ASTROLOGICAL PROFILE OF BARACK OBAMA

Barack Obama sprang seemingly from nowhere to become the winner of the Democratic primary run for President. Until he gave the keynote address at the Democratic convention in 2004 he was little known, but that speech propelled him into the limelight where he became the hook for the projection of the hopes and fears of Democrats.

The danger of analyzing charts for the famous is the lack of real personal knowledge that we have about them. It’s all too easy to skew the reading of the chart through the lens that colors our perception of the individual. If you don’t like Hillary Clinton, you read her Mars/Pluto square in Leo square to her Leo stellium as a desperate thirst for power. If you love her, you read in it tenacity and strength and an inability to give up.

Barack Obama has attracted an even more divergent chorus of reactions among the Democratic faithful. Some are swept up in his message of hope and inspiration; others are suspicious and worry that he is a liar. Even on the political astrology boards, many are suspicious of what they consider Obama’s Neptunian attraction and the overwhelming response of his followers, as well as the lack of specificity in Obama’s speeches during the primary season.

Without an accurate birthtime, astrologers “rectified” the chart to fit their image of the candidate. Some liked the Scorpio ascendant of the 1:06 am birthtime because they felt he was secretive about his real agenda. I liked a Libra ascendant because of Obama’s collaborative style. Now that we have an actual birth certificate released by the campaign (although the right-wing blogosphere is still claiming it’s a fake) and an actual birth time, we have a real birthchart and can get to work and see who Obama really is.

The 7:24 pm birthtime on the birth certificate gives an ascendant of 18 degrees Aquarius, which is interesting since the eclipse on Super Tuesday fell nearly exactly on his ascendant. The late Howard Sasportas writes of the Aquarius ascendant: “[T]hose with Aquarius on the Ascendant (the point of self-awareness) gain a clearer sense of their own unique and particular identity through standing back and taking an objective and impersonal look at life.” Aquarius is cool and rational, with a passion for social justice and equality. However, Obama’s Sun is in Leo, the sign that requires a full expression of a healthy ego. We would expect there to be some conflict here as Leo is opposite Aquarius and where Leo needs to express the ego Aquarius seeks to transcend it. But Obama’s Sun sits in the sixth house of humility and service which depicts his need to develop his ego in a way that serves others.

The square from Neptune to the Sun in Obama’s chart seems to alarm some anti-Obama astrologers who assume that the tendency of Neptune to create illusion shows that Obama is a liar. While it is true that the square of Neptune to the Sun often does show a facility to take on a variety of roles and can depict someone who is prone to deception, it can also reveal a confusion (Neptune) about identity (Sun) that we have certainly seen with Obama. We see this echoed in the placement of Chiron (the Wounded Healer) in the first house of identity and personality.

This Chiron is important as it forms a square to Obama’s Moon. This is a fourth house Moon that craves a home and sense of family, and it falls in Gemini which needs to talk about one’s feelings, to be understood. We know from Obama’s biographical information that his African father abandoned the family when he was two, and that for several years he lived in Indonesia with his mother and her new husband. At the age of ten he was sent back by his mother to live with his grandparents, a white family in a white community. We can clearly see here the wound (Chiron) to a deep need (Moon) for family and ancestral roots (fourth house).

Pluto is also involved in this dynamic, forming a “T-square” as it opposes Chiron and squares the Moon. The Pluto/Chiron opposition generally results in a life that can be rather painful on an emotional level as the individual is forced by Pluto to face the wounds of the soul and work through them. This dynamic creates a shamanic process in which there is tremendous potential for understanding and wisdom. The pressure of both Pluto and Chiron on the sensitive Moon illustrates the emotional difficulty that Obama has experienced, although with Aquarius on the ascendant he will never reveal his emotions to the public.

Obama’s Mars is in Virgo, a thoughtful and cautious place for Mars to be. Mars shows the kind of drive we have and how our aggressive instinct is expressed. This is not a Mars that would go to war on a whim, or invade a country without doing its homework. Virgo needs order and security, and Mars here tends to be somewhat cautious and precise. Obama’s Mars makes a trine to Saturn, the planet of discipline, hard work and success, suggesting a hard worker who is patiently focused on the goal.

