Alex's Asteroid Astrology

The White House announced Thursday evening, March 8th that President Donald Trump had agreed to meet face to face for talks with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, tentatively in May 2018. The decision, apparently made on the spur of the moment without resort to advisors or experts, will, if adhered to, lead to the first personal meeting of an American President and a North Korean leader, since that state’s establishment in 1948. Within two years the countries were at war, initiating seven decades of conflict and stalemate. More than 23,000 US soldiers are still stationed in South Korea, defending the border from its belligerent neighbor.

According to reporting from “The Wall Street Journal”, late on Thursday Trump hosted a meeting in the Oval Office among South Korean officials who were analyzing an offer from Kim Jong Un to meet with the American president, and discussing options for a diplomatic response. Trump peremptorily interrupted their deliberations to state, “OK, OK. Tell them I’ll do it.” When met with stunned silence by the South Korean officials, Trump reiterated, “Tell him yes.”

The sudden decision set a flurry of State Department officials, White House aides and intelligence officers scrambling to devise a framework for the unprecedented meeting, which will involve multiple military and diplomatic issues, including Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.

Kim Jong Un’s motive: meeting with a sitting US President has been a long-held goal of the Kim dynasty, granting them international political legitimacy.

Both Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un have a reputation as a loose cannon, unstable, unpredictable, erratic and impulsive. Both have threatened the use of nuclear arms to resolve their disputes.

What could go wrong?

How much time do you have?

Speaking of time, we’ve got a temporal problem here in our analysis of this summit meeting. We know Kim Jong Un was born on January 8th (just like Elvis). What we’re not sure of is the year! Hard to imagine, in this day and age, but not for nothing is North Korea known as the most opaque regime on the planet.

The late, esteemed researcher Lois Rodden’s Astro Data Bank website lists 1983 as the most probable year, but 1984 is often quoted, and there is even a third candidate in 1982, though this year doesn’t match well with Kim’s scholastic record. In looking at both charts, and adding those devious little rock chunks, it appears to me that 1983 is the most likely, so I’m going with that, but with reservations.

One point which convinced me of the 1983 chart’s accuracy is the similarity of this chart, in themes, with that of The Donald, and the strong contacts between the two. Another was the recent solar eclipses, and what they highlighted in the 1983 version as opposed to 1984.

Hail and well met! Trump’s motive: accomplishing something no other American president has ever done.

What struck me most was the prominence for both men of asteroid Ophelia, indicating potential insanity, asteroid Narcissus, indicating inordinate self-focus, and TNO Chaos, which is just that. Both men have Ophelia at station, and in trine to their natal Suns. True, Kim’s Ophelia will not station for another eleven days after his birth, at the next successive degree from its natal placement, while Trump’s was just four days later, but both are powerfully placed.

Ophelia, named for the tragic character in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” who loses her mind after the Prince of Denmark rejects her, ending up accidentally drowning herself in a river, represents madness astrologically, as well as death in water (as in the cases of Whitney Houston and Natalie Wood).

Kim’s Ophelia at 21 Virgo conjoins asteroid Sphinx at 26, an image of inscrutability and opacity, an enigma that can never quite be solved. The question has always been, is Kim actually crazy, or just acting that way to increase his power and keep his people on their toes, never sure what action he might take next, or how far he’ll go? With Ophelia slowing to station and trine the 17 Capricorn Sun, there is a strong potential for actual madness, if not from birth, at some point in the life. Trump’s natal Sun/Moon polarity at 22 Gemini and 21 Sagittarius forms a T-Square with Kim’s Ophelia, which has serious implications for the American president’s effect on his stability. If there is genuine crazy in Kim, Trump brings it out. Even if the crazy is a sham, Trump evokes a bravura performance.

We’ve discussed Trump’s Ophelia before, and often. At 27 Aquarius, trine the 22 Gemini Sun, the mental instability it represents is a formative factor in his character, and one which regularly becomes a popular theme whenever this point is activated by transit, as has been the case for the past two solar eclipses. With each successive hit, speculation is renewed about the Commander in Chief’s mental capacity for the job.

