The toxic fumes wafting off D.C.
these days are enough to choke a coal stack, yet this week’s news boasted at least
one refreshing, hopeful moment.
Namely, the interesting Cosmic “thud” that accompanied the release of Rep. Devin Nunes’ (R, CA) infamous "memo," authored by Nunes and his House Intelligence Committee staff, with input from House Oversign Committee chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R, OK). Flying high on the wings of delusionary hype, the "memo" and its champions simply flew "too close to the Sun."
Designed to expose what Nunes and the right-wing media have
been claiming are politically-biased actions on the part of the FBI against
former Trump campaign advisor, Carter Page, the “memo” was hyped to the
max by a Twitter hashtag campaign (#ReleaseTheMemo). Turns out, Page has been on the FBI's radar for being compromised by the Russians as far back as 2013--if anything, the memo release raised serious questions about why Page would have been chosen to advise the Trump campaign later on.
We now know that the hashtag—which had some legitimate
circulation on Twitter—was also being hyped and jinned up by fake,
Russian-backed entities and “bots.”
Why is this “thud” potentially
hopeful? Because it suggests that some lines persist that we mere mortals should respect, that we cross at our peril. Nunes chose to "fly too high" with his deceptive shenanigans, and the Cosmos called him out on it. This week's “memo” hassle is only the latest in a string
of ultimately unsuccessful attempts he's made this past year, in fact—all designed to fabricate a narrative that Trump could then use to resist the Mueller
investigation.
Recall that Nunes was a member of
Trump’s transition team, so his “day job” as Chairman of the House Intelligence
Committee already reads like a conflict of interests. The integrity of
Congress’s oversight over sensitive intelligence matters is hard enough to
maintain under normal circumstances, but if members of Congress are a little
too cozy with the Executive branch, how impartial can they be when the object of
the intelligence is the Chief
Executive himself?
So Nunes has basically been trying
to juggle two conflicting jobs in the past year: one, chairing a congressional
committee that demands independence from the White House; and two, playing dubious
games with the intelligence he has access to in the committee, all in an effort
to undermine the Mueller investigation on behalf of Trump. Whether he intended to be, or not, he (and others--he's not in this alone) has become Trump's "mole" in this committee. For a comprehensive
look at all this and a timeline, click here.
So, what can astrology tell us
about this troubling situation? To parse
through the personal dimension of it all we’ll explore a noon chart for Nunes. His birth time is missing in action, but the noon chart speaks volumes.
Of course, we have to consider
that the situation ripples out beyond Nunes, personally: he’s the chairman of a powerful committee, within a
GOP-controlled Congress that has in many ways surrendered its
constitution-guaranteed independence to a would-be autocrat in the White House.
So, the lines where personal and collective responsibility meet in this “memo” crisis Nunes has
created are tangled, at best. And, to thicken the plot further, there is serious
speculation that Nunes cooperated with someone inside the White House to draft
the infamous memo. As unimaginable as that might seem, he’s gone this route
before: in his March effort to “prove” the Obama administration wiretapped
Trump Tower in 2016, he called for a press event in which he released what he
claimed was incriminating information supporting that wiretapping claim.
The
trouble was, it was proven that he had acquired this information—untrue, as it
turned out—from the White House.
That March escapade landed Nunes
in an Ethics Committee investigation, which led to his short-lived “recusal”
from the Russia investigation. Obviously, the recusal didn’t last, and as we’ve
seen, he may have compromised himself even more recklessly with his latest,
“memo” release actions on Trump’s behalf. Again, that track record is
documented here.
So in this post we’ll consider (in
so far as possible here) the personal
dimension of Nunes’ decision to release the memo. We’ll add some useful context
to this by setting the transit chart for noon on February 2 (“release” day)
against the noon chart for his nativity.
Because the exact times are so
uncertain, we’ll have to ignore the Moon degrees, houses and the angles in both charts. As
we’ll see, there are plenty of other important factors to consider.
Biwheel #1: (inner wheel) Devin
Nunes, October 1, 1973, 12:00 p.m. (no birth time available) DST, Tulare, CA
(Source: Wikipedia); (outer wheel) Nunes Memo Release,
February 2, 2018, 12:00 p.m. (no exact time available) ST, Washington, D.C.. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node.
We’ll see ahead that there’s more to this configuration than a mere T-Square, but for now, let’s puzzle through this much. Of the Saturn-opposition-Saturn aspect, expert Robert Hand emphasizes that how this transit plays out depends upon one’s efforts over the past 14 years or so (when the cycle would have begun). He says, [1]
“The old
failures that you have not handled properly in the last several years will make
your life exceedingly difficult now. However, everything that you have handled
well will reach a culmination and prove more fruitful than ever before….you may
reach a peak of success…on the other hand, you may receive abundant evidence
that you are working in the wrong area altogether. This would be manifested by
extreme difficulties in your work situation, such as finding your efforts
blocked by coworkers or superiors.”
