The Universe can be pretty ham-fisted with its symbolic messages at times, making no attempt at being poetic, mysterious or obscure.
No, these brutal cosmic analogies are simply in-your-face, snarling and crunching cosmic “wake-up calls.” Such was the case with a Washingtonpost.com headline yesterday:
“Teen
camper wakes up to ‘crunching noise’ — and discovers his head is inside bear’s
mouth”
Yes, the teen woke up to find a big black bear was trying to drag him out
of his sleeping bag and tent by the head,
getting in a few crunchy tastes in the process. Just like the Russian
“bear,” Vladimir Putin, did to Trump in their July 7th G20
meeting—only it appears that, contrary to the camper, Trump opened the tent
flap and invited the bear in to munch on him.
The camper at least kicked up a fuss and poked the bear in the eye until
it let him go. Trump offered up his arm and leg, along with his head to the
rummaging bear, and while he was at it, he handed over the nation’s honor. He was “honored to meet” the man who ordered
the cyber-hacking of our election: really???!
Moscow is apparently exulting in this “new opening” in the U.S.-Russia
relationship, however, even the GOP is starting to wonder about their president’s
extra-curricular activities. Of course, the labeling has begun—the Trump critics are
“neocons,” reacting to “fake news,” and “yadda, yadda.” The “yadda yadda”
component here is the most troubling part: it's basically
Seinfeld-ese for saying something when you’re really saying nothing. It’s the
usual nonsense and tripe that spews forth whenever the Trump camp feels
challenged.
Especially when it feels challenged by the truth.
The truth is, the G20 meeting between Trump and Putin was set up as an
ambiguous, “we said/they said” event. No specific agenda was issued; no
notetakers or media were allowed to be present, so it was that infamous Oval
Office meeting with Trump, Lavrov and Kislyak all over again, where the Russian
version of events is quietly accepted by Trump as the official narrative, as he
quickly tries to “move on.” In other words, there's no accountability because
neither side can be trusted to tell the unvarnished truth, and that might just be the way they like it!
This deception and subterfuge is a story in itself, unfortunately—the
first casualty of the Trump administration has been the truth, which if the old saying about such things is true, implies
that he stepped into the office prepared to make war on the American people. Maybe his sidling up to Putin is simply
another step in that process?
We can’t blame Putin for getting whatever he can
out of Trump—Putin has his own interests to pursue--just like the marauding bear did with the camper--but we can certainly blame
Trump for not putting our interests first!
Besides, we have no assurance that Trump isn’t doing extra-curricular business deals with Putin to aggrandize
himself at our expense. Trump has shown only disdain for presidential ethics
norms, to the point of frustrating the nation’s chief ethics officer Walter Shaub, and prompting him to quit
this week, so why should we trust Trump’s relations with Putin—who controls a
lot in the Russian economy—to be
above-board?
Between the two sides, the narrative is spun like a mountain of cotton
candy, a pink sticky mess designed to confuse the heck out of us and to wear
down our commitment to knowing what actually happened. IMHO, this is a wake-up
call every bit as brutal as that teen experienced with the bear. In the end,
the teen seemed to have kept his cool and used some common sense—he made a big
noise to attract attention and he poked the heck out of the bear’s eyes
(luckily or unluckily, he was positioned to do so).
The kid at least knew who
his enemy was, and there was no ambiguity about the bear’s intentions. With
Trump and Putin, who knows?
Now, we’re suddenly going to cooperate in Syria, after years of torturous
negotiations between John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov always fell short? What
transpired in that Trump-Putin meeting to make our stubbornly opposed
viewpoints on Assad evaporate so quickly? What about Ukraine? Is Putin
returning Crimea to its sovereign control? Not likely…just “moving on.”
Most analysts feel Trump gave Putin everything he wanted in this meeting:
what does that mean for We the People and
our democratic institutions?
We know how Trump admires Putin’s “strong leadership”—did the teen admire
the bear munching on his head for its
strength?
We’ve looked at it before, but this seems to be an apt occasion for
pulling the Trump-Putin biwheel out of the mothballs for a second look. Let’s
begin:
Biwheel #1: (inner wheel) Donald J. Trump, June 14,
1946, 10:54 a.m., DST, Jamaica, New York; (outer wheel) Vladimir Putin, October 7, 1952, 12:39 p.m. ST (time
rectified on Kepler 8.0 from approx. time), St. Petersburg, Russia. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node.
Trump Gemini stellium trines Putin’s Libra stellium. Both men share strong air
sign gatherings involving their Suns,
and those Suns fall widely
trine: Trump’s stellium includes his Sun-No.
Node-Uranus; Putin’s includes his MC-Sun-Saturn-Neptune and
Mercury. Trump favors the role of “shock jock” (Sun-Uranus); Putin excels at subterfuge, denial, disinformation
and misinformation (Sun-Saturn-Neptune-Mercury,
with Mercury sextile his Leo Pluto).
