America and the 14 Dec 2020 solar eclipse

There will be an eclipse in less than a week, on 14 Dec 2020, which will fall across from the US Mars and across Donald Trump’s natal full moon axis. What could possibly go wrong? I have read comment to the effect that America has not been this divided since the Civil War. Maybe so. But the date of the eclipse perhaps will register for people who know a bit of civics: It’s the date when the Electoral College has to declare who won the election. The media has declared Biden the winner. Trump and most of his supporters are crying voter fraud. And Trump wanted to take this all the way to the SCOTUS. Who will prevail, and if voter fraud is proven, what next? And since Trump’s claims have been overall dismissed by the courts, including the SCOTUS, what next? We’ll have a look at the astrology of what will be a most interesting eclipse and historical moment in the annals of US elections here. But, before we get to the astrology and the background, we’ll begin with a quote to set the tone.

“So long as an opinion is strongly rooted in the feelings, it gains rather than loses in stability by having a preponderating weight of argument against it. For if it were accepted as a result of argument, the refutation of the argument might shake the solidity of the conviction; but when it rests solely on feeling, the worse it fares in argumentative contest, the more persuaded its adherents are that their feeling must have some deeper ground, which the arguments do not reach; and while the feeling remains, it is always throwing up fresh intrenchments of argument to repair any breach made in the old.”

The quote applies especially to the present state of emotions in the US, as what is stated above is a big problem on both sides of the political divide there. We’ll get to who said it this later in this piece. But first we turn to the astrology of this eclipse and how it will affect the US. And there is a particular angle in the US chart that describes pretty much the current state of emotions in the US, discussed in due course.

The eclipse on the 14th is a total solar eclipse, on the south node, at the 24th degree of Sagittarius, the Sabian symbol reading: “A bluebird perched on the gate of a cottage” (23 – 24 Sag). The chart is below (bigger). The Sabian symbol would seem to be a contradiction for what we see in the US, as the bluebird is normally symbolic of impending joy and happiness. It may be that for some voters in the US, but for the nation in general the outlook for 2021 is hardly one of happiness.

The maximum eclipse is at 16:14 UT and the eclipse path will strike an arc across Argentina and Chile and will be at its maximum over those two nations. It’s an astronomical event not to be missed if you live there. This is a waxing eclipse series, with this one being #23 out of 72 of Saros series 142. This gives us the astronomy of the eclipse, and it will be powerful as to its astrology.

The eclipse set against the United States national chart is below (bigger):

Before we even start with interpreting what the chart means, what is to be outlined as interpretation can be equally spun on either side of the political aisle to suit their beliefs and purposes, remembering the preceding quote. With that in mind what we have in the synastry of this eclipse with the US is as follows:

  • A resultant t-square with transiting Mercury opposite Neptune, Mars at the midpoint,
  • A resultant t-square with the lunation completing the axis opposite Mars with Neptune as the midpoint,
  • Transiting Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto conjunct the US Pluto and opposite the Mercury/Vertex conjunction.

To give an example of the sort of spin we can expect, we take the first bullet point as an example. The combination Mars=Mercury/Neptune reads: “Thinking with a purpose, great powers of imagination (the disposition of a genius). – The realization of plans or inventions, acting according to deliberation and experience.” Trump supporters would take such an interpretation to mean that efforts to prove voter fraud will bear fruit, that the SCOTUS will rule in favor of Trump, that officials in the Electoral College will change their vote to Trump, and thus the victory of Biden will be overturned. Biden supporters would say that the Electoral College will confirm Biden’s victory, that the system will work as it should, that most if not all of Trump’s lawsuits will be overturned and that the sanctity of the American electoral system will be preserved, with Trump being proven to be the liar his opponents contend he is. We can expect there will be great powers of imagination on both sides of the political fence with the announcement by the Electoral College. The truth, as we will briefly examine, lies somewhere in between.

