USA_Rudhyar_Natal_SolarArc_070417

DonaldTrump_Natal_Transits_070417

After some of my earlier blog-entries, some have asked me whether Mr. Donald Trump (DT) is headed for impeachment. My basic response: it seems possible, but some mitigating factors suggest that he might survive. Though I wouldn’t bet on DT’s survival, impeachment remains a tall order, as all sorts of people of questionable integrity who rarely agree on anything must act in consort.

Let’s review some facts mentioned in earlier installments. First, transiting (TR) Saturn – which, remember, conjoined DT’s Moon and opposed his Sun right around inauguration time, a period that saw all sorts of initiatives launched against the fellow – went as far as 27 Sagittarius before turning retrograde there in early April, after which point it moved backwards, approaching its station in the 22^nd degree of Sagittarius (21+) in late August.[1] Because DT has his Sun at 22+ Gemini and his Moon at 21+ Sagittarius, that station places Saturn directly opposite DT’s Sun and precisely conjoined with his Moon.[2]

Expect late August to bring all sorts of crises to Mr. Trump; expect the intervening weeks to show steadily increasing pressure; expect the succeeding weeks to show the results. Though I wouldn’t say that every U.S. president who receives a challenging aspect from Saturn to the natal Sun and/or Moon will get him or herself impeached, with Trump such a development seems entirely possible, for he has thus far tried to ignore the demands of Saturn: he has refused to take responsibility for consensus-reality questions or the results of his actions, preferring to live in a kind of fantasy realm. It seems that those who ignore the demands of Saturn, no matter how highly those people get on the available social ladders, the more they invite Saturn’s most literal response: an imposed set of limitations. (A not-so-recent example: Richard Nixon in 1972.)

During the run-up to the election, DT had transiting (TR) Uranus trine his Moon and sextile his Sun. Thus he that he could make progress if he took up iconoclastic positions, an approach for which he has great aptitude, as suggested by his natal (N) Uranus conjoining is Sun and opposing his Moon. Though we associate Uranus with progressive ideas, we would speak more truly if we said that he lives by his ideas, progressive or otherwise; his mythic background (see below) suggests that in living by his ideas he will often ignore the immediate karmic demand and that he will eventually suffer for it. When operating blindly, Uranus will disagree with or disavow anything representing the status quo regardless of value – or, we might say, Uranus sometimes values disruption as an end in itself instead of as a way to open up creative space for further contribution. Thus DT found himself in a rather strange position, at least for him: he appeared as the candidate promising change. Many who voted for him apparently did so for Uranus-related reasons: like Uranus, they had taken on a kind of odd Kerouacian position, saying, like Dean Moriarity, ‘We don’t know where we’re going, but we’re going; we don’t know what it’s like here, but it’s not here, and we’ve been here, and we don’t like it.’[3]

In her dealings with DT. Hillary Clinton (HC) found herself cast as the defender of the status quo, a position for which she seemed admirably suited, despite her position as the first woman candidate for president. TR Uranus at that time was squaring the U.S. Mercury, so the people in this country took on variations of the Kerouacian approach, and once Sanders lost to Clinton at the Democratic Convention, the only proudly Uranian figure left standing had orange hair.[4]

However, I said at the time of the election that Saturn would come a-calling o DT’s horoscope, indicating that DT would have to deal with a) consensus reality, and b) the hierarchical powers of the government machine, probably experienced as a projection (TR Saturn opposing N. Sun[5]), and c) the results of any refusal to take responsibility for his acts.  If, during the period of Saturn’s station, DT survives legal onslaughts, he will do so with very limited power. (Some of us feel that the diminishing of his power has already occurred, as the events of early April seem to suggest that he does not call the shots in international matters, and recent events in connection to his “health care” bill seem to suggest that he’s lost much influence even in domestic matters.)

