People often ask “Where have the moderate Republicans gone?” The answer is obvious, they are still here but now are called “Democrats”. Former President Obama once gave the ploy away by saying that in the 1980’s he’d be considered a moderate Republican, and in fact he got a Republican health care bill passed, one designed by the right wing Heritage Foundation. These “Republicans” have gone on for forty plus years, and it was more accented in the current Democratic “convention” where many named Republicans spoke to unify the image that the Republicans have joined the Democrats. So essentially we have two Republican parties, the “Real” Republicans (TM) for a full-bodied Republican experience, and a Republican-lite Party, that will give you much the same treatment but with soupçon of progressive values. So whichever candidate wins the election, which is planned for November, a Republican will be our next president, beginning the 53rd year with a Republican President.
An interesting phenomenon of this recent election cycle is the number of Republican elites showing their allegiance to the Biden-Harris team. There are two ways of looking at this. Even though these elites could make more money under the corporate-friendly Trump administration, the risk is too great that the people might revolt since Trump is too up-front about his actions; it is better to have a more subtle corporate-friendly administration in charge so that the populace does not get too riled up and actually do something about their horrible so-called leaders. On the other hand, perhaps these elites know that one of the draws of Trump in 2016 was that since the elites hated him the people voted for Trump as a way to give the middle finger to said elites, and when the populace sees even more elites turning away from Trump they will support him even more, so that these elites actually want Trump to win. It is really hard to tell what their plan is.
And in the current situation where every question about the suitability of the Democrats can be answered by “but Trump” Biden can be even more Republican since he assumes the progressive have no one else to vote for.
Since this quadrennial exercise in something they call democracy has only two candidates that can win the election, we will inspect the charts for those two people.
As Paul Simon put it many years ago: “Laugh about it, shout about it/When you have to choose/Any way you look at it you lose”. Harry Truman also had something appropriate to say many years ago: “Given the choice between a Republican and someone who acts like a Republican, people will vote for the real Republican all the time.” But now the question is, who is the real Republican.
The current atmosphere is so intensely partisan that I will not pick a winner. Rather I will point out the relevant charts — election and inauguration transits and solar returns — and allow you to make whatever judgement most closely aligns with your politics. But whoever wins, the United States will have a Republican President, that I know with certainty.
First lets look briefly at the natal charts. There are three of them. The first is the standard chart for Donald Trump, the birth time most commonly used. It gives him an Ascendant of 0 Virgo, and as someone who has a Virgo Ascendant, I find that very hard to believe. After the other chart — an hour earlier — was promoted, many astrologers used it as an excuse for their incorrect prediction of a win for Clinton in 2016. In this 10:54 chart we see Mars near the Ascendant, but since he is the first president not to start a foreign war in 40 years this seems a bad example of Mars on the Ascendant. But perhaps Mars being in the Twelfth house explains it: he wants to start a real war like other presidents, but the hidden effect of Mars in the twelfth house forces him to just apply many sanctions instead. But in both charts we will see Sun opposite Moon (that is a Full Moon birth) with the North Node of the Moon closely conjunct the Sun. Donald Trump was born under a lunar eclipse, something that has seldom been talked about, but it is certainly important. Eclipses have for millennia been considered significant and special. He also has Uranus conjunct the Sun, suggesting that he is an agent of change, whether he does the change or causes others to make the change.
As far as I know there is only one given birth time for Joe Biden. In his chart all planets but one are above the horizon, suggesting a person directed towards the outer world, very comfortably in the public. The Sun-Venus conjunction (one degree in Scorpio) suggests an affectionate nature and willing to show this. Perhaps this in an indication of his famous “handiness” and preference to smelling the hair of young girls. Note that his Uranus is right on the Descendant (it is actually half a degree below, but if the birth time were off by just a couple of minutes, not unlikely, then Uranus would be above the horizon). Uranus here indicates that he attracts rebels or revolutionary people. Perhaps he is a closet Marxist? Note that he is a heavy Scorpio with four personal planets in that sign. The previous Democratic candidate also was a Scorpio. Perhaps his candidacy is the Scorpio revenge, since the sign was denied victory last time. The Sun sign of Scorpio is the most common sign for Presidents, along with Aquarius.
