Biden His Time

They say third time’s the charm, and that may be the case for former US Vice President Joe Biden, who has finally gained traction on his third run for the presidency. After a dismal start in the primary season, Biden soared to the top of the charts with the South Carolina Primary, followed shortly by an overwhelming performance on Super Tuesday. He has been the unchallenged leader for the Democratic presidential nomination for months, culminating in his acceptance of the role on August 20 during the DNC’s virtual convention.

Joe Biden, solar return 2019

When I first looked at Biden’s 2019 solar return, using the lens of asteroids and other minor bodies, what stuck out like a sore thumb was Nike and Victoria, named respectively for the Greek and Roman goddesses of victory. (1) These puny powerhouses have a lot to say about winning and success in general — natally, by transit, and in return charts. At birth Joe Biden has Victoria at 19° Sagittarius exactly squared his 19° Virgo Midheaven, implying career success, with Nike at 29° Sagittarius conjoined asteroid Old Joe at 25° Sag, suggesting that perhaps the ultimate victory would come late in life. (2) (And, no, I am not making up “Old Joe”! It really is an asteroid!)

Joe Biden, natal

If anything, their placements for the solar return governing the all important 2020 campaign season were even more dramatic. Not only were Nike and Victoria conjunct at the same degree, 2° Virgo, but this falls within one degree of the SR Moon at 1° Virgo and two degrees of the SR ascendant at 4° Virgo, also in an out-of-sign square to the SR (and natal) Sun at 27° Scorpio!

When I saw this, I thought, “Well, that’s the Democratic nomination right there,” though I have to admit my faith in these itty-bitty rock chunks to work their magic was sorely shaken by the first month of the campaign, as Biden finished a dismal fourth in Iowa and fifth in New Hampshire. The Biden candidacy seemed a long shot, but then came South Carolina. Joe’s time had come!

Held on Leap Day, February 29, 2020, the “first in the South” primary saw Joe Biden leave his competitors in the dust, garnering 48% of the vote, almost 30 points ahead of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, his closest rival. With transit asteroid Carolina, at 28° Pisces trining his natal 27° Scorpio Sun and exactly inconjunct transit Nike at 28° Leo (still squared the natal Sun), an easy (trine) victory (Nike) was in the stars for Biden (natal Sun), who never looked back. Nike also featured at the apex of a precise yod (i.e., finger of destiny), with Saturn at 28° Capricorn, and Carolina, which further opposed transit asteroid Whitehouse at 27° Virgo, exactly sextile Biden’s natal Sun. The South Carolina (Carolina) win (Nike) had set Joe Biden (natal Sun) on a seemingly fated (yod) career (Saturn) glide path to the Oval Office (Whitehouse).

Biden’s pick of Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) as his running mate, a former nomination competitor, showed further portents of victory. The announcement came across the internet at 4:15 p.m. EDT on August 11, 2020 with the 19° Sagittarius ascendant an exact match for natal Victoria, and squared by the ongoing conjunction of transit Victoria and Nike at 22° and 23° Virgo (which were therefore cresting his natal MC). (3)

The Biden/Harris political union was foreshadowed by PNAs (Personal-Named Asteroids) traveling with the transiting Sun at 19° Leo (exact with asteroid Washingtonia, for DC, and exactly trined that ascendant!) highlighting asteroid Harris at 21° Leo, asteroid Jose (Spanish for “Joseph”) at 18° Leo and asteroid Kamel (one of several variations which approximate “Kamala”) at 17° Leo. These combine with decision-making, announcement-inspiring, and newsworthy Mercury at 13° Leo to deliver the statement everyone was waiting for.

The Leo stellium at the announcement is squared by the Moon at 21° Taurus (adding further emphasis) and by asteroid Troemper (our closest celestial referent for The Donald) at 22° Taurus, whose squared aspect portrays the inimical stance between them. (There is actually a t-square formed by Moon/Troemper’s opposition to transit asteroid Bida — which approximates “Biden” — at 27° Scorpio, exact on Biden’s natal Sun at the time.

When Biden’s nomination became official at his acceptance speech on August 20th, with his uttering of those fateful words, “With great honor and humility, I accept this nomination” at 10:49 p.m. EDT, an incredible, exact, triple conjunction of the Moon, Nike, and Victoria, all at 26° Virgo, dominated the starscape. The Moon was just minutes from going void, with its last aspect a trine to Saturn at 26° Capricorn, and was bound up in a grand trine with asteroid Troemper, now at 25° Taurus (on Trump’s 24° Taurus MC, by the way). The transit Sun at 28° Leo is squared Biden’s natal Sun and trine his natal Nike at 29° Sagittarius.

The former VP has surely been “Biden” his time and hasn’t set a celestial foot wrong yet!

