Political Miscellany
Zip Dobyns
Since the Perot and Bush charts were discussed in some detail in the last Asteroid-World, I decided to check a couple more mundane techniques to see if they throw light on the crucial U.S. election this fall. Horoscopes calculated for the entry of the Sun into the four cardinal signs have traditionally been used by astrology to get an overview of the following three months. The 1992 Libra Ingress (entry of the Sun into 0 Libra) covers the period of the November election. Ingress charts are calculated for the capital of whatever country the astrologer is watching, so the 1992 Libra Ingress is set for Washington, DC.
In a mundane chart, there are some variations of interpretation but the tenth house is still the executive in power. In late September, Bush will still be in the White House in the last stages of his campaign to be re-elected. The general public (and the land) would be the fourth house, but it might also represent the opponents of the executive—the party out of power. The ninth house is the judiciary and the eleventh house is the legislature, but the first and seventh houses are not so definite in their assignment.
This 1992 Libra Ingress seems to favor the executive in power since Venus which rules the MC is on the MC, and Pluto which rules Scorpio in the tenth house is in its own sign and house. Vesta, the other occupant of the tenth house is sextile the Ascendant suggesting harmony between personal and executive power. If the first house also represents the executive since it has Capricorn rising, it offers additional support for Bush retaining the office. The two rulers of the first house signs are both in the first house—Saturn and Uranus. Mars in the seventh house certainly shows a power struggle and the Moon in the seventh house opposite Saturn reinforces the possibility that the people (Mars in Cancer and the Moon as ruler of the sign) will not be happy but also will not have the power to alter the situation. With a loaded ninth house, there will be important issues connected to faith, ethics, and the judiciary, and we certainly didn’t need astrology to tell us that. Jupiter is in its own house conjunct the Sun and square the lunar nodes, Pallas, and Juno, fitting the tensions over health issues and court decisions.
There are also interesting aspects to some of the asteroids. I have suggested previously that Bush might win by doing something in the fall to regain public approval. His P Moon will have finally ended its four-month opposition to natal and P Saturn, so his current malaise (reported in the press as low energy and apparent lack of stomach for the political fight) will presumably have lifted. Bush’s main strength lies in his foreign experience, so he is likely to emphasize that. Since his previous wars have raised his approval rating with our macho population, he might be tempted to try another little fracas. Saddam Hussein, Libya, and/or Yugoslavia would seem to be the most logical targets if Bush can get the cooperation of the U.N. The new U.N. head is already talking about military action if the Serbs continue to attack civilians.
In the Libra Ingress, the asteroid George is conjunct Croatia in the fourth house with the latter asteroid trine the Ascendant. The Moon is on Yugoslavia. The U.S. public might be sufficiently disturbed by the Serbian brutality in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina to approve of Bush leading a U.N. rescue effort, especially if there are few U.S. lives lost. Libya is another possible target, and the tenth house Vesta is on the asteroid Libya which sextiles the Ascendant within 3 minutes of longitude. If he gets lucky, Bush might even get Khadaffi to surrender the Pan Am bombing suspects without military intervention.
The asteroid Chaldaea refers to much of the area that is current Iraq, and the asteroid Irakli may “work” for the modern country. Chaldaea is just past Libya and its sextile to the Ascendant, but it is opposite George so could indicate a power play which alters the people’s perception of the executive. Irakli is less prominent in 16 Leo with only a quincunx to Neptune but this would be appropriate for personal action that brings more death to the country and changes the relationship with the U.S. Arabia in 28 Pisces is within my one-degree orb of an octile to the first house Saturn; again, not as impressive as a conjunction but one that would fit the use of power (Saturn) and ethical issues (Pisces) with much media involvement (third house) and talk of democracy (Aquarius). Bush’s other name asteroid, Herberta, is sextile Pluto from the Scorpio house to add to the possible use of power to keep power. However, Herberta is also trioctile George, so there is certainly not total approval from the public.
