Somehow it wasn’t even surprising to me that Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, could have a sexual assault skeleton in his closet—when this news broke, it almost felt like just another “shoe” that was bound to drop. He denies the allegation vehemently, of course.
Even so, it's hard to know who to trust under this administration, so getting at the truth is a challenge. Trump supported Judge Roy Moore in Alabama—an unconvicted, but accused pedophile—and he seems to hold the opinion that if a man is prominent and has climbed the social ladder (by any means), he should get a pass when it comes to the abuse of women. So "boys will be boys?"
But why wouldn’t Trump hold this view, with 19 women hovering in the
background with assault claims of their own against him and a pretty damning Hollywood Access tape? Not to mention one or
two campaign finance scandals related to paying women off for their silence
(Stormy Daniels being the most vocal). People knew Trump's attitudes towards women when they voted for him, so none of this is surprising. This does not make Kavanaugh guilty by association, but people can be forgiven for wondering what the truth is.
“This
is not a man who deserves this…” is Trump’s mantra when it comes to
Kavanaugh, apparently trying to cast the judge as the “victim” in the alleged sexual
assault allegations, and minimizing the importance of getting at the truth about
Kavanaugh’s behavior. At first more
reserved in regards to Kavanaugh’s accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey-Ford, Trump
has now reverted to his usual condescending remarks about women, implying that
if her claim was “so important,” why didn’t she report it to the FBI 30 years
ago?
Thankfully, Senator Susan
Collins (R-Maine) found Trump’s latest comments “appalling.” Women need her and Alaskan Senator Lisa
Murkowski to vote “no” vote on this confirmation.
Clearly, anyone with eyes and ears
can understand Blasey-Ford’s dilemma—she’s damned if she does testify, and damned if she doesn’t,
so she’s faced with doing what her deepest lights tell her she must. What woman doesn’t understand why Blasey-Ford
might have felt intimidated, or hesitant to come forward all those years ago? A
girl’s or woman’s word on such things was rarely believed when she was a
teenager. Who knows whether her parents would have been supportive or not? She
had a life to live, a profession to pursue, a family to raise—sometimes sexual
“Pandora’s boxes” are better left closed.
Until the Cosmos basically says,
“ready or not, ta-da!!”
On the other hand, the timing of
this big reveal is “impeccable,” as
they say, and it’s pretty well guaranteed to cling to Kavanaugh’s career like
Peter Pan’s shadow, whether Kavanaugh is held responsible in the long run or
not. We can’t fault the Dems (specifically Sen. Feinstein) for using every bit
of ammunition at their disposal against this nominee, either: so much is at stake here for the Democratic
agenda—not to mention our Constitutional system of checks and balances—that they are probably looking at Blasey-Ford’s big revelation as a gift. The GOP never shrinks from using every weapon at their disposal, so why the double standard?
As
so many have warned in the past week: the Supreme Court is a lifelong appointment, so we could have
to live with the results of this nomination for a very long time.
In short, those who care deeply about the progress women have made over the past 5 decades should be glad that Blasey-Ford
did finally come forward—ultimately,
the timing doesn’t make the allegation
valid—the facts do.
 |
| Young women are overwhelmingly against this nomination. |
So I’m hoping the Senate Judiciary Committee will do the right thing and
insist on the FBI investigation into Blasey-Ford’s allegations that she requested
early on (update, probably not going to happen). As noted, Trump is out stumping and doing his best to tear her down
before she even gets to Washington, so a fair
investigation of the facts is the least the
Committee should do. This wouldn’t be so difficult, of course, if Trump and his boosters in Congress weren’t also busy
tearing down the FBI! Or if buddies of Kavanaugh weren’t
busy spawning absurd “doppelganger” theories about how Blasey-Ford was assaulted, but by a “friend” of
Kavanaugh who looked a lot like him!''
So, the astrological mystery
embedded in all this operates on two dimensions, personal and collective:
first, what’s likely to happen for these specific
individuals; and second, how will their struggle impact our national dialogue about and approach to gender relations and power dynamics. Remember that famous 1973 “Battle of
the Sexes” between tennis celebs Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs? Well today’s contest rises to a whole new
order of seriousness, and it’s going to impact how we relate to each other for
a long time ahead.
