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“When the pro-leader
paramilitary and the official police intermingle, the end has come.”[1]—Timothy
Snyder, Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the
Twentieth Century
"When you pluck a chicken one feather at a time, nobody notices."--Benito Mussolini
"When you pluck a chicken one feather at a time, nobody notices."--Benito Mussolini
Traditional mundane astrology envisioned the Sun as the glorious “head” (Monarch), commanding and controlling the “body” (People) from on high, a position that reflected the Sun’s role in our solar system as people understood it in ancient times. So it was a fair model in pre-democracy times before people started to question the “divine right” of kings. Then and now, we are rightfully awestruck by the Sun, of course, as the literal source of light and through photosynthesis, life in our world; however, no individual leader can live up to that metaphor, nor should they be arrogant enough to try.
Does that mean that the world has given up on monarchy
(or theocracy, or plutocracy, or…) as a form of government? Given the
fascination with the British royals and their never-ending soap opera, probably
not, but I wonder if those admiring onlookers know to separate out the figurehead
monarchs from monarchy as a form of centralized, top-down, hereditary
government. Unfortunately, there are
signs even in the U.S. these days that the world is still dealing with the
gross excesses and abuses of power enabled by this Sun King metaphor, which
allows would-be tyrants to act with impunity.
For instance, consider what’s been happening in Portland,
Oregon in the past week, with Trump sending in what looks to be his personal
band of camouflage-clad storm troopers, unidentified federal thugs sent in to
forcefully “dominate the streets” during entirely peaceful protests. Ostensibly
there to “protect federal properties” (buildings and monuments), it’s more than
clear from video footage that their mission is to intimidate and punish people
into submission. And then to act as if the very fact that they (the government) did these things, they must be legal, when that is far from the case.
They’ve demonstrated this by kidnapping peaceful protesters
off the streets and taking them away for questioning and further intimidation
in unmarked vehicles; they’ve proven this by beating up on peaceful protesters
attempting to question their identity and motives, which is particularly
egregious because as retired Lt.
Gen. Russell Honoré put it quite forcefully, “beating people with sticks
is not what our nation’s uniform is about.” Local authorities are livid and gravely
concerned, and are suing the federal agencies behind the onslaught. From the Washington Post:
“The federal government is
‘overstepping their powers and injuring or threatening peaceful protesters on
the streets of Downtown Portland,’ according to a release
from the Oregon Department of Justice Friday….
In response to the president
calling Portland protesters anarchists and insinuating that local officials
were afraid of them, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said, ‘this is a democracy, not a
dictatorship. We cannot have secret police abducting people in unmarked
vehicles. I can’t believe I have to say that to the President of the United
States.’”
If this were a one-stop kind of operation on the part of
Trump’s thug force, that would be bad enough, but at least his “protect federal
property” pretext might hold some water. Unfortunately, he appears to have
decided this is the new way he’s taking the “Trump show” on the road, targeting
other cities with Democratic leadership and daring them to do anything about
it, working to conjure up the image of chaos on the streets in “radical Left”
areas of the nation and to then equate that with how the nation will look if
Biden wins in November.
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| Putting their bodies on the line: the "Wall of Moms" in Portland. |
The Atlantic parses the legalities of the Federal occupation of American cities very reasonably:
Oregon Governor Kate Brown captured the situation on Portland's streets well, calling it Trump’s “political theater,” while Trump and company refuse to budge or respond to state officials’ calls to cease, desist and leave the situation to local authorities. A “wall of Moms” joined the protest in the past couple nights, standing with linked arms as a shield in front of protesters. From 70 the first night, the list of Moms volunteering for protests has grown to over 2,000—despite teargassing and other violent tactics on the part of the Feds. CNN reports one spokeswoman saying,
"The existence of the
department’s authority to protect federal property is uncontroversial. The
federal government has the power to defend federal buildings and facilities
from civil unrest, and a variety of federal laws protect federal property from
attack and vandalism and federal officials from interference with their
discharge of the government’s business.
