In early April 2015, cyberspace was quite literally a-Twitter with speculation over whether, and when, Hillary Rodham Clinton would announce her second bid for president of the United States. Word was, the proto-campaign had taken a lease on office space in Brooklyn, and after such a weighty step, the FEC requires candidates to announce their honorable intentions within two weeks, so the political chattering classes settled in to await the Big Reveal.
On Friday April 10, Clinton spokespersons turned up the conjuncture to fever pitch with a “pre-announcement” that Hillary had a special statement to make on Sunday. Early reporting pointed to noon, which would have given the campaign’s kick-off (for nobody seriously expected that Hillary would draw the nation’s eye her way just to bow out of the competition) a Void Moon. Either Hillary has an astrologer on staff, or a bout of tardiness intervened, but the announcement was delayed until just before 3 PM, which brought the Moon safely into Aquarius, the sign of the common (hu)man.
And that did seem to be the theme of the web video used to roll out her candidacy, which was the only official “event” of the kick-off, and was not followed by any speechifying or large public appearances (unlike Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio, all of whom made earlier e-style announcements followed by typical rallies). The candidate wasn’t even visible for the first two minutes of the video, which showcased random samplings of every possible Democratic constituency, all avowedly “getting ready” for spring by doing any number of everyday tasks. Finally Hillary pops up, stating that she, too, is getting ready for something—and, spoiler alert: she’s running for president!
A chart set for 2:56 PM at campaign headquarters in Brooklyn, NY has Royal Star Regulus rising, conjunct the 28 Leo Ascendant. Perhaps a bit elitist, despite her “Everyman” theme, but then, the Clintons do qualify as American royalty, don’t they? And we’ve got that egalitarian Aquarian Moon, matching the nation’s own by sign, to back up the sense that this time around, it’s all about us.
There’s a potent Sun/Mercury conjunction in Aries, sign of leadership, which smacks of boldly going where no (wo)man has gone before, straight to the Oval Office. A Sun/Mercury conjunction can help to illumine and focus the message, and keep it authentic, true to the core essence of the entity, whether person or campaign. But upon close inspection, this combination isn’t as good as it seems.
For one thing, the Sun is making its annual conjunction with TNO (Trans-Neptunian Object) Eris at 22 Aries. Not the day before, not the day after—the very day the campaign starts! This is not a great pairing. Eris (named for the Greek goddess whose meddling started the Trojan War) is known for fractious, divisive squabbling, feelings of rejection, antisocial behaviors, and a lack of proper respect, given or received. The Sun here emphasizes these themes, throwing a bright spotlight on them and identifying them as core principles of the campaign.
There’s also a school of thought that sees Eris as a sort of patron saint of the downtrodden, those without a voice, and in that sense, the energy might mesh well with what seems to be the campaign’s focus. But it’s not going to help endear Hillary to anyone, and it could spell serious internecine warfare in the staff.
Making the situation that much worse is the fact that this exact conjunction also falls exactly on another TNO in Hillary’s natal chart—namely Sedna, the celestial body with the longest orbital period of any thus far discovered, about 10,000 years, give or take a millennium. Named for an Inuit goddess who lives in the deepest, most inaccessible part of the Arctic Ocean, Sedna has a reputation for promoting isolation, and can manifest as an “ice princess”, someone viewed as cold, unapproachable, haughty and somewhat petulant.
This feeds into a narrative about Hillary that has gained considerable currency in some political circles, and anything that tends to heighten this character trait is certainly something to avoid. With her Scorpio Sun (and possibly also Scorpio Ascendant, depending which of the multitude of possible birth times one opts for), Hillary is intensely private, and has an outer shell that can seem like hauteur or extreme defensiveness. Sedna brings out this tendency, so having it highlighted in this way by her campaign chart could be problematic for her image.
And making matters that much worse, the Midheaven of the announcement chart falls at 23 Taurus, just one degree off Sedna’s current transit position of 24 Taurus, making it the point of highest elevation in the chart, the focus of attention. Not a good combination (so, OK, maybe she doesn’t have an astrologer advising her!).
Mars is also in stubborn, persevering Taurus, a sign that the campaign will dig in its heels and not accept “no” for a vote. Driven and tenacious, Mars in Taurus may get off to a slow start, as is evidenced by Hillary’s van tour to Iowa and the small venue “listening stops” she engaged in right after the announcement, but it always sees it through to the end. (And about that van; it’s been christened by Clinton as “the Scooby van”, after the popular ‘70s Scooby-Doo crime-solving cartoon; but most of the media seem to have forgotten that the actual name of that van was “the Mystery Machine”—how much more Scorpionic can you get?)
Venus has just entered Gemini and opposes Saturn at 4 Sagittarius. This is a good marker of potential success for the first woman (Venus) chief executive (Saturn), making Hillary appear competent, reliable and trustworthy, if also detracting from her femininity, probably not a bad thing with a certain sexist sector of the electorate, and giving her a more masculine veneer.
It could help to make the campaign one about values, but it also calls into question the quality and stability of her relationships, particularly with her husband. There is also the possibility that the dual quality of Gemini may appear to some as the dreaded “flip-flopping” that can spell the death-knell of any campaign. This could be particularly focused on inconsistent statements regarding money matters, part of Venus’ bailiwick.
