[Editor’s note: we are delighted to publish this article by Alex Miller, with thanks to Alex and his website, Alex’s Asteroid Astrology, an incomparable resource for asteroid-related astrology. There you’ll find in-depth astrological analyses of breaking events, as well as the astrological meanings of many mythic named asteroids.]
If you thought things could only get better in the Trump administration, that we’d reached the nadir, think again. An ongoing, protracted square from asteroid Troemper, our celestial referent for the President, to angry, quarrelsome Mars seems to be eliciting even worse behaviors than we’ve already become accustomed to.
Mars’ slowdown to its station in late August is the culprit here, allowing the normally slower-moving Troemper to catch it up and perform a pernicious, petty, provocative pas de deux as summer stretched into autumn. Coming to within ten degrees of each other as of August 20, the two have been resonant within five degrees since September 1, a state of affairs which endures through the end of November. They then continue within ten degrees until the Winter Solstice on December 21.
A Mars square can manifest as very bad behaviors indeed—yelling, quarrelsome, fractious, aggressive, bullying, petty, abusive, short-tempered, lashing out—you name it, if it’s an unpleasant human interaction, it likely has Martian roots. But it can have an upside as well, in increased energy and vitality.
Frequently exactly squared to the degree from mid-September through late October, this Troemper/Mars contact initially seemed to energize Trump, who flew to more than two dozen campaign rallies for Senate candidates in the midterm elections during that period, exhorting his base’s support in increasingly harsh and fantastical rhetoric. Trump’s resorting to ever-escalating lies and exaggerations regarding the threats from the Democratic agenda and a slow-motion humanitarian crisis of Central American refugees, as well as his political maneuver to deploy thousands of troops to the US southern border to defend against the nonexistent danger, can all be sourced to Mars, ruling divisive, fractious speech and the military. Nevertheless, this was a stunning physical performance for an overweight septuagenarian with a fast food habit, and to his credit, Trump pulled it off with almost superhuman endurance and stamina, fueled by Mars’ insatiable fires.
But that kind of wear and tear, coming into daily contact with uncensored Martian energy, takes a toll on any mere mortal, and as October waned and the election drew near, Trump was visibly flagging, holding himself together through sheer willpower alone. It was the midterm results, and his obvious rejection by voters, that seem to have cemented the shift from warrior championing a cause to peevish martyr churlishly lashing out at everyone in sight. With outrageous tweets about electoral fraud, vote tabulation fraud, mysterious vaudevillian voters who quick-changed guises to cast multiple ballots, and poll worker collusion favoring Democrats, Trump’s bizarre perspective even on still-uncalled races Republicans were likely to win, would have been laughable if they didn’t proceed from the stubby fingers and warped imagination of the 45th President of the United States.
Part of Trump’s plummet from the heights was induced by asteroid Narcissus, which came to oppose Troemper in early November. Narcissus of course has special resonance with Trump’s personality and his childish need to be the constant center of attention, and the opposition (plus those adulation-laden rallies) fed and inflated his sense of self-importance, only to have it come crashing down to reality when the mind-numbing realization of his unpopularity was brought home to him in stark relief by the GOP losses in the election. And as with any child, if attention can’t be achieved through positive behaviors, negative behaviors will do as well.
The crisis seems to have come at the end of election week, when the magnitude of Trump’s loss was beginning to sink in, and just as he prepared to embark on a visit to Paris to honor the centennial of the armistice which ended World War I. Trump, never one to play nice with the media, had already pulled the White House press credentials from CNN reporter Jim Acosta, who had ruffled the presidential coiffure, on the Wednesday.
Now, as he addressed a press gaggle while preparing to board his helicopter on Friday morning, November 9, Trump excoriated another CNN reporter, Abby Phillip, who had asked if he was expecting newly appointed Acting AG Matt Whitaker to curb Mueller’s investigation: “What a stupid question that is. What a stupid question. But I watch you a lot. You ask a lot of stupid questions.”
The temper tirade continued in flight, when British Prime Minister Theresa May called to congratulate Trump on Republican wins in the midterms. Perhaps the President, who had been obsessively watching press coverage as late election returns came in and ever more congressional seats slipped from GOP grasp while the Blue Wave kept rolling in, thought that May was taunting him. Or perhaps the Mars square prevented him from even attempting to gloss over his notorious misogyny and innate irritability. He verbally lashed out at May, abusing her on British Iran policy, her attempts to grapple with enacting Brexit, and nascent trade deals with Europe.
On Saturday, Trump failed to attend a memorial service for US servicemen who had died in World War I, at an American cemetery 50 miles outside Paris, citing the rain and Secret Service objections to flying. He remained sulking in the US embassy, fuming over the negative coverage of his decision to give the memorial a miss, attempting to portray his absence as concern for the traffic hardships a presidential motorcade to the site would entail.
On Sunday, Trump was rhetorically gob-smacked in a speech by French President Emmanuel Macron, who called out the dangers of equating nationalism with patriotism. This was an explicit rejection of Trump’s political philosophy, though he forbore from identifying the US president by name. Macron characterized nationalism as “a betrayal of patriotism,” decrying the “selfishness of nations only looking after their own interests.… By putting our own interests first, with no regard to others, we erase the very thing that a nation holds dearest, and the thing that keeps it alive: our moral values.”
Later that day, a disgruntled Trump flew home to the White House, where he stewed and sulked some more on the Monday, Veterans Day, refusing to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider in Arlington National Cemetery, breaking a presidential tradition extending at least as far back as JFK.