Two big questions loom: are American
women about to make a little progress against the systemic misogyny we’ve
confronted forever? Will women’s advocacy forces celebrate some small victory,
or will they have to take a deep breath and let loose with a new battle cry?
On the flip side of those questions
is one for Kavanaugh: is it likely that he will
be confirmed, despite everyone’s best efforts to the contrary? If he is credibly shown to have
drunkenly assaulted Blasey-Ford in their teenage years, will he do the
honorable thing and withdraw? Or will partisan
politics and Trump's "tweet-shade" prevail, thus putting Kavanaugh in debt to Trump and
compromising any judicial “independence” he might have had on the Court?
From Conservative analyst George Will,
“Hence the confirmation process has followed the crumbling,
descending path the rest of American politics has taken into the depths of
cynicism, faux outrage and pandering to the parties’ hysterical bases. The
utter emptiness of everything is an intellectual vacuum into which have flooded
histrionics.”
The
astrology
Perhaps in a future post we’ll
consider the relevant charts for Brett Kavanaugh and the hearing(s) that he and
Blasey-Ford will be testifying in, but today’s focus is more about the
personal/collective dilemma Christine Blasey-Ford finds herself caught up in.
Interestingly, all we know about her personal birth data is that she was born in
November, 1966. Wikipedia doesn’t
provide any further detail, except to say that her early years were spent in
Maryland. This is fine—she has good reason to protect her information right
now, and I think we should respect those wishes here.
We can, however, glean something important from the powerful
outer-planetary cycles in force in November 1966—perhaps very little about her personally, but at least something about
the times she grew up in and what they meant for the treatment of women. She
was born, for instance, at one of the most critical early moments in the 1965 Uranus-Pluto
cycle (Chart #1 below)—first exact just a bit more than one year prior to her birth—when Saturn nudged into conjunction with Pisces Chiron,
opposite the Uranus-Pluto conjunction.
Venus
hovered within a trine of Chiron-Saturn that month—perhaps
explaining one highlight in that month’s news:
“November 4 – In Italy, a flood of the Arno River hits Florence,
flooding it to a maximum depth of 6.7 m (22 ft), leaving thousands
homeless and destroying millions of masterpieces of art and rare books. In
addition, a severe tidal flood hits Venice.”
A strong Venus-to-Chiron-Saturn
transit could certainly play into the loss of great masterpieces of art,
especially by water (Scorpio-Pisces), but this transit could also implicate
women. Activist Betty Friedan had
just released her feminist manifesto, entitled The Feminine Mystique, in February, 1963—arguably, the conception
point for the feminist movement that followed soon after. As with all social
movements, many were ready for her
message and eager to promote and build the movement, while many others (both men and women) immediately began fueling a backlash and doubling down
on their support for American patriarchy. Wikipedia reports that in North America:
“…the [women’s] movement began in the United States and
Canada almost simultaneously with the first articles articulating their aims
appearing around 1965. By 1967, organizations had formed in major US and
Canadian cities spreading within a year throughout both countries…Characterized
as man-haters and radicals, the movement in North America gave way to more
liberal reformers by the mid-1970s in the United States and Canada and by the
early 1980s in Mexico.”
 |
| Women were instrumental in the 1960s-70s anti-war & civil rights movements. |
Clearly, this so-called “Women’s
Liberation Movement” in the U.S. was a Uranus-Pluto phenomenon—Friedan’s
work provided a fertile seed bed for the revolution sparked by the 1965 cycle.
Should it surprise us that this new cycle launched in Virgo opposite a Pisces Chiron? No more than it should surprise us that as a 51-year old woman, Blasey-Ford is now experiencing her Chiron return--a time when old wounds tend to be ripped back open. Healing is the ultimate boon, but there are no guarantees.
So, I believe we can view today’s
Kavanaugh debacle through the lens of this Uranus-Pluto cycle and its
beginnings. Looking back, it seems to me that the chart for this cycle tells us
something about where we are today with women’s issues. Power has never been equally distributed between
men and women in America, but why have gender dynamics taken such a dark turn
lately? At least some of the answers are
found in Chart #1 below. Let’s begin.
