Tag Archives: declination

Trump in 2024?

Despite a loyal following, Donald Trump’s chances for re-election in 2024 are slimmer than they were when he was elected U.S. president in 2016.  At that time, his progressed Moon was Out-of-Bounds in declination, promising a great public response.  His progressed Sun conjoined his Ascendant, strengthening his capabilities and achievements.  In addition, Trump’s progressed Sun paralleled transiting Saturn, an aspect that Charles Jayne believed coincided with election to the presidency.  Trump enjoys none of these combinations now.

With a dynamic and favorable birth chart, Donald Trump often gets what he wants.  His closest aspect is Jupiter trine his Uranus in the 10th house of career and success.  Evangeline Adams described this pairing as “one of the most powerful aspects known… if you have political leanings this vibration is an extremely favorable one.”  To prove her point, both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, also born in the summer of 1946 like Trump, have the same aspect, though not quite as close.  While a charismatic combination, Uranus’ influence can also create unexpected emergencies or controversy as well.

Trump’s Mars in Leo conjunct his Ascendant gives him great vitality and a strong desire to prove himself a winner in contests.  Mars’ sextile to his Sun in the 10th house and trine to his opposite Moon in Sagittarius lend the ability to achieve his goals with a combination of showmanship and force.

But the former president is in the midst of some challenging aspects that continue well after the election.  With Uranus nearly exactly conjunct his Midheaven at the end of May, he was found guilty of 34 felonies in the New York City “hush money” trial.  In the 2+ weeks before Uranus exactly squared his 1st house Mars in July, he survived an assassination attempt and accepted the Republican nomination for president, but also suffered a reversal as Kamala Harris entered the race.  As the square repeats in October and April (2025), Trump continues to face volatile circumstances.  Transiting Pluto in late Capricorn, and Neptune in late Pisces also form a stressful yod to his Ascendant, lowering his vitality and making his actions less focused.

While Saturn through the 7th house can be a helpful influence for solidifying a relationship or career path, Saturn’s square to Trump’s natal Uranus in May found him liable to writer E. Jean Carroll in her sexual assault case against him.  As Saturn stationed and also approached a square to his Sun, Moon and Nodes at the end of June, his debate with Joe Biden revealed Biden’s weaknesses, but he soon stepped down in favor of Kamala Harris.  Saturn’s station in mid-November and exact squares to Trump’s Sun-Moon and Uranus in early 2025 seem unlikely to help him.

But it’s the progressions that tell the underlying story.  I like to look at both progressions in declination and the zodiac, as well as the candidate’s progressed aspects to the U.S. and its progressed chart to see how the relationship continues.  Trump’s progressed Mars conjoins the U.S. progressed Mars at the same time as the U.S. natal Saturn, as I described in a 2022 post.  Due to the strength of the U.S. Saturn, exalted in Libra, I ultimately feel that the country blocks his advances, since progressed Mars is also in its detriment in Libra.

Mars in Trump’s birth chart rules his 4th house of real estate and 9th house of the courts, both of which have had much to do with his success.  But the 4th house also rules the end of the matter metaphorically.   And at 78, things will eventually come to a close as he now nears the last chapter of life.

On the plus side, Trump has his progressed Mercury (co-ruler of his 10th) applying to a parallel to his Mars (himself), while his progressed Mars parallels natal Jupiter, both adding to his ability to fight for a position and get his message out.  But his progressed Midheaven (position) departs from a parallel to his natal MC.  His progressed Ascendant departs from a contraparallel to his natal Ascendant, and progressed Venus (ruler of the career 10th) departs from a contraparallel to his Ascendant, putting some career issues in the past.  I personally put less emphasis on his natal Mercury and Venus as they lack essential dignity.  And since progressed Mercury is also less than 2 degrees from conjoining natal Mars, it’s also near a square to his MC and accentuates the erratic pattern created by transiting Uranus to his MC and Mars.

