Strutting its Cosmic Stuff: Eclipse season 2017 unfolds in DC

In the last post here, we dug into Eclipse season 2017, and sure enough, the February 10^th event (set for Washington, D.C.) has been strutting its cosmic stuff. 

In a mere three weeks, the new White House administration has proven to be over-the-top chaotic and unstable; of course, if you’ve been watching this space, you know the astrology indicated these conditions from the get-go.

In fact, as we saw in the last post, the February 10^th event put the eclipsed Moon conjunct Trump’s powerhouse Mars-ASC in Leo, which makes sense considering his executive power and perhaps even his self-confidence have taken a couple big blows in the past week. First, his ill-considered immigration ban was (for the second time) slapped down in the courts, and second, his National Security Advisor, the embattled former General, Michael T. Flynn, resigned under a cloud of controversy and suspicion. Here’s the Wikipedia quick summary:

“Michael Thomas "Mike" Flynn (born December 1958) is a retired United States Army Lieutenant General who was the 18th Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and was the 25th National Security Advisor, serving President Donald Trump for 24 days, from January 20 to February 13, 2017,^[1][2] before resigning amid controversy over his covert contacts with Russian officials. His tenure as National Security Advisor is the shortest ever.^[3][4]”

The bottom line with today’s press coverage about Flynn’s resignation seems to be, “What took Trump so long to get rid of him?” This is a more serious question than it looks because it raises the suspicion that Trump himself was aware of Flynn’s Russian communications before and after Trump’s election. Breaking news also indicates there were more Trump aides communicating with Russia during the campaign, as well, so this plot can only thicken.

Intelligence sources have evidence that Flynn’s collusion happened both before and after the election: before, on behalf of Trump’s campaign, and since November 8^th, as a way to calm Russian nerves about the recent sanctions President Obama imposed on Russia (for meddling in our election) while still in office.

These were definitely “curious,” potentially illegal connections that could very well implicate Trump: reportedly, a group of GOP senators have just today decided that all this needs to be thoroughly investigated, suggesting that Flynn and perhaps even Donald Trump may be called on to testify.

Suspicions surrounding Trump seem at this point to be rooted in the following, reported here by CNN:

“Flynn resigned from his position as national security adviser Monday following reports that the Justice Department warned the Trump administration last month that he misled administration officials.

Flynn had conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States before he was a government employee causing some to fear that he was potentially vulnerable to blackmail by the Russians.”

Clearly, this raises an additional question about why acting Justice Department head Sally Yates was terminated less than two weeks into the new administration—she reportedly delivered the above warning to Trump eighteen days before he asked Flynn to resign. She also warned him about the illegality of his immigration ban, and was Twitter-shamed for her “betrayal” as a result. 

All this suggests that we can examine a triwheel for further insight, and we will, with the following disclaimer: unfortunately, the only solid birth information we have for Mike Flynn (if anyone has it, please let me know!), is December, 1958 in Middletown, Rhode Island, so Flynn’s middle wheel in Triwheel #1 below is set for mid-month (December 16) at noon, the half way point in a 31-day month.

Obviously, this makes the Moon placement and the chart angles highly uncertain, so we won’t be considering those features. We’ll consider other uncertainties if and when they affect the discussion. As we’ll see, a lot can be gleaned from this Triwheel when we see Flynn’s chart—imperfect as it is—next to the February 10^th eclipse chart and Trump’s natal chart.

Triwheel #1: (inner wheel) Donald J. Trump, June 14, 1946, 10:54 a.m. DST, Jamaica, NY; (middle wheel) Michael T. Flynn, December 16, 1958, 12:00 p.m., ST, Middletown, RI; (outer wheel) Lunar Eclipse, February 10, 2017, 7:32:53 p.m. ST, Washington, D.C. All charts cast with Tropical Equal Houses, True Node.

Interchart Fixed Grand-Cross: Eclipse Moon-Trump Mars-ASC (Leo) oppose Eclipse Sun-Flynn Chiron (Aquarius); this axis squares Flynn Mars (widely conjunct Trump MC in Taurus) opposite Flynn Jupiter (Scorpio). We can’t know for sure if Flynn’s Mars is Rx, as his chart shows here (Mars turned direct at 16°35 Taurus on 12/21/58), but it’s interesting that no matter which December 1958 day Flynn was born, his Mars would be within 8° orb of conjoining Trump’s MC, so we’ll allow for that here. This makes perfect sense, considering Trump’s security-sensitive Venus (Cancer) disposes his already security-conscious Taurus MC, and Flynn was his National Security Advisor.

