Alex's Asteroid Astrology

Asteroid Sisyphus is named for that worthy denizen of Hades, doomed to forever roll a rock uphill, only to have it roll down again, thus necessitating endless repetition of the action.  As such, astrologically, Sisyphus represents futile action without purpose or accomplishment – repetitive, pointless effort which achieves nothing lasting. 

In light of President Trump’s repeated, one might say endless, refusal to accept the clear results of the 2020 election, where Americans handed him his hat and showed him the Oval Office door, it occurred to me to take a closer look at asteroid Sisyphus, to see what role it might be playing in the election and its aftermath.  It’s not just Trump who’s beating this dead horse:  90% of elected Republicans in Washington refuse to publicly acknowledge his loss, and his “legal team” has been rejected in all but one of the nearly 50 court cases filed to overturn the results in key battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin.   

For a man who promised Americans that if he took office, they’d become tired of winning, that’s a lot of losing!  To date, Trump has lost Georgia not once, not twice, but three times, as recount after recount confirms Joe Biden’s victory there, a continual pinprick to The Donald’s fragile ego.  Neither have his diehard supporters given up this lost fight – in the weeks since his defeat, Trump has raised nearly a quarter million dollars in small donations for his “election defense fund” (but watch that fine print, guys!  Unless you’re contributing more than $8000, it all goes to Trump’s political PAC, to spend as he likes).

And Trump hasn’t stopped at loudly proclaiming his victory, in the teeth of all evidence, or endorsing legal challenges so weak they can’t pass the first round of judicial rulings.  He has reportedly been strong-arming Republican election officials, governors and state legislatures, trying to persuade them to set aside the legitimate results of the vote and substitute his interests for the will of the people.  His latest gambit is having Red State Attorneys General suing battleground states to have their election results thrown out, a case which, since it involves disputes among states, would bypass the normal channels and go directly to the Supreme Court (unfortunately for Trump, since it concerns election laws, over which states are sovereign, the SCOTUS is unlikely to hear the case, finding the plaintiffs have no standing).

So much effort, with no hope of success.  If he’d paid half that attention to his coronavirus response, Trump would likely have been reelected easily.

So let’s dig into the tale of Sisyphus and Trump, and see what it has to say.  Natally, Sisyphus is prominent for Donald Trump, appearing at 28 Scorpio, from where it interacts with the Vertical Axis, conjoined the IC at 24 Scorpio and opposed the MC at 24 Taurus.  This helps to explain Trump’s remarkable career resilience; knocked down by bankruptcy and failure numerous times, he always manages to pick himself up, dust himself off, and grift again.  Additionally, Sisyphus conjoins natal asteroid Troemper at 2 Sagittarius, our celestial referent for Trump, providing a highly personalized connection to the theme of “never say die.”

Sisyphus also squares Mars and the Ascendant, at 26 and 29 Leo, so Trump always returns to the fight (Mars), even when there is little hope of victory, and that resilience forms a vital component of how others see him (Ascendant).  The MC contact is reinforced by Sisyphus’s trine to Saturn, ruler of career, at 23 Cancer, the natural ruler of the MC, or Tenth House cusp, which governs that sector of our lives.  Sisyphus is also trine Venus at 25 Cancer, perhaps the source of Trump’s repeated attempts to form a lasting, loving relationship, in three marriages, two of which have ended in divorce.  Sisyphus/Venus also describes Trump’s lifelong pattern of building up his resources, only to have the financial rug pulled out from under him, and having to start all over again.

Trump’s natal 28 Scorpio Sisyphus also interacts powerfully with the chart of his 2020 opponent, Joe Biden, whose natal Sun/Venus combination at 27 and 28 Scorpio conjoins it, while squaring his natal stellium of asteroids Damocles, Grieve and Whitehouse, at 25, 26 and 28 Aquarius.    It is Biden’s (Sun) popularity (Venus) which is the doom hanging overhead (Damocles) for Trump, and in the end brings him to grief (Grieve) in his endless quest (Sisyphus) for retention of the Oval Office (Whitehouse).

