Category: Astrology in History

Will he won’t he….will Joe Biden enter the race for President and rescue the Democrats from “Hillary Fatigue?” If he does we will see the face off of the Scorpios. (To Bernie supporters: I am not ignoring Virgo Bernie Sanders, I just don’t have his time of birth and can’t do a full analysis.)

Looking at their charts, we see that they look a lot alike, at first glance anyway. Born just about 5 years apart, both have a Sun in Scorpio. True followers of astrology know that Sun sign accounts for very little and that we have to look at the big picture. When we do that, we see that the similarities get even greater.

Both have their Sun, Venus and Mercury in Scorpio in their 12^th house which grants charisma, mystery and a dogged desire to achieve. Biden has Mars in Scorpio in 12 as well. These people are driven by some subconscious (or past life) desire that demands that they overcome the mysteries or secrets of life – they are driven to search for answers. The 12^th house is also the house where one transcends normal existence and becomes “larger than life.” (Check out the chart of Mae West if you want to see a predominance of 12^th house planets making a person larger than life.)

Despite its boldness, this isn’t a natural placement for a politician as the 12^th house is the house of secrets. A king or queen would love this placement – they want the prestige (Scorpio) without having to reveal too much of themselves. With personal planets in the 12^th there is a natural secretiveness to the personality. The 12^th is the house of solitude and confinement, the house of writers, detectives and mystics – not American politicians forced to reveal all.

What brings Vice President Biden into the limelight is his rising sign, or sign opening the first house, the house of personality. With Sagittarius as his rising sign, Biden is drawn to travel, competition and interaction with the world. It gives him an openness and an optimism even in light of life’s tragedies. (His loss of his first wife and child to a car accident can be seen in the retrogrades of Uranus and Saturn in his marriage house and the karmic link of his 5^th – the house of children – back to the karmic 12^th.)

With Neptune, the dreamer, in his 10^th house, that of government, he is driven to try to make the world better. There is a tremendous amount of compassion associated with Neptune and he isn’t faking any of his feelings about helping the underdog. The downside of Neptune is obfuscation and he did get into the problem of plagiarizing some speeches years ago.

Biden also comes from lifetimes with heavy Aquarian energy, His South Node in is in Aquarius giving him a memory of a lifetime of compassion and caring for humanity. His North Node, Leo in the 9^th, drives him to make his presence known on the world scene.

Secretary of State Clinton has a lot more Scorpio to “overcome” and I fear that the natural Scorpio secretiveness which got her in trouble during the health care debates of the ‘90s is rearing its head again in the current “email scandal.” She comes across as untrustworthy, as sneaky and as too secretive. These, sadly, are shadow traits of too much Scorpio energy. While the Vice President has gregarious Sagittarius as his rising or personality sign, Hillary has Scorpio on the cusp of the first. The secretiveness of her personal planets (Sun, Venus and Mercury) is compounded. In addition, she has Scorpio also in the first as her South Node or past life indicator.

Scorpio South Node in the first makes her almost karmically addicted to secretiveness and drama. Her past lives were all about being in the center of passion and angst. The mysterious entity always in the middle of the “juicy stuff of life.”

If I could give her one word of karmic benefit it would be NOT to run for President and go toward her North node which is Taurus in the 7^th – meaning finding yourself at peace and joy in her body (and not some unknown unending drama) and with others. Taurus cares about the good life – good food, good people, peaceful times. She needs to leave the drama behind find peace something she won’t do in the middle of the mysteries of politics.

Karmicaly, it would be best for each if he followed Leo to the center of the world politics and she followed Taurus to the pasture of peace.

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.

I knew it was inevitable. The questions about the Hillary Clinton Presidential announcement would start as soon as they uploaded the video – and they did. Did Hilary pick a good time to announce her 2016 campaign?

With Saturn retrograded in her first house, I am very happy that she did not plan a huge rally. Saturn generally puts a blanket on the house in which it transits. Saturn in the first even without the retrograde, the house of personality, is a time when we wish to withdraw, when our words are hesitant and our actions not conducive to backslapping and frivolity. It should be a time of introspection.

Pluto – big time, rules Hillary! Her rising sign or personality is Scorpio, her Sun is in Scorpio and her South Node, her karmic ID is in Scorpio. Does it surprise anyone that she is a bit too secretive? How can she not be? Pluto rules Scorpio and it is now transiting her second house, that of self-value. Pluto is asking, no demanding, that she dig deep into the hidden much of her psyche to address issues of feeling worthlessness. Perhaps she has done this and has concluded that she can take another run at the golden apple. I hope so.

Pluto is not finished with her, however, as it is now making a conjunction with her directed Chiron and progressed Sun. This is not astrological patty cake. Chiron energetically holds deep wound issues. Where Chiron sleeps lay the head of a person deeply concerned with facing an issue that is so painful they wish to run away from its tentacles. Pluto and Chiron team up to challenge us to go deep (Pluto) and face that issue (Chiron). Remember all this demanding duo is doing the tango in her house of self-value and self-worth. The second us asks the question, do you have what it takes to make it in the world – to find your niche of safety.