Lastly, there’s the issue of campaign finance—Venus with Saturn can imply fiscal solvency issues, but it can also provide a firm financial footing. Reports that the campaign and associated PACs plan to raise up to $2.5 billion for her run may be overblown, but likely not by much, so if there are financial problems with the campaign, they probably stem from the source of the donations, or the way funds are spent.
There is also the possibility that financial dealings (Venus) may prove a block or hindrance (Saturn) to the campaign. In this light, it may be instructive to note that, less than two weeks after her candidacy was announced, word broke of a new tell-all (or imply-all) book, “Clinton Cash”, purporting to lay out a pattern of possible bribery or corruption relating to the interweavings of foreign donations and speaking fees for Bill Clinton and the Clinton Foundation, from governments and individuals with business before the State Department while Hillary was at the helm. It’s speculative, and no overt quid pro quo has been found, but it reeks of conflict of interest, and adds to the entrenched narrative that the Clintons play by different rules than everyone else, and play fast and loose with the truth.
Jupiter is in mid-Leo, veiled in the Twelfth House, and indeed, so far, policy (Jupiter-ruled) has been kept under wraps. The avowed reason for this is so Hillary can learn straight from the horse’s mouth exactly what she can do to help, in her interviews with “ordinary Americans”, but it’s also true that until she commits to a platform, she’s a moving target, harder to hit. Saturn falling in the Fourth House is the ultimate signature of “working from home”, and if there’s a more famous home office than the White House, I haven’t heard of it.
The ever-dominant Uranus/Pluto square, past its final exact aspect but still a force to be reckoned with, comes at us from the Eighth and Fifth Houses. With Uranus in the Eighth, there is a potential for a radical tax policy overhaul, aiming to level the income inequality we’re hearing so much of lately (but this is the Clintons we’re talking about, so don’t get your hopes up too high). The Fifth House rules educational institutions and teachers, and with Pluto here, we may see proposals for a major transformation or overhaul in how we teach our children, perhaps a farewell to the disastrous Bush-era “No Child Left Behind” policy. The Sun is still within orb of Uranus, bringing us back full circle to where we started, with an egalitarian, populist theme to the campaign, and an emphasis on new, high tech promotional methods, already evinced by the solitary online announcement sans any public appearance.
A word can be said about that newly minted Aquarian Moon as well. At 0 degrees of the Sign, it forms a waxing square to Hillary’s natal Sun at 2 Scorpio, a good spur to action. Perhaps more to the point, it’s also the degree where the Sun will be on Inauguration Day 2017, giving the campaign a direct link to the chart of the new administration, one that is emotional, populist and deeply personal.
That’s the basics, but there’s a bit of PNA (Personal-Named Asteroids) activity as well. Asteroid Hillary appears at 5 Capricorn, just entering Pluto’s orb, at 15 Capricorn. Is this a sign of Hillary coming into her personal power (Pluto), or a signal of another devastating loss (also Pluto)? From this degree, asteroid Hillary forms an exact inconjunct to asteroid Whitehouse at 5 Leo, paired with asteroid America at 8 Leo, a nice, succinct grouping to represent the country. This combination is present in all the announcement charts thus far, but Hillary’s is the most exact connection, both by degree and name (Ted Cruz had asteroid Edoardo at 3 Libra in sextile to Whitehouse when he announced; Rand Paul had asteroid Randa at 4 Pisces also in inconjunct; and Marco Rubio had asteroid Rubbia at 6 Gemini in sextile).
This contact from Hillary to Whitehouse reflects an exact natal opposition between the two, with Hillary natally at 5 Virgo and Whitehouse at 5 Pisces, which the current placements activate by semisextile and trine to natal Hillary, inconjunct and sextile to natal Whitehouse. Thus, if we slip the natal Whitehouse degree of 5 Pisces into the transit inconjunct between Whitehouse and Hillary at 5 Leo and Capricorn, we find a temporary Yod, or Finger of Destiny, at the time she made her campaign official. (Not bad, Hill. Maybe she’s got that astrologer working for her after all…) The question would be, as former First Lady and resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, has Hillary already tapped the potential of that natal Hillary/Whitehouse opposition, or is there more in store?
Of course, there’s one more thing to be considered. How does Bill factor into all this? In the announcement chart, there’s one fly in the ointment for that Whitehouse/America conjunction—namely, the presence of asteroids Nemesis and Juno, both at 6 Leo, just a degree away. (Bill’s influence in the campaign can be felt as well in two PNA variants of his given first name of William, with asteroid Wil at 0 Leo encroaching on Whitehouse, and asteroid Williams at 21 Aries with the Sun and Eris.) Will Hillary’s spouse (Juno) prove her undoing (Nemesis) in her run for the presidency (Whitehouse)? Only time will tell….
Alex Miller is a professional writer and astrologer, whose website AlexAsteroidAstrology.com offers a trove of info on the role of asteroids in personal and mundane astrology. He is the author of The Black Hole Book (available on Amazon.com) and The Urban Wicca, former editor of “The Galactic Calendar,” and past president of The Philadelphia Astrological Society. His pioneering work with Black Holes in astrological interpretation began in 1991, when his progressed Sun unwittingly fell into one. Alex’s books and writings are available on his website. Alex can also be reached for comment or services at .
Intriguing as usual, Alex. But your speculation about Bill Clinton is quite interesting. He’s keeping a low profile as of now but will probably become more active in her campaign in a perfectly staged way later on. At least he isn’t acting like Bob Dole who clearly wasn’t 100% percent behind Elizabeth Dole’s attempts a few years back.