Alex's Asteroid Astrology

Well, it finally happened. After years of coy tweeting and playing hard to get, those two crazy kids have finally hooked up! One of the greatest flirtations of our time has become a reality.

 

Bogart and Bergman may always have Paris, but Trump and Putin will always have Hamburg. The German town once famous for its charcuterie, which gave us the name of the quintessential American fast food staple, the hamburger, played host to the G20 economic summit in July 2017, and there the long-awaited meeting of minds occurred between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Not just a meeting of minds, but a meeting of hands, with Trump, noted for his bizarrely aggressive handshaking style, taking a clear back seat to the Russian President by extending his hand palm up, allowing Putin the dominant, upper hand position, not once, but twice in the first two minutes of their meeting.

After this brief “grip and grin” for the press pool, Trump and Putin retreated behind closed doors, accompanied only by the US Secretary of State, the Russian Foreign Minister, and two interpreters. The meeting, which was slated to last 30 to 40 minutes, extended over two hours. Oh, to be a fly on that wall! To witness this auspicious occasion, as the would-be autocrat finally got a chance to bask in his mentor’s presence – did they slap hands in a victorious high-five, Trump gleefully exclaiming, “Thanks for the assist!” in the 2016 election?

 

Apparently not, as the official Russian account of the meeting, not disputed by US Secretary of State Tillerson, is that Trump immediately raised the issue of Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, but quickly accepted Putin’s bland denial of involvement. You can’t thank someone for something they never did, right?

 

One can only speculate on Trump’s eager anticipation on meeting his idol (although in 2013, the Reality TV star stated he and Putin had met, during the Miss Universe pageant held in Moscow that year, so perhaps this Hamburg tete-a-tete was anticlimactic). For literally a decade, Trump has been expressing admiration for the Russian kleptocrat, tweeting and stating in interviews how clever he is, how smart, how cunning, how great a leader. He’s enthused about the “nice things” Putin’s had to say about him, calling him a “genius” (does that mean the same in Russian as it does in English?). He’s compared him favorably to the leadership style of two American presidents, touting his “toughness” and “strength”, and opined in advance of the Miss Universe pageant that, if they did meet, Putin might become his “new best friend.”

 

WTF? Cordial is one thing, cozy another. Why this bizarre obsession, fascination and affection for a man who loots his country, destroys his political opposition and kills journalists? Oh, wait…

 

Freud and Jung aside, let’s take a look at the astrologic structure between the two men, and the timing of their ostensible first meeting.

 

First off, we note that Vladimir Putin’s (born 7 October 1952) Sun at 13 Libra and Saturn at 17 Libra are conjoined Trump’s (born 14 June 1946) natal Chiron and Jupiter at 14 and 17 Libra. This shows Putin as a strong influence on Trump’s political philosophy, and his political path in general. Putin is the “adult” in the relationship; with his Saturn exact on Trump’s Jupiter, his is a formative, controlling role, the Master (one might say, “puppet-master”) of the situation. Trump looks to Putin as a guide, mentor and teacher in the political arena, and Putin looks on him as a student or underling. Although it is his Saturn making the most exact contact, it is the force of Putin’s Sun that pulls this dynamic into the realm of the ultra-personal. This Sun also highlights Chiron, indicating a potential for wounding in the political sphere, emanating from their connection, based in Trump’s reputation as a political (Jupiter) maverick (Chiron).

 

Also here are Putin’s Neptune and Mercury, at 21 and 23 Libra. Mercury/Neptune, especially in concert with the Sun and Saturn, makes Putin a past master at deception; it is a part of his core being, an ineluctable force – it’s like he can’t NOT lie! This is perfect for a former KGB colonel, but for our purposes the key element to consider is how this affects Trump’s Jupiter. Neptune there focuses on the deceptive, the hidden, the mysterious and the illusory. Flattery is a hallmark of Mercury/Neptune individuals, when it suits them, and with Donald Trump, flattery will get you anywhere!

