“After
all these outrages, there will be calls for a renewal of civility, as if the
problem is that people said nasty things about one other. But the answer to
this power grab cannot be passive acceptance in the name of being polite…When
power is all that matters, consistency is for suckers.”
A Full Moon now approaches that will
probably exacerbate the toxic mix of power grabs and gender divides that we’ve
been seeing in the news these days. The fact that this lunation incorporates recent
phenomena like Pluto stationing direct (9/30) and Venus’s retrograde turn—on
the day now-Justice Kavanaugh was voted in!—adds an intriguing dimension to the
mix. More on all that ahead.
So Kavanaugh is officially installed
on the Supreme Court, and those who didn’t think he was the man for the job are
looking to the midterm elections for hope and solace. Personally, I fear that
our political solutions are precarious in these truth-distorting Neptunian
days—but I will certainly show up and vote, nevertheless. It pains me to say
it, but astrologically, what used to pass for our United States is starting to resemble a shipwreck victim, treading
water and clinging to whatever bit of floating debris it can.
The vote—and all that it represents in a faltering democracy—is one substantial,
hopefully buoyant bit that could buy us some time while we come to grips with
the corruption that continues to run us aground. I don’t toss out the “C” word
lightly because the festering is marked by transiting Pluto, inching ever so
slowly into its return to Sibly Pluto—at the same time Neptune is transiting
into opposition with Sibly Neptune—“divide
and conquer” is the prevailing theme and its impact is palpable. This may
explain why psychologists have expressed concern about trends they are seeing
in their practices.
According to today’s cover story on Politico.com, psychologists are seeing an unusual number of patients these days
who are dangerously stressed out about the turmoil in Washington. Many express
concern that they can’t tell the difference between what’s true and what isn’t
these days—not too surprising. Instances have surfaced between married couples
(i.e., that watching the news at night is undermining the love lives of some), among
family members and neighbors, within communities, and in the nation-at-large:
“Even when symptoms are not sexual in nature, there is abundant evidence
that Trump and his daily uproars are galloping into the inner life of millions
of Americans.
During normal times, therapists say, their sessions deal with familiar
themes: relationships, self-esteem, everyday coping. Current events don’t
usually invade. But numerous counselors said Trump and his convulsive effect on
America’s national conversation are giving politics a prominence on the
psychologist’s couch not seen since the months after 9/11…”
The article
flags the impact Trump’s tactics and behavior are having on people’s ability to
discern what’s true and what’s not. An excerpt is worth examining here because
it calls out Neptune’s influence:
“‘Gaslighting is essentially a tactic used by abusive
personalities to make the abused person feel as though they’re not experiencing
reality, or that it’s made up or false,’ said Dominic Sisti, a behavioral
health care expert at the University of Pennsylvania who penned an article with Baum-Baicker on Trump’s effect
on stress. ‘The only reality one can trust is one that is defined by the
abuser. Trump does this on a daily basis—he lies, uses ambiguities, demonizes
the press. It’s a macroscopic version of an abusive relationship.’”
I won’t try to fact check this statement here, but I can say
that the cosmic energies at work these days do
lend credence to a gaslighting
concern. Pluto brings its ruthless
will-to-power and potentially abusive tendencies to bear, while Neptune is quite capable of spinning a
web of mass delusion. For a chilling example of how the phenomenon of
gaslighting plays out in an abusive relationship, check out the 1944 Film Noir film
titled Gaslight. The idea that even some psychologists are beginning to see
the American public as a mentally “abused spouse” in regards to the White House
is troubling indeed.
 |
| This film deserves its status as a "feminist horror story!" |
Whether Trump’s tactics are strictly speaking “gaslighting” or
not, he is visibly bent on dividing Americans against each other for the sake
of raw power, and in that sense, the past eighteen months have been a study in
disturbingly vicious uses of Neptune and Pluto energies. He’s using one
political party to grind the other party under his heel, but in the end I don’t
believe his is a partisan concern: the power he’s seeking is for himself. Republicans who get in his way
are as vulnerable as any Democrat.