Ophelia also opposes Trump’s natal Mars at 26 Leo, not a comforting thought when one considers Mars’ role as ruler of war and conflict, and also conjoins his 29 Aquarius descendant, adding angular force to its power and impacting every relationship Trump enters into, from the Trump Tower doorman to heads of state. One of its most obvious manifestations in this arena is Trump’s bizarre, aggressive handshake style, the handshake being a very visible sign that two people are interacting. As he jerks and pulls, maintains his grip over-long, and forcefully manipulates his handshake partner, often physically wrenching them out of position, we can see Ophelia’s erratic stance at play.

One possible, if unlikely, outcome of the Trump-Kim summit.

Narcissus is named for the Greek mythic figure, so enamored of his own beauty by his reflection cast in a pool that he cannot bear to tear himself away from it and remains rooted to the spot, eventually wasting away from lack of nourishment. Astrologically it represents obsessive self-focus, a total disregard for the needs, or indeed existence, of others, and a fixation on one’s personal appearance or public perception.

Kim’s natal Narcissus at 25 Taurus is also stationary, like his Ophelia, turning direct just three days before his birth. It is also trine his natal Sun, thus forming a Grand Trine with Ophelia, linking all three points strongly, with each feeding off the others. The virtual deification of North Korea’s “Dear Leader”, who has a padded resume of fake accomplishments and is held up as the immortal ideal of the nation, derives from a cult of personality which has dominated the country through successive generations of the Kim family (Kim Jong Un’s grandfather, Kim Il Sung, established the dynasty-in-all-but-name in 1948). Kim’s boastfulness and self-aggrandizement are legendary, despite his short, portly frame and mediocre facial features.

Kim’s Narcissus opposes natal asteroid Washingtonia at 26 Scorpio, and squares his natal Mars at 23 Aquarius, so contact with the US government reinforces his inner conflict over his public image and the truth underlying it, while simultaneously encouraging bellicosity and aggressive actions. The fact that this Narcissus is closely aligned with Trump’s natal Midheaven at 24 Taurus only makes matters worse: the one point in Trump’s life which most activates Kim’s tendency toward overblown assessments of his own capacities is Trump’s career and place in the world. And right now, that happens to be president of North Korea’s leading global opponent, the major factor impeding the Kim dynasty’s stated mission of reuniting the Korean peninsula under its banner. [It should also be noted that this asteroid Washingtonia has been hit strongly by the past two solar eclipses by square, in August 2017 at 28 Leo (right after Trump’s “fire and fury” threat) and in February 2018 at 27 Aquarius (right before the current bid for summit-level talks); this is another indicator that the 1983 birthdate has validity.]

Another possible outcome of the Trump-Kim summit, perhaps more likely.

Of course, in the matter of self-absorption and self-hyperbole, Donald Trump takes a backseat to no one, not even the outrageously hyped Kim Jong Un. To hear him state it everything The Donald does is the best – he has the best mind, the best ideas, the best memory, even the best words. Since the foundation of the cosmos, there has never been anyone more fit or worthy to occupy the high office he now holds, and he is absolutely the best negotiator and businessman ever. Period.

Trump’s natal Narcissus is also in Taurus; at 15 Taurus, it is very broadly within orb of Kim’s own, making them somewhat two peas in a pod and conjuring amusing images of the two of them attempting to out-hyperbole one another at their meeting. Trump has already averred that his “nuclear button” is “bigger and more powerful” than Kim’s. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if their summit descended into a quite literal pissing contest at some point. With Narcissus conjunct his MC, making it one of the most elevated points in the chart, Trump’s narcissism is a very visible, perhaps the most visible, element of his character, especially in his public pronouncements. He has built a career on self-promotion and branding; it is virtually all he does.

Penile one-upmanship: My missile is bigger than yours! Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah!

