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| "Neptune's Horses" by Walter Crane |
We are awash in Pisces/Neptune energy these days, and as loving, compassionate and magical as Neptune can be at its best, this overwhelmingly watery influence can also manifest in troubling ways, both personal and collective.
For instance, for every individual that achieves a Neptunian state of compassionate service, or the ever-satisfying “high” of creative fulfillment, thousands succumb to and struggle with addictions.
Unfortunately, our very human, Neptunian spiritual need for transcendence is easily distorted and channeled in toxic
directions: into a precarious dance with
pain and the quest to relieve it; into a quest for Belonging that turns
cult-like, demanding the total surrender of personal will and integrity; into a
quest for healing that ends up replacing one set of delusions with another;
into toxic relationships that become “gaslit” prisons.
The list goes on.
Hard Neptune transits can be
tough on a person’s physical and mental health: like the relentless lapping of
the ocean at the shore that eventually transforms the landscape and its
ecology, this energy breaks down barriers and systems—including the immune system
and other bodily defenses—over long
periods of time. So long that we hardly know there’s a problem until there just
is.
All of this holds true on the
collective level in one form or another—societies deal with their addictions
and delusions, right along with their citizens. They also deal with erosion,
decay and even dissolution—a process that again, breaks down systems, beginning
with the structures and institutions that form their basis in law, that
guarantee certain norms of behavior, basic rights and ethical transactions. Government
and “Politics,” in other words.
Social scientist Francis Fukuyama
claims that people are naturally “political”—that is, inclined to establish and
maintain institutions for the sake of achieving and administering collaborative
projects, but he also says that these institutions are naturally vulnerable to
deterioration and corruption. To his thinking, this “political decay,” as he
calls it, takes two different forms:
“Institutions are created in the first place to meet the
competitive challenges of a particular environment. That environment can be a
physical one, involving land, resources, climate, and geography, or it can be a
social one, involving rivals, enemies, competitors, allies, and the like….[but]
when the original conditions leading to the creation or adoption of an
institution change, the institution fails to adjust quickly to meet the new
circumstances…The disjunction…then accounts for political decay or
deinstitutionalization…
The second form of political decay is repatrimonialization.
The favoring of family or friends with whom one has exchanged reciprocal favors
is a natural form of sociability and is a default manner of human
interaction…in certain stages of political development, this constituted the only form of political organization. But
as institutions evolved, new rules were put in place to recruit on the basis of
function or talent…But there is constant pressure to repatrimonialize the
system.”[1]
In short, societies decay and falter
because first, essential institutions
that protect all of us from corrupt power players can be caught off-guard and
fatally undermined by demands for rapid adaptation. These institutions don’t
turn on a dime (not for the better, anyway) and are often not prepared to respond
to such demands.
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| "Neptune" by Leonardo da Vinci |
And second, because the “repatrimonialization” process takes over when
a society is under stress and its systems have regressed (for whatever reason)
into more primitive “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” ways of working.
“Let’s not be naïve” or “when in Rome…” are mantras that enable a creeping sort
of ethics-free approach to doing business. “Everyone’s doing it…” is a Neptunian
argument if there ever was one.
Unfortunately, under our present
regime, American society seems to be caught up in both these forms of political decay at the same time—and it’s no
surprise that transiting Neptune is now edging closer to
opposing its Sibly equivalent. The fact that this “half-return” is inching into
place at the same time Pluto transits into its return
position in the Sibly chart reminds us that these heavies often work in tandem
as they transform the institutions and entities in their paths. This is
especially true now, in these troublingly corrupt times. Consider Trump’s role
in all this, for example.