We shouldn’t be surprised if Putin finds ways to leverage Trump’s
unfiltered mouth and uncontrollable Twitter “tic.” With his Mercury square Neptune (Cancer-Libra) and Mercury disposing his Gemini points,
Trump aspires to Putin’s deception/subterfuge skills, however he doesn’t have
the finesse or the discipline.
Putin Mars conjoins Trump Moon (both Sagittarius),
oppose Trump Sun (Gemini) and trines Trump Mars-ASC (Leo). Putin knows how to appeal to
Trump’s passions and his narcissism (Mars-Asc),
which may explain the seedier contents of the notorious Steele dossier. Setting
Trump up with hookers in a Russian hotel was undoubtedly more than a courtesy
on Russia’s part: it’s one more thing Putin can leverage when he needs
something from Trump.
These two probably share similar desires for power, but
Putin is much better equipped to wield power effectively (if not
democratically): his Libra stellium (including Saturn) mostly sextiles his staunch 9th house Leo Pluto and squares his 8th
house Cancer Uranus.
This latter point is important: Trump’s much less well-connected Saturn (conjunct Venus in Cancer) conjoins Putin’s 8th
house Uranus, suggesting a
financial connection between the men. Special counsel Robert Mueller is
probably following the money trail between Trump’s campaign and Russia—it will
be interesting to hear what he finds. The Saturn connection between the two men runs as deep as the Mars connection, in fact.
Putin Saturn (Libra) conjoins Trump Chiron-Jupiter
(Libra), squares Trump Saturn-Venus (Cancer) and sextiles Trump Moon
(Sagittarius); Putin Saturn also squares Putin Uranus (Libra-Cancer) and
inconjoins Putin Jupiter Rx (Taurus). It’s not unusual for powerful individual charts to
feature cardinal placements forming strong aspects; here, we have a double-dose
of cardinal aspects, but they’re not equally strong: Putin’s aspects outweigh
Trump’s in some important instances.
Specifically, Putin’s chart features the fixed Jupiter-Pluto
square (Taurus-Leo), with his Pluto
conjunct Trump’s Mars-Asc, and Putin’s fiery Mars is also trine his Pluto;
no wonder he rides horses and hunts bare-chested—there’s serious machismo here!
Trump’s Jupiter forms no aspect with his Pluto, instead conjoining his Chiron and Putin’s Saturn-Neptune (Libra). Although formidable, his Mars also forms no aspect with his Pluto: his swagger is much more about self-protection and avenging his hurt feelings: in fact, Trump’s intense ego needs and notoriously “thin skin” are liabilities that Putin can exploit with ease.
Trump’s Jupiter forms no aspect with his Pluto, instead conjoining his Chiron and Putin’s Saturn-Neptune (Libra). Although formidable, his Mars also forms no aspect with his Pluto: his swagger is much more about self-protection and avenging his hurt feelings: in fact, Trump’s intense ego needs and notoriously “thin skin” are liabilities that Putin can exploit with ease.
These points suggest that a second look at the Cancer-Libra connections between these two is in order. It’s a matter of biographical record that Fred Trump, Sr. (Donald’s
father) was a harsh taskmaster (and a controversial figure in terms of business
practices), and in Donald’s chart the Venus-Saturn
conjunction square his Jupiter
(Cancer-Libra) reflects a close, yet conditional relationship between the two.
The quincunx between the Cancer points and his Sagittarius Moon reinforces this conditional
nature, and biographers have theorized that the need to please a strong father
figure has motivated Donald Trump over the years. In his celebrity career, he cast
himself in the role of strong father figure/Boss, also—remember “You’re fired!?”
So, enter a new political “father
figure,” Vladimir Putin. There’s no
denying that, in terms of sheer political experience and amassed power, Putin
outstrips Trump, hands tied behind his back. But it’s not Trump’s job as
American president to fawningly admire, or seek to please or emulate, a man who
disdains our democratic institutions and probably means to do us harm.
With Putin’s Jupiter conjunct
Trump’s MC (both Taurus), it’s clear that Trump also looks to Russia
(and therefore to Putin) for material
growth—and Donald Jr. himself seemed to put that into perspective in 2008 with
his comments at a Manhattan real
estate conference:
"[I]n terms of high-end product influx into the United
States, Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of
our assets; say in Dubai, and certainly with our project in SoHo and anywhere
in New York. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia."
Of course, Trump’s refusal to disclose his financial records and taxes
only adds to the suspicion (supported by this biwheel) that there are monetary
dealings and/or dependencies between Trump and the Russians. This is reinforced
by the respective Jupiters of
the two men being inconjunct (Libra-Taurus), and forming two legs of an
interchart Yod (Putin’s Jupiter
is the focal point, inconjoining Trump’s Jupiter
and Sagittarius Moon. Putin
has what Trump craves on several levels, and Putin undoubtedly knows how to
play that hand.
Transits
In the wake of his dismal performance at the G20 this past week, we don’t
even need to rehash the astrology to see why Trump seems to be seriously
faltering as our leader. Even so, current transits to this biwheel (timed to
this writing)—especially by Saturn, Uranus and Mars—are worth exploring. The so-called
“bromance” may be strained. Let’s consider the triwheel below.
