Lunar Illumination: Mr. Obama Goes to Town

February 9, 2009

This morning’s penumbral eclipse was not visible in locales where weather obscured it, but it is still being felt around the globe. In the United States, it has a particular impact, since it hits several significant points in both the US chart and that of our national leader, President Barack Obama. This tells me that this eclipse is one of the more important to be experienced by the nation in recent times.

Can You Say, “Stimulus Package?”
The interactions between the US chart and the chart cast for the eclipse in Washington, DC, speak to the discussion that fills the news — the economy and the stimulus package that is supposed to rescue the American people. Most notable among the interconnections is the conjunction of the US Lot of Fortune (Fortuna) to the Ascendant of the eclipse chart. Fortuna has, obviously, to do with “fortune” or money, but it also has to do with well-being or health. The health of the nation is therefore highlighted, more in terms of economic health (this being in the US 8th house) than literal physical health.

The Wound Is Being Healed.
Chiron is there too, very close to Fortuna. This suggests that a long-standing wound in the national psyche is being addressed, if not healed. These placements, found in Aries, have to do with the tendency for people in power to place self-interest over the interests of the nation.

Highlighting this factor is the location of the eclipse itself, at 21̊ Leo-Aquarius, lined up on the US Moon, the symbol of the people. The people are the linchpin in the process before us, and the people will lead the way forward. Already we can see this, as President Obama appeals directly to the public today and tomorrow through a prime-time press conference and town-hall meetings in Elkhart, Indiana, and Fort Myers, Florida. In doing so, he is making ample use of the planetary energies available to him.

Watershed Moment for Our Leader
This is something of a watershed moment for Mr. Obama, as the eclipse Full Moon opposition is aligned critically with his Ascendant-Descendant (the east-west horizon line of his chart). This can feel like a make-or-break time for him, as if he is being called upon to dig deep into his character to muster the “right stuff” for this task. He is called upon to reassess his way of relating to others, and to make adjustments — which he is doing. I believe that this has to do with his “bipartisanship initiative”, turning it into a long-term project instead of something he can use as a foundation of his approach to the legislature in the current moment.

The importance of this process to the nation is underscored by the fact that the Sun of the US chart, representing the life force of the nation, is squarely on the IC of the eclipse chart. This takes us all to our heart, to deeply question what is important to us, what makes this country thrive, and which political viewpoint (if any) we resonate with.

Given the other planetary pattern out there — the conglomerate in Aquarius — the way of the future will not be the way of the past, and the new way forward will prevail. Even though it looked last week like the Republican retro-economic plan was going to steal the stage, Mr. Obama is reshaping the dialectic quite eloquently, much to the dismay of the Republican right, which is still struggling to find its feet in the dawning new era.

I don’t believe that this stimulus package has it all perfectly correct. I’m with progressives like Novel Winner Paul Krugman, Robert Kuttner, and Rachel Maddow on what we need (so far) — to spend more on things like infrastructure and to make sure jobs are created. The government CAN do this, but it is not going to get as much bang for the buck with so many tax cuts.