Nelson Mandela: aspects for long life, long exile, enduring legacy

Nelson Mandela's fixed stars explain the life he has lived in mythic terms. The fixed stars, as explained in Brady's Book of Fixed Stars, pinpoint vast influences at specific stages of a person's life: in childhood; in one's prime [around 25 to 65 years]; in the latter years; and at the base of one's life and as one's lasting legacy. Brady's handbook on fixed stars uses parans, i.e. the simultaneous angularity of the stars in the heavens during the 24 hour period of the day of birth with planets in our solar system. It is not necessary to have the time of birth, only the place and date of birth. However, knowing the time of birth reveals fixed stars on the angles, a particularly pronounced influence. Mandela has none on the angles at birth, but has parans of great emphasis in each stage - Facies from beginning to long after his life ends, Antares as a childhood influence, Bellatrix and Spica in his latter years.

In June 2003, I saw actor Barry Shabaka Henley in his own play, Jungle Bells, at the Mexican Heritage Theater in San Jose. He portrayed a homeless man, Alexander Pushkin, Martin Luther King Jr., and a Klansman. In the last scene, Henley shed the identities and broke the fourth wall to talk about his first trip to Africa. Granted a visit with Mandela, Henley said on the way to see him a cabbie talked candidly. The cabbie said, among other things, that peace such as it was would shatter the instant Mandela passed, that insurgents were holding back for the great man and nothing else, not for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission nor for nonviolence. Which of his ideals will live on is not determined by the stars; astrology is not strictly predictive. It's like a ballpark figure or an educated guess. Mandela's influence [we all know] is profound. Five planets in fixed signs [not the same as fixed stars] give his ideals and causes longevity. Two personal planets, Merc. in Leo and Moon in Scor., plus three transpersonal planets, Saturn and Neptune in Leo and Uranus in Aqua, indicate tenacity.

Antares, one of the Four Royal Stars of Persia, symbolizes intense, probing obsession. Linked with his Mercury and accompanied by the charisma-givng Vega, from chldhood it has empowered his intellect and speaking voice. He developed these skills early.

Mandela's HELIACAL RISING STAR, Capella, shows his guiding influence to be one of freedom and fairness.

In position as the HELIACAL SETTING STAR is Facies, a star of pure combative energy. Facies in a chart foretells success accompanied by a tremendous struggle, the mythic journey come to life. In this position, it anticipates the shadow of war, the darkness of cruelty or aggression in his life from its inception; the ANC advocated armed struggle against the apartheid regime. This led him to prison for 27 years.

PARANS - BY ANGLE [Calculations from Starlight 1.0]
[Boldface = particularly pronounced conditions in his life]

RISING - The symbolism of these stars will appear in his childhood, adolescence and young adulthood and become a part of his make-up.
Zosma as Jupiter is Culminating - The Angel of Mercy; to have compassion
Vega as Mercury is Setting - A visionary with a very persuasive voice, or charismatic ideas
Antares as Mercury is Culminating - Mental obsession with a subject or a person

CULMINATING - The symbolism of these stars appears in the prime of his life and become an intricate part of his career or vocation and any causes he espouses.
Alhena as Mars is Rising - To fight for one’s ideas or beliefs
Toliman as Mercury is Setting - Dedicated to spreading information - Circumpolar
Mirach as Jupiter is Rising - An insatiable appetite for the physical world, money or people
Ras Alhague as Venus is On Nadir - A person who expands the collective's options by increasing the information available

SETTING - The symbolism of these stars manifests in old age, the latter part of life, or at the end of life as the sum total of his life.
Aculeus as Jupiter is Rising - The outsider; to take a different point of view
Bellatrix as Jupiter is Setting - The historian or priest, a person who is more interested in people than money
Spica as Sun is On Nadir - A talented person, to have a gift

ON NADIR - These stars are very close in meaning to the setting stars and relate to legacy and how he is remembered.
Mirfak as Moon is Culminating - Thrill seeker, the lover of a good fight or challenge
Diadem as Jupiter is Rising - A generous person, or one who uses others
Altair as Sun is Culminating - A bold and determined individual
Vega as Mars is Rising orb - An imaginative, inventive person; or too idealistic
Zuben Elgenubi as Sun is Rising - A person with a social conscience
Facies as Mars is Rising - Endurance, physical or mental, for good or for evil

While the parans above show his special calling, gifts and mission, parans for the larger, slow-moving planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto [below] are active for people born during this period for several months. Nelson Mandela was born in a tumultuous time period.

URANUS- Public opinion, Public expectations
Culminating when Phact is Rising - Seeking a new pathway, laws, or government
Setting when Aldebaran is Culminating - The population is asked to act with dignity and social awareness

NEPTUNE- The Hopes and Fears of the Nation
Culminating when Capella is Setting - Controversy over freedom and the rights of individuals

PLUTO- The Crises or the Changes that Occur
On Nadir when Canopus is On Nadir - Change of an establishment leader
Culminating when Canopus is Culminating - Change of an establishment leader
Setting when Betelgeuse is Setting - Benefits or breakthrough achieved in the wake of a disaster
Culminating when Denebola is Rising - A breakdown in the administration, or in the establishment's power
Setting when Rigel is Setting - The will of one person is imposed on society, a defiant act
On Nadir when Diadem is Setting - A lone sacrifice that can change a nation

b. 18 July 1918 2:54 PM, Umtata, South Africa
birth data from astrotheme.com

Lena Horne: A long fabled life comes to a close

Lena Horne passed Sunday night, May 9, in NYC, at 92 years of age. Bless her feisty heart and stubborn integrity. She was a role model for women and blacks because she fought to break down the barriers holding both down. Transiting Pluto [finality, transformation] was on her Midheaven at 5 Cancer, opposite her n. Pluto at 4 Cancer and n. Sun at 8 Cancer. This vertical axis, the IC/MC, is the ancestral line. She has returned to the original families who freely travel across time and space. Her n. Sun/Pluto at the IC shows she came here with a mission to transform, and that she did magnificently. She moved society, herself, her family, her race in new directions, often meeting strong resistance.

It wasn't easy. Erin Sullivan says: "When one is born with even one of the outer planets on the angles, or conjunct or in hard aspect to a personal planet, then one's task on earth is exceptional and difficult." This chart contains six such aspects: Sun/Pl/IC/NN; Ven/Sat/Nep; Mo/Ur; Su/Ur; Mo/Pl; and Pl/Asc.

