This Astrological Psychology post uses the Huber method to give a perspective on Donald J. Trump’s re-election prospects based on his Natal horoscope, Transits, Age Point (AP) Progression aspects to Pluto in his horoscope, and the Sabian symbol for 12 Degrees of Virgo which is the AP degree on November 3, 2020, the day of the USA election.
- Trump’s Natal Chart (Figure 1. below– I am focusing on Pluto in Trump’s 12th house, the house of Isolation, You-loss, the house of the unworldly man[i] which in his natal chart is unaspected. In Donald J. Trumps’ horoscope, Pluto is unaspected and lies outside the Megaphone, a 4 sided aspect figure characteristic of his unconscious motivation. That means that Plutonian energies are divorced from the energies aspect planets in his horoscope. Pluto draws energies from the environment when unaspected. As a psychotherapist, I recognize Plutonian energies as mafia- like power grabs that undermine surface reality. Trump suspects our US election process is tainted by conspiracies; that the Democrats will steal the election from him by criminal fraud using extra Democratic ballots that will take the Presidency from him. He is using his own bully pulpit to report by way of propaganda (another Pluto method) that he will not accept the results of the 2020 election; Trump suspects mail-in ballots to be the means by which he will be fraudulently defeated.
What unaspected Pluto receives is not modified in any way by other planetary drives because it is not connected to any aspect figure. Pluto pulls on the environment (the 12th House meaning) in unpredictable ways. Pluto in the 12 house stimulates psychologically his power drives to dominate and manifest in a way that puts at risk his existence and as well as that of his opponents, like presidential candidate Joe Biden. It is well known that Trump will relentlessly go after his opponents and ‘destroy’ them politically if he can. By the same token, if he, who never admits defeat, is beaten, then he may have to be ‘destroyed’ but never defeated. Pluto in the 12th house operates autonomously and sees secret enemies everywhere, is other-directed and eliminate the horoscope owner of rational explanations to losses.[ii] Howard Sasportas says the driving force of this placement of Pluto in the 12th house, is death anxiety. This means that any change in his ego status makes Trump highly anxious because it means dissolution of what he already knows himself to be….Until and unless he makes peace with his deep existential dread of non-being, he will keep projecting his fear on whoever comes along and threatens to change him.[iii] So we can see that by virtue of his character and twelfth house theme of self-undoing, Trump will push away any thought of relinquishing his presidential position. An underlying fear of the existential threat to his position of President motivates Trump to hold on to power. That is the intensity by which he clings onto the office he possesses. In this case it’s executive power.
Donald J. Trump is the most controversial figure in contemporary United States politics. As a business man and Machiavellian power broker and billionaire, he has diverted and decreased the focus of the US federal government almost exclusively to national issues of self-interest (stock market) to the exclusion of minority groups and the poor. Adam Smith would be proud of Trump as would nativists and isolationists. He is entitled to his point of view in which he is very consistent- to downsize the federal government and make the Executive branch the most powerful over the legislative and judicial branches of government and to superficially support a Caucasian working-class America. He has learned tactics of competitive business and applies them to ‘winner take all’ confrontations with his opponents, sometimes destroying careers. So, we will head into this election campaign season and observe Trump’s ruthless attempts to destroy his opponents. In this time of a pandemic due to a Coronovirus-19 , it is especially heartwarming to see the efforts of Physicians and scientific professionals from medicine try to hold our nation’s health together. Donald J. Trump is making an effort to hold onto his power and consciously polarizes groups of people to his own advantage and ignores epidemiologists’ recommendations.
This US election year also is coming at a consequential time when a Pluto return in our young nation’s Horoscope is on the horizon.[iv] America’s first-ever Pluto Return is coming in 2022, and in consideration of the duration of karmic Pluto’s cycle of approximately 248 years, we can see the possibilities of Pluto’s transformation/destruction influence on what we have achieved so far in our democracy. Donald J. Trump’s presidency, according to some, is the greatest threat to our US democracy that was first established in 1776. That is why if he is not defeated, he will become more and more autocratic threatening our democracy.
Figure 1. Donald J. Trump’s Natal horoscope
- The transits to Donald Trump’s natal chart on November 3, 2020 (Figure 2).
