The Real McCain Redux

When astrologers interpret charts and make their forecasts of events, all rests on the accuracy of the birth information you have for the event or person in question. For months we lamented the lack of a birth time for Barack Obama. I have never been quite content with a 9 AM birth time for John McCain based on “mother’s memory”.

So when ISAR (the International Society for Astrological Research) reported that they have a birth certificate for McCain with a different birth time, I sat up and took notice! A link to the birth certificate is shown in the post I made late yesterday.

Who’s the Real McCain?
This changes McCain’s chart in dramatic ways, and it makes way more sense. First, it turns the wheel of his chart, from Libra rising to Pisces rising. This is a spectacular shift, moving all the planets to very different locations than we thought before, like spokes on a wheel.

Jupiter Moves to the Top.
It places father-archetype Jupiter in Sagittarius, one of its strongest placements (a sign of its rulership), straight up in the heavens at his birth (the Midheaven, or MC). This strong planet is in the strongest spot in the chart, beaming its importance to him. This speaks eloquently of a military life. The military is all-important to him. His father was staunch military, and his father before him — in fact, one of his ancestors served alongside General Washington. This paternal ancestry has cast a long shadow in his life.

However, Jupiter is not unchallenged in its supremacy. It is caught in the net of a complex configuration that traps its subject planets, creating a feeling of entrapment on the part of any person born with it in their chart. (For the cosmic cognoscenti, it’s a mutable grand cross.) This tells me that he felt boxed in, smothered by the expectations of his father, which were to go to Annapolis and live his life as his fathers did. But he was a bad boy on campus, and has acted out in rebellion against the corner he has felt boxed into all his life.

This configuration was always in his chart, but it takes on new significance, a new twist in its real location. Principally, Saturn falls in his 1st house of identity and selfhood, a placement showing a lack of self-discipline and a need to learn it. Now his womanizing tendencies make sense as well, with his Venus-Neptune placed in his house of relationship (the 7th). This is one place where he has sought release from the trap — in love, sex, and revelry.

The Moon Changes Signs.
We always thought that McCain had Moon, seat of the emotions and instincts, in Capricorn. That made sense in some ways, with his image of altruism and discipline (however untrue that may be in reality). A Moon in Capricorn made sense for someone who survived harsh circumstances in the Hanoi Hilton, who stayed with his fellow prisoners beyond the time when he was offered release.

However, it is undisputed that his Moon is in Aquarius, in very early degrees. This made the brain synapses connect immediately, because this Moon is nearly exactly conjunct the Moon of one Ms. Sarah Heath Palin! This is much more befitting of the maverick image, and they connected on that “mavericky” level. (Go to "Who You Callin' a Maverick?" for the response of the disgruntled, civil libertarian Maverick family to the pilfering of their name.) This was like an instant satori! Now we know wtf he was doing when he chose her — it’s down to plain old lunar instinct.

This also benefits him, in that his Moon is lifted from a difficult contact with Pluto, otherwise a sign of deep distrust of women, especially his mother (which he does not appear to have). However, it moves his Moon into another configuration, highlighting his unpredictable anger (a T-square with Uranus and Mars).

The Ripples in the Pond
This change makes waves in all the prognostications about the debate(s) and the election, but are they enough to show a shift in his fortunes? The short answer is, “No.” It doesn’t really change the key factor in his chart that is under siege right now (the trap configuration), and doesn’t lift anything into more prominence that would produce a win for him.

In tonight’s debate, the changes to his Moon and Ascendant suggest that he will have more trouble masking his emotions than I would have thought previously. He is likely to feel more exposes, frustrated, and angry.

There Is Grace in All Things.
Many people were born with his, and other similar, configurations, and we all have our lessons and flaws. He is learning as each of us is, but in a very visible and public way. With his chart, he has an exceptionally difficult pattern to work with, and I applaud his courage in doing so.