While this authority certainly
extends to the power to investigate federal crimes and arrest those suspected
of them, it is not some general authority to patrol the downtowns of major
cities and pick up and detain protesters merely because a federal building may
be in the neighborhood."
Oregon Governor Kate Brown captured the situation on Portland's streets well, calling it Trump’s “political theater,” while Trump and company refuse to budge or respond to state officials’ calls to cease, desist and leave the situation to local authorities. A “wall of Moms” joined the protest in the past couple nights, standing with linked arms as a shield in front of protesters. From 70 the first night, the list of Moms volunteering for protests has grown to over 2,000—despite teargassing and other violent tactics on the part of the Feds. CNN reports one spokeswoman saying,
"’We'll stop when there is no
protester that needs our protection,’ she said. ‘We get thanks every which way.
But we're not doing it for the thanks. We're doing it to protect human
rights.’"
Clearly, our cities might need many more “Moms” involved
if Trump’s ultimate aim is to demonize and politicize protest, forcing cities
and states to deal with escalating violence all summer long. In the name of
“restoring order,” of course, the storm troopers are employing violence and
instigating even more of it. Unless the Constitution has been rewritten
recently, the right to peaceful protest and assembly are enshrined there in
black and white, but it’s easy to see how these thug deployments will only create the violence that they will then
use as pretexts for more thuggery…and so it goes.
The irony, of course, is that the protests began in
response to the horrifying death of George Floyd under the knee of an abusive,
criminal cop—does it make any sense
whatsoever that the Federal government’s response to these protests would be to
crank up abusive State power even further?
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| And the Dads have come out, with their leaf blowers...such anarchists! |
The astrology
I began this post with an account of mundane astrology’s
traditional top-down view of government, as enshrined in the Sun King metaphor.
It’s not difficult to see where that view came from—court astrologers used to
serve the “top dog,” whoever held that top spot and was considered the “seat”
of a nation’s power, and everyone’s else’s fate mattered only in context to how
it impacted the ruler. If you don't turn tail and run at his display of power in Portland, you're a "violent anarchist"...right! As in the “royal” game of Chess, the only non-expendable piece was the king!
That analogy doesn’t sit well in democratic societies, of
course—where the People are more than “pawns” whose primary usefulness is in
their “sacrifice.” In fact, in a
democracy, power doesn’t descend upon the ruler from on high; it ascends from the grass roots up, and is given freely through what
should be our scrupulously fair
elections, to the leaders we
choose to represent us. At least
this is how it’s supposed to work—the
“head” owes his title and his power to us,
not the other way around.
Strictly speaking, such leaders have no power that the People through the Judiciary and Congress have
not agreed to lend them for the sake
of fulfilling their responsibilities toward the People. However, the delicate
balance of powers required to maintain this democratic arrangement has clearly
been thrown out of whack by a president who doesn’t seem to have any allegiance
to the core principles of democracy. Why exactly
he’s actively trying to destroy that democracy is still a mystery, but we know
that he’s wanted to recreate “America” in his own “Reality TV” image since day
one.
Unfortunately, he has had too many self-serving or naïve allies in this
quest. One way or another, his
relationship with the People is at an all-time low, and as always, there are
astrological reasons for that.
Normally, I would monitor the relationship between Leader
and People by watching the progressed lunar cycle of a nation’s radix chart
(here, the U.S. Sibly chart) next to that radix chart. We’ll anchor this
investigation around a particular event and time by using Trump’s June 26, 2020
“Executive Order on Protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and
Statues and Combating Recent Criminal Violence”—the order he wrote to grant
himself the overreaching Executive power that we now see on display in
Portland. The transits for this event will occupy
the outer wheel of Triwheel #1 below,
set against the Sibly chart and its progressions for June 26, 2020.
In the case of Trump, however, it seems we must
personalize the exploration because that’s what he has done with presidential
power—he’s personalized it and made
it a point of personal hubris to maximize his hold on it at all costs. For this
reason, we’ll add his nativity into Triwheel
#2 below.
Let’s begin.
