Why did President Clinton survive the sex scandal with regards to Monica Lewinsky with job intact and Congressman Anthony Weiner didn’t?
Without question they both lied. And it’s probably not just how Clinton managed to give us that “I did not have sexual relations with that woman…” moment—which while futile in its attempt to redefine oral sex as not being sex was at least grand political theater.
Yes, Clinton went through his scandal with head high. And Anthony Weiner did…quake a bit. Make that more than a bit.
But here are the facts: they both lied and in the end (or wherever), only Clinton actually had sex with the “other woman.” Considering that Americans don’t generally give points for DOING the adulterous deed as opposed to merely sexting and sending out improper pictures, there must be something else which distinguishes these two and tells us why Anthony Weiner ended up resigning and Bill Clinton didn’t. Are their situations astrologically that different?
Yes, they are…and let’s start with the “big stuff.’
Anthony David Weiner (b. September 4, 1964, Brooklyn, NY) began his ill-fated sexting and photo disseminating career on May 27, 2011. This would have been just prior to the June 1 Solar Eclipse at 11 Gemini and on the day when the Sun, moving to hit that 11 Gemini mark, was crossing 5 Gemini, the degree of Weiner’s Nessus.
The eclipse itself was conjunct fixed star Aldebaran (integrity) and in opposition to fixed star Antares with both of these stars being Royal Stars of Persia: fixed stars which promise success IF a certain human attribute can be avoided. In the case of Aldebaran, integrity is the key. With Antares, obsession is to be avoided. But with the Solar Eclipse, what we have is a picture of integrity being “blacked out,” or “occluded” for those who prefer a more technical term. (Click on Anthony Weiner’s astrological chart for a larger view.)
Nessus at 5 Gemini being conjunct Anthony Weiner’s 9 Gemini Aldebaran, that make it part of his “Aldebaran picture” …or challenge. And Nessus is a lusty point, to be sure. The mythical Nessus was a Centaur who conceived of a great lust for the wife of Heracles—better known to some as Hercules. Rather busy being a hero, Hercules has apparently not noticed this. So when a river rises in a sudden flood, Hercules asks if Nessus will bear his beauteous wife across the water—which Nessus agrees to in the proverbial hot moment.
Reaching the other side he attempts to ravish the missus (who in this story seems to be a bit ambiguous about sending Nessus on his way)…and spotting them, Hercules aims a mighty Herculean arrow and dispatches Nessus in one.
As Nessus lies dying, he appears to “repent” for his actions—and this is really the crux of the Nessus story and why it’s so applicable to Anthony Weiner. Appearing to repent, Nessus tells Hercules’ wife to take his blood-soaked cloak, assuring her that if, in a moment of trial, she throws it around her husband, it will protect him from harm.
That’s a lie. The blood of Nessus is poison, and Heracles dies. Yes, he does get taken up to Mount Olympus and is endowed with eternal life (proving it’s always good to have friends in high places!). But first he dies.
The “blacking out” of Aldebaran (integrity) with a Nessus twist was plainly triggered during this run up (and through) the June 1, 2011 eclipse. As of June 21, the date that Vesta (sacred service) went retrograde, Congressman Weiner resigned.
Two interesting notes here. Though we do not have Anthony Weiner’s time of birth, he will have a Leo Moon no matter what time of day he was born. In all likelihood, this turn of Vesta to retrograde would have happened in opposition to that Leo Moon, an apt picture of Weiner’s very self-serving Leo-like “affair,” the fact that his wife had just confirmed the fact that she’s pregnant (Moon as women and Leo as the sign of children)…and how, along with the eclipse, the public turned against Weiner en masse.
Eclipses are social/societal transits—this we know because they can only happen when a new or full moon occurs within a specified distance to the societal/social lunar nodes (the new moon being the solar eclipse and the full moon being the lunar eclipse figure). As ruler of Cancer, the Moon always carries with it—especially in “societal” images—the perspective of “the public” or “the group,” which when you talk about Presidents or members of Congress becomes “the citizenry, ” the people” and/or “the masses.”
For those who like to speculate whether Anthony Weiner has any sort of “public future” to look forward to, we will expect the 3-year solar eclipse “transit” function to unfurl before we really know what’s to become of the now-ex Congressman. But because astrological symbols embody the whole of any given story (often on various levels), we shouldn’t be surprised if he is ultimately helped to “resurrect” his life and image by someone “in a high place” who may well have “eternal power.”
