Monday, August 17, 2020

The “melting pot” meets the “Dream:” the Astrology of the Biden-Harris campaign launch, Pt. I


A force to be reckoned with?

 "It is delusional to imagine that sexism or racism has evaporated. But to understand how different the 2020 landscape is, consider the array of choices that Biden enjoyed. That did not make his selection of Harris any less groundbreaking. 

She is the daughter of immigrants, and the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent on a major-party national ticket. Harris is the American melting pot meets the American Dream..."--Washington Post:


 
Yet our so-called “American Dream” is being undermined in ways that boggle the mind these days, and these undermining forces—beginning with Trump’s shameless attempt at “birtherizing” Harris—are  being deployed against the Biden-Harris team as we speak. Their ticket—just barely getting off the ground with this week’s convention—is faced first and foremost with Trump’s demonstrated intent to leverage the full powers of his office to get himself re-elected—an authoritarian approach from the get-go, but one that he has no shame about deploying, to the extent that he will use his authority to starve the Postal Service for funds in order to slow down and debilitate the mail-in vote that he (Trump) fears will disadvantage him. Alarmingly, he’s even stated out loud that this is his intention, the reason he will not approve desperately needed funding for the Postal Service. Again, from the Washington Post:

“President Trump on Thursday said he opposes both election aid for states and an emergency bailout for the U.S. Postal Service because he wants to restrict how many Americans can vote by mail, putting at risk the nation’s ability to administer the Nov. 3 elections.”

This is what stealing an election looks like, and the hand-picked campaign donor friend who Trump installed several weeks ago as the Postmaster General appears to be going along with the idea. Not only is Louis DeJoy a multi-millionaire ally and fund-raiser for Donald Trump; he’s a friend who stands to benefit greatly from decimating the institution Trump has placed in his hands. Not surprisingly, considering how Trump has installed other agents of destruction in our key institutions, Louis DeJoy reportedly has lucrative conflicts of interest that, by normal ethical standards, should raise questions about him being Postmaster General.  

Our traditional democratic norms call for separating out the official office of the President from the campaign office of the incumbent candidate, but as all things charged with Neptunian energies tend to do—especially with Trump—the boundaries between these two have been basically blurred out of existence.  His ramblings from the White House podium have never respected any lines of discretion, but lately he presents himself in campaign mode more often than not, inside the White House or not. His responsibilities seem to have taken a clear back seat to his primary purpose of bashing opponents and attempting to blow-up any means and methods they may try to get out the vote. Doesn’t it occur to him that his supporters may need the mail-in vote, too? 

A plan exists reportedly to remove 15% of the sorting machines from local POs.
Of course, as with so many other issues, Trump embraces a clear double standard when it comes to the mail-in vote: he and First Lady Melania have requested mail-in ballots for the upcoming Florida primary, and he’s basically given “red” Florida—the home of many senior supporters—his blessing for running a mail-in election.   If any state has had a tricky record of voting irregularities, it’s been Florida over the years, but it seems that if those irregularities help Trump, they’ll be just fine.

So, if we needed a reminder after the week-long celebration of Congressman John Lewis’s life and career (see here), yes, the 2020 Election will be a referendum on our sacred, fundamental right to vote. It’s called “enfranchisement”—the life blood of citizenship, and the same thing Trump tried to steal from Obama and now Harris with his “birtherism” nonsense. 

I doubt he really cares about where either of these individuals was actually born—what he’s counting on is that by using his bully pulpit to cast doubt on their birth places, he will plant seeds in the impressionable minds of just enough people who frequent social media, and in doing so he will effectively taint their campaigns. If nothing else, he dominates the media with nonsense that deflects from real issues and keeps people scrambling.

There's an immigrant story on both sides of Trump's family.
Heck, if being born of immigrants was really a disqualifying factor, Trump himself would have been disqualified for his German-American father having married an immigrant Scottish mother.

No, there’s a familiar racist “dog whistle” implied by Trump’s use of birtherism—this time inflected with misogynistic innuendos as well (Harris is “nasty,” a “mad woman,” etc.), but this time around, shame on the press if they get sucked in by them. His attacks should simply be called out for what they are—caste nonsense.