Triwheel #1. (inner
wheel) USA (Sibly) chart, July 4, 1776, 5:10 p.m.
LMT, Philadelphia, PA; (middle wheel) USA (Sibly) chart,
Secondary progression, Solar Arc MC method, for June 26, 2020 at 12:00 p.m.
GMT, Washington, D.C.; (outer wheel) Statues Executive
Order, June 26, 2020, 12 p.m. DST, Washington, D.C.. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node. All charts courtesy of Kepler 8.0
(Cosmic Patterns software).
Executive Order (EO)
Mercury (Cancer) conjoins Sibly Sun (Cancer) and Progressed Sibly Jupiter (Rx,
Cancer), squares Sibly Saturn (Libra) and Progressed Sibly Mars (Libra) while
trining Progressed Sibly Sun (Pisces). EO Mercury (Cancer) plays
an interesting, multi-faceted role here, literally representing an Executive
Order (written doc) with its conjunction to Sibly Sun, but also representing
the violation that order represents to our balance of powers by squaring
Sibly Saturn. Progressed Sibly Jupiter is doing us no favors by
enabling excessive Executive power (conjunct Sibly Sun and trining Progressed
Sibly Sun in Pisces), raising concerns about being able to rein Trump
in when these instances of overreach arise.
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| Power ascends from the grass roots in democracies. |
EO Uranus (Taurus)
sextiles Sibly Sun/Jupiter (midpoint, Cancer) and trines Sibly Eris (Rx,
Capricorn). I don’t often pay too
much attention to Sibly Eris, but in this case, it seems appropriate because the
pretext for Trump’s Executive Order was the protests and disorder on the
streets of American cities, with a particular focus on Federal properties and
monuments. The trine from EO Uranus to this point suggests an
explosion of disruption, which is exactly what we’ve seen—not the restoration
of order. EO Uranus stimulating the Sibly Sun/Jupiter (midpoint, Cancer)
reflects dilemmas within the nation’s leadership, which will have to deal with
various disruptions and legal issues. The aspect is soft, however, so it’s unlikely
the disruptions are going to put a halt to what Trump is trying to do.
EO Venus (Gemini)
conjoins Sibly Uranus (Gemini), trines EO Saturn (Rx, Aquarius) and squares
Progressed Sibly ASC (Virgo). If we cast
the orbs real wide, this EO Venus also squares Sibly Moon (Aquarius); it
seems our cosmic “Queen” is not being very helpful right now, enabling
authoritarian tactics (EO Saturn), perhaps
rendering benefits to Trump’s personal army (Sibly 6th house Uranus)
that keep them doing his work instead of the People’s. An investigation into
all this is definitely in order—who’s paying the bills here? Sibly
Progressed ASC (Virgo) square this Venus suggests a militaristic shift
in the nation’s identity, which isn’t surprising given some of the Mars connections
we will see in Triwheel #2.
Notice here that EO Mars is about to enter
aggressive Aries, as well, sextiling EO Saturn (Rx, Aquarius) and
squaring Sibly Venus-Jupiter (Cancer). Militant force designed to
control people was perhaps predictable and could continue while Mars remains
in Aries
because it will move into a square with Sibly Pluto and the heavy
duty transits now conjoining that point. Unfortunately, due to a retrograde
period we’ll discuss in another post, Mars will persist in Aries
well into January 2021, just in time to sextile Saturn (Aquarius) and
square Uranus (Taurus). It pains me to say it, but it appears that local
communities could suffer under the present oppressive, volatile conditions well
into 2021 unless the reins of power shift and the martial law-style incursions in American
communities that Trump is threatening are stopped for good. There are more
constructive uses of the energies we’re seeing here—more on this in Triwheel #2.
