–Nancy Pelosi, first female Speaker of the US House of Representatives

Nancy Pelosi’s career is studded with famous “Firsts.” The first female Minority Whip in either House of Congress, the first female Majority Leader, and now, the first female Speaker of the US House of Representatives and third in succession to the presidency.

Born 26 March 1940, Pelosi was raised in an atmosphere permeated with politics. Her father, Thomas d’Alessandro Junior, was a US Representative and mayor of Baltimore; her brother was mayor as well. Pelosi is the youngest of six children, and has five of her own; she met her husband, Paul Pelosi, at Trinity College in Washington DC, and after graduation they relocated to his home town of San Francisco. Until her youngest daughter was a senior in high school, Pelosi kept a low profile in politics, but then began a rise in Democratic circles which resulted in her leadership of the Northern California division of the Party.

Pelosi cultivated a close relationship with Party leader and 5th District Congressman Phillip Burton in the ‘80s. Upon his death in 1984 he was succeeded by his wife Sala, and when she died soon after her second swearing in, in February 1987, Pelosi won a special election to fill her seat. The District was renumbered the 8th in 1993, and Pelosi has been its representative ever since.

Pelosi, whose district is safely Democratic, has spent much of her campaign time in Congress working for others. She has served on the Appropriations and Intelligence committees, as ranking Democratic member on the latter for two years. In 2001 she was elected first female House Minority Whip, as Dick Gephardt’s number two. When Gephardt resigned his leadership role in 2002 to run for President, Pelosi succeeded him as House Minority Leader. Following the Democratic take-over of the House in the November 2006 elections, Pelosi was chosen as Speaker-elect for the new 110th Congress, set to convene January 3.

Pelosi’s legislative record is mixed, but she has generally come down firmly on the left. She supported the Unborn Victims of Violence Act in 2001, which made it a federal crime to commit violence against a pregnant woman, resulting in the loss of the fetus. However she opposed a follow-up measure in 2004 which sought to separate the one act into two crimes, one against the mother and one against the fetus, rightly understanding that this legislation was actually an attempt to enhance the legal status of unborns, with a long view toward overturning Roe v. Wade.

Like the rest of a cowed Congress, she voted for the USA PATRIOT Act in the aftermath of 9/11, but voted against the Iraq Resolution authorizing the President to wage war in Iraq. She has been a vocal critic of the war itself, and specifically of the way it has been handled, once describing Bush’s apparent lack of interface with reality on the subject as, “Oblivious. In denial. Dangerous.”

Pelosi voted against repeal of the Estate Tax, and against the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would write discrimination into the Constitution, and opposes an amendment to outlaw flag burning. Her votes have supported energy conservation and research into alternate technologies, but against drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve. She favored No Child Left Behind, the unfunded Bush boondoggle that has eroded educational performance across the US, but opposes a return to the Draft and voted against the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which would establish a physical barrier to southern immigration. She supports an increase in the federal minimum wage.

Pelosi’s chart has a decided galactic emphasis. Her Sun at 5 Aries exactly opposes a Quasar at 5 Libra and is tightly squared two Black Holes, at 4 Cancer and 4 Capricorn. The resultant Galactic Grand Cross is a powerful driver of her ambition, and the Quasar contact especially has much to say about the degree of her success. The Black Holes afford the opportunity to make significant changes and to propel oneself into alternate realities, but the Quasar is what makes one stand out among the crowd, lending visibility, a high profile, and a greater than usual rate of accomplishment and achievement. Quasars also aid in networking and coalition-building, two essential factors in her success as a Party leader.

Mercury at 17 Pisces is exactly squared the Black Hole at 17 Sagittarius, indicating a facile, adaptive mind, a retentive memory, and the ability to envision positive changes for the future. Venus at 20 Taurus lies at the midpoint of two Black Holes at 16 and 24 Taurus, and broadly conjoined each; her groundbreaking contributions to the ways women are viewed in political leadership positions may be attributed to this placement.

Saturn at 0 Taurus conjoins the Quasar at 4 Taurus, another indicator of success in career, and the accruing of executive power. Mars at 25 Taurus conjoined both a Black Hole and a Maser, allied with her Scorpio Moon, could indicate a retributive and fractious nature. This may have been borne out in her failed support of Representative Jack Murtha’s bid for House Majority Leader against Steny Hoyer, Minority Whip since 2003. Despite being her number two, Hoyer and Pelosi have had a strained relationship since they opposed each other for the Minority Whip position in 2001, and her support of Murtha may stem from this conflict.

At 23 Virgo her Neptune is a close match for the USA’s own, perhaps enabling her to develop a more sane policy towards oil, and also bringing light to issues of government corruption. This may have been foreshadowed by Pelosi’s introduction of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act. Pluto at 0 Leo is conjoined the Black Hole at 2 Leo, suggesting a deep and intense personal power.

Asteroid Nancy figures prominently in Pelosi’s natal chart and current transits. At 25 Gemini natally, Nancy is conjoined a manifestation-evoking Quasar and opposed the Galactic Center, often an indicator of global prominence. On November 7, 2006, when the Democratic victories in the mid-term elections effectively propelled her into Speaker status, asteroid Nancy was at 1 Libra, exactly conjunct the supermassive Black Hole center of Galaxy M-87, the largest anomaly of its type of which we are aware. And for the convening of the 110th Congress on January 3, 2007, when Pelosi formally becomes the first ever female Speaker of the House, asteroid Nancy at 21 Libra conjoins her North Node at 20 Libra, indicator of her highest purpose and life path.

Pelosi shows all the leadership qualities of her Aries Sun, as well as the dogged determination of the Taurus stellium of Saturn, Uranus, Venus and Mars. That potential stubbornness is ameliorated by the empathic, sensitive Pisces Mercury and the adaptive Virgo Neptune, making Pelosi a unique combination of steely focus and flexibility, a formidable combination indeed. She will need all of these assets to help steer the republic safely through the final two years of the Bush administration’s choppy waters.