One of the themes that we have looked at with Barack Obama's rise and rush to The White House is identity. I rectified his chart based on an early version that I used from Joyce Hopewell's chart, the first I saw on Obama and her chart stated that he was a Scorpio rising, which put Neptune on his ascendant. It made sense at the time and still does, even though almost everyone uses Aquarius as his rising.
As I stated previously, the reason why I thought Hopewell's chart was more accurate, was because of how Neptune on the ascendant manifests, which is a nebulous identity, conforming to the projections of others, conjuring an aura of mysticism, channeling inspiration. This was compelling enough for me to stick with my original take on Obama as a Scorpio rising. That hasn't changed and has even been reinforced by his choice of Joe Biden as his running mate.
With Biden's stellium in Scorpio, much of which would reside in Obama's first house, it would empower Obama, add force and form to his identity and for Biden, he fits like a glove, being able to project through Obama, no doubt reveling in his newly minted role as kingmaker and power behind the throne. Its the type of relationship that would allow Biden to convince himself to play second banana, but one with influence, power and sway. Biden's recent revelations in Seattle reveal just such a dynamic. it wasn't Obama that said, "I (he) would be tested and that I (he) would need our help." It was Biden, sending up the trial balloon, acting as if it was his words, just gluing Obama's name on it for legitimacy. In fact, just a few weeks ago, he referred to the new administration as
"The Biden Administration" and it wasn't the first time. By the way, I love how Biden dropped a "yo" in his call for support in Seattle.
I'm going to explore the dynamics of Obama's identity further, looking at how the lack of disclosure and perhaps some other rather intriguing elements reinforce the idea of Obama as a scion of Neptune.
I have focused mostly on the qualities of Neptune, but what of Scorpio? What in Obama's past could possibly affirm the ascendant that I ascribe to him? One need look no further than his unwillingness to open most of his records, including those from Columbia, Harvard and Occidental College. What is this man hiding and why? If his achievements were something to be noted and celebrated then shouldn't we be proud of this man who is about to take the highest and most powerful office in the world? Should we not boast to those who are about "to test him" that he finished in the top five percent of his graduating class? What of his tenure as editor of The Harvard Law Review, where he wrote nothing? Not one, single, paragraph. It would be a chance to put his stamp on such a prestigious institution and the publication of that college at the forefront of academia in America, where he could be seen as a peer with a mind to be respected, envied and even feared. But no, not one word. Then there was his nearly absent vote record in the Illinois state senate. While the vapors of identity swirl around Obama, so does an air of secrecy, indicative of Scorpio on the ascendant, hiding, concealing and thwarting any true discovery of the self.
In the last eight years of the highly covert Bush administration, people are craving some form of transparency and already, Barack Obama's actions regarding his records do not foreshadow a more transparent approach to governance, unless you count Joe Biden's admission that "we're going to face a generated crisis" as being an act of transparency or perhaps clairvoyance.
Now we go deeper down the rabbit hole to explore the relationship between Obama and "Uncle Frank."
I find it fascinating that most of my friends that are ardent Obama supporters have no idea who Frank Marshall Davis is and the role he played in the life of a young Barry. For those of you late to the party, Frank Marshall Davis was a pretty good poet, cutting edge journalist, communist and lothario. Obama gives him very little mention in his memoir, "Dreams Of My Father" referencing him in a sentimental moment, traveling across time on the streets of Chicago, imagining Uncle Frank outside a jazz club where he just took in Dizzy or Ella. Well Uncle Frank was not just a man of letters, but deeply involved in Chicago politics, a grimy machine. Frank Marshall Davis moved away from Chicago to Hawaii with his second wife, Helen Canfield Davis, a Windy City socialite. It was there that Davis met the Dunham family and began a relationship with them that might involve more than just his avuncular presence and mentorship in the young boys life.
There are rumors flying around the internet that Frank Marshall Davis is actually the real father of Barack Obama and that his birth father, the man who saw him all of two days in his life was a friend of Davis' and was arranged to marry Stanley Ann Dunham to cover up the fact that Obama was actually his son. Remember, Marshall was married and even though it was rumored that he and his wife entertained what we would call "polyamorous" relationships by todays standards, in 1961, it was a vastly different social landscape.
Now this may or may not be the truth, but yet again, we cannot discount it based on the secrecy (Scorpio) and diffusion (Neptune) surrounding Obamas past and his identity.
Frank Marshall Davis was a Capricorn, 8 degrees, with a Pisces Moon and Mercury in Sag. There is little to tack onto Obama's birth chart that would confer some parental status, such as Obama having a Capricorn Moon. That would be almost too easy. The only interesting things that I can find is a conjunction between Davis' Uranus in Cancer at 5 degrees and Obama's Venus in Cancer at 0 degrees and that both share the North and South Nodes in Leo, though only a wide conjunction. I know that a few of you that read this blog are also astrologers or at least have a fairly informed opinion on these cosmic matters. From a purely astrological standpoint, I'd love some feedback on what you might see as possible connections between Obamas and Davis' chart, if any. Davis was born 12/31/05.
So the question becomes, even in the light of Obama's fuzzy details surrounding his identity and his first house, even though his biological father might be different or the place of birth doesn't match up, does it matter? Can he be the president that many people are hoping that he will be? Only time and perhaps the stars will tell?