Chart
#1: Uranus-0-Pluto 1965, October 9, 1965, 6:00:42 a.m. DST, Washington,
D.C. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node.
Libra rises, with ruler Venus (Scorpio)
trine the Moon, conjoined DSC (Aries). Of the Venus-ruled signs, Libra
carries the yang polarity, which makes perfect sense because Venus/Athena
is a feminine warrior at heart.
Fighting inequality and injustice against centuries-old
cultural/religious odds takes backbone and cardinal determination, so an Aries
Moon and strong cardinal angles (0°
of cardinal signs all around—very significant)
are helpful.
Venus (Scorpio) conjoins Mars (Sagittarius)
and both quincunx MC-Jupiter (Cancer). One of the key themes in the
1965 cycle was that the gender “war” was (and remains) ultimately,
wrong-headed. Actually, it’s been more
of a frustrating stand-off (quincunx) that masks the reality that both sides need the other to thrive. The Aries Moon
disposes these Cancer points at the same time it squares them; Mars disposes
this Aries Moon—there is simply nothing to be gained in working against
each other except emotional trauma and turmoil. The more both genders look out
for each other’s well-being, the better everyone
will thrive. More on this ahead.
Uranus conjoins Pluto (Virgo) and together
oppose Saturn-Chiron (Pisces). These oppositions captured the “seed
purpose” of this important social cycle, which impacted much more than gender
dynamics, of course. It was no accident that almost immediately after this
cycle launched, anti-Vietnam War protests escalated and took on the character
that we now read about in the history books. Anti-Establishment politics are certainly
seen here, with Saturn’s double
wounding—its placement in Neptune-ruled Pisces and conjoined Chiron.
An era of difficult labor markets
was also on the horizon (Saturn-Chiron in the 6th)—remember
the Arab Oil Embargo and the resulting recessions that marked the 1970s? This
period began the shift away from middle class-empowering union jobs and towards
the export of American manufacturing jobs. Young women were prepared to take on
the American job market in greater numbers, but they were not going to enjoy
the same post-WWII boom times their fathers had thrived under. Nothing has ever
been made easy for ambitious women in
America.
Neptune (Scorpio) sextiles Uranus-Pluto
(Virgo) and trines Chiron (Pisces). The easy rapport between all three
outer planets is significant here: we simply can’t overstate the importance of
this cycle to what we think of as “modern” life. The fact that Chiron
aspected all three planets is also
key: the years since 1965 have been marked with unfathomable pain and
incredible progress. Unfortunately, it seems we’ve reached a point where
everything that was gained in the first decades of this cycle, however—civil rights,
women’s rights, voting rights (this Virgo Uranus-Pluto cycle is disposed by a
justice-minded Libra Mercury)—is now up for grabs once again.
Amazingly, the precarious place we
find ourselves in may have a lot to
do with Chiron. It completed a new passage through Pisces and entered
Aries earlier this year (it has one additional short jaunt to go in Pisces),
but even more importantly, it “returned” to its exact Pisces position in this Uranus-Pluto
chart in the run up to Campaign 2016 and remained within orb of that position
into the first months of the Trump administration. This definitely speaks to
the Neptunian erosion and wounding we’ve experienced in our democratic
institutions.
That
was then, this is now
So it shouldn’t surprise us that the
issues at stake in the 1960s are coming back to haunt us today, seeing as we’re
now experiencing the challenging second
quarter of this 1960s cycle. That this quarter was heralded by a long cardinal Aries Uranus square to
Capricorn Pluto (punctuated by 7 exact hits) makes perfect sense in retrospect:
these signs carry yang (Aries) and yin (Capricorn) polarities and the years
since have been characterized by mounting
gender-driven battles. It’s not hard to conclude that the issues at stake
in these battles were most dramatically illustrated by Trump’s vicious assaults
on women during Campaign 2016.
Every action spawns a reaction,
however, so we may have Trump to thank for many positives, as well: the reactive
outpouring of female solidarity across the nation in the post-inauguration 2017
Women’s March (remember the “Pussy Hat?”), the bulwark Congresswomen Lisa
Murkowski and Susan Collins (both Republicans)
provided (along with the now-departed Senator McCain) against the decimation of
the Affordable Care Act (one of Trump’s first initiatives in office, just the
first of many attempts to kill
Obamacare and its protection of women’s reproductive rights).
