On Friday, July 15, Donald Trump tweeted his choice of running mate: Indiana Governor Mike Pence. As with all things Trump, considerable drama accompanied the event.
A live announcement had been scheduled for that morning at 11:00 in New York, but Trump seemed discomfited the day before by reporting that he had sent his plane for Pence, thus earmarking him for the selection before he’d made it official. That night the Bastille Day atrocity in Nice, France, intervened, and Trump decided to postpone the event until Saturday, “out of respect.”
Instead, he tweeted the choice himself, shortly before the original announcement was scheduled. The official presentation came on Saturday, with Trump barely mentioning his running mate during his half-hour introductory speech, then leaving the stage when Pence spoke. All good; nothing to see here.
Born 7 June 1959, Pence is a fellow Gemini, doing nothing to balance the ticket astrologically, though he does seem to have a better ability to focus than Trump, whose Sun/Uranus conjunction, allied to easily distracted Gemini energy, can make him seem like a mentally peripatetic, unbalanced, perpetual motion machine.
Pence’s communication skills are more integrated, with the 16 Gemini Sun conjunct Mercury. An exact opposition from Mercury to asteroid Memoria at 22 Sagittarius grants good recall and a capacity to think fast on his feet, quickly utilizing past experience and a wealth of stored data as he crafts his responses. This polarity overlays Trump’s Sun/Moon opposition, perhaps helping The Donald to focus his thoughts and balance his emotions with reasoned logic. Then again …
Also in the solar mix is asteroid Eurydike at 19 Gemini, which represents a sense of loss, harking back to a past which is now gone beyond hope of recall. This says much about Pence’s conservatism, which seeks to reclaim a golden era that never truly existed, except in perception. Asteroid Niobe is here as well, at 20 Gemini, suggesting that Pence can be prideful, perhaps to his detriment. Asteroid Michelle, the French female equivalent of Michael, closely conjoins the Sun from 15 Gemini, a common placement for one’s own PNAs, while asteroid Penza’s square from 18 Virgo suggests that this point might make a suitable celestial referent for “Pence.”
Pence’s geographic emphasis is represented also, in the form of a solar conjunction with asteroid Indiana at 18 Gemini, the state where he was born and raised, lived his entire life, and which he represented in Congress for 12 years, then headed as governor since 2013. Indiana is a very strong part of his central core, and it is perhaps appropriate that, as its governor, he is in some sense its very embodiment.
Last in the solar stellium is a broad conjunction with asteroid Troemper, representing Trump himself, at 24 Gemini. This carries the potential, from birth, that someone of that, or a similar, name could play a pivotal role in Pence’s life at some point, for good or ill.
Squaring the Sun, and part of a grouping including Penza, are asteroids Whitehouse and Washingtonia, at 13 and 14 Virgo. Clearly, Pence’s pull toward the nation’s capital is a strong one, and in fact, he spent a dozen years there as an Indiana Representative, but the presence of Whitehouse here suggests that there may be a Chapter Two for Pence, should he and Trump win the presidency in November. Exact with Penza is asteroid Aphrodite, governing affairs of the heart. Pence, a fundamentalist born-again Christian, has a squeaky-clean reputation, but Aphrodite here suggests that at some point in his Washington sojourn, there may have been illicit goings-on, or that there may be in the future, should he return to DC.
Squaring Mercury from 25 Pisces is asteroid Kassandra, granting Pence a certain credibility of speech and opinion, a sense that he can be trusted to keep his word. This also squares Trump’s Sun, and in fact Pence was chosen to shore up Trump’s credentials with both fundamentalist Christians, who count the Indiana governor as one of their own, and the Republican establishment, who accept Pence’s conservative bona fides without question. Whether this pick garners any support from independents or those not already firmly in the GOP camp remains in some doubt.
As just noted, Pence self-identifies as a born-again Christian. Raised in the Catholic faith, he underwent a conversion experience in college, and although he continued to attend Mass for years, he and his family now worship at an unaffiliated evangelical “megachurch.” Unsurprisingly, he is consistency anti-choice, anti-gay, and pro-gun. In 2015 he signed into law Indian’s controversial “Religious Freedom Restoration Act”, which would allow private businesses to refuse to serve persons whose lifestyles they object to, on religious grounds. Widely seen as a backlash to the Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same sex marriage, corporate and popular condemnation of the act was so severe, Pence was forced to sign a revision to the law just a week later, specifically exempting LGBT individuals from this discrimination.
Asteroid Christian at 11 Taurus combines with asteroid Sappho and TNO Varuna, both a 15 Taurus, an indication that an integral part of Pence’s legacy (Varuna) would be his religiously-based stance (Christian) on LGBT issues (Sappho). A broad trine from asteroid Fanatica at 17 Cancer to Jupiter at 24 Scorpio suggests there may be something of the zealot to Pence. Fanatica is also closely semisextile the 16 Gemini Sun.
Natal Saturn at 5 Capricorn doubles down on the conservative bent, and was energized by two Lunar Eclipses over the past year, each in T-Square, signaling the change in career (until he was chosen as Trump’s VP, he faced an uncertain re-election bid as Indiana governor, so likely a change was coming regardless). Saturn ties to the US chart by exact opposition to the nation’s Jupiter, ruling politics, seamlessly aligning Pence with the GOP, and the US Venus close by at 3 Cancer confirms Pence’s “budget hawk” reputation, with Saturn seeking to trim finances where it can.
Pence and his wife Karen have been married over 30 years, and have three children. Asteroid Karen at 7 Aquarius in Pence’s natal chart opposes his Venus/Mars conjunction at 0 and 4 Leo, as well as asteroid Hera, representing spouses, at 9 Leo.
When Trump picked Pence as his running mate on July 15, asteroid Penza at 19 Pisces exactly opposed transit Jupiter at 19 Virgo, which was conjoined by asteroid Michela, another variant of “Michael”, at 16 Virgo. This reflects an augmentation or increase in Pence’s reputation, social standing or political profile. This polarity T-Squares Pence’s natal Sun, further personalizing these energies to the Indiana governor in particular. Asteroid Michel (the French male equivalent of “Michael”) at 20 Cancer conjoined the 23 Cancer Sun (itself exactly on Trump’s natal Saturn), indicating general prominence on that day for individuals resonating to that name.
On Election Day, asteroid Penza at 9 Pisces exactly conjoins transit Neptune. As the Veep candidate, this is not determinative of an outcome, but it does look like a day of personal disappointment for Mike Pence.
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 .