Jimmy Swaggart: Fundamentalist Guru
Zip Dobyns
Cheers! We have a time for Jimmy Swaggart, the wealthy TV Evangelist who was photographed going to a prostitute in Baton Rouge. The incriminating evidence was obtained by a former minister who had lost his church after Swaggart accused him of sexual misdeeds. Score one for quick Karma. It’s good data, from a birth certificate, from a Louisiana astrologer passed on by Lois Rodden.
The chart certainly fits a spiritual calling with Sagittarius rising (just past the Galactic Center) and a Pisces Sun in an exact grand trine to Jupiter and Pluto. Neptune in the ninth house in Virgo and Saturn in the second house in Pisces add to the potential for spiritual work. The Sagittarius rising, Saturn ruling the first house Capricorn and placed in Pisces, and Venus ruling the ninth house and placed in Aries give us an identification with the Absolute in three different ways. Mars in the tenth house, the East Point and north lunar node in Capricorn in the first house, and Venus (ruler of the MC) in Aries give us several versions of one-ten combinations. So we have the potential extremes of I am or ought to be God (one-nine and one-twelve) and my will is or ought to be the LAW (one-ten).
The importance of sensuality (whether money or physical pleasures including sex) and the likelihood of tensions around sensuality, power and personal relationships, are shown in many ways in the chart. Two planets, two asteroids and the Antivertex are in the second house, all except Saturn in Aquarius. Jupiter in Scorpio and Pisces in the second house connect God or ideals to sensuality and power. Jupiter is also opposite Pallas in Taurus in the fifth house and square Mercury (and Juno more widely) in Aquarius in the second house. Mars in Libra opposes Venus in Aries and they are in a very close T square to Pluto, with the nodes and Uranus more widely completing a grand cross. Note that since Venus rules Taurus and Mars and Pluto are co-rulers of Scorpio, we get a repeated focus on the fixed sides of life with their concerns over handling possessions, pleasures, and power. The Moon in zero Leo (another fixed sign) is closely conjunct the south lunar node, square Uranus (ruler of Aquarius, the other fixed sign), and quincunx the Ascendant.
The conflict aspects emphasize fixed and cardinal signs and houses, pointing to a power-struggle life. Swaggart has made a career of fighting anyone who did not agree with his narrow interpretation of the Bible, calling everyone else a tool of the Devil. His puritan religious views and reportedly strong willed and puritanical wife apparently left his human sensual needs unfulfilled. When we add some of the “auxiliary” features of astrology, they repeat the message. For starters, Asmodeus was conjunct his natal Sun at birth within 19 minutes of longitude. I have been referring to Asmodeus as the Babylonian god of lust, but it actually seems to be a part of Judeo-Christian demonology rather than Babylonian. Good and Evil by Anthony Mercatante says “Asmodeus, ‘the destroyer,’ the demon of lust, appears in a late nonscriptural Jewish work, the Book of Tobit, which is included in the Apocrypha of the Old Testament, but not counted as part of the Hebrew Bible.” p. 43 Various tales connect Asmodeus to both drunkenness and sexual lust.
Other features in Swaggart’s horoscope included the south node of Mars on his Ascendant to the minute of longitude and the Mars/Saturn midpoint on the Ascendant within one degree for another form of identification of personal will with the Law! Another interesting midpoint involves P Neptune in a lifetime conjunction with Mars/Moon. Circe, who turned men into pigs, was in the first house in Capricorn opposite Pecker and quincunx progressed Chiron for years. Godiva (famous for a nude horseback ride in Coventry) was also in the first house with P north node conjunct it and P Pluto opposite them for many years.
When Swaggart was caught P Sun and P Atlantis were conjunct natal Coventry and quincunx the MC. P Coventry was trioctile Godiva-north node and octile Pluto. P Juno was on natal Sun setting off the grand trine but also the exact Sun quincunx to natal Mars. P Circe was octile natal Saturn and P Saturn was octile natal Godiva. P Nemesis was conjunct the cluster of natal Vesta, Icarus, Bacchus and Antivertex. I usually find Vesta involved with any sort of sexual problem. Icarus is famous for overreach. Bacchus seems Neptunian, but less wild than his Greek equivalent Dionysius who was noted for sexual orgies. P Vesta was conjunct P East Point and natal Saturn as well as octile P Circe and opposite P Cupido. P Asmodeus was trioctile P Neptune, conjunct the geocentric north nodes of Mars and Venus. P Paradise and P Vaticana with their religious meanings were conjunct Uranus and octile P Antivertex, fitting the religious and personal upset.
Many more asteroid aspects could be listed. The chart is a classic case of a public figure who has played a major role in the world and has dramatic patterns shown in every known astrological technique. Of course the more traditional factors were also involved. P Ascendant at 24 Aquarius and P Pallas and P Venus at 24 Gemini were just leaving a grand air trine to Mars but they also set off the natal grand water trine, the natal cardinal cross and the natal fixed cross. P Moon was square P Mars, trioctile Jupiter and quincunx P MC. By the time the affair reached the media and the public, the Moon was opposite Circe, octile Pallas, and trioctile P Ascendant. P Mercury was on the Sun/Moon midpoint and square natal Mercury which was on its own south node. Swaggart clearly has a lesson involving logic, reason, objectivity, the ability to see the broad perspective, etc. It is unusual to find someone so narrow with Mercury in Aquarius, but Mercury does square Jupiter (judgment based on one’s beliefs) and Pallas (which symbolizes a sense of fair play and social justice and the ability to see both sides of an issue).
Swaggart has defied his Church Authorities and gone back into his TV ministry. With his fixed emphasis as well as Capricorn and Aries, he can be a steam roller. His struggles are certainly not over and he is likely to stay in the limelight. P Sun and P Atlantis travel together to late 1989 with the Sun also conjunct P Fama from the spring of 1988 though most of 1990. P south node of Vesta on the Descendant shows a high focus on work and relationships with the possibility of either great success or serious alienation of associates. For the heliocentric buffs among our readers, P Mars had just reached the one degree orb conjunction to natal Helio Mars when Swaggart was nabbed. It is moving very slowly, so will hold the aspect for many years. As has been said often in our pages, character is destiny. Anything important in the character will be said repeatedly in the horoscope, and the more we add new factors and new techniques, the more the message is hammered in. Charts of public figures who influence the world are especially useful for studying the many techniques of astrology. Swaggart’s Sagittarius rising is in the Scorpio dwad and his Libra MC is in the Aries dwad as is the Pisces Saturn. The theme of intense, personal will keeps coming through with two of these dwad combinations repeating the one-ten message.
The close water and fire trines mark an individual with great potential for passion and charisma. It is tragic when such power is channeled into devotion to a “god” made in the image of a rather primitive human being. We can hope that Jimmy finds a bigger god one of these days or one of these lifetimes.