Trump came in like a tornado and
began shredding every institution he got his hands on, sending public servants
pledged to protect them scrambling. The oaths they have taken to serve and
protect the Constitution—the same basic oath that Trump took, hand on
Bible—have been sorely tested because Trump has made it clear that loyalty to him takes precedence over all. Ask
former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, former FBI Directors James Comey and
Andrew McCabe, former…former…former…former… You get the idea.
 |
| Former Trump advisor, Steve Bannon (l) and son-in-law Jared Kushner (r). |
Which is not to say that the decay
is entirely new since Trump: like all Neptune-Pluto collusions, the rot
that’s infected our national institutions has marinated for a long period of
time. Trump seems to have stepped into the process at a critical, vulnerable
moment with his whirlwind, Mercurial nature, and he promptly set
out to –as Steve Bannon put it—“dismantle the Deep State.”
In other words, to
destroy the institutions that are designed to check any excesses or abuses in
Executive power. And, we’ve found out that when those excesses involve catering
to Trump’s odd allegiances—Putin comes to mind—we could find ourselves in
treacherous territory. Unfortunately, we have to wonder what their
new arms race is really about. More
on that ahead.
In an unfortunate “twofer,” in the
process of undermining and battling the Free Press, the Justice department, the
State Department, our Intelligence services, Congressional oversight, the EPA,
our alliances, the Supreme Court, and the character of the presidency itself, he’s
also pushed the “repatrimonialization” process. Every week in the news we learn
new ways in which Trump and his family members/aides have used his brand of
“deal-making” to profit from the
presidency.
Nepotism was the first step in this
process—Trump’s refusing to divest himself from his family business empire was
another. Why would he? Both of these self-dealing ploys have allowed him (and
others, on his behalf) to basically sell
“favors” and access. Among many other avenues for profit and fund-raising,
it’s been a great time for them to own a hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue and to
rename Trump’s Florida country club the “winter White House.” It’s been a great
time to build business contacts and gain patent rights in China; it’s been a
great time to seek foreign funding for Kushner real estate projects, and so on.
How many foreign dignitaries and
their entourages have paid Trump hotel fees with one hand while shaking his
“presidential” hand in a photo op with the other? Playing business and politics
against the middle (We the People) is a sure recipe for breathtaking
corruption, and it won’t stop until the rule of Law is strengthened and upheld—Saturn
is the best antidote to toxic Neptune.
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| Trump's latest budget calls for massive, complicated cuts to Medicare. |
Double-dealing is engrained in
Trump’s full Moon Gemini-Sagittarius character, but this facility for talking
out of both sides of his mouth (his Gemini super-power) and for not letting the
right hand know what the left hand is doing (Sagittarian duplicity) has served
some dark purposes. He gained political advantage over his GOP opponents in
2016 by pledging
to preserve Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, staking out a more
“populist” position for himself and daring to be different, while still
claiming social conservative credentials.
Between that pledge and another to
drastically reduce the national debt in short order, he probably siphoned off
many voters who might have otherwise voted for Clinton.
Needless to say, neither of these promises has panned
out; in fact, aside from appointing conservative Supreme Court justices and
signing Bibles, he’s done quite the opposite.
It’s certainly not populist to take a hatchet to our national
health care system (such as it is) and to apply heavy pressure to the bottom
lines of all non-defense domestic
programs and more. The national debt has soared to $22 trillion and his new
budget will only add to that. The Washington
Post calls this new budget plan a “horror show” and “positively savage,”
and warns that it will trigger a whole new round of government shutdown drama.
Here
are the budget highlights
they list:
- “The Trump budget would cut about $845 billion from Medicare over 10 years
- It cuts $241 billion from Medicaid
- It would push Medicaid toward block grants which cap the amount each state would receive, which when the money runs out would result in pared-back benefits, recipients being tossed off the program or both
- It would eliminate the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid, which would mean millions would lose their health coverage
- It would cut $25 billion from Social Security
- It would impose work requirements on recipients of food stamps, Medicaid and housing assistance, forcing them to navigate a bureaucratic maze or lose their benefits
- It would cut $220 billion from food stamps
- It would cut $1.1 trillion from domestic discretionary programs, which do not include Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security
- It would cut the Department of Housing and Urban Development by 16 percent and the Education Department by 12 percent
- It would cut the Environmental Protection Agency by 31 percent.”