Which brings us to the Bill Clinton side of the story. Born August 19, 1946 in Hope, Arkansas, President William Jefferson Clinton (Bill to most of us) apparently began his infamous affair with Monica Lewinsky on November 15, 1995. The story of said affair did not break until first brought to light by the Drudge Report on January 17, 1998, and then by the Washington Post on the 21st of that same month.
The onset of this affair is most notable for being marked by a Sun semi-sextile Jupiter setting off the finalizing of a five-time Neptune square Jupiter (the making of sacrifices) with Jupiter sextile Chiron (working through something you really don’t feel you know how to do) thrown in—as the saying goes—for kicks. With transiting semi-sextiles always indicating feeling diminished or a blow to the ego, this creates a “classic” male “sex as stress-release” picture. That Mars conjuncted Clinton’s South Node in the natal 3rd as Vesta (sacred service) conjuncted Venus (the ability to make what you want real) on the day prior (November 14)…that adds a suggestion that November 14 was when the tryst was brought up (so to speak), or a date set. (Click on Bill Clinton’s astrological chart for a larger view.)
Did Clinton have reservations? Probably. Juno (domestic leadership) perfected a “troubled thought” inconjunct to Mercury that night as the Sun hit an inconjunct with Clinton’s natal 7th house Sedna. So immaturity with others or seen in others is a factor with Clinton and always will be and here we have him “arguing” with his own issues of leading versus being “led on.” Astrologically, this is a double-header lack of maturity (so to speak…) and like as not, Clinton knew he was acting immaturely with someone immature by nature (Monica was then just 22 years old).
But considering that wherever we see Sedna in a chart we know that person will “self-justify” the right to be immature, act immaturely or focus on OR act with qualities of immaturity, here we can also assume that Bill Clinton has vulnerabilities and Monica Lewinsky knew enough to get him enticed.
And let’s be real here: there isn’t a woman on the planet who doesn’t know the male sex drive acts immature even when the man isn’t. Those who claim not to know that are still—to that degree—just girls. Or maybe breathy Marilyn Monroe ingénue wanna-be’s, one can’t be sure. That “innocent ignorance” women have used as a sexual calling card throughout the ages is as viable today as it was way back when—though the thought of a cavewoman grunting and mincing for her man leaves me personally unmoved.
Each genus to their own.
The story of Clinton’s affair surfacing in early 1998 falls in the breakdown period before the eclipse of February 26 at 7 Pisces. This eclipse will “explode” Clinton’s 6th house cusp of duty which is conjunct Damocles, the signature of “you don’t know how dangerous something is until you get in over your head.” But if that was all we saw in the chart, we would hardly think this to be a national, ye verily international scandal. For things to “go big,” astrology requires more than one marker—death, for instance, is never forecast with less than five markers.
But in this case we do have ample indication that this is going to be a truly “fateful” moment in Clinton’s life. Seven Pisces is not only conjunct his 6th house “line of duty” but also in an exact 6th-house inconjunct to Clinton’s Mercury (7 Leo) and an 8th-house inconjunct to his Neptune/Mars at 6 Libra, producing an infamous figure known as a Yod…or “finger of fate.”
With Clinton’s Mercury in the 10th, this is his status in the world. With his natal Mercury conjunct Saturn (2 Leo) all he has worked for and his very job stature would be at stake. Against this we have that infamous Clinton charm indicated not merely by Mars-Neptune-Ascendant, but in the fact that Diadem (the crowning glory) sits with Mars and Neptune.
It’s obviously gotten Clinton out of many of the ruts that Apollo/Lust (highlighted focus) just behind Clinton’s Ascendant has dug.
The “rule” with a Yod is to “act on” whatever is opposite the “point” and half-way between the arms of the “y”—which in this case is fixed star Thuban (difficulty in communicating) and Hybris (entitlement as a personal right). If Clinton had greeted this whole affair with “this is strictly between my wife and I” it might have gone away (might). But with Thuban and Hybris in the 11th house of his natal chart very much conjunct the 12th (which puts the eclipse just barely in Clinton’s self-willed 5th house conjunct his 6th) he went for the obvious foot-in-mouth position of I did not have sexual relations with that woman.
Big mistake.
Astrologically, it’s interesting to note that during January, 1998 Uranus was moving through 7 and 8 Aquarius, opposing Clinton’s Mercury in moving into Bill’s 5th house of personal pleasures and exercises of will: the picture of internal (5th house) and external (10th house) “breakthroughs” in areas having to do with what his strength of will (the Leo Mercury) can do for him (and the world) against what it can do to him, disrupting his world.
