A postmortem: An Eclipse & an (astrological) election

Last Tuesday’s solar eclipse wasn’t much, as eclipses go.  The Moon was off to the left of the Earth, its penumbra barely clipped the Earth’s western limb.  Which is a fancy way of saying the west coast of Europe woke up to a sunrise that was partially eclipsed, the node being 11 degrees distant.  Rule of thumb:  The closer an eclipse is to noon, local time, the more total it is.

Yves Smith, at Naked Capitalism, chose that moment to file her petition, “Citizens call for tough regulation of mortgage servicers.”  In America, home mortgages have been sold to investors.  Banks, now termed “servicers”, collect the monthly payments & pass them on to the investors.  Since we’re all now broke, banks-cum-servicers are making ends meet by foreclosing for trivial reasons, kicking the residents out, selling the property for whatever they can get, thereby rendering people homeless on one hand, and stiffing the investors on the other.  It has gone on for more than two years & so far has been ignored by federal, state & local authorities.  This is not good & most likely illegal.  Criminally.  And yes, some (though not all) of these homeowners were behind, but homelessness as a penalty for minor mortgage arrears is as cruel as amputation for purse snatching.  I’ve been homeless.

So Yves Smith & friends circulated a petition, collected 12,000 signatures, and to my dismay, electronically submitted it to the US government officials, including Timothy Geithner, Ben Bernanke, Mary Shapiro, Sheila Bair, Ed DeMarco & John Walsh, early last Tuesday morning.  During the eclipse itself.  (Yves is active in the wee hours before dawn.)

Since this was clearly an elected event, and as we’re A*S*T*R*O*L*O*G*E*R*S, let’s have a look at it.  We will use the eclipse chart, set for Yves’s locale of New York:  January 4, 2011, 4:03 am EST.  I get a chart with 29 Scorpio rising.

The chart is radical & can be judged, as we find the Moon, which rules the common people (the governed), in Capricorn, the sign of government.  

Which is not good, as the Moon in Capricorn is debilitated & hence, weak.  Eclipsed, it is by definition combust the Sun, which is to say, burnt up.  In such circumstances we would not expect the People’s Voice to be heard.

I went to Robson for the details, chapter 3, The Moon in Electional Astrology.  Do not elect for the new moon, Robson says.  Avoid doing things with the Moon in debility.  As for the outcome of an elected event, judge by the first aspect the Moon makes after the election.

For a moment, I was hopeful.  Yves means well, and has a notable book to her credit: Econned, on the economic collapse of 2008.  The Moon’s first aspect would save the day.

But it didn’t.  

The Moon’s first aspect after the eclipse, occurring well after I saw her post, was at 10:00 am EST: square to Saturn.  Saturn, ruler of Capricorn, enemy of the Moon, is the symbol of government itself.

Given the Moon’s already weakened state, Saturn’s square made the immediate conclusion, that Yves’s petition, with its thousands of signatures, was Dead On Arrival.

Squares indicate stress, but what sort, exactly?  Was Saturn-as-government unable to help?  Good intentions but powerless to act?  Or was the government contemptuous, but unwilling to speak openly (which would be the opposition, as oppositions are always overt)?  I decided to look at terms.

At 16 Capricorn, the Moon was in terms of Mercury.  It wants to talk, but, debilitated, it can’t.  Saturn at 16 Libra was in terms of Venus:  Wants to help but can’t (the square gets in the way).  With faces, Saturn’s face is Saturn.  No means no.  The Moon’s  face is Mars:  Don’t tempt me, I might hurt you.

Such was the Moon’s first aspect after the eclipse.  The second aspect?  Conjunct Mars.  Which is to say, underlying the petition is  the People’s Rage.  Lots of rage – Mars is powerful in Capricorn.  Government indifference to homeowner distress is dangerous.  Mars is the ruler of the eclipse chart, but with 29 degrees Scorpio ascending, the chart as a whole has no room to maneuver.  It is boxed. 

  

That the first two aspects the Moon made after the eclipse were with malefics shows how sour the eclipse was.  The very next day, Morgan Rose, an 81 year old Wiccan, rang to ask about the upcoming super conjunction in Aries, in May:  Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, with the Moon on the 1st & 2nd of the month.  All opposed by Saturn & squared by Pluto.  Find them all in the Equinox chart (March 20, 2011, 7:21 pm EDT, Washington), with Moon a day past full & Aries on the 7th.  Get set for fireworks.