Introduction
The Presidential Inauguration has been on January 20th at 12:00pm in Washington, DC every four years since 1937. This chart is often cast to symbolically mark the moment that the old administration relinquishes power, and the new administration officially assumes their positions.
In my analysis of past inauguration charts, the chart seems to less reflect what will happen during a given presidential term, and more likely reflects the actual inauguration event (Aries rising, Sun on the Midheaven) and the events leading up to the inauguration. The chart seems to reflect how the administration functions internally and how external events offer a constructive or destructive environment for it to function. It says nothing about policy.
I believe that the Aries Ingress and subsequent ingress charts, if necessary, speak to what will happen any given year and the role that the president, congress, and other factors play into those events.
Disclaimer
Although I have been studying astrology for about 13 years, this is my first exploration of mundane astrology. Additionally, I am using some astrological techniques with which many modern and traditional astrologers will disagree, or are unfamiliar. I am using the lahiri ayanamsa which is a sidereal zodiac that aligns 0 Aries opposite the fixed star Spica. I am using whole sign houses. And I am not using Uranus, Neptune, Pluto. I am open to discourse regarding my predictions and how I delineate the planets.
Even if you do not use the same techniques as I do, I hope you are open to reading my predictions, the historical context, and how I have come to my conclusions. I’ve been looking at inauguration charts all the way back to George Washington. I will be referring to those charts and the relevant administrations throughout this article.
All of the charts I reference are at the end of this post.
Planetary Patterns and the US Presidential Inaugurations
The Significators
Because it is always on the same date and time, Aries is always rising and the Sun is always in the 10th house (with the exception of the 1945 inauguration chart, which had Pisces rising due to Eastern War time zone). Unless the Sun is making significant aspects to Mars, Jupiter, and or Saturn, it’s best to let it be a descriptor of the event rather than a predictor of the future. I explain my findings regarding the rest of the planets below.
- Jupiter seems to move between signs in the same element, returning to the same sign every 12 years, or every 3rd inauguration. Jupiter was in Aries, Sagittarius, or Virgo in the January 20 inauguration charts from 1937 to 1977. Because Virgo is a sign of long ascension, we get more inauguration charts with Jupiter in Virgo. Jupiter has been travelling through the trigon of earth signs since 1981. Inauguration Day of 2017 will be the last time we have an inauguration chart with Jupiter in Virgo for some time.
- Mars goes through the signs in order, proceeding each subsequent inauguration. But, it skips 3 signs. Mars has never been in Taurus, Cancer, or Leo since inauguration day was changed to January 20, first occurring on that date in 1937. In any case, Mars is the planet whose position varies the most, following the Moon and then Saturn.
- Venus alternates between Aquarius and Sagittarius. As a matter of fact, it returns to the same degree of Aquarius every other inauguration, the 23rd degree.
- Mercury goes back and forth between Capricorn and Sagittarius. From what I can tell, Mercury repeats the same sign before or after an inauguration year where it was retrograde. But I’m only going back to 1937 when the inauguration was switched from March 4 to January 20.
- The Moon visits every sign, alternating between opposing signs until it gets to the end of a sign, then jumping to the next set of opposing signs. It stays in one set of opposing signs for 3 inaugurations before moving to the next set. In 2013, the Moon was in Aries, 2017 it will be in Libra, and then in Aries again in 2021. It will jump to Virgo in 2025, then to Pisces in 2029, and back to Virgo in 2033 before moving to Aquarius and Leo.
- Saturn’s pattern has been a bit challenging for me to catch onto. It seems like Saturn’s cycle of 7, 14, 21, and 28 years doesn’t fit well with the 4 year cycle of inaugurations. What is important to note is that Saturn and Jupiter will be looked at in relationship to their approximately 20 year cycle of conjunctions.
I observed many fascinating planetary patterns and cycles while studying these charts. I’m not sure if American politics or the presidency is of interest to him, but I’d love to hear the observations Nick Dagan Best would make about these charts. He’s king of astrological and planetary cycles and their correlations to politics and culture. They don’t call him a walking ephemeris for nothing.