Not every destructive Trump/Pence
initiative has been forestalled, however: Planned Parenthood funding has taken
a big hit under these guys (Pence makes no pretense about wanting to outlaw
contraceptive services entirely). Surprise, surprise, women’s overall health
and welfare are increasingly under fire on the state level, if not the national.
A lot of women in Texas (and other states, undoubtedly) have to order their
contraception devices and/or pills online because they’re not available
locally.
There’s no coincidence here that a
young woman from Arlington,
Texas is in the news this morning, speaking out about her experience
reporting a rape in 2006 and being disbelieved, abandoned and vilified by her
community. Doubting women, denying them justice and reproductive health care go hand-in-hand.
 |
| Just about says it all! |
Clearly, there’s a renewed collective
effort afoot to force women back into a secondary (at best) “place” in society.
Hillary Clinton’s near-miss at the presidency was apparently an unnerving
bridge too far for the patriarchal ideologues.
Countering the patriarchy’s efforts
has been the #MeToo movement, however, and it seems to have struck quite a
nerve with the ideologues. When women are believed
(a hallmark of this movement), the patriarchy begins to rack up defeats. Even so, this Supreme Court nomination poses
greater threats to women than perhaps we realize. Roe v. Wade is the obvious target,
but that may be the “tip of the iceberg,” so to speak.
Too
many government intrusions into women’s personal lives and decisions are being
empowered from the White House—in the name of a conservative ideology that
makes no apologies for disempowering women.
Emboldened by Trump’s lifelong habit
of chewing women up and spitting them out, the tentacles of this conservative patriarchy—the
Supreme Court would become one under Kavanaugh—are closing in fast on women’s
reproductive rights, and even on their right to a fair defense against sexual
assault.
So who is served by crushing women beneath the patriarchy’s heels? Those who are determined to rise, no matter whom (or what institutions) they have to destroy in the process. Ambitious jurists such as Brett Kavanaugh? Maybe we’ll arrive at some conclusions on this as we examine one final chart below.
So who is served by crushing women beneath the patriarchy’s heels? Those who are determined to rise, no matter whom (or what institutions) they have to destroy in the process. Ambitious jurists such as Brett Kavanaugh? Maybe we’ll arrive at some conclusions on this as we examine one final chart below.
A
Saturn combustion
There’s an important, but little
discussed transit that figures into this conversation, and I have Portuguese
astrologer João Medeiros to thank for drawing my attention to it. It’s called
the “Combust Saturn Ingress,” (or simply “Saturn combustion”) and the passage
we’ll examine here happened on Dec. 20, 2017, when Saturn first entered
Capricorn, conjunct the Sun (then in late
Scorpio) within an 8-degree orb.
In the current edition of the UK’s Astrological Journal (Sept/Oct 2018, pp.
13-17), Medeiros analyzes this historically significant Saturn ingress
“combustion” phenomenon, which he has found happens in approximately 1 out of 6
Saturn sign ingresses. I highly recommend his entire study, but for today,
we’ll focus on the 2017 example. Here’s how he introduces the importance of
these ingresses, after considering other key astrological phenomena:
“…since Saturn is the slowest and more generational classical
planet—ruling society, governments, money and big institutions—it is logical
that its ingresses represent society’s main events and trends over a given
(almost) three-year period ahead.” (p. 13)
The 2017 combust ingress happened
less than one year into the Trump administration, but potent ingresses are often
felt some months before they are exact, so if things have seemed to go from bad
to worse with the administration, this transit is probably a factor! Medeiros
associates this transit with fire- and disaster-prone times, and historically they have correlated with outbreaks of plague. He does mention
that the correlation hasn’t been thoroughly researched and probably doesn’t
stand up in many instances (fires and disasters seem to happen every year), however he documents numerous examples that do support his claim.