And all of these cuts are being done
in the context of a monumental build up of the Defense budget and $8.6 billion
more for the “Wall.” This list is a real statement of what Trump and company
value, but more importantly, what they don’t: a well-educated, healthy populace and a
clean, healthy environment.
My point in providing this long
example isn’t to argue the policies and priorities, however—it’s to discuss the
blatantly double-dealing tactics in play here—a toxic blend of Mercury
and Neptune that Trump seems to have mastered, with his natal Mercury-Neptune
square (Cancer-Libra)—with Mercury disposing his whirlwind
Gemini Sun-No. Node-Uranus gathering. A “populist” whose priorities
serve those at the top at the expense of those on the middle and bottom is no
populist.
This extends to his massive 2018 tax cut
for the wealthy, his continued attempts to undermine the Affordable Care Act
and the Medicaid expansion, and now his intention to make retirees and working
and middle class families bear the brunt of his new plans for Defense. He may
be adept at talking the populist talk, but he’s not about to walk the walk.
Unfortunately, similar duplicitous
tactics have been used to corrupt and neuter our essential governmental
institutions: most egregiously, by his non-stop slandering of the FBI and
Justice Department, people who might really need their services—i.e., to
protect us against terrorists—no longer trust them. Heaven knows, the
individuals running these agencies have their flaws, like everyone, but the work
they are doing is essential, and they
need to operate independently, free from White House influence (or any other influence) to do it properly.
Our Founders foresaw a time when the
rule of law would clash with a power-hungry Executive, but they may not have
foreseen how vulnerable our institutions could be to an Executive who will stop
at nothing to get his way, including declaring a bogus emergency so he can go
around Congress’s authority to allocate funds.
The list of dangers to our
institutions is getting longer by the day: IMHO, if the 2020 election ignores this gnarly constitutional
crisis entirely (because it’s too wonky or technical) to focus on “normal”
issues like health care and taxes, We the People will stand to lose some
cherished constitutional ground.
Despite the chills this idea sends
up my spine, I must admit that astrologically, Trump can be re-elected, and here’s why: Neptune continues its
Pisces transit into 2025—enabling those who have no scruples about lying and
obfuscating—while Pluto continues on in corporate-friendly Capricorn (ever on the
hunt for lower taxes and bigger boondoggles), returning to its Sibly position
late in that sign in February, 2022. Pluto first enters Aquarius in
March, 2023, but doesn’t fully commit to the sign until January, 2024.
This certainly doesn’t mean that
Trump will be re-elected—a lot could
happen between now and November 2020—but these transits are concerning because
we have seen how Trump manipulates these heavy energies so adeptly for his own
purposes. Those who don’t want to see him re-elected had better not be naïve, again.
On this note, let’s examine the
chart for Election Day 2020. This falls on November 3rd of that
year. This chart will give us a feel for
the dynamics and likely tone of that day—we know that the media will be
crackling with stress that day, as will the public’s mood, but let’s remember
that the same “good” or “bad” placements can play out in multiple ways. As far
as I know, the Cosmos could care less who
wins! Trying to read an election chart dispassionately can be difficult.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll move on
to consider more closely how Trump’s nativity figures into all this, and what
impact he is likely to have on the nation as the election unfolds. This gets to
be a long story very quickly!
Chart
#1: Election Day 2020, November 3, 2020, 6:39 a.m. ST (dawn), Washington,
D.C.
Tropical Equal Houses, True Node.
Moon (Gemini) inconjoins Sun (Scorpio),
sextiles Mars (Aries) and widely squares Neptune (Rx, Pisces). Notice
that several planets fall in their home signs in this chart: Mars
(Aries), Neptune (Pisces), Saturn (Capricorn) and Venus (Libra). This
suggests a serious, earnest tone to the day, as if everyone involved will be
bringing their “A-game.” It’s very likely that the public will feel scattered, uncertain
and possibly frustrated, nevertheless (Moon inconjunct Sun)—there could be
many voters that try to hedge their bets in some way.
