Obama administration forecast, part 1

AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

The American people’s sense of themselves as expansive, caring people with a heartfelt love for freedom is reflected in the nation’s birth chart. President-elect Barack Obama’s personal validation of those qualities, and of America’s sense of “the possible,” is prominent in a comparison of his astrology and the nation’s.

Together, the charts say, “Yes we can.”

As “Free Will Astrology” columnist Rob Brezsny has said, Obama has plenty of “good astrological juju” in the context of the times. In the context of the place, as well, looked at in terms of the nation’s stars, the alignments for Obama are sweet. Yes, there are some astral warnings cautioning our 44th president not to exhaust himself nor be too self-sacrificing. Those show up in a three-layered analysis of the president, the place and the times – and I hope he heeds those cautions. Even so, as a U.S. citizen I am comforted and optimistic with these stars.

For one thing, the nation’s natal moon, our emotional nature, is in freedom-loving Aquarius, as is Obama’s ascendant, which represents his way of dealing with the public. His natal Jupiter, his sense of high principles, is also in Aquarius, signaling an egalitarian nature. So those national and presidential ideals are in harmony, and this year, they’ll get a boost.

This year, fortunate Jupiter transits Aquarius in conjunction with Neptune and Chiron, combining a symbol of good fortune with symbols of compassion and healing. It’s good astrological weather for balancing individuality and the common good, inventive freedom and a sense of being all in this together. It’s a good year for Obama’s personal vitality as well as for developing a better health system.

A central economic formation

Obama’s priorities for the nation’s economy are astrologically in tune with his task of guiding the nation’s shared fortunes through an unavoidable transformation – an upheaval signaled by Pluto’s recent entry into early Capricorn, opposite the nation’s Venus and Jupiter.

Born on the Fourth of July, the United States of America has its natal sun in Cancer. And, in a stroke of good fortune for the newborn nation, the sun of that day in 1776 was in significantly close company with the planets traditionally called the Greater and Lesser Benefic – lucky and expansive Jupiter and Lady Venus, symbol of values and valuables. America at its best is astrologically a land of good and plenty.

Obama’s values are closely attuned with the nation’s values and fortunes, represented by his natal Venus in conjunction with the nation’s Venus and Jupiter. When Obama was born in Honolulu at 7:24 p.m., Aug. 4, 1961, Venus was a degree away from where it had been at noon on July 4, 1776, when the town crier announced that the United States were collectively declaring their independence.

Besides symbolizing an on-target sense of the nation’s values and interests, the placement of Obama’s Venus in conjunction with the nation’s stellium of sun, Jupiter and Venus means it is in Obama’s nature to want to give high priority to bringing good fortune and a cooperative spirit to the country in matters of world leadership, education, material prosperity and the nation’s sense of its identity.

This priority is supported by an underlying compassion or what might be termed a sense of economic justice arising from the placements of Obama’s Scorpio Neptune and Pisces Chiron. In a smooth trine formation, the two are related through the emotional water signs to Obama’s natal Venus and the nation’s stellium in Cancer. The president-elect shares his Neptune and Chiron placements with many in his age group, so this aim of a fair economy has a built-in pool of natural support.
 
Obama’s natal Pluto in Virgo, linking in through a positive aspect, adds the opportunity for transformative insights to be applied in a practical fashion by the President and his contemporaries with similar placements.

This formation is illustrated below, where the nation’s sun, Jupiter and Venus are at the top of the chart’s inner circle. The outer circle – planets of Obama’s that engage the stellium – are, counter-clockwise from top: Venus, Pluto, Neptune and Chiron (pronounced with a beginning K sound).

Chiron is an asteroid that represents where a person’s ability to be a force for healing is rooted in his own experience of having been hurt. For Obama and most people born in the 1960s, it’s in transcendent spiritual Pisces. So, not just for Obama, but for many with Chiron in Pisces, the wound and the healing are related to losing and finding one’s religion or one’s core beliefs.

For an illustration, you can cue up R.E.M.’s most popular song ever, Losing My Religion, and watch a stadium full of contemporaries sing along with the 1960s-born band. A journey of faith isn’t an easy thing in these times.

Even so, consider the possibility that our nation might embark on a journey of hope and healing, brought together in a values-based yet practical way with an opportunity to transform our shared fortunes as a nation in a way that aims for the common good. That’s the potential written in the formation illustrated above.

Now consider that Pluto’s recent entry into Capricorn opposite the nation’s central formation in Cancer says our shared fortunes are going to be transformed, one way or another, whether we like it or not. Our economy is subject to upheaval in these times. The only question is how.

In what has been widely called a generational change in leadership, the way that President-elect Obama’s chart links into the nation’s and into his generation’s offers hope.

There are many other linkages in the charts of Obama, the nation and the current transits of the planets. I have listed several with brief descriptions of their significance in Obama administration forecast, part 2: the details.

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