“We are living in the era of the upstart”

May 20, 2010 By

All over the United States an anti-Washington fervor is throwing incumbents out of Congress in favor of unknown candidates with no ties to party machinery.

Barack Obama won the presidency in November of 2008, the day of the first opposition between Saturn and Uranus.  Saturn represents conventional thinking and structures; Uranus represents the breaking apart of the old order in favor of something as yet unknown.  At the time astrologers wondered, who would win, Saturn or Uranus?

This opposition between Saturn and Uranus has occurred in five phases with the fourth phase just a few weeks ago, and it affects the United States directly because the whole Cardinal Grand Cross we’ve been talking about aspects the Midheaven in the (Sibley) chart for the United States.  The Midheaven of a national chart represents that nation’s government and its standing in the world.  The US Midheaven has been under pressure since Pluto formed a challenging square to that point shortly after entering the sign of Capricorn which is associated with government structures.  Saturn followed shortly behind, and there’s no doubt that the US government has been in a period of great transformation.

At the same time Chiron and Neptune, transiting through the sky, have been passing back and forth over the US Moon (signifying the mood of the people).  Chiron has been bringing up all of our anxieties, and Neptune has been instilling a longing for something more true and more pure.

All of this is very visible in the changing American political landscape.  No longer are there two political parties with established platforms and party bosses who call the shots.  Not only is there divisiveness now between the parties, the divisiveness has penetrated within the parties.   On the right the Tea Parties have become a political force to be recognized with that divides the Republican party; on the left, which tends to be more rebellious by its very nature, the division between the left wing and the moderate center is increasingly bitter.

This is to be expected as Uranus seeks to break up Saturn’s structures that serve little or no purpose.

When Uranus enters Aries in a few weeks it will begin to form a challenging aspect to the US Midheaven, although that square will not culminate until 2011 when it will begin to form a square to Pluto and both planets will be challenging the US Midheaven.  Then it will really get interesting!

From the New York Times:

A final truism to emerge from Tuesday’s primaries is that the politics of issues, the stuff of which parties have most often crafted their core identities, has now been largely displaced by a politics of personal conviction. In other words, Tuesday’s results were less about the ideological purging of either party than they were about a rejection of the culture of both, a sense that Washington acts from expedience and little else.

So while Mr. Specter may have thought he was being transparent by announcing to the world that he was switching parties in hopes of continuing to pursue his life’s work, what a lot of voters probably heard is that his beliefs were fungible in the service of his own ambition — a vulnerability that Mr. Sestak exploited with one of the most eviscerating advertisements in recent history. (“My change in party will enable me to be re-elected,” Mr. Specter said in a clip shown several times in the ad.)

Similarly, the sober-minded Senator  Blanche Lincoln, running for re-election to the Senate in Arkansas, may not have helped herself much in the closing weeks of her primary, when, under assault from unions over her centrist record, she took an uncharacteristically populist stand against Wall Street in the debate over regulating the financial industry. The move appeared calculated for political gain, which, after all, is the very impression of Washington that may be fueling much of the resentment to begin with.

What all this probably means is that we are living in the era of the upstart. Thirty years ago, when you needed a party infrastructure to make a serious run for higher office, taking it to the establishment was quixotic venture undertaken on the national level …

Those days are gone. The intraparty rebellions now will be increasingly local, sufficiently financed and built around credible candidates — the kind of campaigns that made Barack Obama president and that may yet give us Senator Paul or Senator Sestak. My gosh, these people in Washington are in for it now.

Share
Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , ,

The Astrological State of the Union

February 25, 2009 By

President Obama gave what was effectively his first State of the Union address last night when he addressed a joint session of Congress for the first time.  The timing of the address is significant because planets in the astrological chart for the United States were being activated by the New Moon which occurred at 8:35 pm, shortly after President Obama began his address.