This impulse can take
many forms, such as voting for the candidate that feels “electable” instead of
following their true preferences, working to maintain the status quo instead of
“rocking the boat,” etc. Some may be so frustrated by the challenge of sorting
the lies from the facts that they simply stay home.
With Moon in Gemini, the media
(including social media) could play an outsized role in determining where the
vote falls, yet the media could be somewhat marginalized or compromised (Gemini
ruler Mercury is retrograde in the 12th). We should be
aware that all may not be what it seems on Election Day: this is reinforced by Nodal
axis (Gemini-Sagittarius) squaring Neptune, which points to possible
subterfuge and worse. If high-level Intelligence reports are saying then what they’re saying now, that Russia
is actively meddling in European and Baltic democracies and will try to influence our election again,
we should pay attention!
It probably isn’t surprising that
this t-square is firmly tied into Trump’s chart – more on that in a future
post.
Mars (Aries) sextiles Moon (Gemini) and
inconjoins Sun (Scorpio), forming a Yod; Mars conjoins Eris (Aries) and opposes
Mercury (Rx, Libra). The feeling of uncertainty and frustration that
permeated the Moon aspects above gains an aggressive edge with these aspects.
It’s not hard to imagine voters feeling that they’re “damned if they do, damned
if they don’t” on election day, but this is why it will be so important to
educate ourselves on the facts and
avoid making decisions on the basis of bluster, emotionalism, sentimentality,
or delusions (that goes for all sides).
A certain amount of fortitude is called for here: Mars is warrior energy,
and with Eris there’s a reinforced sense that the stakes are high in
this fight—tough choices will have to be made. Mercury Rx raises the
possibility that challenges to the election will force a recount.
Election day aside, with an Aries 6th
house and two powerful “warriors” placed in that house (Mars and Eris), it’s
possible that an actual shooting war may be either on the horizon or already in
progress in November 2020. This isn’t that difficult to call, actually—in a
December, 2018 report, ForeignPolicy .com
listed “10
Conflicts to Watch in 2019,” and the U.S. could play a role in several of
them, despite the fact that the report’s author red-flags the waning status of
U.S. leadership in the world, saying that “authoritarian leaders are competing
to see how much they can get by with.”
Competent foreign policy leadership is
more essential today than ever, yet such imperatives rarely decide U.S. elections. We’ve lost major ground and
reputation under the present administration—will voters care?
One way or another, it won’t be too
surprising if Trump has involved us in a “hot” war between now and the election,
but the justifications could be spurious. If he’s feeling particularly
vulnerable leading into this election, involving us in a war is one way to
shift the advantage his way: among other priorities, a war allows the
Commander-in-Chief to wield extraordinary powers, and it allows him and his supporters to claim that it would be a horrible time to switch leadership.
Incumbent presidents are rarely voted out during wartime.
Of course, if these machinations are
detected in Congress, this could force the issue of impeachment, whether
Democratic leadership wants to go there or not (it wouldn’t look great, close
to an election). One way or another, ongoing volatility and conflict could be
in the works at that time, and someone could benefit. Some will, unfortunately, be pawns in these power struggles.
Of course, there’s a more benign
interpretation of all this as well: we know that Trump’s budget calls for
massive increases to the Defense budget at the expense of almost everything
else, and it could all be for the sake of enriching Defense contractors (how
many will vote for Trump?) and looking “tough” in the world—no need to wage an
actual war. More on this later in this post.
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| The U.S. Pentagon |
In fact, Foreign Policy points to a growing problem of unoccupied positions
in the Pentagon—two highly-placed women, officials with the Air Force and Navy
respectively, resigned this past week, adding to a growing list of empty
offices. Trump wants to throw a lot of
money at the Pentagon, but doesn’t seem concerned with the Defense Department being fully-staffed.