What to make of all this astrologically? Why did these four individuals come under special scrutiny, either as foils or foes, as the Troemper-Mars square progressed? As always, PNAs (Personal-Named Asteroids) tell the tale.
Let’s begin with Jim Acosta, the CNN reporter whose questioning on the day after the election brought out the beast in Trump. Their altercation on November 7 was precipitated by Acosta’s questioning of Trump’s campaign rhetoric in “demonizing” immigrants, the migrant “caravan”, which Trump styled as “an invasion”, and his deployment of the military to the border. Pressed to explain the urgency he assigned to the caravan, Trump advised Acosta to “let me run the country”, told him to sit down, and briefly paced the floor in agitation as Acosta continued to press his questions, repeatedly asserting “That’s enough!” Trump expanded upon his pot-kettle routine by stating that Acosta was “rude” and treated people “horribly.”
Asteroid Acosta at 26 Cancer was trine to Troemper at 23 Scorpio, and bringing out that square to Mars at 24 Aquarius by inconjunct. Asteroid James, too, set a match to the kindling, as from 22 Libra it was semisextile Troemper and trine Mars, as well as opposing provocative Uranus at 29 Aries, in a T-Square with Acosta and evoking Trump’s volatile outbursts.
CNN is a recurrent target for Trump, and on Friday it was reporter Abby Phillip’s turn to irritate the Bully-in-Chief. Trump chose to characterize Abby’s question as “stupid” and asserted that she often makes such utterances. Phillip is African American, and Trump seems to reserve special ire for black women, frequently clashing with April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks, PBS’ Yamiche Alcindor (whom he accused of asking a “racist” question at that same press conference with Acosta), and Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), whom he has also portrayed as “low IQ”.
Asteroid Abbe (for Abby) at 28 Leo was T-Squaring Troemper/Mars, while asteroid Philippa (for Phillip) at 7 Taurus conjoined asteroid Whitehouse at 10 Taurus (the venue for the confrontation, as Trump prepared to board Marine One), and was also activated by Uranus.
Trump has a problem with women in positions of authority, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Secretary of State and presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, but he’s been especially hard on British Prime Minister Theresa May. His cranky, peevish harangue directed at May from mid-air may stem from the simultaneous celestial acknowledgement of her personal power, with asteroid May at 2 Capricorn conjoined authoritative Saturn at 5 Cap, and asteroid Teresa at 15 Cancer, opposing powerful Pluto at 19 Capricorn. Asteroid Theresia, another suitable variant, falls at 0 Libra, squaring Saturn and doubling down on that connection, which may also have caused Trump to feel chastened or criticized. Teresa, which is also an embedded point approaching its retrograde station just four days later, thus increasing its importance at the time, is also sesquiquadrate Mars, rubbing more salt into that wound.
But whereas these three found themselves on the receiving end of Trump’s ill humor, it was French President Emmanuel Macron who stood up to the would-be tyrant. This may be sourced to asteroid Emanuela at 16 Capricorn, which conjoined Pluto, a point which always occupies the dominant position, while Emanuelli at 1 Virgo found itself in an out-of-sign T-Square with Troemper/Mars, now at 24 Scorpio and 27 Aquarius respectively. Asteroid Macon, (Macron without the “r”) also appears in opposition to Troemper from 18 Taurus, and oppositional pushback was just what Macron voiced.
But it’s not just people who were highlighted in the heavens during Trump’s Veterans’ Day weekend meltdown. We might rename Paris his “City of Slights”, as the Commander-in-Chief passed on the opportunity to honor US soldiers who died in foreign lands by visiting the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in Belleau, France. Asteroid Paris at 1 Libra was squared Saturn, the act of refusal or withholding, at 5 Capricorn, with a spotlighting Sun at 19 Scorpio, still within orb of Troemper, in semisquare to both Paris and Saturn.
Incredibly, there are asteroids for both Belleau, the town where the cemetery lies, and Marne, part of its name (commemorating the 1914 battle which halted the first German offensive against France). And even more incredibly, both aspect Troemper/Mars! Belleau at 24 Aries is inconjunct Troemper, sextile Mars, and sandwiched between controversial, convention-disdaining Uranus at 29 Aries and discordant, grievance-driven Eris at 23 Aries; while Marne at 29 Cancer reinforces this energy, trine Troemper and inconjunct Uranus.
Not to be outdone, the cosmos obliges with the elegant simplicity of asteroid Graves, which encompasses both the French and later Arlington military veteran snubs. At 26 Pisces, Graves trines Troemper and is semisextile Uranus, while itself also at station, turning direct on November 15, its embedded stance showing the importance of the cemetery venues in Trump’s neglectful, disrespectful posture at that time. Asteroid Arlington defines the precise locale of the shocking breach with presidential Veterans’ Day tradition, in failing to acknowledge whatsoever the ultimate sacrifice of American servicemen. At 11 Leo, Arlington exactly trines Mercury, news of the day, at 11 Sagittarius, while also squaring Whitehouse at 10 Taurus, in this instance acting as a celestial stand-in for the President. Arlington is also exactly sesquiquadrate Graves, itself semisquare Whitehouse.
Not a good showing for the putative Leader of the Free World, spewing invective and acrimony at the press and world leaders alike. But then, we need to recall that Trump had just had a massive dose of reality, not at all to his liking, in the form of that colossal rejection by the American people in the midterm elections, and a stern rebuke from a fellow head-of-state he once considered a friend. That Tin-Pot Dictator dream must seem miles away.…
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 .
Leave a Reply