Crisis Solar Returns for the U.S.
Crisis Solar Returns for the U.S.
Bill Clinton
and the
Lewinsky
Scandal
This article appeared in American Astrology Magazine in 1999
The tribulation of Bill Clinton due to the Lewinsky scandal has assumed legendary proportions at this writing (September 1998). The president's indiscretions as well as the attack dog tactics of the opposition should display unequivocal astrological correspondences, and while they do, one must wonder why everyone who is enduring the same transits as the president does not suffer staggering humiliation, lawsuits, loss of clout and prestige.
Certainly most people born within a few days of the president (see chart # 1) are being hammered by circumstance, since like him, they have had during 1998 and will have in much of 1999, the simultaneous transits of Saturn square its natal place, transiting Neptune opposite natal Saturn, and transiting Uranus opposite natal Pluto. Transiting Saturn in its fall in (sidereal) Aries square the president's Saturn in Cancer, its detriment, has certainly exacerbated his problems due to the debilitation of both bodies; so what usually manifests as being reined in by circumstance due to the wrong approach to the work of one's life, a mid-course correction with belt tightening, is instead a catastrophe which can be laid at the feet of hubris.
The transit of Neptune to the natal Saturn typically finds people trapped and the fixtures of their lives damaged or dissolved. Princess Diana died in 1997 when transiting Neptune was conjoined to her natal Saturn dignified in its own sign, Capricorn. She was mourned as an innocent victim. President Clinton has transiting Neptune opposite his natal Saturn, debilitated in Cancer, so his troubles are largely of his own making, i.e., the consequence of a character flaw. The opposition transit of Neptune to the natal Saturn has much the same affect as the conjunction in that frequently one's vulnerabilities are exposed and exploited, potentially helpful relationships are severed, and the native feels literally or figuratively trapped.
The transit of Uranus opposite Clinton's natal Pluto has been in play throughout all of 1998 and will be through most of 1999. If other factors support, and here they clearly do, such a transit can send a wrecking ball into one’s life that can cause all or most of one’s duties to be deferred until the transit has passed. On a lesser scale, while the transit is on, the business of one's life may barely resemble its state before the transit became operative. This transit suggests upheaval, restructuring, the uncovering of hidden things, sometimes even revolution.
One of the most ancient and consistently reaffirmed tenets of astrology is that the angles of the horoscope, i.e., the horizon and meridian, have great power, so much so that they overshadow the succedent and cadent houses. Strange to say, during the entire period of the Lewinsky scandal, the president has had no transiting malefics on his natal angles at Hope, Arkansas nor his local angles at Washington D.C. where he has resided for the past seven years, except for the briefest of Saturnian transits when that planet went racing by his natal descendent in March, 1998, and the occasional transits of Mars, from which no-one is exempt. For those who find the traditional houses pregnant with meaning, it is significant that the president's natal chart equated to Washington D.C. puts his natal Neptune, Mars and Venus in the 12th house where, it is averred, one shoots oneself in the foot, as it were. Certainly Neptune-Mars-Venus is a scandal producing influence, generally in respect of sex and drugs.
There is a local transit however which has assailed Mr. Clinton every day since the scandal broke in January 1998: transiting Pluto during the whole of that time (and until November 1999) has been closely mundane square the president's ex-precessed natal Sun from two angles at Washington D.C., namely, Pluto has culminated in the M.C. as Clinton's Sun has set, and Pluto has set while Clinton's Sun has anti-culminated in the I.C. Pluto is a double-edged sword; it can raise a person to great heights or cast him down again; it makes extreme whatever it touches. Throughout all of 1992 Clinton's natal Sun culminated in the M.C. at Washington when Pluto rose in mundo there. The then would-be president's policy and personality came to the fore in a positive, aspiring way. Now Pluto is elevated in the M.C. over the president's setting Sun and his lower culminating Sun. The president is now the center of attention as an object of disparagement. Table 1 illustrates the proximity and timing of the Pluto transit. The setting RAMC's are for the parallel of the White House (38° N 53' 51") at Washington D.C. Clinton's natal Sun is ex-precessed to his birthday in 1998. The dates are of the month because the scandal broke on January 21, 1998.
