Predicting the Next President: Part III

Reconsidering Hillary and Obama in the Light of Obama’s Presumed Birth Time

by Sat Siri Khalsa, Board Member, Council of Vedic Astrology

Dear Khalsa ji,

Namaskar.

………. As a dabbler in Jyotish I am writing you with reference to your article on the US Presidential Election in CVA feature of Nov 2007. Given the surprising turn of events for Hillary in Iowa (and also possibly in NH), do you still expect her to make it to the top job?

Regards (from North Carolina) Diptarka Majumdar

Sat Naam and greetings Diptarka,

Thanks for your question and this is an opportunity to address the difficulty of making predictions in open situations where the practitioner has many more variables to consider than in a yes-no question. Also, humbly-admittedly, the expectations and/or allegiances of the observer can color the spectra of reality that get observed. Definitely we have to reconsider the ability of Hillary to take the Presidential election, and we now have an hour of birth for Obama’s chart which was not available earlier. Frances McEvoy, an esteemed Western astrologer, as one of her final services to the astrological community, found out the moment for the Obama chart, presumed though not confirmed. The amazing thing about this time of 13:06 is that it puts Obama’s Lagna conjunct the USA Lagna! Thus so much becomes more relevant in his chart, and when we reconsider his connections to the USA versus Hillary’s connections to the USA horoscope, the scales do tip in his favor, as we can observe below. Also we can bring in the two invaluable chakras which we have not so far compared for Hillary and Obama, that is the Kota Chakra and the Sarvatobhadra Chakra, to get a closer fix on the transits from now up to the election.

First, the chart of Barack Obama with 13:06 birth time:

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Next the chart of the USA:

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And the chart of Hillary Clinton:

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A few things jump out about Obama’s chart. One person questioned the marana Moon in 8th house. Note the USA Navamsa with marana (each graha has a bhava where it is in “maranasthana”, a place where it functions under deathlike duress) Moon as well. The USA Moon is in Scorpio, suggesting the legacy of destruction of native peoples and the serpentine hold of slavery over the history of this country; Obama’s rasi Moon exalted in Taurus brings this dark tale to the light upending the curse.

In contrast, Hillary’s Moon is challenged by being at 29:41 of its sign; the parivartana previously noted with her Saturn at the midheaven of the USA chart may be acting out painfully right now as we see a too-rigid personality being exposed in a surprisingly headlong downfall.

Another link from Obama’s Navamsa chart to the USA rasi is his trio of Mars Venus Sun in Sagittarius opposite USA Mars Venus Sun Jupiter in Gemini. Obama has no less than four Pushkara, or “blossoming”, grahas in Navamsa, indeed a mark of high distinction; one of them is Mars at the degree of USA rasi Sun. This sattvic opposition is a combination of rasi aspects and graha aspects providing both the strong desire and wide-open opportunity to click in to the USA purpose.

In Hillary’s Navamsa chart some of this interaction is present but in fragments: Moon Mercury retrograde are in Gemini while Sun is in Sagittarius conjunct Obama’s Sun and opposite USA Sun; Jupiter Saturn oppose each other in square to the Sun-Moon opposition. The Moon Mercury is a union of enemies showing the mixed messages Hillary can give and receive.

Obama’s Sun is conjunct his own midheaven at 26 Cancer which also conjoins USA midheaven at 28 Cancer. Obama was born in the hour of the Sun, chief executive of the planets, and that speaks for itself. Hillary’s superstrong link to USA midheaven involves Saturn and both are conjunct her Arudha Lagna, the projection of personality. This then has to be her downfall. Obama’s Arudha Lagna falls in Aquarius, the 5th house of power and continuity, conjunct the USA Arudha Lagna. Obama’s AL is conjunct Ketu, showing the unlikeliness of the man, the surprise factor, the change factor; but seventh from the AL is Capricorn with Mars and Rahu. When the 7th from the AL has more planets than the AL itself the person goes through a stretch, an evolution moving from one personality projection to an opposite and more powerful one. From a kind of Clark Kent identity of wonkish academic interests, Obama is now hurtling to a platform of extreme challenge: the Superman must emerge.

Next, checking the Kota Chakra we see the power plays that energize these politicians. The Kota is the Fort of the body and mind. It is drawn from the Nakshatra of the Moon and all 28 nakshatras flow first in to the center then out to the perimeter of the fort. When benefics are in the center, the person is energized. Also, the Fort has a Captain, the Kota Swami, who is ideally located in the center. The Kota Swami is the Moon’s sign lord. The Fort’s Defender, or Kota Pala, is the lord of the Moon’s Navamsa Pada, and he does best when out on the perimeter ready to fend off invaders.