Kim Jong Un’s natal TNO Chaos is also at station, making it a vital, embedded element in his psyche, another lodestar, like his Ophelia and Narcissus, which establishes how he appears to others, a still point upon which his character revolves. Although from 4 Taurus Chaos is too wide to be considered in trine to the Sun, it still exerts an inordinate influence on Kim’s destiny. Chaos turned direct on January 17, 1983, nine days after his birth.

Chaos can come in two forms, and our understanding of it has evolved over millennia. Originally conceived by the Greeks as the fertile void from which all existence sprang, a source of endless creative energy, Chaos began to be associated with a state of disorder, confusion, disarray, even anarchy and bedlam: in short, chaos in the form we now most often encounter it.

Americans (and to a lesser extent, the rest of the globe) have had a master course in Chaos from the moment Donald Trump descended that ramp at Trump Tower in June 2016 to announce his presidential candidacy, as the 45th president continues to spew his patented variety of disruption and turmoil. At the time I thought it odd that he should have descended, as it seemed a diminishment and out of character, but I now understand it for the two-sided metaphor that it was.

From his own narcissistic perspective, Trump must have envisioned himself as a deity deigning to emerge from his rarified heaven to us mere mortals, coming down among us to dispense his divinity. From the perspective of the body politic, however, it truly was a diminishment, bringing the political culture down to his vitriolic, debased, bestial level. Let’s be clear – Trump certainly didn’t begin this process, but he’s refined it into an art form. American politics will never be the same; the best we can hope for is that Trump has plumbed the lowest depths, and it will never be any worse. Well, here’s hoping, anyway.

Trump’s own Chaos closely squares his Sun from 24 Pisces, and has been transiting it continually since 2015, will not emerge fully out of orb until well into 2021. The period of closest conjunction, within a degree of the Sun, will terminate by the spring of 2019, but by then most of Trump’s chaos will be sown, and the damage done, or in irreversible process. The seeds planted in the intervening years will bear a bitter fruit indeed.

Like Trump, Kim has a reputation for chaos; he has created it to some extent in his own political hierarchy, with relatives and high officials suddenly subject to the ultimate penalty, at his whim. And he seeks to create it in the world at large, developing intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads capable of striking any point on the planet. Kim’s Chaos is part of a T-Square, exactly conjunct asteroid Pandora at 4 Taurus, squared his Mercury retrograde and Venus conjunction at 2 and 3 Aquarius, and opposed Saturn at 3 Scorpio. This well encapsulates Kim’s strategy – using chaos-evoking rhetoric (Mercury) to enhance his popularity (Venus) at home, in an effort to boost his authoritarian rule (Saturn). The fly in the ointment here is Pandora – the release of unintended, redounding consequences through foolish acts, often warned against in advance. Any sane individual would realize that, whatever horrific slaughter and destruction he might unleash on a portion of the United Sates, its response would inevitably be one of annihilation of himself and his state, and step back well from the brink of such action. With Kim’s psychology, this measured reasoning is not a given.

Trump and Kim mirror one another, as this image depicts; in some respects they are astrologically interchangeable.

These, then, are the main points which encourage me to believe that the 1983 chart is the correct one for Kim Jong Un. There are other factors of interest as well.

Unfortunately, there is no PNA which approximates to any of Kim’s names, nor to Korea itself. There are a number of compound names, run-together combinations of first and last names, which include “Kim” (such as Kimdavis), but nothing to establish which, if any, of these might be a suitable celestial referent for the North Korean dictator. However, we can look at Troemper in Kim’s chart.

