Volume 35, 21 December 2016
“The dance between darkness and light will always remain— the stars and the moon will always need the darkness to be seen, the darkness will just not be worth having without the moon and the stars.”
~C. JoyBell C.
An Eclipsed Presidency
On January 20, 2017, Donald J Trump will become the 45th president of the US. As I am sure most of you know, President-elect Trump was born under a total lunar eclipse.
One could imagine in ancient times without an understanding of the astronomy of an eclipse, the phenomena of watching the Sun or Moon “disappear” could be terrifying. Even today, the metaphor of the great cosmic light of the Sun or Moon diminishing and even disappearing, is disturbing on a deep collective level.
What constitutes a total lunar eclipse? There are a number of astronomical conditions that need to be precisely in place for a total eclipse to occur. The Sun, Moon and the two astronomical points where the Moon crosses the ecliptic (called Rahu and Ketu) need to be all lined up on the ecliptic plane at the time of the full Moon. Lining up means that all of those factors need to be within 3°45’ of ecliptical longitude.
This will result in the Moon being directly behind the earth where the earth’s shadow will enshroud it. (Please see the very nice diagram below courtesy of EclipseGeeks.com)
Now let’s look at Trump’s chart:
Note that Sun and Moon are directly opposite each other almost on the exact degree. The Moon is waxing to its exact full Moon position - 180° away from the Sun. This is spectacular in its own right. Having this perfect alignment of the Sun, Moon, Rahu and Ketu resulting in a total eclipse occur while Trump was actually running a Rahu dasha is a karmic bombshell that detonated with consequences yet to be determined.
Enter the Magicians
The unimaginable happened. Donald Trump was elected. The response was electric - mass hysteria on both sides. Indeed more than half of the US (not to mention the rest of the world) was horrified that the blatant campaign chicanery was successful and the other half, jubilant and empowered.
Like him or not, there is no question about the direction of the truth meter dial with respect to pretty much anything he said. And yet, his rallies brought his supporters to highs equal to all night raves.
What in his destiny pattern could possibly give this kind of power? Yup. You guessed it - Rahu and Ketu.
As we saw, Trump was running the dasha of Rahu, well known in the tradition for its portfolio of manipulation, deceit, smoke screens, innuendo, swaying the masses, mass hysteria, phobias and all manner of throwing shade and shadows. And his Rahu is debilitated making these significations more debased and delusional.
However, the hidden kicker is that when there is an eclipse, Rahu and Ketu rise to their height of power. And so the master puppeteers, Rahu and Ketu were pulling the strings and the rest is history.
Jupiter and Donald Trump: the High Road or the low Road
About a week after the election Trump’s Rahu dasha gave way to Jupiter’s time on the center of his stage. Will there be a consequential shift in behaviour?
Often the effects of a new dasha lord are not felt immediately. It is as if Rahu takes its time returning to back-up band status and Jupiter is still strolling to center stage as the incoming star of the show.
What is the potential that Jupiter, the planet of wisdom and discernment, can pierce through the clouds of the last eighteen years and at this crucial time provide some semblance of a higher order?
As seen in the chart shown above, Trump’s Jupiter is in the second bhava of speech from which it has a crucial aspect. It influences his lagna lord, the Sun that is strong in the 10th bhava but under the strong influence of Rahu. It is a very fascinating set up. The Sun, the raja, in the 10th bhava connotes central authority, king. He is the most powerful man in the world with that all important Sun in the shadow of the eclipsing nodes.
Understanding Jupiter becomes crucial. But Jupiter itself presents a major paradox. It appears quite strong by being retrograde but indeed it has an even more special status. It is kutila - a rare planetary state in which the graha has no motion. In addition, Jupiter is the ruler of both the 5th bhava and the 8th bhava. Though we could find common ground meanings, given the disposition of the chart, the 8th bhava meanings of secret plots, manipulation, mystery, furtive activities, theft, criminals pops out at us. The 5th bhava, on the other hand, signals intellect, discernment, sage advice and dharma.
The question for the future and for history is which way will this go? Will it fluctuate wildly between the two alternatives? Tilt clearly in one direction or another?
The window is open. Place your bets ladies and gentlemen!
The Mountain Astrologer Articles and Columns
I am pleased to tell you that both of my feature articles (Magical Voice and Edward Snowden Vedic Style) and the first two editors of my column The Eastern Window are now available under the Publications tab or by the below links. I would welcome your feedback as I move forward with this new emphasis on writing.
- The Mountain Astrologer Articles Magical Voice
- Download Edward Snowden
- Download What you see is what you get
- Download Open Auditions
The Media Corner - A Farewell to Bill Bauman - The “Spiritual” Mr. Rogers
It is most unusual to post a farewell to someone who is still very much alive but in a uniquely “Bill” way, the remarkable Mr. Bauman has chosen to “die” to his past. After 40+ years in service to humanity in a multitude of ways, Bill has chosen to reformat his hard drive and purge it of all his output, contacts, organizational ties etc. No one knows (including him!) about his next chapter but we know he will continue to grace the world with his love and all pervading radiant consciousness.
Bill’s books and talks will still be available at http://centerforsoulfulliving.org/store/ Also until December 31st, there is a flash drive available of all of his writings (apart from the published books), talks and meditations. compiled with love by one of his most ardent followers. The link for that is http://billbauman.net/LibraryArchiveKeepsake.html