Can the Average Person Influence Congress? (w/ Rep Mark Pocan ) - clip

The following segment with Thom Hartmann and Representative Mark Pocan was posted on March 7, 2019:

Portrait of America 2019: "Two Men Playing Chess"

2019 America Is 243 years old = "3 Sagittarius"

by Jude Cowell

Last evening I played around with America in her 243rd year (2019) which, when translated into the 360-degree circle of the Zodiac (one degree = one year) brings our nation to 3 Sagittarius (243 degrees = 8 signs plus 3 degrees when counted from the Aries Point) because I was curious to see if the degree's Sabian Symbol held significance in relation to current events. Note that using the same method but counting from 13 Cancer, our nation's Sun (leadership) degree, gives 20 Scorpio, yet as it turns out, 3 Sag tells a descriptive 2019 tale of the moment.

Because today as I watched a few morning news shows, the phrase "playing chess" and the concept of a chess game came up more than once out of the mouths of political pundits and reporters (in relation to Mr. Trump, of course) so let's consider 3 Sag in the Sabian Symbols followed by Adriano Carelli's explanation of this degree.

First, Dane Rudhyar's interpretation for 3 Sag = "Two Men Playing Chess".

"Keynote: The transcendent ritualization of conflict" (yin vs yang, dark vs light) "ending in most cases with the checkmating of the king (the ego, the conscious self)...in a dualistic world such a conflict between forces is omnipresent. The chess game trains men to be more objective, more careful, more aware of whole situations--and less impulsive and intent upon side issues. {} it brings to the objective consciousness the basic realities in interpersonal INTERPLAY." This speaks of the "transmutation of man's natural aggressiveness under most conditions of existence."

In the Jones version for 3 Sag the word picture is the same; here are its positive and negative (unconscious/shadow side--jc) expressions:

"Positive: high sensitiveness to every possibility of accomplishment or broadened self-discovery.

Negative: unsuspected bigotry or foolish exactitude." (I'm not certain how "unsuspected" the bigotry is!)

Now I shall quote from Carelli's The 360 Degrees of the Zodiac for 3 Sag which has no word picture (not all his degrees do) and perhaps you'll agree that this version of 3 Sag sounds much like the fellow currently under siege in the Oval Office:

"A self-contradictory character: on one hand gentle and sensitive, on the other mettlesome, combative and even aggressive. His sense of charity and altruism can lead him to the hardest sacrifices that border on absolute self-denial, yet there will be something mean in it. Psychic and sexual fecundity, love of family, home and work; an aptitude for arts, engineering and perhaps architecture, though the skill in planning to the least detail be transferred from the field of material buildings to one of feelings and induce a petty scheming and plotting mentality.

People may like, love, even adore, the native, but the concourse of other astrological factors will be needed for this."

For more details see An Astrological Mandala by Dane Rudhyar and
The Sabian Symbols in Astrology by Marc Edmund Jones; also see Lynda Hill's more modern 360 Degrees of Wisdom.

Political Pundits Catch up with Astrology on the GOP!

Neptune in Pisces and the Disappearing GOP

by Jude Cowell

After hearing Trump's recent 'unhinged' and rambling rant at CPAC 2019, GOP strategist Rick Tyler says "it's over," for the Republican Party, "Rest in peace." Mr. Tyler predicts that once Donald Trump passes on there will be no party left which is unfortunate yet interesting since Astrology has been saying that very thing for years now as evidenced by the party's recent Neptune Return/s (2017-2018), with the last of five conjunctions perfecting on December 29, 2018! (See link, below.)

For as all astrologers know, the urge-to-merge energies of astrological Neptune, although sometimes inspiring, uplifting, and compassionate, can erode, dissolve, undermine, confuse, ruin, poison, infect, conspire, obfuscate, hide, mask, disguise, propagandize, spy, falsify, fantasize, cheat, defraud, idealize, demagogue, disappoint, disillusion, disappear, lie, mislead, doubt, disrespect, lose, steal, pilfer, rob, waste, and/or weaken whatever it touches or affects.

