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Kavanaugh Decoded

I think we can all agree that the recent confirmation process for President Donald Trump’s latest Supreme Court Justice pick was not without incident, to put it mildly. Whichever side of the political spectrum you come down on, the spectacle of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s promotion to the highest court in the land was an almost unprecedented judicial fracas — among the most contentious and fraught in American history. With the critical “swing vote” on the SCOTUS hanging in the balance, the long knives were out on both sides, and the result was a hullabaloo the likes of which we have rarely witnessed, even in these entrenched partisan times.

But we’re not here to dissect the pros and cons of the nominee, or the nomination process. Astrology’s lens can be adapted to opinions of any political stripe, but put into proper focus, it can provide clues as to character and destiny that supersede partisan agendas.

Among the best tools for determining crucial factors in a biography are asteroids, a relatively new field of research that began to open up in a serious way with the technological advances in telescopes in the 1990s, allowing us to peer more closely, not just at far-flung galaxies, but also our near neighbors in the Asteroid Belt. These bits of space debris may be tiny, almost infinitesimal in some instances, but they can pack a real punch in a birth chart! This is especially the case when these “minor” bodies come to station, creating embedded presences in consciousness, indicating factors — be they attributes, places, persons, or things — that have a disproportionately greater impact on the biography of the native than would typically be the case.

There are now more than 17,000 named asteroids, including many place names, first names, and surnames, as well as a wealth of mythically based points that can flesh out more generalized planetary energies. Let’s take a look at what the stationary asteroids in Brett Kavanaugh’s chart have to say about the themes that will predominate in his life.

Brett Kavanaugh was born on February 12, 1965 in Washington, D.C. (no time available), and the first stationary point we encounter is his birthplace itself, in the form of asteroid Washingtonia, representative of the U.S. capital. (1) At 13° Libra, Washingtonia turned retrograde on January 27, 1965, more than two weeks before his birth, but on the day of his birth is still at that same degree and moving slowly. Rather than focusing on the elapsed time since the actual station, the fact that the degree hasn’t changed is what’s significant here — as long as the body in question is still in its station degree, the station is in effect. (This notion of the impact of the station degree applies to faster-moving bodies, not necessarily those that grind more slowly, like Pluto.)

So, beyond being Kavanaugh’s birth place, does Washington resonate in his biography? Boy, does it ever! Starting with clerking for SCOTUS Justice Anthony Kennedy after graduation from Yale Law School, Kavanaugh has spent his entire adult life in D.C. He followed this Supreme Court precursor with a stint on Independent Counsel Ken Starr’s Whitewater investigation staff, and was a principal author of Starr’s report to Congress. He joined the George W. Bush White House as Staff Secretary, and in 2003 Bush nominated him to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, though he was not confirmed until 2006. With this current promotion as Associate Justice of the SCOTUS, it’s a safe bet that Kavanaugh will end his career days in Washington.

Our next stationary asteroid is Justitia, which appears at 4° Gemini in Kavanaugh’s nativity, and came to station at that degree on January 24, 1965. Justitia is named for the Roman goddess of justice; it is the root of our word “justice,” and now it will be Brett Kavanaugh’s job title for the rest of his life! Does that resonate with his biography? You decide. Let’s pause here a moment to note that two other Justices on the current SCOTUS bench also have a stationary Justitia (as did the late Antonin Scalia); two more have a stationary Themis (Justitia’s Greek goddess predecessor, also goddess of justice); two others have Justitia conjunct the Sun; and another has Justitia on the Ascendant. (Only Ruth Bader Ginsburg doesn’t fit this pattern, though her Justitia does square natal Mars–Neptune in Virgo and is trine Mercury in Aries.)

Now here’s where things start to get interesting in Kavanaugh’s chart. Because right next to Justitia, also stationary, is a centaur body named Nessus, at 2° Gemini. Nessus turned direct on February 14, just two days after Kavanaugh’s birth. And this centaur’s mythic backstory revolves around an attempted rape! After ferrying Heracles’s wife Deianeira across a flooded river on his broad equine back, Nessus, thinking he was safe with Heracles on the far shore, attempted to ravish her, only to be shot by a poisoned arrow from Heracles’s bow.

This isn’t to say that Brett Kavanaugh is guilty of the charges levied against him by Professor Christine Blasey Ford — just that the stationary status of Nessus makes the theme of coercive sexual activity a major issue in his life, and I don’t think that anyone who witnessed those hearings can argue with that. Whomever you believe, it’s undeniable that this subject was critical to the confirmation process. What’s significant here is the fact that Justitia and Nessus, both stationary, are also closely conjunct! They are inseparable — you can’t activate one without energizing the other. So, yes, you can have that SCOTUS seat, but first you have to deal with that Nessus baggage.

