Who’s Gonna Win? A Lazy Way to Predict the Outcome of the Presidential Election

By now we can see the widening poll numbers in the presidential race, and it seems like Obama will win. It would be easy to predict then that he will, whether or not I used planetary cycles and configurations to see what is going on from that inner perspective.

But, I predicted that he would win even while McCain was ahead in the polls in early September, and I found it possible to note that “something unfortunate” would happen to McCain between September 8 and 14. The latter date was the one where he said that “the fundamentals of the economy are strong.” This reiterated what his advisor Phil Gramm said about the economic downturn being in people’s heads. (There is a mental aspect to the financial markets, but no one is imagining it when their job is shipped overseas.)

So, how do you see who’s gonna win? Most people look at the candidates’ charts on Election Day. However, as was pointed out to me by Maria Kay Simms, both candidates are strong on Election Day. Their birth charts will be lit up like a Christmas tree. To find out which one is lit up more is a lot more work and carries more chance of error or bias than it needs to. Besides that, what chart do you use? Elections begin days, even weeks, before actual Election Day. If we use the beginning point of an event, what data do we use?

As she points out, why not use the inaugural chart? It has a predictable, set time. And the differences between the contacts to the candidate charts will be greater. One person will be on the dais taking the oath of office, while the other will be no more prominent than a member of the audience. This will be reflected in the number and quality of interconnections between the winner’s chart and the inaugural chart.

The Inaugural Perspective
The inaugural charts are found here.
Here are my findings. I used planetary picture formulae from Rules for Planetary Pictures by Witte-Lefeldt as the foundation for my interpretations. (I = inauguration; N = natal)

Obama’s “Hits”
• rejection, denial, destruction, infection [Mars(SA) conj. Neptune(N)]
• public eye on him, “the whole world’s watching” [Moon(I) conj. MC(N)]
• acclaim [Merc Rx/Sun/Jupiter(I) conj. Jupiter(N)]
• to feel a burden, to take over a duty [MC(I) conj. Saturn(N)] - same every inauguration
• increased workload and effort [Saturn(I) conj. Mars(N)]
• change in relationships, social circle, life with kids [Pluto(I) opp. Venus(N)]
• happy family life disrupted for unrelated and understandable reasons [Pluto(I) yod to Moon & Merc(N)]
• abrupt change [Uranus(I) opp. Mars(N)]
• karmic/destined role of leadership [S-Node(I) conj. Sun(N)]/triggered by eclipse 8/1
• many angular planets in return charts for the year; planets on 3 angles in year-long return

McCain’s “Hits”
• deep emotions, feelings of powerlessness [IC(I) conj. Pluto] - same every inauguration
• transformation of destiny [Pluto(I) conj. N-Node(N)]
• sudden separation [Uranus(I) conj. Saturn(N)], chronic illness [Saturn(I) conj. Neptune(N)]; hindered inclinations, love’s sorrow [Saturn(I) conj. Venus(N)]
• destined focus on effort/workload [S-Node(I) conj. Mars(N)] exact ~11/20
• no contact to his MC/IC
• no contact to his Sun
• Return charts:
• solar return (8/29): Moon in Leo on Asc opp. S-Node/Chiron/Neptune on Dsc [choice of wounded or debilitating running mate]
• 1st quarti-return (11/28, under which inauguration takes place): Pluto conj. IC [dramatic transformation in status, buried underground]

Biden’s “Hits”
• to feel a burden, to take over a duty [Saturn(I) conj. MC(N)]
• journeying, social gatherings at home [IC(I) conj. Jupiter(N)]
• destiny bringing a great (personal) transformation [S-Node(I) conj. Pluto(N)]
• public eye on him [Moon(I) conj. Sun-Venus(N)]
• activation of his career & acclaim [Mars(I) trine MC(N)]
• help from unusual women [Venus-Uranus(I) trine Merc trine Jupiter - grand trine]

Palin’s “Hits”
• focus on her “colorful” family, in the public eye [Merc-Sun-Jupiter(I) conj. Merc/Moon(N)] - same every inauguration
• wounded, overlooked, rejected, denial [Chiron-Neptune(I) conj. Sun-Mars-Saturn(N)]
• partnership in obscurity, rejected, denied [DSC(I) conj. Neptune(N)]

I did not examine the return charts for the VP candidates. As you can see, there are much better key phrases for Obama’s contacts at the inauguration, and this tells me that he will be the winner.

There is one more thing to mention. There is a First Quarter Moon on the evening after the election (11/5). The chart for this lunar event, cast for Washington DC, has (very nearly) the degree of Obama’s Sun rising in the chart. The vice-presidential chart results support this finding.