And since the Republican Party was founded in 1854 with Neptune @14Pis01, the party's nature on the inspirational level may not have been as grounded as it now turns out was needed in order for the political party to last more than 164 years (the approximate length of Neptune's orbital period), or perhaps a certain amount of dishonesty, fraud, masking, or wrong ideas were involved all along. Whatever the original cause, transit Neptune floating through its own sign of Pisces has provided determined forces a perfect opportunity to undermine, erode, weaken, and morph the party into the Trump-infused entity we now find squirming in his grasp, its end lamented by many.

Yet did things have to be this way for the Republican Party? No! For in Pisces there is always a choice of direction seen via the image of the Two Fishes, one swimming up toward the heights, the other down to the depths, and under the sketchy, lie-filled leadership of Donald Trump, it seems clear that the murkiest of depths are precisely where the GOP has sunk.

A vastly related post containing the horoscope of the GOP's December 29, 2018 Neptune Return: The Long Shadow of Neptune in Pisces.

Above image: my drawing Isle of Ruins, a fanciful illustration of where lost political parties go to waste away.

Astrology Overview: The Eclipses of 2019

2019 Solar Eclipses: Across the 'Moon-Saturn' Cancer-Capricorn Polarity

March 3, 2019: currently we go about our business beneath the rays of the January 5, 2019 Solar Eclipse which manifested @15Cap45 just in time to imprint its 2 South 'joining a new group and gaining a great deal' vibes upon the 116th Congress. In Saturn-ruled Capricorn, sign of government (politics), law, and business, and sign where transformative Pluto, power planet of permanent change, now plods on his way to America's first-ever Pluto Return/s (3x @27Cap33).

Toward the end of June 2019 the background influences of 2 South wane as the next Solar Eclipse prepares to dazzle with a direction change and potentials for sudden disruption for on July 2, 2019 an eclipse perfects @11Cancer in the 3 North Saros Series with themes of 'news that transforms a situation and/or involves young people; information can cause worry, obsession, and an urge to undertake large plans; there's a need not to get carried away' for 3 North energies are 'over-excessive'. As you see, for America this qualifies as an Independence Day 2019 Solar Eclipse and is the first repetition of a 3 North solar eclipse since 9/11/01.

Last in 2019 but not least is a Solar Eclipse in the 3 South Saros Series manifesting @4Capricorn on December 26, 2019 - basically, a Christmas 2019 Solar Eclipse with Pluto-involved themes of 'sudden relationship endings, possibly with a younger person, and containing deep emotional energies of traumatic transformation'. (All themes paraphrasing Brady's Predictive Astrology.) In addition, the December 26th Eclipse Ends 2019 with Jupiter and Pluto Issues which, for me, brings to mind large-scale developers, wheeler-dealers, and power-grabbers like Mr. Trump - and his cruel, barbaric 'caging children' policy.

Now there are two 2019 Lunar Eclipses, one already past: January 21st @1Leo, and July 16th @24Capricorn which simply drips with Pluto and Politics, and points toward the Saturn-Pluto Conjunction of January 12, 2020 @22Cap46 (conjunct Trump's natal Vertex!) with its Saturnian-Plutonian vibes of compression, realism, hard work, unyielding deadlines, cruelty, and 'upsets in existing checks and balances' (Munkasey).

Above photo: the White House Washington DC (don't let the blue skies fool ya.)

Astro-Chart Round-Up: Ivanka, Jared, Don Jr, and Eric

Since former Trump 'fixer' Michael Cohen testified in open session on Capitol Hill last week, more and more often we hear the Trump Clump described out loud as a 'crime family'.

To run such an organization the head gangsta must have a crew willing to operate under the same criminal persuasion--a crew surrounding and protecting him, and willing to take orders and do his bidding. Donald Trump has such a crew with a core made up of Don Jr, Ivanka and Jared, and other son, Eric.

So I decided to make their planets more accessible for future reference by clumping The Clump together into one post with links to their natal charts such as I have access to them presently--some accurately timed, some set for noon:

Donald Trump Jr. (RR: A),
Ivanka and Jared (noon and noon),
and Eric Trump who actually may be the brightest bulb in the box, as it turns out.