Saturn transit 5th house oppose natal Saturn- orb 3 deg. Robert Hand has depicted this transit as a time in one’s work that “you may reach a peak of success, which will be accompanied by increased responsibility. In that case you will work extremely hard but very successfully. On the other hand, you may receive abundant evidence that you are working in the wrong area all together”[v] That is evident in Trump administration’s failure to contain and mitigate the Coronavirus -19.
This election is a time of reckoning for Trump’s presidency and personally very significant to his work at succeeding as President of the United States. For most of us if the evidence is clear that we are not suited for a job, then we would pack our bags and go home. Not Donald Trump. He will have a ‘Waterloo moment’ in which he will pull out all the stops and force a win if he can.
Pluto transit 5th house oppose Trump’s natal Saturn- orb 1 deg. Here we have the forces of social change like the “Black Lives Matter” movement challenging the structure of Trump’s political organization. The stability of his associations and life goals (Saturn in the 11th house) are in jeopardy. “In this transit you will experience changing circumstances and situations that may force you to surrender many things- material goods, relationships, principles- which you have previously held onto. You will probably resist these ‘losses’, which is how you will experience them, with great tenacity and stubbornness.”[vi] If Trump loses, we can expect a nasty street fight and refusal to admit he has lost the election. His famous words, ‘the whole thing is rigged” gets to the point and he will quell opposition and protests with law and order- by force if necessary.
Jupiter transit 5th house oppose Trump’s natal Saturn-orb about 2 deg+. This is a time in which one experiences resistance to the expansive energies of philosophy and values. “You may experience at this time a conflict between the desire for greater freedom and opportunity and the restrictions coming from mitigating the Virus by creating safe and predictable circumstances for the population at risk of infection. Often the temptation is to break away from everything and start over without the weights of the past holding you back, so you think.”[vii] Jupiter can exaggerate the effects of any conflict as Trump tries to hold on to objectives (Saturn conjunct Venus in 11th house) of a thriving economy. He has opened the USA for business prematurely during an epidemic. Jupiter challenges him to expand the nature of his known allies in his administration and let his ego express his right to rule (Jupiter in 5th) over the nation. As an ruthless autocratic leader, Trump does not heed the advice of his medical advisers or the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and uses his only strength, the economy, to expand and ignore restrictions that are recommended by the pandemic which has killed 225, 000 citizens.
My point of view: I do see Donald Trump from the perspective of a psychotherapist because I am constantly trying to understand via diagnoses of clients, I serve. I do this so I can construct a treatment plan in my licensed practice. I cannot see that Mr. Trump, because of a resistant narcissistic personality disorder, will learn to use the above transits in a positive manner. That is why I emphasized the negative aspects of these transits. I don’t think the man has the adaptive psychological defenses to handle defeat without a knock-down, dragged-out fight. I also think he will take as many allies and enemies down with him as he possibly can. It is not in his behavior repertoire to admit defeat with honor without acting out revengeful and vindictive feelings. He has no capacity for self-reflection or taking responsibility for his own problems.
- Age Point Aspects on November 3, 2020 for Donald Trump (Figure 3.)
Age Point Progression in Huber’s’ Astrological Psychology is a time-based method in which the passage of a point called the ‘Age Point’ traverses all twelve houses of the zodiac. In the chart above, the Age Point is the green circle with a cross embedded. “The twelve houses or life arenas, in the life experience of man/woman are the most important developmental element of Astrological Psychology. They are the reference system to the real world and they show the psychological processes which occur constantly between the individual and his/her environment.”[viii]
Astrological psychology identifies the timing of predictable psychological crises in life. In the Huber Astrological Psychology model, the traditional meaning of the twelve houses expands to identify 12 developmental tasks to be accomplished as one meets the environment as defined by the content of each the 12 houses. Developmental challenges are timed as ‘An Age Point (AP) traverses through the 12 houses of the horoscope (Age Point Progression) at the rate of 6 years per house. It takes 72 years for the Age Point to go full cycle. After 72 years of age the cycle begins again in the first house to begin a new cycle. The table 1. below illustrates the content of the tasks to be accomplished as the Age Point progresses up to age 72.
