ELECTIONS AND SUCH – TIM LYONS

Horoscopes (click to open)
usa_solararc_transits_112616

donald-trump_secondaryprogressions_transits_112616

I keep intending to give up on this blog, as I seem to have fewer readers than I have pseudonyms, but people of various descriptions keep buttonholing me on the street and asking me to tell ‘em about the astrological picture of the just-concluded election and what that picture tells us about the future of Les Etats Unis. I will briefly discuss two questions related to these matters:

1. What goes on, these days, in the United States horoscope?
2. What about this notion that the Trump will never get to the oval office, whether because votes get overturned (particularly in places with electronic voting), or because electors decide not to vote for Mr. Trump, or because something else comes up?

The United States Horoscope

Those who have read my various columns and books or who have attended the talks I sometimes have given at local astrology associations over the years know that I do a lot with the three major afflictive aspects in the United States horoscope, and that I do a lot with the solar arc directions involving those three aspects,

Let’s briefly review the three afflictive aspects:

1. The Mercury-Pluto opposition from late Cancer to late Capricorn symbolizes the nation’s tendency, evident long before 1776, to project underworld energies onto others, originally the native peoples of this continent, later onto black slaves, later still onto the descendants of those slaves, and most recently onto various groups of Middle Easterners or Muslims.
2. The square from Mars in Gemini to Neptune in Virgo symbolizes the way this country goes to war based on deceptions, of which we can point to at least two types: a. deception about war-aims, or about the facts-on-the-ground in the various foreign nations on which the United States has trained its artillery; b. self-deception, evident on the domestic scene, in which people, whether rulers or citizens, take as fact a variety of deceptive notions about “national destiny” (“Manifest” or otherwise). With natal (N) Mars in the 7^th, the United States generally projects aggression onto other nations, casting those nations in the role of aggressor no matter how many provocations have come from “the land of the free.”
3. The square from the Sun in Cancer in the 8^th house up to Saturn in Libra in the 10^th.

This third one concerns me these days (though the first two will, in the coming years, re-enter the picture quite decisively). If we move this Sun-Saturn square forward via solar arc (SA) direction to the present, we find the SA Sun at 13 Pisces and SA Saturn at 15 Gemini, the former squaring the United States’ Sagittarius ascendant, the latter opposing it. The natal (N) Sun-Saturn square points to the way this country has so often tried to play the authority role (Saturn) among nations (with the 10^th house symbolizing public presentation), speaking always of justice (Libra) even as it takes the resources of other countries (8^th house) and incorporates them into this country’s drive for security (Sun in Cancer). The aspect obviously has a lot to do with the arising of the “national security state.”

When SA Mercury and SA Pluto have contacted the same U.S ascendant, the country has either entered a major war (World War I, the 2003 invasion of Iraq) or offered major assertions about international affairs (the Monroe Doctrine). With SA Sun-Saturn, though, we can expect something a bit different, particularly with secondary progressed (SP) Mars now retrograde (as it has been since the U.S. invaded Iraq), a development which will last 70 years and bring all manner of difficulty in national self-assertion.[1]

Different how? First, Saturn opposing the U.S. ascendant suggests a restriction on U.S. expansion. Obviously enough, this has already occurred – and though I know liberals don’t like anyone to say anything good about Trump, he has said that the United States should curb its expansionist tendencies and get out of the business of regime-change. The 7^th house symbolizes “open enemies” (among other matters, of course) and open warfare, and Trump has voiced his opposition to international conflict. (Admittedly, he has also said that “we” must wipe out ISIS – hard to accomplish without international conflict!)

In general, the SA directions to the ascendant suggests that the United States’ tendency to expand into the world militarily, ideologically, and economically will take different forms. Other countries, often seen as enemies, will arise as limiting factors (SA Saturn opposing the ascendant), while the need for new structures and venues appears through the square from SA Sun to the same ascendant. Again, I think Trump has shown himself more in tune with this, one factor in his surprising showing in the election. (Note that I don’t see this as a praise of Trump. Hitler, too, arose in response to collective developments, and we do not see him as a better man for having done so!)

One additional point(among many I could mention): transiting (TR) Uranus has been squaring the U.S. Mercury (at 24 Cancer), suggesting that the thinking of the citizenry (Mercury) has taken a radical turn. This aspect surely suggests what many others have claimed as true: that the Democrats should have nominated Sanders, a person more in tune with the times, particularly that element of “the times” symbolized by a square from TR Uranus to N Mercury in the nation’s horoscope, for if Mercury suggests the climate of opinion, Uranus symbolizes a yearning for the new, a yearning for radical change, and a sweeping dislike of business as usual. I have often referred to Uranus as the ‘Jack Kerouac approach to existence,’ for Dean Moriarity says, in On the Road, ‘We don’t know where we’re going, and we don’t know what it’s like there, but it’s not here, and we’ve been here, and we don’t like it.’ Clearly Ms. Clinton did not offer much in the way of (Uranian) new ideas (though, as the possible first woman president, she would have offered substantial change in at least that area). So, again, we can see some astrological reasons for Trump’s strong showing.

