History of White House

The Presidential Debate – President Obama – Zing

Before I look at the President’s chart for the debate, I heard today that Romney is going to use “zingers” against the President. All I can say from the bottom of my liberal heart is please do…oh please do. Does he really think he should stand there and zing the President of United States? Has he forgotten how well it went over when Senator McCain called then Senator Obama, “that one” in a debate? Zingers will make the hard right fringe, those people who think President Obama is a flame throwing, Muslim, Kenyan, socialist, but the saner 80 percent of the country will find it insulting. So zing away Mitty!

Now onto the chart. The President will Venus on the cusp of the 10th house, the house of career and social status during the debate. Venus in Scorpio is going to give a depth and beauty to his words BUT he needs to be careful he isn’t too in-depth. The President has an issue with being too professorial in debates and this could happen again. With Saturn and Mercury in his 9th house, the house that rules higher education – the tendency for Professor Obama to show up is great.

Uranus is still in retrograde and is transiting the Presidents first house so he might be a bit jumpy, a bit ready to get this over with and he needs to watch another “you are good enough Hilary” moment. He is anxious to get moving but he has to watch this doesn’t trip this up.

If he takes a breath and keeps his answers quick and sharp he will be OK.

PS I still don’t like his Sun conjuncting Uranus in the 8th house. This could be a dangerous time for him and I pray daily it goes away fast!

Mary Todd Lincoln – Can We Find the Real Person?

This April is the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and while some people think of the battles and the military strategy, I am always more interested in the people involved. One of our more fascinating historical figures is Mary Todd Lincoln, a woman who I feel we will never really get to know because she has been defined through the prism of so many others prejudices for more than a century.

The closest we can get to the “real” person is to look at her birth chart but even that is shrouded in some mystery. Most astrologers use 6:00 PM as the time of birth. When I researched it the closest I got was an entry in a Bible stating it was a “rainy early evening.” For sake of discussion, I will use the 6:00 PM time but keep in mind, the fast moving bodies, Moon, Mercury, Venus – can move a lot in fifteen to thirty minutes.

This chart shows her Moon in Moon Child in the 12th house. I would tend to think this is off, because Moon in the 12th would be someone who would keep their feelings to themselves. Mary was not known for this! (This is another reason I think she was born a bit later.) Moon in Moon Child people are often ruled by their emotions. Added to this is that her rising sign – how she presented herself to the world – was also Moon Child. Her Moon and her rising sign were both Moon- driven so I am sure that the stories that she was highly emotional and given to outbursts followed by depression were correct.

What grabs my eye even more than that was the Stellium (five or more planets) in the 6th house. (Again this could have straddled the 6th and 7th if her birth time is later.) She clearly had many planets in the 6th house the house of health. Mars and Uranus both in the fire sign of Sagittarius in the 6th points to someone who has mercurial rages. You are mixing male fire energy and Uranian lightening – that is combination for flare ups. The theory that they were driven by headaches and other medical conditions is proven by this sixth house placement.

This Mars/Uranus conjunction is sitting right on top of her Sun/Neptune conjunction. Sun and Neptune makes us unaware of our true selves. Neptune is the great obfuscator and gives everything have an air of unreality. When Neptune is tightly conjunct our life force, the Sun, a person has a hard time learning or facing who they are.

This is a classic definition of the historical Mary Lincoln – highly emotional, prone to rages, someone unaware of their public persona – out of touch with reality of the day. However, there is much more to this very complicated chart. In my next blog we will explore her Capricorn Venus – do you see the attraction to the Saturnian, dour looking Lincoln? However, it is her Moon and Lilith conjunction and her Aries North Node in her intercepted 11th house that I believe will give us a more rounded look at this highly complex woman.

Her ninth house (the house of spiritual seeking) is also jammed packed and highly charged with Chiron, Pallas Athena and Saturn there all in Pisces, the sign that connects us to the cosmic consciousness. Today she might be a spiritual leader. Then she was ridiculed for having séances in the White House.

Few people in the 19th Century looked beyond the flighty, emotional woman. Why bother, she was after all just a woman? Worse, she was a woman with a rebellious streak and a calling to be a leader at a time when those traits would be castigated. How easy to use her emotional short comings to keep her inner drives from being realized.

The White House –

As I walked past the White House last night and saw it decorated for the Holidays, I renewed my oft-repeated but never followed up on pledge to do some research on the House and the people responsible for it. Well, no time like the present.

The Cornerstone for the White House was laid on October 13, 1792 after a parade from Georgetown. By the way, I have read so many conspiracy Mason theories on their “take over” of our early government which state that this was a Friday. Oh, Friday the 13th well see how that links it to the Cathar’s and the original evil connotations of Friday the 13th…… Wrong, it was a Saturday!

Anyway, the first thing that struck me was that Capricorn was “rising” – on the Eastern horizon at that time. That is a great time to dedicate a structure that you hope will endure. Capricorn is the sign that gives form and structure – it keeps things in place. What a great start for a grand house. Capricorn’s ruler, Saturn is in the 4th house – the house of home and home-life. However, it is in Aries, a fiery warrior sign and in retrograde, a pause for karma. This is a harbinger of the burning at the hands of the British during the war of 1812.

Now look at the 10th house, the house of government and leadership in society. The Sun, Vesta, Neptune and Mercury are all there in Libra. Sun and Vesta together is a very powerful placement. It combines our internal energy drive with the devotion of Vesta – the burning heart’s desire. This was intended to be a house that would dominate the world scene. Mercury indicates our thought process – how we learn and communicate. And Neptune is a symbol of our dreamy idealism. All of these are in Libra, the sign that while it may go to extremes from time to time – seeks balance This tiny country that just defeated the worlds’ largest military power, was holding itself out to a new experiment of freedom for all (well some anyway – but at least we continued to extend those benefits albeit slowly). Yes, it has gone to the over-board at time but we still have that candle of belief that we are dedicated to freedom and pursuit of happiness.

In the future I will look at the men who made the house a reality from Washington, who never lived there, to Adams, who was the first, to Hoban, the architect behind it all.