Alex's Asteroid Astrology

No, this article is not about the nation’s acid reflux problem.  It’s about the interplay of two Main Belt asteroids and how they affect the mood of the American populace.  Asteroid America was in fact named for the US, so it’s no surprise we find it useful in describing events important to the country.  Asteroid Agita, while technically named for Agita Tarasova, a relatively obscure science worker and computer programmer at the Astronomical Observatory of the Latvian University, also works both for the medical definition of the term (basically, heartburn), and for its more colloquial usage as general upset, turmoil, agitation and anxiety.

Bring the two together, as they are in the US Independence Day chart, and you have a recipe for a disgruntled, stressed-out, anxious US population, with a strong, if indefinable, gut feeling that things are just not right.  Natally, Agita and America square from 24 Cancer and 27 Libra, a combustible combination virtually guaranteed to wring out a fair amount of national heartburn from every crisis, manufactured or genuine.

That the US population can be so easily agitated, and that the media can form such a useful ally in this process, is denoted by the fact of the natal US asteroid Agita exactly atop the US Mercury at 24 Cancer—news, opinion and discourse (all Mercury) create a natural national response of unease and apprehension (Agita).  The punditry (Mercury) has a built-in affinity for agitation, whipping up popular sentiment and anxiety (Agita) with this combination, all the moreso as it opposes the nation’s 27 Capricorn Pluto, conjuring images of secret, hidden threats, conspiracies and enemies, aiding and abetting manipulation and control of the populace, represented by the US Moon at 27 Aquarius, tightly inconjunct Mercury/Agita.

Worse, this T-Square becomes a Grand Cross with the addition of the US asteroid Nemesis at 28 Aries, a point denoting ruin or destruction, often self-created.  Transiting Pluto has been exacerbating these built-in tendencies, coming to station at 24 Capricorn, exactly opposed Mercury/Agita, in April 2020 and October 2021, and at 28 Capricorn, exactly squared Nemesis, in April 2022, with a final salvo from its 27 Cap direct station in October 2023, exactly squared natal America.  All this as Pluto moves to make its Return to its degree in the US chart, effectively reactivating and reenergizing its natal potential.

Adding to the problem is the current placement of TNO Eris, a body noted for fomenting strife and division, representing populations who feel themselves to be disrespected, slighted, insulted, marginalized, sidelined or generally put-upon.  In short, MAGA Republicans.  The resulting disgruntlement and disaffection lie at the root of much of today’s political conflict, and the overarching sense that things are heading in the wrong direction, with more than 70% of the US population expressing the sentiment that the nation is on the wrong track, for a wide variety of reasons, on both ends of the political spectrum.  Eris is hovering at 24 Aries, exactly squared Mercury/Agita, and has been, off and on, since the summer of 2020.  This unfortunate state of affairs continues for large segments of time through the winter of 2026, and it’s not like Eris is done with us then.  She just moves on to aspect the other arms of the natal Grand Cross, providing her patented brand of discontent for the foreseeable future.

We’re fortunate in one respect regarding Agita and America – they are currently unaspected to each other in the sky.  The cyclic interaction of these two bodies is very erratic, due to their similar orbital periods, with Agita completing one tour of the zodiac in 3.3 years, and America slightly longer at 3.6 years. This provides for literally years where the two bodies are unaspected, or repeatedly form the same aspect, as they only incrementally deviate from the orbital resonance between them.

Arguably the most politically impactful time America and Agita traveled together within ten degrees of each other was from mid-July 2010 until mid-August 2012, when they made only one exact conjunction, on October 27, 2010.  Significantly, that was just five days before the 2010 election, when a TEA Party revolution turned out Democrats in Obama’s first Mid-Term, with the President’s Party losing 63 seats and control of the House of Representatives (Dems also lost six Senate seats, but narrowly maintained control).  America and Agita’s previous conjunction period was in 2002, and before that, not since the early days of the twentieth century, when they conjoined no less than six times from 1907 through 1916.

Since the turn of the millennium, their pace of interaction has increased.  In addition to the 2002 and 2010 conjunctions, the two were within ten degrees from early July 2014 through early October 2015, thanks to back-to-back retrogrades which kept them locked into orbital resonance for that extended timeframe.  That period saw the loss of the Senate to Republican control during Obama’s second Midterm Election in 2014, completing the transfer of power begun at the previous conjunction, and the genesis of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in June of 2015, inaugurating possibly the most anxiety-ridden period in American history.

Mercifully, there won’t be another conjunction of Agita and America until this century is almost over.  Which isn’t to say they won’t affect one another.  Other aspects continue to form, and when a hard aspect is present, the national agitation level inevitably ramps up.  Most recently, the pair were within five degrees of semisquare aspect, from mid-December 2021 into early March 2022, affording an American “winter of discontent,” where President Biden’s approval ratings dropped like a stone and COVID hangover economics prompted rapidly rising inflation.  They’re inching closer to conjunction for the balance of 2022 and well into 2023, but never quite make it before separating again.