I think it’s critical that we take a long view of these dynamics, however, because they’re nothing new: as
mentioned above, we’re now in the final few years before our collective Pluto
return, and this pings back to our creation
story as a nation, when we were fighting to be born.
In the 1760s and 70s, Pluto in Capricorn (among other
dynamics) lent our revolutionary founders the grit they needed to prevail,
while Neptune in Virgo lent them the
idealistic common sense they needed to make the most of their success. Both
these planets would have also figured into the overweening hubris of “mad” King
George III, the British monarch who was bedeviling us: long story short, Capricorn Pluto squared his elevated Aries Jupiter and quincunxed his Gemini Mercury-Saturn, which Neptune was simultaneously squaring
(chart not shown)[1].
 |
| A youthful King George III. |
Neptune was also transiting square
George’s Saturn-Venus conjunction in
Gemini. His power was clearly being undermined on multiple levels, but not long
after the defeat he suffered at the hands of the infant American nation, his
delusions of grandeur tipped over into the medically demented state he found
himself in at the end of his life.
Now, that same Capricorn energy and
idealistic common sense are what we need to
come to grips with the very real challenges of climate change and with healing our
inner divisions, but these impulses have instead been hijacked by those with a
far more corrupt, self-serving agenda. The destruction we’re experiencing to the
environment and our democratic institutions (including most recently, our
Supreme Court!) has definite Plutonian
overtones, with a persistent Neptunian undertow, created by the approaching transiting Neptune opposition to our Sibly
Neptune. It's starting to feel like an existential crisis, in fact.
After Plutonian destruction comes a
rebirth, yet because of Neptune’s
involvement it’s hard to say what form that’s likely to take at this moment. Will
the Neptune opposition help, or
effectively sabotage our efforts to heal and begin afresh? Those who find
themselves unmoored psychologically by the divisiveness in D.C. may be more
keenly attuned to this dilemma than most.
We can look to this past couple
weeks in D.C. for several examples of Neptunian sabotage for the sake of
Plutonian power, but two stand out in the end as involving not only these two
heavies, but Venus, as well—so key to most major news stories these days. Notably, Senator Susan Collins’ long drawn out rationalization for dismissing Dr.
Blasey-Ford’s memory of and testimony about who
attacked her when she was 15 also undermined Collins
at the same time it denied full just treatment to Blasey-Ford.
The role Collins played in the whole
saga was guaranteed to backfire on her in
the end: maybe she was the GOP’s sacrificial lamb in this drama? She was tasked with delivering the final
“we don’t believe her” blow to Blasey-Ford’s case before the Senate committee. In
fact, the whole situation smacked of a twofer:
Collins was expected to save GOP men from the embarrassment and political
peril of delivering that message (thus opening the way for the final vote on
Kavanaugh), but delivering that message was almost guaranteed to damage her
reputation as a moderate in Maine. Her colleagues had to know there would be a
backlash.
 |
| Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) |
The GOP (and Trump) had to know that
Collins isn’t standing for election until 2020, so why not weaken her now so she can be challenged by a less
moderate Republican then?
This ploy could render her just
another formerly powerful woman, the
only women Trump seems to like, judging by his vicious attacks on other prominent
women. No surprise, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Blasey-Ford defender) and pop star
Taylor Swift—who had the audacity to come out in favor of Tennessee Dems this
past week—are his current targets. Between Susan Collins and these two ladies,
we’ve seen Venus enter the scene,
from both stage right and stage left.
