By Marilyn Muir, LPMAFA
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Like everyone else in our country, waiting for the presidential race to be called was agonizing no matter what side you were on. On November 7, 2020, I was on a 3-way phone call about my website when Pennsylvania was declared for the Biden / Harris presidential ticket. The background of my phone blew up with calls that I couldn’t answer. My phone partners told me the race had been declared for Biden and Harris. WOW! Take a deep breath – the first step is done. Don’t kid yourself that it is all done, but step one is done. There will be legalities, protests, recounts in some instances, drama, frustration; but in the end, on January 20, 2021, only one president and one vice president will be inaugurated. That was and is still my focus!
As most astrologers know, the celestial energy is tumultuous, the world is tumultuous, and the U.S. political theater (will describe in a moment) is tumultuous. This is a long-range cycle and we just have to put our heads down and keep walking because it is not going to be over soon. There are two major ongoing U.S. activations to the Declaration of Independence chart (D of I), the chart I follow, and they still have years to play out. As they start to move to their completion, another third major D of I activation kicks into gear. I honestly don’t see a chance for real clarity and calm for the next few years.
We can’t stomp our baby feet and cry at injustices because we as a people and as a nation are in school and the universe has all the time it needs to teach us our lessons. Are we listening? Are we learning? Or must we walk around in the same old circle until it becomes a deep, deep rut? Take a deep breath… it is up to us, the voters, to fix the problem. The Founding and the Framing Fathers of the U.S. Constitution left the success or failure of our country in the hands of the voters. Since we are and have been voting almost 50/50 for a long time, we voters are the impasse. We might take one step to the left or right, but we are only one step off dead center, and so we flip-flop. That is a hell of a way to run a country.
I am an astrologer, so I will look at the November 7, 2020 presidential race winner’s announcement to see what it tells us about the president and vice-president elect and the country they will serve. We will start with the U.S. Declaration of Independence as our base chart, add the Biden and Harris components and see what the energy looks like for the January 20, 2021 passing of power (legally at noon) that sets the stage for the running of our government and its citizens for the next four years (yes!). Where to begin?
July 4, 1776, 9:36 AM LMT, Philadelphia, PA is my U.S. chart of choice. (See explanatory article for choice, “The Controversial U.S. Natal Chart”, included at my website, marilynmuir.net). The colonists who had been arguing and fighting with the English crown for several years, got disgusted with getting nowhere (sound familiar?) and decided to break their existing political ties and forge a new country where they had representation in its process. While problems had started earlier, the declaration itself occurred in July of 1776. Not only did we declare our independence as a new nation, but it was a revolution in terms of governance. Uranus of revolution and independence was on the verge of being discovered a few years later in between the American and the French revolutions. As it moved into discovery, visibility and therefore consciousness, what had been stirring in men’s souls, was set out for everyone to see and to learn. It would become the driving force in those major revolutions that dramatically changed Europe and the world balance of powers.
Since Uranus, Neptune and Pluto had not yet been discovered, they were not visible in the charts; they were invisible pot stirrers of issues in the unconscious of the people of that age. Uranus of change and revolution, Neptune of spirituality and vision, and Pluto of power and manipulation were emerging from the darkness of mankind’s unconscious into the full light of day. And our Founding Fathers were moved into action by something they could not see or fully understand as the mass unconscious moved inexorably into consciousness. Not just one new body to learn, understand, implement. Three… within a very short time celestially, moving from the unknown into the knowable. Oh joy!
The D of I chart, briefly:
- Uranus 8:54 Gemini is tightly conjunct the D of I Midheaven at 8:52, and is the signature for our goal and mission as an emerging nation. Uranus is not only on the angle, but it is the angle. This is our U.S. mission. Should we be surprised that it is tumultuous to get there? This Midheaven/Uranus duo is square the D of I Virgo rising sign listed below.
- To add to the tumult, at 21:10 Gemini in the tenth resides Mars, the warrior, the planet of force and assertion, willing to fight for what it wants.
- Those two planets are followed by four planets in Cancer: home, hearth, family, clan. Venus and Jupiter are closely conjunct in the tenth. Sun and Mercury are posited in the eleventh of groups and associations and common goals and aspirations (can you say “nation”?).
