Predicting the Next President: Part VII

Wrong Again??

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

In response to letters from readers protesting the author's "caving in to outside pressure" in changing her prediction from Clinton to Obama as the winner of the party nomination, here is a further look at the evidence.

The intention of this series on Predicting the President has been to demonstrate one method Vedic astrologers could use in forecasting a real life event; the process of predicting has been just as interesting to me as even the correctness of the prediction. I wanted to use two relatively unknown tools of the trade, the two chakras, to show how faithfully they reflect the goings on in the outer world. The one call I haven’t waffled on has been that this contest between Clinton and Obama would be a cliffhanger, and so it is, getting only more suspenseful as time goes on. I switched from predicting Clinton’s securing the nomination to Obama only in the segment VI; a friend asked why and another friend said, “because she heard the news.” Since then, Ohio and Texas pushed back Clinton’s way, so do I have to change my prediction again? If so, this does little to promote my goal of holding up the marvels of jyotish’s wisdom to a wider audience.

Let’s see how objectively we can look at the Kota Chakra for the April Pennsylvania primary and the August convention to see if their messages accumulate into an uncontestable verdict. To paraphrase, “The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves as only partly trained astrologers, if we forecast wrongly.”

The Kota Chakra, the Fort of Goddess Durga, which shows the human as a castle environs with the vital interests in the center and three perimeter squares, explains the resurgence of Hillary on March 5, and then what does it show for April and August? Here’s her natal Kota Chakra, with, penciled in, the transits of March 5th, when she pulled out the desperately needed victories.

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How Kota Chakra Works

Planets move through Kota Chakra starting from the birth Moon in the northeast corner. The energy flows from the Moon’s nakshatra inwards through successive nakshatras along the diagonal. At the center the energy reverses and flows outward through the nakshatras in cardinal directions. Hillary starts with Moon in Purvabhadra (Pb) followed inward by Uttarabhadra (Ub), Revati (Rev), and then the energy is in the center and pivots to the east where Ashwini (Ash) is the central nakshatra. Energy moves out to the perimeter through Bharani, Krittika, Rohini, and then goes over to the southeast corner and Mrigashira (Mrg) whence it again flows inward to the center; and so on through all the corners and cardinals.

See how on March 5 the Sun was conjunct Hillary’s Moon in the northeast corner. This fortified her prospects for the presidency and gave her the vicory, especially because Sun and Saturn have been in a mutual exchange of signs. Sun is in Aquarius and Saturn is in Leo, so they do a dos-i-dos and change over to each other’s place, just as the leadership temporarily shifted again in the Democratic race.

As soon as Hillary entered Saturn bhukti in Venus dasa, on Feb. 12 this year, her losses had started mounting. Saturn is especially important for Hillary because Saturn is the Captain of her fort. The Captain of the fort is the planet that rules the natal Moon’s sign. Saturn is transiting her fort in a bad place, stuck almost stationary in the middle perimeter ring and being suffocated by Ketu, the blind traces of the past. Only while Sun is in Aquarius, her Captain got traction out of the snowdrift. Boosting it even more, Moon on March 5 was exactly opposite Hillary’s natal Saturn, so both Sun and Moon were blessing her Saturn with yoga, as the pandits say. However, once Sun leaves the Saturn-ruled sign in a couple of days the heaviness of Saturn will reassert. The next thing that happens to Saturn is on April 30, when Ketu changes out of Leo to Cancer and takes some of the burden off, so there may be more hope that “behind-the-scenes power brokerage” will eventually save the day for her.

But wait, let’s not skip over Pennsylvania, April 22. Here is her Kota Chakra with the April 22 transits.

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The action is moving in closer and tighter, as now most of the planets are in the center and first perimeter sections. Mars has moved in from the outer boundary to the 2nd ring, so aggressive tactics will be mounting. On the primary day, Mercury and Mars are in a mutual exchange. Sun is in its exaltation in the center, in Ashwini nakshatra. This is a great sign for victory in Pennsylvania, and although draggy Saturn will be still in the same mode, it should be ignored for the day. Instead look at the Moon as well as the Sun--- Moon is conjunct Hillary’s natal Jupiter, obviously good and even better esoterically as Jupiter is the Kota Pala. The Kota Pala means the Defender of the Fort, and after the Captain of the Fort, is the other key planet to judge when seeing how transits affect the Kota Chakra. Having Moon on Jupiter this day is extremely significant; thus we can expect Hillary to win either the popular vote or more delegates or both. But will it be enough? The Sun in the center is the big thing to understand. The Sun is a double-edged sword for Libra ascendants, as it rules the trouble-causing bhadaka house, the 11th. While so very prominent in the center of her fort, Sun will be transiting Hillary’s natal 7th house, where Sun sets and then sinks (Some kind of problem from her husband?). Moon, although so well placed on Jupiter, is also debilitated on this day. Within the hoopla for a win, will there be also the roar of last hurrahs?

Fast forward to August 25-28 in Denver, at the Convention. This presumes that after winning in Pennsylvania, it will be out of the question for either Clinton or Obama to drop out of the race, and that no deus ex machina in the form of the superdelegates forces a choice sooner. Here is Hillary’s Kota Chakra with the August transits: (I am unable to find out whether the actual nomination takes place Aug. 26th or Aug. 27th, which changes the Moon sign from Gemini to Cancer).

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At this point the Captain, Saturn, has been pushed to the furthest-out-perimeter, although the Captain likes to be in the center of his fort. Jupiter, the Defender, is retrograde, backing off from fighting, and out in the third ring. Venus and Mercury, her Lagna lord and friend, are in the outer areas unable to accomplish much for her. Sun has taken the earlier spot of Saturn in Magha and is hemmed in between Ketu and Saturn. Moon is in the center, moving toward Ketu. In her natal chart, the transit Moon applies to her debilitated Mars and her Saturn.

Objectively speaking, how can anyone call this a winning sequence of charts?

To complete our judgment, here are the same transits for Obama. First, his Kota Chakra on April 22 and the Pennsylvania primary:

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Obama’s Captain of the Fort is Venus. On April 22 it is exalted and in the first perimeter, although in his rasi chart it is ill situated in the 6th house. Still, exalted, it should keep him strongly in play. Obama’s Kota Pala or Defender of the Fort is the exalted Sun pushing to the outer perimeter. The Kota Pala does best in the outermost ring where it fights off any invaders. The Sun is on its way to where it should be. Again, this situation maintains the status quo for Obama. Moon, however is very poorly placed in the outer ring and in the southwest; this seems to confirm my reasoning above that Clinton will do better in Pennsylvania than Obama, although not well enough to change the outcome.

Next, Obama’s Kota Chakra with transits at the Democratic Convention:

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Mars is Obama’s Atmakaraka, the planet with highest degrees in any sign. Jaimini teaches that the Atmakaraka is the king over all the other planets. Mars will be at the center of the fort. Venus, the Captain for Obama, will be supportive, as Venus will be transiting into the center accompanied by Mercury and both crossing the natal King Mars. Jupiter will also be at the center. Sun, the Defender of the Fort, is perfectly positioned at an outer corner and moreover is magnified by being on the auspicious nodal reversal, where transit Rahu is on natal Ketu, and transit Ketu, having already passed natal Rahu, is now on natal Sun. It is an intricate pattern, an amazing pattern, the kind of thing we can only call “Destiny.”