“Critical
thinking without hope is cynicism. Hope without critical thinking is naïveté.”
Maria Popova, Brainpickings
Maria Popova, Brainpickings
There’s been constant, brain-rattling pressure from the Trump administration (and particularly its leering jester, Rudy Giuliani) to get the Mueller investigation over with, now!! Well, they should probably be careful what they ask for, because this past Thursday (Aug. 21) felt like the investigation unleashed a deluge directed, ultimately, at them.
Here’s a quick review of the
highlights—again, all from Tuesday, August 21st:
- - Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort,
was convicted of eight serious charges of tax and bank fraud, and
we now find out that there were Trump
supporters on the jury who convicted Manafort anyway. One of them has since reported that a lone
holdout (not a Trump supporter, apparently) prevented Manafort from being convicted on all eighteen charges
- - Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer,” Michael
Cohen, pled guilty to eight criminal counts, including two that directly implicate Trump himself in
campaign finance violations.
- - California state rep Duncan
Hunter and his wife Margaret were both indicted for violating campaign
finance rules and basically living it up on his campaign’s dime. Needless to say, this case didn't get much press on that crazy day in the news.
The astrology of all this is predictably fascinating: this is especially so because so much happened in such a concentrated timeframe (the Cohen and Manafort dramas both culminated right around 4 p.m. on 8/21). As we’ll see, this allows us to examine more precisely what was going on in the defendant’s charts. Unfortunately, we have no birth times for either nativity, so their respective Moons and angles are a mystery, but the 4 p.m. shared timing in both mens’ court proceedings allows us to see what the event Moon was up to, and that adds some spice to the story.
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| Rudy Giuliani gave cartoonists a lot to work with this week! |
The astrology of all this is predictably fascinating: this is especially so because so much happened in such a concentrated timeframe (the Cohen and Manafort dramas both culminated right around 4 p.m. on 8/21). As we’ll see, this allows us to examine more precisely what was going on in the defendant’s charts. Unfortunately, we have no birth times for either nativity, so their respective Moons and angles are a mystery, but the 4 p.m. shared timing in both mens’ court proceedings allows us to see what the event Moon was up to, and that adds some spice to the story.
So, let’s leap right into an
examination of two biwheels, the first for Paul Manafort’s guilty verdict on 8
counts in Alexandria, VA, and the second for Michael Cohen’s guilty plea in
Manhattan, NY.
Please notice that I’ve chosen to place the nativities in the outer wheel in each instance, since the
4 p.m. timing of the respective events is the only firm cosmic guidepost we
have for the angles and Moon at work.
The Manafort verdict
 |
| Paul Manafort, Trump's former Campaign Chair |
The Manafort verdict
Biwheel
#1: (inner wheel) Manafort guilty
verdict, August 21, 2018, 4:00 p.m. DST, Alexandria, VA; (outer wheel) Paul
Manafort, April 1, 1949, 12:00 p.m. ST (noon, no birth time available) , New
Britain, Connecticut. Tropical Equal Houses,
True Node.
Verdict Jupiter (Scorpio) rules Verdict ASC
(Sagittarius) from 11th, square Verdict Mercury and trine Verdict
Neptune (Pisces). One juror’s reported inability to find Manafort
guilty on all 18 counts probably speaks to Manafort’s small bit of ironic
Jupiterian “luck” in this case. He’s by no means home free: the eight charges
that did stick are serious and will
put him away for decades, barring intervention from Trump (who’s very
self-servingly “sympathetic”
all of a sudden), or a cooperation deal with Mueller.
Jupiter’s presence in
Pluto-disposed Scorpio may support his (and others’) corrupt practices to some
degree (it’s reminiscent of a mobster “getting by with murder” because everyone
fears him), but its inconjunct with Manafort’s Sun (Aries) is less
helpful.
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| From Adam Zyglis of the Buffalo News |
The ever-slippery ways of white
collar criminals and their obfuscating lawyers is certainly represented in the Verdict
Jupiter-Neptune trine (Scorpio-Pisces), however, so it “ain’t over ‘til
it’s over.” In fact, given Trump’s current campaign to celebrate Manafort’s
loyalty to him and to turn him into a sympathetic “victim” (Neptune/Pisces),
the prospect of a “compassionate pardon” is all too real.