The second case of sabotage that
smacks of Neptune, Pluto and Venus, in so far as Venus rules Libra, the sign concerned
with fairness and justice, is from a
bizarre story regarding the West Virginia Supreme Court. From Slate.com:
“This saga is an object lesson in the perils of politicizing
the judiciary. A minor conflict over the court’s budget has escalated into a
standoff between the court and the legislature, one driven by Republican
efforts to wrest control of the judiciary from Democrats. Lawmakers are poised
to defy an order of the state Supreme Court, permanently subverting the
constitutional separation of powers. There are no real good guys in this story,
but some are certainly worse than others. And if Republicans succeed in their
scheme, they will have provided a road map to other politicians eager to defang
an independent judiciary.”
The entire story is quite involved
and convoluted, but it’s worth a read as an interesting cautionary tale that
involves impeaching a female (sabotaging
Venus) Supreme Court Chief Justice,
who then presided over her own impeachment appeal. Facts are stranger than
fiction in this case!
On
to the astrology
As we’ll see in the charts for this
month’s new and full lunations, of the many
wounds this nation needs to heal during these Neptune-Pluto times, one of the
most pressing ones right now is the double standard that men and women are held
to in American society. This is never more true when it comes to expressing
emotions: women who come across as angry and demanding—one protestor even had the “audacity”
to shout “Look at me when I’m talking to you” at Sen. Flake in that infamous
elevator encounter—stand to be labeled,
ignored, marginalized and ridiculed. Flake was gracious at the time, but his
colleagues have been lashing back ever since.
Women’s patience with all-things
patriarchy is just wearing thin, and millions seem to be on the brink of
explosion. One Washington Post article seems to say
it all. It’s titled “Thanks for not raping us, all you ‘good men.’ But it’s not
enough.” It’s the best explanation I’ve seen for the explosion of rage we saw
during the Kavanaugh confirmation:
“The gender war that has broken out in this country is
flooding all our houses. It’s rising on the torrent of memories that every
woman has. Those memories have come loose from the attic and the basement where
we’ve stashed them. They are floating all around us and there is no place left
to store them out of sight. Not just memories of sexual abuse. Memories of
being dismissed, disdained, distrusted. Memories of having to endure put-downs
at the office, catcalls in the parking lot, barked orders at a dinner party.
And, for some reason, the most chilling memory of all, the one Christine Blasey
Ford called up and that we all recognized: the laughter. The laughter
of men who are bonding with each other by mocking us. When Ford testified under
oath that the laughter is the sharpest memory of her high school assault, every
woman within the sound of her voice could hear that laughter, had heard that
laughter, somewhere, somehow.”
As we’ll see when we examine the New Moon chart (exact just a couple days
after Kavanaugh was voted in), there’s an astrological reason for this “flood”
of rage and memories.
Men,
by contrast, can hike up their knickers and explode into a rage, making
broad demands and speaking up for themselves in a full-throated way, with no social
disapproval. He’s “saying it like it is,” or being “powerful” and “assertive.”
How did Shakespeare put it? “Me
thinks he doth protest too much!”
Most critically, this gender-sorting
bias has always infected the way power
is distributed in society, and in my mind, it's a fundamentally flawed way of doing so. Men and women both have Venus and Mars natures, and their lives are totally interdependent. Men have wives and daughters; women have husbands and sons. Even LGBTQ couples have loved ones of both genders, so pitting one against the other for the sake of power is simply wrong. A respectful, amicable, mutually-supportive balance of power and equality between the genders is the ideal, and it's high time we get there in this nation.
There are astrological correlates for all this, or course: Venus is considered a more passive,
companionable and softer energy, her
strength being found in relation to others, in negotiating solutions, in
drawing out the cooperation of others by more appealing (even seductive) means,
as opposed to using brute force, emotional or otherwise.
More and more, the Democratic party
is cast (sometimes spuriously) in the role of our national Venus in its agenda and approach to wielding power. In fact, the
party is busily working to elect more
women in every state, but electing women doesn’t guarantee a more passive approach. This strategy is
largely an active response to
perceived misogyny on-high, and the Kavanaugh nomination only added to that perception.