On Election Day, November 3^rd 2020, transit Sisyphus at 9 Libra conjoins transit Venus at 7 Libra and Trump’s natal Neptune at 5 Libra, and is T-Squared his natal Mercury at 8 Cancer and Whitehouse/Victoria combination at 4 and 12 Capricorn.  This evoked Trump’s repeated, continual (Sisyphus) lies (Neptune) about his winning (Victoria) the presidency (Whitehouse), in both written and oral statements (Mercury) regarding his immense popularity (Venus).  The pattern becomes a Grand Cross with the inclusion of transit asteroid Truth at 7 Aries, fittingly opposed and at odds with Trump’s deceptive rhetoric; and transit Mars at 15 Aries, a clear indication that the President had no intention of giving up the fight.  

Sisyphus also squares asteroids America and Bida at 3 and 6 Capricorn, clustered over Trump’s natal Whitehouse, as he endlessly (Sisyphus) attempts to gaslight (Neptune) the nation (America) into thinking (Mercury) that Biden (Bida) is not the new President-elect (Whitehouse).  In multiple Tweets and numerous public statements over the ensuing weeks, Trump has continued to aver massive election fraud, even producing a 46-minute video diatribe from the White House Diplomatic Reception Room on December 2^nd.  The venue is ironic, as the video (also Neptune-ruled) was anything but diplomatic, a litany of grievances, false assertions, conspiracy theories, distortions and outright lies, all without a shred of evidence or proof.  Trump’s own Homeland Security Department acknowledged the 2020 election as fraud-free and the most secure in US history, a statement which got director of Cyber Security Chris Krebs fired.

Throughout the post-election period, transit Sisyphus has continued its dogged progress across Donald Trump’s natal chart, first conjoining Chiron at 14 Libra (the wound that will not heal) on November 16 & 17, with Sisyphus rubbing salt in the wound; then Jupiter at 17 Libra (politics) on November 24-26, with Sisyphus encouraging repeated attempts to overthrow the election results by political means; asteroid Toro at 21 Libra (bullying behaviors) on December 5 through 7, with Sisyphus desperately pushing again and again to coerce or harass election officials; and finally an exact pairing of asteroids d’Arrest with TRIUMF at 24 Libra on December 15-17.  D’Arrest relates to a cessation or ending, while TRIUMF indicates victory and a successful endeavor; paired and activated by Sisyphus, this represents the futility (Sisyphus) of Trump’s attempts to intimidate (Toro) others, culminating in a final loss (d’Arrest) of victory (TRIUMF).

Between these last Libran conjunctions, transit Sisyphus opposed Trump’s natal TNO Sedna at 22 Aries, a point representing isolation, on December 8^th through the 10^th.  This is significant, as that interim witnesses the “Safe Harbor” date on 8 December, by which all states must certify their Electors, and the actual election of the president in the Electoral College on 14 December, which together confirmed Trump’s isolation and “freezing out” (Sedna is named for an Inuit goddess of the Arctic) by the electorate.

If the Electoral College had a football team, its mascot would undoubtedly be an albatross.  Along with gerrymandering of congressional districts, the Electoral College is the albatross hanging about the necks of American voters which has allowed twenty-plus years of Minority Rule by Republicans, who have won the national popular vote for president only once this century, but have occupied the Oval Office for 12 of 20 years. 

Trump and his cronies’ efforts to subvert the will of the people in key states and replace their chosen Electors with a slate favorable to Trump have been the most serious efforts to overturn the election, voided only by the ineptitude of the challengers and the honesty of the officials they tried to corrupt.  It was a failed coup attempt, but a coup attempt nonetheless.  

The question now is, whither Trump?  Will he retreat to Mar-a-Lago to lick his wounds and fade into nothingness?  Will he face legal jeopardy now that he is no longer shielded by his office, and be fitted for that orange jumpsuit he so richly deserves?  Or, with natal Sisyphus opposed that MC and trine Saturn, will he try once again to occupy the Oval Office, with a third presidential run in 2024?

As always, time will tell…