THE ASTROLOGY OF JOHN MCCAIN

John McCain works hard to maintain his image as a consensus builder. With Libra rising, and Mercury in Libra, the sign of balance and relationships, he struggles between his need to please others (Libra) and his Virgo sun which strives for authenticity and perfection. Virgos dislike the flattery and superficiality required to negotiate and capitulate; they tend to avoid the spotlight and prefer a quiet corner where they can utilize their famous discrimination to continually perfect themselves and their work.

Mr. McCain has Saturn retrograde, a placement that causes Saturn's critical voice to turn inward. Individuals with this placement tend to be insecure and more dependent on the approval of others than they might otherwise be. That retrograde Saturn opposes his Venus which is a signal that he grew up feeling unloved and frustrated by an inability to relate to others in a meaningful way. With his Venus in Virgo, he may be secretly critical of those he must deal with from day to day despite his Libra rising need to placate and cajole to maintain alliances.

McCain has a Grand Cross in the "mutable" signs (Sagittarius, Virgo, Pisces, Gemini). The astrological signs have three different "qualities": Cardinal, offering leadership and action; Fixed, offering stability and organization; and Mutable, offering flexibility and adaptation. A Grand Cross is a challenging aspect in which four planets make 90 degrees to each other, with two pairs of planets in opposition to each other. Typically there is a buildup of tension with this configuration which promotes change and transformation within the individual, but with the Mutable Grand Cross this energy is never focused and tends to create distress and tension within the individual unless there is a motivating force that provides momentum. Without such a force this person will tend to waffle and become distracted. At his core, Mr. McCain has not yet resolved his inner sense of failure expressed through his retrograde Saturn and is well known for his apologetic tendencies.

Mars in this chart is in Leo, a fiery and dramatic expression of aggression, and is square Uranus, the revolutionary. Difficult Uranus aspects often are an indicator of some kind of early trauma, and the square from Mars to Uranus can show serious conflict in childhood. The opposition from Pluto to McCain's Capricorn Moon indicates additional stress and a sense of being overpowered by the nurturing parent, usually but not always the mother.

McCain's Capricorn Moon is in the Fourth House of family lineage which is ruled by Saturn, the planet of discipline and responsibility. Saturn in McCain's chart, retrograde and part of the Grand Cross that includes a square to Chiron where one's obligations can have painful results, is both very powerful and yet without an easy mode of expression. So Saturn is ruling an extremely emotional Fourth House with a Capricorn Moon, and there is a strong sense of duty and familial obligation that is rigid and unbending. This combines with the innate emotional pain of the Moon/Pluto opposition and the radical fire of Mars square to Uranus to create a split in McCain's personality. This is exacerbated by McCain's Virgo Sun and Libra Mercury and ascendant which do their best to suppress his anger, making its eruption all the more dramatic when it occurs.

In 2006 McCain reinvented himself through some interesting Uranian cycles. Beginning in October and continuing through June, repressive Saturn challenged Uranus in his birthchart and setting off his internal frustration of the Uranus/Mars square. At the same time, transiting Uranus made a sextile to Uranus in his chart, creating an awakening within him to new ideas and new ways of living his life, a cycle which completed in February. Concurrently, transiting Jupiter (the bestower of gifts and opportunity) opposed Uranus in his chart, opening the door to a sudden (Uranus) manifestation of those new ideas that had been percolating within him and freeing up the dormant energy of the square from Mars to Uranus in McCain's chart. Suddenly he's out in public espousing radically (Uranus) different philosophies of government (Jupiter) than ever in his public career. Adding yet another layer of complication is the square of transiting Chiron (exposing his inner wounds) to Uranus in his chart which began at the end of April, indicating that his sudden turnabout and radical (Uranus) expansion (Jupiter) is likely to result in psychic pain (Chiron) if he is not careful to process his ideological shifts in a more internal way that brings spiritual growth and transformation.

Most recently, we've seen the double transit of Saturn and Uranus to the retrograde Saturn/Venus opposition in his chart, a point that denotes the potential for low self-esteem (Perhaps this is why McCain paid a Hollywood makeup artist over $5,000 of taxpayer-funded money recently.) .

Because McCain does not have a strong core of conviction, planetary transits over the Grand Cross can shake him even more than they would for others. Uranus has been transiting over these points for the past couple of years and currently is sitting right on McCain's Saturn, exacerbating the restlessness of his natal Uranus/Mars square. Uranus wants to shake up all things Saturn in his chart: goals, rules, structures. This would be great for a real maverick, but not a maverick who wants to be president. Transiting Saturn is moving into alignment to oppose Uranus in the sky and Saturn in his chart, and that will be the real challenge.

I suspect that John McCain, like many of his generation, sought to exorcise his demons through hard work and service. His stint in Vietnam resulted in his being taken as prisoner of war, where he was tortured and suffered greatly. He has said, "My determination to act with honor and integrity impels me to work in service to my country. I have believed that the means to real happiness and the true worth of a person is measured by how faithfully we serve a cause greater than our self-interest." This is all very noble, but if we never turn within to face ourselves and the challenges that lie there, we are doomed to repeat the same inner cycles over and over.

John McCain may be trying on a different cloak in order to become president, which he believe will help him to achieve the self-respect that he has sought his entire life. But in the end, like all of us, he will have to look within and find himself.