There is a potential downside to
being cast as Venus in today’s
politics, however: Venus just turned
retrograde in Pluto-disposed Scorpio, and will remain so until after the midterms. More on what this
might mean in a bit.
In contrast to Venus, Mars energy claims its power through active,
assertive, and even intimidating action—needless to say, anger often fuels
these so-called harder “virtues.” As
we witnessed with Kavanaugh’s enraged display in his final Senate hearing, and
Sen. Lindsey Graham’s fit of vein-busting pique on his behalf, the Republican
party has taken on the mantle of Mars—they
don’t ask questions or offer apologies, they just take what they want and dare anyone to stop them.
This has happened very disturbingly
in the past couple years in voter
suppression stories that have surfaced in several states: aggressive
attempts to make voting a difficult, even intimidating affair, especially for
citizens of color. There are pitfalls in relying so heavily on brute force, however:
those who find themselves used and abused by it eventually revolt! Trump and
the GOP seem to have planned for that possibility, however, as their media
stories have begun to frame any such resistance as “the
liberal mob.”
You mean like that “mob” bent on
liberation that fought off King George’s redcoats? Or like those “mobs” of
suffragettes and everyday women who demanded the right to vote in the early
1900s, and the right to make their own reproductive decisions in the 1970s? Or
like those “mobs” who demanded their civil rights in the segregated South in
the 1960s? The only trouble is, even when the cause is righteous and totally in keeping with America’s
founding ideals of equality and freedom, we are now not so sure if the Supreme Court will continue to defend what have
been settled cases.
The Neptune-Pluto
pressure to roll back civil rights (including the right to vote) is enormous
right now: will the Constitutional “dam” break?
The
toxic mix of gender, power and victimhood
As noted earlier, what traditional gender norms miss
entirely is that every person possesses
both Venus and Mars in their natal charts, and these energies demand—and deserve—healthy expression. To not allow, or to subvert the healthy
expression of either planet is asking for difficulties in relationships, in
career progress, and in one’s health and overall wellbeing.
Needless to say, this holds true for
collective entities like nations and political parties, as well, and I think
it’s worth a return to basic textbook definitions to understand why. Venus, for example, is said by WWI-era
mundane astrologer H.S. Green to cover the following:
“…courtships, engagements, and marriages, holiday-making,,
rejoicing, public festivals; persons and occupations connected with art, music,
poetry, theatres, amusements, ornaments; society, women and children, to some
extent; its god influence assists charitable and philanthropic movements and
institutions, increases the prosperity of the country, promotes good feeling
between the various classes of the population, and tends to preserve the
peace.”[2]
We’ll return to these points as we
discuss Venus’s current retrograde status and the upcoming Full Moon in
Scorpio-Taurus (10/24) that promises to color the days between then and the
midterms on November 6th.
Returning to the textbook, Mars, on the other hand, is
characterized by Green as follows:
“…the planet of desire and aversion; it impels to action for
the sake of securing the object of desire and driving away the object of
aversion…it is the planet of war, of soldiers, sailors, agitators, rebels,
violent criminals, and of all who dispute and contend; it also indicates
surgeons, engineers and workers in iron, and rules fires, poisons, and crimes
of violence. Mars and Mercury together signify lawyers when debating, arguing,
and contending, but judges, magistrates, and the judicial attitude of mind
belong to Jupiter, either alone or with Mercury.”[3]
Clearly, Venus and Mars were
working overtime this past couple weeks as the Kavanaugh nomination unfolded. Generally,
Venus errs on the side of seeking
unity and consensus or compromise, so it’s more likely that the toxic vitriol
and “winner-take-all” partisanship we saw with the confirmation was pure Mars, which "…impels to action for the sake of securing the object of desire
and driving away the object of aversion.”
By the time the cranky older men on
the Senate Judiciary Committee started
yelling at protestors and calling them names (which has since been carried
forward by Trump and others), it was clear that their Martian “objects of aversion” were women who demand that their
issues be heard and respected.
