Spiritual Company Newsletter:
The Astrological Hillary Clinton and
A Plea to American Women

By Steffan Vanel • Astrologer • Tarot  Reader

Author of: The Astrological Karma of the USA
And: Charles & Diana: The Inside Story: An Astrological-Karmic View

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Dear Friends and Clients,

Preparing this newsletter was reminiscent for me of when I was working on my book about Princess Diana. I had read about 30 biographies about Diana and they generally promoted either the idea that Diana was an innocent victim and Goddess of Love, who could do no wrong, or, she was a deceptive, manipulative psychological basket case. Of course, in reality, she was a bit of both. I was thankful, that I had the blueprint of Diana’s Astrological Chart to wade through all of the personal subjective slants, however. In the end, I felt that all of the various reactions to the archetypal phenomenon of Diana revealed more about that person’s psychological state than that of Diana.

In contemplating the person of Hillary Clinton, I see in some similar fashion, an intense spectrum of opinions as to who Hillary Clinton is. That spectrum of different views has quite different flavors and angles than those surrounding Diana, but the complexity and some of the issues involved are quite similar. And, again, the best way I can try to see the method to this madness is by examining Hillary’s Astrological birthchart.

Even here, however, we have a confounding enigma. There is, as yet, no completely reliable birthtime available for Hillary Clinton. There is reliable conjecture that it is around 8 PM, and reliable conjecture that it is around 8 AM. Myself I have been guided to have faith in the 8 PM chart.

Regardless of birth time we know that Hillary is a Scorpio. In my experience, when someone doesn’t want to tell you what sign they are, they are often a Scorpio. Scorpios really don’t want anyone to have any secret hidden control or power over them. They tend to enjoy being the one with the secret, hidden control or power. I wouldn’t’ put it past Hillary to say 8 AM, consciously or unconsciously, when she knows that it is 8 PM, because she is a Scorpio.

Here is the Master Hilarion’s pronouncement on Scorpio:

The Scorpio individual is one who, in a previous life, killed himself as an act of atonement for some act which he regarded afterwards as being so horrible and detestable as to unfit him to continue living. As a result of this self-destructive act, certain of the darker kinds of energies were tapped into by the soul, which on the one hand give to the Scorpio a deep grasp of the meaning of regeneration through sacrifice and death, but on the other hand lend certain qualities of power over others, a win-at-any cost attitude, little patience with ideals of fair play and honor, and in his darker moments, a mocking echo of the self-destructive urges that fuelled the original act in the previous life. The great task and challenge for the Scorpio is to manifest the regenerative side of his nature. to rise above the lower self on the wings of an eagle ( the higher animal symbol of Scorpio), and to show to others by his own life, the true meaning of the myth of the Phoenix, rising purified from its own ashes. Few Scorpios succeed fully at this task, especially in the past Piscean Age, when few solid guideposts were available to the seeker after spiritual understanding, and chaos and destruction were seen on every hand. But in the new age of Aquarius, it will be largely the Scorpio side of individual (whether Sun-sign Scorpios or not) which will be in evidence. As the understanding of man opens up to the energies of the new age, his spirit will literally take wing and soar to unimaginable heights of wisdom, love and creative power.

Power over others? A win-at-any cost attitude? Little patience with ideals of fair play and honor? One need only think of Scorpios Tanya Harding and Charles Manson, ironically, born on the same date.

With the 8 PM chart, however, Hillary thinks she is a Gemini, and pretends she is a Pisces. In the 8 AM chart Hillary would also see herself as a Scorpio, which would make her very moody, broody and more controlled in how she expresses herself. Here is what Hilarion says about Gemini rising, which I believe is more accurately descriptive of her:

This sign when rising will give to the self-image an aspect of mental emphasis, due to its rulership by Mercury. The self is viewed as being quick and alert mentally, as being versatile and creative, and as being something of a conversationalist or a wit. These traits may be imaginary or real, but they certainly will influence the way the individual interacts with others.

To me this is much more descriptive of the quick-witted sharp intellect Hillary obviously possesses in her expression of herself. In the 8 PM chart she also has Mars, Pluto and Saturn in the Gemini-associated Third House of the rational mind and intellect. This would give her a very powerful, penetrating, searching, dedicated intellectual energy, perhaps one so powerful that it can keep her awake at night.

