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Spiritual Company Newsletter:
The Astrological John McCainBy Steffan Vanel • Astrologer • Tarot Reader
Author of: The Astrological Karma of the USA
And: Charles & Diana: The Inside Story: An Astrological-Karmic ViewTuesday, February 12, 2008
Dear Friends and Clients,
I’ve been working on this newsletter since Super Tuesday. I hope you enjoy it. I am presently in my cabin in the snowy mountains of Northeast Washington State. As a special promotion to bring in more work by telephone while I am here, I am offering a special incentive, that being 10% discount on all telephone readings during the months of February and March. I also have unlimited long distance while I am here, so I can make free calls to the US and Canada. For more info about my various readings go to my readings page.
I also want to announce that an interview conducted by Maureen Moss on the www.worldpuja.org network will be broadcast at 11:30 AM and 6:00 PM, Pacific time on February 28. It will be also available in the archives. The title of the interview is Astrological Trends for 2008 and Beyond.
The Astrological John McCain
One of the major Astrological configurations this year will be Saturn moving into opposition to Uranus. In my last newsletter I paraphrased this as Uranian Freedom vs. Saturnian responsibility. I also related the observation that this tension is likely to be played out in the contest of the 2008 Presidential election, especially when one notes that this Uranus/Saturn opposition does not peak until November 4th, which happens to be, Election Day.
Uranus represents the unusual, the unconventional, freedom from old patterns that have outlived their purpose, and sudden change out of the blue which you would never expect.
Saturn represents authority, structure, responsibility, commitment, willing to ‘hang in for the long haul.’
It so happens that this Saturn/Uranus tension will also be hitting the Mars/Neptune square in the US birthchart, which is, essentially, the delusional use of force which was being activated Astrologically during the War in Vietnam, and then again during the recent rush into War in Iraq.
One can already see the Astrological connection to the War when we look at the Democratic and Republican candidates. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have both said they would take us out of Iraq as soon as possible (i.e.Uranus), and John McCain has said that he would be willing to stay for 100 years if necessary to get the job done (Saturn).
This Uranus/Saturn tension doesn’t move into the orb of intensive influence until September, after the Presidential nominating conventions, which is when we will see the two sides really duking it out. And yet, we can see how this Uranus/Saturn tension is already relatable to the present competitions within the primary battles.
Either Hillary, a woman, or Obama, an African American, would be Uranian, i.e. unusual, different, unconventional. And yet Hillary is more Saturnian compared to Obama. She is more established, more experienced, older and more appealing to older voters, and more entrenched in the traditional authoritative party structure. Obama is more Uranian, younger and more appealing to younger voters, with a campaign platform based on the repeated anthem of change and promising to be totally different than the traditional President.
In the near future I will look further into the Astrological charts of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Today, it seems almost certain that the Republican candidate will be John McCain. If elected, McCain would be the oldest President to enter the oval office. Very Saturnian. And yet, here too, we see the Uranian/Saturnian, Freedom/Responsibility conflict within the Republican Party as well. McCain, although a staunch conservative, wears the label of a –maverick-, going against his party’s political agenda when it differs with his personal views. This has evoked the ire of the entrenched more conservative/Saturnian wing of the Republican Party. McCain defended the defection of then Republican Senator Jim Jeffords to Independent Status against what McCain called --self-appointed enforcers of party loyalty--. McCain once called Evangelist Jerry Falwell an --agent of intolerance--. McCain voted twice against Bush’s tax cuts on the grounds that they would benefit the wealthy, opposed Bush on the use of torture, and was an early critic of Donald Rumsfeld’s handling of the War in Iraq.
When we look at John McCain’s Astrological Chart we see he is highly influenced, in tense ways, by both Uranus and Saturn.
I will now share some general observations about John McCain’s birthchart. I will not go into all of his personal, karmic details. Later I will give a much more in-depth analysis to whoever wins the presidency.
John McCain Natal Chart
Saturday, August 29, 1936
9:00:00 AM EST Cocosolo, Panama
Tropical Porphyry True Node
Larger ViewJohn McCain is a Virgo, who thinks he is a Libra, pretends he is a Cancer, and in his childhood he had to be a Capricorn, in a manner of speaking.
McCain has the Sun in Virgo, thus he is someone who has been given an additional mental energy and a set of standards of conduct and moral behavior, intended to be used for him to assess his own progress. The danger is that these standards may be applied to other people, leading to a critical tendency.
McCain’s Virgo Sun is not in any difficult, tense aspects, however. He obviously has a bit of a critical edge, but this is not where his real difficult lessons lie. His Sun in Virgo is in positive aspect to Uranus giving him a quick, intuitive energy, fused with that sharp Virgoan intellect, and a positive resonance with qualities of change, freedom, and the unconventional.
His Sun is in the House which the Master Hilarion says is, in actuality, the House of Karma with former enemies (from past lives). McCain clearly has/had many political and other kinds of enemies he has had to deal with in this life. The dramatic intensity of this, however, is more relatable to his difficultly aspected Neptune in this same house. His Neptune is in a –T-Square--, a configuration of very challenging tension, with both Jupiter and Saturn. This is a major factor in his chart and in relation to what he will be experiencing at the time of the election. I will return to give some explanation of this T-Square later.
