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The 2010 Venus Rx Mid-term Elections

American politics has regularly scheduled elections, although this regularity has only been in place for the last hundred years or so. Congress introduced a universal Election Day in 1845, but 1914 was the first election year where all Senators were popularly elected. Since then, every two years (even-numbered years), we have had Federal elections on the Tuesday after the first Monday of November. Therefore, the earliest possible date is November 2 and the latest possible date is November 8. Astrologically, this puts the Sun between 9º-15º Scorpio, in the tropical zodiac.

Members of the House of Representatives serve a two-year term before facing an election. U.S. Senators serve six-year terms; however, their terms are staggered — every two years, about one-third of the Senate is elected. So, our President is elected every four years and our Congress holds elections every two years. This sets up a phenomenon known as “mid-term elections,” since they are Congressional elections near the midpoint of the four-year presidential term. Historically, these usually don’t turn out well for the party of the President; in the past 17 mid-term elections, the President’s party has lost an average of 28 seats in the House, and an average of four seats in the Senate. (1)

Astrologically, this mid-term phenomenon begins to make some sense when viewed through the lens of the synodic cycle of Venus. Because of a 13:8 resonance with Earth, Venus has one of the most regular cycles of any planet. She completes five synodic cycles in almost exactly eight calendar years, tracing a five-pointed star in the sky.

This means that every eight years Venus makes her retrograde conjunction with the Sun near the same degree of the zodiac. Furthermore, these conjunctions drift backward through the zodiac about 2.5 degrees every eight years, so after twelve conjunctions and 96 years, any particular arm of Venus’s five-pointed star will change zodiac signs. Since 1930 (and through 2026), one arm of the Venus star has resulted in retrograde conjunctions in the sign of Scorpio. This means that, for the last 80 years, one in four federal elections have been held with Venus retrograde. Since 1970, Venus’s retrograde conjunctions with the Sun have drifted into mid-Scorpio and, thus, have been very close to Election Day.

When understood as a visible phenomenon, Venus’s involvement with U.S. federal elections begins to make even more sense. While only one in four federal elections currently occur during Venus retrograde, half of them occur with Venus invisible. At the mid-point of her eight-year cycle, Venus makes a superior (e.g., direct) conjunction near the same degree as the retrograde conjunction four years earlier. When Venus is conjunct the Sun, either retrograde or direct, she is not visible in the sky — she is either passing in front of, or behind, the Sun and cannot be seen within the bright solar glare. At the mid-term elections this year Venus is invisible. (Venus retrograde is conjunct the Sun on October 28.)

Currently, the U.S. Presidential elections happen with Venus shining brightly — either as Morning Star in the sign of Libra, or as Evening Star in the sign of Sagittarius. Two years later, at the time of mid-term elections, Venus is close to one of her conjunctions with the Sun in Scorpio, unable to be seen. Thus, the brightest planet in the sky at the time when any President is elected becomes hidden when he faces mid-term elections. With the President’s party usually faring poorly in mid-terms, this visual disappearance of Venus every two years seems to correlate with the vagaries of voter opinion.

It is almost as if the American voting public suffers from a kind of “buyer’s remorse” and they decide to take back the support they gave only two short years ago. The upside of this is that it seems to activate the system of checks and balances the Founding Fathers put in place. It is not often that one party controls all three branches of government. The downside is that it provides an opportunity for a man, who once brazenly passed out money from Big Tobacco right on the floor of the House, to now possibly become the leading lawmaker in this country and third in line to the Presidency. (2) Yet, even the long dark shadow of corruption via corporate money in American politics makes sense in terms of Venus. Following the chain of dispositorships, any July 2 or 4 charts for the U.S. show Venus ruling Saturn in Libra, who then rules Pluto in Capricorn. In the Sibley chart, using whole sign houses, this is all happening in the financial houses: the 2nd, 8th, and 11th. Perhaps Venus’s retrograde intrusions on our election processes are here to teach us a lesson.

Sibley

 

Recent polls have suggested that voters are more negative now about re-electing members of Congress than in the last five mid-terms, including the 1994 and 2006 elections, which saw dramatic shifts of power in both houses of Congress. (3) Mercury was retrograde at the 2006 election, and Mercury and Venus were conjunct the Sun in Scorpio. In 1994, the North Node of the Moon was conjunct the Sun, and Venus was retrograde in Scorpio, with Jupiter in Scorpio as well. The 1954 election saw a reversal in both the Senate and the House — a Democratic majority shift in the Senate, which would last until 1980, and in the House, which would last until 1994. In 1954, both Mercury and Venus were retrograde in Scorpio and Saturn was conjunct the Scorpio Sun. Astrologically speaking, it appears to this astrologer that if we were going to have a reversal in both houses of Congress, we would see more emphasis in Scorpio than we have this year. It is possible that the House may change to Republican control, but probably not the Senate.

