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Trump Update: Justice Grinds Slowly

If you’re a regular reader of these chronicles, you may recall that from time to time, I’ve referenced the autumn 2021 Pluto station in exact square to Trump’s natal asteroid d’Arrest as a probable timeframe for him being brought to justice.  Well, the autumn came and went, and while investigations have increased apace and in quantity, no charges were filed.  Astrologers can be purists, and nothing delights the heart so much as an appropriate manifestation exactly on the date in question.

But that’s often not how the universe works.  Karma is a complicated clockwork, with many gears and levers, and although the sight of Trump fitted with an orange jumpsuit on the day of the Pluto station would have been extremely satisfying emotionally, there’s still cause to hope that Pluto has done its job.

For one thing, Pluto transits often take awhile to manifest, due to its lengthy orbital period of 248 years for one revolution about the Sun.  At this stage of its process, Pluto is moving approximately two degrees per year, so the connection with d’Arrest remains in force for up to three years, though the strongest activation is within six months, or until the ensuing station, with lesser reverberations until we reach the subsequent station in the same direction, roughly a year later.

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Donald Trump pumps up the crowd before the January 6th insurrection; a natal Grand trine Kite pattern of Sun conjunct Themis, trined Justitia and d’Arrest, with the Moon at the String, shows the potential for a run-in with justice at some point in the life

As well, Pluto’s is a foundational energy, laying the groundwork for dramatic transformation to follow, which may be triggered by transits of lesser bodies, eclipses, or progressions.  Pluto softens the ground, it sows seed deeply, and it fertilizes well.  But the germination may be delayed. 

In light of that, I wanted to review the current situation vis-a-vis Donald Trump, looking for clues as to when the hammer-blow might fall.  There are quite a lot of hammers in the air right now, waiting to strike.  Trump personally, his campaign, his organization, his inaugural committee and his charity are under investigation by multiple entities for multiple crimes, and it seems likely that at some point, at least some of these crimes come home to roost.

As of February 2022, Donald Trump is facing 19 legal actions, mostly involving three areas of focus:  financial wrongdoing that enriched him personally; his role in the January 6, 2021 insurrection; and his alleged interference in the 2020 election.  Among the most serious of the cases is a criminal investigation by the DC Attorney General regarding the insurrection, with seven civil suits brought by persons damaged by those riots, including congressmen and capitol police; Manhattan prosecutors investigating criminal charges against Trump and his company for potential financial and tax crimes, as well as insurance fraud; a Grand Jury empaneled by the district attorney’s office in Fulton county, Georgia, investigating whether Trump interfered with the election by trying to pressure Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger to overturn the results in a recorded phone call in January 2021; and of course the ongoing investigation into the insurrection by the House Select Committee on January 6th, which could refer prosecutions for criminal acts to the Justice Department.

Pluto has obviously been sowing its seeds in very fertile soil, and although its most dramatic period of involvement is passing, Pluto is ready to hand off the baton to a close associate in this marathon of bringing Trump to justice.

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Eris, goddess of strife and discord, is also noted for righting wrongs; Trump’s natal asteroid d’Arrest is being opposed by transit TNO Eris until 2027

I’m speaking of TNO Eris, another dwarf planet denizen of the region of our solar system beyond Neptune.  Eris’ orbital period is roughly twice that of Pluto, so its wheels grind even slower, and even finer.

Eris is named for the Greek goddess of discourse and strife, the one who, offended at being excluded from the guest list of a posh wedding on Olympus, rolled a golden apple into the reception marked “to the fairest”, thus sparking a divine rivalry which led ultimately to the Trojan War.  She represents marginalized populations, those who perceive themselves to be disrespected, insulted or injured in some way, and are mad as Hades about it.

Quick to anger, prickly at best, overly sensitive to slights or what she considers besmirchments of her honor, Eris also indicates backlash, vengeance, or retaliation, but has a strong sense of social justice and fairness, defending the defenseless and righting wrongs.  Dwarf planet expert Sue Kientz describes Eris’ role as “evening out injustice caused by selfish individuals prioritizing their own will over others,” certainly an apt depiction of Trump’s leading modus operandi.   Sue goes on to equate Eris with “the angry woman wanting revenge,” and specifically, minority women, several of whom are featuring prominently in Trump’s current discomfiture, as we’ll see shortly.

In some ways, Eris has been on the case against Trump for longer than Pluto.  She has flirted with the 24th degree of Aries, exactly opposing his natal d’Arrest, for months at a time since 2018.  Its first foray into that territory was just two months long, but a year later, that timespan had doubled, as Eris bored further into the degree.  The July 25, 2019 “perfect” phone call from Donald Trump to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, where he attempted to extort a bogus investigation of Joe Biden in exchange for military aid, occurred just three days after Eris’s retrograde station exactly opposing d’Arrest.  This incident led to the first serious attempt to bring Trump to justice, in his first impeachment trial.