The Washington Post’s Paul
Waldman gets it right when he says that Trump has brought “mafia ethics
into the GOP.” Considering Pluto disposes this Jupiter
from Capricorn, those ethics are certainly on display in this watery
aspect.
That would be the cynical perspective, however: let’s err
on the side of hope. Manafort’s
conviction on anything lends credence
to Mueller’s investigation, so by association, prosecuting Manafort’s
multi-layered, incredibly entangled crimes may help foreground Trump’s
malfeasance. This will figure more prominently into Manafort’s second trial coming up in September, but
this first trial laid the groundwork.
Verdict Sun (Leo) conjoins Manafort Saturn
(Virgo). It’s not surprising that an individual being charged and
convicted on crimes that could put him in prison for a very long time would
have some Saturn issues. It’s interesting, nonetheless, that Trump’s natal Mars-ASC
in late Leo closely conjoins this Verdict Sun-Manafort Saturn (Trump’s
chart below, Chart #1). We can probably assume that Trump was livid (Mars) when this verdict came down—not on behalf of Manafort,
but because he himself feels threatened by the rule of law and its operation
(who’s his favorite punching bag?—the Justice
Department).
The question is, what action
(Mars)
will Trump take to protect himself?
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| From Gary Varvel, The Times Examiner |
Verdict Saturn-Moon (Capricorn) trines
Manafort Saturn. It’s worth pointing out that this Saturn-Moon duo is rising
within a few degrees of the Verdict ASC, so it’s not surprising
that the scene in the Manafort trial on the 21st was somber, and
that it heaped a world of hurt on Manafort and his family. Unfortunately, Saturn
says “do the crime, do the time,” and even Lady Luna here isn’t all that
sympathetic. Even so, perhaps the trine aspects here registered in Manafort’s
mind as a partial reprieve—he did temporarily
escape conviction for 10 of the 18 counts he was tried on.
The one juror’s inability to decide
“beyond a reasonable doubt” to convict on all counts is probably less about
these trines, though, and more about Verdict Venus (Libra) conjoining
Manafort Neptune (Libra) and opposing his Venus-Mars-Sun conjunction in Aries.
I’m guessing those natal oppositions
have gotten him out of a lot of tight
spaces in his lifetime—a white lie here, a misrepresentation there, a little
double-dealing behind the scenes, and somehow
he kept up his lavish lifestyle and appearances. Taken as one big character
portrait, however, his slippery practices have now turned against him. Pluto
has been transiting square his Aries-Libra points over the past few
years, so something had to give.
Interchart
Yod: Verdict Mars (Capricorn) exactly
conjoins Manafort Jupiter (Capricorn); Verdict Sun (Leo) sextiles Manafort
Uranus (Gemini) and both inconjoin Manafort Jupiter. This is a potent,
tense configuration that caught Manafort between the proverbial “rock and a
hard place:” should he hold out hope that a pardon will be forthcoming (Verdict
Sun-Trump Mars-ASC), or will he need to “sing like a canary” (his
Uranus in Gemini) to get a lighter sentence? It’s no surprise that his Uranus
falls over the Verdict chart’s 7th house
of allies/enemies.
No doubt money could be involved, as well: Verdict Mars-Manafort Jupiter
(Capricorn) fall over the Verdict chart’s 2nd house, so
is there a chance Trump will start “fixing” Manafort’s legal expenses
somehow? I haven’t heard how Manafort’s
expenses are currently financed, but this powerful conjunction and yod focal
point, falling over a 2nd house, is very suggestive.
That, in combination with Verdict
Saturn (Capricorn) square Verdict Chiron-Manafort Mercury (Aries) says
Manafort’s ability to speak out is suppressed and wounded. Time will tell, but
we know Trump’s history with offering “hush money”—Manafort may not be in a
position (or be inclined) to say “no thanks.”
The
Cohen Plea
A lot has been made of the fact that
Cohen pled guilty to 8 criminal counts against him without sealing an actual cooperation agreement with the Mueller
investigation. Aside from taking the proactive, less devastating route than a
trial would be, is this Cohen’s way
of leaving himself open to Trump’s help, as well? It’s tempting to think that
because once a Trump fixer, maybe always
on the team, whether you like it or not? Maybe not. At least, it’s probably
not being read that way by Trump, who is now displaying his mob boss ethics,
praising Manafort for not flipping,
and condemning Cohen for his “betrayal.”
