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Treasury Department at the Full Moon

Last week my blog took a more pleasurable turn — towards Venus and her potential to charm — but today I am looking again at the U.S. Sibly and President Obama’s charts.

Obama has had several aspects in his progressed chart perfect in these past few months. Perfected progressed aspects are always significant in a life time; since they move slowly and gradually, once they are exact, an important life theme may be noted. Looking back a bit, in June 2008 his progressed Mercury conjoined progressed Mars at 23° Libra, aligned with the beautiful fixed star, Spica.

Progressed Mercury (23° Libra) squared progressed Saturn (23° Capricorn) on November 11, a few days after the election. This is certainly the signature of serious business at hand, an inner readiness to face Saturn’s realities, and maybe even the ability to be gracious, eloquent and inspiring at the same time (Mercury in Libra with Spica).

Now, Obama’s progressed Mars (ruler of the Aries progressed Ascendant) is square to progressed Saturn. This was exact on March 3, within a few days of front-page news (and photos) of Obama’s hair starting to turn white since the inauguration. Leave it to Saturn to leave his mark of sobriety and gravitas whenever he can.

My interest was piqued this weekend by an NPR report saying that the administration has been caught off guard by the magnitude of the problems and that the financial crisis is happening so quickly that events are running away from them. A New York Times article this morning made similar points. Basically, the staff, i.e., the people needed to run the Treasury Department, is not in place to deal with the complexity of problems.

Granted, the Treasury Department has inherited an unprecedented mess. “With the economy plunging into its deepest recession since the early 1980s, the Treasury has been put in charge of vast swaths of the economy, including rescuing the financial system, the housing market and the automobile industry.” (1)

We know that one keynote of this time is the ongoing opposition between Saturn and Uranus. The necessity of keeping systems and structures (Saturn) up and running, and at the same time, flexible enough to respond to unprecedented challenge (Uranus), is obvious everywhere we look.

The Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, was born in the same month as the president. (2) Both are sun sign Leos — Geithner was born on August 18, 1961, and the President on August 4. Obama has already had the transit of Neptune opposite the natal Sun (2003-04). Geithner has the Sun conjunct Uranus and the North Node, suggesting a unique capacity for visionary leadership. However, the transit of Neptune opposite his Sun will be exact for the first time on March 19, then in August 2009 and Jan 2010. Hopefully, this Neptune transit will increase the Secretary’s ability to surround himself with people of creative imagination, and diminish any tendency to deny what is happening in the economy.

Being an astrologer attuned to Pluto’s just-beginning long passage in Capricorn, I generally agree with commentators who say that the government is not recognizing what is really going on, i.e., the depth of change that is necessary to address the demands of the time.

I think many of us recognize that the people in charge need to think differently and act quickly in response to what is unraveling. I found it disheartening that the same Wall Street minds who, in part, are responsible for the financial mess were chosen by the Obama administration to fix it. (Geithner was former head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Lawrence Summers and Robert Rubin, currently working in the Treasury Department, were secretaries of the Treasury under Bill Clinton.)

And, I think that much of the current criticism of the President is childish; this is a long-term problem and there will be no quick fixes. I also trust something about Obama — his presence, his heart, his capacity to sense the future, not to mention the astrology that ties him so strongly to this moment in history.

President Obama gave his very well received address to Congress on February 24, within a few days of Jupiter’s one-time exact opposition to his regal Leo Sun. (If you missed it and want to see Jupiter at his best, watch it on YouTube.  It may very well lift your spirits. (3)

Interrupted continuously by standing ovations, this was Jupiter on display with a Leo Sun. Most reporters praised the talk as striking the right tone between optimism (i.e., “We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before”) and a sober assessment of the country’s economy.

A quick sketch of the U.S. chart reminds us of some of the rough roads ahead: The first exact transit of Pluto opposite the U.S. Venus at 3° Cancer is not until May 2, to be followed by partile aspects again on December 26 and August 9, 2010. To say that actual loss of assets – as well as a pervasive fear of even greater loss – is a nationwide concern might be an understatement.

Saturn rules the U.S. second house, which symbolizes the banks and financial institutions of the nation. In August 2009, when transiting Saturn gets to 22°25’ Virgo it will conjunct the U.S. natal Neptune. Looking back for a moment, on December 31, 2008 transiting Saturn stationed retrograde at 21°46’ Virgo, within a degree of the U.S. Neptune. But it doesn’t cross exactly until August. This certainly gives credence to the widespread suggestion that many more U.S. banks will fail before we are out of the woods.

The U.S. progressed Moon (how the people feel now) is square both natal and progressed Uranus. Next week, on March 19, the progressed Moon (6°59’ Virgo) is square progressed Uranus (6°59’ Gemini). On May 16, the Moon’s square to natal Uranus is exact (8°55’ Virgo to 8°55’ Gemini). We all know that Virgo has a tendency to worry, and squares in mutable signs can increase nervous energy and heighten anxiety. The national psyche has the jitters; we can’t find anything to settle in to. CNBC commentators notwithstanding, maybe the whole country should switch to decaf for these next few months.

Notes:

(1) Geithner, With Few Aides, Is Scrambling

(2) Timothy Geithner’s birthday, August 18, 1961 in Brooklyn, New York, found on his Facebook page.

(3) Many thanks to my good friend, Peggy Markel, for the suggestion.

7 Comments

  1. Mary,

    This is a great overview. And, as is true of astrology at its best, a complete validation of my (and many others’) experience. Thanks.

  2. As all the issues are, this one is great! Thank you. Questions: How often is the cover a photo of a prominent person? Did he know and did you send him a copy? Does President Obama have any (admitted)interest in astrology? I really enjoy this site for the ‘input’ between issues.

  3. Hi Roberta,

    Thanks! I will check with Tem about people on the cover..it’s not what we usually do.

    And, the President has such a nice, warm Leo smile.. 😉

  4. Hi Roberta:
    I’ve been with TMA since day one, and to my memory, this is the first time we’ve put a particular person on the cover in 144 issues (other than a clip art person or photo collage person). We didn’t notify Obama’s people, just used his standard photo and did a little photoshop on the background.
    Glad you enjoyed it!

  5. Thank you Tem – I’ve been reading your Great mag for quite a while and thought this is a 1st ! Mayhaps a numerologist would find the #144 interesting as the issue to highlight the 44th President !

  6. I commend your article on the Federal Treasury
    and yes there is a mess to contend with…
    I have been studying Timothy’ Geithner’s chart
    and he is very concerned over this whole fiasco.
    In fact, he wanted to let AIG fall before they all realized how deep it would affect people’s investments, retirements, 401-K’s and more.
    We just have to get his time of birth!
    Amazing he is on Facebook very admirable…he could get alot of support or the exact opposite
    Courageous Leo he is, he has America’s best at his heart.
    Thanks for the article
    Arlene in Seattle


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