When I say that McCain thinks he is a Libra, it is because his rising sign, or Ascendant, or self-image of himself, is in the sign of Libra. Libra on the Ascendant gives a self-image of oneself with an emotional calmness or control, but it is given to someone because in previous lives they have had difficulty controlling their emotions, thus they tend to be like sleeping volcanoes, until they explode. Bill Clinton also has Libra rising.
Now McCain, besides being a maverick, is also noted for his sudden temper. And yet to see the charming, affable jokester appearing 11 times on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show, you would never expect that temper. It is due to that Libran cover.
McCain does have several components in his chart, however, which would keep his hot lava pretty close to the surface.
McCain has Mars in Leo in the 10th House, house of work, career, role in the world, and the Mars is square to Uranus. Mars in the 10th makes it such that you can put incredible energy into whatever role you want to play in life. When you read McCain’s biographical material you can see that he has used that powerful Mars throughout his various career aspirations.
His Mars is in positive aspect to Jupiter in Sagittarius, which is going to expand that Mars energy with Jupiterian enthusiasm, optimism, beneficence and generosity. Of Jupiter in Sagittarius Hilarion says: 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.
This Jupiter, in positive aspect with his Mars, enables McCain to stand his moral ground even when it may hurt him. This is what enabled him to reject an early release from the ‘Hanoi Hilton’, the infamous North Vietnamese prison, when it was offered to him, until all prisoners taken before him were also released.
Both the Mars and the Jupiter, however, are afflicted or tensed by other planets.
Of Jupiter in Sagittarius afflicted Hilarion says: the candor may be emphasized to the point where the individual speaks his mind without thinking first, thus blurting out things that may hurt or offend others. (I call this foot-in-mouth disease).
Of Mars in the 10th: In the tenth Mars tends to bring a degree of conflict and aggression into this department (job or career). The individual must learn to soften his aggressive tendencies, otherwise his career will suffer. Positions are often lost because co-workers are rubbed the wrong way.
Of 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.
McCain’s Mars in Leo, in the 10th House, as I said earlier, is square to Uranus. Of this Hilarion says: Uranus in close aspect to Mars always points to a lack of self-control, usually physical self-control. The negative aspects are the most problematical in terms of angry outbursts, fits of rage and violence, but even the positive aspects call for extra effort in controlling those urges, which can damage others in some way.
Mars/Uranus aspects will also make one prone to accidents. McCain crashed three airplanes before he even entered combat.
A buddy of McCain’s from his days at the Naval Academy said: -being on liberty with John McCain was like being in a train wreck-.
Clearly, all the above is a bit scary in considering a possible future president. It is one thing to get feisty with Jerry Falwell. It’s something else to get feisty with someone like Iranian President Ahmadinejad. Looking at these aspects in his chart and hearing McCain sing: Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran, to the tune of -Barbara Ann- by the Beach Boys, is suddenly, not so funny.
Adding to the mix, McCain has the same placement of Pluto, as did Richard Nixon. Both McCain and Nixon have/had Pluto in the 10th House, again, the house of work, career, role in the world. Hilarion says that with this placement, one will be drawn to a career where deep-seated problems in the unconscious will be brought to the surface.
Nixon had problems with paranoia. I stated in my book regarding Nixon –If you have problems dealing with paranoia then being President of the United States is a good place to play it out-.
McCain has problems with anger, arrogance, being too honest, and karma with former enemies. It seems that being a maverick Republican Senator, running for President are good career choices to bring out all of that.
In looking at the theme of Karma with former enemies, we have to look at McCain’s Neptune in the 11th House, which Hilarion has renamed the House of Karma with former enemies.
The Neptune is squaring, in tension with, his over-honest Jupiter in Sagittarius. Difficult Neptune aspects always bring in tests along the lines of illusion, confusion, delusion, victimhood and martyrdom, and a tendency to get stuck in what I call the –victim/victimizer program-. One need only look at the 2000 Republican Primary campaign launched against him by forces sympathetic to George W. Bush, a campaign which has been called the dirtiest in South Carolina history. Among other things, they passed out the claim that his adopted daughter from Bangladesh was an illegitimate child born of McCain and a Black woman.
Today there are websites claiming that McCain’s support for amnesty for illegal immigrants is a result of his having been brainwashed by the North Vietnamese, to create a –Manchurian Candidate-, someone programmed to destroy this nation from within. This is all very Neptunian, i.e. confusing, deceptive, and pumped up with Jupiterian exaggeration.