Writer Isabel Wilkerson teases apart the dynamics of the sometimes overt, sometimes unconscious social hierarchies Trump is trying to tap into with his comments and attacks throughout her brilliant 2020 work, entitled Caste: the Origins of our Discontent—a work I would recommend to all who care about our present turmoil. An excerpt is warranted at this point:

“The human impulse to create hierarchies runs across societies and cultures, predates the idea of race, and thus is farther reaching, deeper, and older than raw racism and the comparatively new division of humans by skin color….But over time, racism has often been reduced to a feeling, a character flaw, conflated with prejudice, connected to whether one is a good person or not.”[1]

The stubborn, deep-rootedness of “a feeling…conflated with prejudice” is the recipe for so many of our societal ills, but notice that Wilkerson links that “feeling” to a natural hierarchy-building impulse that has manifested everywhere and in all ages. This impulse permeates all levels, influencing a society’s collective unconscious, at times poisoning our ability to make fair and just social choices, and our ability to relate to others, on-on-one: if Trump couldn’t latch on to gender and race differences to put his opponents “in their [imagined] place” relative to himself, he would probably feel powerless. He certainly can’t compete on the basis of merit or knowledge or governing record, so what else is left to him?


Biden and good friend Lindsay Graham--before the Trump divide.
The astrology: Biden

From my astrologer’s perspective, Biden made a brilliant choice in Kamala Harris for his running mate. He had numerous great choices among the women his campaign vetted for the position but he chose the one who had the broadest range of governing experience, among other positive attributes—the one who could conceivably step into the lead position if circumstances required. At 78 years old in the midst of a pandemic, Biden was wise enough to plan for any such eventualities, choosing a Gen X, 55 year old running mate. If they are elected, we will hopefully enjoy the benefit of both leaders’ experience and skills and won’t be reduced to one of them, but it’s comforting (to me, anyway) that she is astrologically equipped to hold her own should she have to.

So here, we’ll first examine each of their charts individually (Charts #1, Biden; #2, Harris), and then we’ll very briefly consider one chart for each of them that tells us what was going on astrologically when they each won an important election (Biwheels #1 and #2). It’s my feeling that these successful election charts will give us some perspective on what will work well for this ticket in November. That will be quite enough for one post, but in the next post here, we’ll explore what their two natal charts look like together.

First, let’s examine Joe Biden’s cyclic index figures in Table 1. This “index” number is calculated by subtracting the total degrees of angular separation between the waning cycle planets in his nativity from the total degrees of angular separation between the waxing cycle planets in his chart. The resulting total (positive or negative) reflects the social/astrological “environment” the individual is born into. This can explain a lot about a leader’s worldview and trajectory in life, so let’s examine Biden’s numbers first and see what they tell us.


Table 1. Joe Biden cyclic index

Planetary cycle
Waxing degrees of angular Distance
Waning degrees of angular distance
Jup-Sat
45.11

Jup-Ura
52.22

Jup-Nep

293.37
Jup-Plu

347.54
Sat-Ura
7.11

Sat-Nep

248.26
Sat-Plu

302.44
Ura-Nep

241.16
Ura-Plu

295.33
Nep-Plu
54.17

Sub-totals
158.61
-1728.10
Difference (waxing sub-total minus waning subtotal)

-(1569.49)

Given that Biden’s waning cycles all feature angular separations over 200, it’s not surprising that his index total is deeply negative (-1569.49) in the end. Clearly, born in 1942, not even a year after the U.S. entered WWII, he was born into a time when deep systemic change was gestating for the post-War times that would follow.  This aptly describes the tone of FDR’s long presidency (1932-1945) and the monumental changes that period brought about both here and abroad.

For instance, Biden’s Jupiter-Pluto cycle was in its final, balsamic phase when he was born, pointing to the key shift in power dynamics that was drawing near. Sure enough, when FDR won re-election for the fourth time in 1944 (two consecutive terms have been the limit ever since), Harry Truman was the running mate who would survive him after April, 1945 to usher the U.S. into a “Cold War” with the then-Soviet Union—both nuclear powers and thus a shift towards a terrifyingly new world order of “mutually-assured-destruction” that basically split the globe into two hegemonic camps pitting democracy (and capitalism) against Marxist communism. Biden was born into a deeply polarized world, and he may live to serve as president in a similar, deeply-divided environment.

In the last post here I pointed out how so many of the issues that are crying out for resolution today go back to that WWII era in which Biden was born. No guarantees, of course, but perhaps this significant timing will make him especially suited for leadership now? He’s run for the nomination before and lost, but maybe the time just wasn’t quite right at those times for his unique combination of qualities. 

Biden could have tried to bump Hillary Clinton out of the 2016 race, but didn’t because his son Beau—as it turned out, a good friend of Kamala Harris—had just died of brain cancer, and Joe needed some down-time to absorb and overcome that loss. No one with an ounce of heart could hold that against him; in fact, if anything, it says that Biden has the kind of “heart” we need in our leaders—capable of feeling deeply for others. But enough speculation—let’s consider that and more in Chart #1 below. 