Even a quick glance at Nunes’ bio on Wikipedia suggests how exact Hand’s Saturn cycle description is. Nunes first took office on the California state level in 2003 (roughly 14 years ago!), and he’s been climbing his way up into more influential positions ever since. Deeply aligned with now Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan (R, WI) over these years, Nunes is the author or co-author of several staunch conservative initiatives, some of them formulated with Ryan.
So, we
shouldn’t be surprised that Ryan is now “conflicted” and unwilling to strip
Nunes of his committee chairmanship for his recent “memo” escapades. They’re
ideological kinsmen from two critical states (Wisconsin and California).
The issue
on which Nunes—born into a third generation California farm family—might be
considered more a “fringe” conservative is on environmental matters: he’s been
a vocal climate change denier, especially in regards to California’s
agricultural water use policies. His interests are probably less ideological (and
certainly less scientific) than simply resource-related, however: any attempt
on California’s part to rein in agriculture’s water use in a time of drought (a
huge issue until just recently) is probably considered a threat to home and
family, not to mention his rural constituents.
Here’s
where Nunes’ natal Cancer Saturn shows its cards, so we shouldn’t
be too surprised that he’s been looking for any
means to address what registers in his mind as an immediate threat. A Sun-Pluto conjunction can be
Machiavellian, promoting a belief that the “ends justify the means.” Clearly,
climate change denier Trump has become Nunes’ new champion, and the more
regulations he wants to roll back, the better Nunes likes it.
Bottom line,
Trump is now enjoying the Plutonian depths of loyalty that he craves from the
world-at-large from Nunes, and not
surprisingly, interesting connections between their charts support this. So we
probably haven’t seen the end of this saga.
Nunes
Yod #1 is bisected by Saturn transit. This
is complicated, but let me just preface this section by saying that some would
consider this first yod to technically be a double quincunx (long story short,
such astrologers hold that the slowest planet needs to be at the apex to
consider the configuration a full-blown yod), but the interpretation is so
similar that I’m sticking with the simpler term, yod.
As mentioned above, this
configuration overlaps with the
T-Square discussed above. Before we proceed, however, it’s worth noting that despite
some potentially difficult configurations, Nunes’ complex nativity has also set
him up for great opportunities. We can see that potential in his nice series of
sextiles (Sun-Pluto to Neptune to Jupiter). It hasn’t hurt his ambitions that his Sun-Pluto conjunction therefore
falls trine his Jupiter, either.
Undoubtedly, taking
advantage of these opportunities required some aggressive power-playing, but everything about Nunes’ chart says that he’s
been up to that challenge. Or, that he’s had some powerful mentors and support.
So, let’s dissect the first of two
Yods: Neptune (Sagittarius) sextiles
Jupiter (Aquarius) and both inconjoin his Saturn (Cancer). This intense
configuration is now bisected by transiting Saturn’s opposition to natal Saturn from Capricorn to Cancer.
Yods often lurk quietly in the background of a person’s life until a transit
such as this lights them up and brings on the “damned if you do, damned if you
don’t” dilemmas.
So, contrary to the relatively
easy looking path he’s enjoyed to greater and greater influence and power over
his 14-year political career, Nunes has recently found himself cornered into
making difficult choices, and the choices don’t appear to be panning out for
him. As we’ve seen with his White House-related escapades, he keeps choosing to
plunge headlong into “loyalty traps” with Trump, and then flailing around for
the next act (the “next memo”) when things don’t go according to plan. Depending
upon powerful “mentors” (father figures?) may not be working out for him at the
moment.
To put it simply, Saturn has him “pinned to the mat” for
the duration, and his long-term career may depend upon how he works through
this transit.
Transiting Saturn is what aspects expert Bil Tierney calls the “reaction
planet” in this configuration (the point opposite natal Saturn, the yod’s apex planet), and he credits such points as
being a “conditioning agent that eventually becomes a prominent catalyst for
inner illumination.”[2]
Will our cosmic “Headmaster-with-ruler-in-hand” school Nunes on the ethical
limits of right power? On the need for Saturnian facts as opposed to Neptunian, hyped distortion (note Neptune’s prominence in the Yod)? On
allowing his loyal tendencies (Sun-Pluto)
to be used and abused?
Or worse—we can’t really know what
the stakes are in Nunes’ actions, but this Saturn transit is an important opportunity for him to examine
all these questions and redeem himself from what appear to some very toxic
entanglements.
Not surprisingly, these points in Nunes’ chart fall conjunct Trump’s natal Neptune (Libra, chart not shown).
Interchart T-Square: Release Eris-Uranus (Aries) opposes Nunes
Uranus-Mercury (Libra); this axis squares Release Pluto (Capricorn). Known for volatile upsets and vengeful disruptions, dwarf
planet Eris (currently at
22+Aries) has been hovering near transiting Uranus during that planet’s entire 7-year waxing square phase
with Pluto (only recently
beginning to separate), making for an extra intense period.
