Predicting the Next President: Part X

USA Horoscope Defended

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

The British Association for Vedic Astrology has come out with an article in their latest journal rejecting the birth chart being proposed in the current series of articles here on the CVA website for the USA. The author, Gordon Brennan, proposes a USA chart for August 2, 1776, marking a heretofore obscure event, the date set by the new Congress for final signing of the Declaration of Independence. This gives occasion to revisit the validity of the July 4, 1776 chart, for which the time of approximately 2:00 PM has historical support as described by Western astrologer Marc Penfield among many others.

Marc Penfield's Horoscopes for the Western Hemisphere refers to the biography by Herbert S. Alan, John Hancock, Patriot in Purple, 1940, p. 228, "At last, about 2 o'clock in the afternoon of the 4th, the great white paper was reported ... and immediately ratified." From this, Penfield rectified the time to 2:21 PM, which gives 8 degrees [tropical] Scorpio Rising, […….]

Campion's Book of World Horoscopes, revised second edition, 1996 (page 410-412, chart #368), includes a resource verifying a time of 2:00 PM: “The History of the Great Seal,” by Gaillard Hunt. Also, source #1027 in Campion's book describes how President Gerald Ford decreed that the bicentennial celebration on 1976 would be held on July 4, 1976, and the ringing of the bells would occur at 2:00 PM.

According to Campion, Hunt's source was a long article, 'The Great Seal of the United States' by a journalist, Benson J. Lossing, which appeared in Harper's Magazine. The adoption of the Declaration of Independence was the main event of the day, and subsequent to that, “the design of the Great Seal was agreed at around 6 p.m." [Campion, pp. 411-412]

The fact that public celebrations erupted and fireworks and rejoicings went off just after 2:00 PM on the prime day must be respected.

All the other accretions of civic events that assisted the erection of a state into more finely sculpted reality are circumlocular: what is important is the feeling of the people, that they took the decision to declare themselves a nation. This adoption of the Declaration of Independence, in the final version to be inscribed in the pages of world history, after the protracted debates on it, and the return to committee, and re-presenting of the document (after all with four planets in Gemini, there were many thoughts to be assimilated) and vote to accept it in the historic version, was the synopsis and catharsis.

This chart with Libra sidereal Lagna does support the traditional belief of many astrologers that the USA “sign” is Gemini, because the dominant presence is the stellium of four planets including Sun in Gemini in the 9th house of independence, celebrating the birth of an idea, the idea of democracy.

The only job left for the astrologer is to rectify the timing of the vargas. I had taken a rough rectification of the navamsa and chose Aries Lagna to come up with the 2:33 PM previously, but given the detailed challenge by BAVA’s member, I re-considered other times between 2:00 PM to 2:40 PM. Considering the data for all the key USA events an earlier Navamsa, with Aquarius Lagna, with Jupiter the planet of freedom rising in directional strength, seems the best, which puts the time at 2:06 PM and has Pisces the sign of freedom rising in the Sastiamsa, the chart for preconditions of the present.

Click chart to enlarge

With a Libra ascendant in the rasi chart, Saturn, the planet of the common man, becomes the yogakaraka, and placed in the 12th house can refer to a universal principle of governing based on democracy, as well as showing the act of releasing bondsmen from fealty to a sovereign. Saturn has the strongest shadbala of all the grahas and is placed in dig bala in the Aquarius Navamsa chart, meaning it represents an idea whose time had come.

Saturn gains extraordinary importance in this Navamsa: it is Lagna Lord, and as Atma Karaka (AK) de facto forms the Lagna for the Karakamsa, the site of the planet of highest degree in the Navamsa. The Atma Karaka in the Navamsa reveals innate abilities and the foreordained destiny of a chart. There it is blessed by trines from exalted Sun in the ninth from it and exalted Rahu in the fifth from it, and is joined by its friend Mercury bestowing wealth. From Karakamsa, Moon is in the 4th having dig bala and showing the growth of lands for the new country, while its debilitation shows the costs involved for indigenous peoples.

From the point of view of Navamsa Lagna itself, which is how the country is situated in the reality of the world, both Jupiter in Lagna and Saturn in 7th house have directional strength, meaning their goals are strong, sure and protected by cosmic benevolence.

Mr. Brennan’s dismissal of the Libra lagna 4th of July chart — a summary denial of validity of the Vimsottari dasas unfolding through the succession of events in the future life of the country — now bears examining.

