Introduction
Two items which have dominated social media recently are the Total Solar Eclipse of March 9th and the U.S. Presidential race. As an American-born astrologer it therefore behooves me to investigate the implications the former has for the latter. The paucity of serious analysis of the solar eclipse is, moreover, a thorn in the eye for astrologers whose work is not aimed at increasing readership or pacifying fears with superficial descriptions of ‘dramatic crises’ and ‘growth and new beginnings’. Although these descriptions do apply to eclipses to a certain degree, they are hardly sufficient for an examination of the multiple facets of the times we live in, nor do they do justice to the method of astrology conceivably as old as the science itself. Therefore, at the risk of presenting information which may, for some, be old news, in this article I will summarize the most useful steps in delineating an eclipse horoscope, including an explanation of the influence of the spiritual points. After that I will apply these steps to an analysis of the eclipse of 9 March 2016 and its synastry with the chart of the U.S.A. Then I will take a brief look at how the eclipse fell in the horoscopes of the four who were the frontrunners in the U.S. Presidential race at the time, with a brief look at developments culminating on November 8. As the Professional Code of Astrologers to which I adhere prohibits making predictions, not to mention my awareness of the proof which has been afforded by quantum science on the role thought plays in creating reality, this analysis will restrict itself to providing insight into the cosmic processes which underlies these mundane events.
Background of Eclipse Horoscopes
Stone tablets housed in the British Museum show that eclipses have been recorded as early as 747 B.C. Owing to the amount of data available, the cyclic nature of eclipses was easily identified as well as making the establishment of synodic month and tropical year possible. The records revealed that eclipses occurred at identical points every 6,585 1/3 days. Because this was a series of repetition, the cycle was dubbed ‘Saros cycle’, ‘saros’ meaning ‘repetition’ in the language of ancient Babylonia. A complete Saros series of 70 or 71 Solar eclipses lasts approximately1,260 years. Since the time of Ptolemy, astrologers have been advised to include the characteristics of the sign in which the first eclipse in a Saros series occurs when delineating later eclipses. CITATION Jan79 \l 1043 (Jansky, 1979)
Illustration 1:Constellation Dracos above; layout Angkor Wat temple complex beneath
For an eclipse to occur, the conjunction of the Sun and Moon or the opposition of the Sun and Moon must take place within 6 ° of the Lunar Nodal Axis. This emphasizes the necessity of understanding the lunar nodes, or the Caput Draconis (Dragon’s Head) and Cauda Draconis (Dragon’s Tail). A key to understanding eclipses is, thus, understanding the nodes. The Dragon also occupies an important position in Asian mythology, and the constellation Draco was reproduced in the layout of Angkor Wat and its surrounding temples in Cambodia (see illustration 1). According to Vedic mythology, the Dragon was originally a demon who drank from the Pool of ImmortalityCITATION Wil16 \l 1043 (Simmers, 2015). He was decapitated by Vishnu, who then swung the beast by its tail in order to churn the sea of Immortality. According to the Rig Veda the dragon was a beast which blocked the flow of the rivers and was finally defeated by Indra, the supreme Deva. These themes are significant when examining the points of the Nodal Cross in the eclipse horoscope.
The classical astrology of Ptolemy and the Greeks established principles by which eclipse horoscopes could be delineated. This system only includes the planets Mercury to Saturn and the respective rulers of the 12 astrological signs. But it also included the so-called ‘term’ or ‘bound’ ruler, an Egyptian system of sign division reproduced in the table below. The term ruler was based on the degree of the eclipse and was considered the person or influence that accompanied and assisted the native in the confrontation represented by the eclipse.
The delineations of eclipse horoscopes in Classical, Hellenistic, and Vedic astrological systems portray black-and-white description of concrete events, which tend to give them a rather fatalistic tone. These horoscopes are commonly used in the predictive astrology which has recently enjoyed a resurgence of interest both in the U.S. and Europe.
However, three outer planets have been discovered since the time of Ptolemy. Modern astrologers, even those practicing traditional forms, usually include Uranus, Neptune and Pluto in their horoscopes, though they do not use the planets as Rulers of signs (a noteworthy inconsistency, in my opinion). And despite the fact that the Black Moon Lilith, as it is known, unfortunately, among English speaking astrologers, is regularly included in contemporary horoscopes universally available on the internet, there is, to my knowledge, only one astrologer who has investigated the presence of this point in the eclipse horoscopes. Since the turn of the century, the Dutch astrologer George Bode has regularly published articles on eclipses including the spiritual points including the Black Moon, as well as the importance of analyzing eclipse horoscopes with reference to the Saros cycle to which they belong (see bibliography). After having studied with Bode and incorporated his astrological method into my own practice, the use of these points in this analysis of the March 9th eclipse with regard to the U.S. chart and presidential race has provided me with certain insights I will share in the following paragraphs.