In a solar chart, disregarding birthtimes, the Mars, Pluto, and Saturn are all in Leo. Bill Clinton’s Sun in Leo is conjunct to these Leo planets. Both Bill and Hillary have expressed admiration for the other’s profound intellect as part of their initial attraction to each other. Hillary’s Mars in Leo, something she shares with John McCain, has the following pronouncement:

Mars in Leo: This sign has its greatest problem in arrogance and pride. Mars here, when afflicted, gives a tendency to escalate arrogance into actual dislike or disdain for others. There is a tendency to have a chip on his shoulder, and to be quite antagonistic to those whose interests conflict with one’s own. Often dislikes are taken to others for no apparent reason – merely that –he rubs me the wrong way-. The major lesson for Mars afflicted in Leo is to be more accepting of others, and to control the feelings of antagonism.

This Mars is conjunct to Pluto, which makes it more intense and powerful, but can also make it where these negative Mars in Leo characteristics are slated for total annihilation in this lifetime.

Hillary also has Saturn in Leo for which Hilarion says:

In Leo, Saturn points always in the same direction: pride and arrogance. The worse the aspects to Saturn, the more grave the problem and the more pressing the need to bring about a correction.

All of this Leo energy in Hillary is square, in tension with, her planetary line-up in Scorpio, involving her Sun, Venus, and Mercury. A tension between powerful, arrogant, but likely to be humbled mental energy, and intense, secret, hidden emotional and sexual energies. Bill Clinton’s Sun in Leo, thinking he is the star of the show and everything revolves around him, is placed so as to trigger this Leo/Scorpio tension. Need we mention Monica Lewinsky?

In the 8 PM chart Hillary’s Mid-Heaven has her pretending she is a Pisces. It also gives her a Moon in the Tenth House of work, career, and role in the world. In the Solar chart, regardless of birthtime, we know that this Moon is also in Pisces.

The Moon has positive and difficult aspects to it. The positive side of Pisces, enhanced by the positive aspects, is compassion and sensitivity, spirituality and healing energies. The Moon is positively aspecting her Mercury so she can put her mind in service to that Piscean compassion. She also has Jupiter in Sagittarius in positive aspect to her Moon. Of Jupiter in Sagittarius Hilarion says:

Jupiter in Sagittarius: This is the home sign of Jupiter, and its ruler Jupiter here is almost wholly a positive indicator…. It will denote the characteristics of honesty, candor, uprightness, a love of adventure and travel, and generally a youthful and optimistic attitude toward life.

In the 8PM chart this Jupiter in Sagittarius moral exuberance is in the Sixth House of work, service, activity in the world.

With that placement Hillary can put that Jupiterian moral righteousness and enthusiasm in service of that Piscean sensitivity. In fact, she was noted for that as a child, fending off bullies attacking weaker girls in the neighborhood.

Neptune, the planet which rules Pisces, is in the Fourth House of family, sanctuary, childhood, in positive aspect to her powerful Third House mental planets. This would attest to her strong religious/spiritual background in childhood having been real and sincere.

Her Moon in Pisces, however, is also square to Uranus. Uranus is in the Twelfth House of the deeper unconscious and memory of the most recent past life. A difficultly aspected Pisces Moon brings in qualities of illusion, confusion, and delusion into the childhood experience. I often say it is like growing up in a fog.

Additionally, with Pisces on the Mid-heaven, one can project the role of the victim or martyr. These two Piscean components give Hillary the capacity to put forth the victim/martyr image, whether in complaining about ‘right wing conspiracies,’ her unfair treatment in the media in the current campaign, or the tear in her eye and the emotional crack in her voice noted shortly before the New Hampshire primary.

There also must be some profound childhood history resonant with that afflicted Pisces Moon. If she becomes President I will put effort into investigating what that may have been.

Regardless, this Pisces Moon emotional vulnerability is subject to Uranian, sudden rupture or change.

In the 8PM chart this Pisces sensitive, victim/martyr placement; square to the sudden Uranian hidden unconscious, Twelfth House energies is positioned in the Tenth House, house of work, career, and role in the world. This is a big deal for Hillary in this lifetime, and especially in relation to the Astrological ‘exams’ she is experiencing this year.

Here is Hilarion’s pronouncement for the significance of having the Moon in the Tenth House:

…the native will normally find himself going from job to job and from career to career at relatively short intervals…what is being accomplished from a lesson point of view is the realization that the self-picture and the self-worth are fully independent of any definition based on what a person does. In past lives there has been a strong tendency to identify with one’s career-role, and in the present existence that habit is being dismantled through the constant change forced upon this particular department of experience.

