Alex's Asteroid Astrology

On Sunday, 27 January 2019, Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) officially kicked off her 2020 presidential campaign in her home town of Oakland, California, before a crowd estimated at some 20,000. Harris is the former Attorney General of California, elected to the US Senate in 2016. As a mixed race child of a Jamaican father and a Tamil Indian mother, Harris is the first potentially viable candidate who is a woman of color to run for president. Her candidacy will electrify liberals and promote progressive goals, such as universal pre-K, debt-free college, and Medicare for all, and a long career in law enforcement may help to remove the “soft on crime” sting that many conservatives will attempt to apply.

Born 20 October 1964 at 9:28 PM PDT in Oakland, California (Rodden Rating AA), like Donald Trump, Kamala Harris has the Sun and Moon in a Full Phase opposition, from 27 Libra to 27 Aries. And her natal Ascendant/Descendant axis, at 24 Gemini and Sagittarius, mimics his Sun/Moon polarity at 22 Gemini and 21 Sagittarius, creating a further tie between them. Trump has the advantage of being born mere hours before a Lunar Eclipse, but Harris has a strong real-world celestial referent tapping into her Full Moon, in the form of asteroid Harris at 27 Cancer, exactly T-Squared this opposition and enabling her to focus and direct its energies into the public sphere.

With her background in law enforcement, Harris may be able to shed the tired conservative slur of “soft on crime”, but does she have enough experience to govern the country?

With Saturn at station from 28 Aquarius, in trine to the Sun and conjoined the 2 Pisces MC, Harris is very career-driven, delaying marriage until 2014, at age 50. With asteroid Victoria, named for the Roman goddess of victory, conjoined Saturn from 25 Aquarius, Harris has always been successful in career. And with asteroid Justitia, named for the Roman goddess of justice, conjoined the Ascendant from 18 Gemini, with Themis, her Greek counterpart, conjunct the Sun from 26 Libra, criminal justice was a logical choice as a career path. Harris began her law enforcement career as a deputy DA in Alameda County, then defeated a two-term incumbent in 2003 to become District Attorney for the County and City of San Francisco, which brought her into Nancy Pelosi’s orbit, the current House Speaker, US Representative for that district.

Statewide office beckoned, with Harris elected as California Attorney General in 2010, then replacing retiring Senator Barbara Boxer in 2016 as US Senator. The Senate was also a logical progression for Harris, with asteroid Senator at 13 Capricorn in exact semisquare to Saturn and sesquiquadrate to asteroid California at 1 Gemini, the state she represents. Senator is also sesquiquadrate to Jupiter at 24 Taurus, ruling the Senate generally, as well as asteroid Kamel at 27 Taurus, and semisquare asteroid Camelia at 28 Scorpio, both among multiple celestial referents for “Kamala”. Interestingly, Jupiter, which can bring benefit and positive outcomes, exactly opposes asteroid Whitehouse at 24 Scorpio, which is sandwiched between Camelia and another Kamala variant, asteroid Camillo, at 17 Scorpio, perhaps indicating a place for Kamala Harris at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Kamala Harris with two Democratic colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and two probable nomination contenders, Amy Klobuchar (MN) and Corey Booker (NJ).

Asteroid Camilla is probably the closest match to Kamala; at 22 Capricorn, it broadly conjoins Senator and squares the Sun/Moon polarity, opposing Harris to create a Grand Cross. Camilla has been transited by Pluto since the spring of 2018, when it made its retrograde station just a degree shy. Its first exact conjunction will occur in February 2019, and Pluto will play tag with this point right through the fall of 2020, when it stations direct exactly atop it. Pluto will still be at that degree for the General Election in November, a strong symbol of a complete transformation for Harris, and an increase in personal power throughout the period. A fifth Kamala stand-in, asteroid Kama, falls at 5 Libra exactly conjoined asteroid America, and broadly with Washingtonia at 27 Virgo, giving Harris two more potential sources of cosmic connection to the nation.

The Sun is conjoined by Mercury at 1 Scorpio, making her an effective, but possibly sharp-edged, speaker. It’s a good combination, with Libra providing a gloss of charm, civility and politesse, while Scorpio goes right for the rhetorical jugular. This latter quality was on full public display during the confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh as Supreme Court Justice. Her ability to connect with a crowd was well evidenced at her official announcement of her candidacy, when she also exhibited that Scorpionic Mercury with a jab about “foreign powers infecting the [current] White House like malware.”

Harris’ grilling of SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh was wonderful to behold, but couldn’t prevent his nomination

If there is a weak spot in Harris’ cosmic profile, and there is, it involves potential problems stemming from intimate relationships. Harris’ Venus at 17 Virgo is caught up in the generational aspect of the Uranus/Pluto conjunction of the ‘60s, with Uranus at 13 Virgo and Pluto at 15 Virgo tag-teaming the goddess of love. This helps to explain the delay of her commitment to marriage, with relationships tending more toward instability, volatility, separation or inconstancy (Uranus), and provoking power disputes, issues with manipulation or coercion, and possible scandal (Pluto).

Unfortunately, her Mars placement more than backs this up. At 21 Leo, Mars is clustered about by asteroids Arachne, Askalaphus and Nemesis, at 17, 18 and 22 Leo respectively. Arachne suggests an intricate, complicated sexual history, one which can potentially trap or enmesh the native, while Nemesis promotes ruin and self-undoing, and Askalaphus the tale-bearer virtually ensures that whatever dirty laundry may be in Harris’ romantic past, we’ll hear of it.