 

Venus elections

 

Gary P. Caton is an eclectic astrologer who embraces an organic, process-oriented approach to spiritual growth, exploration, and transformation. Gary holds a degree in counseling and has developed a unique multi-discipline approach to Astrology over 17 years. Connect with Gary at DreamAstrologer

Footnotes:
(1) Wikipedia
(2) New York Times
(3) Gallup

10 Comments

  1. Very comprehensive analysis. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, though, but I have a strong feeling that the Party that has spent the most money on the campaign – the Republicans – are going to be sorely dissapointed with the results. I’ve found that this happens pretty consistently with Venus Retrograde.

  2. Actually, to date, the party spending the most on this campaign is the Democrats with $171,500 million and then following the Republicans with $140,000. These numbers are according the the Wall Street Journal. Thank you for the in depth analysis, Gary.

  3. Interesting…but if you include the funding wealthy Republicans are pumping into Tea Party campaigns I think they have more support. This is being done covertly (Venus in Scorpio) but has been revealed by NY Times reporters, among others. If elected, these candidates will support the Republican agenda.

  4. As someone who has covered environmental conservation as a journalist at the NYS Legislature I would agree that the idea of checks and balances is important, except for the fact that the Republican party pretty much equals corporate America at this point whereas the Dems are a much more mixed bag. I don’t call that “democracy.” Please get involved folks: we need to press for passage of the Fair Elections Now Act which mandates publicly-funded elections. Our survival as a species could hinge on this point; corporate control of our government is bringing us to the brink faster than you could begin to imagine…

  5. P.S. 95% of the American MEDIA is now owned by 4 multinational corporations (through subsidiaries). If you think you’re getting the “real” news, including from the Wall St. Journal, you might want to think again!

  6. Loved the article! Seeing things in a much more conservative light thnat you, though, I prefer to take a peek at the astrology of particular politicians, and that of our nation, before deciding on our course of action. When I see the future of obama’s time in office, I don’t think it will be pleasureable for him. The lunar eclipse will conjunct his natal Mercury in his 6th, and the solar eclipse will be in his 11th squaring transiting Saturn in his 8th. Saturn will conjunct his natal Neptune during his last year in office. He will have no concrete plans for his future. He may even return to his community organzing days. He will have Uranus transiting his 2nd for the next 7 years. The rising star will have burnt out. On the other hand, the USA is experiencing transiting Pluto moving towards natal Pluto. We are experiencing the revolt our founding father created 250 years ago. We will have won back our nation before 2024. When transiting Mars conjuncts natal Uranus in our 4th, we will have war inside our borders, but we will not be defeated. God Bless America!

  7. Thanks everyone. I wont get into it too much now, but I think Obama will be all right in the long run. Venus Rx is activating his Neptune now, but he has some very nice progressions coming. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets re-elected with Hillary as VP.

  8. Take a look at Governor Chris Christie’s solar chart. I think you might agree that he is the one we have been waiting for,,,,,very interesting to see transiting Pluto in his solar 4th house. In 2012, Jupiter will be squaring Uranus (he will be taking part in revolutionary methods) and then Pluto (he will be entitled to learn govermental secrets). Jupiter will square Jupiter during 2012, too,,,,giving him the power to expand. He is currently experiencing transiting Pluto oppose natal Mars. He is currently keeping secrets and will make plans to go onto a higher career level.

    Dont be made at me for pointing out the facts I have discovered. We will never know where we are going unless we are willing to realize all possibilities, eh? To bring about unity, we can’t remain so diverse.

  9. Re: “To bring about unity, we can’t remain so diverse”…I believe that part of our national experience of being marinated in Neptune’s waters now is an opportunity to embrace our diversity and re-discover its strengths. I hold to the theory that Neptune is the higher octave of Venus, so this election is also influenced by the ongoing Chiron-Neptune conjunction. Since both Venus and Neptune are both retrograde at the time of this election, it might be a good time for each individual voter to step back from highly charged “group think” messages, look within and vote with clarity of intention. Best wishes to ALL who go to vote, regardless of which way.

    Mary

  10. Where is the ‘rule’ that candidates come as a package deal…mayhaps promoted by the “party” to enable funding ?!? Suppose that can be eliminated IF the new ‘rule’ is-the candidates run individually and the most votes elects the top position, the 2nd highest gets the next down, etc. For Pres,vice-pres…Gov, Ltgov Etc?? If they are different ‘parties’ they’d have to work together and mayhaps more ‘voters’ would feel individually represented..Could the’better’ win ? Just where in DC is Foggy Bottom ?


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