Tag Archives: election outcome

The U.S. vs. Trump

When I looked at Donald Trump’s chances of winning the presidency in 2020, I noticed an unusual aspect in synastry:  his progressed Mars was approaching a conjunction with the U.S. progressed Mars.  At over 6 degrees apart, I didn’t consider it.  But time has passed and I was reminded of this combination when Trump announced on August 8th that the FBI had raided his Mar-a-Lago home.  It looked to me like a fight. 

Astrologers are familiar with Trump’s rising Mars in Leo, which perfectly describes his bold, assertive, bombastic personality.  It rules his 9th house, making him expansive and litigious, as well as his 4th house, often focusing him on family matters and real estate.  Trump’s Mars has helped him enthuse followers and push through his agenda.

In the U.S. Gemini rising chart I use (favored by Evangeline Adams), Mars is also rising.  In Gemini, a mutable sign, it has less force and consistency.  But it does describe a multiplicity of voices and America’s sense of independence and self-reliance.  Trump’s natal Mars is roughly sextile the U.S. Mars.  But relationships grow and change and we can get a better idea of their status at any moment by looking at progressed to progressed aspects.

The U.S. progressed Mars, like Trump’s, is now in the middle degrees of Libra, the sign of its detriment (opposite its ruling sign of Aries), making it more malefic.  We might potentially say that Trump and the country are joining forces, but the U.S. also has natal Saturn at 14 Libra 47, the sign of its exaltation, giving government authority figures the edge in any encounters.  Saturn rules the 8th, 9th and 10th houses in the U.S. chart, and closely squares the U.S. Sun in Cancer.  We can see the resources (8th) of the government (10th) and its legal system (9th) brought to bear in an authoritative move against the former president.  Both the U.S. and Trump’s progressed Mars conjoin one another, but also conjoin U.S. natal Saturn and square its Sun.  The country may be at a crossroads, and all are experiencing a challenging period of time.

The progressed to progressed combinations are unusual and continue for several years.  Trump has been actively flirting with running again in 2024, but at the time of the election, his progressed Mars will nearly exactly conjoin U.S. Saturn (less than half a degree – it will be roughly exact in the summer of 2025).  Meanwhile, the U.S. progressed Mars moving slowly retrograde and Trump’s progressed Mars moving more quickly direct in Libra are in a double-approaching conjunction with one another, less than 2½ degrees apart at the time of the 2024 election.  They will continue their close conjunction until around 2027, when the aspect will perfect.

One commentator has suggested that the more aggressive the government’s actions against Trump, the likelier he will be to run for president again in 2024. Contention motivates him.  This fits the astrological picture, which suggests a long legal battle over what justice (Libra) actually means.  The malefics involved show quite a contentious relationship in the coming years, but the strength of the U.S. Saturn implies that the country will win in the end.  (Unless, of course, Trump once again becomes its authority figure.)

Still, the malefic Mars-Saturn combination does not bode well for Donald Trump’s candidacy in 2024.  But the election is over two years away, much will change in the intervening years, and these progressed aspects, though notable, are just one small piece of a much larger picture.

 

Election 2016: Saturn Transits

Saturn is such a reliable indicator of career developments that we should consider it as an important part of assessing the presidential race.  Saturn’s cycle of approximately 28-29 years also correlates nicely with our lifespan.  Looking back to previous cycles can be very helpful in forecasting.

This technique worked extremely well with Bernie Sanders and the Democratic nomination, since he had actually run for office in both of his previous cycles and lost.

On Election Day, November 8, 2016, Saturn will be at about 15 Sagittarius.  It stationed at that point from July to September of 1987.  What was happening for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton at that point in time?

Trump, already a billionaire at age 41, had paid for a full-page New York Times ad (costing nearly $100,000) in August, critiquing U.S. foreign policy (Ronald Reagan was then in office).  This was followed by a Newsweek cover story on September 28, 1987, where he stated, “I’m not running for president… but if I did… I’d win.”

At that time, Trump had numerous conflicts with NYC Mayor Ed Koch, reminiscent of his difficulties with some Republican authority figures today.

In October of 1987, Donald attracted a large audience at a Rotary Club meeting in Hampton, New Hampshire.  His speech was recently characterized by Politico.com  as his “First Campaign Speech.”  It was isolationist in tone, and he received an extremely enthusiastic response.

It’s fascinating that he’s doing very much the same thing on a much larger scale in 2016.  Yet he hadn’t run for office and wasn’t appointed to any office.

In 1987, Hillary Clinton had recently helped her husband to win another term as Governor of Arkansas.  In September, he announced that he wouldn’t be running for president in the coming election.

That year, Hillary was elected Chair of the Children’s Defense Fund and New World Foundation.  She and Bill Clinton received the National Humanitarian Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews.  In addition, she became Chair of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women.  (Unfortunately, the sources don’t report exactly when these events occurred.)

However, Hillary was involved with her husband’s career in 1987 and he continues to be involved with hers.  She was in public life and won notable elections or appointments at her previous Saturn cycle.  Is this enough of a parallel to the presidential election today?  I think so.  The cycle suggests she’ll win again when Saturn returns to the same place in November.

Scotland Independence

Scotland went to the polls on September 18, 2014 at 7:00 AM to decide its future. Would it split from the UK and become independent? Based on the horoscope for the event, it’s clear why the answer was No!

The Sun rises in Virgo, giving Scotland, the initiator, a strong self-identity. Yet it’s in a mutable sign and no aspects to the Sun reflect autonomy. It conjoins Venus in the 12th house, showing peacefulness and a passive bent. The Sun also sextiles Saturn in Scorpio in the 3rd house, putting Scotland in close and agreeable contact with the authorities.

Perhaps more importantly, the Moon in Cancer in the 10th house also indicates the authorities, and there appears to be a significant sense of security coming from the Queen and her kingdom – another angular placement which is possibly as strong as the Sun rising. And finally, the Moon approaches a sextile to the Sun, so Scotland retains its relationship and the stability of the past flows smoothly into the future.

Of course, there are signs of a need to break away as well, otherwise there wouldn’t have been a vote at all. The transiting square of Uranus and Pluto created a T-square with the Moon in Cancer, but at the time the polls opened, the Moon had already passed its aspects to these two disruptive planets and was approaching its sextile to the Sun. Pluto was in the angular 4th house of the homeland, but its interception in the sign of Capricorn also weakened its influence.

In addition, Jupiter in the 11th house in Leo is a strong influence for the values of the authorities (as the 11th house is the 2nd from the 10th), and Jupiter trined Uranus, showing once again the ability to work things out. Jupiter will also square Saturn, perhaps indicating future frustrations, but taken together, the aspects for the status quo do outweigh those for independence. Although the final vote was only 54% for remaining part of the United Kingdom, the astrology is much clearer than the actual votes, as often happens.