Chart #1: Joseph Biden, November 20, 1942, 8:30 a.m. War Time (Rated: A, from memory), Scranton, PA. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node. All charts cast, courtesy of Kepler 8.0 Cosmic Patterns software.

Jupiter rules ASC (Sagittarius); Mercury-Sun-Venus conjoin (Scorpio) trine Jupiter (Cancer) in 12th. This is a true power center in Biden’s chart—one that suggests there are profound depths to his character that may explain (among other things) his devout Catholicism. His Scorpio Sun rules his Leo 9th and his Mercury-Sun-Venus square 9th house Chiron (Leo). He has been knocked around by life, no doubt; these squares would explain, for instance, why he often refers to his family struggling early on (he was born in the first months of the war, but the Depression was still in the air, as well). Wikipedia fills in some of the blanks for us here:

“Biden's father was wealthy but had suffered several financial setbacks by the time his son was born. For several years, the family [parents and four siblings] had to live with Biden's maternal grandparents, the Finnegans.[18] When the Scranton area fell into economic decline during the 1950s, Biden's father could not find sustained work.[19] In 1953, the Bidens moved into an apartment in Claymont, Delaware, where they lived for several years before again moving to a house in Wilmington, Delaware.[18] Joe Biden Sr. later became a successful used car salesman, maintaining the family's middle-class lifestyle.[18][19][2

The challenges Biden Sr. had with establishing himself after several setbacks would have undoubtedly registered as Chironic “wounds” in Joseph’s youth, but they probably also steeled his spirit for the challenges of his own later life. His history of stuttering is pretty clearly represented by his Mercury-Chiron square, especially with his Mercury (ability to speak) already undermined in its 12th house placement. Apparently this difficulty still surfaces on occasion—some credit his sometimes hesitant debate performances to this problem. 

Jupiter trines shine quite personably in Biden's demeanor.
On a more positive note, it appears that his 8th house Jupiter trine to his 12th house Sun would have pulled his Sun forward into more prominence, despite the troublesome stutter that might have otherwise rendered him shy or withdrawn. These Scorpio-Cancer trines are an important power center in Biden’s chart, as we’ll see when we examine the Biden-Harris-Sibly relationship.

Venus (Scorpio) rules his Taurus Moon and 6th house. This and the lovely trine Venus forms with his dignified 8th house Jupiter (Cancer) suggest an easy rapport with both workers, their unions and the military—areas considered political strengths for him. His Part-of-Fortune reinforces this notion, situated in his 6th as well. At the 6th house cusp, Moon (Taurus) disposes Biden’s Jupiter at the same time it squares his Pluto (Leo) and trines his Chiron-No. Node (Leo-Virgo). It’s not surprising from all this that he’s chosen a powerful woman for running mate—he’s probably found such feminine influence profoundly nurturing and healing in his life and work.

Saturn (Rx) conjoins Uranus at DSC (Gemini); Uranus (Rx) trines Neptune (Libra) and t-squares Nodal axis (Virgo-Pisces).  Biden was born into very interesting geopolitical times, and the outer-planetary aspects represented in these aspects speak precisely to that point. He was born just months after Saturn and Uranus came together for a new cycle at 29°+Taurus (5/1942); in fact these two were still in a post-launch retrograde phase, suggesting his expression of that cycle would feel more constrained than it might have been if both points were moving direct. It has taken him time and hard work to develop his authoritative voice and his ideas for reforming social and governmental systems. Positively, he’s enjoyed the trust of others to the tune of several terms as Senator and a chance to fulfill “unfinished business” in his career. 

The Uranus-Neptune cycle is approaching its exact waning trine here, or the Disseminating phase, which is a time for ground-breaking developments aimed at putting pressure on the status quo world order as the cycle completes.  That cycle would go on to complete in 1993 and begin anew at 19°+Capricorn. As many of us can probably relate to, between WWII and 1993, a host of startling groundbreaking developments split the world between two hegemonic super-powers (Cold War), and when that became economically untenable, that order dissolved into economic, trade and technology globalization, a system that has literally shifted the world’s economic focus away from workers and their needs, to privilege corporate bottom lines over all.