I would agree that more research is
needed on natural disasters, but there's also a political and social dimension to a Saturn combustion's influence, and the sign Saturn ingresses is key. Wars and assassination attempts have broken out during these critical periods, assassination attempts have been made--the list goes on and on. I think it’s likely, therefore, that this “combustible”
ingress—unleashing the extreme impulses of demanding, critical Capricorn—has encouraged
the following trend, observed by the Washington
Post:
“Women running for office are barraged with attempts to
humiliate and scare them. Female journalists, bloggers and pundits experience
much the same, some of it exploding into the kind of terrifying harassment that
was Gamergate. Women of color, no surprise, are attacked with that toxic
admixture of racism and misogyny….Others, like Christine Blasey Ford, who came
forward with allegations of sexual assault by Supreme Court nominee Brett
M. Kavanaugh, are forced to leave their homes and hire security after
receiving death threats. And all of this hatred has been made newly legitimate
by a president whose disdain for women is a matter of public record.”
It’s not hard to astrologically confirm
that Trump’s character is key to this unleashing of vitriol and hatred: let’s
take a very brief look at a biwheel between his nativity and the 2017 Combust
chart.
Biwheel
#2: (inner wheel) Donald J.
Trump, June 14, 1946, 10:54 a.m. DST, Jamaica, NY; (outer wheel) Saturn
combust 2017, December 20, 2017, 12:12:43 a.m. ST, Washington, D.C.. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node.
Combust Saturn ingresses Capricorn conjoined
Combust Sun-Venus (Sagittarius)-Trump Moon (Sagittarius), opposite Trump Sun
(Gemini). This is dramatic enough to tell us that Trump’s essential “Full
Moon” character will be spilling out into the collective during the period
influenced by this ingress. But wait, this gathering is a part of a larger,
more dramatic configuration.
Interchart
Grand Fire Trine: Combust Saturn-Sun-Venus
trines Combust Eris-Uranus (Aries), trines Trump Mars (Leo). To my eye,
this fiery circuit of energy—much of it expressed as anger, is at the heart of
today’s discord. Trump’s Mars is furious and bellicose enough at his ASC,
but it ties back into his Sun, opposed by the fiery Combust
Sagittarius points and Saturn. The Combust Aries points are disposed
by Scorpio
Mars conjunct Scorpio Jupiter, adding a combative, manipulative and intimidating
feel to it all.
Need we say more? Trump’s “base” (or
simply those with a gripe who want to lash out) clearly resonates with his anger. Perhaps they
feel themselves to be culture warriors (Combust Eris-Uranus), and for whatever reason, women,
people of color and immigrants are their favorite targets. All of this is about
doctoring one’s insecurities by gaining power
over others, of course, a dynamic we can see in the news every day.
 |
| Misogyny is an ugly trait in any leader. |
Interchart
T-Square: Combust Pluto-Moon (Capricorn)
opposes Trump Saturn-Venus (Cancer); this axis squares Combust Eris-Uranus
(Aries). An extreme Capricorn Moon (here enhanced by Pluto)
can be destructive, tapping into deep fears of inadequacy and even mortality,
and projecting those out onto others, scapegoating them in the process. The
balanced approach to dealing with such fears would involve therapy, admitting
one’s shortcomings and taking conscious, reality-bound action.
This approach doesn’t seem to work
with Trump and his hyperbolic, “it’s all about Me” nature; clearly, his Saturn-Venus
is an emotionally insecure nerve center in his chart, and these days, it’s
feeling under siege (opposed by transiting Pluto). Trump never admits shortcomings or mistakes; reacting to criticism means imposing
his power over others by either blaming them for whatever happened, or by
attacking the critics and their interests.
Insecurity registers as an
existential threat with him, perhaps: his Cancer points are disposed by his Sagittarius
Moon, which always seems to be emotionally poised for attack. It must
be exhausting to carry this pugilistic energy into everything he does.
Unfortunately, this complex of behavior
traits resonates with insecure egos looking for empowerment—is it any surprise
that we see the legions Trump appeals to spreading vitriol on social
media?
One
last look
Finally, a quick look at what the
Combust ingress may mean for this week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearings
for Kavanaugh and Blasey-Ford. Because no day has even been agreed upon, and
certainly no time has been set for these hearings (that I’ve seen), Wednesday
at noon is the best “average” approximation I can give this event before the
fact. This could change, clearly, but most of the points we need to consider will be very similar whichever day the meeting is held. Obviously, we won’t be focusing on Moon placements, angles and houses in
the hearings chart. Let’s begin.