 

Neptune draws in the unsuspecting victim with praise, blandishments, and good old-fashioned ego stroking. Only when it’s too late does the victim realize how enmeshed they are in the honey trap. The lies and deceptions, the flattery and cajolery, have done their work, and when fortunate enough to be working on an ego-driven narcissist, can yield a circumstance whereby the ideas and actions insinuated by the puppet-master can come to be seen as self-generating by the dupe. As if they are the product of his own great genius, and not the foreign implants they truly are.

 

For Mercury/Neptune acts not just on the victim, but through him. It will erode Trump’s Jupiter output and make him, in turn, more deceptive in politics, as a byproduct of the contact (not that Trump needs any help in this regard). And to take Mercury separately, its contact to Jupiter makes Trump a potential mouthpiece for Putin; it is his ideas Trump is expressing, his thoughts color Trump’s political outlook. In that light, a two hour meeting seems barely time enough for a refresher course on what the Master requires.

 

Let’s pause to look at other factors impinging Putin’s Sun, to get a clearer picture of what motivates him. There are two asteroids which conjoin the Sun – Eurydike and Pandora, both at 12 Libra. Eurydike represents nostalgia, though not necessarily in a “romantic” sense. It is a harking back to the past, to a golden era of how things used to be, and a desire to recapture or reclaim those lost circumstances. Putin has opined on the death of the Soviet Union, characterizing it as one of the greatest tragedies of the Twentieth Century. Given his way, he would reconstruct the old Russian Empire, and he’s having a good whack at it with the bits of Ukraine and the Crimea he has gobbled up. Pandora indicates the unleashing of a host of ills, based in ill-considered actions, similar to the sanctions imposed upon Putin and his country as a response to Russian aggression.

 

Also affecting the Sun is a square to Uranus at 18 Cancer; Trump sports a Sun/Uranus conjunction, so this aspect gives the two more common ground, a basis of understanding. Both are at heart disrupters, agents of turmoil and revolution. But for Putin, with the square aspect, disruption is a tool, something he can access at will for his own ends. For Trump, with his Sun in conjunction, disruption is an integral part of who he is, not a tool to be picked up or cast aside at whim.

 

There is no “Putin” asteroid, but there is a “Putilin”, and this point seems to operate well as a celestial marker for the Russian president (although in an admittedly extremely small sampling). In Putin’s birth chart, two points are at station, and thus firmly embedded in his psyche, loci of energy. These are asteroid Moskva (Russian for “Moscow”), stationary retrograde at 25 Gemini, and asteroid Putilin, stationary direct at 15 Aquarius (Putilin is also trine the Sun, considerably increasing the likelihood that it is indeed a suitable stand-in for “Putin”). The principles represented by these points are the lodestars and guiding psychic elements of Putin’s life – his country, and specifically the governance or rule thereof (Moskva, the capital), and himself (Putilin, his PNA). These are what drives and motivates Putin most. It should be noted that Moskva also conjoins Trump’s Sun, adding further Russian influence when these two individuals interact.

 

Trump’s PNA is Troemper, and this asteroid appears in Putin’s chart at 22 Virgo, in square to his natal Moskva, but more incredibly, exactly conjoined Trump’s natal asteroid Moskva, and the USA Neptune! Once again we are seeing links between Trump personally (Putin’s Troemper), the Russians (Trump’s Moskva), and some form of deception (USA Neptune), this time directed at the entire country!

 

And where does Trump’s natal Putilin fall? Why, just where you’d expect – at 18 Taurus, Putilin is one degree shy of Trump’s natal asteroid Lie! Further, Putin’s natal Jupiter at 19 Taurus also conjoins Trump’s Lie, egging him on to ever bigger, more extravagant, over-the-top falsehoods, especially of a political nature. This brings the wheel full circle on the deception spectrum.