EO
Pluto-Jupiter-Pallas conjoin Sibly Progressed So. Node and Moon (all
Capricorn), and all of this conjoins Sibly Pluto (Capricorn). In other words, we have a super-oppressive gathering,
hovering just short of Sibly Pluto’s 27°+ position. The EO Pluto-Jupiter conjunction is
super-tight, reflecting the abusively overblown power dynamics in play, at the
expense of Justice (Pallas). The Sibly
Progressed So. Node is significant here, conjunct all these Capricorn
points—the So. Node tends to represent reactionary, less than constructive
trends, whereas the No. Node (Cancer) indicates a more productive,
nurturing direction. Hopefully things will begin to lighten up when Jupiter
and Saturn move beyond Sibly Pluto into Aquarius and their new cycle in
December. This will
have the added benefit of separating Jupiter from transiting Pluto,
which may help to moderate the power abuses.
Unfortunately, while we’re waiting for all
that to happen, and with the pandemic still at full-tilt (Sibly Progressed Sun widely
conjoins EO Neptune in Pisces), serious economic fall-out could shift
the nation’s focus away from protest and onto economic disruption. These Pisces
points square the Sibly Uranus/Mars (midpoint, Gemini), as well, suggesting
continued unrest, with the military playing some role in response. Will Trump
continue trying to politicize the pandemic by pitting people against each
other? Criticism for the way in which Trump’s paramilitary force is “denigrating the military uniform” with their thuggish activities in Portland abounds—these
aspects reflect that the friction produced by this will continue. Triwheel #2 has more to say about that.
Triwheel #2. (inner
wheel) USA (Sibly) chart, July 4, 1776, 5:10 p.m.
LMT, Philadelphia, PA; (middle wheel) USA (Sibly) chart, Secondary
progression, Solar Arc MC method, for June 26, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. GMT,
Washington, D.C.; (outer wheel) Donald J. Trump, June 14, 1946, 10:54 a.m. DST,
Jamaica, NY. Tropical Equal Houses,
True Node. All charts courtesy of Kepler 8.0 (Cosmic Patterns software).
It’s always been a bit alarming how
Trump’s Gemini points (Sun-No. Node-Uranus) fall squarely
conjunct Sibly Mars (Gemini) and square Sibly Neptune (Virgo), with
his Moon
(Sagittarius) creating an interchart t-square out of it all.
If it made sense to add yet another chart to this wheel, we’d see from the
transits on June 26, 2020 (outer wheel, Triwheel
#1) that Neptune is turning Trump’s mutable t-square into a grand square,
suggesting the Cosmos is basically enabling his and Homeland
Security chief Chad Wolf’s chaotically corrupt designs on our military and the American Dream. From the
position of Trump’s No. Node, we might assume that he is following some sense of
“destiny” for this course of action, but the only heroism here is illusionary,
at best. Trump’s Mercury (Cancer) disposes these Gemini points at the same
time it squares his natal Neptune (Libra).
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| Chris Wallace gave Trump opportunities to crow, but he also fact-checked him. |
Trump Jupiter-Chiron
(Rx, Libra) conjoins Sibly Progressed Mars (Rx, Libra) and Sibly Saturn
(Libra), and squares Sibly Sun (Cancer). Trump Jupiter opposes Sibly (radix and
progressed) Chiron. It appears from the
interesting Chiron interactions here that Trump is driven to heal his own
inner wounds by ripping open the nation’s
wounds, and Progressed Sibly Mars is facilitating his quest at the moment.
In the process, enormous damage is being done to Congress (Sibly
Saturn) by the divisiveness and anger Trump spreads wherever he goes.
Writing for The Atlantic, Peter
Wehner reflected on Trump’s surprising responses to a Fox News interview, which gave him more than one opportunity to
crow and to sound graciously presidential. Instead, he chose to complain about
“how badly he’s been treated.” A long-time observer, Wehner’s
assessment of Trump captures this Jupiter-Chiron dynamic really well:
“Donald Trump is a psychologically
broken, embittered, and deeply unhappy man. He is so gripped by his grievances,
such a prisoner of his resentments, that even the most benevolent question from
an interviewer—what good parts of your presidency would you like to be
remembered for?—triggered a gusher of discontent.”