- The emotional context of our Moon (the enlarged family called a nation) is 22:37 Aquarius “with freedom and liberty for all”. We are all our brothers’ keepers. Equality among people is the name of this game. That Moon is in the sixth house of our willingness and the necessity to work for our goals and successes. To get to where we want to go, we have to take all the steps and do the work to get there.
- We can add to that 11:46 Virgo rising; we are workers, craftsmen, practical applicators as a people, plus…
- We have Neptune (which was not visible… hiding in plain sight… in the first of personal projection and coping skills at 22:25 Virgo. We are (or can be if we try) a spiritual people. This placement is “the Soul of the Nation”. Notice I said “spiritual” and not “religious”. The people of that age had come out of the Dark Ages and the religious persecution for centuries in Europe and they wanted none of that to influence or determine the fate of their new nation, ergo separation of church and state in the Constitution.
- One more connection point for our present day, our D of I owns a Mercury/Pluto opposition (ouch) that has befouled our nation since inception. Mercury, our communication planet, is 24:20 Cancer retrograde opposition underground, unrealized Pluto of power, control and manipulation at 27:33 Capricorn retrograde. The people who established us as a nation did not know that manipulation, power and control of our communication function was invisible to them at the time, but was very real in terms of contribution to our emerging nation. This is not new. It was with us at the beginning. Think our Founding Fathers agreed on everything? Think they didn’t try to get their own way on certain issues? Sissies and patsies don’t try to found a country by revolution! Sound familiar?
Biden and Harris were publicly (not legally yet) declared winners of the 2020 U.S. presidential elections according to the popular vote count. The announcement made while my team was on the phone was 10:28 AM CST for my team and 11:28 EST for me. Since I did not know who/where the original announcement was made, I did not have a location (so no chart). But boy I do have charts for you! I am going to use the diurnal (transits) for that day for the D of I natal chart, the best astrological tool I have found for personal transits. Simply set up the natal chart of choice and change only the date for the event. Change nothing else! That chart gives you the personal transits for that day of the D of I chart born in 1776 and the diurnal includes the personal D of I Midheaven and Ascendant.
D of I: First thing to do is check the angles. Angular hits seem to mean “today” in a diurnal chart. How many angles are there? Four. How many were activated in this chart by nearby positions? Four! That does it for me that the 7th was “the day” for an announcement of importance to the D of I natal chart. This chart does not tell you which party or person(s), it merely illustrates that an important event was occurring pertaining to the D of I chart. Just as the inauguration charts do not tell you the party, the name, the gender or the color of the person(s) being inaugurated. It is the map of the moment of the passing of Constitutional power (noon). Aspects should be and are very tight.
- Diurnal Venus 12:50 Libra conjunct and ruling diurnal Midheaven 12:14, opposition diurnal Mars 15:31 Aries retrograde, conjunct and ruling the IC (fourth cusp). Venus and Mars are square the natal D of I Sun 13:01 Cancer. Contention (opposition) for the leader of the nation (Midheaven).
- Diurnal Nodes are conjunct Ascendant/Descendant axis, south on the Ascendant, North on the Descendant. I read the nodes as karmic indications. South: been there, done that (past); North: way to go (future). North Node 20:24 Gemini conjunct D of I natal Mars, square D of I natal Neptune.
- Diurnal Neptune 18:17 Pisces retrograde in the house of communication squaring the D of I Mars and opposing D of I Neptune. (See “Revisiting History: The Quadrature of Neptune” article, marilynmuir.net.)
- Diurnal Capricorn stellium of Jupiter / Pluto / Saturn 22:01 to 26:36 Capricorn conjunct D of I Pluto 27:33 retrograde, opposing D of I Mercury 24:20 Cancer retrograde.
- Diurnal Mercury 27:12 Libra turns the activation and the natal aspect into a cardinal T-square. Can you see the devisiveness, contention and the manipulative communication, turning of mental screws?
- Diurnal Neptune 18:17 Pisces retrograde in the house of communication squaring D of I natal Mars and opposing D of I natal Neptune. (See Neptune article cited above.)
- Diurnal Moon 3:56 Leo (drama) conjunct natal D of I North Node 6:35, both square diurnal Uranus 8:24 Taurus retrograde.
- I was being brief… the only thing I have not mentioned is the diurnal Sun at 15:39 Scorpio, which happens to be very widely opposing that Uranus just mentioned.