Could it be that the money (and the
influence it buys) is the goal?
The financial possibilities
represented by Defense contracts might explain the Jupiter-Pluto-Saturn (Capricorn)
square to Mars-Eris (Aries). But the new Saturn-Pluto cycle will
be in its first months at this juncture, and will be planting seeds for a new
world order—how will that mesh with
the Trump agenda, and the agendas of those who are attempting to influence him
at that time? The willingness Trump has shown to blend personal profit and official business is troubling enough, but doing so with our Defense budget would be monumental. Will “pay-for-play” be the new order (everyone’s doing it, so why
not?), or will we see more emphasis on accountability and responsibility?
Unfortunately, we have evidence that
under Trump, a new cynical view of how one “gets things done” has taken over.
Trump himself makes no secret of the fact that he takes a purely
transactional approach to negotiating, which means that he goes where the
money and/or influence are to seek out his latest deals, and whoever ingratiates him- or herself with
him will get his attention, ethics be damned. Trump’s loyalties seem as malleable as his
narratives.
This approach has real-world impact,
unfortunately, and it certainly tied in directly with Boeing’s weeks-long
crisis with its 737 Max 8
aircrafts: nearly every other country grounded or suspended the aircraft
from their airspace and airports because of flaws that have caused two major
crashes (and over 350 deaths) in the past couple months before Trump finally ordered Boeing to ground this line of planes today
(3/13).
The fact that Boeing’s CEO has been known to frequent Mar-o-Lago and to chat on the phone with Trump raises the issue of undue influence, and may explain why this grounding order was so long in coming and required such a preponderance of evidence and public pressure. It shouldn’t take that much for essential, regulated public systems to err on the side of safety.
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| This Southwest Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft is now grounded for repairs. |
The fact that Boeing’s CEO has been known to frequent Mar-o-Lago and to chat on the phone with Trump raises the issue of undue influence, and may explain why this grounding order was so long in coming and required such a preponderance of evidence and public pressure. It shouldn’t take that much for essential, regulated public systems to err on the side of safety.
Notice that the Pallas-Jupiter-Pluto-Saturn
(Capricorn) square to Eris (and very widely, Mars in Aries) becomes a t-square
when we factor in Mercury (Rx, Libra). Again, this all
speaks to the biggest corporate boondoggle of all, waging war, but Mercury’s position and Rx status
here suggests that such topics will be very hush-hush at the election. Mercury’s
also placed in the 12th here—another indication that speech
will hardly be “free.”
Military warfare isn’t the only possibility, of course:
elections themselves are a type of war, so it’s possible that this tense
configuration simply reflects the conduct of the election itself. Pallas’s
involvement here reminds us that elections are a matter of justice and equity.
Mercury here also brings in the
issue of technology, and between this and issues raised by Uranus (more ahead), it
looks like tech issues could be important for this election. Indeed, candidates
like Elizabeth Warren (D, Massachusetts) are running on the issue of breaking
up the tech giants (Amazon, Google, Facebook) that basically squelch
competition by their sheer enormity and reach. This will be far from easy, of
course: Jupiter-Pluto (this new cycle will have begun in April, 2020)
is all about amassing big power and big money, and the bigger the corporation,
the better.
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| Sen. Elizabeth Warren proposes breaking up the tech giants. |
In Capricorn. this dynamic is
predictable, although Saturn’s involvement may signal
there’s room for sane regulation. The difficulty of breaking up such corporate
giants in this astrological environment doesn’t mean Warren won’t try, however,
and she may be joined by others, since Amazon in particular has become a
favorite target of venom with progressive Dems.