Trump’s progressed Ascendant at 3 Scorpio also closely approaches a square to his progressed Saturn in Leo (in detriment, like his natal Saturn in Cancer), another combination suggesting frustration and weakness and ironically, coming up against an insurmountable wall.  His advances are blocked.  This aspect is reflected and augmented in his progressed Ascendant conjunct U.S. progressed Saturn (15’ past).  His progressed Ascendant also nearly exactly conjoins Adams’ Gemini rising U.S. MC, suggesting a close connection, but in my judgment, Saturn blocks him, especially as his birth Saturn is debilitated and the U.S. Saturn exalted.

Similarly, Trump’s progressed MC approaches a conjunction with his natal Pluto – a little wide at 2-1/2 degrees, but in his 12th house seems to me more like grappling with injustices done to him rather than success.

Trump’s progressed Venus and Jupiter are in a close conjunction in Libra, strengthening Venus in its dignity.  But they also both square his natal Venus and Saturn, as well as the U.S. progressed Nodes, looking more like a financial transaction, negotiation or settlement than a smooth connection with the destiny of the country as its leader.  In a like manner, the U.S. progressed Sun and Moon also square Trump’s natal Nodes and Uranus, while the midpoint of his progressed Moon and Ascendant square the U.S. natal Nodes (19’).  These are essential progressions as well as disruptive influences that point toward discord and shifting circumstances.

Despite any fame or fortune indicated in a horoscope, we all go through periods of success and failure, and times when certain achievements may not be possible  Donald Trump’s notable progressions with Saturn and the Nodes, as well as other patterns, suggest a loss to me.  And Trump lacks the three important aspects that surprisingly brought him to the presidency in 2016.  There are many ways to win, but Kamala Harris has virtually all three of those indicators in 2024.

I plan to post my forecast for Kamala Harris and the 2024 election in the next week or so.

Here’s my earlier overview of the 2024 election, based on the 2020 Jupiter-Saturn conjunction.

In my book, Tecumseh’s Curse, I analyze the history of the Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions in the U.S. and their link to the deaths of presidents, look at the Indigenous history connected with them, and analyze presidents’ and inaugural horoscopes.

The Astrology of a Derailment

Whenever a horoscope in longitude doesn’t reveal the obvious, I turn to declination, our alternate measurement in astrology. Declination can help us better understand the tragic train derailment in the Bronx on Sunday, December 1, 2013 at 7:20 AM.

The regular horoscope for the crash has the Moon, Mercury and Saturn in Scorpio conjunct the 12th house (an intense experience), Sun rising in Sagittarius trine Uranus (unexpected events in travel) and Mars opposite Neptune (engineer dozing at the controls?). But it doesn’t really have the most obvious things we expect from an accident of this magnitude. Four were killed and over 60 injured, many critically.

Turn on the declination grid and everything stands out more clearly. The Sun in Sagittarius is parallel Pluto and closely parallel the Ascendant. Then powerful Jupiter in Cancer contraparallels Pluto and tightly contraparallels both the Ascendant and the Sun. This pattern more clearly presents a situation where destruction (Pluto) from excessive speed (Jupiter) is possible. In addition, there’s an exact Mars parallel Uranus as well, the two planets most often associated with accidents and sudden crises.

Venus in Capricorn had been Out of Bounds in declination (beyond the planets’ usual path on the ecliptic) for a number of weeks at the time of the accident. The odd coincidence is that the train’s engineer has this placement in his birth chart as well! Venus OOB generally represents one with an artistic temperament or the tendency to “love not wisely but too well,” as Kt Boehrer put it. Extraordinary relationships are possible. Certainly the engineer is now unfortunately in the midst of unusually challenging relationship issues involving the passengers, his employers and government authorities (transiting Venus OOB in Capricorn). Venus goes Out of Bounds only once every 8 years or so for a few months.

Perhaps the prominence of the benefics Venus and Jupiter in this disaster accounts for the fact that not many lives were lost. At the end of the Thanksgiving weekend, there were fewer passengers to the City than usual at such an early hour.

Declination measures planets north and south of the equator and their aspects in parallel and contraparallel. This may at first appear a bit simplistic, but as we can see, declination can provide information that we may not find in longitude. It truly adds another dimension to astrology.