Not incidentally, this globalization period brought in a deregulated, “free trade” system that effectively ratcheted up the destruction of the environment in a corporate quest to dominate the world’s non-renewable resources. Here’s where Biden’s track record on trade agreements will come into play in the campaign—like so many Democrats who were charmed by Clinton’s embrace of “free trade,” Biden voted for NAFTA in the 1990s, but he has since voted against several similar agreements, citing differences between “free” and “fair” trade that enforces key regulations. He enjoys an 85% positive rating from the AFL-CIO on trade issues, apparently.

Saturn-Uranus (Rx, Gemini) and Uranus Rx-Neptune (Gemini-Libra) cycles clearly play a central role in Biden’s chart—Saturn rules his 2nd house of values from his 7th house of allies/enemies; Uranus rules his 3rd house of mindset from the worker-and-service-friendly 6th; Neptune rules his 4th house of heritage and family from the 10th—suggesting his approach to public service and career has been forged in the everyday concerns that he grew up witnessing around him. Being in mutable Gemini, these placements also reflect a leader who is willing to adapt and consider multiple approaches to policy, etc. Over his long career, he has had an admittedly “checkered” voting record, as far as liberals are concerned, but he has adapted over time on several key issues (especially issues of race and civil rights) to be a solidly centrist liberal. His choice of VP running mates suggests that he’s willing to entertain even more progressive positions—hopefully the campaign will clarify a lot of this.  

Jupiter (Rx, Cancer), the ruler of his chart—is placed in his powerful 8th house, and both Jupiter and his Cancer 8th resonate with his lovely Taurus Moon (conjunct 6th house cusp). His personal and professional lives melt quite seamlessly into each other, suggesting that public service is not a “mask” he puts on, but who he is. 

Biden has long enjoyed the support of veterans' groups.
Grand Square: Saturn and Uranus (Rx) conjoin DSC and oppose ASC (Gemini-Sagittarius); this axis squares Nodal Axis (Virgo-Pisces). This reinforces what a key role the Saturn-Uranus cycle in particular has played in Biden’s identity, his relationships and his career—a point we’ll explore even further when we place Harris’s chart next to his. Suffice to say here, he chose his running mate well, in this regard. Biden began his career as a lawyer, which set him up for a particular interest in law enforcement and our Justice system—indeed, those who criticize his record often point to his history of supporting tough drug laws and the Clinton-era “tough on crime” bill that many think paved the way for our present crisis with mass incarceration. 

Despite Trump’s efforts to make him look soft on crime and like an enemy to police forces who fear the current “defund the police” movement, however, Biden’s history and current stated positions contradict those claims.

Saturn also rules his Capricorn 2nd house, while together, his Saturn-Uranus conjunction rules his Aquarius 3rd house. This complex of things suggests a level of discipline and competence (and perhaps even innovative thinking) when it comes to the economic issues of our day. As we’ll see when we place Biden’s chart next to the nation’s Sibly chart, this 3rd house resonance ties in nicely with the Sibly Moon –the People and their more every-day, local needs and concerns.

Moon (Taurus) trines/sextiles Nodal Axis (Virgo-Pisces) and squares Pluto (Leo). Moon also forms a Yod with Neptune (Libra) and ASC (Sagittarius). These aspects point to the complicated relationship he has had to navigate between the personal and the collective over his long career. We can probably appreciate how this fits the life of a “vice-president” – one who submerges his own career goals (Neptune in 10th inconjunct Moon) to some extent in order to serve another’s. 

The VP position is much more complex than it looks on the surface, undoubtedly, and IMHO, Biden has found strong ways to develop his own strengths in the process. He came through his time as VP with strong endorsements from his “boss” Obama—they seem to have had a very mutually respectful working relationship. There’s a strong sense here and in his chart, progressed for Election day (Nov. 7) that Biden’s “time to shine” would come eventually--even so, if he’s elected, it will not be a slam-dunk or “coronation”—more on that in the next post when we look at transits and other factors.



Biden elected Senator in November, 1972




Biwheel #1: (inner wheel) Joseph Biden, November 20, 1942, 8:30 a.m. War Time (Rated: A, from memory), Scranton, PA; (outer wheel) Biden elected Senator, November 7, 1972, 6 a.m. ST, Washington, D.C.. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node. All charts cast, courtesy of Kepler 8.0 Cosmic Patterns software.

When Biden was first elected to the Senate in 1972, Election Moon and Neptune conjoined his ASC, which probably relieved the frustrating Yod he had lived with natally, while undermining him on other levels by squaring his Nodal axis; Election Mercury joined them to oppose his Saturn­-Uranus and square his Nodal axis as well. He would somehow turn these placements to his advantage in the election, taking an important leap forward in his life, but this success was soon followed with tragedy in his wife and daughter’s deaths by car accident that December. By nature, Scorpios sign up for intensity and drama, and he has certainly had more than his share.

