Unfortunately, it was no surprise
that Trump would hide behind Mother Nature’s skirts to commit his latest controversial acts. As the Texas Gulf coast was bracing for Hurricane
Harvey’s onslaught this past Friday evening, Trump’s White House was busily scurrying
about:
rolling out his directives for the Defense Department to begin banning
transgender individuals from military service, and pardoning his criminal
“co-birther” buddy and disgraced Maricopa County, Arizona sheriff, Joe Arpaio—a
white supremacist who has bragged about maintaining a “concentration camp” for
people his department deemed “illegals,”
whether they were or not.
Trump’s action was taken before Justice was allowed to take its
due course, sending the message (perhaps to those awaiting summons from
Mueller’s investigation) that buddies of his will be protected from the law. Arpaio is quoted as saying that if Trump asks him to run for Senate in Arizona (to unseat Jeff Flake, presumably), he "would consider it." Quid pro quo?
As for the timing of Trump's announcement, he’s now denying that he issued the pardon during the hurricane for the sake of “cover,” claiming instead that he was looking for the “ratings” that timing would bring. Does he really think that makes his action sound more acceptable? And by the way, Kim Jong-Un “respects” the U.S. How’s that working out for us?
As for the timing of Trump's announcement, he’s now denying that he issued the pardon during the hurricane for the sake of “cover,” claiming instead that he was looking for the “ratings” that timing would bring. Does he really think that makes his action sound more acceptable? And by the way, Kim Jong-Un “respects” the U.S. How’s that working out for us?
Trump ticked off multiple
controversial, political goals with every move. Needless to say, there’s been talk in the
media that by demonstrating his intention to undermine our justice system to
protect a loyal supporter/criminal, Trump is flirting with a full-blown Constitutional
crisis.
It’s easy to feel these days that
everything that we used to take for granted (i.e., that the Bill of Rights and
duly prosecuted crimes against those
rights still mean something in our justice system) has fallen into a hurricane
vortex, so the timing of all this with Harvey is far from coincidental.
Naturally, as a mundane astrologer, I want to understand how all these Friday events
and actions are connected. Even Donald Trump can’t order up a natural disaster like
he would a take-out meal!
He certainly can, however, plan to
blindside the media’s usual scrutiny with a Friday night news blitz in the
middle of that disaster! Even so, the synchronicity may run deeper than Trump’s
opportunism: powerful transits and long-term influences like eclipses manifest
on many different levels: meteorological (i.e., a hurricane), sociological (the
devastation being suffered by Texans and our Constitution), political (a storm
of D.C. controversy) and personal/psychological (megalomania).
So, my goal here is to tease out the
threads of that synchronicity, and to figure out what the dynamics at work in the
various parts of this Friday blitz have in common. Bear with me…I’ll try to
keep what follows as clearly focused on why
this, why now as possible. First and foremost, our deepest sympathies go out to Harvey's victims.
Let’s consider the “birth” data for Harvey:
“Around 03:00 UTC on August 26, the hurricane made landfall at
peak intensity at Rockport with winds of 130 mph (215 km/h)
and an atmospheric pressure of 938 mbar
(27.7 inHg).[23]
Harvey became the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States
since Wilma in 2005 and the strongest in terms of
wind speed to hit the country since Charley
in 2004. It was the first hurricane to
strike Texas since Ike in 2008,[24]
the first major hurricane in the state since Bret in 1999, and the strongest in Texas
since Carla in 1961.[25]”
I won’t even attempt to recreate the
litany of horrors that Hurricane Harvey has chalked up thus far; suffice to say
here that it has proven to be a storm of epic, beyond-catastrophic proportions and
perhaps the worst
natural disaster that Texas has ever experienced. Thankfully, the death
toll at this point is relatively low for disasters like this, and that’s a tribute to some very well-organized
ground efforts by state officials, volunteers, and even neighbors who have taken to the flooded streets to transport anyone
they can find to a shelter. Even so, we mourn every loss, and our hearts go out to Texas.
As we’ll see, however, there are considerable
problems ahead and tensions are beginning to rise along with the waters.
Since Friday, Harvey has devastated
coastal cities and towns like Rockport, where it first made landfall, and it has
dumped a mind-boggling 11 trillion
gallons of water on Texas—hitting the Houston area particularly
hard—with several days of rainfall predicted ahead. Of course, here’s where we
need to consider not only “why this, why now,” but also “why in Texas?” A
biwheel for the storm’s first landfall in Rockport, Texas, set against the
Texas Statehood chart provides some interesting insights.
