Category: Astrology in History

I love History! I think it is all part of having Capricorn on the 4th house, the one which deals with roots, home, who we are and where we come from. Capricorn is the historian of the Zodiac, the keeper of the family flames. So in honor of my Capricornian 4th house, I give you my take on famous people and events. If there is some person or some event you would like to know more about that I haven’t written about yet please let me know and I will look into it!

How Do Planets Get Their Names

Let’s take a moment away from universal problems and look at the way planets and their moons get their names.

Once the dominance of the Arabic era over Science ended, stars received the names of classical gods. Asteroids, initially thought to be stars, received feminized names of gods when the distinctions between the two became clear.

Moons of most planets have the names of the Greek counterparts to the Roman gods. The exception? Anyone versed in Astrology knows it has to be quirky Uranus. Only Uranus, the ruler of Aquarius, have the names of Shakespearean characters. John Herschel, son of Uranus’ discoverer William Herschel is responsible for this diversion. We know how rebellious Uranus can be!

We name comets after their discoverer or a person the discoverer designates. However, they always receive names of a person.

Speaking of Lunar Eclipses…Trump was born on Lunar Eclipse

We just experienced a lunar eclipse on Friday. Astrologically, eclipses galvanize energy. During a lunar eclipse the Sun is on one Node and the Moon conjunct the other making the spiritual and emotional karmic energy in the chart extremely intense. The North Node indicates the soul lessons we should be learning in this lifetime. The South Node shows our past life or karmic indicators.

A person born on a lunar eclipse should study the balance between the rational element of their personality and that which is emotional. Born with the Moon conjunct the South Node, a person faces the necessity to balance the emotion nature they used with great ease in the past. Are those emotional energies stuck in the past or are they moving forward?

Since the eclipse is Lunar, the Moon takes a prominent role. Either the person will be rocketed out of the past emotional patterns or embrace them more deeply. It is better to use the energy of the eclipse during your lifetime to learn new emotional responses to boost you into new awareness.

That brings me to Donald Trump who was born during a lunar eclipse with the Moon just one degree away from his south Node. Raised with privilege and advantages, he had the opportunity to explore, learn and reevaluate his base emotional responses. Coming from lifetimes of Sagittarius he is used to telling people close to him that he knows how to take care of their needs. In fact, his entire campaign mantra of “I alone know” how to do any number of things was a testimony to his past lives.

Of course, the universe wants us to move forward. There is evidence that at one point Trump was much more progressive. However, he knew that he could only gain his ultimate prize, the presidency, by becoming the authoritarian leader so beloved by the evangelical Republican base. By reverting to that emotional safety of his South Node, Sagittarius and repeating past life patterns of being the one who has all of the knowledge, he did succeed.

Was his decision beneficial for his soul progression? Hardly. Reverting to our South Node, stops all lessons and growth. Was his decision beneficial for this incarnation? It depends on your measure of success. He won what he sought. However, at what cost and ramifications? Sadly, we are about to find out.

The “March” of Uranus and Jupiter

A few months ago I did an early 2017 outlook report for my clients and saw a good deal of unrest. I was hoping against hope that my instincts were wrong – that we would never elect a fool like Trump – and that Hillary would somehow prevail but that her election would spark great unrest on the right. I saw the signs but was too horrified to think of him winning.

Now that the nightmare has become reality, it is clear to see that one of the manifestations of troubling planetary placements is the Women’s March on Washington. Uranus, the revolutionary, remains in the masculine, aggressive fire sign of Mars while another titan, Jupiter, is in Venus-ruled, feminine Libra. Both are now facing off, opposed to each other in the sky. An opposition causes friction, a disturbance in the force field, if you will. This is an archetypical clash of male vs. female – Venus vs. Mars. Jupiter encourages growth, expansion and hates boundaries while Uranus just likes to cause disruption and fast change.

Jupiter is the Women’s March on Washington, the large and inclusive force of female energy – facing down the angry white man – the aggressive Mars energy. Oppositions are always difficult but like the process of making a pearl, nothing happens unless the sand irritates the oyster. Beauty can come of opposition if we face them head on.