Ms. Horne was a Plutonian person, her sun in Cancer conjunct Pluto and Moon in Scorpio, in mutual reception [in the other's sign]. Also her moon is in the eighth house, Pluto's house, and Pluto is in the fourth house, the natural house of both Cancer and the Moon. This lady was ready for the teddy from jump street. Legend has it that when champ Joe Louis was her beau, she gave him a run for his money-with her fist no less. On Donna Cunningham's How Strong is your Pluto? , Ms. Horne gets 39 points, a rating of "strong indeed."

To be a Plutonian means alternating between being isolated and being immersed in obsessive relationships; at worst, being controlling, mistrustful, emotionally intense, bitter, vengeful. She has written about marrying second husband Lennie Hayton: "It was cold-blooded and deliberate. I married him [Lennie] because he could get me into places a black man couldn't. But I really learned to love him. He was beautiful, just so damned good. I had never met a man like him." The interracial marriage was kept secret for three years.
http://marriage.about.com/od/entertainmen1/p/lenahorne.htm

At best, as her words, deeds and devotion showed, she dedicated her Plutonian energies to healing from the bitterness and loss in her life, and became a natural healer and catalyst in the lives of people around her.

Aries rising and Mars, her chart ruler, in Gemini along with Jupiter, strengthened her second house. These influences give one a strong voice, throat power, fierceness-and a good income. She spoke/fought against racism in her profession and during the civil rights struggles.

Chiron, The Wounded Healer, is at 29.56 Pisces in Ms. Horne's chart. This last degree of the zodiac, called the weeping degree in some texts, takes in everything for reprocessing, just before spring breaks through at the Aries Point[0 Aries].

Her NYTimes obit said she "might have become a major movie star, but she was born 50 years too early." Her passing accentuates her mission as a forerunner because, at death, t. Uranus was partile n. Chiron. A reminder to those who are young, black and fabulous in the profession that their successes grew out of the sacrifices, indignities and devotion of those who came before them.

b. June 30, 1917, 11:45 PM, Brooklyn Heights, NY. d. May 9, 2010, NYC
birth data from astrotheme.com

Bobby Brown: High peaks, even deeper valleys

I recently saw a 2009 VH-1 special on Bobby Brown, the provocative entertainer and ex-mate of Whitney Houston. He peaked early, an international pop star at 15. "I'm not that old that I can't reach for the top again," he says in the special. Can he? Where is he in the life cycle? Has Bobby passed into an obscure stage?

Like Gail Sheehy's Passages [1976], which delineated major stages in the life cycle, astrology gives many ways of looking at charts to predict peaks and valleys. One way is to track the outer planets from Jupiter through Pluto. While transiting the top half of the chart, these planets keep one out in the world where one's light can shine. In the bottom half of the chart, one goes through what Grant Lewi called a period of obscurity. Since they are slow moving, each impacts our lives for long periods of time--years, decades.

Saturn is transiting Bobby's 8th h. stellium. With Saturn being aboveground [top half] for the next nine years, his pain, passion and progress will play out in the public arena. Progress: Saturn's transit of his n. Pluto at 24 Virgo coincided with his reality show evolution into a country and western singer, a successful public transformation. Pain: a death rumor went viral so fast in April he had to refute it by speaking out.

Eighth house transits change us for good, leaving us bereft because we have to give up someone or something. In his case, his marriage ended, he was homeless and broke, and he gave up drugs. With four planets [Moon, Pluto, Uranus, Jupiter] in his 8th h., he has a smoldering, heartbreaking sensuality. The latter three planets trine his 1st h. Mercury in Aquarius, so he can speak, sing and write this sensuality in an utterly unique way.

If you look at the green lines in his chart, you can see something like a narrow pyramid. This is called a yod. A yod involves at least 3 planets (or angle: MC/IC or Asc/Desc). Two will be 60 degrees apart; each of them will be 150 degrees from the third. His Virgoan Moon and Scorpio Mars are sextile. The third planet in Bobby's chart is Saturn in Aries in the third house.

Gail Sandra Klein asserts that the yod typically leads to chronic (unfinishable) situations, like illness, neuroses, habit formations which, because the energy must find continual release, result in creativity. In other words, Mister Brown will have this energy percolating all his days, and music is the way he releases it.

Saturn is also the ruler of his chart since he has 16 Capricorn rising. What?! Bobby Brown, incorrigible, law-breaking, pelvis-twisting, drugging, wild wild Bobby Brown has strong Capricorn influences? Aren't those type of people conservative, stick-in-the-mud, law-and-order, upright citizens? Yes, they are, and now that he's given up drugs, he has a chance to let this side unfold. Drugs obscure the real person. People with strong Saturn influeces are hard workers. He was an international star in his teens because he started working and touring [and doing drugs] that early.

In the VH-1 special, Bobby said, "I'm gonna be the bad boy probably forever."
He's chosen, he said, to be the bad boy only in performing and to use his prerogative to live "without dope, without drugs."

b. February 5, 1969, 5:21 AM, Boston, MA
birth data from astrotheme.com

Star Jones: fading into oblivion?

In August 2003, Starlet Marie Jones had gastric bypass surgery, losing 160 lbs. Her lies of omission and commission to conceal the operation lost Star her spot on The View. She thus lost a high-profile job, a husband and 160 lbs. after the operation. But did she lose? Was her weight loss a gain?

Like snakeskin shed, the 160 lbs. came off over three years, as another person emerged. This is about the time of a Saturn transit through a zodiac sign. Which spot was Saturn transiting in Star's chart? Star has Cancer rising.

Wow! Saturn crossed her Cancer Asc., 6.18*, on July 23, 2003, and transited through her first house until June 26, 2005. Saturn touching the Asc. follows a 14 year cycle of tremendous development and outer progress. Its descent into the bottom half of the chart coincides with WEIGHT LOSS! She had the bypass on Aug. 19, 2003.

Annie Heese at CafeAstrology.com writes about this transit: "We concern ourselves with how we come across to others on a personal level with Saturn here. Our physical body becomes a focus as well... it is a time when we see our bodies quite clearly. This is an excellent time for beginning health regimens, diets, and the like, simply because it is a time when we look in the mirror and see ourselves clearly—not what we want to see. Our outlook on life changes to a more serious, responsible tone...this transit acts to transform your self-confidence in such a way that you question the source of your confidence to date, and discover a more solid base for pulling up inner strength. Saturn here acts to rip away the superficial. Illusions about the self, the body, and personal abilities will no longer be tolerated."

Star reached a point where she could no longer be fat. It wasn't healthy, she's said. Star's dramatic weight loss was blown up by her fame.

