that sort of cyber-attack (Mars-Uranus-Eris)
would cause is a deep security concern. This speaks to the “vulnerability”
phase discussed above: hopefully, local election officials are taking this possibility
seriously and gearing up to provide a secure paper trail for every vote.
As discussed earlier, the homeopathic cure to what ails us
is also contained in these tough configurations. We need to counter our
internal divisions with an excess of tolerance and love on Election Day. Let’s
shock (Uranus-Eris) each other with the depth of our collective sense of
responsibility (Pluto in Capricorn) towards each other and our empathy for
others’ points of view (Sibly Cancer Mercury). Chiron heals as well as wounds,
and this election can be a healing
experience if we make it so.
Election Saturn/Election Venus (midpoint,
Sagittarius) oppose Sibly Mars (Gemini); Election Saturn conjoins Sibly ASC (Sagittarius)
and opposes Sibly Uranus/Mars (midpoint, Gemini). The Saturn/Venus to Mars opposition
speaks to complaints about restrictions, reinforcing other signals that there
could be vote irregularities that day. Saturn’s transiting conjunction to the
Sibly ASC that day suggests an emphasis on security and rules, so voters should
make sure their registrations comply with local laws. Saturn’s opposition to
the Sibly Uranus/Mars midpoint suggests that frustration with restrictions
could boil over; this is especially true considering the volatile T-square discussed
above. Not surprisingly, we’re hearing stories about foreign meddling in our
national vote from the press already; the angular opposition reinforces that
possibility.
Election Jupiter-Sibly Saturn (both Libra) sextile Election Saturn (Sagittarius)
and square Sibly Sun-Jupiter (Cancer). We can also look at the midpoint
configurations discussed above as a call to fairness and public responsibility
in the face of outside interference. That point is reinforced by Libra Jupiter
disposing Sagittarius Saturn while it conjoins Sibly Saturn. Together, Jupiter
and Saturn co-rule our governmental “checks and balances,” so the generally
positive way the transiting planets tie into their counterparts in the Sibly
chart is reassuring. Squares portend tension and disagreements, but they are also
what forces us to cooperate and share power. Perhaps the inborn tendency of our
system to work out its differences without actually destroying itself entirely
will prevail, after all.
Election Venus conjoins the Galactic Center (GC, Sagittarius), sextiles
Sibly Moon (Aquarius), squares Sibly Neptune (Virgo), trines Election Uranus-Eris
(Aries), opposes Sibly Mars (Gemini) and semi-sextiles/quincunxes Sibly
Pluto-opposite-Mercury (Capricorn-Cancer). There’s a complicated
network of forces at work here, but let’s break it down:
Election Venus conjoins the GC, sextiles
Sibly Moon and opposes Sibly Mars (Gemini). “Ideas whose time has come”
seem to happen when there are strong conjunctions to the GC. Astrologer Mandi Lockley
has studied the natal connections so-called “whistleblowers” often have to the
GC. I have studied the prevalence of natal aspects to the GC in our Founding
Fathers and in key U.S. presidents in our own times. The GC seems to support
heroic efforts, and Venus’s conjunction here could be poised to either make
history with our first woman president, (taking advantage of the opportunity
for public support with the sextile to the Moon), or to unleash recrimination
(Sagittarian thunderbolts) on an “enemy” that compromises election information
(7th house Gemini Mars).
Election Venus-GC squares Sibly Neptune
(Virgo) and trines Election Uranus-Eris (Aries). The connections here also imply
that Election Uranus-Eris are quincunx Sibly Neptune, adding to the friction. These aspects seem to
indicate that there will be many intelligent players (Uranus) intent upon
obfuscating (Neptune, Mercury disposing Virgo) and disrupting (Eris) the
business of that day. Powerful, monied interests (and likely, the NRA) will be
invested in disruption, as well, with Mars in Capricorn disposing Aries
Uranus-Eris.