Biwheel
#1: (inner wheel) Saturn combust
2017, December 20, 2017, 12:12:43 a.m. ST, Washington, D.C.; (outer wheel) Kavanaugh-Ford
Hearing, September 26, 2018, 12:00 DST (noon chart, no exact time known),
Washington, D.C.. Tropical Equal Houses,
True Node.
First, what a breathtaking
“coincidence” that the angles of this Combust chart (which we can talk about since this is a timed
ingress) fall exact within minutes of being the same as those in the 1965 Cycle
chart (another timed event, see Chart #1 above)—both feature 0° cardinal angles all around,
beginning with Libra at the ASC! These
so-called “world points” (aka “Aries points”) signal that the charts indicate
that important world matters are at stake.
No doubt—whatever transpires with
Blasey-Ford’s testimony and the Kavanaugh confirmation, ultimately, the personal concerns of these two could have
a huge impact on our American system of government, our culture, communities
and collective discourse. And given the influence of American culture and
discourse on the world, what happens in D.C. this coming week may have
far-reaching implications.
Combust Saturn (Capricorn) conjoins Combust Sun-Venus
(Sagittarius); these points square Hearing Chiron-Combust Chiron (Pisces). I’ve
allowed a generous orb with a couple of the Chiron aspects here, but
considering the Saturn stellium involved, it feels justified, and the echo from
the 1965 cycle chart (Saturn-Chiron conjunct in Pisces) is
just too stunning to ignore!
Medeiros was hopeful in his analysis
of this combust chart that its conjunction with Venus
would moderate Saturn’s most oppressive tendencies,
and that may be true, but I would also offer that this conjunction may have
been a cosmic heads-up back at the end of 2017 that things were going to become
very tough for women during the
ensuing 2.5 to 3 years. Women (and other groups represented by Venus)
may be faced with uphill battles, exhausting efforts, unfairly critical
demands, and so much more—sound familiar? Of course, these difficulties and demands would
be all the more onerous in Saturn’s home sign, Capricorn.
The fact that all these difficulties
and challenges could be enhanced with Chiron’s wounding ways certainly
speaks to the pain and dread Dr. Blasey-Ford is likely experiencing.
Thankfully, she’s stood firm and called out the bully tactics that the Senate
Judiciary Committee has tried to use against her, but she also has to stand up
against Trump and his minions, with their death threats and
intimidation. Hopefully there will be a healing down the road—one that impacts all American women—but it could be a
very fraught process. So what else is
new?!
 |
| Sen. Bernie Sanders has been actively campaigning against the Kavanaugh nomination. |
Combust Saturn conjoins Combust IC. In
a mundane chart, the IC and 4th house implicate the People’s
concerns, and with Saturn so dramatically present at the cusp, a season of difficult
challenges seems to lie ahead. This placement also squares Hearing Sun-Mercury
(Libra), suggesting the fair treatment we would hope that Kavanaugh and
Blasey-Ford would both receive may be missing in action or strained. Nothing
will be easy, that’s for sure.
Hearing Venus disposes Hearing
Sun-Mercury (Libra) from Scorpio, conjoined Combust Mars and Jupiter
(Scorpio) and opposite Hearing Uranus (Taurus). These aspects explain
the bully tactics that Blasey-Ford has already encountered (Mars-Jupiter-thug
energy is everywhere these days), but the wide opposition to Taurus
Uranus suggests that there’s a chance she will hold her own and deliver
a surprise or two. It doesn’t hurt that Taurus is disposed by Venus
and that Uranus is thought to be dignified in Scorpio—the give and take
could be beneficial here.
On the other hand, Hearing Mercury trines Hearing
Mars (Aquarius), and Mars in turn squares Hearing Uranus, so
it’ll be interesting to see whether the “he’s a great guy who’s done great
things” narrative carries the day. Late breaking news (9/24): it appears another allegation has surfaced against Kavanaugh in the New Yorker which I won't be able to go into here, but it could certainly impact how the hearing goes.