Transiting Mars-0-Uranus squared his natal Jupiter (Cancer), which suggests both the upset he delivered to the entrenched politician he unseated, but also the accident that was looming with his family members and its “whole-Being” impact on him (Jupiter ruled his entire chart; Mars rules his 5th and 12th), and Election Venus conjoined Pluto, both conjunct his natal Neptune (ruling 4th).

In his 1972 Senate run, he was the "young guy" challenging a much older incumbent.
When necessity called, he proved himself to be a committed family man—with Pluto transiting over his Neptune during this period (ruling his 4th), he was forced to learn the incredibly difficult job of being a single Dad who rode the train home every night for his sons, at the same time he was learning the ropes as a new Senator. Saturn was transiting his 7th during this period, too – quincunx his Mercury and square his Virgo MC and Pisces IC—definitely signs of family difficulties. Not coincidentally, he was probably still feeling the pressure and impact of his first Saturn return.

These tough times with his family would have certainly tested his commitment to public service—it would have undoubtedly been much simpler for him to work closer to home as a lawyer. However, there’s a strong sense that Biden’s whole Being is oriented towards the public realm, that he is truly “born” to public service and leadership, but not necessarily ego-centric leadership. Several factors—including the 12th house placement of his Sun-Venus-Mercury stellium, suggest that he has his best success when he projects his commitment to others, not when he allows his ego to get ahead of him. 

Biden's Saturn also trines his Neptune, suggesting that he is wired to “manifest the Dream” that drives his career, but Neptune can be notoriously hard on egos. Significantly, his Neptune opposes Eris (Rx, Aries), so we can bet that he will vigorously fight for that “Dream,” but he won’t do it in the bombastic, ego-driven manner we’ve become accustomed to from the White House.

Uranus is the only outer planet located in his personal, lower hemisphere, and its role there seems to be to connect his emotional nature (Moon) with points in the public (upper) realm. His Uranus semi-sextiles his Moon, with Moon (Taurus)-trine-Chiron (Leo)-No. Node (Virgo) and Uranus square Chiron-No. Node. This all seems to say that his best path forward (No. Node) involves public service that heals wounds, and there are plenty of those to go around. His chart features three important outer-planet placements in air signs, including Neptune, Uranus and Saturn—helping to usher in a new, healthier and more creative relationship between workers (6th h. Uranus) and technological innovation for the purposes of restoring the “Dream” would be a productive use of these energies. His “Build Back Better” platform reveals a serious focus on American manufacturing and infrastructure building—those issues suit his outer planetary placements quite nicely. 

His platform also fits the spirit of the new Jupiter-Saturn cycle due to launch in December this year, which will be transiting Biden’s 2nd house of values at that time, forming a supportive grand trine with his three air placements.

On that note, let’s introduce ourselves to Kamala Harris’s nativity.



Harris's parents, Shymala Gopalan and Donald Harris.

The astrology: Kamala Harris


Table 2. Kamala Harris cyclic index

Planetary cycle
Waxing degrees of angular Distance
Waning degrees of angular distance
Jup-Sat
85.33

Jup-Ura

250.45
Jup-Nep

187.10
Jup-Plu

248.33
Sat-Ura
165.12

Sat-Nep
101.38

Sat-Plu
163.00

Ura-Nep

296.25
Ura-Plu

357.48
Nep-Plu
61.23

Sub-totals
576.06
1339.61
Difference (waxing sub-total minus waning subtotal)

-(763.55)

Harris’s cyclical index shows an even 5 cycles waxing (Jup-Sat, Sat-Ura, Sat-Nep, Sat-Plu, Nep-Plu) and 5 cycles waning (Jup-Ura, Jup-Nep, Jup-Plu, Ura-Nep, Ura-Plu), with a final index difference between the sums of waxing degrees minus waning degrees of -763.55. As with Biden, she was born into a rapidly changing world. Her index number isn’t as negative as Biden’s, but it’s certainly indicative of change on the horizon. She was born the year before the Johnson administration’s Voting Rights Act would be passed on August 6, 1965, which happened only two months before the amazingly impactful Uranus-Pluto conjunction in Virgo that launched in October, 1965 exactly conjunct Harris’s Venus (17°+Virgo—Chart #2 below).

Anyone who remembers or studies the 1960s can attest that this was a period of serious social turmoil around voting and civil rights in general—it’s entirely possible that this turmoil in her early life primed Harris for a life in Law and civil rights advocacy. Since so much of the injustice happens these days within the structure of law enforcement and prison systems, her fields of expertise make for a weighty, significant combination. 