Triwheel #1:
(inner wheel) Donald J. Trump, June 14,
1946, 10:54 a.m., DST, Jamaica, New York; (middle wheel) Vladimir Putin, October 7, 1952, 12:39 p.m. ST (time
rectified on Kepler 8.0 from approx. time), St. Petersburg, Russia; (outer wheel) Transits, July 11,
2017, 8:35:51 a.m. DST (timed for this writing), Washington, D.C.. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node.
Interchart
T-square: Transiting Uranus (Aries)
opposes Putin Mercury-Neptune (Libra) and this axis squares Transiting Mars
(Cancer), Trump’s Cancer points (Saturn-Venus), and Putin’s Cancer Uranus-Part-of-Fortune.
The stress
of this configuration was evident in Trump’s body language at the G20—the news pictures
show him appearing isolated and a bit downtrodden. He’s marginalized, standing
off on the far edge of the group in the official G20 portrait: between that and
the final conference statement issued by Angela Merkel, his colleagues in that
esteemed body are letting him know what they think about his pulling the U.S. out
of the Paris Accord, among other isolationist actions.
A mutually-protective, Cancerian relationship isn’t difficult to imagine between
Trump and Putin, and the Mars transit is probably energizing—or possibly
attacking—that relationship in some way. It would probably be naïve to think
that Putin is a friend to Donald
Trump—in fact, the new revelations about Donald Trump, Jr.’s meeting last year
with a Russian lawyer—a
convoluted, potentially incriminating encounter—raises a lot of questions about
the “bromance.” Timing is everything!
Transiting Saturn also quincunxes Transiting Saturn, conjunct Putin’s Mars and Trump’s Moon in
Sagittarius. Both Trump and Putin are put in an uncomfortable fix with
this awkward set of quincunxes, but Trump is probably feeling the weight of it
more seriously, with the way his thin-skinned Saturn-Venus and Moon are
pulled into the fray. Saturn
rules his 6th and 7th houses, putting his health, his
public service, and his ally/enemy relationships.
It’s safe to say that more
angry tweets are in the forecast, but with Saturn and Marsdogging his steps, even venting and trying to offload any responsibility for
his actions onto others will likely fall short.
Interchart
T-square: Transiting Pluto (Capricorn)
opposes Trump & Putin Cancer points and Transiting Sun-Mars (Cancer); this
axis squares Trump & Putin Libra points. This configuration would be
softened a bit if transiting Jupiter were not out of orb with transiting Mars,
but as it is, transiting Jupiter still squares Capricorn Pluto and together
there’s stress placed on Trump’s Chiron-Jupiter, so the geopolitical forces out
there are a real mixed bag of support and restraint. He may think it’s possible
to smack down his adversaries (especially journalists) by labeling them “Fake
News,” but that will likely come back to bite him.
Trump seems to be more and more
withdrawing into a protective shell (his denial skills rival Putin's), instead of taking responsibility for the
mess he’s created: that stance just invites increased scrutiny.
Needless to say, the web of Trump-Putin aspects becomes even more entangled
with these tough transiting energies, so the Trump-Russia saga is far from
over.
Transiting Saturn (Sagittarius) exactly trines Putin’s Leo Pluto and more widely trines Trump’s Leo Mars,
forming a grand fire trine with Transiting Uranus (Aries). The joint
plans these two have for Syria could be reflected here—this is an aggressive, fiery
and potentially bellicose configuration that will remain in place for most of
this year. The irony is that Trump claims that he and Putin agreed upon a ceasefire in that war-torn country
(again, after years of failing to agree to a shared vision for Syria going
forward): stay tuned for what happens on this front in the next couple months,
particularly around the August 21st eclipse at 28°+Leo.
Final
thoughts
We haven’t heard the words “treason” and “espionage” used in political
discourse for a very long time, and while some think Edward Snowden and Chelsea
Manning came close with their theft of sensitive intelligence service documents
(we still don’t know if or how Russia figures into Snowden’s case beyond giving
him sanctuary), turning U.S. secrets over to an adversary seems to have become
almost acceptable.
Judging from the response to Trump Jr.’s revelations this week, it seems that
some would like us to think that going to Russian sources for dirt on a
political opponent is equally okay these days. Others, to their credit, are
calling it what it looks like: treason. Winning
by any means necessary is clearly not
the only thing that matters. IMHO, accepting this toxic idea would be
deadly for American unity: if politics doesn’t
“end at the water,” what’s left for us as a nation?
Ronald Reagan was a pure-hearted knight in shining armor compared to what
we now have in the White House, but Reagan was the one who declared back in the
1980s that the U.S. government is the
problem. Unfortunately, that declaration has infiltrated our public
consciousness over the ensuing decades, and we seem to have forgotten that we are the U.S. government!
I certainly have no illusions that
everything our government has done is above board and honorable, but this is
truly food for thought...I hope we get out of this mess in one piece.
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.
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