The other glaring possibility for
this tense configuration is the role that campaign dollars will play in the
election—especially from those same tech giants and any corporations that want
to wield influence in Washington. It’s interesting that these heavy Capricorn
energies are so snugly situated in the 3rd house of communications,
transportation (roads, bridges, etc.), education and local affairs—in other
words, a sector with grass-roots implications. Large swaths of our population
can agree on the need to rebuild infrastructures—there’s just so much that the
states can do alone on this issue.
It’s also possible that building
Trump’s “Wall” across our southern border (to separate us from the 9th
house “world out there”) is represented by these 3rd house
placements, however, and we can guess that under Trump, this will take
precedence over infrastructure projects that actually help the nation. Clearly,
with all the wall money he’s demanding in his current budget (we’ve seen that
he’s willing to hold the government itself hostage to get what he wants), this
issue isn’t going to go away before the election. He’s already claiming the
wall is being built—these being Neptunian times, maybe it is, in his imagination.
In so far as the Wall represents
Trump’s “zero-tolerance” approach to immigration, we can see that Pallas’s
involvement here, again, points to the need for just solutions. Trump’s policies have exacerbated, if not created the humanitarian crisis at the
border. And just for the sake of argument, do we know who stands to profit from
building that wall? Mercury Rx periods are good times to investigate such lines of
inquiry, with the hope that once Mercury goes direct, more
transparency will be possible.
All of these issues are more than fair game for
this powerful Capricorn-led t-square.
A final thought on this t-square has
to do with the institutional nature of our two-party electoral system, and the
complex organizations that support their respective campaigns. We were smacked
with a real wake-up call last time around when DNC email systems (Democratic
National Committee) were hacked by Wikileaks
on the eve of the Democratic Convention: can we expect the coming election
to be equally dirty? Are we okay with that? These are questions that will confront us; it will help to
remember that Saturn-Pluto will take cues from us about the “new order” we
want to inhabit.
Uranus (Taurus) inconjoins and forms a
mutual reception with Venus (Libra); Uranus opposes Sun (Scorpio). In
fact, this “new order” is going to be heavily influenced by and geared towards
accommodating Uranus—ruling technology. We’ve been hearing stories for years
now about the rapidly developing potentials for AI-driven businesses, about the
coming “jobless” times, and so on, and dealing with these realities is going to
require our economy and society to consciously evolve going forward.
Here, we’re focused on Election Day
2020, however—technology may not be the main
issue that brings voters to the polls, but my guess is it will be an issue
that helps sort voters into futurist v.
reactionary camps—those who look forward to the “brave new world” offered
by autonomous vehicles and AI nannies, and those who don’t. Even if the
election doesn’t feel like a referendum on these tech issues and all their
implications, however, there’s a new Jupiter-Saturn cycle launching at 0°+Aquarius within weeks of
the election in December, 2020, and that will
undoubtedly shift our focus into futurist mode.
Trump isn’t a particularly
future-minded person—long-term thinking doesn’t work very well with a transactional
mindset, but he’s pushing hard for a Uranian sounding “Space Force” branch for
our military, and his new budget reflects those plans. Given that Russia and
China are reportedly busy producing new “hypersonic”
weapons for which we apparently have no effective response, this all reads
like a new, budget-busting arms race.
It’s interesting to me that Heather
Wilson has just announced her departure as Air Force Secretary this week,
shortly after issuing a statement saying that the new Space Force branch would
cost an estimated $13 billion to establish. We’ll never know her motives for
leaving (aside from a new position elsewhere), but we can see from the Uranus-Venus
mutual reception (and inconjunct) in this chart, that issues regarding
finances and technology and the tight ways in which they converge and feed each
other, will be a nagging issue come election time.
A key underlying factor in all this
is the inability to trust Trump’s motives in anything—keeping others off balance, yet still in thrall to him in
some way is a common tactic with him. That same approach is reflected here, in
the frustrating, codependent feel of this Venus-Uranus aspect: Venus
rules the 12th and 7th, suggesting back-room
relationships (12th) fueling technology-related programs (in the 7th,
perhaps defense technology related).