If she is inclined to dodge the issue, her progressed Sun, the holder of our inner Chi – the energy of life – is sitting atop Pluto and Chiron. I doubt she can escape these questions even if she wanted.

So, was this a “good time” for Hillary to announce? If she does some very deep soul searching the answer is yes. Of course, don’t get me started on whether is making a good move for her North Node – her current souls learning curve. That is for another day.

With Jupiter and Juno (the loyalty goddess) in her ninth house activating her natal Saturn, Pluto, and Mars conjunction there, she felt the call to be on the world stage again. From that aspect, the universe is smiling down with good energy on her to reach the goals of that house – reaching out to the world – searching for the truth of the world. She wants to make that impact on the world stage – and Jupiter is pulling her along with encouragement.

If she answered Pluto’s demands, she picked a good time. If she is ignoring Pluto, she will have a bumpy personal ride.

What are her stars doing on Election Day? Well, Saturn will be leaving her first and out of retrograde but most powerful is a Progressed Mars and Directed Uranus bursting forth on her 10^th house, that of career. That is a lot of power, a lot of disruptive power – a power of breaking the rules and doing things your way. It is the power of I am taking over and doing it my way. That is a good placement for the first female president as long as Uranus does not make her make rash and brash statements and frighten people with her energy.

I love this Pope. Really, if I still believed in one thing Catholicism and Christianity hold I might be tempted to go back just because of him. While I crossed and blew up that bridge, I still admire him and appreciate his efforts to modernize the church. Naturally, I had to look at his birth chart.

No wonder I like him! He has the same Nodal axis, as do I with a South Node in Gemini and North in Sagittarius. We South Node Gemini people are very adept at gathering and distributing information. Context is not important, it is just all about receiving data. With his South Node in the 12th house, the house that connects us to God, he spent his past lives as a channeler, philosopher or recording of religious works. He was, as we would call, an academic or someone who devoted his life to receiving the words of “god.”

In this life, with his North Node in Sagittarius in the 6th house, he needs to embody those words – to put them into action. All North Node Sagittarius people should be honing in on one study. We need to leave the obsession with data and delve into something with total devotion. Obviously, for Pope Francis this was Catholicism. He is putting the religious studies of his past existence into action after devoting his lifetime to being a priest and now Pope.

Is he putting his religious words into action? I would think so and I can see why. The ruler of Sagittarius, Jupiter, is on his North Node and his Sun. When the ruler of the Node is on the Node it indicates that he has had opportunities to put his words into action before but it never worked out. Now the universe has given him several indicators that is his time is now. His Sun, also in Sagittarius, is wedge between the Node and Jupiter and Ceres, the planet of nurturing is rounding out this group.

His road will not be easy. He has Retrograded Vesta and Pluto in the first house, meaning there are many roadblocks and power plays running interference but with Mercury in the strong sign of Capricorn in the 7th house, the house of dealing with people on very intimate levels, his Sagittarian word will make a tremendous impact in the long run.

Like many people, I watched Ken Burns’ latest documentary on the Roosevelts. Naturally, I had to run to my trusty computer to run a chart analysis of Franklin and Eleanor and could not believe what I found. If I told you only one thing about astrology, that being that the 12^th house is a highly karmic “place” in the universe, you could see what I mean!

Do you think these two had some kind of cosmic connection??? I thought you would. I have never seen any chart, either that of an individual or combined, as this is, have such a huge amount of 12^th house, karmic energy.

In traditional Western Astrology, the 12^th house is the house of prisons. Seriously, when I started to study astrology I thought everyone with a Sun in the 12^th house would become a convict! While the prison idea is overplayed a bit there is a sense of the 12^th house as being where one feels trapped due to past choices and karma. When you think about it, his illness imprisoned him in his body and the relationship was something from which she always sought her freedom.

Because the 12^th house encompasses payments for choices, past karma and many other universal issues, it contains enormous energy that breaks all bounds. That fits these two as well as they and their fascinating relationship will forever intrigue Americans. In them, we see every universal saga, illness, betrayal, redemption, compromise, uniqueness, tragedy and endless hidden secrets. Their life would have been fertile soil for Shakespeare.

We karmic astrologers think of the 12^th as that connection to past and future lives and the universal energy. Well again, we have a winner! How did they find each other, love together, hurt each other and work out – hopefully – ancient issues?

Of almost more importance, is that Sun and Mercury combination in Gemini in the first house. Any Sun/Mercury combination bestows charisma. The closer these two sit together, the higher the charisma and in this chart they are just one degree apart. It is no wonder the captivated Americans and still enthrall us – they were not just a power couple, they were dynamite.

Gemini is the communicator and with Mercury in its natural home of Gemini, we can see how they could control the airwaves. Mercury is in retrograde and I see that as his voice being still by illness for years and that illness giving her the boost she needed to come into her own and start speaking her own words.

Will they come together again? I have a feeling they might as they still had many issues unresolved at his death. I do not know if they will take the world by storm again. Perhaps they will need time to appreciate and love each other – alone – for a bit.