In comments after the Kavanaugh vote
was over in the Senate, Sen. Mitch McConnell was the first I heard who dubbed
protestors “the angry liberal mob.”
Trump is doing his best to cast
Kavanaugh—and Men writ large—as the real victims in not just the
Kavanaugh-Ford story, but in American life more generally; being a strong Neptunian himself, with Jupiter (Libra) widely conjunct Neptune natally
(chart not shown), and Mercury
(Cancer)-square-Neptune (Libra), Trump is very adept at spinning
victimization tales. He clearly understands the power in victimization: it helps him shed any responsibilities that
might come calling. Others are always out to get him—and now, he’s given men
explicit permission to use this passive aggressive ploy in their own
relationships and lives.
There are real victims in this world who need support and recognition; claiming
fantasy or perceived victimhood for the sake of acting with impunity is toxic Mars-Neptune, at its worst.
Disturbingly, this dynamic poisons both men and women and their relationships to each other in both the personal and
collective arenas of life.
A
lunation for Venus and Pluto
By the time the Moon waxes into its
fully ripe opposition to the Sun in any given cycle, a cosmic “seed” has been
planted and nurtured through early challenges. Whatever “being” Sol and Luna
conceived in that cycle is now given robust expression in a more public way. In
our present political climate—less than a month before midterm
elections—there’s reason to be apprehensive about what a Scorpio-Taurus full Moon,
conjunct Taurus Uranus, might bring to bear.
Let’s take a quick glance at the New Moon that transpired on October 8,
2018, cast for Washington, D.C., to explore what cosmic seed might now be germinating
beneath the surface of American life, preparing to flower later this
month. This is a good point to remind
ourselves that Pluto (Capricorn) stationed direct
on September 30th, and Venus (Scorpio) has just stationed retrograde on October 5th,
just hours after Kavanaugh’s nomination was given the go-ahead for full Senate
confirmation. By the time that final vote was taken, Venus had completed her
about-face. Back to the October 8th New Moon:
Chart
#1: New Moon, October 9, 2018, 11:46:44 p.m. DST, Washington, D.C. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node.
4th house Ceres-Sun-Moon
conjunction (Libra) t-squares Pluto-DSC (Capricorn) opposite ASC (Cancer). It
shouldn’t escape us that the ASC here conjoins Sibly
Sun (chart not shown), representing the Executive and the
Nation at large. The Moon rules this Cancer lunation chart
and together, the Sun-Moon conjunction (Libra) is disposed by sensitive, moody Venus
in Scorpio, also found in the 4th house of grass roots
expression.
Venus Rx forms a grand trine with this Cancer ASC and
Pisces Neptune Rx, suggesting that the concerns of women will be
unleashed in a big way. This certainly makes sense with what we’ve been through
already this month—this grand trine has great momentum, so we can expect the
concerns it represents to remain in the news.
The cardinal t-square formed between
this lunation and the chart’s horizon and Pluto (Capricorn) reflects the intense power plays we’ve seen
in D.C. over the Kavanaugh nomination, not to mention voter suppression
efforts. The 4th house Moon here represents voters, so there’s an
uneasy alliance (conjunction) in all things related to the government’s central
power (Sun) and finance (Pluto) at the moment.
Fairness and justice (Libra) are
under intense pressure, with secretive (even shady) deals and manipulation used
as a favored weapon (7th house Pluto). Disempowerment of the
“masses” (Ceres-Moon) is a very real possibility,
yet bringing awareness (Sun) of this threat to bear may help.
All of this explains why the Supreme Court has been such a focus of attention,
and why there’s been such a rush to manipulate the media narrative around
protests, etc.
Pluto (Capricorn) sextiles Neptune Rx
(Pisces) and sextiles the VenusRx/Jupiter (midpoint, Scorpio). These
aspects transform the Grand Trine seen above into a much
more interesting Kite formation. Here’s what midpoints expert Michael Munkasey
has to say about the Pluto connection to Venus/Jupiter:
“Expansion of religions and their interference into the
justice system; an expansion of social culture which affects all aspects of
life; foreign raids on the treasury; an inability to defend values or symbols
of enterprise.”
