Alex's Asteroid Astrology

The Twentieth Amendment to the US Constitution establishes the beginnings of both presidential and congressional terms. For the Congress, initial assembly of the body is mandated for noon on 3 January in odd-numbered years. So we can easily cast a chart for the incoming 116^th Congress, which may prove to be one of the most consequential in American history, holding as it does the fate of the current President in its hands.

This consistency of commencement ensures some degree of continuity from Congress to Congress; just as all presidential administrations (unless they begin mid-term due to the death, resignation or impeachment of the sitting president) have an early Aquarius Sun and mid-Taurus Ascendant, so too to do all congresses share a 13 Capricorn Sun and a mid-Aries Ascendant.

When applied to the US natal chart, this shows remarkable resonance – each Congress’ Sun exactly opposes the nation’s Sun at 13 Cancer, a symbol both of the guiding foundational precept of “government of, by and for the People”, and the antipathy many of those people feel toward their legislative bodies, in this oppositional stance. The congressional Suns also closely square the US natal Saturn at 14 Libra, symbol of the presidency itself, denoting the natural tension between these two branches of government, and the Congress’ all-important function of oversight.

The scene of the action for 2019: the US House of Representatives is about to become Trump’s (second) worst nightmare

Sadly, oversight is what has been sorely lacing in the first two years of the Trump Administration, with Republican control of both chambers. Despite frequent scandals, multiple indicators of illegality and obvious conflicts of interest, not a single subpoena has been issued by the GOP Congress to the White House up to this point.

But that’s all about to change. Democrats won a sweeping victory in the 2018 Midterm Elections, and when the new Congress convenes on January 3^rd 2019, they will resume control of the House of Representatives for the first time in eight years, and the kid-glove treatment of Trump is over.

Much of the tenor of the new Congress can be gleaned from the celestial contacts to its 13 Capricorn Sun. Key here are Saturn at 11 Cap and Pluto at 20. This shows the Congress in the role of Enforcer, imbued with both authority (Saturn) and power (Pluto). Oversight, an act involving holding others accountable or responsible for their actions, is Saturnian; so is censure and punishment. Scandals and criminal activity fall under Pluto’s purview, as does transformation and devastating loss. So this Congress is well-poised to enact its primary function of keeping the administration in check. The conjunction of asteroid House from 18 Capricorn signals the Lower Chamber as the presiding body for oversight and its attendant function of impeachment.

Congress may be the least of Trump’s worries; this faux Time cover illustrates one possible outcome of the multiple investigations into the entire family’s illegality

A split in perspective between the House and the Senate, which remains under GOP control, is symbolized by asteroid Senator at 3 Taurus conjunct asteroid Whitehouse at 5 Taurus. The Senate is still nominally on the President’s side, and the administration is in an entrenched position, with asteroid Whitehouse at its station degree, having turned direct on December 23^rd, embedded and dug in. But looking deeper, we see that Uranus is also within orb, from 28 Aries, a signal that shocks, disruptions or unexpected twists and turns could be in the offing.

Even more closely enmeshed is asteroid Phaeton at 2 Taurus, indicating a disastrous fall from grace. Phaeton, to prove his divine ancestry, requested that his father Helios, the Sun God, allow him to drive the Chariot of the Sun. But Phaeton was ill-prepared to lead, the horses careened wildly out of control, veering dangerously close to Earth, threatening to destroy all life, so Zeus shot Phaeton from the sky with a thunderbolt. The parallels to Donald Trump’s administration should be obvious.

There is another indicator of impending celestial ruin in the exact conjunction of asteroid Icarus with the Congressional Sun. Icarus represents rash, reckless actions heedless of the consequences, the inability to follow advice, leading to a disastrous result (Icarus was advised not to fly too close to the Sun on his waxen wings, but did so anyway; they melted and he plummeted to his death in the sea). But the conjunction can be read two ways – as Congress finally putting an end to the recklessness of this administration, or overreaching itself in its approach to impeachment and bringing about its own downfall. Asteroid Atropos, named for the mythic Greek Fate who severs the thread of life at death, and represents endings generally, may sway the balance toward terminating the Trump Administration; with its close conjunction to the Congressional Sun from 15 Capricorn, the legislative body becomes an agent of Atropos, impelling culmination.

A study in body language: in this recent Oval Office interview, Trump expresses confusion, Pelosi makes her point, Schumer grins and rubs his hands together like the cat that ate the canary, and Pence… is that actually Pence, or a mannequin?

Lastly, asteroid Karma at 19 Capricorn is with the Sun, House and Pluto – it’s karmic payback time! Payback for what? Well, asteroid Russia is exactly with Karma at 19 Cap – so that’s a good place to start! The House has a duty to perform, involving prior acts of a criminal nature, specifically relating to Russia; with Karma on its Sun, the Congress has a fated role here, one with which it is closely identified at its core. Just so we’re sure to be on the same page, the cosmos underscores the importance of the Russia theme to this Congress by placing asteroid Moskva, Russian for Moscow, its capital, at 15 Libra, on the 18 Libra Descendant and squaring the solar stellium. It is indeed Trump’s relationship (Descendant) with the Kremlin (Moskva, Russia) which will determine his fate (Karma).

Also squaring the Sun is asteroid Nancy, at 20 Aries on the 18 Aries Ascendant. This identifies likely House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who, for good or ill, will be the most visible public face of the new Congress. Also here is asteroid McConnell at 9 Aries, representing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell; this conjunction is a bit wide of the Ascendant at nine degrees, and also shows McConnell in the Twelfth House, a far less visible placement. However, the Twelfth also rules “hidden enemies”: will McConnell emerge as one of these, ultimately acting in ways inimical to the President?

