How to Find Your Guiding Planet!

by Jude Cowell

With so many dire news reports and events assailing society these days, both domestically and abroad, today's Friday post is somewhat of a departure from the usual SO'W fare, yet hopefully, a reader or two will gain something positive from a shout-out of this cosmic information!

To find your guiding planet, or, oriental planet, you must have or know the planets' positions on your day of birth, or have access to an emphemeris. Of course, possessing a copy of your natal chart is optimal, but through any method you can ascertain which of your planets arose just prior to the Sun on that day (or night). One great resource for such information is found at Khaldea dot com where you may select and read about guiding planets, mine being a 4th house Jupiter @12Capricorn which rises just before my Capricorn Sun. One feature of this placement is a preference for spontaneity in the workplace!

Naturally, to glean more details you'll wish to factor in the rounded-up degree of the Sabian Symbol of your guiding planet since it will reveal information about your innate skills or skill set in the form of a word picture.

As for US politics, one man's oriental planet previously discussed here on SO'W is that of the potus-playing Donald Trump whose guiding planet is his 10th house Uranus @18Gemini ("Two Chinese Men Talking Chinese in a Western Crowd" - exs include his bank accounts in China and foreign guests at Mar-a-Lago). Now as you know, erratic Uranus is the disruptive, separative, anarchistic, unpredictable planet of chaos, his method of choice when it comes to mis-running and misruling organizations.

So perhaps by now, most folks would agree that chaos is Herr T's most basic skill as we've seen and continue to see issuing from what I tend to call the orange albatross hanging around America's neck. For as history shows, days of chaos are the best times for bad faith actors to force new reforms and dystopian regimes upon an unwilling nation. So yes, we're navigating perilous times for democracy as brutal tyranny knocks at America's door - a door opened by the maga-infested Republican Party, but do remember:

A Fascist Plot in America Has Failed Before and must do so again! Can you help against the barbarians?

NASA photo above: Jupiter.

Is Donald Trump America's Psychopomp?

Where Doth Our Path Lead Now?

by Jude Cowell

Considering the major shift of direction now in progress in and for the United States of America under the chaotic, amateurish, near-whimsical leadership of maverick-in-chief Donald J. Trump and his GOP minions, I must ask you a question: is Trump fulfilling a role as America's collective psychopomp? Perhaps an answer for those who adhere to astrological principles and practices may be found in a consideration of Mr. Trump's natal Uranus, which is oriental @17Gemini in his 10th house of Public Status, for Mr. Quirky the disruptive 'Sky God' is Trump's last planet to rise before natal Sun (22Gemini), and as such is considered his guiding planet leading the pack.

Now as you know, a psychopomp's Mercurial themes suggest transition to an afterlife yet a psychopomp may also act as a guide into a new phase of life, opening a passage or doorway into a novel, unusual, or different way of living. The regressive policies of the Republican Party under Trump and Trump's aggressive rhetoric are, in a sense, opening many doors as 2018 begins. Yet most of these are shadowy doors better left shut and this is what yours truly has continually fretted about: that Trump's and the GOP's idea of a 'new way of living' is much more authoritarian than most Americans who value democracy and freedom prefer or could possibly prefer--and more draconian than they knew they were voting for in November 2016.

But as noted, it's 2018 and too late to easily undo the initial harm His Quirkiness is perpetrating upon our laws, freedoms, and institutions. Yes, perhaps our #resistance to Trump is only shouting into a storm, a very negative storm as it turns out. But can Mr. Trump's style of 'leadership' somehow be for the best? Do our country's regressive wounds need opening for resolution? To me this seems doubtful at this time yet reaching the other side of whatever Higher Forces have in mind for our nation and the rest of the globe must occur in some form or fashion, with or without Mr. Trump as guide. Plus, without him, the theocrat VP Pence will step into the guiding role (or perhaps he already has from behind the wizard's curtain) so with either man, you know what old slogan must come tragically to mind now, don't you?

'Tis the blind leading the blind.

CNN: The Many Paths from Trump to Russia (plus, Uranus)

CNN, Donald Trump, Russia, China, and Astrology

by Jude Cowell

CNN has published an interactive feature The Many Paths from Trump to Russia yet there are two Sabian Symbols in Donald Trump's natal horoscope that point, not to Russia, but to China. Of course, it may be that these symbols can apply to any foreign governments and his dealings with them.

For plainly Mr. Trump is certainly shaking things up the world over and stirring up chaos in the US just as Uranus, oriental planet (last to rise before the Sun) likes to do. Mr. Trump's disruptive natal Uranus @18Gemini is posited in his public 10th house of Career...

Natal Uranus: '18Gemini' = "Two Chinese Men Talking Chinese in a Western Crowd"...DIFFERENCE: positive expression: the effective mobilization of self and others for life's more specialized objectives; negative (shadow side--jc): a thorough dissipation of selfhood through alien relationships."