For the purposes of the predictions I will make on the next four years of the Trump Presidency and administration, I will focus on:
The Moon as significator for the public, the overall mood of the American citizenry, and how they react and respond to the new administration;
Mars as significator where and how the administration will focus its energy, as well as, domestic and/or foreign conflict;
Saturn as significator of the President and his administration;
Jupiter with regards to the Saturn/Jupiter cycle as a significator for the general political and/or economic climate, ;
Venus, if it makes any significant aspects, as a significator for cooperation, or the lack thereof;
Mercury, if it makes any significant aspects, as a significator for the media, news, etc.
The Predictions & Lots of History, Too
Saturn: The Significator of the President
29 Scorpio, 8th house
In a daytime chart, Saturn can be less malefic and operate more constructively because the heat of the Sun diminishes and balances Saturn’s cold and dry nature. However, being in 8th house is malefic in and of itself.
Saturn is in square with a 12th house Mars. It’s out of sign, but I’m going to break one of my usual rules and say that it still counts. Mars is at 0 Pisces and Saturn is at 29 Scorpio, the square is less than a degree separating.
The last time Saturn was in Scorpio and the in 8th house of an inauguration chart was in 1985. That was the second inauguration of Ronald Reagan. However, it was making no hard aspects, and its ruler, Mars, had both essential and accidental dignity. It was in Capricorn in the 10th house.
And in 1957, for the second inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower, again Saturn was in Scorpio in the 8th house and was making no hard aspects. And again, it’s ruler Mars, had both accidental and essential dignity. It was in Aries in the 1st house. I will come back to this chart later as I believe it holds special significance regarding precedents that can helps us understand the coming administration.
The second inauguration of President Bill Clinton in 1997 had a 12th house Saturn in Pisces opposed Mars in Virgo. It was part of a mutable cross with Moon in Gemini and Mercury and Venus in Sagittarius. It’s news to no one that President Clinton was impeached during his final term. Even though we have none of those configurations in this chart, is this a possibility for President-elect Trump?
Going all the way back to the first inauguration, I could not find a chart where Saturn was in the 8th house and in hard aspect to Mars. And there was no inauguration chart dating back to at least 1933 where Mars was in the 12th house. I actually found zero charts in the 20th century with Mars in the 12th house. I had to go back to the inauguration of 1833 to find a chart with Mars in the 12th house.
That was the 2nd inauguration of President Andrew Jackson. And it is with that President that we have the first recorded assassination attempt and physical attack on a sitting president. I’ll refrain from predicting an assassination. That’s outside of my ethical code as an astrologer. And besides that, it’s just not good astrology. There are no similarities between the charts besides the 12th house Mars.
The final Inauguration chart with a 12th house Mars is that of 1801, the first inauguration of President Thomas Jefferson. That Mars was square the midheaven, but 6 degrees away from a square with the Sun. Also, like the 2017 chart, the Moon was in Libra, but in the 5th house. That was a hotly contested election with lots of infighting amongst the administration, particularly between Vice President Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson.
Mars disrupts and causes conflict. So, these shake-ups and the halting of progress that we see in the transition team and process will continue and mar the entirety of his time in office. President Trump and his administration will be rife with anxiety and obstacles. The establishment of a working structure and maintenance of order will be difficult, and often times impossible. But President Trump will never give up, and neither will his administration, nor his detractors. Gridlock. No resolution. Lots of stop and start.
The Trump Administration will contend with secret enemies both inside and outside of the administration. At any given time, it will be hard to know who is actually in control. Conflicting agendas and loyalties will keep the administration in upheaval with a revolving door of cabinet members and advisors.
The Moon: Significator of the People, the Public
Moon in Libra conjunct the Descendent
The Moon is peregrine here and has a hard time expressing it’s true changeable nature. It is separating from a sextile to a debilitated Mercury in Sagittarius in the 9th house, and making no immediate aspects. It’s a bit too far from Venus to call that an applying trine.