The
involvement of Sibly Neptune in these aspects suggests that the material dreams
of Americans—which we haven’t been able to take for granted for awhile—are at
stake in this election as well. As always, views differ on the path forward,
but securing their preferred vision for progress is powerful motivation for
voters. Every election is about the
economy, but layered on top of that this year are the anxieties Trump has whipped
up in his followers about losing jobs to immigrants and losing their guns, opening
the way for a toxic (Neptune) mixture.
Election Venus-GC semi-sextiles/quincunxes
Sibly Pluto-opposite-Mercury (Capricorn-Cancer). Any planetary energy that
taps into our Sibly Pluto-Mercury opposition triggers a powerful reaction. If Clinton is represented in the
election chart by Venus, the semi-sextile/quincunx relationship speaks to uneasiness
between the candidate and the nation’s corporate/financial institutions. As
discussed in the July 19th post here, certain sectors of Wall Street would likely
profit greatly with a Trump presidency, but mainstream investors (i.e.,
retirees, those working to grow their 401Ks, etc.) are into diversifying, so
putting all their eggs in a couple baskets like defense and the oil-and-gas
industries wouldn’t be as attractive. Wall Street may just hold its nose and
vote for Clinton because the alternative seems too chaotic.
Interchart Grand-Cross:
Election Neptune-SNode (Pisces) opposes
Election NNode (Virgo); this axis squares Election Saturn-Sibly ASC (Sagittarius)
opposed to Sibly Mars/Uranus and DSC (Gemini). Emotions (Neptune) will
be running high this election, which is being built up as perhaps the most critical
election in decades (Nodal axis). Saturn and Neptune’s lingering square (wide) pulls
in Sibly Uranus, reinforcing the possibility of problems with voting technology
systems (Uranus) and casting doubt on voting results. Saturn and Uranus have a
harsh edge here, despite their wide orb—they’re a bit unpredictable in mutable
signs, too, so finding the best balance for “law and order” that day will be a
challenge. “Free speech”-fueled (Gemini) skirmishes could arise.
Returning to the issue of distorted public perception
mentioned earlier as a “pathogen” attacking our political system, this grand
cross may not do much to directly cure that problem, but we may reach a tense point
of no return that gets our attention.
Election Neptune-SNode trine Sibly Sun-Jupiter-Venus (Cancer); Election
NNode (Virgo) sextiles the same points. For those on the winning side,
there could be considerable euphoria (Neptune trine Sibly Jupiter-Venus), for
both emotional and financial (Sibly Venus-Jupiter) reasons. There could also be
euphoria or confusion abroad (Sibly 7th house planets), as well—we know
the world is watching this election very carefully!
Interchart T-Square: Election Pluto (Capricorn) opposes Sibly Sun
(Cancer); this axis squares Election Jupiter-Sibly Saturn (Libra); Election
Pluto sextiles Election Sun (Scorpio). To say that this election is
having a transformative effect on our “body politic” falls short: this election
has raised deep questions about what makes us a functioning democracy, what the
limits are of our democratic values, and whether we can really function as one coherent nation, going forward. This
t-square certainly stresses all those points, tapping into the branches of our government
that keep the American political “immune system” intact. There’s a heavy,
karmic feel here that calls for deep national soul-searching. Judging by the
news these days, clearly that process has begun.
Wrapping it up
It’s always understandable that people vote on the basis of
self-interest, but what happens on the “wonky” collective level really matters
this time, and the broader, more inclusive our perspectives, the better. Whether we look at it as shoring up our
collective immune system for the battles we will need to fight for progress ahead,
or we look at it as practicing a political Golden Rule doesn’t matter. We are
all members of one “body politic,” and if we tear each other apart, what can we
hope for ahead?
Raye
Robertson is a practicing astrologer, writer and former university English
instructor. A graduate of the Faculty of Astrological Studies (U.K.), Raye
focuses on mundane, collective-oriented astrology, with a particular interest
in current affairs, culture and media, the astrology of generations, and public
concerns such as education and health. Several of her articles on these topics
have been featured in The Mountain Astrologer and other publications over the
years. Raye can be contacted by comment here, or
at: robertsonraye@gmail.com.
© Raye Robertson 2016. All
rights reserved.
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