So now let’s take a look at the chart for their Hamburg meeting. Slated to begin at 3:45 PM, the meeting was delayed until 4:10, which gives a 9 Scorpio Ascendant, and a 25 Leo Midheaven. This is a structure which resonates for both participants. Putin himself sports a Scorpio rising, Leo MC combination (broadly conjunct these degrees), while this Ascendant exactly matches the Moon placement of the Trump administration. Both men feel “at home”, comfortable in their own skins.

 

Also connected to the angles is Eurydike on the MC from 24 Leo, that point which so powerfully impacts Putin’s sense of loss and grievance for the former Soviet Union. Asteroid Lie at 15 Leo has recently culminated, making it a focus of all eyes and a powerful indicator of the meeting’s substance. Exact on the IC, the foundation of the chart, is Damocles, which represents the doom hanging unseen overhead. Asteroid Whitehouse’s placement at 29 Aquarius, near Damocles, shows “for whom the bell tolls”, in that hidden doom context. As if to punctuate the point of American peril in the offing, Damocles also opposes Putin’s natal asteroid Washingtonia (for the US capital) at 27 Leo (on Trump’s natal Mars/Ascendant) and squares transit Washingtonia at 23 Scorpio.

 

On the Descendant is asteroid Isis at 10 Taurus, named for the ancient Egyptian goddess but more recently pressed into service as the eponym of the terrorist organization ISIS. An agreement for a temporary Syrian ceasefire, as all parties pause to focus on their mutual opposition to ISIS, seems to be the only substantive development from the meeting which could result in a positive outcome.

 

Asteroid Putilin at 16 Taurus is also within orb of the Descendant (and about to return to its natal degree in Trump’s chart), while asteroid Troemper at 5 Cancer is just moving out of its weeks-long conjunction with the transit Sun, now at 15 Cancer. This establishes both leaders as important to the day and time. Transit asteroid Vladimir at 13 Libra is an exact match for Putin’s natal Sun and closely conjunct transit Jupiter, which at 14 Libra is highlighting both his Sun and Trump’s natal Chiron, emphasizing that “political wound” potential, stemming from their contact.

 

Transit asteroid Russia at 26 Cancer is combined with transit Mars at 21 Cancer, indicating an aggressive, combative stance (Mars) for the Bear (Russia). These degrees set off Putin’s natal pairing of asteroids Achilles and America at 22 and 23 Cancer, with its potential for exploiting a weakness or vulnerability (Achilles) in the USA (America), and also Trump’s natal Saturn at 23 Cancer, ruling his career and, in its capacity as representative of the presidency generally, also identifying Trump as the specific “weakness” to be exploited by Putin. (That Trump is in a weakened state is also shown by the transit opposition of Troemper at 5 Cancer with Achilles at 1 Capricorn.)

There is also a remarkable triple conjunction of asteroids Moskva, Toro and Asbolus, all at 16 Gemini. Moskva of course represents Russian interests, Toro is bullying behaviors, and Asbolus has the gift of aligning itself with the spirit of the times, sniffing the wind and determining the prevailing trends. So the advantage of prescience and foresight (Asbolus) sits entirely with the Russian President (Moskva), who can arm-twist and intimidate (Toro) as much as he wants. Please note that these sextile transit Lie for the day, and are squared transit asteroid Karma at 17 Virgo, suggesting some “fated” outcome to the discussion. These cluster about Trump’s natal Uranus/Sun pairing at 17 and 22 Gemini, pushing his native unpredictability and volatility to the extreme. Trump and Putin both have Toro prominent natally; Trump’s is at 21 Libra, with his natal Jupiter and trine his Sun, while Putin’s is at 2 Scorpio, closely conjoined his 3 Scorpio Ascendant. In that “battle of the bullies”, Putin’s Toro/Ascendant conjunction clearly wins.

 

We’ll likely never know exactly what was said in that Hamburg room, unless the US translator divulges or Rex Tillerson is water boarded by The New York Times. But one thing we can be sure of: in the Trump-Putin bromance, there will be winners and losers, and among the losers can be counted the American people.