(24 July 2024)  Within one short week, the Democrats have successfully swapped out Joe Biden for Kamala Harris as their nominee.  Vice-president Harris still has to win the delegate vote at the convention in Chicago on August 19-22, but she has already garnered enough pledged delegates to win the nomination.  This sudden turn of events has produced a boost in the polls for the Democrats as Harris is now polling about even with Donald Trump.  Harris also set a fund raising record in the days following the Biden withdrawal as Democrats finally have something to be excited about.

The prospect of a Kamala Harris nomination is more than a little surprising to me.  While I fully expected Job Biden to drop out before the convention and that Harris would be strongly considered by the party to replace him, I did not expect Kamala Harris to do as well as she has.  Even if she was likely to be favoured in the race to be the nominee, her sudden popularity creates a puzzle for astrologers.  How can we explain Harris’ sudden rise in status?

To answer this question, I think our focus needs to address the most dominant transit aspect in her chart at the moment: the Saturn opposition to her Venus.  Since Saturn stationed retrograde in late June (just two days after Biden’s dismal debate performance), it has been approaching an exact opposition to her Venus at 24 Leo.  On the day of Biden’s withdrawal from the race (July 21), Saturn was less than one degree from an exact opposition to her Venus.

The astrological problem is that Saturn is a naturally malefic planet that tends to accompany difficulty and disappointment.  My skeptical view of Harris’ political fortunes were in part based on this assumption of Saturn’s negative qualities coming to the fore.  Even if she was first in line for Biden’s job, I thought that Saturn would deny her an easy coronation.  And yet so far, it very much looks like a coronation is in progress as no rivals have stepped forward to contest the nomination.

But like every planet, Saturn has both a good side and a bad side.  While Saturn transits tend to be more challenging on average than, say, Jupiter transits, there are occasions when Saturn transits can bring favorable outcomes.  When Saturn is well-placed in the natal chart, it may be in a better position to deliver positive results by transit.  This may be why Saturn has been a mostly positive influence (so far) for Harris since it is very strong in her natal chart.  It rules the 9th house of good fortune (Aquarius) and it is well-placed in close conjunction with the MC (Midheaven) or unequal 10th house cusp.   Saturn transits may therefore bring about career success as its natal strength is recreated by transit.  Saturn (5 Aquarius) is also in a mostly favourable alignment with the Sun (4 Libra) and the Moon (4 Aries).  All of these temporal chart qualities of Saturn are positive and could easily offset the natural negativity of Saturn.  Given the absence of any other obviously positive transit, I think the Saturn-as-temporal-benefic explanation is worth considering.

But if the Saturn transit lifted her fortunes, what will happen when Saturn passes over its opposition to Venus?   With the exact opposition occurring Sunday, July 28, we should be on the lookout for any changes in her political trajectory after that date.  Of course, since transits don’t operate like clockwork, we should allow for some leeway on both sides.  But we should note that transiting Venus conjoins her natal Mars on July 29.  This is normally a stressful transit that implies conflict, especially in relationship matters , and it is possible that the affliction to transiting Venus could degrade the positive energy of the ongoing Saturn-Venus opposition as well.

The more important transit may well be the approaching Mercury retrograde station in the first week of August.  Mercury will station at 9 Leo — almost exactly opposite her 10th house cusp (Mc) of status and career (and conjunct her Ic).  While there is always a wild card element with Mercury retrogrades at the chart angles, there is an elevated risk of a negative outcomes here connected with career.  We should therefore pay close attention to time around the station on August 5, as that is when significant developments are more likely.

So it’s possible we could see Harris suffer a campaign setback at this time, including even a challenger for the nomination.

Needless to say, interesting times ahead!