Alex's Asteroid Astrology

April 25, 2023 witnesses the opening of the first salvo of courtroom dramas involving former US president Donald J. Trump, although as a civil case, he’s not required to attend in person, and likely won’t do so.  The case is brought by journalist and author E. Jean Carroll, who alleges Trump sexually assaulted her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan in the mid-1990s.  No, the charge isn’t rape – it’s defamation of character, following statements Trump made after Carroll publicly accused him in 2019, when he denied ever meeting her, much less assaulting her, in terms peppered with his patented brand of denigration and misogynistic dismissal. 

As Carroll’s original lawsuit expressed it, “Decades ago, the now President of the United States raped me.  When I had the courage to speak out about the attack, he defamed my character, accused me of lying for personal gain, even insulted my appearance.”  The fact that Trump occupied the Oval Office at the time allowed his legal team to portray his utterances as actions taken in his official capacity, which precluded a defamation charge.

Of course that wasn’t the end of the matter, with continued legal wrangling on both sides, but it might have been had Trump kept his mouth shut after leaving office.  Needless to say, he didn’t, and when irked by a requirement to appear for a deposition in the all-but-defunct case in October 2022, Trump upped the ante, posting on his social media platform Truth Social:  “I don’t know this woman, have no idea who she is, other than it seems she got a picture of me many years ago, with her husband, shaking my hand on a reception line at a celebrity charity event.  She completely made up a story that I met her at the doors of this crowded New York City Department Store and, within minutes, ‘swooned’ her.  It is a Hoax and a lie, just like all the other Hoaxes that have been played on me for the past seven years.  And, while I am not supposed to say it, I will.  This woman is not my type!”

No longer President, Trump no longer enjoys the legal protections of that office, and Carroll promptly filed a fresh defamation suit to supersede the contested one, incorporating his latest slurs into those prior.  It is that case which goes to trial now, and the skies reveal that all the underlying causes of the suit are as vividly revived celestially as the case has been terrestrially.

The Sun at 5 Taurus conjoins asteroid Carol (for Carroll) at 10 Taurus, spotlighting E. Jean Carroll for the period.  Just down the celestial pike is a pairing of asteroid Lie at 12 Taurus with Mercury at 14 Taurus, underscoring the basic charge:  false (Lie) statements (Mercury) which defamed Carroll.  Squared by Pluto at 0 Aquarius, there could be serious, even devastating, consequences for Trump.  Pluto’s involvement is more than apt in this case, with this planet ruling criminal actions (as the alleged rape would be) being the Roman counterpart of the Greek god Hades, who famously abducted and raped his niece, Persephone. Asteroid Persephone was energized also, embedded at its 0 Virgo station degree, trine the Sun (turning retrograde April 16th).

As well, the Sun conjoins Trump’s natal centaur Nessus and asteroid Aristaeus, at 0 and 9 Taurus respectively, both indicators of sexual assault, as well as asteroid Persephone at 3 Taurus, its victim.  Nessus offered Heracles’ wife Deianira a piggyback ride across a swollen river, only to attempt to rape her on the farther shore.  Deianira has an asteroid referent, Dejanira (an alternate spelling), which at 5 Aquarius in the transit sky for the start of the trial conjoins Pluto and exactly squares the Sun.

Aristaeus came upon Orpheus’ wife Eurydice dancing in a meadow; overcome with passion, he attempted to ravage her, and while fleeing his embrace, the hapless Eurydice trod upon a poisonous serpent which bit her, and she expired. Transit asteroid Eurydike (also an alternate spelling) at 5 Sagittarius conjoins transit asteroid Truth, perhaps a nod to the essential honesty of Carroll’s testimony, and squares transit Damocles with Saturn at 2 and 5 Pisces, indicating the legal penalties (Saturn) that threaten (Damocles) Trump.

Echoes of these mythic antecedents appear in E. Jean Carroll’s chart as well (born 12 December 1943, no time available).  The Sun also conjoins her Nessus, at 3 Taurus, in a Grand Cross with natal Venus at 4 Scorpio, Pluto at 8 Leo, and asteroid Toro at 9 Aquarius, noted for aggressive, brutish behaviors.

That general atmosphere is further portrayed in the transit sky for the start of the trial by a conjunction of TNO Salacia (scandal, especially of a sexual nature) at 8 Aries with an exact pairing of asteroids Elisabetha (Carroll’s first name is Elizabeth) and Aristaeus (rape) at 15 Aries, with asteroid Justitia (Roman goddess of justice) at 19 Aries as the bridge to a second conjunction of Jupiter (ruling the courts) at 25 Aries and asteroid Themis (Greek goddess of justice) at 26 Aries.  The essential veracity of Carroll’s account of sexual attack is suggested by a tight square from Elisabetha/Aristaeus to Mars with asteroid Veritas (Latin for “truth”) at 16 and 15 Cancer.