Biwheel
#1: (inner wheel) Texas
Statehood, December 29, 1845, 12:00 p.m. LMT (noon chart, no exact time
available), Washington, D.C.; (outer wheel) Hurricane Harvey landfall, August 25,
2017, 10:00 p.m. DST, Rockport, Texas. Tropical
Equal Houses, True Node.
Interchart
T-Square: Harvey MC/Pluto (Capricorn)
opposes Ceres (Cancer); this axis squares Texas Asc (Aries)-Uranus/Neptune (midpoint)-Pluto
(Aries). The almost apocalyptic scope and intensity of this storm is
certainly reflected here, and its specific impact on Texas farm and grazing
lands and the livestock on those lands are reflected by Ceres’ position. The Pluto
activity here suggests that Texas has reached a transformative moment
in its history, and there are lives at stake in that process.
Interchart
Grand Fire Trine: Harvey Mars-No. Node
(Leo) trine Texas Pluto (Aries) and Harvey Saturn (Sagittarius); Harvey
Mars-No. Node (Leo) oppose Texas Saturn-Neptune-Venus (Aquarius). This fiery
configuration explains how the recent eclipse figures into the story, among
other things. As Mars transits over the degree of the eclipse Dragon
Head (No. Node) and then over the 28°+Leo
eclipse
point itself, it will re-stimulate the eclipse for at least the next
1-3 years, so those belligerent Leo energies, so in tune with Trump’s natal Mars-Asc,
could be emboldened during that period.
After a long retrograde, Saturn
turned direct only hours before Harvey made landfall, in that torturous
waiting period in which the storm hovered off shore for days. Quite possibly, Saturn
helped the storm amass its epic force and concentrated moisture, then
unleashing that force as its retrograde gradually lifted.
Since the eclipse happened opposite the Texas Aquarius stellium,
it’s not surprising that the state is experiencing a powerful upheaval
involving water (Neptune) and state resources. Damage to the Texas oil
industry and levy systems is also covered by the Mars-Neptune opposition (Saturn
structures are undermined here, as well)—we may see a hike in oil and gasoline
prices.
The fact that water is the key destructive force at work is reinforced by Harvey
Neptune (Pisces) semi-sextile Texas Asc and trine Texas No. Node (Scorpio). This
Neptune
is conjunct the Texas 12th house cusp, suggesting the
looming deluge.
The magnitude of this deluge is
reflected by Harvey’s Jupiter-Moon (over the Texas 7th house of
“enemies) trine Texas Saturn-Neptune-Venus (Aquarius)—this is the type of
event in which the tendency of trines (especially involved Jupiter and the
tides-related Moon) to unleash the
energies at work can be destructive. Again, structures, waterways, reservoirs
and resources are impacted by the uncontrolled expansion of the waters: Houston
authorities have had to make some difficult decisions about channeling
accumulated waters into some already inundated areas, in order to save other
areas and resources for the “greater good.”
This same Jupiter-Moon opposes Harvey
Uranus (a shock to the Texas 1st house of state identity and
vitality), and the Moon quincunxes Harvey Chiron. Texans—the “People”
represented by the Harvey Moon—are experiencing a world of
hurt, and it’s far from over.
“Harvey continues dumping rain on East Texas and the waters continue to
rise. People are starting to panic, rushing rescue boats and even shooting at
them if they don't stop, said one volunteer rescuer.
Clyde Cain, of the Cajun Navy, a Louisiana-based rescue force that gained
fame during Hurricane Katrina, said in one instance, a boat broke down, and
while the crew sought shelter in a delivery truck, people tried to steal the inoperable
boat.
Because of the hostile responses, the Cajun Navy has been forced to halt
some rescue attempts, Cain said.
‘We have boats being shot at if we're not picking everybody up. We're
having to pull out for a minute. We're dropping an air boat right now to go
rescue a couple of our boats that broke, and they're kind of under attack,’ he
said.”
CNN is
also reporting an updated estimate that up to 500,000 people are expected to need disaster relief by the time
Harvey’s flood waters recede. Harvey’s Jupiter-Moon square to Texas Moon
and Harvey Pluto in Capricorn would account for the steadily growing
numbers of dire situations.
The statehood chart is not precisely timed, so the
Moon
may not be quite as tightly conjoined this Pluto as it looks here
(let’s hope), but the potential for higher casualty numbers is certainly there
if there’s a conjunction. Getting the billions needed (Pluto) for rescue and
recovery ASAP is important.
