Inauguration Day reveals its astrological roots

Invitation to President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

There’s an intriguing calculation amended into the U.S. Constitution that not only makes the modern presidency a distinctly Aquarian office but also stamps each successive administration with the astrological symbolism of a new beginning.

It isn’t just that Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, “happens to” arrive when the sun is in Aquarius. It isn’t that sort of coincidence at all, because, you see, there are plenty of years when the magic hour of noon Eastern Time, Jan. 20, arrives while the sun is still in Capricorn. In fact, when the hour for the transition of power was first selected, it happened to fall in Capricorn three years out of every four – but only the fourth would be an inaugural year.

Since the 1933 ratification of the 20th Amendment, which set the official schedule, every regularly scheduled presidential inauguration in the four-year cycle has taken place under a sun shining down from the beginning of Aquarius, and that pattern continues forward. If there wasn’t an astrologer involved in selecting the date – which there certainly could have been – then we can chalk it up to one of those amusing synchronicities through which astrology has always worked, and continues to work.

There is no cause and effect to prove in astrology; there are only mathematical relationships, correlations observed over millennia and synchronicities that can be seen by anyone who gives his curiosity the freedom of awareness to see them.

Chants of – “The Water Bearer is gone. Long live the Water Bearer!” – aren’t likely to catch on, I know. I also know that the practical reason the inauguration was reset from March to January was to reduce the time required for waiting out a lame-duck government.

Symbolically, though, there’s an interesting significance to the fact that our chief executive is not sworn in under Capricorn, the astrological sign most closely associated with the power of government and the sign that lasts through most of January. Rather, the president takes office and each newly elected administration begins at the very beginning of the sign associated with the people, the community, the population as a whole.

The president assumes the mantle of Commander in Chief, together with the awesome responsibilities that accompany that role. Yet the sun whispers down, “Water Bearer in Chief.” The astrological symbolism of the presidency suggests it is a position meant to serve the people, preserve life and foster growth.

Next: President-elect Barack Obama is a Leo with a Gemini moon and Aquarius rising. See how his astrology relates to that of the nation and the times in a Forecast for the Obama administration.

Special Report: Inauguration Day 2009

• Neighborhood Inaugural Ball project
• Examiner.com Inauguration Roundup
• Examiner Coverage: Inauguration Day 2009
• The Obama Administration at a glance
• Elections 2008 Examiner Coverage