The other combinations read as follows:

  • Neptune= Sun/Moon/Mars: “Disinclination to work, lack of energy, dishonest activity. – The undermining of one’s vocational position, receiving notice, disappointment, fraud. – Lack of vitality, illness. – The deceived, defrauded or weak husband.” (Sun) “A negative attitude or character, weakness of will, the tendency to worry a lot, the state of fretfulness and of grief, a misdirection of energy. – A misdirected emotional life…(infection), renunciation. – Undermining circumstances affecting the family-life detrimentally.” (Moon)
  • Transiting Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto conjunct the US Pluto and opposite the Mercury/Vertex conjunction: This will need to be unpacked, as there are several considerations there of greater importance. We address the preceding point first.

Both of the preceding points have equal importance. But the first one relates specifically to the eclipse. Eclipses can produce effects on the day of their occurrence, but the larger effects will be produced when the eclipse point is activated by transits. For example, there was also a solar eclipse on 14 Dec 2001 and the day before (eclipses are active just before the event) Bush withdrew the US from the 1972 ABM treaty. In the present case, the eclipse will first be activated by Mars at the median date of 12 Apr 2021. The effects will begin to show a week or two before that event itself.

This eclipse will not activate another eclipse, as sometimes happens, so the main event, as it were, will be seen in April, with events on the day of the eclipse serving as a precursor. As to the 2001 eclipse, it was activated by Mars in May of 2002 and produced several violent and catastrophic events in other parts of the world. For the US, Bush and Putin signed the SORT, the treaty which replaced the ’72 and ’93 treaties on nuclear weapons. So, Mars can work both ways, either in military treaties of in otherwise violent events, since Mars rules the military, too.

Solar eclipses generally apply to leaders of nations in mundane astrology. The culmination line will pass close to Washington, DC., so the effects on the US will be particularly pronounced. The current leader of the US is Donald Trump, the implication here being that he is likely to be disappointed on the 14th, the day of the eclipse. He will definitely be receiving notice, one way or the other. But one thing we will certainly see is highlighted in the interpretation in bolded italics – the ‘family life’ of America will be affected detrimentally, no matter what happens. This is not difficult to see with the prevailing emotions in the nation. However, there is another side to the eclipse combination.

If Trump is ousted, as appears to be immanent, Biden will be President in April. We won’t speculate as to what that will mean, since the inauguration has not even taken place, but Mars activations of solar eclipses are usually fiery and often violent, or they can result in new initiatives, as we saw with the 2001 eclipse. War or peace can result, though we hold the thought that conflict will be waylaid. More to the point, the natal Mars/Neptune square in the US chart shows the fiery nature of passions in the US when they are aroused, and this eclipse will certainly arouse them, both on the day and with subsequent activations. This particular eclipse will receive activations solely from the Sun and Mars. Those ‘undermining circumstances’ highlighted above relate to several factors, discussed presently.

Now we come to a very important consideration in the US chart, related to the 2nd bullet point, preceding. Firstly, much is being made of the Great Conjunction that will take place on the 21st of this month. This is the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction. That will be its exact conjunction, at the first degree of Aquarius. However, we should be aware that those two planets are already conjunct, as within a degree of orb, at the final degree of Capricorn on the day of the 14th December eclipse.

The 29th degree of any sign is the so-called ‘anaretic degree’ and usually indicates a sense of urgency in completing plans on the one hand, as well as difficulties in decision-making on the other. It is seen as a debilitating condition and points to poor choices, difficulties, crisis, or overcompensation. In Capricorn, this is symbolic of the end of the old order, which this eclipse will herald in the US, eventually. Keep in mind, though, that Jupiter and Saturn together produce slowly emerging results – a kind of ‘controlled, regulated expansion’, or realization of efforts. The Great Conjunction is discussed more thoroughly in a post on the Capricorn ingress for this year.

The more telling aspect of the bullet point in consideration relates to the natal Mercury/Pluto opposition on the Vertex axis. The Mercury/Pluto opposition describes perfectly the media culture in the US as well as America’s view of itself and the world. Pluto/Mercury combinations are about the ‘art of persuasion’. It can be a strong propagandistic influence as well as one showing a person or nation who can probe deeply into matters and as well can show all of the following qualities, which it has over the years with the US – restless thinking, good powers of observation, a quick grasp of every situation, an amazingly sharp criticism, intellectual triumph over others, slyness or cunning, crafty subtlety, diplomacy, hasty thinking and speaking, premature action or hastiness, the spirit of opposition, irritability, impatience, over-estimation of self. ‘American exceptionalism’ comes to mind, as well as our great achievements, especially in science and technology.

Mercury/Pluto describes the US media to a ‘T’, since Mercury rules the media, in that one of media’s main purposes in recent memory has been to “steer the narrative”, whatever that may be at the time. We see this with foreign policy, especially, and with national politics. Whether it is mainstream or social media, it makes no difference: The name of the game is influence peddling, especially since the Clinton years. It also makes no difference if the media is CNN, Fox News, Facebook or Twitter, right wing or left. The result is the same. American media is about making money. And as we may well guess, that planetary opposition lies across the US 2nd/8th house axis, the nation’s ‘money axis’, with Pluto in the 2nd house (national income) and with Mercury in the 8th house – international banking, the insurance industry and debt. America’s economic system is currently debt-based.

Added to the preceding paragraph, we see the combined action of Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto, all of which have been transiting on the US natal Pluto, on the Antivertex and across from Mercury. This brings us to our consideration of the Vertex axis, which has been activated all year.

The Vertex has been called a ‘doorway into other realities’. It shows how we are interconnected with a greater scheme of things. In the US chart the Vertex is in Cancer, the sign of mass awareness, and that is how it should function – as the voice of the people. With Mercury conjunct the Vertex we truly do have ‘the voice of the people’ when that axis functions well. But on the other hand, we also see Pluto at the other end of that axis, throwing all kinds of subconscious, racial, subversive,  and cultural tendencies into the mix. It is our ‘melting pot’ axis. But as to ‘other realities’ we certainly seem to be living in an alternate reality at the moment. ‘Reality’ for the average American is constantly being steered and shaped via the media and the vested interests in the nation, who now control the media wholly since the ‘90s. Vested interests are ruled by the 7th house, Pluto to a lesser extent, and Mercury in the case of the US.

Saturn has transited across the Antivertex three times now since the last time it did (it does so about every 29 years). Those exact dates were 12 Feb 2020 (start of the COVID pandemic and when NASA published its study on Arrokoth), 25 Aug 2020 (Jeff Bezos exceeded $200 billion in net worth and Hurricane Laura made landfall), and 2 November (the election and the day we formally exited the Paris Climate Accords).  Those events are quite suggestive of how the Vertex axis works for the US. Then, there is Jupiter.

Jupiter has also transited the US Antivertex three times this year – on 20 April (West Texas crude prices plummeted into negative territory), 8 June (SpaceX deployed 60 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit), and 1 December (the problem of protein folding is solved, Arecibo collapsed and the UK approved Pfizer’s COVID vaccine). Pfizer is an American company. FYI, those Starlink satellites are phased array 5G-capable satellites, bringing the total number now to almost 1000 in orbit, out of around 30,000 planned. Whether we like it or not, 5G is already being deployed, and by Americans. But there is a wider meaning, in that Jupiter represents expansive knowledge and tech on the Vertex axis, whereas Saturn highlights disasters, separations (as in wealth inequality increasing) and general difficult news. And that brings us to Pluto on the Antivertex.

Of particular interest is that Pluto has been exact on the Antivertex only once since the nation’s founding, on 13 Nov 1776, at a time when the British were invading and the American Revolutionary War was just getting started well. It was during the Battle of Fort Cumberland and just before the Battle of Fort Washington. Both of those were losses to the American side. The next exact conjunction will be early in 2022. But even now we see revolution of some sort on the cards for the US. It can be either peaceful or not, but we know that serious changes are needed in many areas of American life. The current election is a good example of why.

For the past four year Americans have been fed a steady stream of disinformation regarding Trump’s victory in 2016. We were told the Russians had interfered in the electoral process and that had pushed Trump over the line. The truth is rather domestic, in that Hillary ran a poor campaign, there was vote rigging domestically and a great many voters simply did not like Hillary and did not want to vote for ‘more of the same’. Instead, Trump was cast as a kind of Russian asset and as Putin’s good buddy on social media and in mainstream media. It was a false story and has curiously disappeared from view now that Biden is the President-elect. Perhaps it is not such a curious thing after all, given Biden’s victory.

Now, the losing side is claiming widespread voter fraud, blaming foreign countries for unduly influencing the election via the voting machines (Chinese parts, Venezuelan ownership, Canadian connections to Soros, problems with Smartmatic, etc.), truckloads of ballots for Biden, fake ballots counted after hours, shredded ballots in the back of trucks, and so on. So, has there really been voter fraud? That’s for the investigators and the courts to decide, and so far, Trump’s lawsuits are being thrown out of court, one after the next. We are to believe ‘the fix is in’, then, if Trump’s lawsuits fail. At least, that is what many of Trump’s supporters believe, just as many of Clinton’s supporters believed the election was stolen from her in 2016.

On the other side, most comments we see of people crying voter fraud in the November 3rd election conveniently tend to omit or forget practices such as the purging of voter rolls, voter suppression, gerrymandering, caging lists, voter ID requirements and so on. These practices usually target minorities and certain age groups. They have taken place under the auspices of both major parties in the US. At present, the suppression is tending toward suppression of Democrat votes, especially in swing states. Gerrymandering has been particularly hotly contested in my home state of North Carolina, in favour of Republicans. Gerrymandering is particularly useful for deciding House and Senate seats. . And these practices have been especially decisive in the outcomes of swing states in US elections.

There has been a history of contested elections in the United States. But in the last two elections, the cries of foul have been particularly strident, and this on both sides, Republican and Democrat. Of the almost 240 million eligible voters in the US this year, between 67 – 72% turned out to vote, the highest percentage in over a century. That’s roughly a mean of 162 million voters. That shows the level of concerns and passions involved across the board. But here is where the eclipse we are considering comes in and how it is likely to affect the US into the future.

Voters in the US have lost faith in the US electoral process. Many people feel they most often have to choose between ‘the lesser of two evils’. The losing side often feels the election was stolen from them. The prevailing view in the US, having bipartisan support, is that elections in the US are consistently fraudulent. An estimated 80% of losing voters, regardless of party, think so, That is not a good look, and it has repercussions across the globe, not just the United States. If the American people do not trust their elections, why should other nations trust our leaders? One foreign correspondent had this observation, illustrating the point:

Yes, November’s turnout leapt to an estimated 67%, the highest here since 1900, but at what cost? Answer: a divided, obsessive, hysterical, suspicious, intolerant, furious society. The US mainstream media flagellated the public with the idea that Donald Trump was truly the worst thing in global politics since Adolf Hitler for not months but years in order to achieve this increase in voter participation. Is any American really pointing to the 2020 election as a success?

For the half of America which is normally politically active the 80% statistic can’t be ignored. It shows us that the electoral system in the United States is absolutely rife with disaster, mistrust, hypocrisy, elitism, dishonesty, opportunism, cynicism, (and because I’m not paid by the word I’ll just add) etc. It’s such a dysfunctional system that non-Americans have to ask themselves: “Maybe all their repeated hysteria really is justified?”

For the next four years Democrats hope that Joe Biden will somehow ‘heal the nation’. But what of the vast majority of Republican voters who do not see Biden as their legitimate President? We might remember that after Trump assumed office there were widespread posts in social media saying “Not my President!” by Clinton supporters. What we may see now is the Republican version of Russia-gate over the next four years: ‘Beijing Biden’ and China-gate. And let’s not forget Hunter’s laptop, as if we will be permitted to forget the laptop or the images and content.

And now, with this eclipse across from the US Mars and squaring the US Neptune, we will see emotions spike again, first on the day and then especially with the Mars activation early next year. We have an example of the effects of eclipses to the US Mars with the 2001 eclipse, in that emotions were running very high in the US in the months immediately after 9/11. This time around, it is probably reasonable to assume that the nation will not be ‘healing’ in the months ahead. Provided Biden does take the oath on the 20th of January, Democrats will feel better, but it is very doubtful Republicans will. Question is, how to restore faith in our elections, but more to the point, faith in our leaders?

As to faith in elections, I can give a recent personal example. I had to vote in Italy a few months back. As screwed up as Italian party politics is, Italians have their voting process down pat, and it is transparent on the whole. Every voting-age citizen (voting is compulsory in Italy) is issued with an electoral booklet, which must be presented at the person’s precinct when voting. It is stamped on site, after presenting proof of identity (Carta d’Identità, which everyone has), whereupon one is presented with a paper ballot. Every citizen is logged on a voter roll, which is checked off. One then goes into a private booth, fills out the ballot, folds it and then places it in a ballot box upon leaving the voting station. Each station is monitored by police. The votes are counted on site when the polls close, with the results transferred to the electoral office.

I can’t vouch for what happens after the voting has ceased, but the process of voting is strictly human (no machines), there is a paper trail and people can only vote once. The voting booklet and Carta d’Identità assures it. It would be fairly easy to implement a similar system in the US. But then there is the problem of identity documentation. The outcome of the vote here in Italy is known usually within 24 hours. Yes, there have been allegations of invalid ballots in the past, and there appears to be a north/south divide on the issue, but this is usually the case in very close elections.

The point to all this discussion of the election relates to the eclipse falling on the day of the Electoral College confirmation of the vote, plus how the eclipse will likely play out given it takes place in a key point in the US chart, and that it will span the time from the vote confirmation and the first 100 days of the next presidency. And that brings us to Donald Trump and how the eclipse will affect him.

From the start of this piece we noted that the eclipse falls on Trump’s Moon, which is also part of the full moon axis on the day he was born. His chart with the eclipse is shown below (bigger):

On the surface it would appear as though this eclipse will help Trump. The eclipse point is trine Mars and the eclipse Mars is sextile Trump’s Sun. That will be quite energizing for him and he will feel emboldened after a fashion. Noting the energies building to this eclipse, after the SCOTUS threw out the Texas lawsuit, Trump went on a Twitter rampage against the SCOTUS, William Barr and ‘disloyal’ Republican governors in states where voter fraud is most vehemently alleged, in swing states. The thing is, both Democrat and Republican election officials across the US have gone on record stating there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud. That is not to say there is none, but that it is not widespread – not enough to affect the outcome of the election. This does nothing to assuage the beliefs of people who believe there was widespread fraud.

Returning to Trump, other factors are noted with this eclipse. But then other factors are noted. The Jupiter/Saturn conjunction is quincunx his Ascendant, which is also on an anaretic degree, the last degree of Leo. That will affect his decision-making. It is also an indicator of a change of residence. To that is added the transit of Pluto across his Vertex, giving a further push to assert himself, though Pluto often carries quite a bit of projection with it. And then, we have Mars in the eclipse square Trump’s Saturn. This is the transit to watch. What we have here is a setup for a blunder or a fall.

Mars square Saturn is the rise-fall aspect – spectacular rise and then a big fall, or ‘rags to riches to rags again’ – and it is a terrible aspect to have for business judgement. No big decision should be made under such a transit unless one has very good advisors. Even then, it is probably better to wait. The same is true of Pluto over the Vertex, and then the Jupiter/Saturn to the Ascendant. Trump may, in fact, do nothing then on the day of the eclipse, which would show better judgement. But the Mars activation next year will have definite effects on him.

When he leaves office, at some point, Trump will have legal cases pending for him in New York. He cannot be pardoned for state matters, only federal infractions. Mars rules judicial matters (9th house) in his chart. So, being a private citizen once he leaves office, he will have to answer charges in New York and other states, maybe even foreign states. Of course, he is well versed in the New York judicial sphere, having been to court there on many occasions due to business dealings.

Trump’s astrology is weak now, aside from the Mars transit on the 14th. We know the astrology is weak by virtue of his having lost the election, his claims of voter fraud being thrown out, Fox News abandoning him and so forth. Even his pick for AG, William Barr has kicked the Durham can down the road, dashing hopes of many Trump supporters that Durham’s investigations would lead to prosecutions of former Obama administration and FBI officials over Russia-gate. And Barr’s announcement that there was little evidence of widespread voter fraud has infuriated Trump.

However, Trump’s attempts at overturning the election can have carry-on effects after he leaves office. Republicans are watching the proceedings regarding his lawsuits with great interest. . We had an indication of what might be coming by many members of the GOP lining up behind the Texas lawsuit the SCOTUS just dismissed. It was largely political posturing by the GOP, but it sent a message to their voter base. The GOP will gain experience thereby in what to do with future close elections. Democrats would do well to learn in kind. The midterms are in two years and Democrats have only a four seat majority in the House as a result of this election, easily lost. And this eclipse will still be active then. We will see a very similar set of factors for the US then as well, with a transit of Neptune opposite its own place in the US chart in 2022 in addition to Mars activating this eclipse again then, too.

Yes, these next few years in the United States will be ones for the history books. And it will be of great interest to astrologers and Trump watchers alike as to what becomes of Trump over those years as well. The same will be true of Biden. History is written by the victors. We’ll know on January 20th who the real victors are. It will be the vested interests.

The vested interests have played their cards very well in keeping the nation so divided. As many of us know and as another observer has stated, the real victory for the American people (and across the West) will come when enough people realize that a house divided against itself cannot stand:

Many Trump voters no doubt know that Trump was never going to save them. But he said the right things, and desperation and disgust will grasp onto the slightest will-o’-the-wisp when disbelief in the whole rotten system is widespread. Let’s not bullshit: everyone knows the game is rigged…The system is built on lies to keep the illusions brightening the screen of the great picture show, what Neil Gabler has rightly called “Life: The Movie.

Biden voters no doubt desperately hope that we can go back to some semblance of “normal,” even while knowing this is a losing game. Many of them try hard to conceal their true feelings, that their hatred for Trump and their love of living in times when imperialism is concealed as democracy is what they want. They don’t want to know. 

And the quote at the beginning of this piece? – It was stated by John Stuart Mill in 1869 in his essay on the equality of women, noting that at the time women were treated as possessions and couldn’t even vote, being little better than slaves in many instances. How far we have come in a little over a century. Yet, playing on people’s emotions keeps us divided even to the present day. Therein is the promise and the warning with this eclipse, since it will serve to inflame emotions across political persuasions in the US.

The promise of the eclipse is that we take a step back and look at who stands to benefit from keeping us so preoccupied with who won and who didn’t, with a look back over decades to realize that our disenfranchisement has been a bipartisan effort, all the while both parties have their hands in our pockets. The warning is that the trend will continue, with some event precipitating from this eclipse that will so engage our attention that we see only trees instead of the forest and walk unawares into yet another disaster.

It is pointless to argue amongst ourselves unless it leads to a common understanding of what confronts us. Arguing for ‘our side’ only serves the vested interests. ‘The others’ are ourselves – librul, conservative, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, black, white (name your color), ‘deplorable’, privileged (so-called), anarchist, Marxist – need we go on? How ‘bout, just, Americans?

Featured pic from Republicworld

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