It’s also relevant here that Trump Jupiter widely squares his
Saturn-Venus
(Cancer)—no doubt he’s felt restrained and put down by critics in life
(according to his niece Mary Trump’s book, Donald Trump was “scarred” by his unpleasable,
hyper-critical father, Fred Trump, for starters), but Donald Trump proves every
day that he is also unwilling to take
responsibility (Saturn) for anything he does, which creates criticism, and his
actions often suggest a lack of any moral or ethical sense
whatsoever—apparently another quality his father passed along.
In the end,
grabbing more and more power in his own hands (inappropriately, in many
instances) could be a way of “proving something” to that lasting imprint Dad
left behind on him, but it’s reasonable to wonder why the nation has to be caught
up in this personal drama. As it
happens, Trump Saturn-Venus (Cancer) conjoins Sibly Progressed No. Node (Cancer)
and opposes Sibly Pluto (and its transiting entourage of
Capricorn planets shown in Triwheel #1)—for whatever karmic or
fateful reason, we’re along for the transformative ride, for now.
Interchart
T-square: Trump Mars-ASC (Leo) opposes
Sibly Moon-Pallas (Aquarius); this axis squares Trump MC (Taurus). It’s
no secret that Trump has a hold on a certain like-minded segment of the
American people (Moon), but here we see why he has such a particularly heavy
impact on Justice (Pallas)
in this nation. His own innate sense of justice (Pallas) is quite harsh (Rx,
Capricorn). Individually square his Mercury (Cancer) and his Chiron-Juno
(Libra)—orbs too wide for a t-square—it’s also self-pitying, probably
adding to his perennial sense of being “badly treated.”
Victimization is a convenient distraction for one who
regularly works to justify treating others
badly, isn’t it?
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| Can we? |
Final thoughts
So why are we along for Trump’s fateful ride in this
nation? Perhaps because at this point in our history—the last few degrees of a
246-year Pluto return—we need to re-acquaint ourselves with the meaning of that
glorious Declaration of Independence that forms the basis of our Sibly chart,
and what better way to do that but to risk losing
it all? If we come out of this
odyssey with our democracy intact, it will be because we’ve rediscovered its
value in our lives and because we commit to it with the same passion our
founders put into that Declaration. And unfortunately, our myth of
exceptionalism isn’t going to do this for us. I like the way Peter
Wehner ended the piece I’ve cited above:
“In another time, in a different
circumstance, there would perhaps be room to pity such a person. But for now,
it is best for the pity to wait. There are other things to which to attend. The
American public faces one great and morally urgent task above all others
between now and November: to do everything in its power to remove from the
presidency a self-pitying man who is shattering the nation and doesn’t even
care.”
Unfortunately, there’s no room for being P.C. here—that Mars-ASC
of Trump’s in regal Leo manifests every day in a toxic
“Sun King” persona (he even favors that perpetually “tan” look), but as
appealing as a Mars Leo can be, Trump displays none of the
humility that leaders need to have and enough arrogance of power to believe his
own hype. We've seen repeatedly that for Trump, the personal loyalty of others is paramount,
but over and over again we’ve had to wonder where his loyalties lie.
Not with the hapless victims of COVID in red
states that won’t
allow municipalities to pass strong stay at home and masking orders,
certainly; not with peaceful protesters
who are fully within their rights to be on our streets demanding justice for
all; not with Americans who are being forced in red states to choose between
their health and being
able to cast a vote; not with the health and well-being of Americans whose
environmental protections he’s
been rolling back; and certainly not with our soldiers in Afghanistan, who have
Russian
bounties on their heads.
We can take comfort in the Republic we've been left, but can we keep it? Stay
safe, be well!
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| Says it 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; see
the sidebar links on the home page for her two most recent publications, now
available as e-books on Amazon.
For
information about individual chart
readings, contact: robertsonraye@gmail.com.
© Raye Robertson 2020. All
rights reserved.
[1]
Timothy Snyder, Tyranny: Twenty Lessons
from the Twentieth Century, Tim Duggan Books, NY, 2017, p. 42.
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