Astrology is not the best at determining outcomes. We can always describe the astrological weather and types of events to expect, but predicting a result is a different matter. It’s far more effective to describe what planets are operating and how they might alter the status quo. Pluto relentlessly erodes what it touches, Neptune dissolves things, Uranus can shatter, Saturn gradually reframes, and Jupiter refreshes situations.
For political elections, we are astrologically considering the likelihood of an outcome. When we add personal bias and agendas to the mix, we can understand how challenging it can be to predict a result. Analyzing the kind and amount of change an individual may expect is one way to approach it. Another is by studying long-term planetary cycles. An important combination this year is the progressed U.S. Sun leaving its conjunction with transiting Neptune.
On election day in 2016, transiting Neptune retrograde at 9 Pisces 16 was very close to the U.S. progressed Sun at 11 Pisces 28. These placements were also approaching a trine to the U.S. natal Sun at about 13 Cancer, allowing Neptune’s cloak to stealthily wrap itself around the country. Neptune advances only a little more than 2 degrees each year. On election day 2020, with the U.S. progressed Sun at about 15-1/2 Pisces and Neptune stationing at 18+ Pisces, the aspect is beginning to depart from the conjunction.
This suggests that some of the Neptunian confusion and complications the country has faced in recent years will gradually begin to lift. Neptune rules otherworldly transcendence, dreams, images, illusions, healthcare, drugs, contagion, disintegration, empathy, charity, idealism, isolation, the oppressed, secrets and deception, among other things.
By 2000, the influence of pharmaceutical companies had already led to a national health crisis, and deaths from opioid overdoses peaked in 2017. The coronavirus pandemic is a Neptunian development all its own, but it also exacerbated the opioid crisis and brought to light the flaws in the American healthcare system.
The proliferation of the Internet, smartphones and other mobile devices, communications satellites, distance learning and web conferencing has kept people glued to screen images.
Donald Trump, the real estate developer turned TV personality who was elected president in 2016, is truly a Neptunian character. His administration popularized the terms “fake news” and “alternate facts” to describe media coverage, promoted a nostalgic return to fossil fuels, and issued executive orders limiting the rights of refugees (many of whom were incarcerated). Through mixed messages and skepticism, he encouraged a mistrust of journalists and healthcare professionals, fueled conspiracy theories and further polarized the nation.
Neptune and Pisces have surely been influencing many aspects of our lives. The country entered an economic slump caused by a trade war with China that became a recession with the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. But feminist, LGBTQ and Black rights movements coalesced during this time.
Another interesting feature of the 2020 election is that transiting Neptune in Pisces is activating all of the major candidates’ horoscopes. It stations in square to Donald Trump’s natal 10th house Uranus in November; opposes his progressed Moon in Virgo the day before election day; and goes on to exactly square his Sun-Moon opposition in March of 2021. The station squares Mike Pence’s Sun-Mercury midpoint in Gemini, exactly squares it in January and squares his prominent Mercury for the first time in April 2021.
The Neptune station in November opposes Joe Biden’s Midheaven, exactly opposing it for the final time in February of 2021. The station transits Kamala Harris’ 10th house as it opposes her natal Venus in Virgo and opposes progressed Mars in Virgo in October and January. Which candidate has the vision for the future? Ultimately it’s a judgment call.
I’ve looked at the 2021 Inauguration horoscope, the Nodal Return cycle, and the candidates’ forecasts. The tides comes in and tides go out, and so it is with astrological developments. As it seems to me that Donald Trump resonates more strongly with recent Neptunian developments, I believe the tide has turned against him as a politician.