No country for old men.
When I was in Junior High School, I briefly played in drum corps, marching band. My job? To bang the bass drum, over and over again, with the same bass line and bottom end, block after block; “boom-boom/boom-boom-boom-boom-boom/boom-boom.” Every now and then we would change it up and I would have to do something a little more complex, but not much. My gig was easy, yet laborious as I lugged the John Phillip-Souza style big drum through the streets of Santa Clara County. If the truth be known, I was really there to talk to and cozy up with the baton twirlers and majorettes, but by the time we got back to the bus, I was a heap of sweaty jeans and an oversized, sky-blue-polyester blazer. It’s not the coolest look when you’re thirteen and desperately trying to channel all those new glandular secretions in the same direction.
It’s no revelation why I didn’t last long as the rhythm mule for the marching band. Ultimately, it just wasn’t cool enough, both literally and figuratively. But I did learn two things; 1) If you bang on something hard enough and long enough, you’ll learn something from it. And, the following; 2) When I was in a shopping center (open air in those days) and I wailed on the drum, I could set off alarms in shops we passed by. We all thought that this was very funny and got a great chuckle out of it, but quite a few years later the significance of the relentless beat of the bass drum, exciting a primitive, yet sensitive theft detection devices becomes much more relevant in the context of this column and my life.
If you are a semi-regular reader, you might know that ever since Pluto moved into Capricorn, full time, I have been sounding a familiar beat, which is the rise of the corporacratic state; the rise of monolithic institutions and policies, the fusion of government with business and business with government. Since the first round of extortion, I mean bailouts occurred, while Bush was more lame than ever and Obama was polishing his shoes and acceptance speech, just waiting for “Old Joe” and “Crazy Sarah”to stick their feet even deeper into their mouths, we’ve witnessed this trend happen at an alarmingly rapid rate.
First the banksters get bailed out then The Gov, that means me and you (at least on the surface) started snatching up companies like AIG, Fanny Mae and GM. “Open for business” was the invisible shingle that got hung at 4848 Pennsylvania. And then The Gov turned around and sold most of those assets at a loss, just giving enough of us that are slightly cynical the feeling that the buyers had already established sweet deals on the front end as some sort of payback for past or future considerations. Now the government wants to get into the health care business, adding yet another, monolithic layer to their modern tower of babble. I’m going to save my rant for health care for another post, but based on my banging on the rise of Pluto in Capricorn, how quickly it has self-assembled and how it has squared off against the US in Cancer stellium, I will continue to march to the beat of a different, yet steady drum.
In the next few paragraphs, I am going to look at Sonia Sotomayor, dissecting her chart and show why she has the potential to be good, bad and deeply problematic. So let’s have a go at “The Wise Latina’s” chart.
Sotomayor’s birth time is unavailable, so I’ll be working off the ephemeris, with a few outside influences as well.
Wikipedia lists her birth as June 25th, 1954. This makes her a “Horse” in Chinese astrology. While she is not considered as problematic as female “Fire Horses (1966)” by the chinese, her energy is proud, self-assured and even bordering on arrogant, as are all horses. Hey, I can relate. I am a horse rising according to the chinese. I understand the dynamics, and Sotomayor will be a force once she is voted in (and she will be). Simply based on her her chinese sign, she will have many an opportunity to clash with the three rats who preside on SCOTUS; Scalia (Pisces/Rat), Kennedy (Leo/Rat) and Thomas (Cancer/Rat. Of the three, she shares a very close conjunction with Thomas, separated by just one degree on the solar sign which should put her into accord with Thomas, more often than not, but she could still get into a pissing match with him. Rats often consider the horse to be arrogant, brash and willful, while the horse sees the rat as self-involved, meddling and even narcissistic. Based on their western astrology, Sotomayor and Thomas will agree more often than not, however, in the clinches, neither wants to make the other an enemy.
Scalia’s Pisces Sun, while elementally concordant (water/water), is not close enough for a strong trine and since he is a Rat, this could be problematic for Sotomayor. Scalia also has deep ties to Opus Dei, which could philosophically pit him against Sotomayor, though their respective Catholic upbringings, could give them enough common ground to agree versus dissent with one another, but again, in the clinches, she should not challenge Scalia, especially if he is aligned with the two other rats. Of the three, Kennedy could prove to be the most problematic for Sotomayor.
Kennedy is a 0 degree Leo/Rat. He is a proud member of the SCOTUS rat pack and while Sotomayor has Venus in Leo at 8 degrees, it’s a bit wide to conjunct Kennedy’s Leo Sun. He is the one member of the court she should not challenge, unless she is able to build consensus on a ruling with the other two. Her best ally would seem to be Clarence Thomas.
My blogging buddy, the grand dame of astrology bloggers, Elsa P has been telling us over on Facebook that Obama has an astrologer on staff. Looking at the choice of Sotomayor, from philosophical level, she is a hand-in-glove fit for Obama, but also from an astrological standpoint, she is also mostly in accord from a western pov with the rat pack, and in 2010, “The Year Of The Tiger,” Sotomayor will wield a great deal of power, since the tiger is an elemental ally of the horse. I would not be surprised if she got the White House Astrological seal of approval.