What is in the middle of the duel? It is Pluto, the instigator of this world upheaval. If you have been following my blog you will see many installments discussing this planet that forces secrets to the surface now in the sign that rules authority. Pluto brings the gunk to the surface – and demands that we clear it lest it destroys us. Trump has brought our racism, homophobia and religious fundamentalism to the surface – and now we must respond or die.

Who will win this battle – Jupiter or Uranus? I don’t know – it all depends on the side we embrace. If you think January is disturbing, however, wait until February, as these placements only tightening and become further influenced by Mars.

On Inauguration Week – What Are Our Values?

As our Pluto return bears down on America’s second house, demanding that we deeply reexamine our values, it is exposing centuries of our monetary and value-based “sins.” We are clearly suffering the penalties of not responding to the banking crises in a way that punished the perpetrators: we are punished with the election of Trump. The oligarchy, the rich ruling class, is now ostentatiously in command. Pluto brings the dark to light.

However, the disease is much deeper and longer simmering. Despite all of our high ideals, slave holding men created us, we executed generations of Native Americans gave some rights to women only grudgingly. In fairness, many of us have strived to become better, to live up to the ideals. Yet, even with those efforts, as a people, we have a school-to-privatized prison system, several classes of citizenship, Sandy Hook, and the ongoing horror at Standing Rock. Literacy and science are under siege. Pluto has laid bare our sinful past and hypocrisies and thrown the consequences in our collective faces. They are on display to a world we believe we lead physically and morally. Now that “leadership” will be through the vehicle of a president karmically installed by a foreign power in a CIA like coup. Pluto exposed the filth kept hidden under the cloak of patriotism. What is true patriotism, if not a demand that expose what is wrong and push to make it right?

How we respond to this administration will set the course for America for generations to come. Will this be a cleansing era, a turning point to a brighter future closer to those professed ideals of two hundred years ago? Will we descend into the darkness suppressed for years? Will there be an earthquake forever separating the red from the blue elements into new nation-states? (Pluto rules Scorpio, the sign of death and transformation.)

What are our values? Who are we? Pluto has no desired outcome. He completed his task.

The Tragedy Of Donald Trump

Yes, I know that is a loaded heading. While I can write a missive on the tragedy to our country, however, I want to step back and focus on the man.

He could, if he opened up to his chart destiny, be a great president. No, really! With his North Node in the 10th house, the house of government and authority, in the sign of Gemini he could be someone who listens to all viewpoints and appreciates divergent ideas. With his Sun energy on one side of the Node and Uranus on the other, he could be a brilliant future thinking leader.

However, nothing he has done to date shows that he has any desire to move out of his South Node or karmic pattern of being someone who is emotionally attached to being the one of knows (Sagittarius) how to protect himself and his “family.” With the ruler of his South Node retrograded along with Pluto in his house of self-worth, he is too afraid to give up the facade of Sagittarius – (there is nothing you can tell me that I don’t already know) to learn. That would require an element of emotional security that he has yet to exhibit.

His Leo rising and Mars on the ascendant makes his belligerence and desire to fight all enemies all too clear.

That is not to say he can’t awaken to his soul destiny. For all of our sakes, I am hoping that he gets a seasonal visit from the three ghosts so instrumental in Ebenezer Scrooge’s rebirth. It is the season of miracles after all. Isn’t it?

I Was As Blind As the Pundits

During the deliberations of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin,

“Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”

With no hesitation , Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

Even though I know that Pluto brings up churning turmoil buried deep inside and I have been preaching for five years that it will bring deep change to government. Even though in this blog I wrote about how Pluto brought us President Obama, but we can’t always expect it to work in our favor. Even though, I had my financial advisor move as much money as possible out of the stock market because I had a sneaky suspicion that something horrible would happen. Even though I blogged about how neither Hillary nor Trump were following their North Nodes and neither had great charts for Presidents so there was no clear cut astrological “winner,” I was like so many others and thought it could never happen here. Despite her chart – she had to win because he was so vile. We are America, after all.

