Some thoughts on…Cycles and the USA election

Those of you who drop in on my various writings from time to time may well have noticed that my astro-preoccupation for quite some time now has been planetary cycles (i). I find them profoundly fascinating, awe-inspiring. This has especially been the case as we have all had a ringside seat in watching the spectacle of our world being turned increasingly upside down in the last few years. 

Digital illustration of the Solar system.

At a personal level, the more we have been ‘plugged in’ to the planetary degrees of recent significant symbolic shifts, the more disrupted life has been. That has certainly been the case for me. Having been born under an exact Saturn/Pluto conjunction in Leo, and married under the subsequent one in Libra, I was widowed on 13th January 2020 – the day after an exact Saturn/Pluto conjunction in Capricorn. 

No doubt other readers have powerful stories of their own to share. 

As Shakespeare’s Hamlet observed: “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will,” (Hamlet to Horatio in Act 5, Scene 2). I have never been made more acutely aware of this than I was by the shocking timing of my husband’s death. However, 40 years’ involvement with astrology as a practitioner, teacher and writer – as well as the living of my life – have taught me that, as Richard Tarnas observed in Cosmos and Psyche,‘…astrology is not concretely predictive, but archetypally predictive…’

Unsurprisingly, given the dramatic events in the USA in recent weeks, astrologers worldwide have been poring over the charts of all the protagonists with varying degrees of scrutiny, coming up with the usual varying conclusions – we should admit that the evidence for consistently accurate concrete prediction by astrologers is not strong, and bring a wee bit of humility to bear in reminding ourselves of that fact in our speculations!

Brief background survey – key recent events

Here in Scotland, there was a divisive Independence Referendum in 2014 where we Scots voted by 55% to 45% to remain in the UK, leaving bitterness in its wake. In 2016, the UK voted by a narrow margin to leave the European Union, which caused further bitterness and division. 

Also in that year, Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the Electoral College (although she won in terms of overall votes) and became president of the United States of America. His rancorous style created an intensification of division in the USA via the promotion and rise of the MAGA cult. This division intensified when, having been defeated in the election of November 2020, he failed to hand the reins of power to incoming president Joe Biden in January 2021, as befits time-honoured democratic procedures, with any kind of dignity or grace.

 Quite the opposite. We all remember the ensuing Insurrection and its ongoing consequences of increasing bitterness, hatred and division throughout the USA. 

Preceding the election, in January 2020 the world had been plunged into even worse turmoil by the Covid pandemic, which cost millions of lives before effective vaccines were developed. We are still very much dealing with the environmental, political, social, cultural, and personal consequences of that event. 

This was followed in the Spring of 2022 by the war in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s ‘special operation’, still ongoing and contributing its own chaos to the wider world, affecting us all as well as causing massive suffering and death. The escalation of hostilities between Israel and Palestine following the brutal October 7th 2023 attacks by Hamas on Israel and the taking of hundreds of hostages has produced an orgy of destruction in Gaza responsible now for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, of whom around 25,000 are children. 

Neither of those conflicts looks likely to conclude any time soon. 

So –  here we are, looking on as the ancient, ever-repeating oscillation between order and chaos, Saturn and Neptune, would appear to be tipping steadily in the direction of  chaos. The world certainly looks to be a more dangerous place now than it was at the start of the Millennium…

Current focus on political drama in the USA

My own interest lies in looking at what the planetary cycles, measured over the last 250 years or so, may have to say about the outcome of the upcoming USA election in November 2024 – probably one of the most crucial since George Washington was appointed first president in 1789, in the same year as the French Revolution. In a short piece like this, I am confining myself to broad brushstrokes  – by way of introduction. No doubt much longer and more detailed analyses will also be appearing.

The critical nature of this approaching election is well described by its placing within a number of significant cyclic shifts.(ii)The Jupiter/Saturn conjunction in Libra in 1980 was the first herald, as it were, of the upcoming Air Era, with a Jupiter/Saturn conjunction in Taurus in May 2000 announcing the final 20 years’ cycling of those two planets though the Earth Element. This lengthy sojourn, which began in 1802, terminated with a dramatic symbolic flourish following the cycle’s full entry into Air: with Jupiter meeting Saturn at 0 Aquarius on 21st December 2020 – the Winter Solstice, no less.