Karmically, the placement signifies that some of the changes in career which the native undergoes must involve worry and uncertainty. These episodes are meant to set aside karma amassed when, in a previous life; others suffered similar mental agonies due to capricious actions taken by the native.

As I said earlier, the positive aspect of this Moon to her Sixth House Jupiter in Sagittarius would bring very exuberant, optimistic, moral righteousness into good integration with the Piscean compassion and sensitivity and Tenth House role in the world. If we remained with that component I would say that she would definitely make a great president. That coupled with the powerful Gemini and Third House intellect, and even the Scorpionic capacity for death and rebirth would add to that postive conjecture.

But, the victim/martyr Moon in Pisces, subject to insecurities in relation to one’s role in life, especially from sudden, Uranian, hidden surprises makes me more than a little nervous. Is this who we want answering the red phone in the middle of the night? Especially when we throw in some Leonine arrogance and Scorpionic self-destructive control and manipulation.

As to what is going on for Hillary this year Astrologically, well, Pluto, the planet of complete transformation, to avoid it is to invite disaster, moved in to square her Tenth House Pisces Moon. It was exact on January 2nd, around the time of her first loss in the Iowa Caucuses. Pluto will hit her Moon again on July 16, around the time of the Democratic Convention, and again on October 31st, three days before the election. She has other transits going on as well, but this is the major exam on her curriculum at this time. One thing I would surmise from this: Any tendency to play the role of victim and martyr, or to over-identify with the role she plays in the world as her source of identity and security, will be quite transformed at the end of this year.

A Plea to American Women

As I said at the beginning of this article, writing about Hillary Clinton reminds me of writing about Princess Diana. In contemplating both of these women there is clearly the personal, human dimension and the larger, collective, archetypal dimension.

In my book, The Astrological Karma of the USA, there are eight pages devoted to a discussion of American Women in particular, and Women’s power in general.

Here are some specific passages from that material:

On the obsessive ends of the spectrum we have, on the one hand, some of the most extreme forms of feminism, where I actually read that the psychological/spiritual health of the nation would be improved if women stopped having boy babies for ten years. And on the other end of this spec- spectrum, we have the most entrenched patriarchal outrages such as talk radio host Rush Limbaugh’s diatribes against the ‘feminazis’.

In most of the readings which I do for women, (Tree of Life Tarot Readings) especially in this country, the masculine card in the reading is stronger and is more identified with than the feminine side. In America this is the case in approximately 18 out of 20 readings. This masculine identification of American women was apparent when I lived in Europe. In Europe I could often tell an American woman walking down the street, before she said a word, just by how she walked...with a semi-aggressive, square-edged, assertive masculine energy, which was noticeably different from the walk of a European woman.

...the third reason, (for this masculine identification of women psychologically) is that modern life seems to be desperately trying to turn everyone into men. It is the traditional masculine qualities of work, career and intellectual pursuit, which are highly valued. In contrast, the tra- ditional feminine qualities of emotional relatedness and mothering are of secondary or inferior value today. This disparity tends to be quite prevalent in the ‘Anglo’ countries of Britain, Canada, and the U.S. This devaluation of women’s roles is traceable to the long term results of ‘Puritanism,’ which represented a time when it was difficult for a woman to physically enjoy being a woman. Puritans dressed in severe clothing and repressed the dis- play of emotions; for a woman to admit that she enjoyed sexuality was to be considered ‘cheap,’ immoral, and low. A woman’s traditional role was diminished while the longstanding barriers to pursue masculine goals of work, career, and intellect remained intact. She was expected to have babies, but to not enjoy making them, and to exhibit no intelligence. Women’s awareness of the restrictive Puritan tradition has grown in the past 50 years, resulting in increased resentment and efforts to pursue traditional careers. Everyone should have the freedom to explore the male and female aspects of themselves, which we all have in varying degrees.

However, there has been such a collective compulsivity in this masculinization of women that it hasn’t allowed women to see what they are really missing. It has been hard to see because it has been missing for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Women and men have suffered from losing the awareness and appreciation of the powerful and sacred feminine. The degree of masculinization among women does change from country to Country. For example, in France, even though the Church tried to tell them that sex was bad, clearly few people in France actually believed it.