This configuration reflects how collective challenges can play out in
very personal ways, including the
ways in which we mentally process and respond to disruptive challenges. There’s
an interesting parallel here that might explain why Nunes and Trump seem to be
on similar mental “wavelengths”: both their charts feature a Uranus-Mercury conjunction in air
(Trump’s is in Gemini, chart not shown).
Another parallel: Nunes’ Libra
planets are disposed by an intense Scorpio Venus that has been suffering a transiting quincunx from Uranus-Eris. Trump has been experiencing
this same quincunx to his Gemini planets, which are disposed by a thin-skinned,
security-conscious Cancer Mercury.
Such Air-Water combinations tend to generate aggressively self-protective
characteristics—something we certainly see in the political agenda these men
share. Both seem to need to project their anxieties onto enemy “Others.”
Of course, Uranus transiting opposite natal Uranus is one of the so-called “midlife” transits, and this has
been within orb in Nunes’ chart for a couple years. Nunes experienced an exact
“hit” in this cycle in May, 2016—just in time to get on the Trump bandwagon. We
can only wonder if that decision has felt like a good substitute for the shiny
red sports car (Elon Musk certainly took that old saw to new heights, didn't he?): without a doubt it has been a game-changer for Nunes' career.
This midlife transit
affects all dimensions of life, and
naturally ambitious individuals can become very stressed out by it all:
often, they realize that their realities don’t quite match up to their
aspirations, and life suddenly feels like a ticking time bomb.
Nunes Yod #2: Neptune (Sagittarius) sextiles Sun-Pluto (Libra); both inconjoin Mars
(Taurus). It’s not surprising that Nunes
found his way into public life with a natal configuration like this. His earthy
Mars could be naturally driven to leverage the “powers-that-be” on behalf of
his agricultural family and constituents. Mars isn’t particularly potent in
Venus-ruled Taurus, but it’s fixed on its goals and determined to use whatever
resources are at its disposal. For a politician, that includes powerful sponsors and/or mentors.
Here, the quincunx aspects provide
a powerful network that he probably found ways to tap through sheer
determination: Neptune is disposed by his fixed Jupiter, and Sun-Pluto and Mars are disposed by his fixed Venus; there’s a reason he keeps bashing his head against
the limits—because he is not astrologically “wired” to admit defeat, or even to
admit that he’s made any mistakes.
This doggedness probably plays well with a
lot of his constituents (“he’s a real fighter!”), but this yod also suggests
that he may ultimately rely too much on the big power players (whom he probably
idealizes, with his Jupiter
sextile this Neptune) to have
his back.
Even a staunchly fixed Mars is no match for Neptune and Pluto, and IMHO, it’s naïve to think that these impersonal forces will
return his loyalty. So far, Paul Ryan has enabled his escapades—it’s undoubtedly
good to have a reliable conservative ally in the “blue” state of California—however,
it’s hard to imagine that support continuing if Nunes doesn’t “get his act
together.”
Resolving the tensions inherent in this yod in order to do this will
require working through the Saturnian Yod #1 above, too—there are strong ties between these two
configurations.
Final thoughts
The stakes in the situation he’s
created for himself must feel very high to Nunes, especially with a tangled web
of stressors lighting up his chart. Clearly, it would help to have his precise
birth time for a number of reasons: to see how the stressful aspects (2 yods
and a t-square) fall into his houses, and to assess how they impact his chart
angles and Moon.
Even without that precision, however,
we can sense the potential for “crash and burn” here. The myth of Icarus comes
to mind—flying too close to the Sun is a good metaphor for misdirected, fated
ambition, and that may be the message in his fiery Aries Chiron, opposite his Sun/Mercury (midpoint,
Libra). Chiron expert Martin Lass has this to say about Chiron’s wound in
Aries:
“A
profound sense of loss of self-worth, a core feeling of worthlessness,
unworthiness and even undeservingness of life itself. Self-denial. A feeling of
not being wanted, needed or useful. A feeling of being uncentered, unfocused,
lacking solidity.”[3]
Only Nunes can know what his
motivations truly are, of course, but trying to fill a Chironic void of
self-worth by putting himself at the service of a powerful father figure does fit the behavior we’ve seen from him
in the past year. Maybe this has all been a rather “twisted” take on the Icarus
story, however: in this one, the “father” doesn’t try to stop the “son” from
soaring too close to the Sun—he perhaps pushes
him a bit too far.
Amazingly, Nunes’ Chiron also conjoins the U.S. Sibly
Chiron (chart not shown): there’s a lesson in the infamous “memo” saga
for us all, and it might just have something to do with military parades.
A story for another day!
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 2018. All
rights reserved.
[1]
Robert Hand, Planets in Transit: Life
Cycles for Living, Whitford Press, Atglen, PA, 1976, p. 351.
[2]
Bil Tierney, Dynamics of Aspect Analysis:
New Perceptions in Astrology, CRCS Publications, Reno, NV, 1983, p. 148.
[3]
Martin Lass, Musings of a Rogue Comet:
Chiron, Planet of Healing, Bk. One, Galactic Publications, Nyack, NY, p.
319.
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