The Moon in Libra lacks empathy. The air of Libra, exacerbated by the sect of the chart, makes this Moon more concerned with justice and reason than with compassion and empathy. Righting a wrong is more important than meeting a need with the Moon in Libra. Righteous indignation is the phrase that comes to mind.
The last time there was a 7th house Libra Moon in an inauguration chart was in 1941. In that chart the Moon was in a quagmire. It was simultaneously applying a square to a combust Mercury in Capricorn, and an opposition to Jupiter and Saturn conjunct in Aries on the ascendant. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was beginning his third term, the only president to do so. And the world was at war, again.
In Mundane astrology, the 7th house is concerned with foreign nations and our relations with them. In 1941, FDR was forced to renege on his promise not to enter the war. Even prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the US Military had been making plans and setting up bases around the world.
I don’t see much in this chart to signify war, but as I discuss in the next section on the Jupiter-Saturn cycle, I can make a case for the next four years being a drum up to war.
We’ll be examining our relationships with our allies and our conflicts with our enemies. Much like the internal workings of the Trump Administration, we will be redrawing boundaries and questioning who is on whose side.
The Jupiter-Saturn Cycle
The Jupiter-Saturn cycle is at the heart of mundane astrology. And I feel it’s really too big of a subject to fit into an article like this on the presidential inauguration. I believe that an inauguration chart is limited in scope and tells us specific information about the incoming administration and the factors that contribute to its success or failure.
The Jupiter-Saturn cycle does play a part, but I think it’s more productive to talk about the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction within the context of ingress charts. And I hope to have the opportunity to do that once this article is complete.
We are upon the closing sextile of the 2000 conjunction which will still be within a degree during the inauguration. Jupiter is in the sign of its detriment, and Saturn is peregrine, though it has dignity by term. It really doesn’t count for much, especially being in the 8th house.
In 1957, Dwight D. Eisenhower was inaugurated into his second term as president. Like the upcoming chart of the 2017 inauguration, the chart of the 1957 ceremony had Jupiter in Virgo sextile Saturn in Scorpio in the 6th and 8th houses respectively. That chart was much more volatile than the 2017 one, having an out of sect Mars rising, square both the midheaven and the Sun.
As I’ve mentioned before—and what I hope to emphasize here only as theory as to how things may unfold, not as a hardline prediction—is that it seems as if we are having a nightmarish bout of deja vu. The plot twist being that Russia has successfully hacked the American election, much like America has done as a ritual of foreign policy for decades.
The years 1955-1957 saw the murder of Emmett Till and images of his bashed in head on the front of northern newspapers, the strategic Montgomery Bus Boycott, and an historic attempt to enforce the Brown v Board of Education ruling in Little Rock Arkansas. Now we have the murder of Trayvon Martin setting off ongoing organizing, protests, and demands for the dismantling of systemic racism and oppression.
The US had not yet entered into combat in the Vietnam war, but the insurgency into South Vietnam had begun. The Cold War was in full effect. In October of that year, the Strategic Air Command began a 24/7 nuclear alert in preparation for a surprise nuclear attack by the Soviet Union.
During the Vietnam war the Soviet Union provided an unending source of military equipment to the Vietnamese, fundamentally fighting a proxy war with the US and it’s allies. And now, here we are in 2016 fighting another proxy war in Syria and Ukraine. Obviously, war by proxy has been an essential element of the US’ military policy since the Revolutionary War.
The same players are on the scene and front pages again. What to make of it?
The direct and deliberate interference of Russia in the American election process, in order to effect the outcome in favor of Trump has illuminated and accelerated cyber-warfare, battles which could bloom into all out war by 2020 when we have the next Jupiter-Saturn conjunction. This is effectively be Cold War II.
The inauguration chart for 2021 has the traditional significations for war. As well as astrological configurations that were present in past inauguration charts where war was imminent. Whether civil or foreign.
I’ll be adding more predictions for 2017 beyond the Inauguration in my post on the Aries Ingress of 2017.
Edit 12/7/2016: Thanks to Samuel Reynolds for the suggested title change.
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