Harris credits her late mother, Shymala Gopalan, with her fighting spirit.
It’s notable that the Jupiter cycles (with the exception of Jup-Sat) are all waning, and the Saturn cycles are all waxing. This may reflect her birth into a sea of systemic biases on two fronts (immigrant Black father, immigrant Indian mother), another marker for the many ways the personal and the collective intersect quite strongly in her life. Harris’s early years were also influenced by the Court-ordered integration of schools by busing: is it any wonder she grew to believe that needed changes could be wrought within the government, instead of from without, by protesting? However she arrived to it, the Law proved to be a very fertile use for her energies, setting the stage for her political life.

Barrier-busting has been a consistent theme with her, being the 2nd African-American woman and the first Asian American Senator; CA’s 3rd female Senator. AG for CA in 2010. Being strong on “law and order” is another consistent theme—judging by some criticisms, there have been times (especially when she was AG) when her desire for civil rights progress and her duty to err on the side of law and order have clashed.

Now that we know that she is Biden's pick for running mate, the chart comparison we’ll discuss in the next post will feel far more “real.” It’s interesting that she’s from the liberal-leaning state of CA and he has a more eastern background, with roots in both Delaware and Pennsylvania, but apparently, Biden didn’t decide on the basis of her geographical assets—he was going to carry CA anyway!    

Harris makes no attempt to downplay her parents’ immigrant backgrounds, and why should she? They’re both accomplished professionals who have contributed greatly in their respective fields. From Wikipedia:

“Harris was born on October 20, 1964, in Oakland, California.[3] Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was a breast cancer scientist who had emigrated from Tamil Nadu, India, in 1960 to pursue a doctorate in endocrinology at UC Berkeley.[11] Her father, Donald J. Harris, is a Stanford University professor emeritus of economics, who emigrated from British Jamaica in 1961 for graduate study in economics at UC Berkeley.[12][13]

In her first speech as VP candidate, Harris referred to civil rights activism being a family affair from the time Kamala was still being driven around in a stroller—so the picture taking shape of her formative years is again, pretty much in keeping with her later life and career. Still, the right-wing (egged on by Trump and company, no doubt) has been working to cast doubt on her birthright as an American citizen for some time now. From The Atlantic:

“Last year, in an explicit echo of birtherism, the right-wing troll Jacob Wohl claimed that ‘Kamala Harris is NOT eligible to be President’ because her parents had not been legal residents of the United States for at least five years before her birth. (There is no such requirement). The president’s son Donald Trump Jr. retweeted (and then deleted) a Black “alt-right” figure saying, “She’s not an American Black. Period.” Researchers found evidence suggesting that tweets questioning Harris’s heritage were part of a coordinated campaign ‘to wedge the issue of who counts as a black person in America.’ (In the 2016 election, Russian-linked accounts repeatedly posed as Black Americans on social media. So have alt-right and white-supremacist groups. Last month, Facebook removed a Romanian network of accounts masquerading as Black Trump supporters.)”

As I said, so much pitiful nonsense—no response needed. 

At this point, let’s consider Harris’s actual natal chart below. 




Chart #2: Kamala Harris, October 20, 1964, 9:28 p.m. DST (Rated AA: BC/BR in hand), Oakland, CA. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node. All charts cast, courtesy of Kepler 8.0 Cosmic Patterns software.

All three of the most outer planets (Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) reside in this chart’s lower hemisphere, suggesting that Harris takes what happens “out there” in the collective to herself and others quite personally (having been quite personally impacted by it all); this is something that will probably resonate strongly with the American people. There are many lower-upper connections between her planets, of course: her Uranus rules her Law-related 9th, where her Saturn sits significantly in late Aquarius, and Uranus does this from her third, where it conjoins Pluto (Virgo).  

So that socially transformative and disruptive Uranus-Pluto conjunction would soon happen in her 3rd house, certainly impacting her mindset forever. The importance of this planetary cycle to her career is clear to see—her November 2010 election to California AG took place as Uranus and Pluto were slowly maneuvering through retrogrades and direct motion into their 3Q square (Aries-Capricorn)—her life simply “speaks to” those who hunger for social change.