Flynn was also a bullish (Taurus) Trump booster during the campaign, known to lead “Lock ‘er up!” chants at rallies—a fairly unconventional role for a former military officer. The question now is, did his use of Russian connections cross legal lines in trying to get Trump elected? We might want to find out why he was so connected to the Russians from the get-go—a Scorpio Jupiter will stop at little to build its own power.

A fixed grand cross can be intensely frustrating, especially in this case, where one player’s opposition squares the other person’s. Flynn’s ambitious Scorpio Jupiter-Taurus Mars was perhaps bound to cause Trump’s Leo Mars-ASC a problem eventually, and clearly the eclipse stretching across Trump’s chart horizon was a powerful trigger.

Were Flynn’s actions designed to somehow give him leverage (Scorpio) over the future president, in case things went south? Or was he the dutiful servant, following directions? A fixed Mars-Jupiter opposition (especially in Taurus-Scorpio) can certainly go either way.

Flynn’s Jupiter also trines Trump’s Saturn-Venus (Cancer), so Trump probably felt his campaign and subsequent security interests were in good hands at first; what he may not have been counting on is that Flynn’s behavior would be closely scrutinized by our Intelligence services. This is ironic given Flynn’s career-long specialty in military intelligence, but Trump’s bully tactics (Leo Mars) with the CIA and other agencies seem to have set Flynn up for a confrontation and failure. Trump may be concerned that Flynn will throw loyalty overboard to implicate him at a hearing about the Russian connection. Stranger things have happened.

Eclipse Saturn conjoins Flynn Sun-Saturn-Eclipse Saturn (Sagittarius)-Trump Moon-SNode (all Sagittarius) and opposes Trump Sun-NNode (Gemini). The “Buck Stops Here…unless we can find someone else to blame” seems to be the theme here, with Eclipse Saturn implicating both Trump and Flynn and their mutable natures. Flynn was only let go when the press coverage about his misadventures became a liability for Trump, but it won’t be at all surprising if we eventually find out that Flynn was essentially expected to “fall on his sword” for his boss. This convergence of energies certainly makes it look like they cooperated either explicitly or implicitly in the scheme that brought Flynn down.

Flynn’s Sun-Saturn (along with the remaining late-Sagittarius points) fall quincunx Trump’s Saturn-Venus (Cancer) and trine Trump’s Mars-ASC (Leo). This confirms that the risk-averse, Cancer power center in Trump’s chart was shoved out on a limb by the risks (Sagittarius) taken by Flynn and his Russian connections. The comfortable trine between all that Sagittarius energy and Trump’s Mars-ASC may have boosted Trump’s ego to the point (“see how I won, with the greatest…”) that he simply threw caution to the wind, believing his presidential power would shield him from any fallout. Rude awakening here.

A fiery chain of events was triggered by the Eclipse, as well—risky behavior caused revelations, and they are further enflaming doubts and calls for further investigations:

Interchart Fire Grand Trine. Eclipse Uranus-Flynn SNode (Aries) trine Flynn Uranus-Eclipse Moon-Trump Mars-ASC (Leo) trine Trump Moon-Eclipse Saturn-Flynn Sun-Saturn (Sagittarius). This configuration maps out the volatile flashpoints involved in the Trump-Flynn relationship and the way in which both men are implicated in Flynn’s resignation (triggered by the eclipse) and all that led up to it. Ego (Leo), resource-driven power plays (Eclipse Aries Uranus over Trump’s 8^th house), and a fundamental sense of entitled license (Eclipse Saturn over Trump’s 4^th house Sagittarius) are potentially at play here. As we’ll see ahead, these flashpoints feed the tension at play in a Cardinal Grand Cross.

Interchart Cardinal Grand Cross. Trump Saturn-Venus (Cancer) opposite Eclipse Pluto (Capricorn); this axis squares Eclipse Uranus-Flynn SNode (Aries) opposite Trump Jupiter-Chiron-Flynn NNode-Eclipse Jupiter (Libra). The chaos spawned by the above fiery grand trine breeds the “damned-if-we-do, damned-if-we-don’t” dilemmas seen in this tense, frustrating configuration. It’s interesting to see here how tightly linked Flynn’s fate (NNode) is to Trump’s fortunes (Jupiter).