Williams (for Bill Clinton) has mixed aspects with a quincunx to the Ascendant, a trine to Mercury, and a semisextile to Mars, but it squares the Sun/Moon midpoint and the Vesta/Mars midpoint. Its position in 5 Gemini in the fifth house looks like a major media effort, maybe support from Hollywood stars, but it may be too late to counteract the damage the tabloids have already done to Clinton’s character. The latest poll results that I have heard said that only 16% of the U.S. public were willing to say that they trusted Clinton. Asteroid Henry (for H Ross Perot) is in 28 Cancer on Columbia which might mean a chance to establish a home in the District of Columbia, but there are no one-degree orb aspects to the traditional factors in the chart so Perot may remain an opposing force without real power except for an emotional appeal to some of the people. Daniel (for Dan Quayle) in 23 Libra is sextile Pallas, our political asteroid, but also square the East Point. He is likely to go on trying to improve his image and trying to turn back the clock on regulations that protect workers, with Daniel in the ninth house. Since the personal name asteroids are still a very speculative tool in astrology, we will see whether they “work” in November.
Since our presidents take their oath of office as near noon as possible on the January 20 after the election, we can set up a horoscope for the inauguration well ahead of time. The 1993 chart does not look as warlike as the one in 1989 since Mars is sextile the Ascendant rather than on the East Point square the Sun, and Pluto has moved beyond the Descendant though it is widely square Chiron, Saturn and Ceres. More than the Libra Ingress, the inauguration chart could point to an upset for the executive. Though the fixed squares and oppositions are wide, The midpoint of Ascendant/Pluto is exactly conjunct Saturn in the tenth house, indicating one or more major power struggles involving the executive. The struggles might be the fight to win, or struggles during the term of office.
Some aspects are mildly encouraging for the economic picture. Vesta conjunct the Moon in Capricorn in the ninth house with both in a wide trine to the Ascendant suggests at least some potential for job increases during the term. However, Vesta-Moon are also octile Pluto and trioctile Chiron, throwing doubt on the chance of much improvement in wages. The fat cats are likely to go on getting richer with Chiron in the house of investment (fifth) trine the north lunar node in the eighth house of return on investment. The south node in the house of personal earnings is less encouraging for the workers who have only wages with no inherited wealth. The south node is quincunx Uranus and Neptune in Capricorn in the ninth house suggesting anxiety about income. Though the sextile to the Ascendant of Mars in the third house is hopeful for relationships with neighbors (like Canada and Mexico), the square of Mars to Jupiter in the sixth house (which actually makes a cardinal grand cross to Uranus-Neptune and the Vertex axis), is not encouraging for jobs for U.S. workers. If the Mexico free-trade pact goes through, we are likely to see many more jobs moving to Mexico where workers are often paid less than $2 an hour. The wide Vesta-Moon trine to the Ascendant may prove less accurate than the midpoints of Vesta/Uranus, Vesta/Neptune, Moon/Uranus, and Moon/Neptune which all oppose Mars within one degree and thus are connected to the cardinal cross.
For astrologers brought up on Cosmobiology or Uranian astrology, Vesta-Moon are also connected to the fixed cross at 0 degrees since they are 22 1/2 degrees from the Sun and a multiple of that to the East Point axis. 22 1/2 degrees is half of an octile, a sixteenth of the circle, and is called a semioctile. All the multiples of 22 1/2 are considered “hard” or “stress” aspects. Having the Saturn/Pluto midpoint on the Moon would also not be considered encouraging for the people.
Though the cross mentioned above is in cardinal signs, it is also in mutable houses so it brings in the issue of value judgments and ethics. Social justice and our sense of fair play is also featured with Juno quincunx Pallas. Juno in Cancer in the second house is part of the picture of the wages of the general public. Pallas in the tenth in Aquarius is a key to the executive’s handling of democracy and equality. Somehow, the people at the top have managed to forget that if they don’t pay living wages to the workers, the latter cannot buy what is produced. Jupiter’s quincunx to the Ascendant also suggests changes in the job picture but they could move in either direction. Jupiter would normally be read as indicating increases but it is an open questions whether that is increased jobs or increased workers (and consequently reduced wages) resulting in more benefits for the wealthy (Jupiter rules the eighth house). Jupiter trines the south lunar node and Saturn so there is an air grand trine in earth houses. Air shows logical intelligence and earth shows practical work. At least, it is unlikely that the system will collapse, as is predicted by both some new-age doom and gloomers and some Armageddon Christians.