At the same time, Pluto was at 7 Sagittarius (trining Clinton’s Mercury) which gives us that “I did not have…” moment as interesting example of how the negative Neptune/Mercury connection will produce an out-and-out lie, Pluto/Mercury is manipulation. And strangely enough, this may well be our first big indication of why Bill Clinton’s parsing of the definition of sex got him through his crisis. This Pluto/Mercury quality reflects in how the public saw him. Yes, they were disgusted that Bill would attempt to reclassify oral sex and skirt the fringes of fidelity as a concept. But people also got what he was doing…and Bill Clinton’s very human (Mars-Neptune-Ascendant) vulnerabilities. Though politics is ruthless, when you get right down to it, politicians will use almost anything but deep inside they know…like the rest of us know…that we all do really truly stupid things from time to time.
Monica Lewinsky got herself in bigger trouble for denying the relationship—which is an entirely different chart and story. But it did provide a contrast for Clinton who, when called to testify before a Grand Jury, did admit his affair. The date was August 17, 1998 and Pluto was on station at 5 Sagittarius (conjunct Clinton’s 3rd house Edisona ) when the news flash (courtesy of Edisona) broke that Clinton had had the bright idea (Edisona) to tell the truth and thus purge his 3rd house as Pluto was just entering it.
Also on station that day: Sedna. Positioned at 15 Taurus it was exactly astride the zodiac’s first quadrant cross-quarter point, making this a moment of reconciliation with Self.
Maybe more to the metaphysical point here, the August 22 solar eclipse of that year would be at 28 Leo and thus conjunct royal fixed star Regulus and, in Clinton’s chart, Clinton’s Sun. Each of the royal fixed stars promise success IF we avoid one very human (negative) attribute. In the case of Regulus, that attribute is vengeance—and the one thing Clinton never did was blame Monica. Nor did he ever say a disparaging word about wife Hillary—far from it. And that—metaphysically—is one, if not the greatest lesson to draw from this tale.
But there’s one more note to add here. As Anthony Weiner was hitting his personal wall, not only did Bill Clinton’s name come up but it’s pretty safe to say that it’s likely that President Clinton took note of what was going on.
The June 1 solar eclipse at 11 Gemini is in a rather perfect trine with the 11 Libra Venus and 12 Libra Mars of Bill Clinton’s 2010/2011 solar return. With Clinton’s natal Venus also at 11 Libra as is his Mnemosyne (memory), this is surely the telling of a tale very familiar to America’s former President. (Click on Bill Clinton’s astrological solar return chart for a larger view.)
What do we think he thinks of all this? With this year’s Sun in the solar 6th Bill Clinton is probably more focused on what needs doing for the sake of the economy and the people. With Sphinx conjunct his Regulus and both in opposition to Neptune/Chiron in the 12th, we can easily deduce that Clinton thinks Anthony Weiner will survive in the long run. At the same time, he probably feels sorry for all Anthony Weiner is going to go through in order to get there.
With Hera (one’s eternal partner) and House on Clinton’s Ascendant, his own focus remains on what he can do for others and probably all that his own wife Hillary is attempting to do in the world and for her country. Considering that Anthony Weiner’s wife is an aide to Hillary Clinton (and how karmic is that?), if Bill Clinton was going to say anything to Anthony Weiner it probably would include a few words on focusing on who his life partner really is.
There is our public life…our personal life…our private life…and our life as a person. They’re all subtly different, but in the end, happiness is built from the inside out, not vice versa.
And that is what the July 1 solar eclipse in Cancer is really about: realizing that life is built from the inside out and the ground on up. We stand or fall not based on how lofty our goals are, but whether we have dealt with and taken responsibility for our fundamentals.
Boots Hart is an ISAR-certified astrologer of 30 years’ experience, with some 20 years as a magazine and online columnist.
Writer by habit and philosopher by bent (some say very bent…), Boots is a metaphysical science geek spiritualist—a person as inspired by the workings of time/space as touched by the often painful adventures of mankind. Through writings public and private, her aim is to use astrology as cipher, helping us understand. Can we learn how to live a happier life? What does that take? Why are the times as they are? These are the questions. And that answers can be gleaned from cosmic cycles and the reflections of those in our lives? That would seem to be part of our journey—the one path we all take and walk together.
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