Election
Asteroids
Often
asteroids and minor planets are overlooked when casting charts or making
predictions. The fact that there are more than 50,000 named asteroids,
centaurs, damocloids and Trans-Neptunian Objects may have something to
do with this - it’s obviously impossible, and not even desirable,
to incorporate all of these points. So how to determine in advance which
might be significant at any given time, or in any given life?
In some
instances, it’s comparatively easy. The Centaur Ephemeris website
at www.serennu.com lists a goodly
number of asteroids, and a comprehensive search there yields some interesting
contenders for inclusion on Election Day to better determine what we’re
dealing with at that time. Not enough research has been done to ascertain
whether these placements are predictive, or merely descriptive, but they
make a fascinating study nonetheless.
It would
be marvelously simple if there were asteroids named for each of the candidates.
Alas! Astronomers are not that prescient. But we can find suitable substitutes
for many of the major players on Election Day.
John
McCain, for example, can be seen to be potentially represented by no fewer
than four asteroids - Johnny, Johannes (a German form of “John”),
Johanna (the feminine equivalent, often a necessary substitute for a masculine
name in a female-dominated nomenclature), and McCann, a quite close match
for the surname McCain. Barack Obama is harder; nothing comes close, but
there is an asteroid “Barry,” which is what the youthful Obama
was called by family and friends. For Joe Biden we have two feminine versions,
Josefa and Josephina, and for Sarah Palin there is Sara. There’s
even an asteroid Hillary, which may help to determine the role the unsuccessful
contender may play in the election.
Additional
obvious choices in the hunt for suitable names in a national election
are America, Washingtonia, even Potomac, and there are several state names
that can stand in for particular candidates - Arizona for McCain, Hawaii
(his birth state) and Chicago (his long-time residence) for Obama, and
Alaska for Palin.
Ordinarily,
when choosing potential asteroid players, we can also cast the chart,
and look to see what falls within significant zones, with an eye to seeing
if these names might lend themselves to interesting conclusions. In the
case of a national election, which extends throughout the day, several
time zones and thousands of locales, there is no way to cast an exact
chart, so there won’t be any angles or an exact Moon placement to
look to, but we can consider the position of the Nodes and the slower-moving
planets, seeing if these have attracted any temporary satellites for the
day.
Astonishingly,
many of these asteroids do form significant aspects on Election Day. Asteroid
America at 28 Libra is closely conjunct decision-maker and vote-counter
Mercury at 29 Libra, an extremely apt image of the nation going to the
polls. Washingtonia at 13 Leo is squared the Sun at 12 Scorpio and conjoins
both Obama’s natal Sun at 12 Leo and McCain’s natal Mars at
that same degree. At 26 Pisces asteroid Potomac is squared to Pluto at
29 Sagittarius, inconjunct Mercury and America at 29/28 Libra, and forms
sextiles to both McCain’s natal Moon at 27 Capricorn and Obama’s
natal Saturn at 25 Capricorn.
The
significance of personal and state name asteroids is also startling. On
the Republican side, Johanna is exactly conjoined politics-ruling Jupiter
at 17 Capricorn, with Johnny close by at 12 Capricorn, exactly sextile
the Sun for the day at 12 Scorpio. Johannes at 17 Virgo conjoins Saturn,
representing the presidency itself, at 18 Virgo, and is exactly trine
Jupiter. McCann at 29 Aquarius is conjunct the USA Moon, the electorate,
at 26 Aquarius, exactly sextile power broker Pluto at 29 Sagittarius and
exactly trine Mercury at 29 Libra, with asteroid America standing by.
Asteroid Arizona at 26 Leo is sextile to Mercury/America and trine Pluto,
as well as opposed McCann. Asteroid Alaska at 23 Sagittarius conjoins
women-ruling Venus at 19 Sagittarius, while asteroid Sara, for GOP VP
nominee Sarah Palin, lies at 10 Aquarius, squared the Sun of Election
Day and conjunct the North Node, our future, at 13 Aquarius.
Also
on that North Node are asteroids Nemesis (at 12 Aquarius), a possible
warning of a karmic comeuppance ahead, and Damocles (at 15 Aquarius),
implying that our future hangs by a thread. Asteroids Indiana and Ohio
are there as well, at 14 and 12 Aquarius respectively, possible indicators
of the importance of these swing states in deciding the election.
For
the Democrats, asteroid Barry at 8 Scorpio conjoins the Sun at 12 Scorpio,
is squared Obama’s natal Sun at 12 Leo, and exactly conjoins his
natal Neptune at 8 Scorpio. Asteroid Chicago at 24 Aries opposes Mercury/America,
trines Pluto, and is squared Obama’s natal Saturn at 25 Capricorn.
Asteroid Hawaii at 4 Leo is broadly squared the Election Day Sun, but
exactly sesquiquadrate (135 degrees) to Venus at 19 Sagittarius, staking
out the Democratic claim on female voters. Further bolstering that position
are asteroids Josefa at 12 Sagittarius and Josephina at 9 Sagittarius,
both conjunct Venus and trine Obama’s natal Sun.
Two
additional celestial bodies may have a tale to tell - asteroid Hispania
at 11 Taurus tightly opposes the Sun, embodying the importance of Latino
voters to the outcome. And asteroid Karma at 22 Virgo is an exact match
for the USA Neptune, implying that the nation will shortly be dealing
with the effects of its oil addiction, whoever wins the contest.
Asteroid
Hillary has had a tortured year which closely mirrors candidate Hillary’s
experience. Starting out 2008 traveling with asteroid Atropos, one of
the Fates in Greek mythology, also known as “the Inevitable,”
Hillary Clinton began the race with an air of inevitability that rapidly
fell apart as the two celestial bodies separated in the sky. By the time
of the infamous gaffe about her Bosnian sniper fire experience, asteroid
Hillary was opposed to asteroid Memoria, itself on a Black Hole, perhaps
evoking the alternate reality memory of an incident that never was. By
the time of the Democratic National Convention, Hillary had teamed up
with asteroids Kassandra and Chaos in early Gemini, squared to the early
Virgo Sun of the DNC, amid rumors of a catastrophic division among her
supporters and those of Obama, which threatened to prefigure the November
race, in much the same way that mythological Kassandra predicted impending
disaster for the over-confident Trojans. That potential rift failed to
materialize fully, but now on Election Day asteroid Hillary finds herself
isolated at 7 Gemini, largely unaspected to the day’s major planetary
players, but still in the company of Chaos at 10 Gemini.
Whatever
the outcome, the incidence of these significantly-named asteroids in equally
significant aspects and patterns on Election Day shows a cosmos highly
attuned to developments here on Planet Earth. Whether or not they foreshadow
the winning ticket remains to be seen.
©2008
Alex Miller-Mignone
- All rights reserved. No reproduction or use without written permission.