To quote from Mundane Astrology (p. 185) ‘…the transition of the conjunction from one element to another –the ‘Mutation Conjunction’ – has always been considered to be of particular importance marking a major shift in emphasis and orientation in the world…’ 

The opening of the first Jupiter /Saturn cycle in Aquarius, and the new Air Era, moving us all toward a  ‘…major shift in emphasis and orientation in the world…’, saw the inauguration of Joe Biden as President of the USA on 20th January 2021. This event was preceded by the infamous insurrection on 6 January 2021, following Trump’s inciting of his mob of followers attempting to subvert the result of the November 2020 election: just one yearinto the start of another fearsome 33-38 year Saturn/Pluto cycle, at 23 Capricorn on 12 January 2020. In page 183 of Mundane Astrology, that cycle is described as pertaining to ‘…Very deep cultural transformations, purgations and ‘resurrections’…’

Just after the Spring Equinox of 2020, Saturn had entered Aquarius, Jupiter in mid-Capricorn in hot pursuit, heading for their 0 Aquarius meeting at the end of that year. Meanwhile, Pluto was close to completing his purging of financial and institutional structures worldwide which began with the financial crash of 2007/8, his focus preparing to shift with the Spring 2023-Winter 2024 gradual forward, then back, moves from Capricorn to Aquarius during that period. Pluto’s full forward entry date into Aquarius is 19th November 2024: critical timing, as we will see shortly.

Currently a temporary visitor to Aquarius since late January 2024, Pluto is due to dip back into Capricorn on 3/9/24, turning direct on 12/10/24. It will be fascinating to see what further dramas and disruptions take place around those dates, with Pluto remaining anaretic in Capricorn until returning to Aquarius on 19/11/24 – where he will remain until 2043.

This particular USA election, initially scheduled to be a re-match of Biden v Trump, will take place at a fascinating point in space and time: the very last two weeks of Pluto’s 17 years-long purge of everything Capricorn stands for – having turned major economic, political, religious and social structures upside-down in the process. The last time this occurred, nearly 250 years ago, was between 1762 and 1798, followed by Pluto’s traverse of Aquarius from 1777/78 to 1798. Significant events then? Absolutely!

 In 1775, many of the inhabitants of Britain’s 13 American colonies rebelled in the War of Independence (1775-83). Congress voted to accept the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. This action represented a formal separation of the American colonies from Great Britain. The Constitution was ratified on June 21st 1788, followed in 1788/9 by the first USA Presidential Election in which George Washington was elected as the first president and the members of the 1st United States Congress were selected.

So many firsts with Pluto’s previous shift into Aquarius. What firsts may we expect with Pluto’s settling into Aquarius in the winter of 2024/5?

2020– 2024/5: a world in liminal times

The 2020–2024 period has been and still is a time of exceptional turbulence, increasing polarisation – and violence. It has also been, to take a more upbeat note, a time for new seeds germinating and beginning to fruit during the huge transition from the Earth to the Air era.  

Thinking about all this caused me to further reflect, this time on the significance of the twelfth house phase, that phase of dissolution and preparation for re-emergence which applies to every cycle whether applied to the life cycle of a gnat, a galaxy – or a world Era. In the mysterious depths of the metaphorical twelfth house, the seeds of the future are quietly germinating in darkness, preparing to burst into new life in the first house phase: that of the new Air Era upcoming. 

Just a few of the seeds germinating and beginning to fruit during the 2000-2024/5 transition from the Earth to the Air era were/are:

* Arrival of the iPhone in 2007 which set the social media age in motion, along with the rise of AI technologies. OpenAI’s viral AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT, can now browse the internet since its launch on 23 March 2023, the very day of Pluto’s first entry into Aquarius for the 2023-2043 period. 

* Election of USA’s first black president, Barack Obama, serving from 2008-16. The 1777-1798 period of Pluto through Aquarius saw the election of the USA’s first ever president, George Washington, in 1789 as previously mentioned. Interestingly, Obama’s Ascendant is in Aquarius, with his natal Jupiter in his twelfth house at 1 deg Aquarius…Pluto has been potentising that Jupiter since the Spring of 2023, and will be re-activating it, just after the USA Election date. A significant role in the new government, maybe? The 2020 USA election, won by Joe Biden, saw Kamala Harris make history as the first black woman appointed to the role of Vice President.

The war in Ukraine has lead to closer alignment between Russia and China under two autocratic leaders Putin and Xi. We have also seen the rise of India as a global superpower: a major player in the global IT and BPO services industry and a powerful manufacturing leader.

* Also, uniquely, half of the world’s populations are taking part in elections in 2024. Interestingly, the power of Narendra Modi, although he was re-elected prime minister of India on 4/6/2024, has been much reduced by the votes of a significant number of dissatisfied Indian voters. People power is on the rise! We have also recently seen evidence of this in the UK with a Labour election landslide. It got rid of 14 years of increasingly chaotic and corrupt Tory rule. All of this indicates major shifts in leadership and superpower alignments across the globe in 2024/5: aptly dramatic dynamics of entry into a new Air era.         

So – what may we expect from the USA Election?

 Initially it looked as though the protagonists on the 5 November 2024 were going to be two old men: Democrat Joe Biden aged 81 and Republican Donald Trump aged 78.  How very apt, I thought – but rather depressing despite Biden’s not inconsiderable achievements since 2021 – that Capricorn’s final degree before Pluto’s fully shifting into Aquarius should host a contest for President between two ageing Saturnian figures, way past reasonable retirement age. 