Saturn in this chart is in its own sign of Capricorn and it is retrograde. The placement of Saturn by sign and house shows where we feel we are not good enough; where we suffer from self-doubt. In Capricorn, the sign that shares Saturn’s intense focus on goals and achievement, there is a deep fear of failure that rides along with the pressure to achieve. This is exacerbated in Obama’s chart by the fact that Saturn is retrograde, and that tends to enhance the inner voice of self criticism. Because Saturn is in the twelfth house of the subconscious and the call of Spirit, the intense drive for success and achievement can become confused and made more difficult. Or, if the individual heeds the call of the Inner Self and drives his ambition along the road of seeking to improve the lives of others as the twelfth house requires, Saturn provides the material rewards for which he is so well known.

Saturn in the twelfth, traditionally the “House of Karma” or the “House of Troubles” does sometimes reveal a great inner loneliness – one’s road is solitary and fraught with conflict. There is also a great sensitivity here and a need for isolation that in early life can be hard to bear. In later life we find that the imposition of this early isolation has strengthened our core soul structure and our ability to withstand the pressures of life.

Saturn is conjunct Jupiter here, but they are nearly 6 degrees apart and not in the same sign. Six degrees is a bit wide for what we call an “out of sign” aspect, so this aspect is weakened as a result. In any event, Obama’s Jupiter is in Aquarius where it seeks to find meaning in life (Jupiter) through the achievement of social justice and equality as well as by living one’s own dream (Aquarius). The placement of Jupiter in the chart shows the kinds of experiences we need to feel optimistic and that life is full of possibilities, and in Aquarius there is a need to live one’s life in a way that is unshackled by the expectations of others. Jupiter is in the twelfth house with Saturn where it finds meaning in a life of spiritual connection and expansion of the realm of the unconscious through dreams and meditation. Jupiter is retrograde which shows that it’s difficult for Obama to experience that sense of expansion or trust the opportunities that come his way.

Obama’s Jupiter is opposite his Leo Mercury, and herein lies his supreme confidence in speaking. Mercury in Leo basks in the attention that is given to one’s ideas and speech, and the opposition from Jupiter expands one’s confidence and aggrandizes the context of one’s conversation. Jupiter opposite Mercury thinks large and often without considering the details, which has been a big complaint against Obama. However, his Mercury sits in the sixth house of humility and work which is his saving grace. Mercury in the sixth house is always considering the details, but in Leo there is a grander concept at work. This has likely always been a struggle for Obama as he tries to balance the pressure of the need for a detailed approach to his conceptual framework with the pull of Jupiter to be always bigger, always better and always more confident.

This Jupiter/Mercury opposition squares Neptune, the bane of the anti-Obama astrologers. Mercury square Neptune is the deceiver! Jupiter square Neptune is the anti-Christ! These comments do have some basis in experience, and there is a tendency with the hard aspects of both Jupiter and Neptune to see the more negative aspects of these planets which include self-indulgence (Jupiter) and a tendency to confuse or mislead (Neptune). But in analyzing an astrological chart you cannot just take one aspect and turn it into a psychological analysis. Each element of the chart is layered upon the others to create a story. Mercury square Neptune can indicate a person who is prone to flights of fancy and who can easily deceive themselves, but it can also expand one’s creativity and understanding (Mercury) of the spiritual realms (Neptune).

The square from Jupiter to Neptune is interesting in Obama’s chart because there is some mutual reception here with Jupiter in the twelfth house, ruled by Neptune, and Neptune in the ninth house, ruled by Jupiter. This kind of “double whammy” is a signification that the dynamic is an important one in the chart and that these two dynamics are inextricably connected. In the search for meaning of Jupiter and the ninth house there is a need to establish a theological framework within which life has meaning, and this then becomes religion when it is shared among multiple minds. Neptune and the twelfth house seek to dissolve our conceptual ideas and flood us with a direct experience of the divine and Spirit.

The mutual reception shows that combining these two experiences is crucial for Obama’s personal growth, but the square between them indicates that this hasn’t always been easy. We know this from the history of his religious background which originated in an eclectic secular household and resulted in his finding his truth in Christianity. His speech about this experience reveals some interesting things about the Jupiter/Neptune relationship: He found his true faith when he saw that this faith (Jupiter) could serve as an agent in the world (Aquarius) and redeem him (Neptune).

Venus in Obama's chart is in Cancer, the sign of the family and nurturing those we love. Family is important to him - as is the sense of affiliation with one's ancestral roots, as we see in the placement of his Moon in the fourth house which is ruled by Cancer. Venus here is in the fifth house of creative self-expression, children, and sports, and we can clearly see this at work in Obama's love of basketball, and we can suppose that Obama finds in his children an opportunity to express what he considers to be the best of himself: this is what we strive to create in the fifth house.