The dasa at the moment of confirming the Declaration of Independence itself was Mars/Ven/Mer. Mars is appropriate at the first degree of its sign, showing the birth of a new faith in a whole people along with the ignition of a war, but with the reality on the ground of a rag-tag and undisciplined army. Venus is Lagna Lord, showing the joyful decision being made, and Mercury shows the picture of an assemblage of separate sovereign states, rather than one over-arching national unit. The dasa/bhukti/pratyantar lords are placed in the houses of raj yoga, 9th and 10th, and Mercury links to Rahu which is tied to the great exchange between Moon and Rahu, showing the melting pot that becomes America. Mercury and Rahu are lords of the 1st and 5th from the Arudha lagna and are well placed in the 10th from the Libra Lagna. The Arudha lagna is the image being created in the minds of the world, and is vital for understanding the phenomenon of the birth of a nation. A maharaja yoga, or yoga for great power, is created by linking the 1st and 5th lords from the Arudha Lagna, and here we have it in the 10th from the Libra Lagna. Libra, the most rajasic and energetic of signs, symbolizing the marketplace, is so apt for the USA as a country, while the four planets in the 9th of religion and the Atma Karaka Saturn in the 12th of deep faith show the religious eclecticism, diversity, controversy and unique vitality that characterize its ongoing life. The Gemini sign for these four grahas in the 9th show the concomitant irreverence, Hollywood welter of fantasies, bawdy humor, and teeming exuberance that describe American culture.

The surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, (Oct. 19, 1791, 14:00) came in Rahu/Jup/Ven. Rahu is the shubapati, or lord of the Moon’s sign, and thus a most important indicator of the mental strength of a chart. Rahu is in exchange with Moon, and in sixth from Moon allowed the triumph over the adversary. Jupiter and Venus as freedom indicator and Lagna lord are self-evident. The assassination of President Lincoln (April 14, 1865, 22:00, Washington D.C.), who has Jupiter in Aquarius Lagna, (like the USA Navamsa) occurred in the national dasa of Venus/Jup/Saturn.

Venus and Jupiter are the two teachers of Parashara’s planetary cabinet, conferring great knowledge when they combine, especially in the 9th house. Abraham Lincoln’s wisdom and courage advanced the national philosophy about freedom to new realms, but Saturn’s tenth aspect on this combination exacted a tragic price. In the rasi chart Venus rules not only the Libra Lagna but the Taurus 8th house. The Civil War of the first half of the 1860’s was a horrendous conflict over competing worldviews, when Venus’s little known hidden self as a perpetrator of domestic violence came to the fore. Venus is hemmed between enemies Mars and Jupiter and receives the 10th aspect of Saturn. At the moment of the killing of the President, transit Venus in the Navamsa was conjunct natal USA Moon, a rare hit; transit Mars was conjunct natal USA Jupiter, and transit Saturn was closely trine USA natal Moon while both Saturn and Rahu passed through USA Lagna.

The entry of the US into the two World Wars are both compellingly linked to this chart. April 16, 1917 at noon, Congress declared war on Germany. The natal chart dasa was Jup/Jup/Mars. This entry into World War I featured transit Mars opposite natal chara Atma karaka Saturn. Mars opposite Saturn is indeed a war stance and the Mars Saturn yoga is called Yama Yoga, indicating the lord of death is going to have a field day, especially since Moon and Saturn were in parivartana at the transit. Mars was transiting the USA 6th house of enemies. It was in exchange with transit Jupiter and Mercury in the same degree in Aries opposite the USA Lagna in the 7th house of open confrontations. The transit of Mars was conjunct the USA Rudramsa’s Lagna degree, (the Rudramsa is a varga chart featuring the sign division into 11, for the 11th house as a place of war and punishment), while the transit of Jupiter was in the 10th from the USA Rudramsa Moon to the degree. Planets in 10th from the Moon show the community need that is being fulfilled by the native’s work.