Jupiter and Neptune are also both in tension with Saturn, forming the previously mentioned -T-Square-. Saturn is in the sign of Pisces, which is ruled by Neptune. Of Saturn in Pisces Hilarion says: In Pisces, Saturn is very badly placed. Pisces is watery, changeable, emotional and unconcerned with practical matters. Saturn is hard, stable, extremely practical and suppressive of emotions. Thus one would expect a conflict between the different urges of these two symbols, and that is precisely what results. The individual tends to be in a tug-o-war between hyper-emotionalism on the one hand, and the urge to be cold and rational on the other. Sometimes the conflict is between the inner traits and the kinds of experiences and people one unconsciously attracts. For example, there could be the situation where an individual with this placement is himself cold, practical, rational and reliable, but he continually finds himself dealing with emotional, unstable and impractical people. In effect, the emotionalism is also inside himself, but it is confined to the unconscious sphere and must be projected out upon others in order to be realized.
I will return to this theme of Saturn in Pisces.
McCain’s Saturn is also in the 6th House, the Virgoan house of work, service, and activity in daily physical life. Of this Saturnian placement Hilarion says: When the ringed planet is located in the sixth house, there is a strong indication that the working conditions for the native will be felt as restrictive and oppressive, at least over certain periods of the life. The purpose of placing him under these restrictive conditions is to inculcate seriousness into his attitude toward his job or his role in life. He longs for an easy way to make a living, but Saturn will see to it that only through effort, perseverance and attention will he succeed.
In 1967, Pluto, Lord of the Underworld and of complete transformation you cannot avoid, was in opposition to McCain’s Saturn n the 6th House. That was when he entered into five and a half years of imprisonment in North Vietnam, a period involving torture and long periods of solitary confinement. Talk about working conditions being –restrictive and oppressive-.
At the time of this year’s election the Saturn, Neptune, Jupiter T-Square in McCain’s chart will be being hit pretty hard by the Uranus/Saturn opposition.
Uranus will be conjuncting his Saturn and squaring his Jupiter at the same time that Saturn will be conjuncting his Neptune and squaring his Jupiter. This whole T-Square is going to have simultaneous Saturnian (restrictive/responsible) and Uranian (impulsive/liberative) energies activating it. It’s going to be a pretty intense time for John McCain.
On November 18th Saturn will move into exact opposition to his natal Saturn. Now McCain will never have to experience Pluto being in opposition to that Saturn, as it was in 1967, again in this lifetime. Thinking back to that period, however, we can see that Pluto moving into opposition to that Saturn in the 6th House, involving working conditions that are felt as –restrictive and oppressive-, was one thing, but McCain also had to deal with Plutonian intensity bearing upon Saturn being in the sign of Pisces. This would intensify dramatically his internal conflict between the hyper-rational, authoritative and self-reliant Saturnian parts of himself on the one hand, and the hyper-emotional, vulnerable, surrendered Piscean parts of himself on the other hand.
In 1967 McCain had gone from dropping bombs on a vulnerable population as part of a military machine that dropped more bombs than in all of World War II, to a vulnerable victim of cruel imprisonment and torture. While he was in prison his Saturnian, self-reliant control was finally broken and he succumbed to writing a forced political confession. Later McCain said: -I had learned what we all learned over there: Every man has his breaking point. I had reached mine-.
Also, during this time of imprisonment, a North Vietnamese guard secretly loosened McCain’s ropes, and, on Christmas Day, this same guard drew a cross in the sand with his foot. McCain has said that that and other experiences during this time helped him to deepen his own spiritual faith. These experiences of compassion and spirituality are positive aspects of Neptune and Pisces.
Again, Pluto will never be in opposition to McCain’s Saturn again in this lifetime, but these intense Uranus/Saturn transits hitting his chart at the time of the election, and Saturn moving into opposition to his 6th House, Saturn in Pisces 14 days after the election, I do not think bodes well for Senator John McCain. It will be hard enough for him to deal with attacks from the left, but it will be a deeper test of his faith if he continues to be betrayed by the right, with Rush Limbaugh saying he is no different than Obama or Clinton, or Ann Coulter saying she would rather vote for Hillary Clinton than John McCain.
As I write this, I have a sense that the extreme right wing of the Republican Party, may know, unconsciously, that in the aftermath of 8 years of George W. Bush it has already lost the majority consensus in this nation, which it once seemed they had. Rather than admit and deal with that, they would, on some level, be happy to let John McCain serve as the sacrificial lamb for their political loss.
The Tarot card which I cut for what McCain would be feeling on the day after the election was the Five of Swords-Defeat, a mental uncertainty, hesitancy, unclarity and wishy-washiness. Now, whether that uncertainty and unclarity and later sense of Saturnian restriction will be from contemplating four years in the Oval Office (I personally doubt it), or from nursing his wounds in his hideout in Arizona remains to be seen. Either way, he will have to see that the only way out of thinking that: If you don’t want to be a victim you have to be a victimizer, or, if you don’t want to be a victimizer then you have to be a victim, is to move into the positive side of Neptune and Pisces, to unconditional love, for yourself and for others, to total forgiveness, for yourself and for others, and to spiritual faith, trust and surrender, to where there are no victims or victimizers, but just all of us little boys and girls doing the best that we can, even including Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter.
Blessings,
Steffan VanelThis 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.
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