(28 June 2015) It’s been a very good week for US President Barack Obama. First, he successfully got Congress to agree to fast track approval for the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an Asian free trade agreement. Then at the end of the week, the Supreme Court handed down landmark decisions on Obamacare and gay marriage that furthered his political agenda and enhanced his presidential legacy. Friday also featured one of his most moving and powerful speeches when he eulogized the pastor who was killed in last week’s racially-motivated mass shooting at a South Carolina church. The most touching and stirring moment of the eulogy occurred when the President spontaneously began to sing "Amazing Grace" to the joyous delight of the assembled congregation.
When you have weeks like this, you can usually bet on a pretty obvious and clear astrological explanation. And that is definitely the case here as Obama received the benefit of the Venus-Jupiter conjunction in Cancer. Cancer is Obama’s 7th house and hence both of these benefic planets cast their full-strength opposition aspect to his Capricorn Ascendant. It is important to note the closeness of the aspect — just a couple of degrees from exact. Many traditional Vedic astrologers do not pay sufficient attention to these degreewise aspects as their preference for whole sign houses often leads them to ignore exact degree placements.
The Modern Vedic Astrology approach shows, however, that the effects of the transits are more likely to manifest when the aspect is closest. Obama’s Ascendant is at 24 degrees of sidereal Capricorn and Jupiter’s exact aspect is just two degrees past that point at 26 Cancer. Jupiter is currently traveling at about one degree per week. As we know, Jupiter is considered to be the Great Benefic as its transits often coincide with gains, rewards, and happiness. When Jupiter is closely aligned with your Ascendant, Sun or Moon, things usually go your way. So why didn’t Obama get any obvious benefic when Jupiter was exactly aspecting his Ascendant two weeks ago? The answer is that Venus was still too far away to induce any significant outcomes. With Venus due to align with Jupiter at the end of June, Jupiter effectively ‘waited’ for Venus to arrive on the scene so that the two of them could do a better job at manifesting their positive energy.
Venus was therefore acting as a kind of triggering planet. Venus moves more quickly, although it is now slowing down ahead of its retrograde station on July 25th. Tuesday’s TPP Senate vote coincided with Venus at 22 Cancer — just two degrees shy of an exact aspect. Friday’s SCOTUS decision on gay marriage and the SC eulogy occurred when Venus formed an exact aspect to the Ascendant at 24 Cancer. It also seems likely that Obama got a boost from the presence of Uranus at 26 Pisces. This was also close enough to aligning with his Ascendant to create a more resonant three-planet pattern which set the celestial groundwork for more positive outcomes.
Astrology is at its best when it operates simply. While it is possible to claim all sorts of post-facto insights based on more complex and obscure techniques, transits are the baseline against which all other techniques should be measured. While transits cannot account for everything, they should at least form part of the story when seeking insight about the past or making predictions about future events.
The President’s good fortunes may not last, however, as Saturn is due to station in an exact square aspect with his natal Rahu in July and August. Saturn transits are often troublesome and often correspond to increased stress levels and unwelcome events. Rahu is connected with foreigners and the unknown, especially when it is placed in the 8th house. I would expect Obama will have his hands full this summer, possibly dealing with some spy-related scandal involving a foreign country or with foreign-born residents in the US. Certainly, these sorts of NSA revelations have been popping up quite regularly lately but they often come and go fairly quickly in the news cycle. Hacking attempts on the US by China and Russia are also becoming more common. But this Saturn-Rahu pattern looks more potent so I think the issue will have a much larger media footprint and could linger for a while.
