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No Stone Unturned

In a pre-dawn raid of his Florida home on Friday, January 25, 2019, FBI agents at the direction of Special Counsel Robert Mueller arrested Roger Stone, charged with seven federal counts of obstruction, making false statements and witness tampering. Stone, a long-time GOP political operative who traces his roots to the CREEPs (the Committee to RE-Elect the President) around Nixon in 1972, is perhaps the closest Trump associate to be targeted by the Mueller probe. Like Dante’s Inferno, we’re into a lower level of Hell now, and getting close to Lucifer himself.

 

Despite (or perhaps because of) a reputation as a political dirty trickster, Stone found himself working in the campaigns of such Republican stalwarts as Nixon, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bob Dole, Jack Kemp, New Jersey Governor Tom Kean, and the Florida Recount phase of the 2000 election of George W. Bush. But Stone’s tradition of dirty politics goes back much further, to the Kennedy/Nixon battle in 1960, when Stone was in the First Grade. As he recalls it, “I remember going through the cafeteria line and telling every kid that Nixon was in favor of school on Saturdays … It was my first political trick.”

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FBI agents close in on Roger Stone’s Florida home in the pre-dawn hours of January 25; a surprise, but not a shock, with Stone anticipating his arrest for months

In 1968, Stone arranged for a spy in the Humphrey campaign, who became the candidate’s driver and passed information to his opponent, Richard Nixon. In 1977, aged 24, he was elected president of the Young Republicans, in a campaign managed by his friend Paul Manafort. The two would famously work together again in Trump’s 2016 campaign, and Manafort is also among those charged and convicted by Mueller’s team. Also among his intimates Stone counts Roy Cohn, Senator Joseph McCarthy’s chief counsel during the “Red Scare” investigations into supposed Communists in the federal government during the ‘50s; and Lee Atwater, another political dirty trickster, responsible for the infamous “Willie Horton” ad in Bush Sr’s 1988 campaign. With friends like that…

 

Stone’s association with Donald Trump extended almost 40 years, since the two were brought together by Trump’s mentor Roy Cohn in 1980. In that same year, Stone established a lobbying firm with Paul Manafort, and the Trump Organization became one of their first clients, pushing for legislation favorable to Trump’s Atlantic City casino holdings. In 1998 he advised Trump on his first abortive run for President, attempted via the auspices of the Reform Party, and headed his exploratory committee. That endeavor led nowhere, but Stone has been deep in Trump’s political counsels ever since.

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The background says it all: Stone’s two presidential idols, Richard Nixon and Donald Trump, compete for wall space

In 2008 he founded an anti-Hillary political organization, “Citizens United Not Timid” (CUNT); as Stone himself explained in an interview with The Weekly Standard, “The truth is, we sat around for hours trying to come up with words for BITCH and just couldn’t do it.”

 

Stone was right at Trump’s side as he flirted with a potential presidential run in 2012, which came to nothing, but was hired early in 2015 as a consultant for that campaign. After a few months, Trump fired him, describing him as a “publicity seeker” (Pot, meet Kettle), but Stone continued to support Trump’s presidential bid, eventually helping to bring him together with Paul Manafort as Campaign Manager. Despite the temporary setback of his firing, Trump’s ardor for Stone never cooled, stating in a December 2015 interview, just months after they had parted ways, that he was “a good guy … so loyal and so wonderful.”

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Stone is escorted to the courthouse by Federal agents: “Did I do that?”

In the summer and fall of 2016 Stone was instrumental in the search for information that would damage the Clinton campaign. Stone emails and public statements indicate an apparent coordination by him with Russian hackers, political elements, and WikiLeaks, which eventually released stolen emails from the DNC and Clinton Campaign Chair John Podesta. Stone’s later attempts to fob these off as mere coincidence or attempts at self-aggrandizement rang hollow on Mueller’s ears, leading us to this present arrest.

 

Born 27 August 1952 (no time available), Roger Stone’s close alliance with Donald Trump is prefigured by a conjunction of his 4 Virgo Sun with asteroid Troemper at 0 Virgo, making Trump a core element of his self-identity. Also in the mix is asteroid Apophis at 1 Virgo, named for the ancient Egyptian personification of pure evil, and a point noted for the commission of heinous, dastardly acts. And, no surprise, we also find asteroid Russia here, conjunct the Sun from 8 Virgo. It seems in Trumpland, all roads lead to Moscow.