Many fear that a
Conservative-majority Court will privilege
certain religious groups in this nation over others, not to mention framing
American justice around the values of some parts of American culture, to the
detriment of others (hence the “expansion of social culture”).
Munkasey also cites possible “periods of
prosperity and growth” with this midpoint, and “extreme reactions to opinions
which other feel damage their areas of interests.”[4]
This latter point brings in Pluto’s aspect to this midpoint
configuration—vested interests drive more disputes than anything else.
The influence of these powerful
sextile aspects to the overall Kite formation could mean that the
momentum of that watery grand trine would be channeled into achieving Pluto’s powerfully vested agenda.
Undoubtedly Pluto’s position also says something about the billions being
funneled into election campaigns—on both sides—so
power plays enough to go around!
 |
| The "Old Boys' Club" needs to consider how they'd want their daughters and wives treated. |
We’ve already seen the prelude to
that in the slick way sympathy for Blasey-Ford was twisted into a victim story
for Kavanaugh, so what may look very flowing and positive on one side or the
other could backfire. Given Venus Rx’s involvement in the grand
trine, it’s not hard to see a continued effort to further subvert women’s
voices and issues—cast in the garb of a #HimToo movement, perhaps?
One way or another, all of the
watery energy we see in this chart will find its level somewhere. Many expect Election
2016 election problems (social media disinformation campaigns, outside hacking,
etc.) to resurface in a big way, and this could indeed happen, but factoring Neptune
and all that water into this, we could also be looking at a surge in
enthusiasm for voting, something akin to mass hysteria in political rallies,
and so on.
No surprise—Trump is stumping hard for 2020 already, and he has a
pretty keen sense of when to take advantage of the collective mood—and a knack for whipping people up over
his latest “enemies list.”
Venus Rx (Scorpio) disposes Uranus Rx in
Taurus at top of chart, trine Saturn (Capricorn). This placement tells
us what we might expect to come to fruition in the Full Moon chart for this
month. A 10th house Uranus suggests chaos and change on high, and
with Mars ruling the 10th, we might expect some volatility. This
could have foreshadowed the nation’s focus on Hurricane Michael, which forced
volatile change on many lives (our
deep sympathies to everyone in its path).
The Uranus Rx-Saturn trine
suggests that resources and technologies will be flowing from on-high into
military, infrastructure and governmental agencies, but there could be delays
and bureaucracy to overcome (retrograde).
This could also pertain to the
funding for Trump’s famous “Wall”—last I heard there’s little progress on that
(which is just fine). Workers may be
feeling better about their wages these days, although there’s a chance the
volatility we’ve seen in the Stock Market is partly related to this aspect, and
that could slow down any hoped for wage hikes. Taurus demands value for its
dollar, so if stocks were overvalued, this trine could trigger a “reality
check.” Venus Rx will be backing up into a closer opposition to Uranus
Rx over the coming week, which may help cool down what’s been a long bull Market as well.
 |
| U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley announces her resignation. |
Venus Rx squares Mars (Aquarius). As
Venus
retrogrades back into a tighter opposition with Uranus Rx (as noted
above), she will (through Oct. 20th) also become the third leg of a
fixed t-square with Mars (Aquarius), disposed by that
same Uranus!
Male/Female relations will probably take another volatile turn in the news.
Will the coming election be a referendum on gender tensions? If it is, it will be a real coup for those who want to divide and conquer us for their own purposes.
If
we take another look at those lists of keywords for Venus and Mars noted
above, it’s easy to see that this t-square could have a number of volatile ramifications. Some have been merely surprising, like U.N. Ambassador Nikki
Haley’s curiously timed (right before an election) resignation announcement,
and pop star Taylor Swift’s uncharacteristic political activism in endorsing
Democratic candidates in Tennessee. She sent voter registration numbers soaring
with that endorsement!