There are also some interesting asteroids, of course. I was especially curious to see the names of the presidential candidates. George turned up on the East Point in a square to the Sun. Aten (a sun god for power and fame) and Midas (associated with a greed for wealth that got him into trouble) are also on the East Point within my one-degree orb. Herberta opposes the East Point and George from 29 Libra. We could read this as a defeat and loss of the power or as intense power struggles to come during the term of office. To further confuse us, heliocentric (H) George and Herberta form a grand trine in air signs and earth houses to the NORC, a prototype computer developed by the Navy. They are all at 10 degrees of the air signs. Big Brother may be watching you with increasing success. It is hilarious that the Bush men are accusing Perot of being an investigator when Bush had a career in the CIA for years, including being its head for a time. After Bush expressed his indignation at reports that Perot had acquired information about the Bush family, Perot produced a letter from Bush thanking him for passing on the information to Bush. Perot says the information was unsolicited and he never paid a cent for any investigation except two or three directed at employees who were suspected of theft and one attempt to locate a watch stolen from Perot’s son.
Williams is rising in 23 Taurus in the inauguration chart, with trioctiles to Vesta-Moon, an opposition to Georgia (a variant for George) and squares to Urania and Halley to complete a grand fixed cross. Yugoslavia may help to defeat him since it is included in the fixed cross with a conjunction to Halley and Chiron. Henry at 10 Leo has no exact traditional aspects to traditional factors, planets or angles. Perhaps the name will not work for Perot since he never uses it and tries to dissociate himself from it. H Henry at 6 Leo is octile-trioctile the true lunar nodes. Will the election cost him a lot without accomplishing what he wants? Daniel at 7 Sagittarius is conjunct Libya and semisextile Vesta-Moon. We can watch to see whether he plays a role in any activity involving Libya. His competitiveness council is certainly no friend to labor though it does involve the area of laws and executive power (Capricorn in the ninth house).
There are many more asteroids in prominent positions including ARA on the Sun and Russia and Ankara opposite it, filling in a fixed cross with the East Point axis. ARA was named for the America Relief Association which helped Europe in a time of famine. We are currently and probably will continue to help Russia cope with economic pressures. Ankara is the capital of Turkey and could be involved in any activity with the Serbs in Yugoslavia who have been killing Moslems in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Croatia, the other republic attacked by the Serbs, is pulled into the fixed cross by being conjunct Aten which is conjunct the East Point as mentioned above. On a different note, Richter is on the Ascendant. Do you suppose there will be another major earthquake during this next term of office? (Just hours after this was written before the final copy went to the printer, we had two sizable quakes. See the separate short article).
A few other miscellaneous asteroids could be mentioned. Rockefellia is on Jupiter so bankers and oil magnates are likely to do well. Winchester is on the north lunar node so arms salesmen aren’t really going broke. Hiroshima is also on Jupiter so maybe we will continue to make progress in controlling atomic weapons or maybe they will proliferate? Karma in 20 Scorpio is sextile Neptune and on the Descendant in New York so the stock brokers might have some secrets worth investigating or the city’s economic and violence problems could get worse if that is possible.
I still hope that I am wrong in seeing a probable Bush victory. Dan Quayle’s progressed New Moon at the inauguration could mean a whole new job for him then rather than changes and more possible power during the term. A lot of people would join me in devoutly hoping for him to be out of power rather than acquiring more. I continue to watch in amazement as the media turn him into a laughing stock. His spelling of potato is just the latest but then George Washington spelled it that way. Quayle has a midpoint combination which is considered one of the most potentially violent with Mars opposite Pluto/Saturn. He certainly supports the power of the elite, but he does not seem personally vicious and as far as I know, he has not been exposed to physical violence in his life so far. At this point, it seems possible that the aspects refer to the character slaughter regularly performed against him by the media. The aspects do fall in the third-ninth houses. He does often invite it, and the media oblige.