Principles of Delineation
Before proceeding to the analysis of the eclipse horoscope, I will present a short summary of the principles of delineation outlined in the previous discussion of the background of eclipse astrology. Given the overwhelming amount of data a horoscope can provide, I prefer to limit the analysis to the following points:
Finally, one last principle which will guide this analysis is that of Polarity. Although older forms of astrology were developed within a paradigm of duality – subject and object – the astrology of the 21st century will increasingly reflect the non-dual paradigm of reality (re-) established by quantum science as well as the rising popularity of advaita/non-dualistic schools of meditation and spiritualityCITATION TijdelijkeAanduiding1 \l 1043 (Wenner, 2016). Therefore, I will refer frequently to the opposition points or houses regularly in the analysis.
Delineation of Eclipse Horoscope
Before analyzing the Eclipse horoscope cast for Philadelphia (location of the U.S.A. chart), a few symbols in the horoscopes reproduced (Astrolab) need to be explained for those unfamiliar with the Structural approach to astrology developed by George Bode and other astrologers in the Netherlands:
Two points not in the drawing but easily calculated at 90 past the North Node and the South Node:
Using the points outlined earlier, we can delineate the horoscope accordingly:
I-solation and relation. This sign placement is in opposition to the mundane association of Aries with the ASC and Libra with the DS. The natural self-assertive nature of Aries does not produce harmony within relationships, whereas the cooperative nature of Libra does not always support one’s own best interests. The ruler of the Ascendant, Venus is in Aquarius in the 4th and forms a trine with the Ascendant. It is beneficial to the overall horoscope when the ruler of the eclipse or the Ascendant makes an angle to one of the angles, as this allows the energy an easy channel of expression. Venus and the Ascendant are in Air signs, emphasizing the intellectual search for balance between the otherwise starkly polarized elements of the horoscope. In mundane astrology, Venus is connected with national resources and finances through bankers, financial institutions and farming. The Black Moon is just shy a conjunction with the Ascendant and will be discussed in the next section.
The sign Cancer is on the MC and Capricorn on the IC, again modes of expression contradictory to the nature of the houses representing private and public life. It is as if ‘too much information’ is shared about the personal and too little on that taking place behind political doors. The Moon, ruler of Cancer, is involved in the eclipse and cannot be interpreted in any other role. However, in Structural astrology Priapus is the secondary ruler of Cancer. Priapus is on the DS with Uranus, and points to a link between the automated, conditioned need of the masses for a sense of emotional security with relation to authority/the government/the president that may express itself in disruptive, unexpected ways.
Conjunct the eclipse is the fixed star Markab. It has the nature of Mars and Mercury. It gives honor, riches, fortune, danger from fevers, cuts, blows, stabs and fire and a violent death.
The eclipse horoscope shows the points sensitive to the confrontation and possible crisis brought about by the energies of the Solar Eclipse. By placing these points around the radix of the USA, the influence of these points on the country’s fortune can be seen.
Delineation Eclipse / Radix USA
Although several astrologers have taken to using the chart for the USA with Gemini rising and a birth time of 2:10 a.m. proposed by Evangeline Adams, there seems little evidence to support the horoscope. Sibly may have made several calculation errors when casting his horoscope shortly after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but there are other non-astrological sources which seem to support the time of 5:10 LST CITATION Cur09 \l 1043 (Currey, 2009). A horoscope with a Scorpio ascendant deserves, in my opinion, further investigation CITATION Wol16 \l 1043 (Wolfstar, 2012) considering the number of president’s horoscopes with planets of angles in the sign (and its prominence in the charts of the candidates for the 2016 election which follow). However, in the absence of sufficient investigation into alternative horoscopes, I will use the so-called Sibly horoscope as basis for this delineation.