Because Cohen’s long, tight
relationship with Trump is such an issue in this case, we’ll consider here and
there how Trump’s chart interacts with the biwheel. Let’s begin.
Biwheel
#2: (inner wheel) Cohen guilty
plea, August 21, 2018, 4:00 p.m. DST, Manhattan, NY; (outer wheel) Michael
Dean Cohen, August 25, 1966, 12:00 p.m. DST (noon, no birth time available),
Long Island, NY. Tropical Equal Houses,
True Node.
Plea Vesta (Sagittarius) and Plea SaturnRx
(Capricorn) rise at the ASC (Sagittarius). Cohen’s attorney, Lanny
Davis, gave many interviews after his client entered his dramatic guilty pleas
before the judge in Manhattan this week, but one of the most striking things Davis
reported on was how “liberated” Cohen is feeling by the decision he’s made
to tell the truth to whomever asks. That sense of release—a sense of “finding
oneself” again—is certainly felt here with Vesta on the ASC, but the reality is,
this liberation will come at a price (Saturn), serving time for the crimes
he’s pled to and for the first time in decades, being on the outs with Trump, who
Cohen claims he looked up to as a “father figure” (Saturn).
Indeed, the turn that the relationship
between Cohen and Trump has taken echoes the mythic relationship of Chronos and
Ouranos (Saturn and Uranus). By Cohen claiming
responsibility (i.e., becoming Chronos) for his actions, and rejecting any
notion of a pardon while he implicates Ouranos as the driving force (Trump’s
chart definitely has an elevated, empowered Uranus), Cohen/Chronos is
wresting control of his life from Ouranos and empowering himself. It’s not
unusual that even “adopted” sons need to break from their fathers in some
dramatic way—at least for a time—in order to assume their own manhood. We’ll
see how the astrological Uranus figures into this story in
just a bit.
There’s something redemptive about all
this, especially considering Cohen is 52 years old at this time. He could very
well spend his second Saturn return in prison, a developmental
passage that will take on a whole new dimension in these new circumstances.
The emotional dimension of this experience couldn’t help but be wrenching,
of course, but Cohen claims that his actions are motivated by his family above
all else, and this may be why he was able to exhibit the calm strength he did, standing
in front of that judge to confess his guilt. We can see all this in the way
that his natal Moon (shown here at 2°+Capricorn,
but it could have fallen anywhere between 26°+Sagittarius
and 8°+Capricorn the
day he was born) ties into this gathering at the Sagittarius ASC.
It’s feasible, in fact, that Cohen
was experiencing a lunar return as he stood up in that court room, as well: the two
Moons
are hovering within 5°
of each other, and if we knew Cohen’s exact birth time we might find that they’re
even closer. At some point that day,
those Moons converged, and I would guess that Cohen felt validated and
supported in his actions because of it.
Interchart
Grand Earth Trine: Cohen Sun-Vesta
(Virgo) trines Plea SaturnRx-Moon-Cohen Moon (Capricorn) trines Plea UranusRx-Part
of Fortune (Taurus). This impressive circuit of earthy energy says that
the time for Cohen/Chronos to break with Trump/Ouranos was ripe, and that it
would all just flow naturally. His uncanny calm in court that day is reflected
here. It’s almost certain that Cohen’s Moon was closely involved (how close
we can’t say) because his sense of family responsibility (Capricorn) was driving
him. I’d like to believe that the Cosmos was blessing his plan for the day, but
one way or another, forces colluded to put him in the right place at the right
time, for the goals he was pursuing.
To that point, it’s interesting that Vesta
is once again key: his lawyer claims that by standing up to Trump,
Cohen chose to recover his “center" and his central focus—his family—and
here we see that validated as the Vesta “hearth” that warms him. Breaking
with Trump, the source of so much of his income over the years (UranusRx-Part
of Fortune) can’t have been easy, but there’s also a sense that
breaking with a fixed “material” perspective on life (Taurus) would
be liberating (Uranus) and ultimately rewarding (POF). I sense a memoir
coming down the road.
