James Baker: Assistant to the President
Zip Dobyns
My friends in Houston Texas came up with the data for Baker when I asked them to try to track down Bush’s wife. I still hope to get Barbara Bush in time. If her husband has a good chance to inherit the Presidency, it would be nice to have her chart to see whether it fits the patterns seen in the rest of the cast. But Baker is in a key position at the White House (White House Chief of Staff), and if we are to have a power shift, his chart should have appropriate aspects.
I was also delighted with the chart since it is a good one to refute the usual doom and gloom which most astrologers associate with the twelfth house. Baker has nine factors in the twelfth, all in Taurus, not counting a couple of new asteroids and the local Antivertex in Washington. Naturally, that sets him up for the 1985 eclipses. The early May eclipse picks up his Chiron (faith) and Pallas (often associated with politics). The later May eclipse is opposite his Mercury- Venus conjunction. The Oct. one is on his natal Moon and close to his Sun while the Nov. one squares his MC and hits midpoints in the Taurus stellium. It should be an eventful year for him.
As mentioned in the article on the coming elections, Baker’s natal Ascendant is on Reagan’s Washington Descendant; a natural combination for partnership and joint efforts. Baker’s Washington MC is on Reagan’s natal IC, giving them powerful connecting ties. His Washington MC is also on the U.S. Declaration of Independence Descendant and the Constitution MC. His Venus and Mercury are on the Constitution Descendant and his Saturn is just over a degree from an opposition to the Declaration Sun. Clearly, he fits into our national destiny as an appropriate member of the cast.
Looking at him as a person, the Taurus stellium in the Pisces house would initially suggest artistic talent, and we might have expected a musician or painter. But, like Reagan, he has the rising Jupiter found so often in the charts of politicians in the Gauquelin research, though Reagan’s is in the twelfth house and Baker’s in the first house. The emphasis on mutable houses and Gemini (rising, Jupiter, and Ceres) shows verbal fluency and intellectual versatility. Mars and Uranus in Aries in the eleventh house show a highly independent side to the nature. But Saturn in Capricorn in the Scorpio house and Pluto in Cancer in the Taurus house added to the Taurus certainly provide enough practicality to stay grounded. Neptune in Virgo in the Cancer house, and the south node of the Moon in Scorpio in the Virgo house, show still more earth-water combinations to reinforce the security needs and natural caution. Vesta in Leo is trine Mars and sextile the Ascendant, reinforcing his capacity to work in creative but effective ways. On the whole, it is a very harmonious chart. If he has faith in a higher power (our big question when the chart emphasizes Neptune or Pisces or the twelfth house), he is likely to continue to handle life successfully. Power struggles are part of the game with an emphasis on fixed factors in the chart, but politics is a good place to engage in constructive power struggles.
Baker’s progressed chart seems to support the picture we are seeing in the horoscopes discussed in the article on the election. Baker’s progressed East Point is opposite his natal Saturn, his progressed Washington Ascendant is quincunx natal Saturn, and his progressed Mercury is quincunx progressed Saturn. All three factors, Ascendant, East Point, and Mercury as ruler of the Ascendant, are keys to Baker’s own identity in action. Saturn is co-ruler of Baker’s MC as well as a natural key to authority figures, and in the eighth house can also represent an associate whether personal or work- related. The aspects strongly support a separation sometime in the next couple of years.
Baker’s Sun is just progressing into a new sign (usually indicating a change), and in a year and a half, it will move into the second house, suggesting a change in finances and the possibility of letting go an associate. Baker’s progressed Ascendant is also about to move onto the third house cusp, which might mean new people in the life or new mental activity, media attention, etc. Progressed Venus is opposite Juno at the election, another sign of a possible separation from an associate, and Venus will oppose the natal Part of Death starting in a little over one year after the election. Baker’s progressed MC continues to move conjunct Uranus for another three years, supporting a change in career or in relationships with authority figures and power. His progressed Mercury is also crossing his natal Ascendant and therefore opposite the Descendant, another sign of a possible change of personal action or of relationships.
Besides the angle connections to Reagan’s chart, Baker has interesting contacts with Bush, some of them involving the new asteroids. Baker’s natal Apollo is on Bush’s progressed Apollo which is (as mentioned in the article on the election) on Bush’s Ascendant in Washington. Baker’s progressed Apollo is on Bush’s progressed “America”, and, intriguingly, Mondale’s progressed “America” is in the same place at 8 degrees of Virgo, square the U.S. Declaration of Independence MC and Uranus. Baker’s Ascendant and progressed Mercury are on the U.S. MC-Uranus. Baker also has his progressed “Arabia” on Bush’s progressed “Arabia,” on Bush’s MC and Baker’s Mercury-Venus which means they are also on the U.S. Constitution Descendant and on the New York Stock Market Sun-MC. The asteroid might symbolize the country Saudi Arabia, or it might relate to the whole “Arab” world in the near east. In my 1902 chart for the country, Saudi Arabia, progressed Moon conjuncts progressed Mars in the spring of 1985.
The asteroid “Russia” is also prominent in both charts. Bush has progressed “Russia” conjunct his progressed Ascendant, while progressed Dembowska (like another Saturn) is on his natal “Russia.” Baker has progressed “Russia” square natal Juno and progressed Venus while conjunct his natal Antivertex and north node of the Moon and moving toward his natal Moon. It does look as if both men might be involved in the potential confrontation with Russia (perhaps involving the near east) which is a possibility next spring and early summer. Reagan has had progressed “Russia” conjunct his Pluto for several years, quincunx his Uranus. The first aspect has ended and the second will end within a few months, but the asteroid will still be quincunx Reagan’s natal Ascendant. It does seem to accurately symbolize his paranoia about the country with the asteroid on the ruler of his Ascendant in the seventh house with its danger of projection. Placing a ruler of the Ascendant in the seventh house shows the danger of giving in, fighting, or running away, but with Reagan’s Scorpio, Capricorn, Taurus emphasis, his natural inclination would be to try to keep all the power.
Returning to Baker’s chart, other aspects keep repeating the same message. If we only looked at each chart in isolation, we might simply conclude that Reagan would be defeated and Baker would look for a new job while his former boss went back to California. And we cannot totally rule out that possibility. But we can state that if Reagan wins, the term of office with not be a standard one. One of the comments I heard at the AFA/ACT conference remained with me. A speaker on the stock market panel said that “the script had already been written and it didn’t matter who played the roles.” I think the general outline of much of the next act has been written by what we have done already in our handling of the world, but as individuals we can change our role in the cast, or our handling of our role. It is true, we can’t do much to change the next act. It is upon us. I suspect that Baker and Bush will have leading roles and hope that they have the intelligence and empathy to handle them well.