Refining the picture still further, and supplying some of the pertinent details, is centaur Nessus at 17 Pisces (signature of “men behaving badly,” especially in a sexual context), accompanied by asteroid Proserpin at 4 Pisces (named for a Swedish astronomy professor, but here doing double duty as stand-in for Proserpina, the Roman version of Persephone). This pair is squared to Venus at 16 Gemini, accompanied by asteroids Goodman (for the Bergdorf Goodman department store where the assault allegedly took place) at 18 Gemini and Kaplan, a nod to trial judge Lewis Kaplan, at 15 Gemini.

Plaintiff and defendant are inextricably bound in a conglomeration of asteroid Troemper at 23 Aquarius (our celestial referent for The Donald) with asteroids Elisabetta and Jeanne (for Jean) at 25 and 29 Aquarius.  Asteroid Karma is here too, at 27 Aquarius, and has been traveling with Troemper for months, evoking a series of opportunities for Trump to receive his comeuppance and pay for his prior bad acts.

Their enmeshment is also portrayed in each of their natal charts.  Trump sports a wide conjunction of Nessus at 9 Taurus with asteroid Jeanne at 18 Taurus, which together square a pairing of Pluto at 10 Leo with asteroid Carol at 15 Leo, binding two mythic characters noted for rape with two PNAs (Personal-Named Asteroids) directly related to his accuser.  Admittedly, asteroid Lie in this mix from 17 Taurus could be read as deception from either party, but with Trump’s track record on uttering falsehoods (with some 30,000+ false or misleading claims chronicled by the Washington Post during his presidency), I think we know which way the cosmic cat is likely to jump on that one. 

As well, asteroid Elisabetta at 28 Pisces finds itself at the fulcrum of a tense T-square with Trump’s 22 Gemini Sun, 21 Sagittarius Moon and Salacia at 24 Sagittarius, which also represents lewd and lascivious behaviors (the Moon also rules habiliments, with Trump allegedly asking Carroll to help him pick out lingerie for another woman as his ruse to get her alone in the dressing room).  Carroll’s Sun, asteroid Truth, and Elisabetha at 19, 23 and 27 Sagittarius walks right into that Salacia, giving the lie to Trump’s assertion that Carroll “isn’t his type”:  when activated, Salacia isn’t at all picky about partners.  The trial’s asteroid Toro at 26 Sagittarius highlights this synastry, with emphasis on Trump’s alleged brutal assault, while Carroll’s natal Justitia at 22 Gemini, exactly conjunct Trump’s Sun, represents her quest to bring him to justice. In addition, Trump’s natal Sun is beset by asteroids Dejanira at 19 Gemini and Eurydike at 28 Gemini, named for two rape victims, which may have much to say about Trump’s “grab ’em by the pussy” mentality toward women.

Carroll’s nativity shows a link between them as well, with natal Elisabetta at 20 Aquarius closely conjoined Troemper at 19 Aquarius and squared by asteroid Donn at 19 Scorpio, with asteroid Persephone at 20 Scorpio, suggesting that the quality of their interaction may involve forced sexual contact.  And again we see a restatement of Carroll’s reliable testimony in such matters, with Veritas (truth) at 26 Cancer opposed Aristaeus (rape) at 29 Capricorn, a zodiacal region that has been thoroughly scoured by Pluto over the past few years, dredging up the muck and exposing criminality.

A thumbnail sketch of the alleged incident is provided in a T-Square of the Sun 19 Sagittarius with Elisabetha at 27 Sag on the fulcrum, squared a pairing of Proserpin and Goodman at 20 and 29 Virgo, and Carroll with Manhattan at 19 and 23 Pisces.  This depicts Carroll personally (Sun, Elisabetha, Carol) as potentially involved with a rape attempt (Proserpin) at a New York City (Manhattan) department store (Goodman).  A Grand Cross is completed with natal Justitia, Saturn and asteroid Lewis at 22, 23 and 27 Gemini, indicating Carroll’s struggle for justice (Justitia) and punishment (Saturn), as meted out by the trial judge, Lewis Kaplan (Lewis).

As a civil suit, should Carroll prevail, it’s only Trump’s pocketbook that will be affected.  We’ll have to wait for the results of several other pending criminal indictments for that orange jumpsuit to match his skin complexion.  But as a signpost toward accountability, it’s not a bad start.