Vernal Equinox, 2019: The Year of Resistance

Welcome to "Stars Above, Stripes Below!"  No, it's not a fashion statement.  It's a lighthearted journey into
the ancient aphorism, "As Above, So Below" applied to the current political situation in the USA.  The ancients believed the stars above told us about events on earth below.  Like any student of astrology, I strive to learn more to hone and correct my skills, but for now this is my take on how the ancients might have predicted current events.  

​First, a word about turning the chart.  The purpose of mundane astrology is to compare and contrast the power. condition and character of the Head of State with that of the nation.  To do this, we will talk about the chart mainly from two perspectives: that of the nation,  and that of the President.  To differentiate between them, we count the houses for the nation using the first house as the ascendant of the chart, representing the nation and its people.  Then we count to the tenth house of the chart to represent the President, using the tenth house of the chart as the President's ascendant.  So the fifth house of the nation's chart is the eighth house of the tenth.  Thus, we look to the fifth house of the chart for both the entertainment of the nation (Fifth) and the secrets and loss of power of the President (Eighth of the Tenth).  Every house has a second meaning depending on whether we see it from the Nation's point of view, or the President's. For easy reference, here are the significators for the Aries Ingress.  The interpretation begins below the chart.

First, from the Nation's perspective:

Mercury:  Lord of the First: the Nation's people
                  Lord of the Tenth:  the President's person

Venus:      Lady of the Second: the Treasury, the nation's monetary resources and liquid assets
                  Lady of the Ninth:  The Nation's Distant Travel, Higher Education, Religious Leaders and Lawyers   

Mars:        Lord of the Third:   The Nation's commerce, media, transportation, infrascructure
                  Lord of the Eighth:  The Nation's secrets and loss of power, income from foreign nations, taxes

Jupiter:      Lord of the Fourth:  the nation's real estate, farmland, crops  
                   Lord of the Seventh:  The nation's adversaries, foreigners

Saturn:      Lord of the Fifth:  The nation's children, entertainments, sports, celebrities
                   Lord of the Sixth:  Government employees, the Nation's workers, public servants, health care

Sun:           Lord of the Twelfth:  The self-undoing of the Nation                  

​Moon:        Lady of the Eleventh:  The ambitions of the nation
        

Now from the President's perspective.   You will find some strange pairings of the following house meanings with the houses listed above, but it is what it is.  The nation is entertained by the President's secrets, for example.  Strange, but I guess it's human nature.

Mercury:  Lord of the President's ascendant, the tenth house of the nation
                  Lord of the Fourth of the tenth: the President's real estate, the White House, his home

Venus:       Lady of the Fifth of the Tenth: the President's children, entertainments, celebrities, sports.                                  Lady of the Twelfth of the Tenth:  The President's self-undoing, spies or informants (acting against                      him), hidden enemies 
                   
Mars:         Lord of the Sixth of the Tenth:  the President's personal staff, employees, doctors   ​ 
                  Lord of the Eleventh of the Tenth:  the President's ambitions, hopes and dreams, his children's                            spouses                  

Jupiter:      Lord of the Seventh of the Tenth:  The President's opposition, the Resistance, the Democratic party                    and the House of Representatives, Nancy, "as I like to call her" Pelosi
                  Lord of the Tenth of the Tenth:   The President's investigation by the DOJ,  Mueller, courtroom                            proceedings both State and Federal

Saturn:      Lord of the Eighth of the Tenth:  The President's secrets and loss of power    
                   Lord of the Ninth of the Tenth:  The President's personal lawyers and legal matters

Sun:           Lord of the third of the Tenth:  The President's spokesmen: Guiliani, Fox News

Moon:       Lady of the second of the Tenth: the President's closest advisors and supporters,   With the Moon                      Void of Course, we expect no effective action from them at this time.

  This is the chart for the Aries Ingress.   I like to study by drawing the chart out by hand.  Square charts are used by many traditional astrologers not only because they are simpler to draw, but also the house cusps are more clear to read at a glance than those on circular charts.  

​Notes on the Aries Ingress

Aries Ingress
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
5:59 pm Regiomontanus Houses
Washington, DC
Fourteen degrees of Virgo rise.


I like to begin by looking at the Nodes.  The North and South Node have the function of eclipsing the Lights (the Sun and Moon).  Since all the other planets depend on the Sun for light, this makes the Nodes highly influential in reading the chart.  The Nodes show gain and loss.