The aspects in her natus/transits should reflect Pluto [transformation], and Neptune [deception, concealment, confusion, scandal] also. Pluto's long transit of her sixth house of health and employment began Dec. 18, 1995; it will wind up on Jan. 30, 2011. In 1995, Star, working as Inside Edition's chief legal analyst, led that show's coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder trial. That coverage led her to fame, wealth and an impressive TV career, quite a transformation from being an attorney/prosecutor. During this 15-year transit, her star [pardon the pun] has risen and dimmed, but she remains a public figure.

Bob Marks, at bobmarksastrologer.com says that "Pluto’s effect, as always, is to clean things out. Yes, things get reborn wherever Pluto goes, but they have to decay and die first."

As for Neptune, Star suffered through being publicly ridiculed-the downside of fame. She'd built her rep as a straightshooter, then got caught in a lie, a Neptunian situation. She concealed the gastric bypass until admitting it in the September 2007 GlAMOUR magazine: "How had I allowed myself to get to 307 pounds?" But many could not overlook her deception, including former boss Barbara Walters.

Where was Neptune transiting her chart? She announced she was leaving The View on June 27, 2006. Neptune had just begun transiting her 9th house. Thus, it had just finished her 8th house transit. Eighth house transits involve loss. Often it is only when a planet leaves the eighth that we are aware of what we have had to give up. Star lost weight.

But Neptune takes its sweet time. She will continue to integrate the new self and the loss of her old person, as she has called it. Neptune occupies her 9th house from Feb. 28, 2007, until Feb. 29, 2020, at which time it contacts her Midheaven.

Transiting Neptune over natal Jupiter, Chiron, Mars and Mercury during this 13-year period assures that her expertise, commentary and candor, fortified by stronger self-esteem, will bring even more controversy and sensationalism into her life, whether her own or legal affairs she covers.

Star isn't going off the public radar anytime soon.

b. March 24, 1962, 11:30 AM, Albemarle (NC)
birth data from astrotheme.com

Grand Trines, anyone?

This chart has been a great lesson for me. When I first started studying astrology, I glorified the grand trine. Oh, what I would have given for a grand trine. I watched my friends and associates who had them. I thought they had gold. Well, come nigh four decades, and I see that trines can be gold-plated. People with grand trines get in comfortable situations--housing, relationships, jobs--that can last for years. With this chart [of a female, P.] comfort and safety influence her more than ambition.

Although she is bright and capable, P. goes through long periods of unemployment-four, five years. Her Sun/Mercury combo in the 6th h. pulls in a complex set of aspects which are mostly problematic. Sixth house suns are work-oriented; they express themselves through work. When P. is working, usually in tax or accounting offices, she's punctual, pleasant and productive. Out of work, her 6th house influence shows in her spotless kitchen, routine cleaning, fussing over her two sons and a 12-year-old cat. A 6th house trait is a love of animals.

But look at the geometry of this chart; you can see a kite, i.e. a grand trine + a sextile. The grand trine is three planets or groupings 120 degrees[*] apart; the kite is formed with a sextile [planets 60* apart] forming the string. The tension comes from the opposition formed at the string; in P.'s chart, Uranus-Pluto are conjunct in the 12th h. [behind-the-scenes, isolation, confinement, solitude] opposing Mercury and, by translation of light, her Sun in Pisces.

Noel Tyl sees the grand trine as "self sufficiency, self-containment...the separation from relationship because of the self-containment" (Synthesis and Counseling 285). He sees this self-sufficiency as a defense mechanism.

P. expresses a desire to work, almost a guilt at not having to work for years at a time. She works periodically, relying on a rent subsidy and public assistance, part of the 6th/12th house polarity: work/welfare; independence/dependence. Tyl atttributes this "defense mechanism" to a tough childhood, where one had to protect against a hostile or unstable environment. P.'s parents were drug addicts; she was rescued at age seven and raised by loving grandparents.

Floridian astrologer Hiroki Niizato says the "defense mechanism is necessary even in adulthood, if one is destined to face tough opposition from others in the course of his/her journey for fulfillment." P.'s life choices have dismayed her family. Yet she is a leader among her friends who've made similar choices.

Her Mercury/Pluto opposition shows her obstinance. P. made up her mind that she was different from the relatives who raised her. They were readers, so she decided to hate reading. They went to college; she went twice but left each time after a year. Kites want to fly high even if early on they meet resistance.

Pluto and Uranus conjunct in the 12th house, a generational aspect since the two planets are slow-moving, is the apex or string of P.'s kite. I'm waiting and watching this generation. What are they going to do with this powerhouse of a conjunction? Robert Hand's take on it: "They will be very eager and restless for change, but at the same time patient enough to learn how to really bring it about. They will undoubtedly have a very powerful impact on everyone in society."

Already, this generation has endured a powerful recession, 9/ll, crack, herpes, AIDS, two Gulf wars-and this in just four decades of living. Baby boomers got through rock n roll, R & B, the British invasion, the cold war, the sixties, Vietnam, the civil rights movement, the assassinations of the sixties, before mellowing out at the end of the century. How will P. and her peers, born in the late sixties in a period of intense social upheaval, endure?

In many European countries, unemployment compensation is much higher than in the U.S. and lasts for several years longer, and workers have health care in flush and not-so-flush times. Who knows? Perhaps P. is a forerunner of a populace which has to learn how to live with permanent unemployment. Perhaps her kite is flying high.

Do you believe in astrology?

Grant Lewi said, "Astrology is not something to believe in; it's something to know about."

Some basics for chart delineation

THE PLANETS

The Sun and the Moon - Basic central core of the personality. These two bodies represent how we make decisions, how we act, and what we value.

Mercury, Venus, and Mars- The personal planets. These planets indicate our everyday concerns, our interaction with others, and our immediate environment.

Jupiter and Saturn - The planets of the culture. These planets represent our ability to interact with our society and its laws and values.

Uranus, Neptune and Pluto - The planets of our higher evolution. These planets show our ability to focus on issues that transcend our immediate life and culture.