The latest breaking news I’ve seen at this
juncture is: “The levee at Columbia Lakes in Brazoria County have been
breached. Brazoria County is just south of Houston.” The Twitter message was
unequivocal: “GET OUT
NOW!”
The
ban, the pardon and the Big Picture
Moving on, the question shifts to
Trump’s transgender ban for the military and his pardon of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, which
interestingly, were made official almost simultaneously with right-wing
extremist Sebastian Gorka’s exit from the White House last Friday (don’t let
the door hit you on the way out!). So, aside from Trump’s entanglements with
right-wing extremist agendas, Why carry
all this out as Harvey was banging on Texas’s door?
Media analysts see the following
connections: One, that the ban and
the pardon were “red meat” for Trump’s extreme right-wing base (he loves the
sound of cheers at his rallies)—clearly, his base has little tolerance for
LGBTQ needs or rights; two, that the
pardon was meant to signal that he and his cronies are above the law, if Mueller’s “push” ever comes to legal “shove”);
and three, that items one and two
were designed to deflect his base’s attention from his decision to let Gorka
go.
Gorka’s an unapologetically extreme Bannon ally, so Gorka’s exit isn’t
entirely surprising—he may be needed at Breitbart
to continue promoting the agenda that Trump can’t promote quite as openly
from the White House.
Predictably, Gorka denies that he
was fired, but claims that he left voluntarily to “better support the president
from the outside,” but MSNBC reported last night that a
White House security memorandum is warning staffers to “not admit” him. So, by
playing both sides against the middle, is Trump messing with his base like he does
everyone else?
Or, is that order simply one
smokescreen floated over another? Does Trump want to distance himself from
Gorka, whose neo-Nazi background may pose some kind of media/legal jeopardy,
while still enjoying his assistance “from outside?” We have no reason to
believe that Trump has disavowed what either Bannon or Gorka represents.
Nothing is ever straightforward with
this deceptive administration.
Usually, Friday night is a
convenient time for a news “dump” when the person issuing the news wants to
minimize media attention. But considering the troubling Constitutional implications
of the ban, the pardon and the fact that Gorka even had a place in the White
House, does the synchronicity in all these Friday night events indicate a
building crisis in D.C.?
We also have no reason to believe
that Trump wants anything but chaos—the
question is, how is that chaos likely to impact all of us as this “hurricane”
in DC unfolds?
Bottom line, Harvey may indicate a
threshold moment that reverberates throughout our Body Politic: Let’s look at
the chart for Harvey’s landfall against the U.S. Sibly chart.
Biwheel
#2: (inner chart) US Sibly chart,
July 4, 1776, 5:10 p.m. LMT, Philadelphia, PA; (outer chart) Hurricane
Harvey landfall, August 25, 2017, 10:00 p.m. DST, Rockport, TX. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node.
Harvey Sun-Mercury (Virgo) sextile Sibly
Venus-Jupiter (Cancer) and widely oppose Sibly Moon (Aquarius). These
sextiles look fairly benign, however they present opportunities for
“deal-making” (7th h Venus-Jupiter) that can be used for a range of
purposes by those who hold the purse strings. Sibly Venus rules the 6th
and 11th houses—military and top-level influence networks, and Sibly
Jupiter
rules the 1st and co-rules the 4th—our “face” to
the world, and the deeper, grass-roots reality the American people are
experiencing.
This 4th house is fairly
beleaguered at this time, and certainly a main focus during this evolutionary
crossroads we seem to be facing as a nation: besides Neptune and Chiron
transiting there, our Sibly progressed Sun has just edged into
that house as well. I’ve spoken at length about the progressed cycle our Sibly Sun
and Moon
are engaged in right now (link here)—launching
conjunct the Sibly IC-Asc, it’s a visible “crossroads” that certainly helps make
sense of what we’re experiencing now.
Harvey Mars-No. Node (Leo) sextile Sibly
Mars (Gemini) and oppose Sibly Moon (Aquarius). As discussed earlier,
this Mars-Node
position evokes the Great American Eclipse we just experienced, and its
position opposite the Sibly Moon has always been a concern. Here
we see how that belligerent Leo energy could trigger the U.S. war machine
(Sibly Mars), and North Korea seems determined to provoke exactly
that.
The other serious concern here is
the possibility of a nation-wide emergency being called, especially one that
Trump can use to justify imposing martial law. He’s just rolled back Obama’s
regulations about local police departments being “militarized” with surplus
military equipment, and that action would support any emergency powers he plans
to claim.