North Node, indicating gain or increase, in the eleventh house of the personal support system and resources of the Head of State.  (the second of the tenth.) This points to an increase in the number of the president's lawyers.  His Senate support has been bumped up.  His personal wealth is also growing.  But quantity is not quality.  Even with more supporters, his Republican contingent is either powerless or recalcitrant, as they are signified by a paralytic Void of Course Moon.  They're done.

The South Node is approaching a conjunction with Saturn, strong in his own sign and positioned on the cusp of the fifth house.  Saturn often indicates the source of problems.  Saturn in is sitting in the house of the president's secrets (eighth of the tenth).  Although strong in Capricorn, South Node renders Saturn rigid to the point of brittleness.  When the South Node conjuncts Saturn in late April, those privacy walls will crumble like Jericho and Mr. Trump's control over his secrets will be suddenly lost.  

Sun is within an hour and a half of setting at the moment of its entrance into Aries, so Ramesey instructs us to see this as a nocturnal chart.  Yes, I have tried looking at it as dirunal, but I feel it really reads as a twilight sun.    The actions of the Head of State will be seen by the aspects made by the Moon, not the Sun.  This is not a good omen, as the Moon is Void of Course, meaning the president's actions are all in the past.  Without direction, weak and peregrine,  Moon is positioned in the first house of the chart.  In an angle Moon has strong ability to act, but having used up all his options, this Moon is spent.   From Trump's perspective, he may be comfortably bunkered up in the fourth of the tenth, (in his dwelling) but for a world leader this is a location indicating vulnerability, not strength. The Head of State in the first house of the chart is symbolic of this individual serving at the pleasure of the people of the nation.   

​This, in case it's unfamiliar to you, is the kind of language you hear in the current day shortly before the  words, "You're Fired!"

We need to observe the Ascendant to find the condition and action of the nation.  The Ascendant in Virgo, where Mercury is exalted, tells us that any malaise Mercury is currently experiencing is infecting the nation as well.  At this time, we can't perform any better as a nation than our President does in his role as our leader.  His debilitated state is lowering our status in the eyes of the world.   

We note that Virgo is considered one of the mixed or double-bodied signs, as are all the angles of the chart:  Fourth House cusp in Sagittarius, Seventh House cusp in Pisces, and tenth house cusp in Gemini.  A double-bodied sign has an ability to compartmentalize, experiencing something of a dual nature.  With the Ascendant in a double-bodied sign, the nation may experience internal division.  With a double-bodied tenth house in Gemini (Twins), there may be more than one President this year.  With a double-bodied fourth house of the party opposing the President, the Democratic party may also experience division.  With a double-bodied seventh house of the nation's enemies, we may find our adversary characterized by duplicity.  When we read the seventh as the tenth of the President, he may be called to account in two distinct judicial settings, for example he may have to answer to both Federal and State cases. 

The double-bodied sign on the Ascendant of the Aries Ingress also means that the first half of the year will be much different than the second half.  We will have to create a new chart for the Libra Ingress to predict the events of the second half of the year.  

Here Sun rules the twelfth house of the nation, (third of the tenth).  The twelfth is an unfortunate house, describing self-destruction--or in this case, the self-undoing of the nation as we know it.  For the President, this house is his third, meaning his communicator.  Sun is usually associated with the revelation of truth.  The President's third house is his spokesperson.  Think Rudy Guiliani.  Rudy is not acting as a lawyer, strictly speaking. To find his correct significator, we have to consider his function rather than his presumed title.   In his current role, he is a spokesman. And he o ften tells the truth--along with so many other stories, we don't know what he's talking about!!  Generally, I take the most shocking things he reveals to be the most truthful.  Some say that most people have a "tell" when they lie--some little tic or microexpression that reveals their duplicity.  Guiliani is the opposite.  Hr gives his "tell" when he speaks the truth.  He pops his eyes wide open, a very Solar gesture.  So far, my method of assessing his communications is playing out.  But who is his intended audience when he signals he's telling the truth?  We will describe Rudy's motivations, his agenda, his strengths, underlying influences and motivations, in a future post.

​Here's the chart in modern circle style, for those who prefer it that way:

​​The Midheaven is where we look to determine the condition and character of the Head of State.   
​
This chart shows the President being represented by Mercury, weak, east of the Sun, and retrograde, positioned in the Seventh House of the nation, the tenth of the President.   This house represents the highest authority over the President:  the law, the courthouse, in this case the Department of Justice.  Mercury positioned in his own tenth house is like a man brought to trial.  When Mercury goes direct, he will progress toward a conjunction with the Sun and enter combustion.  Combustion is the most enfeebled state a planet can endure.  What will ultimately burn this Presidency?  The Sun is at its exaltation in Aries, great in its power in an angle of the chart.  It represents the truth being told, even reluctantly or accidentally by spokespeople: Guiliani, for instance.  He treats the truth as though it burns him, and perhaps it does.  I expect Fox News to begin to fall in line with Guiliani's shocking but truthful version of events by late April, as the President's power erodes.  The nearer the truth, the weaker the President.  

