Thursday, January 21, 2021

E Pluribus Unum lives on: the Astrology of the Biden/Harris Inauguration

 



“Through a crucible for the ages America has been tested anew and America has risen to the challenge.”—Joseph R. Biden, 1/20/2021 Inauguration Speech

 

 

It was a ceremony—and a day—for the history books. Joe Biden—Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.—was sworn in by Supreme Court Justice John Roberts as the 46th U.S. president at precisely 11:49 a.m. on the 20th, about 11 minutes earlier than anticipated (American presidential power traditionally transfers at noon sharp), but no one was complaining on that specially fitted out and secured Capitol dais. The particulars have been reported on by every journalist and media outlet imaginable, of course; here, we’ll consider—in light of those particulars—what made this day astrologically significant.

There’s plenty to talk about, including our new president’s determinedly hopeful speech, clearly crafted to change the angry, almost despairing tone of our recent public discourse, and to remind us that “…at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.”

As we have discussed over the past couple weeks, this prevailing was no foregone conclusion—remnants and reminders of the Trump-incited riot in the Capitol this past January 6th that attempted to stop the peaceful transition of power to Biden were everywhere, especially in the overwhelming security lockdown that was imposed on the whole Capitol complex. But the show went on—beautifully and with great dignity, and did so in a way that reclaimed the Capitol for the often-underestimated, but oh, so potent and resonant trappings of democracy. Order was imposed where chaos had reigned two short weeks before; the roiling mob that forcibly overran the national mall was replaced with a field of celebratory flags, firmly planted and waving. Even the wind seemed to be in on the celebratory mood.

Indeed, the visual signals of renewed democratic order were everywhere: in the Color Guard, in the commanding panache of military dress uniforms and spit-shined shoes, and in the long procession of heavily-secured official black vehicles snaking into the Capitol grounds with lights flashing purposely. Following some unspoken, but reassuring protocol, these vehicles gleamed under the light of a new Aquarius Sun (Leader), conjunct the still early Aquarius points of Saturn and Jupiter—these institutional sentries that have been so battered and bruised in recent years found their mettle and safely escorted the nation’s duly-elected future leaders to their appointments with destiny. 

 

Kamala Harris being sworn in as Biden's V.P.

Through the efforts of thousands charged with delivering yesterday’s all-important peaceful transition of power—one of the chief hallmarks of American democracy—the still new Jupiter-Saturn cycle that seemed at risk of being co-opted by anti-democracy forces on January 6th was redeemed and re-oriented towards the future and better, more unified times. It felt like the nation was taking a snappy about-face right along with our Color Guard. It felt like democracy had been wrested back from the brink by re-imposing a sense of sacred purpose and ritual. Giving meaning back to the exercise of government, beyond fulfilling one man’s ego needs. There may be a rough road ahead, but it felt like a worthy start on what our new president calls “restoring the Soul of the nation.” 

 

 

“But the American story depends not on any one of us, not on some of us, but on all of us.”

Rebuilding American unity was a constant theme in yesterday’s proceedings—beginning with the line quoted above, Biden’s stirring speech dwelt heavily on that point. The presence of three former presidents on hand for the day’s proceedings (G.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama) helped reinforce that point and visually reminded us that administrations often transition from one party to the next, and that’s okay.  

The message was clear: party should never matter more than the nation itself, especially when our natural divisions are exploited and radicalized in the service of toxic power ambitions. Let’s take a look at the Inauguration chart to see how this worked. We’ll examine the chart on its own first and then place it next to the Sibly chart for the sake of that larger context. Please note that I’ve timed the Inauguration chart for the moment Biden was actually sworn into office, but this chart should also tell us something about Biden’s entire administration over time.We'll undoubtedly come back to it for more on that. For today, however, let's examine it for what it told us about Inauguration Day itself.

 


 

Chart #1. Inauguration 2021, January 20, 2021, 11:49 a.m. ST, Washington, DC. Equal Houses, True Node. All charts cast, courtesy of Kepler 8.0 Cosmic Patterns software.

 Venus rules Taurus ASC from 9th in Capricorn, semi-sextile Pallas-Mercury (Aquarius), sextile Neptune-Ceres (Pisces), widely square Eris (Aries) and trine ASC. In other words, a determined, organized Saturnian Venus had her hands in just about everything that happened yesterday. She blessed and empowered the trappings of power and stability, with all branches of government represented—the Supreme Court justices and military personnel could have worn street clothes, but their respective uniforms signaled solidarity and a greater purpose. Venus cast a protective net around any signs of disruption (Eris)—even Wall Street was elated, scaling new heights, Capricorn-style.

Right on cue, too—it was all pretty much in keeping with the Capricorn New Moon we discussed in the last post here. Is it any wonder that our first female vice-president was in many ways the “star” of the show?

Nodal axis (Gemini-Sagittarius) t-squares Neptune-Ceres (Pisces). I’ve been watching this long-term t-square because it’s been operating as a sort of barometer of collective trends. Lately this has been focused on the deluge of Neptunian misinformation that characterized Trump’s attempts to stay in power, but there are tentative signs afloat that people are waking up to the lies, and to how they’ve been used and abused by those lies. This t-square won’t disappear overnight and neither will the mass delusions, but the Venus-to Neptune-Ceres sextile allowed a much-needed sanity break. As Biden put it so aptly in his speech, “History, faith, and reason show the way, the way of unity.” Capricorn consolidates and unites; yesterday in the Capitol it literally “contained” the misinformation with an inspiring and aspirational show of “history, faith and reason.” The challenge will be to maintain that principled vigilance.