We can add a few items into the mix. The first has to do, again, with Uranus, who has moved on from the above-described aspects to DT’s Sun-Moon opposition to trine DT’s Mars-Ascendant conjunction in Leo (a conjunction that, by the way, accounts for DT’s myopic and aggressive self-absorption in all self-presentation – and possibly for the famous orange-ness of the man’s florid mug and general floridity). The trine may provide Trump with some protection, as it suggests that he can get away with outlandish (Uranus) and ego-driven (Mars-ASC) activity. His secondary progressed (SP) Moon has entered his 12^th house, though, an area of the horoscope associated with hidden enemies, sorrows, karma, and self-undoing. As it approaches his N Pluto at 10 Leo, I suspect that we will see all sorts of self-undoing going on as DT faces the results (karma) of actions initiated earlier.[6]

Conclusion? If you think that bad times for DT indicates good times for most other humans, you will conclude, as the above-described astrological factors come into focus, that “things are looking up” at least a little, meaning that some forms of unnecessary suffering get alleviated.

As all this happens, though, do not conclude that by objecting to the doings of DT you must take up arms with the status quo or what some will call the “shadow government” (which doesn’t seem very much in the shadows, IMHO). TR Neptune still squares the U.S. Ascendant, suggesting that people hereabouts have humongous difficulties trying to sort from truth from delusion these days. You can blame DT for the ongoing obfuscation and deception if you want, and he with his N Mercury-Neptune square seems eminently capable of all sorts of delusions and deceptions, but if you do that, you may miss the perhaps-larger deceptions emerging from people without orange hair.

As you consider these matters, you might want to look into the revelations of Mr. Scott Ritter, former chief arms inspector in Iraq who warned the country against invading Iraq, who spoke out against government deceptions about WMD’s, and who warned against the kind of violent miasma that has resulted from the invasion. In a recent piece in The American Conservative (admittedly a strange place to find Mr. Ritter), Mr. Ritter pretty much decimates the government’s version of what went on in Khan Sheikhun on April 4. Government deception in that case seems pretty much in line with the long line of deceptions perpetrated by our government (Mars square Neptune) over many decades. Ritter’s remarks have particular relevance now as the government tries to build one deception onto another as regards upcoming chemical attacks purportedly originating with the Syrian government.

We also have a noteworthy pair of solar arc (SA) directions to the U.S. horoscope. (See the second wheel of the triple-wheel chart of the USA: the inner wheel shows natal positions; the middle wheel shows the SA positions; the outer wheel shows the transits.) The N Sun-Saturn square has moved (at about a degree per year) to aspect the United States ascendant-descendant (ASD/DSC) axis, with SA Saturn just past its conjunction with the descendant (and thus opposing the ascendant) and SA Sun closely square the ASD/DSC.

The former aspect, read literally, suggests that the present restrictive forces of government – the hegemonic forces of the empire, we might say – arise as an enemy. Sun-Saturn suggests a restrictive chief executive; the 7^th house and descendant suggest “open enemies” (a traditional designation). Thus a chief executive arising as an enemy.

To understand the meaning of the SA positions, we must first come to terms with the natal (N) Sun-Saturn square, for the meaning and manifestation of the solar arc aspects have a close connection to the meaning and manifestation of the natal aspect. As I have probably said before, the N U.S. Sun-Saturn square symbolizes the US’s drive for authority (Saturn) that purportedly creates some sort of national security (Sun in Cancer) supported by a tendency, evident since before the Declaration was signed or the Constitution constituted, to take the resources of others (Sun in 8^th). The authority announces itself in terms of justice and equality (Saturn Libra) even as others’ resources, goods, and peoples get secured not for the benefit of their original owners, but for the American middle and upper classes (Venus, dispositor of Saturn, conjoining Jupiter and square midheaven-nadir axis (IM/IC)). Bring this tendency from the past into the present and you will grasp the significance of the SA aspects: the USA comes to a point where its drive for public authority (i.e. between and among nations) receives a block (Saturn) coming from an open enemy (descendant, 7^th house) related to a confusion, partly or possibly related to the head of State (Sun) and communications derived therefrom.  Sun-Saturn suggests the executive and his or her bureaucracy or derived hierarchy; the challenging aspects indicate difficulty; the third house (SA Sun – plus TR Neptune) indicates domestic (as distinguished from international) communication, including but not limited to communication related to the press; the interception of Pisces in the third suggests communication-obfuscation hard to get at. And read literally, SA Saturn on the DSC suggests that the authority hierarchy arises as an enemy.