Click chart to enlarge

World War II was launched all unexpectedly for the USA by Pearl Harbor. This chart is for December 7, 1941, at 6:00 AM in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, “a day that will live in infamy.” Natal USA was in Sat/Sun/Jup. Transit Saturn and transit Moon for Pearl Harbor are both in early degrees, at 0 Taurus and 4 Cancer, forming a scissors yoga around the USA Mars at 0 Gemini. This points as a finger of God to the navel at 0 Sagittarius that is aligned to the Galactic Center. Also the transit Moon is in exact 6-8 quincunx to natal USA Moon. Natally, Saturn as the AK in the 12th house of surprise attacks predisposes to such blindsides. The Pearl Harbor Lagna is about 20 degrees Libra close to USA Lagna. The bhukti lord Sun is transiting trine to transit Mars at virtually the same degree as when World War I began, 23 Pisces conjunct USA Rudramsa Lagna. The transit Sun at 23 Scorpio is in a 6-8 war stance to natal Sun at 22 Gemini and the transit Sun is conjunct the Arudha Lagna of the USA Rudramsa. The Sun is lord of the 6th house of enemies in the Rudramsa, and here he has slammed the face of the free world. USA’s ultimate retaliation for this affront came in the day that would better be forgotten when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, August 6, 1945, at 8:17:05 in Hiroshima. The natal dasa was Sat/Rahu/Rahu. Dasa lord Saturn was transiting 26 Gemini, having just passed over the natal Sun over the previous few months. Transit Moon was just about touching transit Saturn, also throwing blighting shadows over natal Sun, which should be the upholder of dharma or righteousness. Transit Rahu in the 15th degree of Gemini was conjunct natal Jupiter, with its demonic nature wiping out ideals of humanitarian ethics normally conferred by the sattvic giant, and corrupting the Lagna Lord Venus which it also conjuncted. The transit lagna was Leo, the king who bullies without hesitation. Sun, the Lagna lord for the act of dropping the bomb, was conjunct natal Rahu. Transit Mars was in the exact eighth house position to the degree of natal Libra Lagna.

The assassination of JFK befell the nation during natal Mer/Jup/Venus. On the day of Nov. 22 1963 transit dasa lord Mercury was trine natal Rahu to the degree and was on the degree of natal Lagna but in the maraka second house, flanked by three other planets, and trining also transit Jupiter, which retrograded through the natal 6th house. Both dasa and bhukti lord were moving in the mysterious and close-mouthed water signs and trining the natal Rahu, setting up one of the unsolved mysteries of American lore. As the shooting happened in Dallas, Moon and Saturn were rising in Capricorn, with the ascendant almost exact on Saturn and the transit Saturn trine within six minutes of USA natal AK Saturn.

The great shocks of September 11, 2001 came in natal Mo/Mars/Sat. Transit Moon was trine natal Moon to the degree, and was coming hard on exalted Rahu conjunct transit Jupiter, a grouping called “Kodanda Rahu,” or “Big Rahu.” This transit Rahu was opposed by Mars, and Rahu was passing in the midst of the natal Gemini group in the 9th house. In fact the Navamsa degree of transit Ketu was exactly on the USA natal Jupiter, showing both the religious overtones to the fanatic scheme, and the lurching off-base reaction of war against the wrong enemy in Iraq that ensued after the unsatisfactory campaign in Afghanistan. This horrendous Ra-Ke axis grouping was also influencing the Arudha Lagna of the attack, which was at 21 Gemini conjunct USA Sun. The pratyantar lord Saturn was transiting in degree-exact trine to the Lagna of the attack, which was conjunct and passing over the natal AK Saturn.

Click to enlarge chart

What about the current moment in history, with the historic presidential race of 2008 with the first African-American candidate Barack Obama facing off against the former prisoner of war and former maverick Republican John McCain? The USA Vimsottari Dasa as of election day 2008 will be Moon/Venus/Moon. USA has Moon at 4:36 Aquarius. USA Moon is in an exchange of signs with USA Rahu in Cancer, giving the planetary picture of USA as a melting pot that breaks barriers of ethnicity and national origin. Moon dasa at this time calls for changes in national consciousness regarding the issue of racial integration. Barack Obama has Ketu at 4:34 Aquarius two minutes from the USA Moon. USA Venus is at 12:13 Gemini, and for his part, John McCain has Ketu within a few degrees of USA Venus. One of Ketu’s mundane meanings is the flag of the office holder, so candidates should be expected to have significant links through Ketu.

In summary, all the major events of USA history surveyed above do show very significant links to the USA chart for shortly after 2:00 PM on July 4, 1776. These links are beyond probability parameters, were they calculated in such fashion. As practitioners of jyotish we know the realm of the statistical and the probable is a dubious arena for establishing the baselines of our judgements. This is because our pathway of learning is a vedanga, something partaking of the metaphysical sweep of the Vedas, not a discrete experiment that can be tamed by simple quantification. Still, it is satisfying to point to data that does evince quantifiable rigor, if only to open discussion with those who value the same.