It was the right day for the announcement, regardless of whose names were called. This was an official day for the announcement about the presidency of the U.S. What about the people who were announced? How do they fit into the D of I natal and diurnal activation?
Joseph Biden is a two-term former U.S. vice president. Other articles I have written tie him closely to the D of I chart (see the website for a plethora of articles). I chose to look at his personal diurnal and natal charts to focus for this announcement. I charted the combination with the diurnal as the base and cusps, and his natal on the outer wheel. First the diurnal/natal, then key connections to the D of I chart. Briefly:
- Look at angles first, very visible. Biden’s natal Scorpio stellium 21.5 to 28.5 Scorpio straddles the diurnal Ascendant 23:57. It doesn’t get better than that for close hits. That stellium squares natal D of I Moon 22:37 Aquarius.
- Biden’s diurnal Neptune 18:18 Pisces retrograde opposed Biden’s natal Midheaven 19:54 Virgo, which places diurnal Neptune directly conjunct Biden’s natal IC, the base or foundation of his chart, home, and in this instance his country. Think of Biden’s constant election theme “The Soul of the Country”.
- Biden’s natal Jupiter 25:08 Cancer retrograde opposes the diurnal Capricorn stellium, plus connecting to the natal D of I Mercury/Pluto opposition.
- Biden’s natal Saturn 9:57 Gemini retrograde tightly conjunct natal D of I Midheaven/Uranus conjunction.
- Biden’s natal Pluto 7:14 Leo retrograde conjuncts natal D of I N Node 6:35 (Karmic).
Kamala Harris. Harris is being elected as Vice President, backup to the President-elect. I wondered if there would be a difference in the aspects for the differing roles, but see little difference. This time, I put the natal as the base chart with the diurnal positions in the outer wheel so you could see an example for both ways of listing. Since I have already read the diurnal positions to the D of I chart twice, I will try not to be repetitive, unless it’s useful. This is Harris diurnal to Harris natal and D of I natal positions.
- Harris diurnal Midheaven 21:54 Pisces widely conjunct diurnal Neptune 18:17 Pisces retrograde.
- Harris diurnal IC 21:54 Virgo conjunct natal D of I natal Neptune 22:25.
- Harris natal North Node 24:31 Gemini conjunct natal Ascendant 24:25, wide conjunction to diurnal North Node 20:25 Gemini (four degrees and wide), also conjunct D of I natal Mars 21:10, and the complex is square natal D of I Neptune 22:25 Virgo.
- Harris diurnal Ascendant 10:50 Cancer conjunct natal D of I Sun 13:01.
- Harris natal Full Moon birth hosts Sun 27:48 Libra and Moon 27:39 Aries, squaring diurnal Capricorn stellium and involving natal D of I Mercury opposite Pluto.
Overall energies at play…
Early in this article, I mentioned the major activations in the D of I chart that have been plaguing our country for the last few years, getting stronger and more difficult as we go. I said there were three; two are currently active and one is waiting for its turn.
- Natal D of I Mercury / Pluto opposition: power and control, manipulation of communication.
- Natal D of I Mars / Neptune square: I call it political theater or the three-ring circus.
- Natal D of I Uranus / Midheaven conjunction square natal Ascendant.
1) Our natal D of I chart has four bodies in Cancer, one in Libra and one in Capricorn. Those are six bodies in cardinal energy. We are nationally one family of over 328.2 million participants. Please explain to me how any one of us is going to get along with 328.2 million “other family members”. This reminds me of “herding cats”! We argue and fight, push and sometimes bully, to get our own personal way. But… it has always been that if you threaten one of us, you have to face all of us. That has gotten lost in the shuffle lately as we have taken to bullying each other. As a people, we all want to lead, have our own way, and are quite willing to get physical about it. Just how does cooperation and conciliation work?
I have explained that Mercury in Cancer and Pluto in Capricorn are opposed each other and that equates to manipulation of communication. We now call that false news, propaganda, and other epitaphs that are not complimentary. It makes it hard to take in information, know whether or not we can trust that information, and make a decision to put our end of the conversation back out there. We have no way to know if anyone can hear us or will allow what we have said to remain our truth. Every one is talking, no one is listening. If a clear sentence gets said, it gets twisted out of context; and who knows where it ends up!