Here is Barack Obama’s Kota Chakra. The Kota Swami is Venus, right in the inner sanctum; the Kota Pala is Sun, at the outer perimeter and coincidentally conjunct the USA and Obama midheavens. Superb artistry by the cosmic designer.

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Hillary Clinton’s Kota Chakra has Saturn as Kota Swami in the midregion. Jupiter is Kota Pala also in a middle region. Both are adequate but not outstanding, as malefics in the second ring and benefics in the third ring are preferable to having it the other way round.

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Checking the transits through the Fort, Jupiter is pressing into the central core of Obama’s chakra: it will be in Purva Ashadha after Jan 18th and will remain there until the election; only during its retrograde period in June, July and August will it bring problems and for the Obama campaign. It will exit the center on April 5 as it moves into Uttara Ashada, loop there and return to the center in retrograde mode, station and move ahead in the center till Election Day. Thus the Obama surge may be expected to be strong till the 1st week of April when exhaustion may creep in and some difficult months follow. Nonetheless, he has many advantages in the race for the nomination going into next month.

Saturn has okay placement in the third ring, retrograding away from the center and removing doubt and fear. Rahu and Ketu could not be better situated, as they are conjunct their natal opposites, and at the outer corners of the fort. Obama is going through a magical nodal opposition return.

For Hillary Clinton, Jupiter is at the outer perimeter, where benefics are at a disadvantage, although as her Kota Pala, it is fully on the job of fighting for her very life. When Jupiter soon moves into the third ring, in Purva Ashada, it will be not much improvement. Its best showing should be in Uttara Ashada from April 5 to May 8 when Jupiter stations. After that point a renewed Hillary surge should start to run out of steam and a dull period for both candidates may bring on a summer slog.

Hillary is having the transit of Saturn in the outer ring, but as long as it is retrograde it is not helping. The nodes are in her third ring traveling backward toward the center, an unpleasant pincering by destiny that will end with Ketu conjunct her debilitated Mars at Election Day. For Barack Obama, Ketu will be on the presidential Sun.

Sarvatobhadra Chakra will be saved for future deliberation—please contribute your thoughts and comments on that or any other issues.

Still, after mulling over all these various indications, we have to return to the basic techniques of jyotish, which remind us to become so specific in what is our objective, which is to answer your question, Diptarka, of who will get the “top job.” Not who is the most evolved human being, or who is the most popular or likely to lead best, but who has the destiny. This is a dashamsha matter. This tells us to observe the links from the USA D10 to the candidates’ D10s to get a focused prediction. In D10 as in any varga, the key planet is the lord of the relevant house in the rasi. So for all three of these Libran rasi Lagnas, Moon is the 10th lord and is the bija or seed for the 10th varga. USA Moon is in Pisces in D10, trined by Jupiter in Scorpio and square Mars in Gemini in parivartana with Mercury. Obama also has D10 Moon in Pisces and trine Jupiter in Scorpio. However, Obama’s Moon is seriously afflicted by being in the Rahu Ketu axis and opposed by Saturn and Sun. Also it is in the 12th house from the Arudha Lagna of the D10, an undesirable placement. But even if one argues the birth time could be off by a dasamsa, the planetary affliction is still present. Hillary has D10 Moon in Scorpio in the 5th house, trine Mercury Ketu in the Lagna. Ketu as co-ruler of Scorpio has a parivartana with Moon bringing both into their own strong signs. Hillary’s rasi Jupiter is conjunct the dasamsa degree of USA Jupiter. Additionally and most tellingly, Hillary has Arudha Lagna in Pisces in the D10 conjunct the USA Moon. The tie of Moon to Arudha Lagna is stronger than the tie of any other planet. Moon IS the Arudha karaka, as Moon creates the projection of personality that the Arudha image is all about. Hillary’s AL has Jupiter and Mars in seventh from it and Saturn in 10th from it. We may not like her strident and inflexible personality, but she has the golden key. Finally, if we squint our eyes and try to look only at the perfect gemmish glints of the jyotish, we have to stay with Hillary!

Sarvatobhadra Chakra will be saved for future deliberation—please contribute your thoughts and comments on the charts of the candidates.