What is immediately apparent is that the Grand Cross present in the eclipse horoscope, which includes the eclipse itself and planets/nodal points on the opposition and squares, hooks up rather tensely with the radix of the USA. The eclipse is the 3rd house and indicates a challenge or crisis with regard to the polarity of the near and the far, knowledge and wisdom. The eclipse squares the radix Mars in Gemini in 7th and the term ruler Mercury squares Uranus on the DS. This indicates anger, conflict, and unexpected events with regard to the USAs experience of the Other. There could indeed show a feeling of open enmity for those not American. With Jupiter and the North Node conjunct the USA radix Black Moon and Neptune, the enormous number of illegal aliens as well the possibility of Syrian refugees can trigger disillusionment, a sense of victimization, and rejection. With Saturn and the Dragon on the USA Ascendant, the exuberant image of largess and expansion is brought to a halt. Saturn’s square to radix Black Moon links to the rejection of foreigners, to strict control of immigration and foreign trade.
The term ruler Mercury, on the other hand, makes a trine with Venus and Jupiter in Cancer in the 7th house. Through connection, communication, and interaction from a position of compromise and expansion, the relations with others can become more favorable. Neptune trines the radix Sun, relaxing any exaggerated need for security and protection in the relations with others. But this same radix Sun is opposed by eclipse Pluto, which was the same planet on the ascendant of the chart on September 11, 2001.
The ruler of the Eclipse chart, Venus, is conjunct the Moon in the USA chart. This is extremely fortuitous. The Moon in mundane astrology represents the people, the masses, and Venus can indicate diplomacy, decorum and ceremonial functions. It is associated with both peace (soft aspects) and with war, or involvement in negotiations leading to peace.
The eclipse horoscope Ascendant itself is in opposition to the radix Chiron in the 4th house. It suggests that there is healing process that needs to take place of a place of vulnerability in the USA that it does not belong. This vulnerability could be compensated for by becoming insular, but through the recognition and acceptance of its own multicultural population it could resolve the conflicts shown in the eclipse chart.
Eclipse Mars is probably the agent which will bring about that which is to be. Settled in the 12th house of the USA chart, it turns retrograde April 17th at 8 ° Sagittarius shortly before it would have crossed the Ascendant. On the 27th of May it enters Scorpio again until stationing on 28 June at 23° Scorpio before going direct again. (It is perhaps interesting to keep the dates around 3 May and again around 25 July in mind, when Mars is at 26° Scorpio. Major events occurring around these dates will be squaring the radix Moon at 27° Waterman as well as conjuncting the 25° Scorpio point found in three of the four candidates’ horoscopes discussed in the next section. The nature of the event would indicate which factor is being triggered.) Eclipse Mars will cross the radix Ascendant on 29 August. It will square the Eclipse degree around the 11th of September, and the Sun and Mercury will oppose the eclipse (and conjunct eclipse ruler Jupiter). October will see Mars opposing all the planets, including the Sun, in the 7th house.
Eclipse Saturn will turn retrograde the third week of March and turn direct again mid-August. It crosses the USA Ascendant in the second week of June in its retrograde phase, then again in October when it has once again gone direct. Possibly this will correspond to turning points in the re-evaluation of structures, rules, boundaries and limitations.
The Eclipse and the Candidates
The Presidential primary race 2016 has uncannily reflected the themes of the eclipse horoscope of March 2016. The crisis and disillusionment in leadership and the way the political game has been being played has resulted in two ‘independent’ candidates emerging, and surprisingly becoming more and more likely to win the Republican and Democratic parties’ nominations. Yet even though they both started without a close affiliation to the parties they would represent in the election, they could not be more different in their viewpoints, as their horoscopes show. Indeed, they seem to embody certain polarities also present in the eclipse itself. Unfortunately given the limitations of space, I am only able to focus on the points in their respective horoscopes directly activated by the eclipse.
Both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have Sun conjunct North Node in the 10th house, a clear indication that they both have the mission in life to express their identity in a prominent career with social significance. They also have an angle at 25° Scorpio, which is rather a coincidence: Sanders has Scoprio as his Ascendant, whereas Trump has the point opposite the MC, the IC. As mentioned earlier, this degree may show significant events related to the retrograde and direct transit of eclipse Mars.