It’s all thumbs up and broad grins for Trump and McConnell when they’re packing the judiciary with ultra-conservative judges, but is McConnell really a staunch ally?

He’ll have to, if the cause of impeachment is to prosper. There is little doubt that the House will impeach if articles are drawn. But to actually remove Trump from office, two thirds of the Senate must vote to convict him. This seems unlikely on its face, but much depends on what investigations by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the Southern District of New York reveal. If the crimes exposed are egregious enough, even Republicans will be hard-pressed to ignore them. It’s a narrow path, but it can be trod.

Another indicator of a political battle royal to be played out in the capital is asteroid Washingtonia’s conjunction with Mars, at 29 Pisces and 1 Aries respectively. Anger, resentment and tension run high, skirmish lines are drawn, and conflict is the order of the day. Emotions are also inflated in political circles, with an exact pairing of the Moon with Jupiter at 12 Sagittarius; legislators aren’t thinking clearly, passion rules intellect. The proximate cause? Donald Trump, represented by asteroid Troemper with Moon/Jupiter from 18 Sagittarius.

Reportedly Donald Trump is fond of creating fake Time covers featuring his image; I somehow doubt this one will be displayed at Mar-a-Lago anytime soon

Trump has his signature on the chart in other ways as well. From 18 Sag, there is an exact Grand Trine formed with the 18 Aries Ascendant and TNO Praamzius at 18 Leo. This becomes a Kite pattern with Troemper’s opposition to centaur Asbolus at 17 Gemini.

The connection to the 116^th Congress’ Ascendant shows how much Trump affects the image of this session. As with all things in America in the late twenty-teens, it’s all about him. Praamzius is a new point, just discovered in 2012 and named in February 2016, at the height of the US presidential primary season which brought Trump to power.

Praamzius is named for a deity in Lithuanian mythology, the first such to receive celestial nomination. Praamzius was the god of time, whose edicts were carved in stone and were thus permanent and unalterable. All beings had to obey him, even the other deities. Astrologer Helios of TNO Watch describes him as the “omnipotent ruler of time, the inescapable fate.” Astrologer Philip Sedgwick, a pioneer in both deep space and the outer reaches of our solar system, concurs, citing his basic energy as incorporating a “strong sense of time and fate.” He lists its negative manifestations as “arrogant, eccentric to the point of social dysfunction, feeling of no escape or doom.”

Relations between McConnell and Trump haven’t always been rosy, as this apparent pre-nose-picking picture attests. Does the Senate Majority Leader truly have 45’s back?

Troemper linked in a precise configuration with Praamzius and the congressional Ascendant suggests that the time has come for Trump’s reckoning, which will be facilitated by this Congress. This is further supported by Asbolus, named for a centaur seer who read the future in the flight patterns of birds. Asbolus represents the zeitgeist, the guiding spirit of the times, having one’s finger on the pulse of the period. And Asbolus here drives the overall pattern. A Grand Trine, while full of potential, may just lie there, somnolent, waiting for a trigger. It requires a spur, which Asbolus provides in the form of its “String”, guiding its manifestation.

Natally, Trump has Praamzius at 14 Taurus, bound up with asteroids Narcissus at 15 Taurus and Lie at 17 Taurus, widely conjunct the 24 Taurus MC. This fills in an important element of what we knew before from this pattern. We know that Trump Lies constantly, and as the most elevated point in the chart, it’s what’s most visible about him. His lies are based in self-obsession and compulsive self-focus, which is the Narcissus component, and they are told largely in the furtherance of his status, reputation, career, or place in the world, the MC.

Sedgwick’s description of Praamzius’ negative effect (we needn’t consider its positive applications, as Trump only has the one mode of expression) squares remarkably well with Trump’s observed character: arrogance, eccentricity, socially dysfunctional, awkward or inept. As the walls close in about him, with investigations on all sides, we see that sense of inescapable doom growing in him, with no possible escape. As the reality of this penetrates Trump’s reptilian brain, we are seeing the phenomenal increase in hyperbolic lies, of all kinds – significant, random, meaningless, purposeful, Big Lies and small lies, untruths spouted without any apparent ability to quell them.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is in the catbird seat for the next two years; with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, they’ll decide the President’s fate

It is Trump’s lies, told over the course of his career, and more particularly during his campaign and presidency, which will elicit that unavoidable judgment of Praamzius that the time has come for retribution. Asbolus says this aligns with the general spirit of the times, with more and more Americans wanting a check on Trump’s power, and the Congress, via its Ascendant degree, is the visible face of that desire.

With its Sun, its core essence, conjunct both Saturn, ruling accountability and punishment, and Pluto, ruling devastation and ruin, it seems the 116^th Congress is perfectly poised, in the right place and at the right time, to bring about a reckoning, in Trump’s impeachment. They can hardly do less. And with Mercury exactly conjunct the Galactic Center at 27 Sagittarius, the Congress’ decisions and pronouncements will be of global interest, garnering a worldwide audience.

Trump’s fondest dream has always been to be the ultimate insider; you can’t get more “inside” than a prison cell

Normally this is where the story would end, but there’s a unique circumstance which puts the importance of this Congress into stark relief. On January 5, just two days old, the solar stellium of the 116^th Congress gets a jolt of cosmic energy with a Solar Eclipse. At 15 Capricorn, the eclipse highlights the entire stellium, but exactly conjoins its Atropos, focusing with laser-like intensity on the Congress’ power to act as an agent of alteration, change, and endings. Atropos the Cutter is known as “the inevitable”, the one who terminates an existence when its time has come. Let’s hope she turns her attention quickly and fully to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.