THE SIGNS

Fire Signs - Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius
Earth Signs - Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn
Air Signs - Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
Water Signs - Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces

Cardinal Signs - Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn
Fixed Signs - Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius
Mutable Signs - Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces

THE HOUSES

1st - Your personal appearance and your immediate environment
2nd - Your self worth and your orientation toward the material world
3rd - Your integration of basic experience and ability to learn
4th - Your home and family
5th - Children, romance and creative expression
6th - Work, health and your facility with detail
7th - One on one relationships. Marriage and partnerships
8th - Community resources, sex, ultimate issues, financial institutions
9th - Foreign travel, higher education, ethics and legal principles, insurance, publishing
10th - Career and social standing
11th - Friends and higher aims in life
12th - The unconscious and social institutions
The Ascendant - The beginning of the first house
The Midheaven - The beginning of the tenth house

THE ASPECTS


***Basic types of aspects***

Hard or difficult aspects - Semi-square, Square, Sesquiquadrate, and Opposition. These are the aspects that help us recognize the ingredients in our personality that need changing.

Easy or soft aspects - Trines and Sextiles. These are the aspects that express our talents and skills.

Growth aspects - Semi-sextiles and quincunx. These are aspects that give us opportunity to grow. They indicate long term development of some key aspect of your personality and behavior for this life time.

Power aspects - Conjunctions, Parallels, and Contra-parallels. These are the aspects that show energy, force, reorganization and transformational ability.


***Condition of your planets by aspect***

Afflicted - A planet is called afflicted when it has only hard (difficult) aspects. These planets represent our greatest challenges and our more promising areas of growth.

Unafflicted - A planet is unafflicted when it is not limited to only hard aspects. This can mean that the planet has no aspects, has only easy aspects, or has both hard and soft aspects.

Well Aspected - A planet is called well aspected when it has no hard aspects. This shows ease of expression and a certain ability to bring the ingredients symbolized forward into life with little or no conflict.

***Special points in your chart***

Ascendant - This is the same as the cusp of the first house. The Ascendant refers to your physical body and how you meet the world, how you present yourself.

Midheaven - This is the same as the cusp of your tenth house. The Midheaven refers to how we rise and fall in life, our social position and our orientation to our family, culture and history.

Moon's North Node - Our direction in life. How we form relationship bonds with the environment as well as people.

Vertex - A point in our chart were we tend to feel out of control. It is a place where we easily give ourselves over to something beyond the scope of our own life.

East Point - A place of idealism and perfection in your chart. It functions as another way of contacting people.

Part of Fortune - A point where we put many parts of our motivation together in a personal way. It shows personal joy and fulfillment.

Alison Des Forges' fixed stars show her life of activism

Alison Liebhafsky Des Forges (20 August 1942 – 12 February 2009), an American historian and human rights activist, specialized in the African Great Lakes region and studied the Rwandan Genocide. She was killed on flight 3407 near Buffalo, NY.

The presence of Fomalhaut, Algol and Facies prominent in parans [angular when a planet was angular throughout her day of birth] is reflected in her life of activism and fighting for victims of genocide. Algol and Facies involve violence against which she dedicatedly fought. Fomalhaut is one of the four great mythical stars of Persia; Bernadette Brady says its presence in the chart will give one's life a pronounced mythical quality. It's interesting that the first names of note on the manifest of the Buffalo plane crash were Des Forges and the 9/11 widow-activist.

Brady also says that a planet culminating in paran is particularly strong. Des Forges has Sadalmelek as Moon was culminating, indicating that maternal/childhood influences enhanced her creative work and associations.
Capella angular as her Moon was culminating gives the freedom seeking for others that she displayed in her fight for genocide victims.
Fomalhaut as both Mercury and Mars culminated in her foundation show what she will be remembered for as well as the basic principles that underlay her lifework.

HELIACAL RISING STAR
Phact - Rising - To seek that which is just out of reach, to plunge into the unknown

HELIACAL RISING STAR
Acubens - Believing in the sacredness of life and seeking to be a Giver of Life

HELIACAL SETTING STAR
Altair - To use boldness and bravery as the guiding principles of her life

PARANS - BY ANGLE
RISING - Stars of her youth
Alnilam as Jupiter is Rising: Success in bridging the gap from one social status to another
Bellatrix as Mercury is On Nadir - The craftsman and a person with alternative interests
El Nath as Saturn is Rising- Prepared to battle the establishment, a hard life
Sadalmelek as Moon is Culminating - Good, or fortunate, associations; one's creative work is well received

CULMINATING - Stars of her Prime
Fomalhaut as Mars is On Nadir - An idealistic warrior, mystical hero, or blind fanatic
Alkes as Moon is Rising - A person with a love of, and empathy for, life and nature
Algol as Sun is Rising - Passion that can inspire or destroy
Mirach as ¨ Venus is Rising- Beauty in body, soul or art

SETTING - Stars of her Latter Years
Sualocin as Moon is On Nadir- Good networker, helpful friends, and a popular person
Acubens as Venus is Setting- Happy relationship and to be blessed with good friends
Pollux as Venus is Setting - The artisan, or living an alternative lifestyle
Facies as Mars is On Nadir - Endurance, physical or mental, for good or evil
Sadalsuud as Sun is Rising - Fortune from difficulties
Acumen as Moon is Setting- hardships
Facies as Mercury is On Nadir - One who is judged harshly
Capella as Moon is Culminating- Seeking freedom for oneself and/or others

ON NADIR - Stars at the Foundation of her life
Fomalhaut as Mercury is Culminating -
To have an idealistic vision
Alkes as Mercury is On Nadir -
To undertake detailed and precise work
Fomalhaut as Mars is Culminating -
Am idealistic warrior, mystical hero, or blind fanatic
Diadem as Venus is Rising -
Appeasement - a person who can make compromises
El Nath as Mars is Setting-
To take physical action even in the face of strong opposition
Calculations from Starlight 1.0

Mercury Goes Retrograde [9.24-10.15]

Some people get spooked by Mercury Retrograde. I don't. It's snafu time, not life or death time. Because today, Sept. 24, it starts going backwards [not really, it just looks that way in the heavens above] at 21* Libra, the sign of partnerships, agreements, the public, it affects our relationships with others.

Here are some general dos and don'ts for the three week periods that occur three times a year:

Don't buy, sign for or sell key merchandise.
Try not to start a new job or project. [This is the general recommendation I've read for years. However, you can't stop breathing. I've started jobs, bought items, etc. Yes, sometimes, I have to go back and redo the buy. That's life.]

Don't expect resolutions made during this period to stick. They will probably need redoing or redrafting after October 15.
[Uh oh, whazzup with the $700 Billion bailout??!!]
If you can, postpone any kind of negotiations.

Don't indulge in heated debate--tempers flare, miscommunication is heightened.
Try not to get married.

Watch out for your electronics. They may need repairs or get misplaced.
When making travel plans watch out for last minute changes.
Don't ask for a raise or quit your job.

