Astrological Forecasts

Brian, the excellent moderator at Political Astrology mailing list,  asked me to explain what I meant by ‘dead degrees.’ By dead degrees, I am referring to any planet that comes within 5 degrees of the next cusp, following Ptolemy, was considered as already doing the work of the following house.  One of the members of Political Astrology suggested that we need to see it over time, and to experiment with it. I agree, and so I present an example of how this concept works, using the natal chart of Barack Obama.

First look at Obama’s progressed Mercury on Oct 3 2008, above. It is just separating from fiery Mars,  on the lucky Spica at 23 Libra, and by all agreement situated in his 8th house, giving him that rhetorical verve, that easily left his opponents in the dust.

Four years later,  in his first debate with Romney, Obama is said to have seemed removed, and not really engaging in the manner he did during the first campaign. Even the most generous commentators said Obama seemed very ‘far away’ off in his own world, on October 3, 2012.

If we look to the chart, below, we will  see Obama’s progressed Mercury has separated from Mars, and is now at 27 Libra 47 min easily within the 5 degrees of the 9th house cusp of 01 Scorpio. This affects Mercury enormously, because,  it sure seemed, at least to this viewer, that Obama’s mind was off in the clouds, and looking at the chart, below, we can see that Obama’s mind is off in ‘dead degrees of the next house, doing the work of the 9th house.

So what happened to the silver tongued wonderkund in last night’s presidential debate? Four years ago, Obama could not even utter a word that would not be dubbed the golden tongued. He was a fresh face jam packed with a comprehensive vision for the future, convincing us, ‘yes we can.’ Even the left winged San Francisco Chronicle conceded, “Obama seemed vacant and distracted while Romney scored his best performance yet: The former Massachusetts governor delivered a confident, often aggressive and energetic performance. It was among the best of his campaign and in clear contrast to the president, whose delivery was more muted, measured and, at times, meandering.”

If he had not shown so brightly, four years ago, we might be able to blame his poor performance on his reticent personality.  Surely with Aquarius rising and the South Node in the first house, we see that Obama is very altruistic, but will tend to hold back, giving the other side the benefit of the doubt. When debating an assertive woman, this quality might make him look chivalrous, and dignified, but when debating against a male opponent, that same South Node seemed to make him whither.

Looking at Obama’s chart, in essence we can see that his relaxed oratorical style is well depicted by the charming Venus is in charge of the communications department of his chart. Placed in the mute sign of Cancer, this will tend to make Obama hold back, sort of sniffing his opponent out, preferring to win others over with charm rather than pugilism.

So what happened to the golden throated wunderkind last night? Still holding back? How could a person who could never utter a dumb remark four years ago, manage to look so, well, confused, last night? Well, one thing we know is that when we read natal charts, we are looking at all the karma or activity that any particular person has decided to take on in this life. That is a lot of karma! The natal chart was never created to tell us everything. Natal charts, can only shows us the essential or bigger strokes in our lives.

We cannot judge a singular event by the natal chart, alone For the smaller more succinct events, we need other tools to determine how our golden throated new hope, could appear so confused and out of sorts last night.

There are several ways of examining the ‘smaller events’ in our lives. Horary is one of the quickest methods to understand the smaller strokes. What we do is we take the time of the debate and divide it pretty much in half. The left side, or the Ascendant side of the chart, from house 10 to house 3 will be the ‘home team’ or that of the favorite, i.e., the seated president.

In this case, Obama, since he is  the man to beat, and owns the all important tenth house of president.  Since a debate is a two person operation, the first house, will specifically represent Obama, while the 7^th house, will represent Romney. Strength is everything. So what we are looking for are strong planets, even malicious planets and we want them on our side of the chart.

22 Aries rises in the chart. Mars will rule Obama. This is a great start.  In debates, just as in war, nice guys finish last. Having mean planets helps to win.  Mars is a killer. Even better, Obama as Mars, gives him an initial edge, strong by essential dignity, placed in its own sign, Scorpio.  This makes sense. After all, Obama is the is the president, ahead in the poles, and so he is the man to beat.

Which brings us to the obvious, if this is so, why did Obama come off as such an empty shell? One of the problems of being in one’s own sign, is there is little or no need for others, which can result in a bit of complacency. Because a debate is basically a war of words, it is essential to clearly voice the issues. As strong as Mars in Scorpio is, it is a mute or voiceless sign.

Being strong of sign is great, but if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, no matter how strong, you die. This is where what the ancients called accidental dignity comes in.  Accidental dignity measures placement. It is all about, where you are and who you are with and or being influenced by. Feast your eyes on where Mars is placed – all the way over on Romney’s side of the chart!

Whenever we see our planets on the other guys side, we are in the other guys territory. This is a major sign of loss in war charts. Here Obama is not handing Romney his power on a silver platter, he is literally shooting himself in the foot, because as astute astrologers will notice, Obama is smack dab at the cusp of the deadly 8^th house.  Modern astrologers, and some others might say, ‘hey,  Mars is not in the 8^th, but the 7^th but following the ancient precepts of Ptolemy we know that planets thrust forward. Ptolemy taught us that any planet within 5 degrees of the next cusp is already doing the work of that house. And clearly, Obama was on the ropes last night, a confirmation of Ptolemy’s teachings in action – despite the differing signs on the cusps.

Finally, as we said, debates are nothing more than a war of words. Whichever party is more impressive with his words, wins the debate. And so the house of communications, the third cusp, is all important. Once again,  we see even more in the way of problems for the seated president. So the 3rd cusp, with Gemini, Mercury will show the effectiveness of Obama’s words. Here again, Obama is stymied with Mercury, not only on Romney’s side of the chart. To anybody watching, Obama seemed wooden, and there we see Mercury right smack next to cold and removed Saturn.

Romney on the other hand, will be ruled by Venus. Situated in her fall in the 6^th house is very weak by sign. However, at least Venus is on her own side of the chart and very importantly, even though she is fallen, in debates words are everything. Even if the voice is highly critical, its better to have one than to be mute.

However, as Yogi Berra said, “it is not over until its over.” This chart seems to imply that no matter how great Romney’s performance was last night, nor how dismal Obama’s was, Romney has a long road ahead of him. Notice, the 10^th house, or prize for Romney will be the 4^th, not the 10^th. Here we have Cancer on the cusp of the 4^th, and ruler, Moon on that remove of head’s Algol, and heading towards the South Node. One debate does not an election make.