The Agita/America connection also plays out in the charts of numerous rabble rousers in the US, particularly of the conservative ilk.  The late, great, right-leaning gasbag Rush Limbaugh (born 12 January 1951), a born agitator, sported a T-Square involving Agita at 26 Aries, exactly conjunct a Black Hole, squared his Sun/Icarus conjunction at 21 and 26 Capricorn and opposed natal Neptune at 19 Libra, which is exactly quintile (72 degrees) natal Mercury at 1 Capricorn and exactly semisquare America at 4 Sagittarius.  He embodied (Sun) rash, reckless commentary (Icarus) with deceptive rhetoric (Mercury quintile Neptune), all focused on creating a parallel reality, or alternate world view (Black Hole) of the nation (America), designed to rile (Agita) his listeners.  This T-Square keys strongly on the US Mercury/Agita Grand Cross, making Rush perhaps the leading American firebrand of his day.

Glenn Beck (born 10 February 1964), who specialized in fanning fantastic fears in his audience, has Agita at 3 Aquarius opposed America at 1 Leo in his birth chart, with Agita conjunct Mercury at 29 Capricorn, describing a native ability to aggravate and dis-ease (Agita) the country (America) with his commentary and views (Mercury).  His Mercury also opposes the USA’s own, once again tapping into that Grand Cross and further focusing his conservative message on the national stage.  Beck mustered a crowd estimated at anywhere between 87,000 and 350,000 at his “Restoring Honor to America” rally at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 2010, at the height of the “TEA Party” conjunction of Agita and America, which were then just five degrees apart, with Agita trine his 21 Aquarius Sun and America squared his 13 Virgo Pluto.

More recently, Fox News pundits Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson display many of the same traits.  Born 30 December 1961, Sean Hannity’s 8 Capricorn Sun opposes Agita at 3 Cancer (making the agitation of others part of Hannity’s core being), which is closely tied to asteroid America at 4 Sagittarius, by inconjunct, with America also semisquare natal Mercury at 17 Capricorn.

The same roundabout connectivity between Agita, Mercury and America is displayed by Tucker Carlson (born 16 May 1969), currently Fox News’ primetime ratings leader.  Agita at 18 Cancer is exactly sesquiquadrate America at 3 Sagittarius, which itself opposes Mercury at 11 Gemini.

Note that three of these four have Mercury in conservative Capricorn, opposing, by Sign if not degree, the nation’s own.  And three of four also have close aspects between Agita and America, making them natural agitators of the national psyche.  They also tie to the US natal asteroid Lie at 17 Cancer, with Limbaugh’s Sun opposed, Beck’s Jupiter (politics) in square from 16 Aries, Hannity’s Mercury exactly opposed, and Carlson’s Agita conjunct, so deception of the nation also comes naturally to these conservative pundits.

And what of the Agitator-in-Chief?  Donald Trump’s natal Agita at 21 Capricorn falls neatly into the nation’s Grand Cross of Mercury/Agita, Pluto, America and Nemesis, enabling his pot-stirring and rabble-rousing.  But it also opposes his natal asteroid Nemesis at 16 Cancer, implying that his very ability to unnerve or disconcert others could lead to his own downfall.  It certainly contributed to his political downfall, when droves of Independents and reasonably sane Republicans deserted Trump in the 2020 election, denying him a second term, largely based in exhaustion after four years of nonstop agitation and stress.

As well, Agita opposes his natal Saturn/Venus conjunction at 23 and 25 Cancer – he has a genuine affection (Venus) for agitating others, and uses this means to further his career (Saturn).  But asteroids Karma and Niobe are here, too, at 23 and 28 Cancer respectively.  So his agitation of others is something he takes pride in (Niobe), but that he’ll be called to account for (Karma) someday.  A T-square with Jupiter at 17 Libra brings this into the realm of politics, identifying the arena where Trump’s nerve-wracking tendencies will be most effective, as well as encouraging his outsized, over-the-top efforts at agitating his base. 

The US natal Agita will be activated by two upcoming Solar Eclipses in the coming year, one at 29 Aries on 19 April 2023 and another at 21 Libra on 14 October 2023, both in square to Mercury/Agita and setting off the Grand Cross generally.  These eclipses also energize Donald Trump’s natal asteroid d’Arrest, so it may be that an indictment against the former president provides the spark for yet another round of American agita, complete with the violent responses prophesied/promoted by himself and his surrogates, who warn of dire consequences to ensue should Trump ever be brought to justice.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see…