Make sure you have emergency numbers programmed into your cell phone, and a paper backup in your purse, the car, in your office desk.

What does work when Mercury goes retrograde? Which tasks should we tackle?

Tie up loose ends.
Re-do, re-check, go over details.
Stall on negotiations.
Get second opinions.
Be thorough in your affairs.
Finish up projects [This is music to a writer's ears. We get to work on that story, poem, essay, project that we shoved to the back burner weeks or months ago].
Repair and maintain anything.
Clean out the basement, closets, yard, garage.
Give clothes to charity.
Get rid of books you know you'll never read or books you won't re-read. They're old ideas hanging around. Let them go into the universe where someone else can use them.
Back up all your files, paperwork and put in a safe place.
Place all valuables in a secure place.
Get a safe deposit box.
Read a favorite book, poem, short story or view a movie again.

LISTEN and PAUSE before reacting or responding.
Saying these phrases may be helpful:
"Can I get back to you?"
"Let's come back to this after we've both calmed down."
"I need some time to think about this before I give you an answer."

Ballad for sarah palin's babymommadrama

Before anybody
politically right of center
says one word of defense
for this sweet young pale
pretty girl, can we hear
a disclaimer? Goes like this:

We regret demonizing whole
generations of young black
unwed females [not pale nor
considered pretty by white
ethnocentric persons]. We
regret stereotyping them
as immoral dregs on public
welfare rolls. We apologize
for not recognizing that
sexuality is a human trait
not a racial trait
and that teen pregnancy
happened in the "best of
homes" back in the day as well
before we did away with welfare
& forced these mothers into
mininum wage jobs two and three
bus rides away from their little
not-pale children [I believe you
called them bastards but we
invented better terms-
babymomma, babydaddy- that I know
all about because I'm not just
a grandma,I'm a babydaddymomma].
The kids were left all day
to watch tv and play video
games unsupervised. That's
what we call the bootiful
Clinton legacy. That's why
some very stoopid people
mistook Bill for a black prez.

But that's so 80s/90s.
Let us return to late 2008
when fair virgins of the
almost-no-longer-majority
race get impregnated mysteriously
and became upright political footballs.

Let's let bygones be bygones and
remember the golden-white rule-
when people of color do it, it's evil
when whites do it, it's a badge of honor.

Sarah Palin has some hellifying transits right now!

Sarah Palin has several classic torture transits: she's getting outer planet transits from Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. When these transits occur, they can take one's mind, body, and public persona through a torture chamber in the form of illness, legal problems, forced resignation or firing, family dilemmas-think of life crises and you've got the picture.

A whole generation born in 1965-68 is experiencing Saturn transiting the natal Uranus/Pluto conj. in Virgo. That's a hellbender, causing health and vocational rethinking on a massive societal level.

The problem with outer planet transits is that they last so long. The four outer planets beyond Jupiter transit the signs slowly-Saturn takes 2-1/2 years. So people with a normal life span will receive a Saturn transit to each planet twice, three times if they live to their 80s, including the vaulted Saturn returns at 26-30 years and 56-60 years of age.

Uranus revolves around the Sun once every 84 years, while Neptune takes about twice as long at 165 years and Pluto takes three times as long at 248 years. So not everyone gets a Uranus, Neptune or Pluto hit to their natal Sun or key planet/angle in one lifetime. When people do get it, it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Palin's generation is feeling the brunt of downsizing in many industries, experiencing the outsourcing of jobs for which they had trained in their 20s.

It's the fast food generation coming to grips with trans fats and meeting the consequences of health policies or indiscretions created nationwide.

It's the ecstasy/rave & wave generation coming to grips with nervous systems finally blowing a gasket after so much misuse.

Palin's daughter getting pregnant at 17 could be seen as the result of the previous generation's abstinence preaching that sought to bypass birth control methods.

Palin has Neptune exactly conjuncting her Sun this month, a once-in a-lifetime conj. to her natal Sun, threatening to uncover and bring to light all that has been hidden for decades, not just years. It's brought her into the spotlight but the cost is exposure of all her biz.

I went through two recent outer planet transits, Sat. on my Pluto in Leo, and Pluto quincunxing [150* from] my Sat. at 28* Cancer [still there but the storm, my Gustav, has blown over]. These are just not pleasant interludes for anyone. But for a politician like Palin, everything that can be dredged up will be dredged up and reviewed before offical boards of inquiry. I had several such procedures to go through-medical, legal, academic-and they were exhausting, painstaking, costly and worrisome. All has ended well but the toll is no laughing matter.

My heart goes out to her and especially her family, even though her politics are diametrically opposite mine. She will come through it wiser--but at a cost.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Repubs. throw her back in the water if her Neptunian tide keeps washing ashore detritus. They're keeping a stiff upper lip now. But an onslaught would have to be addressed. That's what a political campaign is about. Think Thomas Eagleton with his electroshock treatments. The Dems had to get him off the ticket to salvage it, even though they lost by a landslide.

Scenario - how the Palin pick might play out

Brilliant idea from "gorefan" on the First Look posts at MSNBC:
Some are describing her as Dan Quayle in a dress (because of her lack of experience), others as a female Alberto Gonzales (because of the hiring and firing scandal), but I see her as the female TOM EAGLETON.
I see it playing out like this: After the convention, the press will descend on her and McCain with questions about the firing of state employee for personal reasons, and then they will ask about the budget deficit she left as mayor of Wasilla. It will be a constant barrage and distraction from the message of the campaign. Next the National Enquirer will run stories about her not be the mother of the infant baby. Finally, after several weeks of agony for the Republicans, Gov. Palin will announce that she is withdrawing her name from the Republican ticket. The McCain campaign will accept the resignation, and McCain will hold a press conference to denounce the media as "agents of titillation" only concerned with scandals which increase their ratings. He will blame the democrats and entrenched political establishment for practicing the "politics of destruction" for driving a "good decent woman, mother of five, and mother of soldier currently in Iraq, from public service." but he will save his sharpest criticism for his own Republican party and the social conservatives who use "narrowly defined litmus tests" to eliminate perfectly qualified candidates who fail those tests. He will say that the only litmus test that he will apply is whether the candidate is ready to be President of the United States. Several days later, no longer under the constraints of a nominating convention, he will pick his real choice, his friend, his soul mate Joe Lieberman to be his running mate. He will also announce that like his hero Teddy Roosevelt, if elected he will not seek a second term. Gorefan
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/08/30/1310137.aspx

Sarah Palin and the maternity of her Downs Syndrome baby-her daughter's?

