The Future

I had hoped that I would write one more in-depth article about the U.S. presidential election before it occurs this Tuesday, but life has had other plans. Since we live in Asheville, NC, we were directly impacted by the devastation wrought by hurricane Helene, which occurred on top of my being laid up from hip surgery. It's been a difficult journey, although like all initiations there have been little miracles guiding us along our path.

I hope to write more about our experience, but for now I'd like to briefly touch on what I see as the pertinent astrological themes for the election. The two standout factors for me are that Venus is shining as a bright evening star with the crescent Moon just after sunset, while Mars is newly entered into Leo, at the exact opposite ingress degree that it was in on Election Day 2016, when Trump was elected. Venus's bright presence with the Moon illuminates the importance of women to this election, along with a woman candidate. Mars just entered Leo today, and both Harris and Trump have Mars in Leo in their natal charts, with the distinct difference that Trump's Mars is currently being squared by Uranus, the disruptive trickster. Mars can represent caustic aggression or valiant courage, and depending who you talk to, either quality might be applied to one or the other candidate. That Mars now stands in direct opposition to where it stood in 2016, when Trump last faced a female presidential opponent, might suppose an opposite outcome from that election.

No matter who wins the election and becomes our 47th president, the importance of women and women's issues during this election cycle cannot be understated. Evening Venus shines in solidarity here, but another important factor is that she is, along with the Moon, far out of bounds (outside the Sun's orbital plane), as if both female-centric planets yearn to break free from the gravitational shackles of the masculine solar dominance that has kept them bound to the Sun's male egoic whims. So here we have Trump, with his Sun-ruled Leo Ascendant and Mars, exuding his Leonine red-orange pomposity, while Kamala Harris, like Venus and the Moon, breaks from established solar boundaries to reflect the moral dilemma that we all face under the weight of an underdeveloped, Leo-driven ego.

From a purely astrological point of view, if Harris is to win, her election may well trigger a wave of suppressed progressive energy that will sweep through the culture. But such sweeping change will be fought hard, leading to conflict that will bring long-needed clarity as to who is who in the battle between social unity and self-seeking power. If history is any guide, that battle has a victorious outcome for the future of humanity. With Uranus leaving Taurus and entering Gemini over the next couple of years, the struggle over a newly awakening consciousness will lead to an eventual rebalancing and re-harmonizing of years-long social-political tension, enabled by innovations in technology and progressive leadership. If Trump is to win, then the battle takes a different shape, but leads to the same outcome.

I could always be wrong, of course. Prediction is an extremely tricky business, and the only legitimate claim I can make is that I have spent many days and late nights over several years studying the astrological and historical data, while churning my mind over all the possibilities. In the final analysis, it is hard for me to see the second half of the 2020s as featuring an autocratic takeover of America. As I've stated on this blog many times before, the astrological energy coming into form over the next few years is markedly progressive and populist, an assertion restated in multiple ways, whether by Pluto entering Aquarius, Uranus entering Gemini, Uranus trining Pluto, or Saturn sextiling Uranus. That the United States has its Solar Return (July 4th birthday) on the same day as its 12-year Jupiter Return in 2025, along with an exceedingly rare progressed Jupiter return shortly after, emphasizes to me an awakening to a new hope of progress, to a future-oriented, unity-oriented collective optimism, even if it takes a fight to get there.

That's not at all to say that our current problems of today will vanish. The human struggle for consciousness will continue on for a long while. But history is full of cycles, of pendulum swings in social and political power and order, and our picture of that history is largely painted by the brushstrokes of the collective stories we all tell about our lived experience. We have grown weary of the divisiveness of the past few years, to the point that that particular pendulum has swung about as far as it can go. A simple but decisive spark of positive change, like the right electoral victory, might be enough to turn the tide.

Please share your thoughts...