There seemed to me, though,  to be a profound and troubling contradiction here: An election held at the last gasp of Pluto in Capricorn would be followed, firstly, by the final pass of the USA’s Pluto Return to 1 degree 35 mins Aquarius on 30/12/24. Then – the inauguration of a new President would take place at a vibrant point of radically new energy: with the Sun conjunct Pluto at 1-2 degrees Aquarius on 20th January 2025.

This contest of old men did not fit with what the archetypal patterns of the times we are living through are clearly telling us, as eloquently summed up in that great epic poem about the death of a great king and the end of an Era, Mort d’Arthur by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892):

“… The old order changeth ,  yielding place to new …” 

(Interestingly, Tennyson was born at the beginning of the new Earth Era. His great epic poem was published in 1842, not long after the accession of Queen Victoria to the UK throne in 1837. That great Victorian period, primary driver of the early Earth Era, was just gathering momentum. Tennyson had the Sun in Leo on his IC, with an Aquarian Midheaven…)

However, the Fates, or the inevitability of historical process, or the shifting of the planetary archetypes (take your pick, or choose your own term!) had things in hand. 

Increasing unease regarding the suitability of Biden as this election’s Democratic candidate, building from Pluto’s re-entry into Aquarius in January 2024, came to a head following that disastrous Biden/Trump campaign debate on 26/6/24. Biden’s stepping down from the presidential race on 21/7/24 dramatically reshaped a White House contest: Biden handed over the candidacy to Kamala Harris, a move which has seen Harris enthusiastically endorsed.

 As of yesterday (writing this on 3/8/24) Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign announced that it had raised $310 million last month, an eye-popping sum, showing that donors who once seemed spooked about the prospects for November’s election with President Joe Biden are now offering mountains of cash to boost his former No. 2. This haul by Harris has far outpaced Republicans who raised a ‘mere’ $138.7 million for July.

Contrary to some gloomy predictions beforehand that it was pretty disastrous at this late stage in the campaign for the Democrats to change candidates, at the time of writing the opposite appears to have occurred. Trump’s pick for Vice President is J.D. Vance – another MAGA right-winger who not so very long ago was describing Trump as another Hitler. 

His ’childless cat lady’ gibes appear to have spectacularly backfired – just check out the memes flying around on social media –  having probably galvanised thousands if not millions of American women to get out there and vote, including those who might not otherwise have bothered. To say that Trump, the Trump campaign and the MAGA cultists have been wrong-footed and rattled by the rise of Kamala-fever is an understatement as things stand at present.

A  striking image has arisen in my mind of an angry, vituperative old man and his MAGA cultists manning the barricades of the Old Order about to be swept away by the rising populist tide of the Airy, Aquarian New World…

Concluding Comments

It has been instructive and useful to stand back from the massive flurry of detailed, fascinating mundane and personal astrology centred on the upcoming election, to look instead at what the epoch-defining cycles are telling us about this historic election. Its outcome will profoundly affect the whole world and all our lives, directly or indirectly. 

In terms of Tarnas’ cautionary comment at the outset of this essay, about astrology being archetypally but not concretely predictive, the archetypes, (or shifting, ever-changing and repeating energy patterns of our solar system if you prefer to nod at quantum physics) are certainly pointing in a very obvious direction. I hope this essay has made clear what that direction is. Elderly Trump  belongs to the Old Earth Order now passing. Harris, not only a much younger person, but also a woman, and a mixed race woman, certainly fits the bill for Aquarius’ and modern ruler Uranus’ tendency to kick down barriers and let lots of fresh energy in.

However, it’s probably worth reminding ourselves that astrologers’ record on concrete prediction – c/f the 2016 election won by Trump – is patchy to say the least. Trump representing Capricorn and the past, Harris, representing Aquarius and the future certainly look to be likely concrete manifestations of very different archetypal forces. But it’s also worth repeating one of my favourites of Dr Liz Greene’s memorable aphorisms from the 1990s: “If you think you can predict it, it’s not Uranus you’re looking at!”

Uranus is clearly what we are looking at now, and very much so from the aftermath of an election which is taking place with Pluto anaretic, at the 29th crisis degree of Capricorn. The Old Order is not going to ‘yield place to the new’ without a grim, bitter and unpredictable fight; the route to the New Order is likely to be turbulent. Fasten your seat belts, folks. There’s a bumpy ride ahead! 

Endnotes

This is an edited version of my Not the Astrology Column for the September/October 2024 Issue of UK’s The Astrological Journal.

(i)  Astrodienst: Some notes on cycles in a time of crisis 

(ii) Waning and Waxing Crescents: windows to the future…the Jupiter/Saturn cycles 2000-2040

•••••••••••••

2800 words© Anne Whitaker 2024