We are America. WE would never support an ignorant, racist, homophobic fool who knows nothing about our Constitution. We are America. IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE. We are America. She will win by 315 votes I said to myself because “love trumps hate” – we are America. Pluto was nice to us once, maybe the change will be getting a female president and the rage is that of all the woman who never got a chance. Pluto won’t be that bad to America – it can’t – those things don’t happen here.

I saw all of the political pundits talk about her firewall and said to myself – sure, they are right because this is America. We are America dammit – not a third world dictatorship – not a banana republic. It can’t happen here! We would never vote in a man so disgusting – a man who mocks the disabled, who assaults women and who knows nothing about governing. We are America – the land of George Washington and apple pie and expanding freedoms. It can’t happen here.

I just would not allow myself to see what was in front of me – written in the stars. That Pluto brings change born of submerged rage and doesn’t care where it lands even if it cuts into the heart of the country where “it” can never happen.

Then it happened.

So what now? Well, dear Pluto will remain in Capricorn until 2023 and American really isn’t in a full Pluto return until 2021. (When American was “born” in 1776 Pluto was last in Capricorn, in the second house, ironically the house of values. It won’t go back to the exact location it was then until 2021.) Will we become a country of hate, a dictatorship, a land where we persecute immigrants, gays and non-Christians? Will we forevermore think nothing of having someone as our leader who is a bully? In other words, will we so destroy our value system that future generations mark this day as the beginning of the end of the American experiment?

Is this nation destined to have been born during one revolutionary time of Pluto in Capricorn only to die during the next?

Or will we have a new “revolution.” Forced to see the face of hate every day sitting in our most revered house will we fight back? What will we do when they start to destroy the hard fought rights of gays and lesbians? What will we do when they destroy woman’s reproductive rights or toss 20 million people off health care? Will we play video games and drink our lattes or will we take the streets if necessary?

You won’t find these answers in Pluto. It is just an element of change. Whether this is just a sad blip in our history and we once again right ourselves depends on us. What kind of America exists when Pluto leaves Capricorn in 2023 depends on how willing we are to remember who we were when it was last in that sign.

Pluto uncovered and elevated the rot. It is up to us to decide if we shall let it remain exalted or destroy it and continue on the path of progress.

The First American Presidential Election –

The first election held in America was on January 7. 1789. Only white male property owners voted and there were only 15 electoral votes at stake. There were quite a few candidates hoping to be the first President, John Adams, John Jay, Robert Hanson Harrison, John Rutledge, Samuel Huntington, John Milton, James Armstrong, Benjamin Lincoln, Edward Telfair and, of course, George Washington.

Moving through the 10^th house, which controls government, was Pluto, the change agent and the Sun. Sun energy is always energizing and displays our inner spark so I am sure there was a tremendous felling of excitement that this new experiment was voting for a leader!

However, the Jupiter and Uranus retrogrades in the fourth house, that of home and roots and who we are at our core, shows that there was a good deal of both nervous energy and trepidation. Perhaps there was fear around our chances of success. We know that there was a great deal of dissention regarding the type of government we should have. The stark lines political “factions” so dreaded by President Washington were already there and the battle between Federalist and Anti-Federalist was just years away from explosion.

P.S. We didn’t start voting in November until 1845. Before that states called elections within a 34 day window before the first Wednesday in December. However, this caused problems because the earlier voting states often influenced the outcome of the elections of those with later polling dates. When the law passed in 1845 making one day the official Election Day, they needed one that did not interfere with farming since we were mostly an agrarian society. Spring, summer and early fall were busy times in the fields. Tuesday was a good day because it often took a full day for people to get to polling sites. They could not travel on Sunday because of church and most towns designated Wednesday as market day so Tuesday worked well.