Table 1. Life Phases through the houses in Age Progression
Table 2 . The Life Clock (Huber)
Donald Trump will be age 74 years and 5 months on the November 3, 2020 election date. The Huber Method of Astrological Psychology goes beyond the 72-year cycle to address developmental issues into old age. From 72- 78, the Age Point (AP) passes through the 1st house once again. There is a renewed zest for life. For Donald J. Trump we expect he will “break through the restrictive habits (of old age) the way he minimized his symptoms of getting the Coronavirus and he may no longer want to be ruled by the opinions of others (his Doctors); and energetically reject their advice as inference, develop an unexpected degree of courage and can even become foolhardy.”[ix]
We can observe Donald J. Trump’s (DJT) behavior and assert that he already ignores the advice of the CDC to social distance and promote wearing masks in the White House and in his rallies. His focus is only on reviving the economy which he feels is his only saving grace to win re-election in November 2020.
The aspect of the AP to the Planet Pluto is a semi-square on November 3. DJT may be found engaging in exchanges of opinion, imparting knowledge to maintain his position as President to prevent change.[x] He is identified with Pluto’s power drive to enhance his personal agenda for USA and could be involved in his communication with his advisors to manipulate the US population, aggress toward his opponents to maintain his authority, entertain delusions of grandeur, and assert that the results of the election are invalid due to his own conspiracy theories.[xi]
There is a Moon Node AP in Huber Astrological Psychology. It has red concentric circles in Figure 3 which is located in the 10th house. (authority and executive behavior). This Moon Node AP reflects a shadow and karmic influence in aspect to Pluto in DJT’s chart. On November 3, it forms a sextile with Pluto which assists in exacerbating DJT’s urge to maintain power and not change by losing the national election. The effort he makes to maintain power may be his own undoing. There is also a semi-sextile with Mercury in the 11th house which may highlight communication by his administration and enablers to control the narrative that the Virus in waning leading up to the election.
- Sabian symbol for the AP degree on November 3, 2020
There may be more secrets of DJT’s behavior that come to light at the time of the election or before. The AP is at 12 degrees of Virgo indicates: After the Wedding, the Groom Snatches the Veil Away from His Bride. Keynote: the penetrating and unveiling power of the trained mind.[xii]
This could indicate the metaphor of the USA general election as a wedding. So, after the election we could expect an unveiling of a secret about DJT by a lawyer (or a disciplined mind). This symbol just fills me with more anticipation of the drama that will unfold on November 3, 2020. After which the Trumps may have to get out of the way after the secret is revealed.
Conclusion:
DJT has an unaspected Pluto in the 12th house of his natal horoscope.
We can see that he refuses to lose this election and in doing so will not respond to the higher octave of the transcendental planet, Pluto, i. e. to be guided by a higher power. The challenge for DJT would be to transform his ego from obsession with his personal identity to being directed by identification with a divine purpose for the good of all the American people. The lower and negative qualities of Pluto- a will to power, authoritarian excesses, and crass ego-driven, ego-inflation is his style. Revenge and retribution are to be expected on anyone who opposes DJT’s re-election. Although I cannot predict if Trump will win or lose our national election in the USA, I can surely assert that the defining moment of this election will reveal Trump’s mafia-like style of governance. He could only change or transmute his style by some kind of spiritual reversal brought about by deep reflection, remorse and introspection. These are qualities of character DJT does not possess. His fractured personality makes personal psychosynthesis and integration an unlikely possibility.
[i] Huber, Bruno and Louise, The Astrological Houses, Hopewell, Knutsford, UK.1998 p. 60
[ii] Huber, Bruno and Louise, Aspect Pattern Astrology. Hopewell, Kuntisford, 2005, p. 119
[iii] Sasporta, Howard, The Twelve Houses, Flare Publications, London, UK., 1985 p. 257
[iv] Cowell, Jude, Stars over Washington website, article on Pluto’s return 12/2019
[v] Hand, Robert, Planets in Transit , Whitford, Press, Atglen, Pa. 1976. P. 351
[vi] Ibid. p. 510
[vii] Ibid. p. 297
[viii] Grove, John. Life Passages: when Age Point Aspects and Dreams coincide, Hopewell, Knutsford, UK. 2017, p. 4
[ix] Huber, Bruno and Louise. Life Clock: The Huber Method of Timing in the Horoscope ; Hopewell, Knutsford, UK. 2006. P. 249.
[x] Ibid. p. 173
[xi] Ibid. p. 193
[xii] Rudhyar, Dane. Sabian Symbols in Astrological Mandala: Cycles of Transformation, Vintage books, 1974