This site has brought up the spectre of Palin's Downs' Syndrome baby being her teenage daughter's baby: http://themoderatevoice.com/

Palin's Sun/Saturn/Mars conjunction in Aquarius is quite a forceful configuration, in Aq., signature of trailblazers, stubborn, unusual even eccentric personalities. The squares to it can mean lying, deception, hidden problems, whereas the opposition [in Richard Nixon's chart] points to betrayal from others.

Donna Cunningham says Outer Planet Person aspects-Uranus, Neptune and/or Pluto strongly aspected or angular in the natal chart-give checkerboard lives, make for the kind of people who do many different things until they find their way in their forties. I'm a Uranian, so I know the drill.

Her Neptune is aspected abundantly, as it also is sesqui. Venus. The sesquiquadrate, 135 *, is interpreted as providing an irritation or agitation on the planets involved, thus its reputation for being an aspect of stress. Obviously having five children, a husband, a political career, and being an athletic outdoorswoman, Ms. Palin knows how to handle stress.

Sarah Palin an interesting v.p. choice - Klondike Barbie?

McCain's v.p. pick, Sarah Palin, was born Feb. 11, 1964, in Sandpoint, Idaho. I felt a strong revulsion this morning at the announcement of the pick at seeing Palin's daughter holding the newborn baby. It just looked wrong, like the young daughter is doing the parental job. I wondered, what is Palin doing--about to commit so much time to campaigning when she has a special needs infant to take care of and another who is four? Perhaps my Obama bias is kicking in.

Nevertheless, Palin's Sun/Saturn/Mars conjunction in Aquarius is a doozy of a configuration, in Aq., signature of trailblazers, stubborn, unusual even eccentric personalities. The sq. from Neptune says she blazes the trail, holds the stubbornness in an inspired, if sometimes misguided way.

I hope Palin's TOB surfaces soon.

Her Neptune is fully aspected, sq. n. Sun, sesqui. Venus, sq. Mars and Saturn, rather frightening contacts with the planet of delusion and oil. It quintiles Mercury and possibly her Moon for sure.

The sesquiquadrate, planets 135 degrees apart, provides irritation or agitation to the planets involved, thus its reputation for being an aspect of stress. Obbviously having five children, a husband, a political career, and being an athletic outdoorswoman, Ms. Palin knows how to handle stress.

This campaign is so interesting. Each of the four candidates on the tickets has a compelling tragedy/circumstance--death and being widowed [Biden], abandonment [Obama], captivity [McCain], Downs' syndrome [Palin].

Palin has three biquintiles, special talents and abilities, to Uranus from her Moon, Mercury and Jupiter. So her personal planets, thus her personal life, is very Uranian. The hunting, fishing, snowboarding show that.

McCain has Uranian biquintiles also, from n. Mercury and Jupiter, and with his Moon/Chiron. Lots of special talents on this ticket which will unfold in the next 66 days.

Someone on Huffington's post called Palin Klondike Barbie. Her Venus might be angular and taking even more stress than indicated by two natal sextiles to personal planets and a sesquis. to Neptune.

Obama has biquintiles too, one from Jupiter to Pluto, both outer planets, thus the societal impact and grandness of his vision, and another from Mars to his rising sign, showing that he is indefatigueable.

Joe Biden with the other USA Chart still compelling

The synastry with Biden and the Gemini rising USA chart is equally compelling because the planetary aspects remain the same except for the Moon which moves fastest of all.

The USA Moon, earlier in Aquarius, squares Biden's Mercury, indicating the squabbling and adamant pronouncements he's known for. Still no favorable aspects from Biden's chart to the USA Moon exist.

The Gemini rising USA chart does place Biden's key Saturn right on the USA Ascendant conj. the USA Uranus. That Saturn-Uranus hookup portends the great "thrilla in manilla" between the mighty old system, i.e. the USA that's very 20th century. And the future, text messaged to generation X's palm.

It's interesting that the transiting Saturn-Uranus opposition falls exact on election day 2008. Biden's like a suspicious troop reinforcement in the battle of the old guard vs. the new guard. He looks old guard, he's 65, he's a part of the establishment, he talks tough militarily. But here he is supporting the new guy. Is this a trick? Is he really going to be supportive?

Sometimes it's good to look at the year or era of a person's birth to understand him or her better. To have been born in 1942 means one's parents, one's infancy was full of war talk, rations, women left at home while thousands went overseas to fight. We tend to romanticize war in retrospect, but WWII required tremendous sacrifice-twenty million victory gardens, freezing hosiery to make it last, FDR's fireside chats.

Just like the generation of the Great Depression-era 30s never forgot the harshness and economies of that era, those born in war don't forget its lessons nor its requirements. Perhaps Biden is harbinger of more war than we can imagine right now, exhausted from Iraq, our attention momentarily diverted from the horrific pictures of Georgia, Israel/Palestine, Darfur, etc. by the prospect of a charismatic young President at the helm.

Joe Biden - a good choice for veepee

I like the Biden choice from many angles. Looking at the synastry between Biden's chart and the Sag rising USA chart, we see that Biden's retrograde Jupiter, his chart ruler, conjuncts the USA Mercury, opposing the USA Pluto. That USA Mercury-Pluto opposition in Cancer/Capricorn, is key to our foreign affairs and holds for any July 4th, 1776 chart, no matter the rising sign. It points to Biden's valuable length of tenure in the Senate handling judicial and foreign affairs, both 9th house matters.

Biden's birthdata: 11/20.1942, 8:29 am, Scranton, PA. See astrodatabank.com for the USA chart.

I love Biden's tough Scorpio Sun with its combust Venus which explains his magnetism and affectionate Irish geniality. This Sun/Venus/Merc. conjunction trines his n. Jup. and USA's n. Merc. His Mars, also in Scorp., trines the USA's Jupiter/Venus, again bringing in that vociferousness he's known for, yet the joking, appealing side. Some were shocked at his lugubriousness at judicial hearings. But he's obviously at home wielding power in his own way.

The lack of strong harmonious Moon interaspects shows why Biden couldn't win two Presidential bids [Michael O'Reily argues that it's all-important for Presidents to connect to the USA Moon at 27 Aq., thus appealing to the public and capturing the vote]: Biden's Moon in Taurus squares the USA Pluto in late Cap. though it sextiles the USA Venus in Cancer. His only Ptolemaic [major] aspects to the USA Moon are squares from his Sun/Ven. Those interaspect squares in fixed signs show that we will see even more of his some say principled, others say irascible side in the future. He's not going to bite his tongue--ever. Presidents have mouthy veepees-remember Spiro Agnew? The job is a perfect place for attitude, and, of course, the campaign trail calls for a v.p. attack dog.

