(7 November 2016) Another day, another strange twist in the US election. On Sunday, FBI Director James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton of any wrongdoing in her emails with the release of another bombshell letter to Congress. Two weeks ago, Comey had taken the unprecedented step of publicly notifying Congress that her email case would be re-opened given new evidence in the case. That has all come to naught apparently as we have returned to the status quo ante, albeit after the infliction of some political damage. While Mrs. Clinton has suffered a 3 point decline in the polls after the first FBI letter, she retains a small 3-4 point advantage as the country goes to vote tomorrow.
Poor James Comey. The embattled FBI Director has made a total hash of this but it’s hard not to feel sympathy for him given his difficult planets. Over the past few weeks, Comey has been undergoing a Nodal return as Rahu (North Node) is conjunct its natal position in Leo. This happens once every 18 years and often marks an unstable time for most people although it should be said it is not always bad.
In Comey’s chart, however, his Rahu is with Pluto (=power) so that ups the stakes somewhat. Also transiting Neptune was opposite his Rahu (i.e. conjunct Ketu) so that is another planetary burden on his nodal return that would tilt it towards significant difficulties. He has been widely criticized from both sides of the political aisle for his recent actions. But who knows what reasons he had to do what he did.
His additional problem is that Pluto is exactly opposite his Mars (21 Gemini) along with a partial strength exact aspect from Saturn. That’s a very bad transit and usually coincides with intense frustration and stresses and often indicates situations of coercion and the blunt exercise of power. There is some evidence that Comey was compelled to write the first letter that re-opened the Clinton email case because of pressure from rogue New York FBI agents who were Trump supporters. And to be fair, we could also interpret the Pluto-Mars aspect as representing pressure coming from the Clinton campaign and the Department of Justice. Comey may well have come under pressure from both sides here. There is now talk of an investigation of the FBI by the incoming Congress to get to the bottom of how the this formidable institution has become so politicized and potentially corrupted.
Former NY mayor and prominent Trump surrogate, Rudy Giuliani, may have acted as the catalyst for Comey’s first lettter. Giuliani is reported to have connections with the New york FBI office. Giuliani’s horoscope is looking very bad right now and well into 2017. This suggests that not only will Trump lose the election, but Giuliani could come under intense scrutiny in the coming months due to his role in this FBI affair.
Saturn will come to oppose Giuliani’s natal Saturn in early 2017 just as Rahu transits over his 12th house cusp. The Rahu influence here may reflect criticism and censure over dishonest actions. While the period of maximum Saturn and Rahu affliction isn’t until March or April, Giuliani may encounter a significant setback in early January as Mercury stations direct at 4 Sagittarius exactly opposite to his 10th house Saturn. This is only one transit influence to be sure and yet the fact that it occurs just one day after Congress counts the Electoral College votes suggests that he will not be happy with that outcome.
The Post-Election period
There are a few possible scenarios here. I think Hillary Clinton will win tomorrow but I admit there are a confusing number of alignments in the charts of the key political players. Some of this is just the usual amount of planetary noise that one has to ignore. But there are more alignments, both positive and negative, in the charts of both Trump and the Clintons, than one might expect. This is one reason why I think the post-election transitional period will be important and more eventful than normal. And since Donald Trump has stated he will not concede if he thinks it’s a rigged election — and he has been saying this for weeks — it is even more likely that there will be some more twists and turns here. I would even say that Trump’s challenge may not be so easily dismissed out of hand.
Previously, I had suggested that we could see some problems emerge between the likely Clinton win on November 8th and Inauguration Day on January 20th. It seemed quite possible that Trump could follow through on his threat to legally challenge the election results. I think this kind of scenario is still very much on the table. But Giuliani’s transits around the time of the EC vote count on January 6 do not look favourable. That suggests that whatever challenge they mount or however many "faithless electors" there are, the final count will be sufficient to put Hillary Clinton in the White House on January 20th.
That Mercury station at 4 Sagittarius is also likely to reflect badly on Donald Trump’s fortunes. His horoscope shows some strength in late November and early December as transiting Jupiter will conjoin its natal position at 24 Virgo (a Jupiter Return) and thereby aspect his natal Uranus at 24 Taurus. Trump is also now running the Jupiter dasha period so there is some added rationale for expecting some kind of boost for him. I interpret this to mean that Trump loses the election but then either mounts a legal challenge of the results or there is an FBI indictment of Bill or Hillary Clinton for financial irregularities in the Clinton Foundation. And given the craziness of this election, we could well see both. Other positive manifestations of Trump’s Jupiter Return at this time are also possible such as Trump avoiding further legal problems in the ongoing case against him with the now-defunct Trump University.
Bill Clinton’s chart looks progressively worse as we go further into November whereas Trump’s gets somewhat better. The Mercury-Saturn conjunction on November 23rd at 22 Scorpio is very close to Bill’s Ketu (South Node). This will also form a nasty-looking 120 degree alignment with Hillary’s Mars-Pluto conjunction. Hillary’s 2.18 a.m. birth chart puts this difficult Mercury-Saturn conjunction on her equal 4th house cusp which would be theoretically even worse for her. Hillary’s birth time is still a matter of dispute so we can’t put too much emphasis on that particular chart. But daughter Chelsea’s chart puts the Mercury-Saturn on her 2nd house cusp (limits on or losses to money and wealth) just as transiting Mars (16 Capricorn) is opposite her Moon (16 Cancer). It looks like a tense time for the Clintons and it may have political ramifications. I would say the period of November 17-23 is most likely to produce this kind of outcome.
If there is an indictment, it could raise the possibility that member of the Electoral College may not follow the wishes of their states’ voters to cast their votes for Mrs Clinton. Instead, they could choose to abstain or vote for someone else. It seems unlikely and incredible but that is one possible scenario I am considering. The Electoral College meets on December 19th to cast their votes. Mercury turns retrograde the day before while conjunct Pluto. This will be opposite the USA’s Sun (government) and could indicate an unexpected development such as some electors changing their votes or refusing to cast their ballots in the expected way.
The Sun-Saturn conjunction on December 9th looks bad for the Clintons and could be the time when the problem becomes more clearly manifest. Interestingly, that is the same day that Jupiter hits 24 Virgo which is where Trump’s Jupiter is — usually a positive alignment. Again, it is possible that the Clintons’ problems and Trump’s strength may not necessarily be intertwined and may not have direct political implications. But there are a number of coincidences in timing here that make me think there really could be some actual political effects.
Here is a speculative and likely somewhat incorrect timeline of what could happen in the coming weeks. The planetary alignments suggest that something out of the ordinary is more likely to occur during this transitional period between administrations.
Speculative Timeline of Post-Election Period
November 8 Hillary Clinton wins election.
November 11-13 Donald Trump launches legal challenge of election results based on either voting irregularities, official state recounts due to narrow victories or new legal troubles for the Clintons.
November 17-23 Major setback for Hillary Clinton which benefits Donald Trump. This could be related to the contested election results or possibly new charges against her or her husband.
December 8-9 Possible developments involving "faithless electors" which raises questions about the impending Electoral College vote.
December 19th Electoral College votes but outcome may differ from convention or expectations.
January 6 Congress meets to count Electoral College votes. Hillary Clinton wins the 270 needed to be declared president-elect. Trump’s efforts are likely defeated that day or in the days following.
January 20 Hillary Clinton sworn-in as president amid continuing controversy and conflict.
N.B. I will post my weekly stock market update tomorrow.