Pluto takes approximately 248 years to make one orbit around our Sun. Currently our country is 244+ years old as of the end of 2020. Since Mercury is at 24 and Pluto is at 28 natally, we are vulnerable to that activation for several years – approaching, connecting to, and eventually moving on. So Pluto is very busy stirring up all the buried, secretive manipulation and maneuvering that has been going on for 244 years within our country. Would you like to get it out where we can see it so we can fix it? Or would we rather bury it and allow it to fester and infect the subconscious of our country for another 248 years? There is nothing easy about this. Pluto is currently about 22 Capricorn and has to get past 28 before it will start to simmer down. That will take several years. That’s why I said I didn’t see it ending soon.
Have you noticed that it has gotten worse instead of better this last year? The transiting stellium in Capricorn has been tromping all over that Mercury/Pluto natal opposition. That is the first name of the nonsense we have been going through more currently. Jupiter and Saturn joined Pluto in the sky and have been playing wrecking ball with our world and not just our country. We are not alone in what is going on in our world. We are just seeing it and taking it personally.
Jupiter and Saturn get together about every twenty years, but in varying signs and degrees, and not usually joining Pluto except occasionally, like right now. This part of the pattern is getting ready to break up because Jupiter and Saturn will soon exit the tight stellium conjunction. They need a little more time to separate. By mid-December, Jupiter and Saturn will be in early Aquarius, having moved pretty far from Pluto, enough to mute the disaster that has been this stellium. This new conjunction will signify a “new start” energy as well as gaining distance away from transiting Pluto. It won’t stop all of the nonsense but it will definitely help alleviate part of it. Just remember that the other transiting bodies can move in and out of natal D of I Mercury/Pluto’s sensitive degrees and occasionally awaken the sleeping giant into short-term action.
2) As mentioned, our natal D of I sports a square between Mars and Neptune which I call an aspect of political theater, drama, the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing, start/stop, turn around, chase your own tail, the circus is in town! For a nation, that can be a devastating aspect. Mars is our ability to act on our own choices and make things happen. Neptune provides the dream of the possible, reaching for the stars. In conflict (square) they are not living up to their best behavior. It has been exceedingly difficult to know who or what is right or wrong. Promises made and not kept, snow jobs, and the like. Try adding that energy to what Pluto and its stellium are doing.
Look at our natal D of I square between 21 and 22.5 mutable (Gemini to Virgo). Would you like to guess where transiting Neptune is traveling right now? Look at the diurnals… 18 Pisces. This will remain in effect through 2021 as Neptune dances back and forth with its retrograde periods. Again, there are other faster moving transits that can trigger those numbers as well, kicking that natal square into activity and providing us with yet another chapter of the three-ring circus. Neptune takes about 165 years to complete an orbit. This current passage is an opposition to its natal position. The last time Neptune was in this part of the sky activating this D of I natal square was in the period leading up to the Civil War. Did that get your attention? Could we be daft enough to not learn our lesson the first time (Civil War) and do it again? Insanity!
3) Now, let’s look at natal D of I Uranus conjunct Midheaven, square D of I Ascendant. This one is waiting in the wings, waiting for its turn to connect and kick our collective butts! Uranus is in Taurus at this moment and will return to its natal position in Gemini, a planetary return. This is Uranus’s third 84-year return since the U.S. was born. Uranus’s natal position was our Revolutionary War (1776). Uranus’s first return was the Civil War (1860-1). Uranus’s second return was World War II (approximately 1942) and its third return is coming soon to a theater near you. Just add 84 years to 1942 and we reach approximately 2026-27, once you allow for the retrograde dance. This aspect has been and is our war machine. But as of this last century, we have managed to include the world in our dance. The wars can get bigger. Surely we don’t want that. Aren’t there enough adults in the room? 328.2 million citizens should supply a handful of reasonably smart adults!
We have made our presidential / vice presidential choice, but it won’t stop the arguing. My research shows that choice will be inaugurated on January 20, 2021. Our choice has a heck of mess on their hands just as President-elect Biden did when he was Vice President in 2009. That team pulled us up out of the quagmire at that time. It took a lot of time and money. Many were not satisfied that it wasn’t big enough or fast enough. Just how good are you at quagmires? But through that team effort we did come up and out of it. Let’s hope it can be done again, with one member of that original team at the helm, along with his partner… the one who broke the glass ceiling!
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.