Of course, Venus doesn’t only benefit the woman in the situation
here, so let’s not pick sides until we hear more on the facts. One way or
another, Justice and doing the right thing are what the Libra
Sun and Capricorn Saturn in this chart would like to see. A “happy”
outcome to this hearing would be that Blasey-Ford feels she has been treated
fairly and respectfully, and that we come
away from the proceedings feeling that we now know what happened, for better or
worse.
If the focus of this whole proceeding—Kavanaugh’s potential
nomination—moves forward, let’s hope it’s for the right reasons. If he is
credibly found to have assaulted Blasey-Ford some 30 years ago, let’s hope he takes
responsibility, drops out gracefully and protects what’s left of his integrity.
Am I certain this outcome will
prevail? With Hearing Chiron opposing Hearing Sun and t-squaring Hearing Saturn, I
am anything but certain. Committee
Chair Chuck Grassley is playing the role of curmudgeonly school master in these
proceedings, and he’s more than ready with a ruler to slap everyone’s knuckles.
On the other hand, he has expressed almost ebullient
regard for Brett Kavanaugh in past hearings, and I wouldn’t expect that to
change in the next one.
As we know, some members of the
Senate have committed to confirming Kavanaugh no matter what—and Trump has already cast him in the role of victim if he isn’t confirmed—so it’ll be interesting to see if the Venus-Uranus
energy described above overcomes that heavy bias. It’s an uphill battle for those who protest his nomination, but
like I said earlier, what else is new?!
Final
thoughts
As one media panel member on this
morning’s Face the Nation put it, this
whole Kavanaugh-Blasey-Ford situation is a “big mess” that reflects how toxic
our polarized politics are right now. In so many words, she suggested that
these hearings represent a toxic clash between partisan politics and the #MeToo
movement. I can’t disagree, but what’s the alternative?
Maybe it would help to reframe the
coming battle a bit differently, as a social-historical phenomenon. Clearly, over
the last 50-some years since this 1965 Uranus-Pluto cycle began, male
attitudes towards women have evolved remarkably (and overall, positively), and measurable progress has been made in
every dimension of life by women. The growing accessibility of contraception
and family planning (the “Pill” was FDA approved in 1960) and the 1973 passage
of Roe v. Wade were instrumental, of
course, in allowing women to enter the work place in greater numbers, and women
would not have made the collective
strides they have if individuals had to continue choosing between marriage,
child-bearing and careers.
Indeed, “having it all” is hard enough, even with a supportive spouse and local resources.
This sobering reality raises questions.
What kind of ulterior motives are driving those who want to now deny women access to reproductive
choice? Is this really about some deep spiritual regard for the sanctity of
life, or is it about seeking bald-faced power? Why do so many in positions of
power—including the churches—want to see women “barefoot and pregnant” again?
The U.S. is not suffering a population decline as they are in China, and
although some small percentage of Americans worry that the white population
will soon be overwhelmed by a minority-majority, how does denying poor women of
color access to birth control help to
keep the balance they’re looking for?
It makes no sense, unless the goal is to dis-empower these families.
No, the problem seems to be less
about demographics and more about trying to re-impose some fantasized pre-Roe v. Wade control over women, and by
extension, their families. Some women feel that they’ve been forced into that
dark place already; if the ideologues get their way, there will be more.
It pains me to even contemplate this
topic—as the mother of all sons, I don’t view men as a problem to be solved, or
an oppressive reality to be “suffered.” No, I celebrate their strengths and
appreciate the unique talents they offer our world. I’ve seen my sons overcome
difficulties to mature into loving, compassionate and respectful individuals with their wives and daughters—and I don’t
believe that the attitude of Trump & Co. is really the American norm when it comes to gender relations.
Yet, we rarely hear anything about
how deeply interdependent men and women are—making reproductive choice
unavailable to women hurts their entire
families, including the men involved! Being able to share the burdens of
working and caring for the children
more equitably has improved relationships,
not the opposite. IMHO, casting gender relations in terms of power is
counterproductive, at best.
So, despite my strong feelings on
these issues, I hope to keep a balanced perspective in regards to this week’s
hearings. I think we need to avoid
rushing to judgment either way; nevertheless, I’m glad to see that the media is
keeping the memory of Anita Hill’s hearings against then-nominee Clarence
Thomas alive—that was a travesty that
must not be repeated.
Happy Autumnal Equinox to all!
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.