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Trump for Prison, 2024? He can’t run for the White House if he’s sitting in the Big House, and ongoing activations of natal d’Arrest say a reckoning is coming

The 2020 activation was six months long, coinciding with the summer and early autumn of the Trump re-elect campaign, and 2021’s stint was for seven months, with Eris exactly opposed d’Arrest at the same time that Pluto made its final pass in exact square.  At this time, Pluto essentially transferred its dossier of Trump transgression and criminality to Eris, who will now pursue the case with vigor to its conclusion.

Eris will spend most of 2022 in exact opposition to the point defining Trump’s susceptibility to the long arm of the law, commencing on March 13th through July 4th, with a brief month-long break while Eris pokes its nose into the 25th degree of Aries, resuming on August 8th, until retrograding back to 23 Aries on December 9th.  This provides eight months of Eris in prime position to wreak her vengeance, the longest annual sojourn at this degree which Trump will experience.  2023 is not much better, with a three-month opposition in spring succeeded after a summer hiatus by the longest continuous stretch of activation, from September of 2023 through May of 2024.  Eris will come to its station in exact opposition to d’Arrest eight times during the period from 2018 to 2027, providing successive body blows to Trump’s ability to retain his freedom.

Occupying second chair in Eris’ prosecution of The Donald is Neptune, the planet ruling prison and incarceration, which will come to its retrograde station June 28th 2022 at 25 Pisces, closely inconjunct natal d’Arrest.  Neptune will occupy 24 Pisces, exactly inconjunct d’Arrest, from mid-April through mid-May 2022, with return engagements in August and September 2022, and February-March 2023, culminating in a direct station in December of 2023, exactly inconjunct, with Neptune at 24 Pisces from mid-November through late December.  Each of these periods will increase the mounting pressure on Trump, adding Neptune’s patented sense of hopelessness and despair.

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Asteroid Justitia, named for the Roman goddess of justice, is stationary retrograde in Donald Trump’s birth chart; significantly, transit Justitia returns to its natal degree in December 2022, resetting the natal potential for paying his debt to society

Obviously, these are still extended time periods we’re talking about here, but we might be able to refine the most likely moments for justice to prevail by looking at additional activations of relevant points in the transit sky.  Chief among these are asteroid Troemper, our celestial referent for Trump; asteroids Themis and Justitia, named respectively for the Greek and Roman goddesses of justice; and asteroid d’Arrest itself.

“As above, so below” being astrology’s guiding precept, we might expect that whenever his cosmic namesake is entangled with one denoting justice, terrestrial Trump could be, too.  Troemper is just easing out of an extended period of interaction with Themis as of March 20th, which began 7 November 2021.  During that timeframe, the two have been within ten degrees of a square, which never quite perfected, but came within a degree of exactitude January 11th through the 27th.  This was generally a fraught period for Trump, with several legal setbacks bringing him closer to a reckoning. 

On December 9th, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s ruling to force Trump to release White House records pertaining to the January 6th insurrection; the three-judge panel includes Ketanji Brown Jackson, Joe Biden’s current nominee for the US Supreme Court.  Trump appealed to the US Supreme Court, which on January 19th refused to grant an injunction on the release of the records, pending their ruling. 

On January 20th, Fulton County, Georgia DA Fani Willis requested a Grand Jury to be empaneled to inquire into alleged interference by Trump into the 2020 presidential election results.   On February 15th, the DC Superior Court reversed an earlier decision to dismiss a case against the Trump Organization, which accuses Trump’s 2017 Presidential Inaugural Committee of misusing non-profit funds to pay for event space at the Trump Hotel and in other transactions, also alleging that the committee paid a debt owed by the Trump Organization.  On February 22nd, the SCOTUS made its final ruling on the records fracas, upholding the DC Circuit Court’s release of the January 6th records to the Select Committee. 

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Is Trump’s star on the decline? Eclipse activations to asteroid d’Arrest in 2023 argue that it is.

On March 2nd, the January 6th Committee argued in a new court filing that former President Donald Trump and members of his campaign were part of a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results, for the first time bringing the issue of criminality formally into the investigation.   On March 3rd, New York County Supreme Court Judge Arthur F. Engoron approved New York Attorney General Letitia James’ request to depose Trump, his son Don Jr and daughter Ivanka, in connection with investigations she is making into Trump’s suspect business practices; the depositions have been waived until the Trumps’ appeals have been heard.  Each of these setbacks for Trump occurred during the window of Troemper squared Themis.  As well, Eris is represented here, in the form of US DC Circuit judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, Fulton County DA Fani Willis, and NY AG Letitia James, all of whom are African American women, just the sort of disrespected minority which embodies Eris.

The overall “reversal of fortune” can be symbolized by asteroid Troemper’s slowing to station, turning retrograde on March 17th, as this period came to a close.  Briefer activation periods will ensue throughout the spring and summer, until a more general atmosphere of legal peril recurs in the fall and winter of 2022.