Okay, so his chaos-creating Uranus, the radical eccentric, 'leads' the nation but it's his natal Moon (conjunct his South Node opposite natal Sun) that may turn out to be an even bigger issue:

Natal Moon: '22Sagittarius' = "A Chinese Laundry"...SECLUSION: positive: an unusual gift for maintaining poise and self-perspective in every unfamiliar or alien situation (really? jc); negative (shadow side): unnecessary acceptance of self-inferiority." (The Sabian Symbols in Astrology, M. E. Jones). So he constantly needs approval to bolster his sense of inferiority which accounts for at least some of his over-the-top boasting. Ex: boasting about US intel to the two Russians he allowed into the Oval Office.

Now assuming that the American people make it through May, June, and July in one piece, we have steamy August and The Great American Eclipse to navigate as does Mr. Trump (the August 21st eclipse @29Leo hits his natal Ascendant and singes his warring and belligerent Mars) for the month of August 2017 will be Full of Karmic Returns for the occupant of the Oval Office--and thus, for the American people via Donald Trump, aka, the blabber-in-chief.

Related: 2017 Transit Neptune Veils US Progressed Sun in Pisces (US Sun = POTUS). And there's also a Lunar Eclipse @15AQ on August 7, 2017.

Peering Ahead: 2018: Lunar and Solar Eclipses with Themes. Also in 2018, the Midterm Elections are just in time for the US Constitution's Progressed New Moon...or is it the other way around?

Astro-Note: Russia's sovereignty horoscope data (June 12, 1990; 9:45 am GMT, ASC 26Vir11) is found in Nicholas Campion's The Book of World Horoscopes - which formed during the early stages of the Great Conjunction/s of Uranus and Neptune, exact three times in 1993 (and totem pair of the 'new world order' that all the bankers' wars are meant to implement). The Russia sovereignty horoscope shows the Mercury-Pluto spying and surveillance pair in quindecile aspect (165 degrees of obsession-compulsion) which identifies the cunning, persuasion, and manipulation in their use of communications and information. (The Quindecile, Ricki Reeves).

DC Horoscopes: May 2017 Lunations (US Mars Return)

Here are the horoscopes for the 'Flower' Full Moon of May 10, 2017 @20Sco24 and New Moon of May 25, 2017 @4Gem46 set for Washington DC; if you wish, please enlarge for better reading of my scribbled study notes:

As you see, Venus rules both charts via Libra rising. At the May 10th Full Moon (lower left on the dual chart), Venus applies only once: an opposition to Jupiter Rx denoting a period of extravagance, overindulgence, empty posturing, and gaudiness, plus, diplomatic gestures that are likely to fail. Jupiter again is the lead of a Locomotive shape in his many guises as the General, the CEO, the guru or priest, the broadcaster (or tweeter?), the thespian, the banker or financier...the list is varied with expansive Jupiter (which turns Direct on June 9th @13Lib12).

Venus @7Ari11 in 6th house of Military, Police, Civil Service, Work, Health, and Daily Rounds) also rules the 8th house of Corporatism, Credit, Debt, Insurance, Legacies, Shared Resources, the Occult, and Transformation (including Death) so all, any, or none of these areas may be affected including the 2nd house of the National Treasury with the Full Moon @20Sco24 posited there and denoting fluctuations and changes in resources and valuations. Of course, the Taurus-Scorpio axis includes financial issues all on its own and a Full Moon relates to a culmination or fulfillment of some kind--certainly an awareness or the typical uncovering that the spotlight of a Full Moon can bring. For as you know, lunations may act like eclipses and planet Uranus--revealing secrets and hidden matters no matter how inconvenient. In addition, this Full Moon chart shows the US natal Mercury-Pluto opposition on the MC-IC axis which suggests our usual surveillance concerns, spying, leaks, hacks, revelations, and other events.

Tulipa May Time Under Full Moon, a drawing by Jude Cowell (c) 2017+

New Moon @4Gemini46 May 25, 2017

Then three days after America's 2017 Mars Return (21Gem22; May 22nd) on May 25th comes a New Moon with the three days leading up to the lunation the 'dark of the Moon' phase when things tend to go bump in the night, or at least, in the shadows. In DC this New Moon falls at the end of the 8th house suggesting a new cycle of activity in 8th house matters (listed, above). The New Moon's Sabian Symbol is penned upon the chart (upper right) and its word picture ("A Radical Magazine...") seems to hint at certain publications such as Breitbart with sensationalism in the lunar mix (Moon = publicity, the public, public relations) especially since Moon-ruled Cancer is on the MC and rules the 10th house of Public Reputation in both charts), or perhaps pulp publications such as The Enquirer are spotlighted. The question is: what will be the 'radical' topic?

Now in the New Moon horoscope, chart ruler Venus applies in major aspect twice: 1. trine status quo Saturn Rx (@25Sag58 in 3rd house of Communications, Short Journeys, and Primary Education); and 2. conjunct Uranus, America's planet of war, and of Utopian visions, chaos, and disruption. Note that quirky Uranus is also the predictably unpredictable Mr. Trump's oriental planet.