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Stone and Trump have been friends for almost forty years, brought together by Trump mentor Roy Cohn, of the McCarthy hearings fame; Stone is Trump’s oldest political advisor

Speaking of which, Stone’s natal asteroid Moskva (Russian for “Moscow”, its capital) at 17 Gemini conjoins Trump’s natal Sun at 22 Gemini, and is conjoined by asteroid Hermes at 18 Gemini, named for a deity known as the “Trickster God”. Moskva is also squared Stone’s natal Venus at 21 Virgo (“Follow the money!”), trine natal Saturn/Neptune (an official, but hidden role to play with the Kremlin?) at 12 and 19 Libra, and opposing a combination of asteroids Karma and Rogeria at 17 and 19 Sagittarius (conjoined Trump’s natal Moon at 21 Sag). The opposition shows a fated (Karma), highly personal (Rogeria) connection to Russian interests (Moskva).

 

In Trump’s natal chart, asteroid Stone at 24 Leo conjoins Mars at 26 (Stone as Trump’s champion) and the Ascendant at 29 Leo (helping to craft his public image), as well as being exactly squared Trump’s MC at 24 Taurus, making him potentially an extremely powerful influence on Trump’s career, status and reputation. Asteroid Rogeria, perhaps appropriately, given the current circumstances, exactly conjoins Trump’s natal asteroid Nemesis at 16 Cancer, that point of self-undoing. After a lifetime of playing fast and loose with the law, the connection with Trump has finally brought Stone to the point of legal jeopardy, but such contacts work both ways, and Stone, if he flips on the President and cooperates with Mueller, may well repay the favor.

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No, it’s not Photoshop – Roger Stone really does have a tattoo of Richard Nixon on his back. I wonder where he’ll place his prison tattoo of Trump? The butt seems appropriate.

Of course, that’s just what Stone says he will never do. After his arrest, Stone appeared publically to announce that he would fight the charges and refuse to “bear false witness” against Trump, no matter how much pressure is applied. That’s very reminiscent of former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen who swore he would “take a bullet” for his master, until reality intervened. Cohen will be testifying to Congress next week regarding Trump’s direct involvement in campaign finance law violations, among other things.

 

In Stone’s natal chart, there is a conjunction of asteroid Achilles with Uranus, at 15 and 17 Cancer, which straddles Trump’s natal Nemesis/Rogeria . Shocking revelations (Uranus) from Stone (Rogeria) about Trump could expose a vulnerability (Achilles) which accelerates Trump’s ruin (Nemesis).

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Donald Trump expressed his admiration for Stone’s expected loyalty in a Tweet months before his arrest; will the President eat those words if Stone flips?

To return to that natal chart and specifically the Saturn/Neptune conjunction: in and of itself, this suggests a taste for underhanded, behind-the-scenes, “invisible” actions in career, things which smack of espionage and deceit. With Saturn exactly opposed asteroid Whitehouse at 12 Aries, we see the primary venue for Stone’s antics – the presidency.

 

With Mars at 29 Scorpio conjoined asteroid Stone at 26 Scorpio and squared the Sun, Stone is a fighter, a pugilist, someone who enjoys stirring things up and causing trouble. Mars’ exact square to Trump’s Ascendant, and its (as well as asteroid Stone’s) conjunction with his 24 Scorpio IC, is another indicator of his role as Trump’s champion, a foundational figure in his life.

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Stone displays a 2016 campaign t-shirt; gee, maybe he really is psychic?

So now it’s Roger Stone’s “time in the barrel” (to quote his assessment of John Podesta’s imminent email hack, a week before the event, which he now ascribes, not to inside information, but his phenomenal prognostication skills). The pivotal nature of Friday’s arrest becomes clear when we see that asteroid Rogeria made its station that very day, turning retrograde at 29 Virgo, in square to asteroid Troemper at 27 Sagittarius. Is this where their paths diverge? It’s time for Stone (Rogeria) to reconsider (retrograde) his relationship with Trump (Troemper), and conflict between them (square) could well result.

 

Also on January 25th, asteroid Stone at 5 Sagittarius was exactly sextile the transit Sun at 5 Aquarius, and squared Stone’s natal Sun at 4 Virgo, highlighting him for the day and pointing up a stressful change in direction with his core essence (the waxing square to the natal Sun). With transit asteroid Rogers (another suitable variant for Stone’s first name) at 1 Taurus squared the transit Sun and conjoined asteroid Whitehouse at 8 Aquarius, Stone and his connection to the Oval Office are doubly highlighted. Beside Rogers is Uranus at 28 Aries, another indicator that there may be a surprise in store from Stone, especially with Uranus exactly opposed his natal asteroid Nemesis at 28 Libra at the time of his arrest.

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Ever defiant, outside the courthouse Stone displays the double victory sign of his beloved Nixon

Will Stone’s most lasting legacy be the part he plays in the downfall of a close friend and his administration? Stay tuned…

 

 

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.

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