On July 3, in case you haven’t heard, Sarah Palin made her surprise announcement that she is stepping down as the governor of Alaska.
Her announcement shocked, apparently, even her closest advisors. (1) There is a Full Moon eclipse on July 7 at 2:21 a.m. PDT, at 15°24′ Cancer/Capricorn The approach to an eclipse is always a bit of a wild time, as energy builds to be released in often surprising and unexpected ways.
In her natal horoscope, Palin has Jupiter at 16°43’ Aries, square the nodal axis at 10°40′ Cancer/Capricorn.
This Full Moon eclipse is square the natal Jupiter. (It’s also obviously quite close to the natal nodes; there is another Full Moon eclipse on Dec 31, 2009 at 10°21’ Cancer/Capricorn, exactly on her nodal axis. More to come from Ms Palin.)
For now, I’m looking at Jupiter. As a planet square the nodal axis, it is know as a planet “at the bending” and has special prominence. Kathy Allan, in her article “Re-Visioning the Lunar Nodes” (TMA, Feb./March 2009), writes: “The bending of the nodes may be the most overlooked feature of the horoscope.”
And Kevin Burk, in The Complete Node Book (2003), says: “…. a planet that is ‘at the bending’ must be given careful consideration, because that planet, and the issues associated with it, will tend to take center stage repeatedly in the individual’s life.”
So, here we have an eclipse on the planet in Palin’s horoscope that will “tend to take center stage.” Can there be any doubt that Palin is back on center stage in a very big (Jupiter) way?
As a further refinement to “the bending,” the planet can be either at the North or South Bending. Jupiter in Aries is on Palin’s South Bending, which Allan describes as resembling “the South Node; planets here have difficulty in outer expression and are best used subjectively, spiritually, or give away to the collective.” Lee Lehman, in Classical Astrology for Modern Living (1996), calls the South Bending the “scapegoat position.”
I think these are fascinating ideas, given the tone of Palin’s announcement, and her Facebook entry the next day, in which she wrote that she is free now to pursue “a higher calling.”
Another significant marker for Sarah Palin is the progressed Full Moon that was exact on March 15, 2009.
The Sun at 7°29′ Aries, and the Moon at 7°29′ Libra, is squaring the progressed nodes at 6°32′ Cancer. She is at a culmination point for the cycle which began at her progressed New Moon in March 1995 at 23°32′ Pisces. (Palin was also in her Saturn return then.) She began serving as mayor or Wasilla in 1996. Perhaps she is complete with state politics now, having begun as mayor at the New Moon, she’s gone as far as can and is ready to leave at the Full Moon.
On the day of the announcement, the transiting Sun was at 12° Cancer, conjunct her natal North Node. The transiting North Node was at 0°18′ Aquarius, within a degree of her natal Mercury (1°37’ Aquarius).
Palin seemed as self-confident and feisty as ever at the news conference; transiting Mars at 24° Taurus was squaring her natal Sun-Mars-Saturn conjunction at 23° – 26° Aquarius.
Transiting Chiron-Jupiter-Neptune is within orb of her Sun-Mars-Saturn conjunction until early 2010 (when Neptune crosses Saturn for the last time), so we might expect the scandals, or rumors of scandals, to keep coming for a while. And, with Jupiter and Chiron present, the impact of her actions has yet to be revealed. (Is she a brilliant political maverick? Is she permanently and inexorably damaging her reputation?)
As a final note (for now!), Sarah Palin’s natal Sun-Uranus midpoint is at 0°31′ Sagittarius. This is semi-square (45°) to this week’s Full Moon eclipse at 15° Capricorn, which suggests a powerful triggering of the midpoint.
In Midpoints, Don Mc Broom describes the Sun-Uranus combination: “Illumination of individuality in an innovative or eccentric approach to life purpose; revolutionary spirit; possibly feeling above the rules.”
When connected to the Moon (as is the case here), Ebertin calls the combination, “Emotional excitability, impulsiveness, rashness. A nervous and agitated woman.”
Now I do sympathize with Sarah Palin’s quirky demeanor as a demonstration of Aquarius. (Mark McKinnon, who worked with her, wrote: “She crackles with energy like a live electrical wire.”) (2)
She did seem a bit agitated at her news conference. But then, what’s a person (with an Aquarius stellium) to do when a Full Moon eclipse hits her Sun-Uranus midpoint, and her most elevated and at-the-bending Jupiter, while she’s also at a progressed Full Moon, and transiting Mars squares a Sun-Mars-Saturn conjunction? In the words of one blogger: “Palin’s week culminated, of course, in a strange, twitchy, impulsive announcement from her home on the shore of Lake Lucille, that she would be stepping down from office, and resigning.” (3)
Footnote:
(1) “Palin explodes a nuclear device by announcing she’s stepping down as governor of Alaska.” The Daily Beast
(2) The Daily Beast
(3) Huffington Post