March 31 through April 2 sees Troemper semisquare asteroid Justitia, while Troemper and Themis come into sesquiquadrate June 5 through 8, just before Trump’s birthday, and again July 30 to August 1.  And when Troemper resumes direct motion on June 22nd, at 7 Scorpio, it will be at the Apex of a Thor’s Hammer, a fated pattern similar to a yod, with sesquiquadrate aspects to an exact transit Themis/Neptune pairing at 25 Neptune, and his natal Sun at 22 Gemini.  The Troemper station is also semisquare transit d’Arrest at 18 Virgo.  The Thor’s Hammer is already in effect for Trump’s Solar Return, making his precarious legal status an enduring factor for the ensuing year.

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Asteroid Themis is named for the Greek goddess of justice; transit asteroids Troemper and Themis interact frequently throughout 2022

The action heats up again in the fall, with a repetition of the Troemper square to Themis, within a ten-degree orb from October 13th through December 3rd.  This time the square becomes exact, on November 4-6, 2022.  At the height of this period, Troemper is also semisquare Justitia, November 12-26, and on December 17th Justitia returns to its natal degree in Donald Trump’s chart, 18 Aquarius, resetting the natal potential for a run-in with justice symbolized by the Grand Trine Kite pattern of the Sun conjunct Themis, with d’Arrest and Justitia in trine, and the Moon in opposition at the String.  d’Arrest is stationary in Trump’s birth chart, making it a key embedded factor in his biography, and although he has escaped serious legal penalties for his misdeeds up to this point, the piper will need to be paid sometime.

Transit stations of Themis and Justitia may prove significant as well. Themis’ direct station of 5 September 2021 at 13 Capricorn opposed Trump’s natal asteroid Nemesis at 16 Cancer, perhaps setting the stage of his upcoming downfall. This connection is repeated by Justitia’s retrograde station at 17 Capricorn on 28 May 2022, also opposed Nemesis. Themis’ retrograde station of 19 July 2022 at 27 Pisces will square his 22 Gemini Sun, while the direct station on November 6th at 14 Pisces squares natal Themis at 17 Pisces, all vital pressure points in the drive to bring Trump to justice.

Transit d’Arrest is active in 2022 also.  It made its retrograde station at 28 Virgo on January 17th squared Trump’s natal Sun at 22 Gemini, within days of two major rulings undercutting his legal position.  The subsequent station direct falls on May 4th at 12 Virgo, within square of natal Themis at 17 Gemini, after which d’Arrest proceeds to square Themis exactly by Trump’s birthday (June 14-19), thus embedding its energies in the new Solar Return, where it will also square his Sun.  d’Arrest continues, activating natal Justitia by inconjunct (June 20-24), exactly squared the natal Sun (July 6-10) and sesquiquadrate Justitia (August 14-16).  Transit d’Arrest will complete a Grand Trine with natal Themis and Justitia September 23rd through the 27th, before returning to its natal degree October 11-14, again resetting Trump’s potential for being charged, detained, arrested or convicted.

2023 will also see eclipse activation of Trump’s natal d’Arrest, further stimulating its potential.  The Solar Eclipse of April 19 opposes d’Arrest from 29 Aries, while the subsequent Solar Eclipse on October 14 at 21 Libra conjoins it.  Punctuating the time between them, Saturn, arbiter of the law and punisher of its infractions, will come to its retrograde station at 7 Pisces on June 17th, 2023, sesquiquadrate d’Arrest.  The timing here makes this energy an integral part of Trump’s 2023 Solar Return just days before, effectively embedding that stimulus to d’Arrest for the ensuing year.

It may take a couple more years for the Trump chickens to come home to roost, but they are well and truly on their way.

Alex Miller is a professional writer and astrologer, author of The Black Hole Book, detailing deep space points in astrological interpretation, and the forthcoming Heaven on Earth, a comprehensive study of asteroids, both mythic and personal. Alex is a frequent contributor to “The Mountain Astrologer”, “Daykeeper Journal”, and NCGR’s Journals and “Enews Commentary”; his work has also appeared in “Aspects” magazine, “Dell Horoscope”, “Planetwaves”, “Neptune Café” and “Sasstrology.” He is a past president of Philadelphia Astrological Society, and a former board member for the Philadelphia Chapter of NCGR.

3 comments, add yours.

Karen

Encouraging news. Justice is sweet.

Laurien

I love that Yogi Berra quote “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” Even with astrology that is true as there are so many variables. So I wouldn’t worry about autumn 2021. The potential was there but it didn’t happen. You do make a compelling case that justice will be served in the not too distant future. But will his followers believe he is innocent and that charges are all part of a conspiracy against him? Will it just stoke polarization and unrest even further? He has people so brainwashed. If he does get off scott free and runs again in 2024, I hope that after the war in Ukraine that Americans will think twice about voting for someone who admires Vladimir Putin.

Emma Esperanza Acosta

Wait to see what happens.

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