Another interesting interaspect that echoes Obama's Neptune close contact with the USA chart is the USA Neptune sitting on Biden's Midheaven with his own Neptune not far away in the 10th house of prominence. Inspiration, inspiration, inspiration is the hallmark of Neptune. You gotta get people inspired to get them out of their mundane worlds and to the polls. To the t-shirt wearing stage. To the participatory democracy stage. I'd like to see how McCain tops this.

Biden's retrograde Pluto is exactly conjunct the USA North Node, a mark of destiny, and promises transformation and regeneration which the country needs badly. The charts' Saturns are trine in air signs, lots of communication and plans made through agreements and talks. Looks like Biden will be a veep-ambassador more than most. No Cheney-in-the-bunker type here.

Pardon my bias. I have the Sun in Cancer right on Biden's Jupiter; my Moon in Pisces trines his Scorpio planets. Biden's long political career speaks to his strong Saturn, conj. Uranus, at his 7th house angle, his Descendant. It points to the tragedy that occurred one month after winning his Senate seat and losing his wife and infant in a car-train collision. Yet he rebounded, Scorpionically, and went on to become Delaware's longest serving senator. I know the power of water strength in a chart. It can wear away the rock every time. It just takes time.

John Edwards and Rielle Hunter- not just a jump-off

The composite chart of Edwards and Rielle Hunter is very compelling. It has more punch and juice between the two of them than many other composites that I've done before, including these key aspects: Sun in the Eleventh House • Sun Conjunct Venus • Sun Conjunct Mars • Sun Conjunct Jupiter • Moon in the Second House • Moon Conjunct Uranus • Venus in the Eleventh House • Venus Conjunct Mars • Venus Conjunct Jupiter. Maybe it's love. Maybe she's more than a jump-off [contemporary slang for mistress]. One might argue that these are lust, fun, and travel aspects, but look at the natal chart interchanges:

His Mars in Gemini makes a grand trine with her 5th h. Moon in Libra/9th h. Sat in Aq. Her 5th h. Nep trines his 1st h.Ur. The affair and the child fulfill something unique, even eccentric, about him that he's proud of. Check out the webvideos she made of him. He says he wants to be revealed publicly for who he is, not just a Ken doll.

They each have a Sun/Mars conj; their natal Mars are squared which produces friction to be sure, but still not insubstantial. Her Sat. squares his 11th h. Moon/Jup/Juno which reflects the child, the affair[Juno] and the wrecking of his public idealism. They're connected for better or worse.

Look at Edwards' Sat/Nept on the cusp of her 5th h. of children and love affairs, opposite her Merc/Jup. on the cusp of her 11th h. With his son tragically lost in a car accident, not to mention a mate with a terminal illness, I wager he would be averse to turning his back on his own kin/blood.

His 11th h. Venus trines her 3rd. h. Uran/Pl, both retrograde. Perhaps this is a backwards love, the horse before the cart. Each also possesses an 11th h. Venus, which gives an Aquarian off-beat friendship cast to romantic liasons.

Her 11th h. Venus squares his 2nd. h. Pluto, which speaks of the $$ exchanges going on to keep her hidden, the baby cared for, etc. Two Venus-Pluto interchanges say this is fated, tumultuous, life-changing [more like life-churning], volcanic, explosive, possessive-oriented. The sq. goes to his Pl. in 2nd h. He will own this child publicly in due time, but I bet he's owning it already in private.

His Juno/Moon/Jup opposes her Juno. Yes, an affair was inescapable, once their ships had passed in the night. He has a loaded 12th h.-Sun/Mars/Merc. in Gemini, signalling hidden affairs, hidden strength, hidden resolutions. Her NN conj. his Merc, sq. her own Sun shows her cross-purposes with herself touched on a fundamental schism within him that perhaps he wanted to come to grips with once and for all.

I don't care how public they are; humans are susceptible to wanting to transform on a deep personal level. Everybody has a Uranus and a Pluto. Everyone gets hit by outer planet transits. He got hit by Neptune trining his Gemini planets, and Ur. squaring them and Pl. opposing that Mars in late Gem. for the last two years. He wanted deep inner/interpersonal change. Being Prez would not have helped. He would have had to keep the pretty facade and tend to far larger universal issues, prety much a contradiction right there. His road to the White House ended with Kerry, quiet as it's kept. Planets in the 12th house can mean that we cannot see a person clearly because his public image is distorted. Often public office holders with a 12th house Sun undergo extreme personal sacrifice and ego attacks. Some have speculated that this prepares them for the humiliation that comes with ignominy associated with the 12th house.
I can't help think of the Susan Sarandon film Stepmom where she was terminally-ill and Julia Roberts was the next up wifey. This is really an intensely personal dilemma for John and Elizabeth Edwards and now for Rielle Hunter as well.

Obama's grand trines in earth and water signs

I keep stepping back from his chart and seeing the double grand trines, one of which forms the kite. These extremely fortunate combos have planets 120 degrees [*] apart in three contiguous trines.

His watery grand trine has Venus [love, affection, what we attract to us] at 1* Cancer trine to Neptune [compassion, sympathy, inspiration, oil, drugs, creativity] at 8* Scorpio trine the third planet Chiron[the wounded Healer] at 5* Pisces. This is indicated in his life by the difficult childhood circumstances, the parental separation, his father living so far away. As he's expressed in his books, he worked through the anguish of his youth to become a healing force in the world.

Pluto[societal concerns] at 6* Virgo forms the kite, making sextiles [60 * angles] to Venus and Neptune.

His cha-cha flows like water. When he met Michelle she wouldn't date him because they worked together. So he told her he'd quit, and he got another position. That's flow; when you're fluid, you don't get stuck. It also means that he will take meaningful social action as a prez around water issues. He's promised that a Katrina debacle won't take place on his watch.

When I first studied astrology I so envied grand trine people, as I called them. I thought it meant their lives were forever lucky. It took many moons for me to observe the inclination to hold onto fortunate patterns/relationships/jobs/homes, past the point of usefulness, because the influence is so strong. It represents good deeds done in past lives coming to fruition in this one. Obama has many squares, planets in conflict and 90* apart, to keep him on the move, lifelong-striving, hustling, reaching, searching. He's not a plateau person.

His Moon sextiles Mercury. Mercury sextiles in a person's chart bring friendships and talkativeness, even glibness.