Neptune rules her career/goals-oriented 10th from her Venus-ruled 5th, where it sits along with her Sun (Libra) and Mercury (Scorpio). She, like Trump, was a full-Moon child—her strong Aries Moon dominates her 11th house and is disposed by 2nd house Leo Mars. She’s no shrinking violet, and she brings an aggressive emotional quality to all she does, which seems to make GOPers very agitated (and usually very insulting) when she’s one of the investigators on a committee interviewing them

Harris clearly knows her own impact on others, but she also has a passion for getting to the root of issues and for winning, which will help intensify the tone of the campaign she’s now engaged in with Biden. She complements his more reserved Scorpio nature with her much more “storming the castle” extroversion and steel-trap-minded attention to details.  And it won’t hurt at all for their media exposure that her Full Moon axis forms a t-square with Sibly Pluto-Mercury (Capricorn). 

Harris's career has been a matter of interest across the globe.
Harris’s Nodal axis lies across her chart horizon, with No. Node conjunct her Gemini ASC. If we take the No. Node to mean a desirable Soul direction, she is certainly on a desirable path at this time—on Election Day, her No. Node will fall a mere 3 degrees from the election chart’s No. Node (Nov. 7, 2020 chart not shown). This sector of Gemini is also tied into Trump’s chart, of course, so having her Node here, sitting powerfully at her ASC, may help the Biden-Harris ticket.

In fact, Harris’s Nodal Axis/horizon blend is a key power center in Harris’s chart, and her Full Moon (Libra-Aries) is a definite plus, especially since her No. Node sextiles this 11th h. Moon (Gemini-Aries) and her Sun sextiles So. Node (Libra-Sag). Her Sun also trines Saturn (9th h. Aquarius), with Saturn opposite her Mars (Leo); all this gives her great mental stamina and a seriously authoritative, no-nonsense demeanor in the battles she chooses to fight (Mars). 

The fact that this Saturn-Mars opposition also takes in the Sibly Moon (chart not shown) may or may not cause issues with the public’s perception of her. She may come across as too much of a “bad-ass” for some, but it’s interesting that her Saturn opposes Trump’s Mars-ASC and their Mars conjoin (Trump chart not shown—a discussion for another day): he’s not used to being challenged on this level and it may be quite off-putting. He and his minions have already rolled out their predictable misogynistic responses to her; surely nothing she hasn’t dealt with for years! 

Harris’s Jupiter and Saturn fall square (Taurus-Aquarius). This is a waxing, still early, Crescent phase square, which suggests she is driven to grow in her work and that she’s been primed from birth for life in a sea of structural challenges. My guess is she—like so many ambitious women of color—has worked much harder than any man would need to for the sake of the same advantages, but she also works at deploying her energies efficiently—this Jupiter squares her Mars (Leo) and inconjoins her Sun (Libra), suggesting that she seeks to keep a mental balance in her professional life, and this may make her a demanding taskmaster at times (new reports have backed this up).

With Mercury ruling her chart (Gemini) from deep-diving water sign Scorpio, and disposing her Uranus-Pluto-Venus stellium in Virgo (all opposite Chiron in Pisces), we can see the rigorous intellectual (just the facts, Ma’am) approach she takes to her work, not to mention the deep sense of (civil rights-inflected) ethics she brings to the job. We can also see how she intimidates those she interrogates in committee hearings. 

Venus disposes her Libra Sun from that Civil Rights-era Virgo stellium, so it’s fair to say that the issues she was exposed to in her formative years go with her everywhere in Washington.

Finally, Harris’s chart features a nice Air-Fire Kite configuration—here, a grand Air trine (No. Node to Saturn to Sun),  enhanced by an opposition (Nodal axis/ASC-DSC) shooting through its center, creating two nice sextiles at the kite’s “crown” (So-Node to Saturn; So. Node to Sun). The fiery quality of this kite configuration is further enhanced by the mystic rectangle that connects with it. According to aspects expert Bil Tierney, this unusual one involves “two sets of oppositions whose ends trine and sextile each other”[2] (Harris’s Saturn-Mars and Sun-Moon oppositions do just that).

Tierney cites Dane Rudhyar’s Astrology of Personality, where he says the mystic rectangle indicates “’practical mysticism’, since it involve two potentially awareness-revealing, illuminating oppositions that can creatively reach ideal or inspired fruition (trine influence) thru intelligent, innovative utilization of energies (sextile influence).”[3] The strong Air-Fire relationships at play in this and the Kite point to a rare blend of intellect and passion at work in Harris’s nature and work.



Winning the AG office in California was a major turning point for Harris.


The California AG Election, Nov. 2010




Biwheel #2: (inner wheel) Kamala Harris, October 20, 1964, 9:28 p.m. DST (Rated AA: BC/BR in hand), Oakland, CA; (outer wheel) Harris elected AG of CA, November 2, 2010, 6 a.m. DST, Sacramento, CA. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node. All charts cast, courtesy of Kepler 8.0 Cosmic Patterns software.