So, perhaps we need to wonder what sort of favors defense contractors typically pony up for the lucrative contracts they seek. The election is conveniently timed to coincide with Trump’s new push for a multi-billion dollar “Space Force”—could a new round of contracts (enabled by Trump’s new budget) be in the works to dangle in front of defense contractors with deep pockets for campaign contributions? It’s not hard to imagine Trump claiming that his Space Force will be sidelined if a Dem is elected—this power to hand out multi-billion dollar contracts is toxic when it comes to fair elections.
 |
| Has "America First" triggered a new, three-way arms race? |
So, perhaps we need to wonder what sort of favors defense contractors typically pony up for the lucrative contracts they seek. The election is conveniently timed to coincide with Trump’s new push for a multi-billion dollar “Space Force”—could a new round of contracts (enabled by Trump’s new budget) be in the works to dangle in front of defense contractors with deep pockets for campaign contributions? It’s not hard to imagine Trump claiming that his Space Force will be sidelined if a Dem is elected—this power to hand out multi-billion dollar contracts is toxic when it comes to fair elections.
Not that influence peddling doesn’t
happen on all sides in some form, but the sheer scale of it in today’s
political climate is daunting. Looked at from this perspective, Trump’s Defense
and Wall budget plans might as well be one massive re-election campaign fund—a
way of “laundering” federal tax dollars into his campaign coffers. Needless to
say, the strong cardinal t-square with Jupiter-Pluto-Saturn square Mars discussed
earlier will only reinforce these Venus-Uranus possibilities, and the
connection to Trump is fairly explicit: all those Capricorn points will be
transiting opposite his natal Saturn-Venus from now into the
election (chart not shown).
A
critical bifurcation point
This election chart is far more than
a look at that one day—it represents a
fork in the transformation path we’ve been on for some time. Clearing out the old for the sake of renewal and transformation is a necessary Saturn-Pluto process--it's all good, and we're right on schedule. Even so, there are precarious junctures in that process where tough choices will need to be made, and tough people will have to stand by them.
So, unless something very unforeseen happens (like Trump resigns or is impeached), the cardinal energy at the bottom of the chart for that day will transform the election into a serious referendum on Trump’s presidency. The Mueller investigation and others led by Congressional committees will still be fresh in people’s minds (or still in progress), and the American public will have to decide what kind of political system it wants to support.
So, unless something very unforeseen happens (like Trump resigns or is impeached), the cardinal energy at the bottom of the chart for that day will transform the election into a serious referendum on Trump’s presidency. The Mueller investigation and others led by Congressional committees will still be fresh in people’s minds (or still in progress), and the American public will have to decide what kind of political system it wants to support.
Remember that mutable Neptune-Nodal
axis t-square mentioned much earlier? With Neptune, we tend to see
what we want to see, but this t-square indicates to my eyes that on Election Day 2020, the nation will be at an idealistic crossroads, where we either put up or shut up about democracy.
One of the most chilling messages
that came out of Michael Moore’s latest film, Fahrenheit
11/9, was that America has never lived
up to its democratic potential—that it’s never
been a true democracy because despite considerable progress, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" have not been equally available to all Americans. It's good to remind ourselves of that goal: we tend to measure the so-called American Dream by the quality of our material lives, when there is so much more at stake. Unfortunately, Neptune's ability to dis-enchant and dis-illusion is very real.
The fact is, we’ve always been a work in progress, but this
election will represent a major bifurcation point (Gemini-Sagittarius Nodes),
square Neptune. Will we push in the Neptunian direction of Abraham
Lincoln’s “more perfect union,” or passively allow what is left of this union to run aground?
I think we're up to this challenge!
I think we're up to this challenge!
[1]
Francis Fukuyama, The Origins of
Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution, Farrar,
Straus & Giroux, NY, NY, 2011, pp. 452-53.
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