Trump’s Sun is accompanied by Uranus, whereas Neptune influences Sanders’s Sun. Thus the unpredictability of Trump’s personal expression contrasts with the visionary quality of Sanders’s. But an interesting difference is the sign and degree the North Nodes are in. Trump’s is 20 ° Gemini, putting the eclipse on his Beast in the 7th house. The unpredictable statements which his speeches have been characterized by have reached rather gross levels of banality, as, for example, the instance of defending the size of his penis before a crowd of supporters. Trump has the gift of gab with his Gemini planets in 10th, and the presence of Priapus there helps him say just the things that certain segments of the populace wish to hear. Yet with the term ruler of the eclipse horoscope in his 7th house square the Black Moon/Priapus axis, people may tire of hearing the same thing over and over and yearn for something truly inspired. Eclipse ruler Jupiter has been in his 1st house for some time and his radix Jupiter is in the 1st house of the eclipse horoscope. Plenty of room to expand/exaggerate the personality! The T-Square in his horoscope featuring Mars on the Ascendant square his MC/IC is ‘completed’ by the USAs Moon on his Descendant. The people fulfill him! Mars will be travelling over his IC during its retrograde and again during the direct transit. That points again to the dates of 3 May and 25 July with regard to ‘endings and beginnings’. The placement of his Corrected and Mean Black Moons in the 4th and his Moon and South Node suggest a deep-rooted sense of rejection of or by his family and (foreign) roots.
The eclipse takes place in Sanders’s 4th house, highlighting the area of home and roots for him as well. But these elements in his life are where he experiences the most ease, as only the South Node is placed in this house. But, quite significantly, at the time of the eclipse he had the return of his North Node to its natal position. The ‘return’ was, moreover, conjunct Sun in the 10th house as well. The eclipse ruler was also transiting these points, which might seem to indicate his election as a sure thing.
But Jupiter and the North Node were activating confusion, illusion, and disillusionment in the 9th house of the USA chart, and the eclipse horoscope’s Saturn on the USA Ascendant and square his Sun does not help. He has had to keep on working hard for every vote. Eclipse Mars will be transiting his 25 ° Scorpio Ascendant on 3 – 10 May and 18 – 25 July as well, and this will be related to his individual expression, his appearance, and his physical body. He is sometimes accused of being an unrealistic visionary with his prominent Neptune in 10th, but with his Black Moon in the 6th house of routine, health, and work, Sander has uncanny insight into practical conduct of everyday matters, as well as a deep affiliation with nature and wildlife. Sanders also has a T-square involving Sun/North Node in the 10th, South Node in the 4th and Jupiter in the 7th, and it too is ‘completed’ by the Ascendant of the USA. In that sense, he is fulfilled by the USA’s expansive, optimistic, and adventurous manner of expression.
The two other candidates, Hillary Clinton and Ted Cruz, both remain relatively untouched by the eclipse. Of the two, Clinton’s horoscope holds the most points of connection with her Moon at 22° Pisces in the 4th house and Ascendant at 22° Scorpio. Her South Node is conjunct her Ascendant and the North is in the 7th house of partner, perhaps reflecting her start in national politics as First Lady. Although the transits of eclipse Mars will come within 1° of her ascendant, it will go direct before completing the conjunction. Mars does conjunct her Black Moon on November 8th, which may not bode well for her chances that day.
Ted Cruz’s horoscope does not contain any notable links to the eclipse horoscope, although his MC/IC axis is at 24° Scorpio/Taurus with Jupiter in the 10th at 25° Scorpio. His North Node at 26° Aquarius in the 1st is also conjunct the USA’s Moon, and his South node is at 26° Leo in the 7th.
It will be interesting to see if the lack of aspects between his horoscope, and, to a lesser degree that of Hillary’s proves detrimental or beneficial in the contest for the presidency. Personally, and I will probably putting my reputation on the line here, I tend to think the strong contacts between the Eclipse horoscope and the natal horoscopes of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are an indication of who voters will be able to choose.
Conclusion
An examination of the eclipse horoscope of 9 March and its relationship to mundane events illustrate, in my opinion, the cooperation of the seen and the unseen, of matter and spirit, the individual and the collective, ‘as above, so below’. By describing the influence of the spiritual points of consciousness, I hope, moreover, to have shown the importance of these points in understanding of the horoscope in relation to consciousness. It is with the inclusion of these points that astrology will play an important role in the development of the new paradigm shaping itself in the 21st century.
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Bode, G. (2006, June 27). Eclipse Horoscopes and the Pars Fortuna in Mundane Astrology. AstroFocus, 4-14.
Bode, G. (2006, June). The Theory of Eclipses (in Dutch). AstroFocus, 8-21.
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Wolfstar, M. (2012). The U.S. Scorpio Rising Horoscope. Retrieved March 10, 2016, from Neptunecafe: http://www.neptunecafe.com/ScorpioRising.html