Venus is trined by Neptune, and in a trine we see the positive aspects of both planets. Where the Neptune/Jupiter square mentioned previously has a tendency towards illusion (Neptune) in one's ideals (Jupiter), in a trine to Venus we see an enhancement of creativity as Neptune dissolves the boundaries that keep us locked in the material world, and Venus opens us up to the true beauty in life. This combination is often found in the charts of artists and mystics. Neptune here encourages Venus to see the best in people and dislikes conflict.

Chiron is in the first house of personal identity in Obama's chart and forms a Grand Trine to the Venus/Neptune planets. A Grand Trine occurs when three planets form 120 degree angles to each other, and is an aspect that brings an easy flow between the three planets. We saw in Part I how Chiron in its role as the Wounded Healer denotes an early wound in Obama's search for identity; it also provides the key to his healing of himself and others. Obama has made his healing process a part of his public persona (first house) as evidenced by his book Dreams of my Father in which he searches for his identity, and his political messages which is focused on healing (Chiron) the rifts of the past between peoples (Venus) of all kinds and finding common ground (Neptune). Obama doesn't just want to create change - he wants that change to heal what is wrong with America. The Neptune/Chiron aspect of the trine inspires Obama's supporters, and Venus gives him the attractive qualities to help him spread his message.

Partnerships in Obama's life are apt to be fraught with challenge, though, as we can see from the presence of Pluto in the seventh house of marriage and committed relationships. Pluto in any house shows where we are likely to face our fears and find experiences that drive us into the underworld of transformation, and for Obama this has come in the area of partnership. This placement is eased somewhat by the Venus Grand Trine which smooths the way and makes it easier for him to face the demons in the seventh house. Pluto in the seventh requires that we learn to balance issues of power in our relationships. So far his campaign has been remarkably free of drama, and news reports indicate that this lack of drama is a central requirement imposed by Obama on his staff. But we saw how Pluto in the seventh house erupted in the form of Jeremiah Wright as transiting Saturn set off the Chiron/Pluto opposition in Obama's chart.

Pluto is the ruler of the Midheaven here, revealing that it's not enough for one's career and public life (Midheaven) to bring fame and fortune - the individual must be able to connect to the career in a way that is deeply and intensely meaningful. There is a desire for power here, with Pluto as ruler, and also an extreme sensitivity to the ebbs and flows of the balance of power. Someone with a Pluto complex such as this who suffered from a lack of confidence would tend to react (Chiron) to a loss of power (Pluto) by creating dramas in their relationships (seventh house) that could sabotage their careers (Midheaven). Obama's confidence (Leo Sun) and Pluto-ruled midheaven combined to give him a powerful insight into the way politics was played, and from an early point in his career he worked with the power base to get his foot in the door.

We always have a choice as to how our chart can be expressed, and if we choose a life of service and personal evolution we can create quite a different story: the story of a man who overcomes a painful struggle (Chiron) to find a personal identity (in the first house) and strives to build a base of alliance in people that he trusts (Venus in Cancer) and then empowers them (Pluto in the seventh) to work with him towards a Great Work (Scorpio on the Midheaven) of transformation (ruled by Pluto). Instead of becoming deluded (Neptune) by his own sense of importance (Jupiter) he seeks to find a religious theology (Jupiter) that has real meaning and connects him to a true sense of the divine within himself (Neptune).

The South Node in the chart tells the story of our evolutionary past - it shows where we are most comfortable, but where those comfortable reactions have held us back. In Obama's chart the South Node is in Aquarius and in the first house. Obama has already been the one who was most visible (first house) - the one whose personal identity was the thing that was most important. He has already been the transpersonal leader (Aquarius) who sought no acclaim for himself . His North Node is in Leo in the seventh house, and his evolutionary pathway is calling him to express more of himself (Leo) but to do it through partnership with others (seventh house). Yet that transpersonal quality is still important, as evidenced by the conjunction of Uranus, ruler of Aquarius, conjunct the North Node. Uranus in the seventh house illustrates Obama's interest in talking to all kinds of people and learning their views in order to effect change (North Node). Both Uranus and Aquarius are overwhelmingly concerned about issues of social justice and equality.

There is a danger with a charismatic leader like Obama to become overwhelmed by a cult of personality, but we can see how the development of Obama's political career fits the story of his chart.