1. Venus trine Saturn denotes a period of success in such realms as legal matters, diplomacy, and alliances; promotions that provide greater authority may be the reward along with improvement in relationships with those who are more mature and responsible. 2. Venus conjunct Uranus indicates the forming of unusual or non-traditional partnerships via unique methods that are employed for the achievement of common goals--though separations may also occur. Plus, with Venus-Uranus contacts, wasteful or eccentric spending habits cannot be ruled out which supports the extravagance shown by Venus in the May 10th Full Moon horoscope. One can't help but think of Melania Trump, her husband, or both.

Yes, money planet Venus in adventurous Aries loves change and variety but hopefully the extravagant Mr. Trump's expensive vacation habits, Melania's and Donald's out-of-DC security expenses, and the Trump administration's bombing excursions won't plunk America and our National Treasury into the alms house of debtor nations before we can 'get a grip'. And yet it isn't as if the American people can depend upon our dysfunctional and highly partisan Congress to reign in excessive spending by a Republican president, now can we?

Unless 2017's US Mars Return on May 22nd, which indicates limits to activities and adventurism via transit Saturn's off-and-on opposition to our nation's warring Mars, denotes the traditional mission of congressional fiscal oversight!

After the Revolution: the Oriental Planet of Donald Trump

Now that Mr. Trump will take the Oath of Office on January 20, 2017, I have been studying his natal horoscope even more closely than before. One chart factor that keeps 'popping out' at me is his 10th house Uranus in Gemini which leads the rest of his planets and is the last planet to rise before the Sun. This condition is called the Oriental Planet and as such provides clues to his 'inner guiding voice' and to the skill set he inherited at birth. Mr. Trump can use his 10th house (Career; Public Status) Uranus in communicating, trading, deal-making, negotiating Gemini to maneuver himself out of the scrapes he gets into though I'm tempted to add that the duplicitous nature of the Mercurial sign of Gemini (along with quirky system-busting Uranus) is usually how he gets into trouble in the first place!

Be that as it may be, a search for more information on Oriental Planets has lead to a handy article written by Michael R. Meyer, author of A Handbook for the Humanistic Astrologer among others.

Here I paraphrase Mr. Meyer concerning people born with Uranus Oriental, some of which applies to Politics and Society:

As Guiding Planet, Uranus describes what needs to be shaken up because it's out-moded or 'in the way', particularly in the social and political sphere. Uranus oriental folks are often dissatisfied with themselves, with their social status, and with general societal conditions. Quirky radical Uranus reveals in an unexplained way that conditions and circumstances could be improved but unfortunately, The Awakener (astrological Uranus) doesn’t necessarily provide insight into how to manage things "after the revolution."

Plus, as you know, the Uranian Mr. Trump has called NATO "obsolete" ('outmoded') but as The Guardian reports, Trump warned by Nato chief that 'going it alone' is not an option. Well, I'm not certain his Uranus Oriental is impressed by such a warning as long as member nations don't "pay their fair share" (grouses Mr. Trump's golden Jupiter in fairly balanced Libra!) And Uranus does tend to isolate, separate, and/or break up systems and organizations.

Read more on Uranus and the 'inner voices' of other Oriental Planets.

I think all but the most gullible among us already feel that Mr. Trump really doesn't know how this president-thing and 'revolution' should or will proceed in a way that safeguards our nation, if indeed that's what he intends to do. Uranus is, after all, America's 'totem planet' of war, revolt, revolution, crisis, separation, and disruption and his difficult Pre-Natal Solar Eclipse @8Gemini (2 Old North) with its 'bad news' potential conjoins US natal Uranus!

So what are the chances that Donald Trump will gain more realistic historical and philosophical perspectives with the alt-right history-challenged operatives gathering around him in the White House? Yet if president-elect Trump can manage to do this, he may find the balance necessary for fulfilling the *Republican plan to shrink and revolutionize the US government into whatever crabbed form they pretend is an improvement while still protecting the US populace and improving their plights...after the zealous dust of Uranian chaos settles, that is.

And so it seems that America's future depends upon one president's erratic Uranus in changeable Gemini, a familiar condition for We the People considering our nation's revolutionary beginnings, although now as then, outcomes and consequences will be unexpected, to say the least. Will the old order of Saturn give way to the new order of Uranus just as quickly as it would have under a neocon president such as perpetual warmonger and may-as-well-be-a-Republican Hillary Clinton? As I type, 'Democrat' President Barack Obama continues to push the TPP which will do much to set up corporations as everyone's overlords. Thanks, Obama.

All this said, how curious that some journalists intend to garble the notion of a 'Trump revolution' all together. Example: Donald Trump May Have Won--But this Is Not a Right-Wing Revolution.

Isn't it? My suspicion is that both History and Donald Trump's Uranus beg to differ.

Related: Dec 2016 into 2017: Karmic Planets hit the natal chart of Donald Trump.

*Please note that it isn't only Republicans who wish to collapse America so that a 'new world order' can be established--and if the Democratic Party actually fought against global government, outcomes would be more favorable to the American people and to the rest of the world. jc