The Astrology of Donny Trump 101

During the campaign, I and other astrologers warned that because TR Saturn was moving upward in Trump’s horoscope and downward in Ms. Clinton, the latter should surely take the former seriously. The aforementioned TR Uranus made positive aspects to Trump’s horoscope – trine his Moon, sextile his Sun – during the campaign, so he campaigned as the candidate of change, with the aforementioned surprising (to some) results. Add to this the fact that SA Sun lay precisely on his ascendant during the campaign, suggesting powerful influence as he in some sense came out of the closet.

But though he has purportedly won the Electoral College, will he actually get into office? Good question. The electors the aforementioned disreputable College do not have to vote for him. Now that Ms. Clinton’s victory in the popular vote has become increasingly clear, what can we expect? The following astrological factors seem relevant:

1. Mercury will turn retrograde in mid-December at 15 Capricorn, opposing the U.S. Sun and squaring the U.S. Saturn, symbols connected with the U.S authority system. When Mercury turns retrograde, many matters come up for reconsideration. Because this one contacts the N Sun-Saturn square, and because the retrograde station takes place in the house of values (and aspects the Sun in the 8^th: the values of others), we can expect some re-thinking, re-considering, and perhaps re-calibrating. This phrasing could, obviously enough, point to the recounting of votes in those places that use electronic voting machines almost exclusively, and such developments could prove important, for, as we know, only a few companies make the voting machines presently in use. The same retrograde could indicate that Electors might wish to change their minds. With the climate of opinion running so much in such an iconoclastic vein (so to speak), we should not be surprised at what electors, or the rest of us, decide to think, particularly about the traditional (Saturn) way of doing things. A historical note: Mercury turned retrograde at election-time in 2000. As so often occurs with a Mercury retrograde station, all sorts of changes occurred: new facts came to light; election functionaries had a hard time tracking down other facts. The difficulties had to do with what occurred right on election-day. The current retrograde happens some weeks after the election and thus seems to have more connection to a) possible electoral college voting, and b) investigations regarding vote-counting problems or fraud related to computer-ballots.
2. Transiting Saturn, symbolizing restrictions and problems with authority systems, will pay an important visit to Trump’s horoscope, conjoining his Sagittarius Moon and opposing his Gemini Sun in late December and into January (and again later in the year, particularly from July into October). During his campaign, Trump played the Uranus card, but Uranus fathers Saturn (or Cronus): new ideas lead to new forms; the groundbreaking must find practical application; the new (Uranus) becomes the standard (Saturn); revolutionary rhetoric meets reality. More particularly, with these afflictive aspects, Trump should expect all sorts of challenges from authority systems. Saturn-Moon suggests that Trump will feel cut off, without emotional support; that the Moon serves as the exalted ruler of his Taurus midheaven suggests that these developments have vocational relevance: the people who cut him off may appear in his profession. Perhaps even more difficult, the opposition from TR Saturn to the N Sun suggests difficulties coming from people in authority or who occupy important positions in relevant hierarchies, profound dejection and limitations or blockages related to Trump’s drive for significance. Because the Sun rules Trump’s Leo ascendant, the transit, important for anyone receiving it, has added significance for Mr. Trump. Whether these challenges come as a denial of privilege (as would occur, for example, if the electoral vote goes against him) or simply as a contraction of popularity, we can surely expect some hard times for him. (A man can often run for office as an iconoclast and rebel, but once he gets to the keys to the Big Truck, he must obey some rules of the road.)
3. One more factor: the secondary progressed (SP) Moon will enter Trump’s 12^th house in eight months, beginning its influence there some months before that. The 12^th, traditionally considered the house of losses, sorrows, and open enemies, suggests that Trump will find people working against him whom he considered allies. If he survives and gets himself inaugurated, this progression will bring him all manner of difficulty in pubic matters (for, as noted, the Moon serves as the exalted ruler of Trump’s midheaven); it could, though, indicate that he has come to the end of his run. As I write this, SP Moon conjoins Trump’s N Saturn precisely; thus, the feeling of difficulty may progress steadily – and soon. As with all situations, we find mitigating factors: TR Uranus will continue to have a positive effect on Trump, and TR Jupiter in Libra will also bring an uplifting effect via its trine to his N Moon and sextile to his N Sun. These provide powerful boosts to Trump, of course; nevertheless, one should never underestimate the strength of Saturn, the ‘lord of this world,’ who, though remaining in the penumbra during the campaign, now has come within range of Trump’s two “lights” (the Sun and Moon). At best, he will experience severe limitations.

These comments do not exhaust the possibilities, but they should give you some idea of some of the astrological factors to watch.

Horoscopes:

• The United States three wheeler: inner wheel = natal horoscope (N); middle wheel = solar arc directions (SA); outer wheel = transits (TR).
• Donald Trump: inner wheel = natal horoscope; middle wheel = secondary progressions (SP); outer wheel = transits.

[1] As Mars slowed, during the final decades of the 20^th century and the first few years of the 21st, to its retrograde station, the U.S. had more and more difficulty achieving anything resembling success in its attempts at international aggression, a process culminating (if that’s the word!) with the invasion of Iraq in 2003, when, with Mars stationing, U.S. efforts backfired. Many astrologers, including myself, have suggested that with SP Mars retrograde, we will see aggression (Mars) turned within (retrograde). This seems to have occurred, as police forces use more and more high-powered military equipment to control the populace. With SP Mars in retrograde motion, we should not be surprised to see the state-as-lawgiver combine with aggression-turned-inward to see more and more restrictions on citizens. But that seems like a discussion for another entry.