There are many obstacles to Obama being declared the winner, the greatest of which is the concerted effort by Republicans of many stripes to institutionalize ways to disenfranchise Democratic voters. In some swing states, enough may have been disenfranchised through various means to change the electoral result. For more on this and what to do about it, see Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Greg Palast’s article, “Block the Vote”, posted today (although it says October 30, 2008 on the article). I had more to say about this in my post, “Will Election Fraud Change the Vote Again?”, and I will keep you updated in future posts.

This is another reason to use the inauguration chart. If we can’t rely on the person actually winning the election to be inaugurated, we are more assured of a correct prediction when looking at this chart.

Steal Back Your Vote: How to Make Sure Your Vote Counts

With the Saturn-Uranus opposition becoming exact on Election Day, I have long been predicting that election fraud would be a threat, perhaps a big threat, to the validity of our election.

A new article covering the problems in detail can be found at Rolling Stone. “Block the Vote”, by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast, defines the problem but doesn’t give us the remedies (one of my pet peeves about modern journalism). However, on their website, stealbackyourvote.org, they give the remedies — if you dig deeply enough. They have a print or pdf comic book and a movie. I got bored with the movie before I got the information I wanted, but in the back of the comic book, the following information is given. Here’s what to do to make sure your vote counts. Websites and phone numbers to other vote protection groups and initiatives are given below. PASS THIS AROUND TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. This information should go viral so everyone knows about it and makes sure they get a chance to vote.

****************** From stealbackyourvote.org **********************

1. Don’t Don’t DON’T Mail In Your Ballot
For those of you who mailed in your ballot, please tell me, what happened to it? You don’t know, do you? I can tell you that officially, three-fourths of a million absentee ballots were never counted last time, on the weakest of technical excuses. And you won’t even know it. Furthermore, tens of thousands of ballots are not mailed out to voters in time to return them—in which case you’re out of luck. In most states, new voters must now include a photocopy of your ID. Which is, like, nuts. Every time I hear of a voter going “absentee” to avoid computer screens, I want to “go postal” myself.

2. Vote Early...very early
Every state now lets voters cast ballots in designated polling stations and at county offices in the weeks before Election Day. Do it. Don’t wait until Election Day to find out you have the wrong ID, your registration’s “inactive,” or you’re on a challenge list. By Election Day, there’s little to do but hold up the line.

3. Register and Register and Register
Think you’re registered to vote? Think again. With all this purg’n going on, you could be x’d out and you won’t know it. Check online at www.votersunite.org/info/RegInfo.asp. Then register your girlfriend, your wife, your mailman and your mommy. Contact the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Rock the Vote, and your local party organization, and commit to a couple of days of door-to-door registration, especially in minority neighborhoods or at social service agency offices. And if you’ve served the time, you can sign: in almost every state, ex-cons can vote.

4. Vote Unconditionally, Not Provisionally
In 2008, they’ll be handing out provisional ballots like candy, especially to Hispanic voters. If your right to vote is challenged, don’t accept a provisional ballot that will likely not get counted no matter what the sweet little lady at the table tells you. She won’t decide; partisan sharks will. Demand adjudication from poll judges on the spot; demand a call to the supervisor of elections; or return with acceptable ID if possible. And be a champ: defend the rights of others. If you’ve taken Step 1 above and voted early, you have Election Day free to be a poll watcher. Run into trouble— you’ve been caged or purged or challenged—call Election Protection at 1-(866) OURVOTE. Then challenge the challengers, the weird guys with Blackberrys containing lists of “suspect” voters. Be firm, but no biting.

5. Occupy Ohio, Invade Nevada
The revolution will not be podcast. Let go of that mouse, get out of your PJs and take the resistance door-to-door—to register the vote, to canvass the voters, to get out the vote. Donate time to your union (if you’re not in a union, why not?) or to the troublemakers I’ve already listed here and on our site. This may seem a stupendously unoriginal suggestion, but I know of no other method more effective for confronting the armed and dangerous junta that has seized the White House.

6. Date a Voter
Voting, like bowling and love, should never be done alone. As our sponsor, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, says, make a date to ‘Arrive with Five.’ And keep this comic book in your holster - with our 800 numbers and your photo ID in your hand. And Bobby, make sure your ID says, “Robert Kennedy JUNIOR” or your vote is toast.

7. Make the Democracy Demand: No Vote Left Behind!
I have this crazy fantasy in my head. In it, an election is stolen and the guy who’s wrongly declared the loser stands up in front of the White House and says three magic words: “Count the votes.” You can have all the paper ballots in the world, but if you don’t demand to look at them, publicly, in a recount, you might as well mark them with invisible ink. Democracy requires vigilance The Day After. That’s when you check in at www.stealbackyourvote.org one more time.