Interchart
Mutable Grand Square: Plea NeptuneRx
(Pisces) opposes Cohen Uranus-Pluto (Virgo); this axis squares Plea Vesta-ASC (Sagittarius)
opposite Cohen Ceres-Plea DSC (Gemini). There had to be a chaotic
maelstrom somewhere in this story,
didn’t there? It’s super interesting to see how one native of the “Gen X” Uranus-Pluto
conjunction of 1965-66 is faring all these years later. Clearly, his fate has
been dictated by the company he chose to keep!
Specifically, Trump’s
natal chart (see Chart #1 below) is closely tied in with this stressful
configuration: his Uranus-No. Node-Sun (Gemini) opposed Moon-So. Node (Sagittarius) falls
tightly conjunct the Gemini-Sagittarius horizon of this Plea chart, and pretty
tightly squares Cohen’s Uranus-Pluto. Add transiting NeptuneRx (Pisces) into
the mix and we have a chaotic upheaval.
Chart #1: Donald J. Trump, June 14, 1946, 10:54 p.m. DST, Jamaica, NY. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node.
Through the force of his personality and worldly power, Trump
clearly had an emotional hold on
Cohen that ran deep; Cohen’s pragmatic Virgo nature, and perhaps his need for a father figure, on the other hand, were useful. A point Cohen's probably regretting now, his ethics were conveniently
malleable for Trump’s purposes (Cohen’s SaturnRx-ChironRx in Pisces). Trump’s
Gemini-Sagittarius axis also squares this Pisces conjunction of Cohen's—Cohen’s
famous remark that he would “take
a bullet for Trump” is certainly reflected here and is reinforced by other interaspects. Here’s what Chiron expert Martin
Lass has to say about the Saturn-Chiron conjunction:
“Saturn says to us that we need to solidify the
foundations of our journey of Healing and evolution of consciousness, to take
control, to become accountable, before we can take our rightful place in the
Higher Realms….Although we may feel held back, suppressed, repressed, limited
and restricted, there is important work to be done in this space. The Wounds
serve us as they are until we are
truly ready to transcend them.”[1]
In my experience reading client’s charts, I've seen
that Saturn-Chiron
aspects also speak to parental wounds and toxic child-parent
relationships. So none of this should surprise us: “guilt tripping” and perhaps
a true emotional attachment (Cohen’s Moon may well fall tightly opposite Trump’s
Cancer Mercury) worked to keep Cohen “loyal”—i.e., to “repress” his own
truth, and burden himself not only with his own
secrets and crimes (wounds), but with Trump’s
secrets (and crimes?), as well. That was, until he realized there would be no reciprocal
loyalty—the “father/son” dynamic was mortally wounded.
Commentators have observed as much, but here we see the
dynamics at work. When Trump gradually distanced himself from Cohen after the
election, Cohen’s Mars, Venus and Mercury in proud Leo probably lit
up like a torched Christmas tree. Plea SaturnRx inconjoins
Cohen Mars here (this would have been true for most of 2018) —another signal
that breaking with Trump is an attempt at restoring (Rx) his own dignity and “coming
of age.”
Plea Jupiter (Scorpio) conjoins Cohen
Neptune (Scorpio), sextiles Cohen’s Uranus-Pluto (Virgo) and squares Cohen Venus-Mercury
(Leo). There’s no doubt Cohen’s actions in court will reverberate into
every dimension of his life—especially his marriage and children (Venus-Mercury),
but for now, he is probably enjoying the illusion
of progress and growth (Jupiter on his Neptune). To his
detriment in the end, Cohen’s own Jupiter (Cancer) was tied into Trump’s
sensitive, security-oriented Saturn-Venus (Cancer), and we haven’t
even begun to understand how deeply entangled their fortunes were.
This tight Cancer connection speaks to Cohen being the “fixer,”
the person who could make Trump’s problems go away (at least temporarily) and protect him and his family from scandal.
None of this would be necessary, of course, if Trump didn’t seem to think he
could act with impunity (i.e., the law just doesn’t apply to him), but Cohen
probably enabled that attitude. Intimidating others into leaving Trump alone
(or paying them off) only goes so far, and with the Stormy Daniels affair, both
he and Trump ran up against the limits. Go,
Stormy!!