The New Moon occurs when the Sun and Moon conjunct in the sky.  There is a fusion of the conscious mind (Sun) and the subconscious instincts (Moon), and New Moons are therefore said to be good times for new beginnings.

Countries have birthcharts just like people do, and we call the study of places and events “mundane” astrology, after the Latin word “mundo” which means “world.”  The astrological chart for the United States (astrologers, I use the Sibley chart for reasons discussed here) contains a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter (the two benefics, or fortunate planets) to the Sun (the Spirit of the country) in the seventh house of partnership which signifies a strong sense of optimism and desire to form positive alliances.  This combination of beneficial influences, combined with an expansive and optimistic Sagittarius ascendant, bestows the idealism for which the United States is known.

However, the restrictive planet Saturn forms a square (a challenging aspect) to the Sun, suggesting periods of deflation will be required when the idealism and expansiveness becomes too great.  Hence we find periods of extreme economic boom times, followed by panic and deflation (more on this in a later post).

Last night’s New Moon formed a trine to that Seventh House Venus and Jupiter in the US chart, activating the desire to come together and feel optimistic again about the direction the country is taking.  Most polls show a nearly overwhelming rise in support for Obama’s plans to move the country forward.

Astrologers use a forecasting technique in which the birthchart is progressed through time, revealing the evolving moods and character of the individual or nation.  Last night’s New Moon fell exactly on the Sun in the US progressed chart, so this is clearly a new start for the mood of the nation.  However, the US progressed Moon has been facing off against the progressed Sun since just after the election, and therefore also opposed last night’s New Moon.   The Moon represents our desire for security, and this dynamic shows resistance to any new plans, and a desire to adhere to the status quo.

Both the Sun and the Moon in the US progressed chart form a challenging aspect (a square) to Uranus, the planet of shock and awe.  Radical change is desired by the Sun squaring Uranus, but the Moon tends to retreat into a nest of safety when challenged by change.  This dynamic is mirrored in the opposition in the sky between Saturn (conservative values, the established order) and Uranus.

Clearly the US is experiencing a pull between these two forces. Uranus in the sky is completing a square to the US Mars, one of the forces that has generated such a tremendous desire for change at all costs.  But now we have Saturn is forming a square to the US Mars, putting the brakes on any efforts to move ahead with these plans for change.  With Saturn we are two steps forward, one step back, and sometimes we find ourselves taking three steps back instead.  However, transiting Chiron is forming a trine to the US Mars, which is giving us as a nation an opportunity to heal from the inside out while we formulate a new direction.

Transiting Pluto begins a challenging cycle to Venus in the US chart in a few weeks, which could go several ways.  Pluto creates endings and new beginnings, but can also intensify alliances and transform relationships.  We could see people within the country coming together in order to wage a battle with the nation’s enemies.  We could see a continued splintering within the country.  It’s really our choice – at all times, we have free will.

Jupiter events create opportunities and good luck, and there is no shortage of these opportunities for the United States this year.  Jupiter will retrograde later in the year which expands its influence since it will spend even more time forming harmonious aspects to Mars in the US chart (energy,confidence, and the ability to defend itself) and progressed Venus (the way relationships are formed, the kinds of alliances that we make as a country, the way we work together).  There is potential for healing as well this year, as Jupiter harmonizes with the US Chiron.

The United States is at an astrological crossroads.  The US progressed Mars turned retrograde last year, and is searching for a new direction.  Pluto, god of transformation, has been challenging the US Midheaven, the point of public perception.  The qualities that gave the US its power over the past 400 years will not work for the next 400, and the nation will have to adapt.  Economic systems are changing and becoming much more tenuous and fluid as they go global.  Traditional social systems are weakening and require a new way of looking at the way humans form families and cultural groups.  As a people we must become more lithe and limber so that we can adapt to the changing collective, or we will not survive the 21st century.  This is not a time to look back and long for the conservative values of the 1950s – those days are over.  There is a new day dawning, and we will have to be ready for it.

Share
Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , ,