The US Tag Teams – Astrology looks at the major political party presidential tickets

The two US major political parties have picked their tickets for the 2016 presidential campaign. The tag team of Trump & Pence for the Republicans provide a great deal of Gemini energy, while the tag team of Clinton and Kaine for the Democrats provide a great deal of Water energy.

Both Donald Trump and Mike Pence are Geminis. Geminis are symbolized by the twins, and there can be a tendency for a Gemini to seem to be two people at times. An Air Sign, Geminis like to talk and can talk on various topic lines, although their discussions can be glib and could be light on depth of the subject.

It was interesting to note that commentators pointed out Donald Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention to be the longest of any acceptance speech in the last four decades and as long as the combined Obama and Romney acceptance speeches in 2012 — Gemini personified. From this Republican team, we are likely to hear pithy one line comments and answers to matters with a tendency to ‘branding’, summing up positions with slogans and caricatures [e.g. ‘Make America Great Again’, ‘Hillary Rotten Clinton’]. If you ask a Gemini to provide strong rationale and detailed points regarding their position on an issue, they may be hard-pressed since their interest can be more superficial than substantive. They are better at generalizations than specifics.

Both Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine have strong Water influence in their natal charts with each of them having four out of ten planets being in Water Signs. Hillary Clinton has a Stellium of three planets in her Sun Sign of Scorpio and her Moon in Pisces. Tim Kaine has his Sun and Mercury in Pisces and two planets in Scorpio. What you see may not be what you get with this pairing. An interesting facet of both Clinton’s and Kaine’s charts are the fact that their progressed Suns are afflicting Neptune — Clinton’s progressed Sun in Capricorn is squaring her natal Neptune in Libra and Kaine’s progressed Sun in Taurus is opposing his natal Neptune in Scorpio. Both right now may be highly sensitive and not especially clear about who they are. They could be victims or perpetrators of illusions and deceptions. Adverse aspects between the Sun and Neptune can create a Victim or Savior quality. We’ll see how it plays out but one thing is quite certain: what you see may not be what you get.

The Republican ticket may have a lot to say but possibly more in branding statements, such as Make America Great Again, Make America Safe Again, Make America First, and other pep-talk cheers, than in explaining in depth their policy positions on important matters. Be aware that a Gemini, being twins, can have a mercurial disposition with their mind and their moods liable to change quickly and often. Somewhat akin to the Democrat ticket, with these two Republicans what you see one moment may not be what you get the next moment.

The Democrat ticket can be chameleon-like with a tendency to preach to their choir with shifts according to the demographic. The question of expediency is raised with Clinton having been strongly for the Trans Pacific Partnership [TPP] last year, then coming out against it during the primary season against Bernie Sanders, finally picking a supporter of the TPP in Senator Tim Kaine for her running mate. There can be a great deal of emotion in their presentations but also with a sense of something being held back, not everything being revealed.

Considering the two major party presidential candidates of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton:

Donald Trump was born June 14, 1946, at 10:54 AM, in Jamaica, Queens, New York.

Trump is a Gemini, the Sign symbolized by the twins, for there is a tendency for Geminis to have two sides — a split personality, if you will, somewhat akin to the characterizations of Cain and Abel and of Jekyll and Hyde. During the Presidential nominating process, we have heard allusions to the two sides to Donald Trump — one being the brash, bold, self-assertive combatant and the other as a compassionate, considerate, thoughtful individual.

Geminis tend to know a little about a lot. They can talk on various issues but tend to talk on a surface level. Depth may be lacking in favor of a broad palette of topics on which they can speak. People have criticized Trump for being pithy and shallow in his arguments. Yet, it would be wise to bear in mind that writers are often told to write for the level of comprehension of a fifth grade level.

Trump comes in with a bucket type of an astrological chart. All his planets are on the Eastern side of the chart except for one, the Moon in Sagittarius in the 4th House, which becomes the handle to his bucket.

Someone with planets largely on the eastern side of the astrological chart is a self-made individual. They have actively made their life. And so it has been for Donald Trump. Despite the fact that his father was successful in real estate, Trump has more than exceeded his father’s successes.

The Moon in Sagittarius can indicate Trump’s interest in women of foreign cultures, and two of Trump’s three wives have been eastern European. It also denotes his foreign interests, both with friends and business interests that are international in scope. This is not someone of a local nature but rather a global involvement.

The Sagittarius Moon also gives an upbeat, positive attitude with a fiery temperament. The Moon reflects the Sun, and a person appears more like their Moon Sign than their Sun Sign.

Trump has a Sun Uranus conjunction and consequently the quicksilver disposition of a Gemini can be heightened with a tendency to switch from one topic, one position, one idea like a weathervane and without the need for rationale, reason or explanation. This Sun Uranus conjunction is in Gemini with the Sun in the Aquarian decanate of Gemini and Uranus in the Libran decanate of Gemini. This is someone who is an INDIVIDUAL, unwilling to be restricted by accepted standards but also someone who has foresight and willingness to do things on his own terms with a futuristic sense of what works and a feeling of what does not work. He accepts people as individuals and can easily take on the garb of the populist appreciating the uniqueness of each individual and unwilling to cookie cut people. He can rub elbows with the elite and also sit down with the man in the street. He sees people for who they are and not what they are.

Donald Trump was born at the time of a Full Moon with his Sun and Moon in opposition, the Moon opposed Uranus and the Moon trine Mars in Leo with the Mars in the 12th House right on top of his Leo ascendant.

Trump is nothing if not a showman, seeking to be on center stage, doing what he wants the way that he wants to do it.

While much has been made of his ‘business expertise’, Trump has no Earth in his chart and consequently lacks a certain practicality. People speak of his business success, but his success lies more in the projection of himself and his branding ability. The name Trump is often seen on various buildings, projects and the like. But while the name Trump might appear as the brand, projects are often financed by developers and investors who have licensed the name Trump.

This branding is not to diminish his success. It is a hallmark of his successes and gives credence to the Leo Mars and Leo ascendant whereby Trump seeks to be on center stage.

This branding ability has also been seen in the presidential campaign with his catchy and well-tuned slogan of ‘Make America Great Again’ and his characterizations of his opponents — e.g. ‘Lying Ted’, ‘Low Energy Jeb’, ‘Little Marco’ and ‘Crooked Hillary’.

His ability to brand his campaign astutely picks up on the discontent and dissatisfaction in the American people. With opinion polls continually reflecting a majority of Americans feeling that the country is in the wrong direction, Trump has created a slogan, a branding, that succinctly appeals to the conscious and subconscious of a majority of Americans. Compare that to Hillary Clinton’s ‘Ready for Hillary’ or ‘America is Already Great’ and you can have the sense that Trump is highly knowledgeable in catch phrases while Clinton’s phrases tend to fall flat.

Trump’s characterization of his opponents with an adjective to their name quickly fleshes out the attributes that come to mind for people.

‘Lying Ted’ brought to mind the campaign ploy of one of Cruz’ surrogates suggesting that Ben Carson had dropped out of the race all the while that the Iowa Caucuses were going on.

‘Low energy Jeb’ reinforced the studious, elitist quality of the reflective, contemplative Jeb Bush.

‘Little Marco’ suggested that Marco Rubio wasn’t quite ready for primetime and that he might not be up to the challenge of being president.

‘Crooked Hillary’ targeted the general unease of people regarding Clinton’s honesty and trustworthiness. Without bringing up many past issues of Whitewater, monies received from Goldman Sachs or monies received into the Clinton Foundation from donations from foreign governments and other donations that might be questionable, Trump has been able to characterize Clinton in a negative light.

Branding has been Trump’s truly trump card in his march to the Republican nomination and will be used throughout the forthcoming general election campaign.

With Hillary Clinton as the Democratic presidential candidate, Trump will come up with one-word labels that most people will understand and remember. Let’s keep in mind that we are bombarded by various stimuli and have been dumbed down to the point whereby one word or short phrases are virtually all that we can remember. Trump may come up with more one-word characterizations for Clinton to add to ‘Crooked’ and ‘Enabler’ and ‘Rotten’.

Trump’s Sagittarius Moon in the Leo decanate [third decan] trines his Mars and his ascendant both of which are in the Aries decanate [third decan] of Leo. Trump is brash, Trump is bold, and with the Gemini Sun Uranus conjunction, he’s likely to say whatever he damn well pleases, impetuously and often without thinking it through. To some degree, the American people seem ready for someone who appears strong with a commanding presence.

An interesting factor in all this is the question of timing. Astrology is not a stasis proposition but also reflects the relativity of our lives. There are good times, there are bad times.

For Donald Trump, this present time is one of expecting the unexpected. With Uranus transiting Aries now, Uranus is triggering a Grand Trine in the Fire Element in Trump’s chart. Uranus is trining his Moon in April and May of this year [the time in which Trump rolled over his remaining competitors for the GOP nomination]. Uranus will be trining his Moon again from the end of October 2016 through March of 2017. In 2017 into 2018, transiting Uranus will trine his Mars. In the latter part of 2018 into 2019, transiting Uranus will trine his ascendant.

With Uranus the catch phrase is often to ‘expect the unexpected’. And certainly what has gone on with Trump’s march to the presidential nomination has been nothing if not unexpected. His opponents and the pundits all assumed and asserted that the Trump phenomenon would not last and yet by the time primary season was over Trump received more primary votes than any previous candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.

While transiting Uranus has ignited a Fire Grand Trine for Trump, the transiting Uranus has also triggered a Cardinal Sign T-Square with transiting Uranus opposed his Jupiter in Libra and transiting Uranus squaring his natal Saturn in Cancer. This Uranus T-Square will continue until the Spring of 2018. The ‘powers that be’ may seek to stop Trump [as in ‘Never Trump’] or diminish his standing. Trump will have to be wary of so-called friends who turn into his nemesis.

Although both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have been the true ‘outsiders’ battling against the establishment pedigreed competitor[s], the establishment has tried to use their rules and their strategy to deny both Trump and Sanders their party’s nomination. In the Republican case, it turned out to be too little too late, and much of it as a result of the myopic perspective of the establishment politicians, the establishment media and the establishment pundits. In the Democrats’ case, leaked emails have shown how the DNC [Democratic National Committee], despite its asserted position of neutrality, was in fact all in for Clinton.

Trump has a Stellium of three planets in Cancer, a power pack that relates to home and family. Despite his three marriages, Donald Trump is very much a family man as seen with his tight relations with his children who are an integral part of his businesses and of his presidential campaign.

The strong Cancer energy in Trump’s chart ties in with the strong Cancer energies in the US chart. Trump truly believes that he can ‘Make America Great Again’. While there can be criticisms of his nationalism, patriotism and even protectionism by his critics, Trump believes in the goodness and greatness of his country.

Another strong correlation between Trump’s chart and the US chart is the fact that Trump’s Sun and Uranus trine the Aquarius Moon in the US chart. It is interesting to note that three of the US Presidents considered most significant were Aquarians: Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan.

Trump’s Gemini Sun is in the third decanate of Gemini, the Aquarian decanate. The Aquarian influence is also seen in Trump’s chart with his Sun conjunct Uranus, ruler of Aquarius.

Civility may not be Donald Trump’s strong suit, and despite establishment misgivings and foreign leaders’ worries, Donald Trump, if elected, could prove a significant President.

If people are tired of the ‘meet the new boss same as the old boss’ that seems to pervade the two major political parties, they might just elect Donald Trump President. Trump has called the nominating process ‘rigged’, even if he has been able to transcend the hurdles. As evidenced by email and voicemail leaks, we have been privy to the ‘rigging’ by the Democratic National Committee for Hillary Clinton and against Bernie Sanders.

Both Trump and Sanders have been the anti-establishment candidates in this election cycle.

To reach election success, Trump will have to overcome the onslaught of corporate media, corporate politicians and corporate pundits. He will continue to be criticized, ridiculed and demonized.

It is said that Trump is an admirer of Norman Vincent Peale and in the next six months Trump will have to engage the works of Peale and the ‘power of positive thinking’.

Hillary Rodham Clinton was born on October 26, 1947, in Chicago, Illinois. Her time of birth has been given as 8:02 AM or 8:00 PM. Based upon her personality traits, I tend to believe the former birth time of 8:02 AM.

Whether 8:02 AM or 8:00 PM, only the zodiac wheel and the placement of the planets inside that wheel will change. What does not change is the fact that Hillary Clinton comes in with two Stelliums, two power packs, with three planets in Leo and three planets in Scorpio. With either birth time, her Moon is in the third decanate of Pisces, the Scorpio decanate.

Clinton has her Sun, Mercury and Venus in Scorpio.

Scorpios are often misunderstood. There is more going on with them than meets the eye. First impressions do not reveal the depth of the Scorpio. Their intensity is generally recognized. Like its symbol, the Scorpion, the Scorpio can have a nasty sting. It is said that a Scorpio may forgive [with emphasis on the may] but they never forget. If you wrong a Scorpio, you should anticipate some level of payback and a payback that might not be immediate but rather embraces the sentiment ‘to people with good taste revenge is a dish best served cold’.

You do not want to mess with a Scorpio unless you have all your facts and figures straight and are willing to face the counter punch that is likely to come your way.

With the Sun in Scorpio and the Sun representative of the Male energy and the Father figure, women with the Sun in Scorpio often experience their father as not being there for them — whether physically, psychologically or emotionally.

Or the reverse can be true where the Father or Male figure is intrusive or overbearing.

In regard to the Male energy of Hillary Clinton’s husband, there have been times when he certainly has not been there for her, at least as indicated by many allegations of his infidelities.

Venus is reflective of feminine quality with Venus ruling both Libra and Taurus. Venus in Scorpio is in Detriment and not a comfortable placement. Mars and Pluto co-rule Scorpio and a woman with Venus in Scorpio can be a strong personality with a domineering quality and somewhat disconnected from her feminine nature. Hillary Clinton has proven herself to be a strong woman, a woman who has been able to meet severe challenges that might have broken a lesser person but challenges that never seemed to break Hillary.

Mercury in Scorpio can be succinct, concise and cuts to the core. Pleasantries are lost in favor of getting to the heart of any matter. People with Mercury in Scorpio are not verbose, may maintain silence, but when they speak their words can be strong and to the point. Their thoughts and their words are hardly shallow but rather go below the surface to see what is really going on in any matter.

Apart from the noteworthy feature of her Stellium of three planets in Scorpio, Hillary Clinton also has a power pack or Stellium of three planets in Leo.

Clinton has her Mars, Pluto and Saturn in Leo.

This Leo configuration gives her a certain regal bearing and the belief that recognition and honor are her rightful due. There can be a noblesse oblige quality to her presence.

The Mars in Leo gives her passion and determination to achieve whatever she sets as her goals. While her husband and Barack Obama both have their Suns in Leo and have a charismatic presence about them, Hillary’s Mars in Leo shows the force and thrust but without the same level of grace and savoir faire that her husband or Obama give off.

Pluto in Leo can be volcanic with effusive good feelings and care for other people if duly acknowledged or a vengeful and explosive temper when crossed. This planetary placement is generational and we would want to see how the Pluto configures with the other planets. In Clinton’s chart, the Mars and Pluto are exactly conjunct. When she loses her temper, her actions can be explosive and quite extreme. Channeled in a healthy release, this placement adds to her willingness to push forward no matter the obstacles or impediments in her way.

Hillary Clinton is certainly a force to be reckoned with and a woman who has the power and persistence to push ahead no matter who or what might stand in her way.

The Saturn in Leo gives the sense that whatever one does it is not fully appreciated. This placement puts a damper on the fun-loving qualities that often typifies the Leo. On the contrary, Saturn in Leo can create an aloof and serious persona. While her husband got the accolades, Hillary was often vilified.

With the emphasis of Scorpio and Leo in her chart, Clinton’s persistence and perseverance is noteworthy. She will push forward her interests with passion and determination.

The Leo planets square the Scorpio planets and there can be a liability towards fixity, standing one’s ground and an inability to be flexible or adapt to changing circumstance. The fixity could also result in staying in a situation for too long with some hope that the conditions and circumstances might change. Often, they don’t.

The Pisces Moon can make Clinton something of a chameleon and adds to a mystique whereby people don’t really know what is going on with her. Like a character actor, Clinton can take on the moods and feelings of her audience, and it has been noted that she falls into the dialect of the particular region in which she is campaigning. Some people might say that such a tendency is manipulative, but Hillary Clinton with so much Water in her chart can truly feel someone’s pain more so than even her husband.

The Leo – Scorpio – Pisces configuration in Clinton’s chart could confuse people and leave them wondering what she is really all about. Such a liability has created among her critics a sense that Clinton is power hungry and would stop at nothing to gain what she wants. And there is some truth to that characterization.

While her husband has been more the ‘hail fellow well met’ glad-hander and consummate politician, Hillary Clinton is often misunderstood and characterized as power hungry and malicious when in fact she may be truly driven and committed to her opinions and her policies.

The influence of the Water Element with her Scorpio planets and Moon in Pisces makes her more emotional than most people. It increases her sensitivity, although that might be hard for the general populace to see. She masks it well behind a strong, capable and determined image. The strong Scorpio influence also increases a liability towards suspicion and even a belief that people are out to get her.

A sense of being victim can be part of Clinton’s psyche and one born of feeling that people just don’t understand her but instead dismiss her. Even during her early days, she may have felt like she was a fish out of water.

The US is a misogynistic society. We can go back to the election of 2008 when Clinton was vying against Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. More than once, it was noted that Obama often got puff questions while Clinton was savaged. And the savagery certainly had the knives out that year for the Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin who was made out to be a total dingbat, although such a characterization was helped along by the candidate herself.

With Clinton’s Moon square Uranus there can be times when the perception of her by the public varies.

There are times when Clinton is seen as a victim, whether from her husband’s improprieties or what she has called the ‘vast right wing conspiracy’.

Other times, her Moon square Uranus casts her in the light of an opportunist, doing and saying whatever she will in order to gain what she wants. Some people see her as though she believes and acts as if the rules do not apply to her.

Hillary is nothing if not a survivor. For someone who has been in the public eye for much of her life she has had her share of life’s ups and downs and often played out on the public stage.

I do have concern about Clinton’s health. From the Fall period of 2012 until January of 2014 and again from April 2014 to mid-Autumn of 2014, Clinton had transiting Saturn going through her 12th House of chronic illness. During this time, Clinton fainted and sustained a concussion. At the end of 2012, Clinton was hospitalized with a blood clot between the brain and the skull. During this recent presidential campaign, commentators have noted her coughing fits and questions have been raised as to whether she has thyroid problems. While Clinton and her staff have affirmed her good health, the issues between the latter part of 2012 into the autumn of 2014 could be chronic health issues for Clinton.

During this presidential campaign, there is no doubt that Clinton will draw upon her sisterhood to put her over the top. The ‘woman card’ may prove the trump card for Clinton.

If she is elected President, Clinton will likely prove to be a serious, no nonsense President focused on restructuring, rebuilding and reworking the mechanics of government and public policy.

A truly fascinating aspect both in her chart and in Trump’s chart is the fact that neither of them have any Earth in their chart and both of them have a bucket type of chart with each of them having the Moon as the handle to their bucket.

Although one could make the case for an election win for either Clinton or Trump, one facet that does seem indicated in all four charts of Clinton, Trump, Pence and Kaine is the likelihood of an unexpected situation just prior to the election — the proverbial October surprise.

Looking at Election Day, one could make the case for a Trump – Pence win with the Aquarius Moon that day trine Trump’s Sun and trine Pence’s Moon. But at the end of the day, the energy could shift to favor Clinton – Kaine as the transiting Moon enters Pisces. Trump would seem to have to do well in the South, East and Midwest to buttress against the Western States strength likely for Clinton.

The polls are likely to be misleading, especially in light of the fact that neither one of the presidential candidates is especially popular, with both of them having high unfavorability ratings. Many voters may keep their cards close to their chest, their vote secret, when they go into the ballot box and even afterwards. This may be one of the first elections when people are unwilling to reveal for whom they actually voted.

Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump were the outsiders during the primary season. Hillary Clinton and the sixteen other Republican candidates that Trump was able to beat were the establishment. This US election is outsider versus establishment.

As seen with the Democratic nominating process, the possibility of the election being ‘rigged’ by the establishment cannot be discounted. The corporate media, the establishment in business and in government and in politics will do whatever they can to secure the election of Hillary Clinton. For years, it has been presented as ‘accepted fact’ and the people have been conditioned to a presidency of Hillary Clinton.

Commentators have and will talk about the inappropriate involvement of foreign governments in this election, whether the sovereign donors to the Clinton Foundation or the Russians and the Chinese. The latter with other BRICS nations might prefer a Trump presidency with the hope that the established US foreign policy of regime change under the guise of democracy-creating might finally be ended.

Such hope might prove useless, for in his farewell address in 1961 outgoing President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the American people of ‘the military industrial complex’. The warning was a wise cautionary affirmation that has fallen on deaf ears and been spurned in reality, for we now have a ‘government – military – industrial – media -wall street complex’.

As the saying goes in regard to casino gambling: ‘the house always wins.’

Looking at the next US Administration inaugurated on January 20th, the Scorpio Moon and strong Water influence with three planets in Pisces would indicate a Watery Administration, which would seem to indicate a Clinton Administration.

However, this election has been anything but logical, and consequently all bets are off as to whoever ‘wins’ the election.

FOR FULL DISCLOSURE:

In growing up I was always told there were two topics that you never brought up in civil conversation: Religion and Politics.

My interest in politics has long been there. I was President of Political Clubs both in High School and in College, worked on various political campaigns in my twenties, and my political interest crescendoed with my own unsuccessful campaign in 2000 for the US House of Representatives as a petition independent candidate and more recently over this last Summer of 2015 with hosting a Bernie Sanders organizing meeting.

I do not have a horse in this presidential race between the two major political parties. In times past [5 times in the past 5 elections], I have voted for Ralph Nader. This time, I shall cast my ballot for Jill Stein. In case either the Hillaryians or the Trumperians assume that I favor one or the other and fault me for doing so, I repeat: I do not have a horse in this race between the two major political parties for US President.