From a chinese or eastern perspective, she has some challenges ahead when dealing with Thomas, Scalia and Kennedy, But what about her western chart?
Sotomayor’s Wild West
Here is where we cue Morricone’s classic theme from “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.” Let’s start with the good.
The Good
Sotomayor’s Sun, at 2 degrees Cancer is conjunct with The US Venus at 3 degrees and Jupiter at 5 degrees. This bodes well on a certain level. She will be concerned about the welfare of the people with tight a conjunction of Venus. Don’t be surprised if she plays a role on determining the legality of same sex marriages while she serves on the supreme court, since Venus rules relationships, but as we see here in The US chart, on a national level, the astrological DNA for relationships is quite conservative and traditional with Venus in Cancer. But Sotomayor’s own, more flamboyant and proud Venus in Leo, might see this in a very different light. Just based her chart, I would say that if she presides on the court, her chances of ruling on the constitutionality of same sex marriages is quite high.
Her sun, conjunct The US Jupiter in Cancer bodes well for her own personal gain. She has already and will continue to expand greatly with this aspect. On the good side, she can really be a champion for the underclass and underprivileged segments of society, perhaps even to a detriment according to some firefighters in New Haven. Theoretically, her points of view can be balanced out by the other justices, and her desire to promote equality based agendas, even at the expense of others at times, might be tempered somewhat, but then again, after 2000 and hanging chads and the equally repugnant eminent domain ruling (see land grab) it’s hard to know what’s up with SCOTUS a lot of the time. My sense is that most people have lost faith in the highest court in the land to uphold the constitution and maintain a legal membrane in the separation of powers. Just ask anyone that witnessed Tony Scalia and his hunting pal Dick Cheney go off on one of their shooting parties, out into the wild. Things can get a little too cozy at times. But Sotomayor has the potential to be a champion of rights, if she stays closer to the original framers intentions, but if she rules that the constitution is a living and breathing document, which based on her past rulings, she will, then her view on “rights” could become quite selective, given that Jupiter can and does expand beyond it’s own limits in whichever sign it is in.
Sotomayor’s Mercury is in Cancer as well, but it is retrograde. I find this dynamic to be fascinating in the light of a potential member of the court. I see this play out in overturning previous rulings. I think that ultimately, this could become what Sotomayor is known for.
Here is where we enter the realm of the bad.
The Bad
Overturning previously held decisions is not bad in and of itself, but the potential for it to undermine and re-format previous rulings and impact millions of lives could be disastrous. I have no doubt that one of the amendments that Sotomayor will definitely rule on is the “Second Amendment.” Both Eric Holder and Rahm Emmanuel have proven that they are opposed to the rights of Americans to own and bear arms, even over above the “hunting” pretext that the most staunch gun controllers will cede to when it comes to some form of placation with the public around this issue. I do not and have never owned a gun–doubt if I ever will–not my thing in this lifetime–but I support the right, concept and freedom to do so. I’m just throwing out this dynamic around Sotomayor’s probability of overturning and revising existing laws and statutes. It’s the most glaringly obvious, especially given this administration. Whether it’s guns or gays for marriage, Sotomayor, based on her Mercury retrograde in Cancer, conjunct with The US Sun at 5 degrees, her rulings, especially those that are revised and overturned will have a definite impact on the general appearance and soul of The US. Again, this might not be a “bad” thing per se, but it could be, especially when we look at her moon sign and arrive at the ugly.
The Ugly
She has her moon in the emotionally headstrong placement of Aries. I’ve always considered this moon to be a “hot moon” when it comes to both passion and temperment. It’s a placement that gives a sense of urgency and energy when dealing with emotion. This moon could arouse both ardor and animosity, depending on set and setting. If Sotomayor does feel passionate about an issue, she will pursue it emotionally to it’s logical conclusion, which for anyone with Moon in Aries is winning. It’s not a moon that looks for consensus or win/win and here is where it gets ugly. The US Saturn is in Libra at 15 degrees, and that means the the country is going to go through a crucial, “Saturn Return” starting next year. Libra is the great bearer of rights and justice of the zodiac. It also rules relationships. Saturn is actually exalted in Libra and is the one sign where the karmic grind of Kronos actually has some merit. I mean if you’re going to work hard at something, make sure that everyone gets a fair shake, it might as well be in relationship, especially as it relates to equality. Sotomayor’s moon is energetically opposed to The US Saturn, and depending upon degree, could also be in a direct opposition to The US Saturn in Libra and all it has stood for. Will she continue to uphold civil rights and even more importantly, the barest thread of remaining civil liberties, or will she use her considerable emotional energy challenging them?
As the US will go into it’s Saturn return in 2010, Sonia Sotomayor will play a significant role in redefining what rights are, who gets them and why. Here is where I think it can get ugly. Not based on her background or previous rulings, which cannot be dismissed, but simply based on the potentially violent opposition between her natal moon and The US Saturn. That’s not her only problematic opposition. Tomorrow, we’ll look at her retrograde Mars in Capricorn, conjuncting transiting Pluto in Capricorn, opposing the bulk of her own Cancer planets as well as the US stellium in Cancer.