Table 1:
Note: See table on desktop view
From the table it is clear that for the entire twenty-four month period from December 1997 through November 1999, Pluto hovers within 1 1⁄2° of the mundane square of the president's natal Sun; and during eighteen of those twenty-four months, transiting Pluto is exactly square the ex-precessed natal Sun at Washington to the second of arc or within at least 1° of the mundo square. When Pluto is elevated over the Sun in a mundane square, the native may feel hounded. The typical manifestation is a power struggle be it with a boss, a rival or a congress.
That kind of pressure coupled with assaults from Saturn, Uranus and Neptune makes Mr. Clinton stand out from the rest of the people who are dealing with similar transit pressure. Still, everybody born within a few days of the president who also lives on the 38th and 39th parallels of north latitude is getting the paran square to their Suns from transiting Pluto. Surely there are thousands who fall into that category. What distinguishes Mr. Clinton from everyone else on the receiving end of some of this transit pressure is that he is surely one of a very few, and perhaps the only person, born in a location (Hope, Arkansas) at a time (8:51 a.m. CST) that makes his natal Moon comes to the descendant by primary direction at age 52. The Moon is perhaps the last planet one might expect for the situation in which Mr. Clinton finds himself, until it is recollected that the Lewinsky scandal is not related to how Mr. Clinton has discharged his official responsibilities as president, with which most of the country is actually in accord. Constitutional scholars are unanimous in their opinion that Mr. Clinton has not committed any high crimes or misdemeanors against the state. It is his personal conduct that is at issue. In other words, the matter is lunar not solar. The condition of Mr. Clinton's Moon makes this clear.
There is a wide square between Clinton's Sun and Moon: almost 6° along the ecliptic— too wide to be as significant as the close aspects—but there is a mundane square between Sun and Moon that is only 1° from the exact square measured on the celestial equator, and it is this close square that suggests disharmony between the parents and a cleavage between his public life and his private one. Clinton's father died in a car accident before his son was born which plunged the family into financial constraint. Some think the Moon poorly placed in Aries because of the martial nature of that sign. It does however compliment the Sun in Leo inasmuch as the Moon in Aries imparts an aggressive, ambitious quality to the nature such that people with that placement aspire to an exalted position in life.
Clinton's martial Moon, however, is closely sesquiquadrate his Mars-Neptune conjunction which is angular on the first house cusp. The Moon-Mars orb is 1° 03'. The effect of Moon-Mars is primarily to inflame the desire nature. Both men and women with this contact tend to leap into bed on the flimsiest of pretexts. In children it very often translates into fighting and dissension in the household, and further, it is a consistent indication that the family history is not associated with the benefits of money, a cultivated upbringing or a sparkling family history, other things not considered. The orb of the Moon-Neptune sesquiquadrate is 1° 33'. The contact is sensitive, imaginative, markedly histrionic and idealistic but with affliction, here doubly so due to Neptune's detriment in Virgo and the conjunction with Mars, the native generally gains much at the expense of others and frequently rides roughshod over them. The person with Moon-Neptune is often supported by others and benefits well beyond what his input to a process would seem to warrant. The downside of the contact is that Moon-Neptune people are likely, when the contact is troubled by other afflictions, to incur the lasting resentment or wrath of those to whom they are indebted, when over time the exploitative side of the contact is recognized.
The closest aspect to the Moon, in fact the closest aspect in the entire chart, is a mundane square between the Moon and Saturn, only 21 seconds from exact, which is less than 1/10 of a degree. Moon-Saturn suggests that the early life was particularly difficult, often attended by poverty and abuse at home. Clinton's problems with his mother's boyfriends one of whom became a stepfather are well known. Many people respond to early deprivation and mistreatment by appearing to be contained and self sufficient, but they are often cold and uncaring as adults, or inclined toward depression. The mother's life with Moon-Saturn is frequently difficult as well; in fact often the women in the lives of Moon-Saturn people are either cold or unfortunate or both, they being emotionally damaged themselves. It is likely that a triple affliction to the natal Moon, with two of the three afflicting bodies (Neptune and Saturn) themselves debilitated, will work out badly in adulthood. Even so, Moon-Saturn—although usually the trines and sextiles—often is symbolic of someone who is successful in the world but a relative failure in domestic life.