JOIN THE INSURGENCY VISIT: StealBackYourVote.org

*********************

Find out when you can vote, how late you can register, and other critical information from the National Association of Secretaries of State: (Click on the link or cut and paste this URL.)

http://nass.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=149&Itemid=330http://nass.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=149&Itemid=330

Usually you must check with your local registrar of voters to see if you are registered to vote. You can learn more about it at:
http://www.canivote.org/

The largest vote protection group: http://www.866ourvote.org/

Common Cause: Holding Power Accountable

This is a vote protection and documentation project mentioned by Bill Moyers on Bill Moyers’ Journal on Friday (10/17/08):
http://www.videothevote.org/

Election Protection: 1-(866) OURVOTE - call if you may be prevented from voting before or on Election Day (caging, purging, or challenge).

Other numbers:

• Call 1-866-MY-VOTE-1 (698-6831) to report voting problems.
• Call 1-800-OUR-VOTE (687-8683) if you need legal help
• Call 1-877-SEIU-VOTE (734-8868) to find your polling place, report any problems at the polls, or speak with your local board of election.
  

Bill Moyers' voter information and protection page.

Info from the Center for American Progress's Campus Progress Blog.

For the latest on voter issues, see the videos on VideotheVote and YouTube. Watch the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC and Bill Moyers’ Journal. Read Loser Take All by Mark Crispin Miller (ed.) or see the interview with him on Bill Moyers' Journal 10/17/08. Let me know about other links and groups, and I’ll post them on Astro-Pol.

Why Do Investors Remain Unconvinced? And Ideas on Who Knows What to Do About It

What’s with those investors anyway? You give them a $700 billion bailout, and they still insist on pulling their money out of the stock market! MAN! How’s that for ungrateful?

So what’s it really about? What can we point to planetarily speaking that could be behind the drop in the stock market?

Let’s start with Mercury retrograde. When Mercury turns around, it focuses energy in a narrow band of the zodiac, this time in Libra. Now, Mercury goes retrograde three times each year for only 3 weeks at a shot. Why hasn’t this type of economic event happened before?

Mercury Is the Messenger.
It’s all in Mercury’s connections. What does it connect to in the heavens while it is retrograde? And for our nation, what does it connect to in the US chart? Here’s where the plot thickens. There are actually four planetary events that to me precipitated the economic crisis. I say “precipitate” because if the economy were sound, this would not be happening. It is human error that has brought it on, not Mercury or any of his compadres.

First Event: Mercury to the US Saturn (and Friends).
In the version of the US chart that I use (the one rectified by KT Boehrer and Zip Dobyns using historical data), Mercury tracks across the US house of the treasury (the 2nd) and triggers the most challenging configuration of the US chart, which covers all the zones of financial stability in the US chart (the fixed houses). Principle among these contacts is the direct hit to Saturn, which falls in the house of the treasury. Its hits to the US chart occur(red) on Sept. 8, 10, 16, 18, 29, 30 and Oct. 5, 7, 15, 23, 25, 29, 30. They are so continuous that they blur into each other, especially when you consider that other planets (principally Sun and Moon) will be in regular contact as well.

Second Event: Saturn Opposing Uranus
I have spoken about this before. It signals a shake-up of the system (any and every) that occurs over two years (through July 2010).

Third Event: Pluto Entering Capricorn
When planets go into Capricorn, they find their natural limits and so do we humans. This is what is occurring now in a big way, because it is Pluto. Woven into the financial situation is the rising cost of fossil fuels and gasoline (petrol), both monetarily and to the planet. Global warming and limitations on supply due to depletion and political instability in key nations add to the complexity. Pluto will be in Capricorn for 16 years, giving us a time frame for working this out.

Fourth Event: Uranus Squaring Pluto
Back in the 60s, Uranus and Pluto started a new cycle when they conjoined in Virgo. This cycle, which lasts approximately either 112 or 142 years, is up for its next big passage in 2010-2015. If the ecological movement was born at the time of the conjunction, it must become fully active now. Only when we have come to terms with how the world will function free of fossil fuels will the economy of any area be truly robust.