We may already have had an early taste of this, a sort of political amuse bouche, in the recent spate of stories confirming her affair with former San Francisco Mayor and California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, who was still married but separated when they dated in the ‘90s. In a recent newspaper column, Brown came clean about the situation, and is now taking credit for beginning her political career: “Yes, we dated. It was more than 20 years ago. Yes, I may have influenced her career by appointing her to two state commissions when I was Assembly Speaker. And I certainly helped with her first race for district attorney in San Francisco.” (Incidentally, asteroid Brown at 6 Virgo conjoins her 2 Virgo IC, making perfect sense for one who was a foundational figure in her biography; Brown is also semisquare asteroid Aphrodite at 18 Libra, which rules extramarital affairs.)

In the 1990s, Harris dated former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, a connection which already gave her trouble in her 2003 bid for District Attorney. Is Brown just the tip of the romantic history iceberg?

While it may be shocking to those with more delicate sensibilities to accept that a woman who remained unmarried into her fifth decade had prior sexual experience, this is the sort of revelation which, if it becomes part of a pattern, can easily sink a female’s candidacy in our gender-discriminatory society. Exposure of sexual peccadilloes didn’t destroy Bill Clinton or Donald Trump, but, whether we like it or not, America has a double standard about such issues when it comes to women.

When Kamala Harris spoke the fateful words announcing her candidacy at 2:07 PM PST on January 27^th in Oakland, she looked comfortable in her skin, the home town girl making good. This isn’t surprising, since the Angles of that chart closely mirror her natal degrees, with 26 Gemini Rising and 4 Pisces culminating. Asteroid America at 25 Virgo is T-Squaring the Horizontal Axis, a tailor-made aspect for connecting to the country at large in that moment.

A crowd of more than 20,000 greeted Harris’ official entry into the 2020 presidential race; will this enthusiasm be enough to gain her the nomination?

The Sun at 7 Aquarius is conjoined by Mercury at 6 Aquarius, repeating their relationship in her birth chart, another indicator of Harris feeling at ease, especially in a public speech. Also with the Sun is one of her coterie of celestial referents, asteroid Camillo at 12 Aquarius, which is exactly conjunct asteroid Damocles in her natal chart. Damocles represents the doom hanging unseen overhead, and its energies are reiterated in an exact transit conjunction of Damocles at 24 Aquarius with another Kamala variation, asteroid Kamel. This could play out in two ways, as an implicit warning of a doomed candidacy, or earmarking her as the doom of another, perhaps Donald Trump, with asteroid Troemper at 28 Sagittarius just setting on the 26 Sagittarius Descendant, sextile transit Damocles/Kamel. Transit Chiron at 28 Pisces exactly squares Troemper, suggesting a deep, incurable wound.

The Moon at 8 Scorpio is just past its closing square to the Sun, moving on to square Camillo at 12 Aquarius, then conjoin Camelia at 18 Scorpio and square Camilla at 19 Taurus, suggesting continued public interaction for Harris, and possibly growing support, as these aspects become exact via progression in the ensuing months. Camilla itself is conjoined by transit Victoria at 23 Taurus, perhaps auguring a successful candidacy.

The 2020 Democratic Mod Squad: one black, one white, one blonde. Harris already shares the field with two other female Senators, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York; more will be coming out of the Senate Cloakroom woodwork soon

The Moon also opposes an exact pairing of asteroids Senator and Whitehouse at 9 Taurus, which is further squared by the transit Sun, perhaps suggesting a future where a Senator sits in the Oval Office (and highlighting a female Senator, too, with the Moon in play). This combination is hardly unique to Harris, however. It began in early December 2018 and will continue with these points within five degrees of each other through mid-November 2019, during which time there will be more presidential candidates coming out of the Senate woodwork than you can count. Harris may be the only one whose candidacy shows this pair activated by the Sun and Moon, however.

Transit asteroid Harris at 20 Aries conjoins Mars at 18 Aries, symbol of campaigns of all types, from military to political. Harris so closely involved with Mars could indicate phenomenal energy for her cause, but also raises the issues of sexism. A certain pitfall stemming from this contact would be Harris appearing “angry” to voters. With this pair in square to Saturn and Pluto at 14 and 21 Capricorn, Harris could find herself the establishment choice (Saturn), and is in a potentially powerful position (Pluto), but Saturn can bring a time of testing or hardship, and Pluto also encourages scandal and devastating outcomes. Just ask Hilary Clinton, whose eponymous asteroid Hillary opposed Pluto at the 2016 election.

Harris addresses the crowd at her presidential coming out party in Oakland; is she best at the top of the ticket, or as running mate?

Personally, I like Kamala Harris, and wish her well. I don’t yet have a dog in this fight; anyone who can send Trump (or Pence) packing, is just fine with me. I am concerned, however, that she doesn’t have the experience necessary to lead the country. After the disastrously inept Donald Trump, and the ill-prepared Barack Obama (whose federal government experience pre-election was only marginally better than Harris’), America’s ship of state really doesn’t need a third consecutive administration without a practiced hand at the tiller.

As compelling as she is, maybe Kamala Harris isn’t the best choice for the top of the ticket in 2020. But as Number Two, perhaps with an elder statesman who is willing to turn over the reins after one term? Biden/Harris, anyone? I’m definitely in!