Election Day

On Election Day 2016, Jupiter will be in conjunction with America’s Saturn which is in the house of government and society, the 10^th. Saturn loves the 10^th house, it loves tradition and organization. This is one reason our country is still plodding along slowly but surely for the past two hundred plus years. We uphold traditions, the hard to amend Constitution is our supreme law. Jupiter comes in and wants to add a sense of openness, newness to things. Jupiter wants to throw open the doors allow growth. The textbook definition of Jupiter conjunct Saturn is the adding of new methodology to a staid situation. Does that point to the election of a female as President or a total radical who wants to tear it all down?

With unpredictable Uranus in militant Aries entering our fifth house of self-expression and creativity and sitting on Chiron, the wounded warrior, I do expect fireworks on Election Day and beyond. Our pain needs exposure and release. I just hope it is as painless and rewarding as possible. I hope it moves us forward.

To my clients who are in Pluto in Capricorn overload, please note that we are not even in a full Pluto “return” yet. A return is when a planet returns to where it was in the original chart. When American was “born” on July 4, 1776, Pluto was at 27 degrees Capricorn. Pluto right now is only 15 degrees Capricorn. We have a long way to go for a complete return.

Since Pluto is in our house of values and self-worth. I hope that this country takes the time before the full return, which will start around 2022, to assess our value system. Who are we – who do we want to be going forward? I believe this election is starting to force us to come to terms with the uglier sides of our society but it is just the beginning.

What is in Store for Us in the Third Debate?

The slower moving planets haven’t moved much since the first debate, of course, but we do have some shifts which both candidates should note. Secretary Clinton has the chance to become more “friendly.” With the Sun conjunct Mercury along with Jupiter in her eleventh house, this is her time build a community. The eleventh house helps us find our tribe – come together with like-minded people and work toward some common goal. Progressed Saturn there will help her layout her plans, show that she can make an America that is opposite what Trump wants.

Her mantra should be – 90 minutes – be nice, be positive and be warm.

With Venus and Jupiter in her first she should be able to hold off on the urge to punch her opponent. However, it won’t be easy. He is going to have Mars right on his Pluto – (ironically a text book sign of male aggression only slightly outdone by a Mars/Saturn placement) right in his fifth house. The fifth is where we shine – where we take center stage. I have been hoping for him to go full mouth frothing at a debate and this is my best chance. Seriously, if he presents himself as a statesman I will be putting more credence into those stories of him being on drugs – they will have sedated him!

Ah, but is Hillary in Her North Node?

I wrote a blog entry about Donald Trump being stuck in his South Node and not moving into his current soul’s desire. Now it is time to look at the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton.

There is some controversy about the time of her birth. (There is no shock there when we are talking about the Clintons.) Some sources say she was born at 802 AM and some people say it was a PM birth. Reports are that Secretary Clinton herself has said that she was born in the evening and some say that she said it was the AM chart. Most people rely on the 8:02 AM chart since some friends corroborate it.

Born at 8:02 AM, Hillary would have a chart making her prone to secret enemies and to being very secretive. These are other reasons most astrologers use the morning chart.

Regardless of the time, we know that her South Node, where she is coming from karmically, is in Scorpio. This indicates a person who lived lives draw to passion, drama – someone who loved to be in the thick of things even if that caused great consternation. Life and death situations mesmerize Scorpios and they are always on the hunt for the next battle.

In this lifetime, she is supposed to learn the lessons of Taurus, the Bull who would prefer to smell the roses and eat good food. Taurus runs from drama and wants to experience all of the wonders of being in the physical realm. Scorpio wants intrigue – Taurus seeks a quiet place to watch the sunset.

The 802 AM places her South Node in the first house, that of personality. She loved nothing more than being in the thick of the action. It was who she was and how she lived her life.

Her North Node is in the opposing house, the seventh that of blissful relationships. Ironically, the seventh house is that which rules the domain of marriage and contractual relationships.

One would think, looking at this chart that she should not have run for President and instead settled with Bill and her grandchildren in New York. However, she may think that being back in the White House with them will bring her that peace she has long sought. I have my concerns, not about her running the country, but about realizing her Node. However, no one can judge a person’s path. I can only hope it leads to North Node contentment in some fashion.