Mars could also help break up some
stagnant, retrograde energy in key, technology-driven areas, although from the
7th it seems to more likely signify tension, conflicting interests
and attempts at brute force.
Mars does fall trine the lunation (Sun-Moon), suggesting a lively cycle
that supports radical action and change, within limits, however. The
retrogrades we see in this t-square may temper the change and/or add a bit of
restraint. However, the Full Moon may pick up on this story and give it a
couple surprising twists.
 |
| The October Full Moon is known as the Hunter's Moon. |
In
the fullness of time…
Let’s now move on to the Full Moon chart for this pre-election
season. As we’ve seen, the cosmic “seeds” that were planted earlier this month
are potentially volatile and heavy with
outer-planetary influence. We can expect that the same themes will be not only
relevant, but further developed and “ripened.” Here’s the chart.
Chart
#2: Full Moon, October 24 2018, 12:45:05 p.m. DST, Washington, D.C. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node.
Fixed
Grand Square: Sun-Venus Rx-MC conjunction
(Scorpio-Libra) opposes Moon-Uranus Rx (Taurus); this axis is squared by
Leo-Aquarius Nodal axis. We can almost read the news right off this configuration:
a dramatic stand-off between the forces
of gender-driven change and the authoritative/administrative status quo. Of
course, we can expect this stand-off to be framed differently by the opposing
sides: the retrogrades make room for that sort of challenge, but in the end,
that’s just politics.
We’ll probably
see more dramatic intrigue than usual, however—disposing the Scorpio points, Pluto
occupies the 1st house, so along with Capricorn Saturn
(conjunct the ASC from the 12th), it will set the
tone for this final stretch before the November election.
Things will undoubtedly get pretty
nasty—attacks on women running for office are likely to become sleazier, more misogynist
and less truthful (we’re already seeing this in Michigan), but these same
Capricorn points may also help consolidate a good amount of power in women’s
hands.
We’re also likely to see more turmoil
in the Stock Market before things even out: the Market will be feeling everyone’s
jitters approaching this election.
Saturn-ASC (Capricorn) trines Moon-Uranus Rx
(Taurus) and sextiles Sun-Venus Rx (Scorpio). The 12th house
position of Saturn here puts a bit of a damper on the important structural
assistance we’d usually expect from these aspects, although the feeling is
still pretty encouraging. If these were harder aspects, we’d expect that administrative
meddling with the vote in November is “on the horizon,” but these more flowing
aspects suggest an emphasis on following the rules, despite impediments
(retrogrades, 12th house position).
The judiciary’s role in
enforcing fairness in this election is highlighted here, as well—lawsuits have
been lodged against political gerrymandering and voter suppression efforts in
several states. The pessimistic (but
not necessarily realistic) view here
would be that those efforts will be “too little, too late.”
Mercury-Jupiter (Scorpio) trine Chiron
(Pisces); Mars (Aquarius) squares Mercury; Neptune Rx (Pisces) widely trines
Mercury. Between now and the election, it will continue to be difficult
to discern between truth and fabrication (Neptune’s mass deluding super power)
in both social media and the news, a problem that could undermine election
results, or at least the democratic (small “d”) intent behind them. This difficulty will only be exacerbated by Pluto’s
rulership of Scorpio and sextile to Mercury—opportunities to
spread manipulative lies and disinformation (Neptune) will abound.
On a more positive note, we’ll
undoubtedly witness powerful speakers (Mercury-Jupiter) making their cases,
and the themes will probably draw upon Chiron’s focus on wounded
victimization (Pisces). Mars and Pluto co-dispose and
further empower these Scorpio points: Mars’ square to Mercury will likely
heighten the belligerent rhetoric, and as we’ve seen, Pluto’s sextile to Mercury
will impact the information we access.