Women’s Power

In pointing out the masculinization of American women I am not trying to imply that women shouldn’t be strong and powerful. I have been inspired by many powerful women teachers. There is a difference, however. If a woman has a very strong card in the feminine side in her Tarot reading, which I mentioned earlier, then that is indicative of a woman with strong power and wisdom as a woman. When she has a weak or dysfunctional card in the feminine, however, and a strong powerful card in the masculine, she may be rather ‘possessed,’ or taken over by her masculine, unconscious identity. This identification with the masculine may be an effort to escape the fear and woundedness in the feminine, in the, basically, wounded, frightened little girl within.

Obviously, men today still wield more power and control economically, and in many relationships, sexually. However, their power has declined dramatically since the 1960’s. In the 60’s and 70’s women collectively started to own their own Pluto. They started to develop a collective, transformative power and intensity. They started to own and develop their intellect, assertiveness, and physicality, and to not simply let men live these things for them. Through this Plutonian liberation and transformation, American Women have been a great leader and proponent for freedom and equality of opportunity for women throughout the world. In order to be free of a very repressed feminine role, however, it does seem that it was necessary for the past thirty years for women to go to an extreme masculine polarity. The path now is to find a balance. To regain a quality of feminine power, identity, and wisdom which has been lacking for hundreds if not thousands of years.

To these I would like to add the following quotes from The Way of Woman by Helen Luke. Helen Luke is/was a Jungian Psychological Analyst who was 90 years old at the time of this writing (1995).

A lot of what the women’s movement has done is wonderful, but a negative result can come to many women when they are obsessed with a deep resentment against the patriarchy. This resentment creates a need, not just to discover and live the talents they had been forbidden to develop, but to imitate the masculine approach to life. Therefore they tend to look with contempt on the beautiful and basic values of giving birth, of nurturing, and caring, and foremost of all values, that of learning how to love.

Another unfortunate aspect of holding up the masculine and trying to imitate it is that we have not convinced men that there is value in the feminine for their own lives. Instead, we’ve reinforced their understanding that what they are doing is right.

I would say that it is no accident that we are experiencing a woman’s bid for the top post in the nation at this time. Basically, I don’t believe in accidents.

On the one hand, Hillary could embody the healthy balance of the feminine, a woman who can be both a good mother and a woman with a powerful intellect and leadership qualities.

On the other hand, she could well represent the animus-possessed, masculine dominated feminine that Helen Luke and I are concerned about.

It seems to me that the negative aspects of Hillary’s powerful Gemini intellect, Leonine arrogance, and Tenth House career orientation for identity and security make her susceptible to the second category.

The positive aspects of her Piscean and Neptunian sensitivity and compassion encourage the first.

Her deeply emotional and regenerative, but potential controlling and manipulative Scorpio side, can cut both ways.

This is why people across the political spectrum, from left to right, male and female, can find something to hate in Hillary Clinton. An article in Mother Jones magazine said this phenomenon is so widespread it should have its own word: ‘Hillarating.’

This powerful archetypal resonance is also why there is such a devoted support for Hillary, especially on the part of American women, women who voice their desire to see a woman president as a major part of their reason for their political support for Hillary Clinton.

Myself, I do think that having more feminine energy performing in the role of President, would be a great way to counter the power mongering, militaristic, testosterone soaked political climate of this nation. And, in normal circumstances, I would tend to think that Hillary Clinton is someone with some potential to bring that feminine energy into the political arena. The problem is, I don’t see Hillary Clinton as the one who is bearing the greatest potential to bring a truly caring emotional integrity and sensitivity to the current race for president.

Although I have reservations here as well, as will be explained in my next newsletter, I nonetheless feel that the candidate who has more of the feminine, emotionally healing and sensitive qualities needed at this time is, Barack Obama.

Until next time,
Blessings,
Steffan Vanel

This newsletter is given free of charge. If you would like to have a private Astrology and/or Tarot reading with me please go to readings page to see the various readings I offer.

If you would like to be added to the newsletter list send your email address to steffan@spiritualcompany.com (If you tried this in the past and it failed it should be fixed now.

Steffan’s Spiritual Company Newsletters and ‘Starwise’ Monthly Forecasts are available by email on an annual, sliding-scale donation basis; from $10 - $50 a year.

Subscribe

To donate by mail send a check to: PO Box 476, Curlew, WA 99118

— Steffan Vanel Archive —