There are three more points in late Gemini that are at station and conjunct each other, but are apart from the early Gemini pairing. The first is asteroid Sphinx, which denotes an impenetrable mystery, a quality of inscrutability, something opaque and enigmatic, and the truth behind it cannot be unraveled. At 17° Gemini, Sphinx turned direct on February 5, 1965, and surely resonates with the issue of Kavanaugh’s veracity. Which of the two opposed images should we believe? The choirboy who focused on studies, sports, and making friends in high school, or the drunken teen reveler who joined “train” rapes and got girls intoxicated to make them more sexually accommodating? There seems no way to resolve these disparate images beyond the bias of one’s political persuasion, and that function of opacity or mystery is Sphinx writ large.

The other two Gemini points at station are so apt, so resonant with this story, as to be almost unbelievable. They are asteroids Pecker and Beer. Yes, you read that right — Pecker and Beer! Pecker at 22° Gemini turned direct on February 9, just three days before Kavanaugh’s birth, and Beer turned direct on the 5th (the same day that Sphinx stationed) at 25° Gemini. These points hold special importance because, in addition to being stationary, they also closely trine Kavanaugh’s natal Sun at 23° Aquarius, making them integral parts of Kavanaugh’s self-image, his core identity.

Pecker isn’t intended as a penis euphemism (it’s actually named for Jean-Claude Pecker, once head of the observatory in Nice, France), but trust me, it functions quite well in that capacity! In story after story of sexual scandal, from the Lewinsky affair to Stormy Daniels, Pecker’s presence is as reliable as an old friend. Here, it shows a predominance of sexual themes in the life, perhaps an inordinate focus on sexual matters, even obsession — but, at a minimum, a very active sexual appetite.

Similarly, Beer (which is named for the alcoholic beverage it represents) will have a prominent part to play, and could be a formative factor in developing character or self-identity, especially early in life. It’s interesting that beer was the drink of choice for the teenaged Kavanaugh, with references to the “Keg City Club — 100 Kegs or Bust” in his high school yearbook; calendar entries from that era highlighting meeting with friends for “’Ski’s” (“brewskies,” or beer); his Senate testimony that he “likes beer”; and the current trending hashtag of “#BeersforBrett” by triumphal conservatives after his successful confirmation vote. Is beer of note in Kavanaugh’s biography? You betcha!

Again, we see that these points, Pecker and Beer, are conjunct, which naturally blends sexual energies with intoxication, and this is just what the allegations portray. As before, it’s not an astrological testimonial of guilt, but it does show a predisposition to blend these factors at some point in the life, in some way.

So, just in examining the points that are stationary in Brett Kavanaugh’s chart, we’ve seen a place-name asteroid of vital importance in his biography (Washingtonia); a job title (Justitia); some involvement with issues of coerced sexual contact (Nessus); a nature that connotes an enigmatic, unsolvable riddle (Sphinx); and a strong accent on both sex (Pecker) and alcohol (Beer). Not bad, considering that we haven’t even looked at single major planet!

There is one more stationary point to be considered: Incredibly, it’s asteroid Ford! At 16° Libra, Ford turned retrograde on February 10, just two days before Kavanaugh’s birth. This indicates that someone of that name would have a highly influential, impactful, and powerful role to play in Kavanaugh’s life. I would submit that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford fits that bill quite well. Whatever the truth or falsity of her accusations, they will forever be remembered, and cast a long shadow on Brett Kavanaugh’s biography.

Truly, there is no such thing as chance.

Footnote:

(1) Birthdate and biographical details from Wikipedia

Bio: Alex Miller is a professional writer and astrologer, specializing in deep space points and minor bodies of the solar system. A past president of Philadelphia Astrological Society and currently a member of the board for the Philadelphia chapter of NCGR, Alex is the author of The Black Hole Book, detailing the use of black holes in astrological interpretation, and Cat o’ Nine Tales, a memoir of his cat rescue work. He has been chronicling the effects of asteroids and other minor bodies since 2005, much of which can be found at his website: alexasteroidastrology. Alex can be reached at glaktix@verizon.net

4 Comments

  1. OMG! You couldn’t make this stuff up, as they say! Don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the ‘Kavanaugh story’, but the hilarity and joy I felt at the astro-symbolism were profound and inspiring, reminding of the fact that the ‘celestial lights’ shine even on the darkest, most perplexing stories that our human lives can sometimes spin. Thanks, Alex, for a wonderful piece.

    • Thanks, Melanie! I appreciate your comments and support. I do find that even the “tiniest” stores reflect in the heavens, if you’re looking with a high-powered lens.

  2. Alex, thank you for this gobsmacking asteroid portrait of Brett Kavanaugh. My jaw is still agape. I still can’t believe there are people out there who say astrology doesn’t work. They have to be kidding!

    • Thanks, Claudia – glad you found the piece so illuminating. I’m not sure why it’s taken so long for asteroids to permeate the astrologic consciousness, but they do have a lot to say about the particulars of a life and bio.


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