Tag Archives: planetary dignity

Election 2016: Final Thoughts

The Presidential Election is upon us and most astrologers agree that Hillary Clinton will win.  I’ve presented a number of astrological techniques that support the same outcome, but there are many ways to look at the election astrologically.

I considered the Moon’s progressed declination, but not the other planets, which are slow-moving and can be very powerful.  I haven’t looked at eclipses, which are basic to astrological forecasting.  Consideration of candidates’ announcements, ingress, polls opening and inauguration and charts are also often used.  And I’ve seen terrific use of the asteroids as well.

The campaign was strongly colored by the Saturn-Neptune square, which was exact for the final time in September of 2016.  Both of the candidates are flawed (Neptune) authority figures (Saturn), with many voters unable to fully commit to either.  Some of the obvious Saturn-Neptune ideas discussed include a literal “wall” to block Neptunian illegal immigrants, and carelessness (Neptune) with classified (Saturn) e-mails.

Hillary Clinton’s horoscope is heavily Scorpio and fixed signs, while Donald Trump’s is strongly Gemini and more mutable – the two couldn’t be more different astrologically.  What they have in common is Saturn, the planet of authority and position, in signs of its detriment (opposite its ruling signs).  Donald has Saturn in Cancer and a background in real estate and property management.  Hillary, with Saturn in Leo, is more of a career public figure.  They also both share Mars and Pluto in Leo – showing why Donald might admire her energy and stick-to-it-iveness and she his children, both Leo-ruled.  While hugely successful, the two have struggled for the ultimate high-status position, excellent examples of how planets in their debility can push people to achieve.  But it’s also taken time and effort for both to get where they are today.  (Barack Obama, for example, with Saturn in Capricorn, came to office with relative ease and at a much younger age.)

The two candidates also share an emphasis on the nodes.  Trump was born on the day of a total lunar eclipse (with the Sun conjoining the North Node and the Moon opposite); Clinton has the South Node rising.  These placements may account for some of the drama in this campaign.  Bill Meridian quotes Charles Jayne as writing that, “The birth of rulers near eclipses indicates either the start or end of a dynastic line and often a state.”  Thankfully, we don’t need to worry about that, given the fact that Donald Trump is unlikely to win.

I was curious about presidential eclipses and checked out Frances McEvoy’s comprehensive “A Roll Call of Presidents” in the NCGR Geocosmic Magazine from the fall of 1996.  There has never been a U.S. President born on an eclipse.  A contemporary politician similar to Trump astrologically is Newt Gingrich, who was also born with the Sun in Gemini opposite the Moon in Sagittarius, perhaps one reason why Gingrich recently defended Trump in a live interview with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly!  (Kelly, funnily enough, has the Sun and Venus in Scorpio like Hillary.)

Scorpio is a common sign in the White House, and there have been five other Scorpio presidents (John Adams, James Polk, James Garfield, Theodore Roosevelt and Warren Harding).  There have only been two previous Gemini presidents, John F. Kennedy and George H.W. Bush, though both were elected in the late 20th century and the Scorpio presidents served earlier.