Alex's Asteroid Astrology

After a grueling nine months as Speaker of the US House of Representatives, attempting to herd the mangy strays of the GOP caucus, on September 3, 2023, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) lost the job he had coveted all his adult life, as a motion to vacate passed by 216-210, booting him from the Speakership.  Eight MAGA Republican radicals joined Democrats to remove McCarthy from his lofty perch, the first time ever that a sitting Speaker has been fired.

The roots of McCarthy’s downfall lay in the terms of his elevation; in order to acquire the majority needed, the California congressman had to agree to a stipulation that a single member could call for his ouster at any time.  Even so, it required 15 ballots for McCarthy to attain the gavel, another record that is unlikely to fall anytime soon.  Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) led the resistance to his election in January, and was the author of his demotion now, incensed when McCarthy cut a deal with Democrats a few days prior, allowing the government to remain open an additional 45 days at current funding levels, while fractious budget negotiations continued, to prevent a shutdown.  McCarthy had also promised not to bring any legislation to the floor that couldn’t pass solely with Republican votes, and in crafting the extension deal he had violated this proviso.  Gaetz filed his motion to vacate two days later.

When the vote was tallied at 4:46 PM EDT in Washington DC on 3 October 2023, Kevin McCarthy found himself an ordinary congressman again, no longer primus inter pares.  A cluster of Damocles 5335 at 27 Aquarius with asteroid Karma 3811 and Saturn, both at 1 Pisces, cojoining the 22 Aquarius Ascendant and opposing asteroids Kevin 23739 and NOT 2857 at 20 Leo on the 22 Leo Descendant, tells the tale.  That looming threat (Damocles) to McCarthy’s (Kevin) career (Saturn) had finally descended, negating (NOT) his office in a coup based on payback for his prior acts (Karma). 

A forming square between the Sun at 10 Libra and asteroid House 4950 at 13 Capricorn places a bright spotlight on affairs in the US House of Representatives.  The Moon exactly on the 8 Gemini IC depicts McCarthy’s emotions (Moon) at their lowest ebb (IC).  This rests at the apex of a Thor’s Hammer, a fated pattern similar to a Yod, with sesquiquadrate aspects to a pairing of Mars with asteroid McCarthy at 24 and 25 Libra, showing the demoted Speaker’s (McCarthy) embattled (Mars) stance; and Pluto at 27 Capricorn, indicating the devastating transformation of circumstances (Pluto) for McCarthy.  The Moon is also flanked by a pair of descriptive asteroids in semisquare, with asteroid Lachesis 120 at 25 Aries, named for the mythic Greek Fate who determines the span of life, whether of an organism or tenancy of an office; and asteroid Nemesis 128 at 27 Cancer, indicating an enemy or opponent who brings destruction, ruin or downfall.

In this case, that would be Matt Gaetz, ably represented by a host of PNAs (Personal-Named Asteroids), including asteroid Matti 2714 (for Matthew “Matt” Gaetz) at 23 Taurus, conjoined Uranus (ruling revolt and rebellion) at 22 Taurus and squared Damocles, the impending doom, at 27 Aquarius.  A T-Square is formed with asteroid Mateo (Spanish for Matthew) at 25 Scorpio, which is also the highest-elevated point in the chart, about to crest the 8 Sagittarius MC, the focus of all eyes.  Asteroid Matthias 7687 at 23 Virgo opposes Neptune at 25 Pisces, suggesting acute disappointment issuing from that quarter, while asteroid Matthieu 1592 (a French variant) at 0 Virgo opposes the Damocles/Saturn/Karma conjunction, giving form to the fated (Karma) loss (Saturn) for McCarthy, who was doomed (Damocles) from the start.  Transit Matthieu closely conjoins McCarthy’s natal asteroid Nemesis at 1 Virgo, identifying the source of his discomfiture, and activating a natal square from Nemesis to a Kevin/Mattei pairing at 3 and 4 Sagittarius, doubly signifying Matt Gaetz as the former Speaker’s chief opponent (Nemesis).

Kevin McCarthy is currently enduring his second Saturn Return (natal Saturn at 3 Pisces), a period of trial and testing which often signals a major career event, for good or ill.  You’d have to go back more than 150 years to find a tenure of office as Speaker that was shorter than McCarthy’s, whose brief stint ranks as third-shortest in US history (a figure that includes a pro forma Speakership of a single day at the close of the 40^th Congress in 1869).

McCarthy’s political eclipse is confirmed by a Solar Eclipse at 21 Libra on October 14^th, which reignites the Mars/McCarthy duo of his ouster.  McCarthy lost that battle, and has indicated he will not run for the position of Speaker again, effectively removing him from the war.   But that war, for the soul of the MAGA-torn GOP, continues.