When Harris was elected California AG in November 2010, Neptune and Chiron were triggering her powerful Saturn (Aquarius), and also at the top of her chart, Jupiter-Uranus (Rx, Pisces) were squaring her horizon, Nodal Axis (Gemini-Sag) and Part-of-Fortune (Sag). Even though this was during Jupiter-Uranus’s post-conjunction retrograde passage (they conjoined for a new cycle in 6/2010 at 1°+Aries), and the election took weeks to resolve (her opponent finally conceded near the end of November), she was vindicated and the door opened for a huge leap forward in her career.

Election Eris was also forming a transiting grand trine with her Mars (Leo) and DSC-Pt of Fortune, and it didn’t hurt that Election Pluto-No. Node (Capricorn) was still within orb of conjoining those late Sag points. Flashing forward, Pluto now trines her Uranus-Pluto-Venus (Virgo)—this is probably signaling that it’s high time to resolve the issues that exploded in the 1960s with that Uranus-Pluto conjunction. Maybe her candidacy, not to mention the Black Lives Matter movement, has manifested right on time!

Election Mars (Sag) also squared Harris MC/IC (Pisces-Virgo) and trined her Aries Eris, with Election Pallas (Sag) closely square her Pisces Chiron, triggering its powerful oppositions to Uranus-Pluto. Remember, this Chiron opposition to Uranus-Pluto was a generational configuration (all generations seem to have one or two major astrological milestones that deeply influence them), and it marked a deep wound around social justice issues, so these transits have not been powerful for her alone, but for her entire generation. Notice that this opposition t-squares Harris Pallas (Sag): How appropriate that Harris was seeking a “justice”-related position in this 2010 election!
Election Jupiter-Uranus (Rx, Pisces) also fell quincunx her Sun (Libra) as it sextiled her Taurus Jupiter (Rx), forming an interchart Yoda couple degrees later, and her Mars would have figured into a second interchart Yod. Even so, the existing Yod must have created some frustrating two-steps-forward, three-steps-back dynamics that she’s had to navigate, even beyond election day 2010. Her natal Jupiter-Sun inconjunct (Taurus-Libra) may explain why she’s been known to shift courses in mid-stream on policy positions (as with Medicare for All) when it seems there’s nowhere to go with her original positions. She’s proven herself willing to admit mistakes and correct her course—and to admit when it’s time to simply shut down a campaign that wasn’t working for her. This is probably not a bad thing, considering how fixed many of her natal positions are.


Across the COVID-19 divide, an effective team?
Final thoughts
We’ve covered a lot of territory regarding both Biden and Harris here, but we still need to get to the “juicy” stuff—how will they interact astrologically as a team on this presidential quest? Of course, this coming week will be occupied with the first ever virtual Democratic Convention, which will definitely tell us something about the internal party challenges they might face as a team, but to tell you the truth, my focus this week will also be tightly locked on the crisis with the U.S. Postal Service and Trump’s bald-faced admission that he’s out to defund and undermine the agency due to its role in the mail-in vote. To my mind, this is an even more weighty impeachable offense than the ones that got him impeached last year, but since that process isn’t likely to recur with an election around the corner, we’ll have to see exactly what Congress can do to protect our Post Office and our right to vote.
Meanwhile, this week marks the 100th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage in the United States—the date in history when a bunch of men in Congress finally admitted that there would be no peace in their lives until they got out of the way of women exercising what should have been recognized as their God-given birthright from day one in this nation. I’ll leave you with a chart for August 18, 1920—notable for its lovely Uranus-Pluto-to-Juno-No. Node grand Water trine (Pisces-Cancer-Scorpio), Pallas opposite Juno and Pluto-Venus sextile (Cancer-Virgo). The Cosmos was simply not going to allow its primal feminine force to be repressed and disenfranchised any longer because it was simply time…time…time. 


In the next post we’ll consider whether Biden is the likely vehicle for the next stage of justice for women—an actual shot at a position in the White House. Stay tuned!
Be safe, be well!

John Lewis's life's work with the Voting Rights Act must not be in vain.



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]Isabel Wilkerson, Caste: the Origins of Our Discontent, Random House [E-Book edition], 2020, p. 66.
[2]Bil Tierney, Dynamics of Aspect Analysis: New Perceptions in Astrology, CRCS Publications, Reno, NV, 1983, p. 94.
[3]Tierney, Ibid.