Stationary Stationery
We’ve known for years that, as President, Donald Trump was shredding the Constitution, igniting division, and generally flushing the country down the toilet. We just didn’t know it was literal.
But on Friday, 4 February 2022, as Mercury came to its direct station conjunct Pluto, news (Mercury) broke that while in office, Trump routinely destroyed (Pluto) papers (Mercury) relating to the presidency. In doing so, he violated the Presidential Records Act of 1978, which establishes that all such papers, from rough notes and memoranda to correspondence and drafts of Executive Orders, are public property of the United States, to be retained by the National Archives, and not the personal possessions of the president, subject to his whim. Apparently the most common method of destruction Trump employed was to tear papers and toss them into the waste can, after which staffers would retrieve the pieces and tape them back together for preservation at the Archives, although some were in such a state of confetti as to be irretrievable.
That was the initial reporting, but as the week went on, further details increased the seriousness of the situation. Trump staffers were also instructed to resort to “burning bags”, where reams of documents were consigned to the fire en masse. And at times plumbers were called to clear the presidential toilet, clogged by large wads of printed paper. In addition, Trump effectively stole 15 boxes’ worth of records when he left the White House, then stored them at Mar-a-Lago, including his “love letters” from Kim Jong-un and the National Weather Service hurricane forecast map he had doctored with a Sharpie to make it appear that his 2019 statements about Hurricane Dorian’s trajectory were accurate. Many of these were clearly marked “classified” and some as “top secret.” They were retrieved by the National Archives on February 7th, and the Justice Department has been asked to investigate.
That Trump was aware of the rules is apparent from several statements made over the years, beginning with his frequent excoriation of rival candidate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server for government emails in 2016, some of which were classified. This formed the basis of the “Lock her up!” chants at Trump rallies, so we can be reasonably sure he understood the seriousness of this type of offense. As well, after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ostentatiously tore up his last State of the Union address from the podium in 2020, immediately following his speech, he publicly accused her of violating the law with this action. He was wrong, of course; it’s not illegal to destroy a courtesy copy of a presidential speech. The original, however, is a very different matter.
Thus, although the term can certainly be applied in a general sense to Trump, he cannot plead ignorance in this instance.
When the story first broke, I contented myself with the Mercury station conjunct Pluto as its celestial reflection, but as it deepened, I knew there had to be greater cosmic representation. What follows is an excellent example of how themes repeat on various levels as events unfold, an almost uncanny reiteration in the skies which anchors and cements the terrestrial manifestation, as well as the broad range of asteroid referents available, and the uses of colloquialisms and similarly-spelled or -pronounced variants.
In addition to Mercury for documents, I used asteroids Page, Records, Memoria (for memoranda) and Forman (for forms). For the tearing of documents, we have our old friend asteroid Rip (most commonly encountered in these chronicles as a death indicator, via the acronym “RIP”), while for burning them we have asteroids Burns, Burney, Flammeus and Flammario (both referents for “flames”). Finally, for toilet-flushing, we can employ asteroids Johney and Johnny (for the “john”, a common colloquial term for bathrooms, as well as the onsite porta-potties sometimes known as “job johnnies”), Thronium (for the “throne”, another toilet euphemism) and Loos (based in the British slang “loo” for bathroom). And of course we’ve been using asteroid Troemper for Donald Trump to great effect throughout his candidacy and presidency.
To begin with, asteroid Troemper found itself in the spotlight again on February 4th; from 16 Scorpio, Troemper conjoins asteroid Page at 12 Scorpio, opposing Uranus at 10 Taurus with asteroids Flammeus and Thronium at 16 Taurus, and Loos at 17 Taurus, in a T-Square with the Sun exactly conjoined Saturn at 15 Aquarius, accompanied by asteroid Hermes at 10 Aquarius, Whitehouse at 12 Aquarius, Johnny at 14, and Themis at 18 Aquarius.
This places the focus (Sun) on Trump (Troemper) during his time as President (Whitehouse), and controversial (Uranus) actions regarding documents (Page), specifically involving burning (Flammeus) and flushing (Thronium, Loos, Johnny), as well as their unauthorized removal (Hermes, named for the Greek god of thieves) to Mar-a-Lago, which may have violated laws (Saturn), possibly resulting in a Justice department investigation (Themis, named for the Greek goddess of justice).
Stationary points create embeds in the collective consciousness and personal psyche, exerting much greater than typical influence and impact on events or biography. At station are asteroids Rip at 22 Gemini, Forman at 9 Libra, and Johney at 15 Gemini, combining tearing (Rip) and flushing (Johney) of forms (Forman). Rip and Forman both changed direction (Rip turning direct, Forman turning retrograde) on January 29th, just six days before the story broke on the date of the Mercury station; Johney turned direct January 31st. Johney opposes asteroid Justitia at 12 Sagittarius, named for Themis’ Roman counterpart, again inserting the Justice Department into the story, while Forman is part of a T-Square, opposing asteroid Memoria (memos) at 3 Aries, with Mars at the fulcrum from 8 Capricorn, ruling the act of tearing.
Asteroid Burney (for burning) at 23 Cancer opposes the Mercury station conjoined Pluto at 24 and 27 Capricorn which defines destruction of documents. And a third T-Square of asteroid Records at 2 Virgo opposed Jupiter (politicians) at 8 Virgo and an exact pairing of Flammario with Damocles at 27 Aquarius, with asteroid Burns on the fulcrum at 29 Scorpio, provides the final cosmic coup-de-gras. If eventually convicted of burning (Flammario, Burns) legally protected documents (Records), Trump faces the threat (Damocles) of prison time, and could be permanently barred from holding political office (Jupiter) in the future.
Stick that in your toilet and flush it, Donnie!
One comment, add yours.
Laurien
Shocking that Trump would destroy and abscond with so many documents in defiance of the law. One wonders if/when he will ever get his comeuppance. The asteroids are amazing. Sometimes it’s as if the Universe is playing charades with us! Picked up two new-to-me asteroids, Loos and Thronium! Thanks Alex!