The other time for Donald Trump, about an hour earlier, comes from who is know as the Trump family astrologer, Marilyn Briggs. In this chart we have Jupiter closely trine Uranus with the Ascendant sextile both, and thus also a midpoint configuration. Ebertin says of Ascendant equals Jupiter/Uranus “The ability to shape one’s environment according to one’s own ideas…Shared happiness with others”. Uranus and Jupiter together suggest a real love of freedom, a don’t fence me in attitude, optimism. This is the only real difference between the two charts, since most planets don’t move that much in an hour. In this chart his rising sign is in the middle of Leo. Ask yourself is Trump an example of Virgo rising or Leo rising?
Let us look at the transits to these three charts on election day. For the first chart for Trump there is nothing very spectacular, and the only important transits are those that also occur in the other chart, since the angles, the only thing that really changes in an hour, are not affected. The important Jupiter-Saturn-Pluto conjunction, discussed in the previous post, is opposite the Venus-Saturn conjunction in the natal chart. Specifically, Saturn is opposite Venus — traditionally trouble with women (who knew!) — and Jupiter-Pluto is more strongly opposed to his natal Saturn, perhaps energizing his sense of responsibilities indicated by Saturn.
For Joe Biden on election day, we have that same triple conjunction opposite his natal Jupiter, perhaps emphasizing Biden’s sense of victory and optimism. Most notable is that the transiting Sun for this day is one degree from exact conjunction to his natal Mars: Joe Biden will feel particularly energized on that day, but hopefully he will not feel violent. Neptune is on his IC, opposite his Midheaven, and from the graphical ephemeris for this year we can see that the opposition was exact in April of 2020, about the time he was sewing up his command of the Democratic Primary, the middle of August — about the time of the convention — and finally for the third pass early February of 2021, shortly after the inauguration of the President. The only case I know off-hand of this transit of Neptune over the IC was a twenty-some male who “experimented with psychedelics” under that transit. I’ll go out on a limb and say that this will not be the Biden experience. Neptune in this position could indicate the spiritual underpinning of Mr. Biden’s campaign to save the soul of America, or it could indicate that his foundation (which is what the IC represents) is a delusion.
The other chart for Trump is quite different. In this case the Midheaven has moved enough so that Uranus is at the Midheaven with an orb of 2 minutes (relocated to Washington, DC, where he currently lives; at his birth place the conjunction is not as tight). As we can see from the graphical ephemeris, this conjunction was exact in June 2020, May 2021, as well as November 2020. This conjunction could presage a surprise or upset. Since natally Uranus conjoins his Sun, Mr. Trump is a agent of change, and this election will emphasize it. To some, this election will bring in the fascist shock-troops, and a less partisan belief might say this election will cause major, perhaps even revolutionary, changes to the country.
Also of interest are the transits on inauguration day, which will be January 20, 2021. Interestingly, on the date of inauguration the transiting Sun has just entered Aquarius and is conjunct the spot of the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction that happened a month before. While both Jupiter and Saturn have moved on, they are still loosely conjunct the Sun. There is also on inauguration day a tight — five minutes — conjunction between Mars and Uranus. Mars Uranus hard aspect are an astrological cliche, suggesting accidents. Ebertin says “Obstinacy, brutal frankness.. intolerance… premature action”. Sounds like what many people are predicting as a result of the election no matter who wins.
Looking at the Trump 10:54 chart, the conjunction mentioned in the previous paragraph is widely making a hard aspect – a semisquare — to Trump’s Sun-Node-Uranus conjunction and a wide sesquiquadrate to his moon. These aspects will remain for his other chart, since only the angles really move in the hour between those two charts. Other that a Venus sesquiquadrate his Ascendant, there is little action to his angles — Ascendant and Midheaven — just as in the chart for the election.
For Joe Biden, that loose conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn, and the Sun is sesquiquadrate his Midheaven and square his Moon. This Saturn action may indicate that he is assuming serious duties, that of a President. Neptune is still on his IC, opposite his Midheaven, as in the election day chart, but it is closer, only one degree away.