Just for a laugh, here is a description of a poorly dignified Mercury by that keen student of human nature,
William Lilly, from his book, Christian Astrology.  William published in 1647, before English spelling was standardized, so we won't take points off for spelling:

"When ill dignified. A troublesome wit, a kinds of Phrenetick man, his tongue and Pen against every man, wholly bent to spoil his estate and time in prating and trying nice conclusions to no purpose; a great lyar, boaster, pratler, busibody, false, a tale-carrier, given to wicked ARTS, as Necromancy, and such like ungodly knowledges; easie of beleef, an asse or very ideot, constant in no place or opinion, cheating and theeving every where; a news-monger, pretending all manner of knowledge, but guilty of no true or solid learning; a trifler; a meer frantick fellow; if he prove a Divine, then a meer verball fellow, frothy of no judgment, easily perverted, constant in nothing but idle words and bragging."

Christian Astrology, Chapter XIII, pp 77-78.

Come on, William!  Don't be shy. . . tell us how you really feel! 

Another trial  Mercury will endure: due to his retrograde motion, he undergoes three upcoming squares to Jupiter on February 22, March 15, and April 12, 2019.  He will encounter some perilous fixed stars during all three squares.

More of this in the upcoming post, "Ides of March, 2019."  

Jupiter is in good dignity, positioned in an angle, oriental, direct, swift and free of the Sun's beams.  He is the strongest planet on the chart by far, making him the Almuten, or "Lord of the Year." I'm calling this 2019  political year "The Year of the Resistance" in his honor.*

Let's hear from William Lilly on Jupiter when well- dignified:

Manners & Actions, when well dignified.Then is he Magnanimous, Faithfull, Bashfull, Aspiring in an honourable way at high matters, in all his actions a Lover of fair Dealing, desiring to benefit all men, doing Glorious things, Honourable and Religious, of sweet and affable Conversation, wonderfully indulgent to his Wife and Children, reverencing Aged men, a great Reliever of the Poor, full of Charity and Godlinesse, Liberal, hating all Sordid actions, Just, Wise, Prudent, Thankfull, Vertuous: so that when you find Jupiter the significator of any man in a Question, or Lord of his Ascendant in a Nativity, and well dignified, you may judge him qualified as abovesaid.

 William Lilly, Christian Astrology, Chapter IX, pp. 62-63  

So who is signified by this righteous Jupiter kicking Mercury's backside three times in a row?

Jupiter rules the President's tenth house, the only authority that exceeds his: the law.  Read DOJ, the judicial system, or Mueller.  As you like it.  And whether you like the idea or not, Jupiter also rules the Head of State's seventh house, meaning the opposition party, Democrats, currently the House of Representatives, or Nancy Pelosi.  Jupiter is positioned opposing the President in his seventh house, set to square that retrograde Mercury on three separate occasions.  This in itself is significant, as in traditional astrology as in baseball, bad things come in threes.  Three strikes and Yeeer-OUT!  On the third out, the full effect kicks in and the teams swap places as the inning ends.

Unless it's the ninth inning. 

And this chart has three indications that this is the ninth, and the game will soon be over.  First, the Moon is Void of Course.  Second, Mercury is retrograde and will soon be heading for combustion.  Third, Mercury is in the process of making a triple-Square to Jupiter (I think I just accidentally made up a new astrological term there. Yeah, I googled it.  It's new.  Sorry, it comes from mixing astrology and baseball, I suppose).  And with the tenth house cusp in Gemini, sign of duplication, there will be a new game in town and a different coach will take the field.

So he year of 2019 will see a renaissance, a rebirth, a renewal, a rejuvenation of the nation. . . and just to be redundant, I see here a removal of our current President from office.  All revealed by Mercury retrograde.

There is more to examine on this chart, but I feel inclined to start a new post to introduce the strengths, influences and motivations of the several of the planets and the describe more fully their alliances, their roles and the actions they will take in the first half of 2019.


​* Mundane astrology runs from one year's Spring Equinox to the next year's Spring Equinox.