As an evolutionary astrologer, the first thing I look for when I start a chart interpretation is the nodal axis. This is the line between the North and the South Nodes. These nodes are actually invisible markings on the Moon where the orbit of the Moon crosses the ecliptic, the path of the planets around the Sun and the Sun’s path on the celestial sphere. I know that can be confusing, but do you remember when you learned about the Earth’s axis in grade school? The Earth rotates around the Sun on that invisible line. Well, the Moon’s nodes are a similar axis. However, for those of us born on Earth, those nodes pack a wealth of knowledge about our past lives and where our soul is looking to progress in this lifetime.
The South Node indicates our karmic past, the influences from those past lives playing out in this lifetime. We will see natural tendencies – things that come easily – in the South Node but also “karmic addictions.”
The North Node indicates where the universe is pushing us to move…where we should be going in this lifetime. Nothing tells me more about someone’s personality, their roadblocks and their karmic gifts then interpreting the Nodes, the rulers of those Nodes and aspects they make to other planets.
When President Obama launched his presidential bid on a freezing February morning at the Old State Capitol Springfield, Illinois where Lincoln delivered the famous “house divided against itself speech” was he just employing brilliant political stagecraft or was he subconsciously harking back to his own “mystic cords of memory?” It was a bit of both. I was always intrigued with the idea that Obama was the reincarnated soul of Abraham Lincoln. What better way to finish his work so terribly cut short then by becoming the first African American President?
It is of interest that both Lincoln and Barack Obama came to national awareness from a political base in Illinois. (Although Obama achieved something Lincoln never could, that is, win a seat in the United States Senate. Lincoln tried for the Senate and was defeated twice. He came to the White House after serving just one term in the U.S. House of Representatives to a chorus of his opponents foretelling the dire consequences of having a novice at the helm at such a dangerous time.) The fact that one transformational speech propelled each to prominence, Obama at the 2004 Democratic Convention, Lincoln at the 1860 Young Men’s Republican Union at Cooper Union Hall is also informative. However, evolutionary Astrology relies on more than just “coincidences” between two figures. Without strong correlations between their charts, without a soul connection, we have nothing more than a list of interesting factoids. #. The proof must be in the stars and their birth charts.
Abraham Lincoln was born on a stormy Sunday morning, February 12, 1809 in Hodgenville, Kentucky around 2:00 AM. President Obama was born in Honolulu on August 4, 1961 at 7:24 PM (see charts below.)
President Obama’s South Node would need to correlate to Lincoln’s life force with either his Sun or rising sign energy. It does not disappoint. His South Node is in Aquarius in the first house. Abraham Lincoln born on Feb 12 had his Sun in Aquarius. Therefore, his South Node – Barack’s immediate past life force was in Aquarius – correlating exactly to Lincoln’s Sun energy. He was in his immediate past life a person who was born under the Sun sign of Aquarius. That is two direct connections to Abraham Lincoln. Adding an extra connection is it’s placement in the first house. The first house is what has the most influence on our personality- it shows how we project in the world. Someone with a strong first house is someone with a unique personality. Well he has been dead for over 150 years and everyone still knows who Lincoln was. I would say that is pretty darn unique!
Can we reverse the process and look at Lincoln’s North Node to find another correlation with President Obama? We can and it too works. Lincoln’s North Node is in Scorpio, and on President Obama’s chart, Scorpio “opens” the 10th house – the house of government and authority figures. Lincoln’s soul was progressing toward a Scorpio experience. Lincoln’s North Node was in the 11th house – the house dealing with cultivating unique and revolutionary group activities in the social and political arenas. It is safe to say that his soul using the Obama existence is getting to know what is like to move people in a revolutionary group force to change government. He held the Union together now he wants to continue by bringing much needed change to the way it operates.
Just as President Lincoln had a very strong third house – the house of mental ability and communication, President Obama has a powerful conjunction of Vesta, Ceres and the Moon there. This placement signifies the ability to dedicate the self to nurturing people through his ability to express himself emotionally.
These factors when added to the similarities and coincidences joining each man’s life, including the early loss of a Mother and distance from a father, spell out a soul connection. President Obama has Saturn in the 12th house as did Lincoln but its conjunction with expansive optimistic Jupiter mitigates its more negative aspects. He also shares Mars in the eighth with Lincoln, which does not make me happy. However, it is in a less volatile sign of Virgo and there is no negative interception with Uranus.
It is amusing to see that this time around Obama got a Harvard education. It was one of Abraham Lincoln’s great shames that he had a backwoods education so much, so that he forced his eldest son Robert, to go to Harvard and Harvard Law School, although he did not finish the latter. One of the many battles Robert had with his parents was over there constant pressure to get the education not available to them. Barack made it to Harvard Law School and became the first African American President of the “Harvard Law Review.”
Their North and South nodes correlate perfectly. Barack Obama has the karmic benefit of the education Lincoln craved and an even stronger communication house in an incarnation at the time of mass and instant media. He also thankfully has Venus, the archetype of the ancient goddess of love and beauty in the5th house in Moon Child a much less ominous placement than Lincoln’s warrior god of Mars. It is no wonder Barack Obama dreamed of being President when he was in kindergarten. He was cannot wait to get back to work.