Washingtonia Archives - Page 2 of 19 - Alex's Asteroid Astrology

July 20th, 2024 at 10:56am by Alex Miller

The September Surprise: Uranus in Retrograde

The October Surprise has a venerable history in American politics, dating back more than a century, and referring to a sudden, often shocking, unanticipated turn of events which threatens to upend a presidential election. Perhaps the most famous example is October of 1980, when it was announced that the hostages held at the American Embassy in Tehran would not be released before the election, thus further imperiling Jimmy Carter’s hotly contested race with Ronald Reagan (spoiler alert – Carter lost!).

But this year, the October Surprise may come early, with an astrologic flair, as Uranus, the planet of shocks, surprises and the unexpected, will be coming to its retrograde station on September 1^st, perhaps tossing a bombshell into the presidential race. The reason why that may be so is Uranus’ prime placement, occupying 27 Taurus, celestial real estate that strongly impacts both major candidates, as well as VP Kamala Harris and Trump’s running mate, JD Vance. But the most strongly affected will be Joe Biden, with Uranus exactly opposed his Sun at 27 Scorpio. Uranus moves onto the 27^th degree of Taurus on August 8^th, so the fireworks could ensue as early as that.

July 18th, 2024 at 09:26am by Alex Miller

Mr. Bowman Goes to Washington? JD Vance Revealed

OK, yes, somewhat redundant, because JD Vance has been in Washington for 18 months already, since his election to the Senate in 2022. But you all know how much I love punning titles. “Mr. Bowman” is a reference to Vance’s birth name, which was James Donald Bowman. Vance has shifted identities over the course of his life with chameleon-like regularity, becoming James David Hamel as a toddler, after his parents divorced and his mother married Bob Hamel, who adopted him. Vance shed his skin yet again, becoming James David “JD” Vance (his maternal grandfather’s surname) when he married wife Usha in 2014. But the title also conjures images of that Americana utopia crafted by filmmaker Frank Capra, a land which never existed, but which Republicans still insist on trying to revive.

July 9th, 2024 at 09:18am by Alex Miller

Losing Their Heads: The Mars/Uranus/Algol Conjunction and the Republican National Convention

The Republican National Convention begins on July 15^th in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the timing couldn’t be more perfect. That date just happens to coincide with the precise triple conjunction of Mars, Uranus and Fixed Star Algol, all at 26 Taurus, conjoined the 24 Taurus Midheaven of Donald J. Trump, who will accept the GOP 2024 presidential nomination during the convention. Mars denotes resentment, anger, hatred and violence; Uranus suggests volatility, controversy, iconoclasm, fanaticism and insurrection; Algol forms the severed head of Medusa in the constellation Perseus, denoting both literal decapitation and metaphorically “losing one’s head.” If you can think of a better celestial thumbnail sketch of the modern GOP and its felon champion, I’d like to hear it.

June 10th, 2024 at 08:39am by Alex Miller

Donald Trump’s 78th Solar Return: Restriction and Negation

Former US President, current presumptive GOP presidential nominee, and convicted felon Donald J. Trump turns 78 on 14 June 2024. A chart cast for the moment when the Sun returns to its natal degree and minute can reveal much of what awaits in the coming year, a year which, for The Donald, is fraught, to say the least. Before the twelvemonth is out, Trump is likely to find himself an occupant, either of the White House, or the Big House. With sentence pending on his criminal conviction in New York state, and awaiting three more criminal trials, the stakes couldn’t be higher for the 45^th president.

May 15th, 2024 at 11:22am by Alex Miller

As the Worm Turns: RFK Jr’s Doomed Presidential Bid

The New York Times broke a story on May 8, 2024 that might just explain the antics of presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr, currently polling as much as 15-20% in some key battleground states. While Kennedy is unlikely to reach his goal of the Oval Office sans major party affiliation, such numbers, should they materialize at the polls in November, could decisively swing the 2024 election one way or another. The Times story revealed a statement made by Kennedy in 2012, where he alleged that the “brain fog” and memory loss he had experienced two years prior had been “caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died.” Well, that explains a lot!

March 8th, 2024 at 10:05am by Alex Miller

Happy Birthday, SCOTUS!

The Supreme Court of the United States (AKA SCOTUS) just had a birthday! Established by the Judiciary Act of 1789, the Court turned 235 on March 4, 2024 (and she doesn’t look a day over 200!). The Court’s motto is “Equal Justice Under the Law,” but for much of its chequered history it may as well have been, “Often Wrong, But Never in Doubt.” We don’t have to go as far back as the 1857 “Dred Scott” decision (which found that the U.S. Constitution did not extend American citizenship to people of black African descent) to find a real head-scratcher. More recent examples include “Heller” in 2008, which confirmed the Second Amendment gun rights free-for-all; “Citizens United” in 2010, which granted corporations the same free speech rights as individuals regarding political spending; or the 2022 ruling in “Dobbs” which eliminated nationwide reproductive health rights (though to be fair, it was also SCOTUS that confirmed those rights, in 1973’s “Roe v Wade”).