Sun-Saturn-Jupiter conjunction (all Aquarius) squares Mars-Uranus conjunction (Taurus) in 12th. We’ve seen how the Aquarius points reflected the resolve and determination that informed the entire inauguration moment, and how they and wrested order back from the January 6th chaos. The squares we see here only deepened that resolve, since there was clearly a challenge looming in the background (12th) that galvanized every one into action. There were good reasons for the fencing and razor wire; those who forcibly broke into the House chambers on the 6th, shouting “this is our house!” needed to see the limits of that claim. The oath all DC officials swear to commits them to defending the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic, and that’s what they were doing in DC yesterday. In a chart so heavily weighted with Saturn (via Capricorn and Aquarius points) and so concentrated in the upper hemisphere of the chart, the “rule of law” was favored to prevail.

Does that mean the Biden administration is now immune to those same chaotic forces? Not at all, however Mars will be moving on pretty quickly, so that particular volatile conjunction with Uranus will lose its punch. For a broader perspective, let’s see what all this looks like next to the Sibly chart (Biwheel #1). 

 

 


"We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue..."

 


 

Biwheel #1: (inner wheel) USA (Sibly) chart, July 4, 1776, 5:10 p.m. LMT, Philadelphia, PA; (outer wheel) Inauguration 2021, January 20, 2021, 11:49 a.m. ST, Washington, DC. Equal Houses, True Node. All charts cast, courtesy of Kepler 8.0 Cosmic Patterns software.

It’s interesting that when we juxtapose these two charts, the key Inauguration points all end up in the Sibly chart’s lower hemisphere, spanning the 2nd-5th houses of that chart instead of the 9th-12th of the event chart. In terms of the nation as a whole, what happens in D.C. has decidedly local ramifications. And why not? Biden’s agenda, expressed in actions taken on his first day in office, is heavily focused on improving local conditions—getting more COVID assistance in people’s pockets (Venus-MC-Pluto and Sun-Jupiter-Saturn over Sibly 2nd), vaccines in people’s arms (Neptune over Sibly 4th) and getting kids back to school (Pallas-Mercury over Sibly 3rd house). 

In other words, the energies and resources of the federal government will be focused on the local level and its challenges. Venus (Capricorn) is transiting opposite Sibly Sun, supporting its leadership, and Saturn-Jupiter will make demands on our Sibly Venus-Jupiter by inconjunct. Solving the uniquely devastating problems plaguing people's lives these days should be a unifying goal, shouldn't it?

Broader economic issues are certainly implicated here, with the “heavies” still transiting the Sibly 2nd, but short-term goals seem to be the point here for now. The progressed Sibly Moon (not shown) falls at 3°+Aquarius and is conjoined by transiting Sun-Saturn-Jupiter—so it makes sense that the focus should be on supporting the fortunes and possibilities of “the People” who have gone through so much lately. Here’s where the challenges posed by the materially focused Taurus Mars-Uranus conjunction (square Jupiter-Saturn-progressed Sibly Moon and sextile Sibly Venus-Jupiter) can be constructive, pushing us to work on restoring local economies so the entire economy can benefit. Biden calls it “building back better,” and it makes sense here.

As always, that Sibly Mars-Nodal axis (Gemini-Sagittarius) t-square to Neptune-Ceres (Pisces) is a concern, although its influence will begin to dissipate in the coming months, as the axis continues retrograding into early Gemini-Sagittarius, out of orb with Neptune-Ceres. Truth-telling is suddenly the order of the day in D.C., so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of transformation our public discourse will go through as a result. 

Do I think for a minute that Trump will merely fade out of sight and out of mind for those who cling to him? Not really, but his influence may be more surreptitious than it has been. With the No. Node  transiting the Sibly 7th, we could see defense/military issues arise that have their roots in the Trump years. He went to great trouble to install loyalists in top defense positions, and to remove some of the old foreign policy stalwarts from defense policy advising positions the minute he realized he had lost the election—will we find out what that was all about sometime soon?

Early signs are good for Biden’s foreign policy plans—France has welcomed us back into the Paris Climate accord (another one of Biden’s first actions), Iran is hoping we will re-join the JCPOA (opinions differ strongly over this) and China is sanctioning 28 members of the Trump administration, including Secretary of State Pompeo, former National Security chief, John Bolton and Trump advisor Steve Bannon. Bottom line, there could be some geopolitical “land mines” left by Trump and company that Biden and company will have to carefully navigate. 

 

 

Fireworks lit up the sky in a finale to Inauguration celebrations.

Final thoughts

Clearly, what we saw on the 20th (yesterday, as I write this) is just a start towards fixing the many crises and problems we have to address, but overall, it feels like a strong start that will restore at least some public trust in our government’s ability (and willingness) to solve tough challenges. Biden doesn’t hesitate to tell us that he can’t do all this alone—he is not out to convince us that “he alone” can solve everything, as Trump was. What he does want everyone to realize is that we are capable of doing all this if we do it together with truly committed government support. Is Biden just deluded in his optimism, or feeding us “happy talk” to help heal the wounds?

We’ll see, but I don’t think it will help to ward off hope with more cynicism. We’ve had far too much corrosive cynicism in the past years, and it’s shown in our toxic politics.

Biden said “My whole soul is in this,” and call me crazy, but I think he deserves a chance to prove it.

 

 


 

 

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 Publications tab on the home page for her two most recent publications, A Silver Lining in Aquarius: Engineering the Future with the 2020 Jupiter-Saturn cycle, and Pluto’s Sibly Return: Revisiting Paine’s Common Sense for Transformational Times..

 

For information about individual chart readings, contact: robertsonraye@gmail.com.

 

© Raye Robertson 2021. All rights reserved.