Tsongas is saying firmly that he will not be a vice presidential candidate under either Clinton or Perot, which puzzles me since his P Moon on the MC in Leo (and just past Juno) at the election points to more prominence than just making a speech at the Democratic Convention.
We could look briefly at the progressions in the inaugural chart, to get some idea of the timing for a focus on different issues. P Moon will be setting off the cardinal cross starting with the opposition to Mars about 4 months into the new term, then squaring Jupiter in the summer and crossing Uranus-Neptune towards the end of the year. By the summer of 1994, P Moon will cross the MC, then Mercury, then Sun, then Pallas, so the patterns show the public focussed intently on the actions of the executive in the last half of 1994 and into 1995. Since this period coincides with the stress aspects described in the last Asteroid-World for George and Barbara Bush, it may be a reinforcement of the likelihood that they will still be in the White House. Transiting Uranus and Neptune will be moving back and forth through the same aspects for parts of 1993-5. It will not be a “standard,” business-as-usual time. T Uranus will be on the Sun and square the East Point, George, and Herberta by the election in November 1996. Maybe by then, the public will have figured out how they are getting worked over by the elite.
But, hope springs eternal. Two of my astrological colleagues in Los Angeles think that Clinton will win and Benjamin Creme, speaking for the next Avatar, has predicted a win by a moderate Democrat. The evidence provided by one of the preceding astrologers is the election-day conjunction of the midpoint of transiting Sun/Jupiter on Clinton’s natal Jupiter while Bush has T Sun/Uranus and T Sun/Neptune on his natal Jupiter. But, then, maybe Clinton will be lucky to escape the pressure cooker of that office and maybe Bush will have upsets and unsavory revelations during the term? Maybe even learn some ethics? Astrology always has an explanation—hindsight. The principles can manifest in a variety of details, as we say over and over in our teaching.
I debated doing a chart for the term of office of the new police chief of Los Angeles, though maybe only Californians would be interested. Willie Williams, former chief of police in Philadelphia, was sworn in to the office in L.A. on Friday morning but I do not have a time for the ceremony. His official power, however, began at 0:01 on Sunday June 28, so that may actually be the more important chart. I will just comment that he certainly faces problems but the chart is more hopeful than I had expected. The Sun and Venus are conjunct in Cancer in the fourth house with sextiles to Mars in the second and Jupiter in the sixth house. There is at least a possibility that the money and jobs which are currently being promised to the underclass in south-central L.A. will actually make a difference. The asteroid Williams is at 1 Taurus 47, on the second house cusp with a separating sextile-trine to the lunar nodes but an applying square to Mercury in Leo. Money will be a crucial factor in determining Willie’s success. Pallas, our political fighter for fair play, is just over a degree from the MC and retrograding to spend several years on it. The power people are at least going to talk about social justice and hopefully maybe produce a little more. Pisces is rising, which also suggests some degree of empathy and compassion, while Moon in Gemini (sign and house) shows the media playing an active role. We’ll keep our fingers crossed. The asteroid King, with the same name as the man who was the “cause celebre” of the recent riots, is in 18 Virgo, just short of the seventh house cusp and will be moving onto it. The city is currently considering a settlement of Rodney King’s suit for several million dollars which of course will be paid by taxpayers. Meanwhile, King has been arrested three more times since his famous beating—the last time for beating up his wife, but the police have not held him in custody. He is being treated with kid gloves, and he really is apparently mentally impaired. What can society do with people like that who are not impaired enough to keep in a hospital but are not able to live within the social contract that makes a society possible? Would some kind of halfway house work, perhaps on a farm? If we had the money?