We don’t want to get ahead of
ourselves here—the National Guard is certainly being helpful in Texas, but
would we want tanks rolling down the streets of all our cities to support
Trump’s ideas about “law and order?” His choice to champion Joe Arpaio, whose
brutal (some say "sadistic") concentration camps for brown-skinned detainees were maintained at taxpayer
expense in the name of “enforcing the law,” should give us real pause.
Unfortunately, Harvey Saturn
(now direct in Sagittarius) trines Harvey Mars-Node
as it opposes Sibly Mars (Gemini), making our Sibly Moon
a sitting duck for repressive law enforcement and—given geopolitical
stressors—the possibility of war.
This Saturn has been hovering
near Trump’s natal Moon for months with its retrograde passage, perhaps steeling
his resolve to carry out his “law and order” agenda and to fully assume his
“Commander-in-Chief” role (his Sun-Moon opposition straddles the
Sibly 1st-7th axis, taking in Sibly Mars). Proving how tough
he can be is important to him, and with Sibly Mars at his disposal, he
has the tools.
Being tough has nothing to do with being wise, but Saturn’s better angels
can bring wisdom to bear. Is Trump capable of wisdom?
We can only hope that the generals Trump
has surrounded himself with will be capable where he is not: the eclipse that
happened smack dab on Trump’s natal Mars-Asc is likely to encourage his
belligerent impulses.
Interchart
Grand Cardinal Square #1: Harvey
Venus-Sibly Mercury-POF (Cancer) oppose Sibly Pluto (Capricorn); this axis
squares Harvey Jupiter-Moon (Libra) opposite Harvey Uranus (Aries). This
super-charged configuration speaks to the financial dimension of not only
Hurricane relief, but of other likely dynamics unfolding, such as defense
budgets, the national debt ceiling and spending bills, etc.
The lobbyists and big influencers
(Sibly Mercury and Harvey Jupiter-Moon over Sibly 11th) are pushing
their agendas, and the “Market” (Sibly Pluto) is poised for big corporate
profits (Harvey Venus opposite Sibly Pluto). Please note that this should not be taken as a Market prediction—I
am happy to defer to financial astrologers for those. There’s a backdrop of
instability with some key mutable factors, as well, so anything goes.
Interchart
Grand Cardinal Square #2: Harvey Ceres-Sibly
Sun (Cancer) oppose Harvey Pluto (Capricorn); this axis squares Harvey
Jupiter-Sibly Saturn (Libra) opposite Harvey Asc-Sibly Chiron (Aries). Especially
given the Sibly 2nd-8th house axes in play here, our
ability to plant a field and nurture it through to harvest is at stake here.
This can be taken literally (Ceres rules food, agriculture,
female/domestic issues), or figuratively, as in public policies that either
accomplish their aims or don’t, budgets that fulfill the nation’s needs or
don’t (Sibly Chiron).
These squared-off oppositions thus raise
questions about how budgets affect whether Congress (Sibly Saturn) and the Federal
government (Sibly Sun) function well, or whether they are corrupted by toxic
ideological concerns (Harvey Jupiter squares Harvey Pluto).
This fits the CNN story today that
questions whether emergency funding for Harvey relief will get hung-up in
Congress out of petty retribution.
In 2012, the Tea
Party –including Texas Senator Ted Cruz—refused to fund Hurricane Sandy
relief, and other members of Congress haven’t forgotten. Unity or division?
Final
thoughts
As much as I think we need to
analyze the dynamics that we are caught up in these days—and take nothing for granted!—I do think taking action is the magic elixir going forward. Here’s where
Harvey is telling us something about our broader collective lives as Americans.
As with Harvey, everyone has something to contribute, whether it’s a
hand up, a skill or a talent, a flat-bottomed boat, a few bucks, or an
encouraging word. Trump can’t seem to decide if he wants to unite or divide us
(it’s just not in him to do anything coherently), but we know what works best for all of us.
It’s not the zero-sum perspective that says “if someone else gets something, we
must’ve lost out.” It’s the non-zero-sum gains
we all make when everyone keeps one
eye on personal needs and another on the greater good. Maybe these opposing
perspectives capture—in a nutshell—the crossroads we find ourselves at these
days?
Which way do we go? Our thoughts and prayers are with you, Texas!!
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.
© Raye Robertson 2017. All
rights reserved.