As long as the situation benefitted Trump (Flynn’s Node on Trump’s Jupiter, square Saturn-Venus), it worked, but when push came to shove (as happens with cardinal grand crosses), Flynn became a liability. The attempted “cover-up” of his “Old Boys’ Network”-style, illicit collusion is reflected in 5^th house Eclipse Pluto’s impact on Trump’s Cancer-Libra points. Judging from these fraught entanglements, there’s probably much more to learn here.

Indeed, calls for an independent, transparent investigation into all this, fueled by additional information showing that the Trump campaign’s collusion with Russia went far beyond Flynn, are mounting.

Eclipse Chiron in Pisces T-Squares Mutable oppositions in Gemini-Sagittarius: We discussed the oppositions in question here earlier, but Chiron’s involvement deserves separate consideration. First, because of its potential impact on Trump’s mental health (square his Sun-Moon, disposed by his Cancer Mercury). 

He has repeatedly displayed erratic, disturbingly narcissistic behavior that a growing chorus of mental health professionals are calling out, despite their professional reservations about doing so. Chaos seems to be Trump’s modus operandi, according to others, and it appears to be wreaking havoc in the White House. Here’s what Salon has to say this morning:

“Three weeks into the President Donald Trump administration, staffers in his White House are telling reporters they’re scared.

One said that the atmosphere in the White House is “borderline chaos” and that “some staff is in survival mode . . . scared to death,” according to a report by Axios. Factors cited as causes for this panic include revelations that President Trump had been warned by former acting attorney general Sally Yates about national security director Michael Flynn’s dissembling and did not act on it, the revelation that Flynn had indeed talked with Russia about Obama’s economic sanctions, and the overall cascade of leaks that have come from the White House since Trump took office.

Having a boss addicted to Twitter hasn’t helped. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the president seemed irked by the intelligence community and the leaks.”

Though speculative, with Gemini-Sagittarius involved, the idea that Trump has a media/Twitter “addiction” is perfectly conceivable. This possibility is reinforced by transiting Neptune (at 11°+Pisces in the Eclipse chart) trining his Mercury, which again, disposes his Gemini points. If nothing else, his rational judgment (already not his strong suit) can be seriously distorted by this transit, and Chiron is nearing quincunx with Trump’s Mars, suggesting that he is already a “wounded warrior.” More on this below.

Factor Trump’s naturally defensive, inward focus into the concerns of this t-square, and it’s no surprise that those around him are panicking. The eclipse has clearly exacerbated Trump’s natural tendencies, and the more he and his administration are scrutinized, the more chaotic things are likely to get.

Eclipse Sun (Aquarius) trines/sextiles Trump Gemini-Sagittarius oppositions and conjoins Flynn Progressed Sun-Chiron (Aquarius-chart not shown). This speaks dramatically to how the February 10^th event triggered Flynn’s departure, and suggests that Trump acted on the cosmic opening (trine/sextile) to get rid of Flynn because Flynn threatened his power (Eclipse Sun-Flynn PSun opposed Trump Mars). Despite the nice Sun-Sun trine, that power may still be in jeopardy, especially as Chiron transits within quincunx range to Trump’s Mars over the coming year. As we’ll see in an upcoming post, the February 26^th eclipse is focused on Trump’s Mars-ASC as well, so this drama is likely to build.  

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 Ongoing saga…last thoughts for now

Clearly this story is just getting started, and the Cosmos is just getting revved up for what remains of a volatile Eclipse season. Based on a noon chart for Trump sidekick Kellyanne Conway, her position is also in the crosshairs these days: the February 10^th Chiron fell on top of her natal Chiron within minutes, so she’s experiencing a Chiron return, which is often a “leaping-off point” of sorts. That tired, almost glazed-over stare in her eyes these days is probably stress, pure and simple, and as abhorrent as her disimulations and ethical gaffes have been, it appears she’s being dangled out to dry by the administration, which has unleashed a new “Stormtrooper” in the startling person of Stephen Miller.

Not surprisingly, as with Flynn, Conway’s chart is tightly connected to Trump’s: we’ll explore these connections, along with February’s Eclipse #2, in the next post!

Hang in there!

Raye Robertson is a practicing astrologer, writer and former educator. 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.

She is also available to read individual charts—contact her at: robertsonraye@gmail.com.

© Raye Robertson 2017. All rights reserved.