Now naturally, these four minions (including Cohen) also appear in other SO'W posts which may be located by tapping or clicking labels of their names below this post, or by entering their monikers in the sidebar Search field. Because that's the kind of power you have, dear reader!

A Related Post: On Donald Trump as Clumsy Liar. Not that he's the only one.

As Our Tax Returns Shrivel, Big Banks Got $28 Billion In Tax Savings Last Year - TROFIRE

February 24, 2019: The Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins reports on some of the negative effects on US taxpayers's refunds 'thanks' to the Trump-GOP Tax Cut for America's wealthy class of greedy piggies:

Remember the golden day of December 22, 2017 when Trump signed the GOP Tax Cut Bill (heist!) then rushed off to the luxury of Mar-a-Lago? And of course the non-empathetic GOP plan includes putting America's social safety net programs on their chopping block in spite of the nationwide suffering, even death, it would cause. Create the problem then pretend you have the only solution--it's so Hegelian!

On the Fear of Ann Coulter and Donald Trump

Perhaps you've read the excellent column by astrologer Lynn Hayes concerning a certain political flame thrower so happy to be 'in the news' again for her advice to Donald Trump on shutting down the government (December 22, 2018 midnight est for 35 days) and her critiques of Trump that apparently led to his declaration of a national emergency which he announced from the White House Rose Garden today as away to extort billions of dollars of taxpayer money for a dubious "wall" to keep out the marauding hordes Trump fears. Now I ask you, how can circumventing Congress be anything but a power grab by the Executive Branch of government?

Disagree if you must but do check out Ann Coulter's Poisonous Rage where Lynn discusses Coulter's pile-up in Sagittarius of her Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Mars (Sun conjunct Mars: Miss Independent) and the shadow side of Sag which, according to Dr. Liz Greene, "The Sag is often frightened of making any commitment to the tangible world, because then he'd have to face not only the limitations of form but also the fact that his potential genius might not be quite so boundless and cosmic as he thinks it is." (My italics.) Commitment, tangible, limitations, form--all Saturn's words.

Of course, this fear relates to the ruler-ship of Sagittarius by Jupiter, the planet of boundlessness, expansion, and unlimited potential, plus, the sign's Fire element with Fire's 'dark side' of deep depression when things don't turn out to be as grand as was optimistically expected. Note that with his natal Moon and South Node of the Moon in Sagittarius, Donald Trump suffers from such 'vast optimism vs deep pessimism' issues himself. However, the pair are reported presently to be on the outs beginning with the ill-advised Trump Shutdown--or is their tiff only political theater? If genuine, Trump and Coulter may just be too much alike to get along for the long term especially considering the tendencies of Sag toward self-righteousness and the constant judgment of others, and neither have empathy for other human beings who are treated as if they're only screens upon which Coulter and Trump project their lives of fame and fortune--with the two of them playing 'starring' roles.

Yet astrologically there is one factor between them that's similar yet different: Trump was born with Pluto unaspected while Ms. Coulter was born with Saturn unaspected which emphasizes the distinct possibility of her sashaying through life completely conscience-free. Both conditions are problematic, of course, and few can handle them in a positive way yet we all must choose how we use the planetary energies we were born with. How do you think the two of them are doing so far?

For more on Saturn unaspected you may wish to see my previous post on Justice Neil Gorsuch who shares this problematic condition of 'the loner without a conscience'. Wonder if free-floating fear or anxiety is a feature of an unaspected Saturn, one of the planets known for its 'fear factor'--along with Underworld Pluto, planet of sabotage and creepiness.

Blog Note: yes, relocation is this weekend so Monday will be the start of my 'settling in' week and asap I'll be blogging at you from downtown Raleigh, North Carolina! Wish you were here (to help me unpack!!) jc

Astro-Note: Ann Hart Coulter born December 8, 1961 NYC, hour unknown; Donald Trump June 14, 1946 10:54 am est Queens, NY.