With secondary progressed Mars retrograde (since 2006), the United States should not expect success from its international aggressions these days (or for the next several decades). No matter how much one might dislike DT, realize that he took up positions more in line with SP Mars retrograde than did HC. The events of April suggest that those positions have been undermined – and note the passive voice as you ask, “Who did the undermining?” In what surely must qualify as one of greatest political oddities in recent political memory, DT campaigned as the peace candidate, arguing for pull-back (Mars retrograde) in many international positions.[7]

Finally, a word or two about the mythic Saturn and Uranus, as those planets play important roles, these days, in the horoscopes of both DT and the United States. In Greek myth, Ouranus, the great and creative sky god, fathers many children (the Titans) in Gaie, the earth mother. When those children emerge, Ouranus looks at them and decides (has an idea!) that they are too ugly to remain in the world, so he tries to bury them back into the mother. Gaie takes a dim view of such goings on, and she devises a scheme with Kronos, one of her newborns, whom we know, via the Romans, as Saturn: the two fashion a sickle, which they use to castrate Ouranus (Uranus); the testicles fall into the ocean and later emerge as Aphrodite (as depicted in Botticelli’s painting); the blood falls and emerges as the Furies. We often blame Saturn for this, for one should not castrate one’s father; however, the problem starts with Ouranus, who tries to live only by his ideas and to avoid the karmic demands (his children) of his own creative activity. The myth suggests that our ideas and iconoclastic brilliance (Uranus) should give birth to tangible deeds (Saturn). DT, Mr. Uranus during the campaign, now must deal with Uranus’ child, and Saturn, that old devil, will have his due.

[1] When I say “backwards,” I mean, “backwards as seen from earth against the backdrop of fixed stars.” Astrologers call this retrograde motion.

[2] Side note: that a president or presidential candidate has a strong Uranus aspect in his or her birth horoscope provides no guarantee that he or she will support progressive policies. Witness not only DT, but a chap named Bush who got himself elected in 1988 and who seemed to have a particular dislike for anything Uranus might stand for. He had N Uranus square N Sun, with Uranus in the 7^th (“open enemies”).

[3] Your friendly blog-writer cannot vouch for the complete accuracy of the quotation. He has drawn it from memory, and quite possibly a memory a bit addled by a mind-altering substance under whose influence he read his dog-eared copy of Kerouac way back when.

[4] Though much has been made of HC’s own iconoclasm, and though she does have a Moon-Uranus square, she also has Saturn, her most elevated planet, closely square her Mercury and ASC. Thus her tendency to play the Saturn role, particularly in close (even adversarial!) relationships with men, onto whom she often projects Uranus, finding men, like Wild Bill and DT, who serve as perfect hooks. Thus she played the role of Saturn and had to deal with DT playing the role of Uranus. See chapter II of my Your Hidden Face: Projection in the Horoscope (AFA 2014), available through me, the American Federation of Astrologers, or that corporate entity named after a powerful group of women.

[5] See chapter V of Your Hidden Face.

[6] Both Saturn and the 12^th have to do with “karma,” a much-used word, though in different ways. To discuss those “ways” would take us rather far afield. “Karma,” here, refers simply to cause-and-effect.

[7] As I said earlier, though, his Sun-Moon opposition connects directly to the U.S. Mars-Neptune square, suggesting that he would line up quite nicely with the militaristic deception pattern outlined above.