Will the Real Barack Obama Please Stand Up? Our President, One Mercury Cycle Later

June 5, 2009

It’s one Mercury cycle into the first term of President Obama, and not surprisingly the media have responded unconsciously by issuing several reports on what our new president is REALLY like. In particular, the feature section of May 25th issue of Newsweek was devoted completely to such assessments from several commentators and news analysts.

This gives us a chance to reevaluate him in light of his birth chart. Most of the reports describe him as being “harder” than he portrayed himself during the campaign, but I wonder if that's just the surprised response of those without the enlightened perspective that his birth chart provides.

He Is a True (Sun in) Leo.
“He has learned that he enjoys power — the capacity to shape reality in his image and by his lights.” (Jon Meacham, What He’s Like Now, Newsweek 5/25/09) The Sun outshines all other bodies in our heavens when it is above the horizon. Even in the night sky, it directs the movement of the planets with its unseen hand. The Sun rules Leo, which is the placement of Obama’s Sun. It the sign of the sovereign, the one in whose presence all other light pales. This does not mean that Obama presumes to take this royal role, but he does have that air about him. Other words or phrases that are used to describe him are (except where noted, from Meacham):

• moving as he wishes to move, the world bending itself to him
• shapes policy, even in sub-policy areas (e.g., auto maker restructuring plans)
• prefers to stand alone, not using others as policy authorities
• catlike (Christopher Hitchens, Jacob Weisberg) = Leo the LION
• He sticks out his chin when challenged, his eyes flashing, and wants the upper hand. (I saw this petulance in one of the debates with Hillary Clinton.)


He Is, According to His Chart, Designed for Power.
If there is a theme in Mr. Obama’s chart, it is the (right) use of power. Although there are checks and balances there that create caution and have at times slapped him down (his wife is one), he is built for the redirection and management of power. Key power points in his chart include:

• Sun in Leo (its rulership)
• Jupiter conjunct Saturn: This is a well-known traditional placement of great leaders. It was in the heavens when Jesus was born (by the most reliable records), which is why the three magi (read: astrologers) went searching for him. Martin Sheen (who played President Bartlet in The West Wing) has this conjunction, as does Dick Cheney.
• Mars in Virgo: This placement makes him efficient and dedicated, good with details and hard-working. It also contributes a note of humility (one of those checks and balances).
• Uranus conjunct North Node (Pluto not far away): The deep desire (and perhaps destiny) to be an agent of change.

Some of the writers’ phrases that speak to these contacts are:

• He revels in his power (in an understated way).
• He loves that all of what he’s doing matters.
• He feels his authority and effectiveness.
• little small talk, no smarminess
• wholly businesslike, “time is valuable”
• He finds crisis [to be] defining, bracing, and useful.
• He exhibits pragmatism and a willingness to change his mind when presented with new info.
• He is realistic about his decisions and the possibility of making mistakes.
• He takes “A Highly Logical Approach” (Meacham).

He Plays Well With Others.
Mr. Obama is the ultimate balancer. With the Sun opposing his Ascendant, he often seeks reconciliation as an end in itself, whether with Congress, foreign powers, or Republicans (often to the dismay of his supporters). Jacob Weisberg (Getting to Know Obama, Newsweek 5/25/09) complains about the moral hollowness of this approach, making the following points in unwitting support of this part of his chart:

• For Obama, the middle ground is the high ground.
• He seeks true reconciliation of opposite factions.
• He enjoys engaging opponents.
• He lacks a moral stance - what does he believe? Examples: He repudiates but won’t investigate torture. He supports gay equality but won’t take action (marriage or military).

He Is a Cool Cat.
We already see the feline in the lion, but that coolness comes from his Aquarius Ascendant (rising sign). But how cool is he? Aquarius, a winter sign in the northern hemisphere, can be downright cold. He also has Jupiter and South Node in Aquarius.

• He is cool in crisis.
• His economic policy is self-described as “ruthless pragmatism” (His Jupiter-Saturn also fits this characterization.)
• He cuts off meetings when it covers familiar ground
• His habit of confidence and self-reliance (coming from his fatherless childhood, says Meacham) “creates the impression of iciness”.

He is not willing to sacrifice principle for political loyalty, even though his principles may still be difficult to see in his actions at this early stage. This can be linked to his Moon squaring Pluto.

A Bushel Full of Subtlety, Ambiguity, and Contradiction
His chart is full of subtle planetary interrelationships — with contradictory energies that he is constantly forced to (attempt to) blend. With such inner challenges, it is no surprise to hear him described as embracing complexity with the sophisticated intelligence of a well-developed mind. Obama says,

“The American people, I think, not only have a toleration but also a hunger for explanation and complexity, and a willingness to acknowledge hard problems. I think one of the biggest mistakes that is made in Washington is this notion you have to dumb down things for the public.”

As a person with strong Neptune contacts — and elected under its beams — public perception has been idealistic, even verging on idolatry. Now that Mercury has completed a revelatory retrograde past Neptune, we can see more of the real man, and the media are dutifully providing a sobering reflection of our new leader.

