Stray thoughts about Donald Trump..."What rough beast..."

Would Donald Trump have become the Republican Party's presumptive nominee for General Election 2016 if media - TV, radio, online news and opinion websites (e.g. Huffington Post)- had ignored more of his bletherings, rudeness and racism? When a child "acts up", attention-seeking, isn't the best way to deal with that to ignore it? Day after day, month after month, at Huffington Post one could hardly help but notice at least 5,6,7,8 photographs and lead headings about him on the front page; same applied to every similar media outlet, and no doubt to every TV and radio show with a political slant.

Trump, with Leo rising (one keyword for Leo happens to be 'child-like') acts like an overgrown attention-seeking child most of the time, but he does have, or seek, the potentiality of bringing down more problems on our heads than any screaming naughty child ever could. He also, of course, offered TV, radio, news sites lots of endless click-bait - thereby hangs the crux of the tale. Media are not interested in what's good for "We the People" - they're interested only in numbers - of $$$$$$$$$$$, of viewers, readers, and of clicks on articles and photographs.

I've avoided blogging about Trump and his astrology, but he has unavoidably been mentioned. I especially keep in mind what I discovered, when researching Fixed Stars in Leo, i.e. that Trump has Regulus on his ascendant.

The Latin name, Regulus, was first used by Copernicus as a diminutive of its earlier form, Rex meaning King, a title likely originating from Regulus's brilliance in past centuries, and its ancient proximity to the summer solstice. The star became a natural symbol for glory. It was said by Lilly to show 'a generous and civil disposition, ambition and the desire to rule. The direction of the MC, Ascendant, Sun or Moon to the star indicates a time of increased fortune, happiness and reputation, and suggests support from eminent figures....' (see here).

Regulus is no longer in zodiac sign Leo, but moved into the first degree of Virgo a few years ago.

There are countless takes on Trump's natal chart around the internet, I've read many, but usually have come away with the same gut-feeling - everything we're interested in, in 2016, points to Regulus. The rest of it has relevance, of course, to his personal life and lifestyle, his business dealings, his Gemini/trickster persona from natal Sun, his softer Cancerian "needy" side we have yet to see much of - other than in his need for never-ending attention. But when it comes to his aim to achieve what has to be seen as one of the world's most powerful positions, President of the USA, I'd say that only Regulus relates specifically to that. Before I knew anything at all about Trump's natal chart, or even his birth date, after watching the very first Republican debate on TV, with a string of, I think 8 participants, I turned to husband and said "There was only one born leader on that stage - sadly it was Donald Trump."

There's no guarantee that being a born leader inevitably indicates development into a good leader, nor a successful leader. I open my Dictionary of Wit, Wisdom & Satire at "L", look under "Leader" to find the first definition, of a half dozen or so, reads:

"One who never permits his followers to discover that he is as dumb as they are." (Rochester Times-Union).

That fits Trump better than most of the other definitions...or does it?

Here's an article to encourage upstanding neck-hair:
Donald Trump will win in a landslide. *The mind behind ‘Dilbert’ explains why.
By Michael Cavna, March 21.

SCOTT ADAMS remembers just how the game turned. He was young and improving at chess, but the masterful kid across the board would outmaneuver Adams till the game seemed a runaway. Now, this kid didn’t want to just beat Adams; he wanted to embarrass him. “So after he’d picked away three-fourths of my pieces and I was discouraged,” Adams recounts, “he would offer to turn the board around and play with my pieces.” And then effectively “win” again.

On those occasions, Scott Adams, the creator of “Dilbert,” got insight into the type of personality that loves not only the challenge of game strategy, but also the thrill of overwhelming the competition. It is the sport of meticulously plotted domination.

And that is part of why Adams believes Donald Trump will win the presidency. In a landslide.
Donald Trump will win in a landslide. *The mind behind ‘Dilbert’ explains why..........

I've had this poem among my bookmarks for years - it rings bells now:

THE SECOND COMING
by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Fixed Stars in Leo - a few noticed in natal charts.

On I go, with a series of monthly posts on Fixed Stars in each tropical zodiac sign.

Data for Leo from Astroweb (HERE), showing star positions in 1900 in the left-hand column and in 2000 on the right.

All I can dredge up from my own natal chart is the first star in this list, Talitha, known to ancient astrologers as "daughter of the assembly". Talitha was a little more than a degree away from natal Pluto when I was born, in first, or maybe second house, depending on exact time of birth and house system used. The star is located on the front foot of the Great Bear star formation, Ursa Major.

Most interpretations of Talitha are variations on this one from Librarising HERE

Quiet, prudent, suspicious, mistrustful, self-controlled, great anger when roused; control of wild animals.

I like this one though, from an article at Lunarplanner about a couple of dwarf planets:

Haumea's North Node primarily conjoins Talitha, Iota of Ursa Major, and Kappa,which mark the forefoot of the Great Bear. I dub Talitha to be the protectress, guardian, and nurturer of humanity. This duo is also the Chinese "High Dignitary." Although minor stars, they should not be taken lightly, as they hold a principal office within the Bear. Of the Great Bear they are associated with the global scene and world powers. They inspire us to become a caring and nurturing force for each other, an enabling force that responsibly supports our emergence from darkness, dogma, and delusion, emergence from the limits and bounds created by selfish, fearful or controlling beliefs, a force that supports us to move into freedom and in greater personal fulfillment.