When Is It Over?
We can see why the stock market isn’t responding yet: There are too many factors to take in during this adjustment period; it’s too much too soon. But what’s the future prognosis? Since Mercury is involved, there will be a shift on and after October 15. My best forecast at this time is that the stock market will level off then and stay at a relative plateau for at least a few days. This could be the bottom. There will be tests of its resilience on the 23rd, 25th, 29th, and 30th. If we make it through those days without a drop in the averages, we’ll remain at that plateau for at least a few more days. Another critical period is November 4 (even if the election weren’t on that day). Obviously, the election will affect it. What the stock market will most fear is no outcome at all, so officials at all levels of government will be straining to produce a swift outcome. This could be undermined by election (NOT voter) fraud such as caging and threatening voters.

Because so many other factors are involved, we know that this won’t be over then. The powers that be are only beginning to understand the tangled mess they’ve created over the past 30 years. There’ll be another test December 5-15. If those in charge have taken the right actions by then, this may prove to be anti-climactic. No matter what, the situation will take careful handling and determined vigilance while a new economic policy, if not a new theory, is developed over the next two years and implemented over the following 14 years.

By the Way . . .
This event shows up in the chart of New York City (consolidation of the 5 boroughs, 1/1/1898, 0:01 AM). This chart has Mars conjunct Venus at 29 degrees Sagittarius, which Pluto has been transiting since late December last year. The “toxic explosion of greed” has led to the transformation of this financial capital. I joke that Sagittarius’s mantra is, “Only too much is enough”. It surely applies here. As new regulations are put in place, as a new economic system is built from the ground up, New York will surely also be transformed in yet another way.

There IS a Way Out.
There is a way out, and there are people who know what to do. When so many people do not, these people will be sought out and heard eventually. It is good to know that Obama has several of these people on his transition team already. It helps if we are better informed so that we can add our opinions as the vox populi. Listen to Paul Krugman (he also appears regularly on MSNBC), George Soros, and Thom Hartmann for wisdom on what we need to do to recover.

Will Election Fraud Change the Vote Again?

It’s important to be aware of the stealth issue of this election: election fraud. This is not the same as “voter fraud”, where people fraudulently cast a vote. (Voter fraud is virtually nonexistent.) Election fraud is where groups or individuals try to prevent eligible voters from voting or from their votes being counted. Although it has always been an issue (with neither major party innocent), this has been a rampant problem beginning in 2000.

There are many sources of information on election fraud tactics that are being used as we speak, but for a sobering and realistic report, listen to yesterday’s Fresh Air episode, where Terry Gross interviewed fired US Attorney David Iglesias, Zach Stahlberg of Philadelphia’s Committee of Seventy, and Common Cause’s election fraud expert Tova Wang.

This is the situation I have been most concerned about with the Saturn-Uranus opposition becoming exact on Election Day. The forces of the status quo are pitted against the forces of change, and it could get nasty. Oppositions are aspects of separation, and separation breeds fear. Fear breeds conflict (and greed). These are factors in the behavior we are seeing to prevent the sea change in government that is desired, expected, and should occur. This is what could delay the outcome of the election.

Watch the Senate Races.
In particular, this could significantly alter the outcome of several senate races, enough to prevent a change in the balance of power in the US Senate. With the way that the rules are being played now by the Republicans, the Democrats need a majority of 60 to pass bills there. Unless there is a return to "reaching across the aisle" on the part of the Republicans for the sake of the country, the Democrats must have 60 in their caucus to be able to accomplish the sweeping changes that are needed to bail us all out of the myriad difficulties we now face, from environmental reform to energy independence to regulation of the financial sector.

Reaching the golden number of 60 is a bit iffy anyway. But if the outcome in several close races, say the one between Norm Coleman and Al Franken, were to be tampered with in some way, we could end up with 59. If the election is fair, then so be it. But if the result is stolen, it denies the American people their rights in a profound way. We'll all --- perhaps everywhere on the planet --- lose if this occurs.

To track the senate races, go to fivethirtyeight.com. They have the most thorough tracking of all the races that I've seen.

Delayed Outcomes?
In a state with a Democratic Secretary of State, an outcome to many races may be delayed until all the votes are counted or taken into account in a fair manner. The focus will be on the battleground or swing states, such as Ohio. Ohio has made massive changes to their voting law, and their Secretary of State is on top of what’s going on. However, in Michigan all sorts of shenanigans are being attempted, such as disenfranchising people who are in foreclosure, even though this is against the law.

It’s clear that the majority of people want a change in government in every area possible. If the election results do not reflect the people’s wishes, there could be turmoil following the election. I’m hoping that the higher angels of our collective nature rule and bring us a fair outcome.

However, this is a “trust in God but tie your camel” type of situation. We all need to be aware of such possibilities and do whatever we can to make sure people know the law and vote. The New York Times is tracking this issue very assiduously. For a recent synopsis of the issues, see their article. There is a follow-up article from AP today refuting the claims in the Times article.