This falls at 6 Capricorn, exactly conjunct Icarus, and says a lot about their interactions, especially as this conjoins Trump’s natal Whitehouse at 4 Capricorn, and opposes his Mercury at 8 Cancer. The rash, reckless actions taken heedless of the consequences which Icarus represents perfectly depicts the level of rhetoric (Mercury) between the two up to this point, particularly since Trump’s entry to the Oval Office (Whitehouse). The incendiary comments have come from both sides, and Trump’s very existence, in the form of Troemper, goads Kim into ever-increasing rashness. Calling him “Little Rocket Man” is hardly something to endear Trump to Kim, while the return salvo of Trump as a “dotard” wasn’t pouring oil on troubled waters either. Both have threatened nuclear war against the other, with Trump calling down “fire and fury” on his rival if nuclear tests persist and weaponry is developed capable of striking the US. The interaction works both ways – Kim’s Troemper is primed to bring out the worst of his reckless excesses, and while in the Oval Office, Trump’s mirror of himself, at least in terms of Korean affairs, is this same conjunction – he is also at his rashest when dealing with this issue.

Kim’s Troemper/Icarus is bracketed on one side by his Neptune at 27 Sagittarius, suggesting deception practiced toward Trump, but also Kim’s own self-delusions in the matter; and on the other by his asteroid Sisyphus at 12 Capricorn, suggesting a repetitive, self-defeating element to their relationship, energy expended to no productive purpose (Sisyphus is also exactly sextiled Kim’s natal Whitehouse at 12 Scorpio, reinforcing this theme generally, whoever resides in the Oval Office).

Finally, Kim’ natal asteroid Nemesis at 9 Leo closely conjoins Trump’s natal Pluto at 10 Leo. This is a disturbing combination for two nuclear powers at loggerheads, to say the least. The implication is that Kim has a role to play in Trump’s, and therefore the US’s, undoing or discomfiture (Nemesis), specifically via nuclear weaponry (Pluto). This point is also encompassed with the Chaos-based T-Square discussed above, bringing those energies into the mix as well and creating a rigid Fixed Grand Cross, perhaps the most entrenched pattern known to astrology.

Hail and farewell! Kim and Trump salute their troops, the first group to be impacted by their decisions.

Let’s take a brief look at the transits for the day when the talks were tentatively agreed to; here we are on unimpeachable ground for our bedrock data. Announced on March 8th, a remarkable Grand Cross presented itself in the sky. An exact pairing of asteroids Whitehouse and Nemesis at 24 Pisces is exactly squared by Mars at 24 Sagittarius, combining with Chaos at 21 Gemini, just a degree off Trumps’ natal Sun, and asteroid Troemper at 26 Virgo. Wow! Need we say more? A potential for self-undoing (Nemesis) by the assenting party (reflected in both Troemper and Whitehouse; it was Trump, in the actual Oval Office at the time, who set that date by his acquiescence), regarding issues of conflict and War (Mars) based in a disorderly, confused or un(in)formed decision-making process (Chaos), centered again on the president (Trump’s natal Sun). Could anything be clearer?

The Sun at 18 Pisces is still within orb of Neptune’s judgement-clouding and deception-encouraging energies (at 14 Pisces), while Pandora at 19 Capricorn is one degree shy of Pluto, depicting the opening of the Pandora’s box of nuclear destruction which it represents. A grouping of Venus at 2 Aries with Mercury and Narcissus, both at 4 Aries, suggests a self-centered (Narcissus) decision (Mercury), perhaps based in a bid for popularity (Venus) with the base, perhaps as a distraction from a romantic liaison (also Venus; the Stormy Daniels controversy, once again in Press focus at that time). This Mercury/Narcissus, amazingly, exactly matches Trump’s natal Kassandra, a point concerned with establishing credibility and trust, and this exactly squares his natal Whitehouse at 4 Capricorn, with his natal Neptune forming a T-Square from 5 Libra and natal Mercury filling out the Grand Cross more broadly from 8 Cancer. Asteroid America at 23 Taurus exactly opposed Jupiter at 23 Scorpio draws the diplomatic and political energies (Jupiter) of the nation inexorably into Kim Jong Un’s natal Narcissus/Washingtonia/Mars T-Square profiled earlier, with the focus on the exact square of the transit opposition to that Mars, source of conflict and war.

All in all, a fine day for it.