Enough about my own natal chart - what about some of these Leo stars in the charts of President Obama, or would-be presidents Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump?

Acubens, at between 12 and 13 Leo would have been close to President Obama's natal Sun and Hillary Clinton's Mars and Pluto, at their times of birth.



At Constellation of Words

One significance of Acubens is the enforced use of applied intelligence when finding oneself in combat at someone else's behest, as we may say the Crab's front leg finds itself driven on by the Mars Al Tarf on the back leg. But a generally more positive quality to read from Acubens is that of a sharp intellect and ease of coming to grips with problems, for which one might earn public renown. But, again there is the note of doing this under pressure of others demanding 'from behind'. [The Living Stars, Dr. Eric Morse, p.50.]

Donald Trump has Giansar close to Pluto natally.

From Terry Nazon HERE

Penetrating and analytical mind, travel and many friends, craft, ingenuity, and valour, but danger of robbery and accidental poisoning

And Alfard/Alphard (with Mars). At Constellation of Words:

Trouble and scandal through love affairs. Attachment to a married person.

ALSO Regulus at his ascendant! Hmm.
(From Terry Nazon)

The most Royal Star. Raphael, the Healing Archangel, the Watcher of the North. Nobility, ambition, alertness, great power, status, leadership, sudden downfall, accidents, violence.

Bernie Sanders has only one planet in Leo: Pluto at around 5 degrees - fairly close to Praesaepe when he was born. Main indications for this fixed star from traditional sources seem to be eyesight problems, but those come up regularly in respect of several other stars too. I tend to ignore this interpretation when considering people born 20th century or later. Praesaepe hasn't been seen as a fortunate star in general though. Maybe there'll be better indications from stars further along the zodiac.

Anyone else have anything of interest to report in this vein, either in personal chart or other charts we would recognise?

The Wednesday "Why?" - Royal Stars

Passing readers must be tired of the bombardment of US politics, so this post touches only lightly on the subject, and not until the last paragraphs.

Why were four Fixed Stars considered "royal"? Aldebaran, Regulus, Antares and Fomalhaut retain their status as Royal Stars to this day among western astrologers. The tradition stems from Arabic astrology/astronomy which some see as our modern astrology's closest relation. Arabic astrology filtered through to Europe from Persia, today's Iran, thousands of years ago.

These stars were accorded such high stellar office by ancient astologers and astronomers because it is said that in those days their positions marked the four cardinal points, the equinoxes and solstices. Seen on an astrological chart of the heavens these define the ascendant, midheaven descendant, and nadir, which points are universally acknowledged as being the most powerful areas of an astrological chart. Any planet or point near to these angles plays a dominant part in personality or events.


The four stars were also referred to as Watchers of the Heavens, looked on as guardians of the Vernal and Autumnal equinoxes, and the Summer and Winter solstices.
These bright stars formed a huge astrological cross, long before the cross became a symbol of Christianity. Zodiac signs involved were the four Fixed signs: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius. In the tarot cards (right) The Wheel of Fortune and The World, you can see depicted in each corner of the cards a human figure, an eagle, a bull and a lion representing the Fixed signs. While the tarot as we know it, with the Major Arcana, didn't originate in Arabia, the four suits probably did, and the number four's significance reflects the four directions, north, south, east and west, and the four astrological cardinal points. The name "tarot" is thought to derive from the Arab word "turuq", which can be translated as "four ways".

The symbolism of the four Royal Stars in ancient times is thus easy to account for and accept. However, it isn't as easy to accept that any astrological interpretation of these stars should retain the same flavour now, when their positions changed long ago.

Fixed stars, of which these are but four out of billions and billions and billions (as Carl Sagon would say) are so called in order to to differentiate from the moving bodies we call planets. Fixed stars do, however, appear move but very, very slowly because of precession. (Explanation here).

The four Royals are no longer at their original sites. Their approximate position today: Aldebaran has moved from Taurus to 9 Gemini. Regulus is still in Leo, but barely - 29 degrees, this is called the anaretic degree and thought to be powerful. Antares has moved from Scorpio to 9 Sagittarius, and finally Formalhout moved from Aquarius to 3 Pisces.

Many astrologers still see the four Royal Stars as powerful when they appear in very close major aspect to a planet or sensitive point in a natal chart or mundane chart. The reason for this, I guess, harks back to the stars' early important status. Perhaps there is a question mark here. As the stars moved on over the centuries, ought they to have shed their royal reputation? It was their position, not their intrinsic properties, I assume, which had originally defined them as highly fortunate.

Perhaps we have an answer before us this morning! In the natal chart of the USA's new President Elect, Barack Obama, who will shortly hold a position comparable to the royalty of ancient times, two of the Royal Stars have some significance, for they lie on or very close to two sensitive points in his natal chart. The North Node of the Moon is at 27.54 Leo, in his chart, a little over a degree from the current position of Regulus. Antares lies practically on Obama's Part of Fortune at 8.52 Sagittarius. Many of the the Arabic Parts (and there are many) are not considered in interpretations of modern astrologers. Part of Fortune, though, is used often. It's particularly significant here, I think as both it and the Royal Stars originate from Arabic Astrology, so we have a "matching set".

Speaking of the President Elect, and the joy many Americans, myself included, feel this morning, I simply have to post this song. I hope that those who feel disappointed by the election result will feel able to be as gracious as Senator McCain was in his speech last night. It's often in defeat that the true mettle of a person shines through.