© Terry Lamb

He’ll Just Fade Away: What the Planets Tell Us about Kim Jong-Il & the Future of North Korea

February 17, 2009

© Terry Lamb

Yesterday (Monday) was Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Il’s birthday, complete with the obligatory fanfare and dancing. This was Kim’s first birthday since two rumored strokes have kept him out of circulation since September 2008.

Looking at his birth chart, it is no surprise that he has had health difficulties. Although there are many planetary events to point to, the primary culprit is Neptune. This planet of dissolving influences was strong in his chart (square to Uranus) when he reportedly suffered his first stroke in September. A second contact transpired over late December through the first two weeks of January.

Given that Chiron, the Wounded Healer, and Jupiter are traveling over the same point this year, he may not be long for this earth. Chiron and Jupiter are frequently featured in charts at the time of death, since death involves a release from the constraints of the physical body into the unbounded inner realms.

Madeleine Albright Had It Right.
If you want to keep North Korea happy and peaceful, you have to give Kim attention. It is very obvious that he falls into the character structure category of the “oral” type (conceived by Wilhelm Reich and more fully developed by John and Eva Pierakos). Secretary Albright had his number when, during the Clinton Administration, she gave him the respect and recognition he craved from Western sources. Had Bush followed Clinton’s foreign policy with North Korea, Kim may never have felt it necessary to develop nuclear capabilities as an attention-seeking behavior.

If he gets the attention he seeks now with the latest threat to conduct a nuclear test, he won’t need to fire the rocket. Think of it as his way of inviting Secretary Hillary Clinton to his country and manipulating her (the US) into pledging humanitarian aid to his beleaguered nation.

Not that we should feel sorry for him (that’s what he wants — a big pity party), but by understanding what makes him tick, we can avoid further difficulties with this sad man. Secretary Clinton, for her part, seems to understand what it takes and is making placatory sounds in his direction.

It is not clear what his successor will be like, but since he has not named a successor among his sons to our knowledge, there could be considerable chaos in the inner circle following Kim’s passage from power — suggested by Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto contacts to the chart of North Korea in the coming 2-3 years.

Obama’s Pastor Problem and Neptune

He’s got another pastor problem. With the selection of Rick Warren, founder of the prejudicial Saddleback Church and author of The Purpose-Driven Life, to do the invocation at his inauguration, President-Elect Barack Obama has stepped into the religious battle fray once again.

It’s not just progressives who have decried his selection; many closer to the center are also uncomfortable, as Reverend Warren’s stances against gay rights and in favor of the highly contentious Proposition 8 Marriage Equality Ban have become less and less mainstream.

There’s a pattern here: Remember Reverend Wright? Now, I think that Wright’s comments at the church lectern were taken out of context, but his comments at the media lectern were certainly not. They were at the least vitriolic — not those of the friendship Obama thought he had developed over the years.

It’s Neptune Again.
What is it, astrologically speaking, that has Obama on the wrong side of the religious leadership issue again? I’ll say it’s the Neptune in his chart. If you recall, he has Sun in Leo square his Neptune. Now, when he was born, it was four days past the square, but that means that Neptune would transit his Sun four times over the first two years of his life. The last time, Neptune was stationary direct exactly square his Sun for six weeks. This coincides precisely with the period of time that his parents were together before their divorce and his father’s return to Africa.

Clearly, this is about Obama’s relationship with his father. Without the benefit of a fully present and available father past infancy, young Barack had to make one up himself, and he did. However, this was not easy for him. He is still dealing with this issue.

Obama would clearly have idealized his father, then perhaps felt frustrated for his father not being there for him. He might have imagined what life would have been like with his father and almost certainly visualized it as better than it could have been.

In the mysterious way that archetypes are connected in our psyche, Neptune defines both imagination and religion (or maybe this isn’t so mysterious). The father archetype is partially defined by the Sun. The father is so important to us because he helps us define our expressive nature, the true self as represented by the Sun in our chart. When Neptune and the Sun commingle, there is confusion — many imaginings about a father who is in some way clouded in the child’s vision.

There is no doubt that for many the pastor of the church serves as a father figure. So, Obama’s selection of Reverend Wright and then Reverend Warren, in whatever capacity, is colored by his undefined relationship with his father.

Will This Continue?
Barack Obama is not known to back down on a decision once it is made. His fixed angles push him in that direction. I don’t believe he will change his mind about the selection of Rick Warren for the inaugural invocation. However, I believe that he has come to see the down side of the choice, and perhaps he will be more cautious about allying himself with someone who is as closed-minded as Warren in the future.

Will he make more, similar mistakes? Inevitably so, but we can hope that this will be confined to areas peripheral to leading the nation, as it has been so far. Ultimately, Neptune contacts lead us to clarity. Obama certainly has developed that in many areas. If his selection of Rick Warren reveals a blind spot, he has shown that he will learn from it much more than we have.