Mars also trines Trump’s Uranus-Node-Sun (Gemini, chart not shown), so we can expect that
he will be the source of a lot of that rhetoric. One of this morning’s political
talk shows commented on how he “wants this election to be a referendum on
him:” he will probably get his wish, for better or worse.
Mars rules the 4th and 11th
houses in this chart from the 2nd house. A grass-roots level
uprising of sorts could transpire, fueled by robust resources. Fund-raising is
at record levels on both sides of the aisle these days, so no surprises here.
Neptune Rx’s position in the 3rd
house of communications, trine natural 3rd house ruler Mercury in
the 11th is troubling, but not surprising. Neptune Rx rules this 3rd
house, and along with Saturn, co-rules the entire chart as
a final dispositor (placed in its ruling sign). Saturn seems to have a
leg up on Neptune Rx overall (more of the points in this chart are
ultimately connected to Saturn by rulership network than to Neptune),
however we shouldn’t underestimate the power Neptune can wield via the
communications networks.
Both of
these dignified heavies are powerfully placed and both are somewhat constrained by circumstances and placement.
One aspect that concerns me somewhat
with Neptune
Rx is its tight sextile to 1st house Vesta (Capricorn). Women
are intensely focused on achieving the ideal of a greater “voice” in American
politics, and this sextile can make or break a lot of those races. “When they
go low, we go high” may or may not work as a strategy, but with Pluto
widely conjunct Vesta, these races may have the
financial winds at their back and other powerful support. Asteroids expert
Demetra George has this to say about Vesta-Pluto aspects:
“Harmonious aspects describe an individual who can focus and
direct large amounts of energy to penetrate hidden and unknown realms. ..This
aspect can signify a dedication to use personal power in the service of
spiritual or social ideals.”
As for the many challenges that may
arise for such individuals, George concludes:
“The resolution of these challenges lies in focusing power
into constructive social change and transformation.”[5]
It’s hard to miss that with this
powerful Vesta-Pluto conjunction in the 1st house of this
chart, the “feminine” is, indeed, “re-emerging.” How that will translate into
campaign wins and losses come November will be an intriguing story.
 |
| Ancient image of the Celtic goddesses of fertility |
Final thoughts
It's worth noting here that Venus Rx will conjoin Ceres
and the Moon in late Libra, on Election-eve, November 5th.
This gaggle of “goddess” energies will
be rising on the horizon in the dawn chart for the 6th, reinforcing the notion of a “re-emerging
feminine.” Early voting is already going on in precincts around the country, so
we may not want to rely too heavily on the November 6th chart to tell the
story, but these three “ladies” are certainly joining forces to make their
presence known on Election day.
Women do not
all vote the same, of course—in fact, the women’s vote is surprisingly divided going into this election, even on issues we all share a serious stake
in. We're individuals, after all--and that's how it should be.
Bottom line, what remains of this
pre-election season promises to be lively, potentially volatile and filled with
contrary, twisted narratives in the media (and social media) networks.
However difficult, or confusing or frustrating it might be, however, for the
sake of our democracy, let’s get out and vote!!
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]
King George III of England, June 4, 1738, 7:48 a.m., LMT, London, England.
Source: BC/BR, rated AA.
[2]
H.S. Green, Raphael, C.E.O. Carter, Mundane
Astrology: the Astrology of Nations and States, compiled by David R. Roell,
The Astrology Center of America, from older writings by each of these authors.
Published in Bel Air MD (first in 1977, revised in present edition in 2004), p.
38.
[3]
Ibid, p. 43.
[4]
Michael Munkasey, Midpoints: Unleashing
the Power of the Planets, ACS Publications, San Diego, CA, 1991, pp.
196-97.
[5]
Demetra George & Douglas Bloch, Asteroid
Goddesses: The Mythology,Psychology, and Astrology of the Re-emerging Feminine.
Red Wheel/Weiser LLC, 2003 ed., Lake Worth, FL, p. 149.
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