It is noteworthy then, that the president's natal Moon sets by primary direction at age 52 years and slightly more than 8 months, i.e. the last week of April 1999. Primary directions can be felt for a year before they are exact, sometimes more for the lights. The 1946 edition of the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac gives for Mr. Clinton's natal Moon, Right Ascension 3h 14m 06.3s and Declination 15° 31' 51.2" north. To determine when the Moon sets, the diurnal semi-arc of the Moon must be reckoned from its position at birth. The diurnal semi-arc is equal to half the length of time that a body is above the horizon. First one must determine the ascensional difference (a/d), which is the difference between the right ascension and oblique ascension, of the body. The simple formula for this, sin a/d = (tangent terrestrial latitude)(tangent declination), is centuries old. Plugging in the president's data for the Moon we have,
sin a/d = (tan 33° 40')(tan 15° 31' 51.2")
sin a/d = (.666076884271)(.277905206319)
sin a/d = .185106233948
arc sin a/d = 10.6673261295
a/d = 10° 40' 02"
Then add the a/d to 90° (subtract if the declination is negative—this rule is reversed for the Southern Hemisphere) and divide that result by 15 because 15° of arc equals 1 hour of time. This yields the Moon's semi-arc. With Mr. Clinton then we have:
90°
+ 10.66773261295°
100.66773261295° then,
100.66772361295 = 6.71115507533 = 6h 42m 40s
15
To find the R.A.M.C (Right Ascension of the Medium Coeli [the sidereal time in the meridian]) when the Moon sets, add the Moon's semi-arc to its R.A.:
3h 14m 06s R.A. natal Moon
+ 6h 42m 40s semi-arc natal Moon
9h 56m 46s S.T. of Moonset
To find the primary arc of direction for the president's natal Moon, subtract the local sidereal time of his natus from the sidereal time of Moonset. Put that result into minutes and divide by four because 4 minutes of time equals 1° of arc.
9h 56m 46s S.T. of Moonset
- 6h 26m 01s local S.T. of natus
3h 30m 45s arc necessary to bring descendent to Moon
then,
3h 30m 45s = 210m 45s or 210.75
and finally,
210.75 minutes = 52.6875, i.e. the Moon sets by
4
primary direction when the native attains the age of 52. 6875 years which is 52 years and approximately 251 days or about April 26, 1999. At that time and for about a year preceding that date, everything implicit in the condition of Bill Clinton's natal Moon, particularly the close aspects to it, comes to the foreground of his life for good or ill; and clearly, since he is twisting in the wind of a scandal, the afflictions to his Moon are manifesting in a most obvious way.
Frequently, the planet emphasized by primary direction will show up angular in the solar return for residence during the year that the primary direction is "on." As if to underscore the value of primary directions and the powerful correspondence of the sidereal solar return, the president does indeed have his current solar return Moon angular on the descendant, no less for Washington (see chart # 2). Moreover, his solar Moon is configured by the same transiting (i.e. solar return) bodies as in the natus, viz. the solar Moon on the descendent is directly opposite solar Neptune on the ascendant, which produces acute embarrassment if the Moon is assaulted from other malefics. Consistent with his present uncomfortable circumstances, the solar Moon is in conjunction with solar Mars. Mars is apparently just below the descendent in zodiaco but actually above it in mundo in the 7th house with the Moon. This is symbolic of the severe pain that his wife and daughter have had to endure and his anguish at having brought it to them. The solar Saturn is closely square the solar Moon, as well as solar Mars and natal Saturn. That is damage pure and simple to one's honor, name and family. The Sun is in the 7th house of the solar return along with the solar Moon, so the president's official acts as chief officer of the state are being dragged into the fray, but the focus of the attack is to the angular planets: the Moon and her aspect partners.
In March 1999 transiting Mars will be stationary at 17° Libra 28'. Mr. Clinton's secondary progressed Mars will be at 17° Libra 22' at the same time. The president's natal Pluto is at 17* Cancer 53'. He should be under fire at this time, especially considering that transiting Saturn, also in March, will square Mr. Clinton's solar Mars, the solar descendent, the solar Moon, and solar Saturn. Additionally, transiting Saturn will come to the conjunction of its own place in the solar return then. March is likely to be a difficult month for the president with his reputation dragged through the mud still more, but transiting Jupiter comes to the opposition of the president's progressed Sun in late April to provide a respite. A week later transiting Jupiter comes to his natal descendant relocated to Washington D.C. which should increase his political support and put an end to at least some of the scandals dogging him from several quarters that relate to his philandering ways. A week after that, transiting Venus comes to his natal midheaven at Hope, Arkansas. Relief and perhaps a vacation are likely at that time. From these things, this writer concludes that the president will be impeached but acquitted.
© Kenneth Bowser, 1999, all rights reserved.