A person with a kite formation in the natal horoscope has grand ideas and, like a kite runner, keeps putting them up and out there. The gusts of wind pick up the kite and off he or she goes with kite in hand, i.e. making ideas concrete.
[Obama has a 7:24 pm birthtime, 4 Aug 1961, in Honolulu]

His Moon at 3* Gemini trines his Saturn/Jupiter conjunction at 25* Capricorn/0* Aquarius. These positions also trine his Mars at 22* Virgo, giving the Moon, a light, a wide orb.

This blended air and earth sign trine gives him an abundance of common sense, earthiness, grounding, a liking for material goods, the here and now, and a great ability to circumnavigate this great earth. The travelling involved in politics no doubt is much to his liking; he will be a prez who goes all over, not a shut-in by any stretch of the imagination.

Also that earthiness means he can pick himself up once he's down. He looked a forlorn figure for a minute while defending himself against Wright, taking the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. He's either building enormous sympathy or enormous antipathy from all this guilt by association.

Whatever doesn't kill his candidacy keeps making it stronger.

Obama and treachery from others

Transiting Mars opposition Obama's natal Saturn [Apr. 28-May 2] represented a critical culmination for him. Astrologer Robert Hand cautions this transit brings other people's aggressive actions which block one's success. Hand also says the native may not have prepared adequately for the challenges that any personal initiative must face. Sounds like the Rev. Wright debacle that Obama may not have reckoned with theretofore.

This was treachery since Rev. Wright, Barbara Reynolds and the Clintons colluded on this one, whether overtly or unconsciously-and I have my suspicions knowing how dirty politics is. I wouldn't be surprised if cash or promises were horse-traded here. This is high stakes.

Treachery from others comes under the aegis of Neptune. Obama's natal Neptune gets three squares from natal Sun/Mercury/Jupiter. The opposition of his natal Mercury to natal Saturn/Jupiter conjunction [two planets within six degrees of each other] with natal Neptune forms a t-square [this looks like a triangle-two planets 180* apart with a third 90* equidistant from each]. This will always, always bring up conflict, internal and external, and in Obama's case, bombast [Jupiter] and distortion [Neptune] from others.

Also his natal Mercury, the planet of speech and fast stepping, is septile his natal Mars [51 degrees apart]. Septiles are both spiritual and fated aspects and play out with force in the 51st year of life which would be 2012, the fourth year of an Obama presidency.

This septile is responsible for his passionate, dramatic style of communicating, and also for that quick-footed way he hops onto platforms. It gives a sense of mission or divine imperative in the expression of ideas and desires, the ability to inspire and motivate people, and the feeling that it is somehow his destiny to do so [all of which this campaign has brought to the light].

Rev. Wright and some astro joose

Here's a very interesting comparison of preachers who have been connected to prez candidates from The Huffington Post:
www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/different-standards-for-b_b_92337.html

Since Rush et al have vowed to ride this Wright thing into Nov., it looks like it will be the gift they never stop giving Obama. That definitely has Plutonian overtones what with Saturn transiting back and forth over his Pluto at 6 Virgo for this past six months and the next six months.

I receive a lot of e-mails from blacks on this matter. The flood of e-mails makes me wonder about other groups who communicate and bond this way too. Internet person-to-person politicking is having a profound effect. It's rallying people and hardening attitudes, disseminating key info, negatively and positively. It reminds me of ATMs, said to appeal more to blacks and other minorities because it eliminates a level of racism we face on a daily basis.

Barack Obama is a reminder

Obama is a reminder that America still has its big problem with race and ethnicity, that the dream hasn't come true for many, many people--the dream of equality.

This is why he has 90%+ of black voters-not because we see him as a messiah. We had proportionate turnouts like that for Sharpton and Jackson. We still need redress. And blacks supported Hillary until Bill put his foot in his mouth in Carolina with the racist statement about Jesse Jackson having won just like Obama did. We got indignant that he would try to put down this guy who credibly fought his way up like Hill and Bill themselves.

I also think Hillary is getting a backlash from black voters. White middle-class women were the primary beneficiaries of affirmative action. Even Willie Brown said this last year. All one has to do is look at tv news and see all these lip-glossed Barbie doll reporters and know that the feminist revolution stopped midway. Once the corporate, educational, professional and skilled trade doors opened, white females were allowed in and a miniscule number of highly trained or educated black women, far fewer black males-game over.

Blacks know that the feminist movement profited from and got a lot of its momentum from the civil rights movement. But once they made gains, did feminists make life better for all or for a few? Did they help the women in the pink collar ghettoes? Did they change the perception of women in media? If they did, why do women in media have to look sexy, young and glamorous while the men can look like Uncle Festus and have hair sprouting from their noses and ears?

Did they stay in the struggle long enough to change the status of women throughout society? I would say not long enough, although I think some would say that Hillary's campaign is proof that they did. Her campaign is primarily proof that she gained credibility from being the prez's wife...her 3 a.m. ad trades on that; her diplomatic cred comes from her travels as First Lady, and her high start in senatorial politics comes from her White House visibility and stature. Some have even said she won because Bill cheated and she got an empathy vote. I'd say Hillary, no disrespect for her brainpower and endurance, has gained mightily from the feminist movement.

amazing horoscopic synastry between Cannon & Carey

Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey have an amazing horoscopic hook-up. She has a stellium [3 or more planets] in Aries and he has a stellium in Libra. That means those sets of planets were in opposition to each other which in turns means they had to build a bridge to each other [the video I presume]. After that it was on and popping.

This is a love match; they have strong Venus connections. Her Venus has a favorable trine [120*] to his Neptune--a dreamy love connection. Look at her name written in script across his shoulder blades. His Venus trines her Saturn--an aspect of longevity and commitment. This is a long haul relationship however it turns out.

These lovebirds do have a clashing aspect, his Saturn to her Chiron, but they really have far more strong connections:

• her Pluto to his Jupiter/Saturn; this is a very strong societal connection. Perhaps they would have been biz partners in any case. Also he's no lightweight with a Jupiter/Saturn conjunction. Obama has a Jup-Sat conjunction-people destined to affect society in a big way.
• his Moon to her Uranus shows the sudden domestic change for them;
• her Mercury's in Aries and his is in Scorpio. This means that each's planet of communication[Mercury] is in a Mars-ruled sign, so they have fiery hot talk for days;
• sextiles in the chart show the friendliness between them.

I was surprised by the suddenness of it all but see soul mates written all over their compatibility chart.