But can this winning vibe last through the election? Although technically the new solar return won’t kick in until November 19, 2020, more than two weeks after the fateful day, the energies of the 2019 return are definitely on the wane by then. Will it have the “oomph” to carry Biden across the finish line? Can the 2019 solar return Nike/Victoria/Moon/Ascendant conjunction still hold sway?

By Election Day on November 3, Nike and Victoria will be separating from their year-long conjunction and moving into the outer limits of orb, some seven degrees apart. Both Nike at 24° Libra and Victoria at 1° Scorpio conjoin Mercury, which rules the decision-making process, the vote itself, and its tabulation, at 25° Libra, and these square a stellium of asteroid Camillo, Jupiter, Pluto, Saturn, and asteroid Josephina at 19°, 21°, 22°, 26°, and 28° Capricorn. This puts Joe (Josephina) Biden and Kamala (Camillo) Harris in a very strong position — together, bookending energies that represent good fortune, expansion and increase (Jupiter), personal power and transformation (Pluto), and the presidency itself (Saturn) — that is tied directly to winning (Nike/Victoria) the vote (Mercury). That looks like popular vote success.

But there are mitigating factors to Biden getting the job, however the vote goes. Mercury makes its direct station that day, a circumstance that repeats the debacle of the 2000 election between Al Gore and George W. Bush, in which Gore won the popular vote but failed in the Electoral College after a Supreme Court decision stopped the Florida recount. Mercury at its station is slow and stuck, mired in its directional shift, so voting may be sluggish and stalled in all sorts of difficulties or delays. Transiting Saturn will also be squaring Mercury, which adds to the theme of slowing things down and perhaps alludes to voter suppression. We shouldn’t expect that a win (Nike/Victoria), any win, will be announced (Mercury) that day.

Mercury is also joined by asteroid Loke at 22° Libra, named for the Norse Trickster god Loki, and in a grand trine with asteroid Buysballot at 25° Gemini and Damocles at 23° Aquarius. This becomes a Kite pattern with Mercury’s opposition to TNO Eris at 23° Aries conjoined asteroid Koronis at 20° Aries. Buysballot is named for C.H.D. Buys Ballot, a Dutch meteorologist; in its English cognate form, “buys ballot” often appears when electoral shenanigans of all types are afoot. (4) Damocles represents the doom hanging overhead, and Eris connects to marginalized populations — agitated or resentful — while Koronis is our nearest celestial referent for the coronavirus.

Put it all together and you have a recipe for pervasive (conjunction) trickery (Loki), easily facilitated (trine) corruption (Buysballot), and impending disaster (Damocles) related to the vote (Mercury), impacted most strongly (opposition) by grievance politics and disenfranchisement (both Eris), and COVID-19 (Koronis).

The Sun at 11° Scorpio conjoins an exact pairing of asteroids Swindle (named for meteorite expert Tim Swindle, but a reliable indicator of its euphemistic meaning, ”to scam or con”) and Whitehouse at 18° Scorpio, and forms a t-square with Uranus at 7° Taurus and asteroid Maillen at the fulcrum at 17° Aquarius. (5) This shows potential for fraud (Swindle) and technical glitches (Uranus) with vote-by-mail (Maillen, a phonetic match for “mail-in” ballots), yielding an unexpected or controversial outcome (also Uranus) in the race for the Oval Office (Whitehouse).

Just which side cheats best and most might be expressed by a t-square of asteroid Troemper (Trump) at 1° Gemini on the fulcrum squared by asteroid Lie at 5° Virgo (named for Swedish mathematician Sophus Lie, but functioning consistently as deception and untruth), and opposing asteroids Hermes and Machiavelli at 1° and 2° Pisces. (6) Hermes is named for the Greek Trickster god noted as patron of thieves, another indicator of fraud, stealing, and dirty tricks, while Machiavelli, which comes to its direct station that very day, along with Mercury, relates to the amoral acquisition of power at whatever cost. Connected so intimately to the celestial factor representing Donald Trump, we can expect a no-holds-barred, truly down-and-dirty campaign and election.

I’m not sure how to weight all these factors in judging the outcome, but as a set of descriptors, they do seem to strongly point to one thing: at the very minimum, whatever transpires will be interesting to watch.

Footnotes:
(1) Joe Biden’s solar return chart is cast for 11:53 p.m. EST, November 19, 2019.

(2) Joe Biden: November 20, 1942, 8:30 a.m. EWT, Scranton PA; Rodden rating A.

(3) As an internet announcement, this statement has no true geographic location, but I set the chart for Wilmington, Delaware, home of Joe Biden and his campaign headquarters; presumably the notice originated there.

(4) Wikipedia: C.H.D. Buys Best

(5) University of Arizona: Lunar and Planetary Lab Faculty

(6) Wikipedia: Sophus Lie