Finally we have the inauguration chart for Trump born at 9:51. While the Mars-Uranus conjunction doesn’t do much in the other natal charts, for this Trump chart that conjunction is on his MC, not surprising because Uranus is on is MC for much of the year, as shown in the graphical ephemeris. This may indicate the uproar if Trump — with this natal chart — loses the election. Or it could indicate the uproar among the Democrats and their media if Trump — again with this chart — wins the election. If you thought the pushback in 2017 was something, wait until you see the response in 2021. Also this will be a good test of which natal chart is more accurate. Stay tuned.
We also have two solar returns to look at for each candidate, once because Donald Trump has two charts, and the other set because Joe Biden’s birthday is three weeks after election so that the return right after the election is possibly more relevant than the one almost a year before the election.
Then there is the age old question of which solar return to use, the one for the birthplace or the one for the place of location. Since both these men were born close to their current residence, this does not make much difference. But to some this is important. I knew a person once who spent the night in my house on his way to an obscure location in Eastern Washington because he thought he would have a favorable return at that location.The other question is should the tropical or precessed (similar to sidereal where an adjustment is made for precession of the equinox) zodiac be used for the return.
I once did an experiment with two friends, both astrologers, who had life changing health occurrences in a year. I drew up four return charts for the appropriate year: precessed and non-prrecessed for both the birth location and the current location, and these two locations for both people differed by over 1000 miles. We then looked at all charts, and without coaching by me they picked out the most relevant chart. I then made a judgement and chose the same charts as they did — it was quite evident which chart suggested the upcoming year properly. In both cases the non-precessed chart for the birth location was the one that worked. So that is what I have used for these two candidates.
The return for Trump for the 10:54 chart is not especially noteworthy. Nothing really stands out to me. In this chart all planets except for the Sun are above the horizon, and the Sun is in the first house, the house of self projection. The Sun is square Mars-Neptune-Moon conjunction. That conjunction is important also in the Solar Return based on the 9:51 chart where we will talk about it. The Jupiter Pluto (and also loosely Saturn) conjunction is right on his Descendant. Powerful forces (indicated by those three planets) which have been building up during 2016 are most likely coming for him from the outside environment, thought some make suggest that he will have a dominating control over his environment. My belief is that the Descendant (as opposed to the Ascendant) indicates the external environment for the human being whose projection is represented by the Ascendant. Most of the planets above the horizon indicate that the year in question will be very public for him.
The return of the 9:51 chart shows that all of these planets are above the horizon, more so than in the 10:54 return. That would suggest that in the year to come June 2020 to June 2021 — he will be in the public eye. As in Joe Biden’s 2020 return, Mercury on the Ascendant indicates speaking to the public. The Mars – Neptune conjunction on the Midheaven is problematic. Mars-Neptune usually indicates unfocused or confused action — witness the Mars-Neptune square in the US chart. According to Ebertin, this conjunction on the MC suggest failure and a sense of inferiority, something that Mr. Trump feels from his childhood in Queens, an “inferior” borough compared to Manhattan. Or perhaps it suggests his sense of rejection at having lost the election. The Moon is also on the Midheaven but in the Tenth house suggesting that the public will be very aware of him, but of course that is a given.
The return for Biden for 2019 show most of the planets below the horizon. Only Uranus, Neptune, and the Moon are clearly about the horizon. Perhaps this indicates how he has been kept in the basement both literally and figuratively. The Sun is clearly at the lowest point of the chart reinforcing his actions from home. The Moon conjunct the Ascendant suggests his connection with the American people, at least Democrats, and is indicative of his amazing comeback in the Democratic primary, from almost dead to a front runner almost overnight.
The return for Joe Biden drawn for November 2020, shortly after the election, has of the planets below the horizon except Venus with Mercury slightly above and exactly conjoined the Ascendant. Perhaps this shows that he will not be the “real” president, but only a figurehead, and that others, like his vice president and other people that he has surrounded himself with even before the election, mostly retreads from the Clinton and Obama administration as well as some neoconservative Republicans, will be the ones really running his administration. In fact, I’ve already seen talk about the Harris administration, with Joe Biden. Uranus is on the Descendant, suggesting progressive forces trying to push him from the outside.
So there you have it, a look at the 2020 presidential election through the lens of astrology. Perhaps in a month or so we will know the results.
Thanks to Doug Kellogg for this article, originally posted at https://500yearparty.wordpress.com