Final
thoughts
The final chapters of this story are
far from written—today’s news reports that longtime Trump associate and friend,
David Pecker, the head of American Media, Inc. and publisher of the National Enquirer, has been granted
immunity by the Mueller investigation. To say that the National Enquirer played a key role in horrifically smearing
Hillary Clinton and electing Donald Trump in 2016 is an understatement; what we
might not have known is that Pecker was also instrumental in squashing
inconvenient, negative stories about
the Trumps over many years—probably using them as powerful leverage, in fact.
The “safe” Pecker reportedly kept
this treasure trove of stories in (about many celebrities and public figures, not just the Trumps)
included one that has become the focus of a criminal investigation. In fact, it’s
evidence in one of the crimes that Cohen just pled guilty to in court and implicated Trump in, as well.
Then, in two related, but equally
stunning developments—one, the Manhattan District Attorney is looking at
lodging criminal charges against
the Trump Organization in connection to the financing and tax implications
of the Stormy Daniels case, and two, the
longtime CFO of the Trump Organization, Allen
Weisselberg, was granted immunity after being subpoenaed by the Mueller
investigation. Every commentator I have read on this latter instance
says that Weisselberg knows “where all the financial bodies are buried” with
the Trump Organization, so who knows how this
story will unfold!
Time magazine’s
cover this week features three pictures of Trump, “drowning” in the White
House. Artists are always so perceptive: in this case they seem to capture the Neptune-Pluto
undertow that’s threatening these days to bring a lot of people in high places down. It’s not just about Trump and
one corrupt administration, however: as a nation and a democracy, we are
undergoing a wholesale purge, and all
of our closest held illusions about ourselves are being challenged. Pluto
is returning to its Sibly position in late Capricorn between now and 2022, but in the meantime, it’s still opposing
our Sibly Sun (Cancer), corrupting the office of President as it
breaks down the nation itself.
Even so, we're long overdue for a reprieve from all this drama; perhaps that will happen when Pluto edges out of orb to our Sun, but hasn't quite entered the orb of Sibly Pluto (and by opposition, Sibly Mercury).
A brief historical note: Richard Nixon resigned the presidency in August, 1974 under a far lighter cloud of corruption than Trump has produced: Saturn conjoined Sibly Sun in Cancer at that resignation (chart not shown), with Uranus square Sibly Pluto (Libra-Capricorn). Saturn is now working its way towards an opposition to this same key point from Capricorn and Uranus (Taurus) falls inconjunct our collective MC (Libra)!
 | |
| A momentous day. Will we see a repeat? |
A brief historical note: Richard Nixon resigned the presidency in August, 1974 under a far lighter cloud of corruption than Trump has produced: Saturn conjoined Sibly Sun in Cancer at that resignation (chart not shown), with Uranus square Sibly Pluto (Libra-Capricorn). Saturn is now working its way towards an opposition to this same key point from Capricorn and Uranus (Taurus) falls inconjunct our collective MC (Libra)!
Meanwhile, Neptune (Pisces) is slowly
approaching its “half-return” (opposition)
to Sibly
Neptune (Virgo), which is facilitating transiting Pluto’s path of
destruction and transformation. Trump—whose nativity ties into the Sibly chart
in pretty incredible ways—is clearly the agent
of these transformations, but we’re not helpless here, despite the GOP’s
refusal to rise above the rot that seems to be paralyzing it (a story for
another day).
If anything, we’re being challenged to recommit to the
founding values of this nation, or to decide what alternative values we want to collectively embrace. If making money
for corporations and stoking the stock market is all that matters to us as a nation—the Constitution be damned—then Trump
and his ilk probably are the future. If we want to preserve the Constitution and ourselves as a pluralist, democratic
society, however, we have a lot of work ahead.
I’ll leave you with some hopeful wisdom from brilliant humanist,
Maria
Popova:
“Yes, people sometimes do horrible things, and we can speculate about why
they do them until we run out of words and sanity. But evil only prevails when
we mistake it for the norm. There is so much goodness in the world — all we
have to do is remind one another of it, show up for it, and refuse to leave.”
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]
Martin Lass, Musings of a Rogue Comet:
Chiron, Planet of Healing. Galactic Publications, Nyack, NY, 2001, p. 396.
