If you have ever gone to an astrologer for an answer about what is coming up for you or what you might do, you will find the astrologer will want to look at your natal chart first, before looking at the current events. It's the best way to see how your planets will react to a transit. Or, in this case Donald's planets.
As we look at his chart let's keep our eye out for the echos - the repeats - the multiple aspects that kind of mean the same thing because this will be important. When we see something two or three times in a chart we can be pretty certain we have hit a bullseye.
Donald was born on a Full Moon (Sun and Moon opposition) with his Sun in Gemini in his 10th house of career and public life conjunct erratic/futuristic/impulsive Uranus - this is why I often write he IS Uranus (if you are familiar with the Neil Gaiman book American Gods you can picture what I mean here - this freaks my husband out when I say this - ha!) with both planets also conjunct his North Node (soul purpose).
This is kind of a brilliant line-up. He applies his will (his Sun) in an outside the box/chaos creating/or futuristic fashion (Uranus), basically "he does his own thing", particularly in a public way or within his career (that 10th house) and he is on his purpose. That's it. His Uranian/Mercurian will is his purpose. And when he uses his will in this manner - he moves ahead on his path - not necessarily winning, but probably very often winning since the 10th house rules our ambitions. And with Uranus we are looking at sudden, shocking destiny.
He was born to play a big, or maybe I should say BIGLY game.
His Ascendant (1st house ruler) is in fiery, courageous Leo and he has fiery, impulsive Mars (in his 12th house) conjunct his ascendant. This is another BIGLY line-up and also another one that is not without some big potential consequences and pitfalls. Leo is ruled by the Sun, so he has both his Ascendant and Mars answering to his Sun - which again conjuncts his Uranus and North Node AND his Gemini Sun is sextile (opportunity) that Mars in Leo. These guys are all working together.
And as soon as I write that sentence it makes me think of what it would mean to have powerful planets in our 10th house (career, responsibility, limits, authority, goals, reality) and 12th house (our imagination, spirit, secrets, escape, addiction, what we do last, what we put away) - working together - let's toss a word salad. I like to do this to make my brain work (my Mercury in Capricorn!) and to look for echos - "repeat" patterns we might find/use later.
How about - behind the scenes/secret (12th house) career assistance (10th house), turning dreams (12th house) into reality (10th house), glamorizing (12th house) reality (10th house), reality (10th house) television (12th house), lack of boundaries (12th house) creating additional responsibilities (10th house), compassionate (12th house) authority (10th house), spiritual (12th house) discipline (10th house), charity (12th house) work (10th house), career (10th house) self sabotage (12th house), secret (12th house) business dealings (10th house), secret (12th house) ambitions, artistic/musical/acting (12th house) career (10th house), building (10th house) skyscrapers (12th house), dreaming (12th house) of walls (10th house), escaping (12th house) the real world (10th house), addicted (12th house) to work (10th house), what you do in secret (12th house) becoming public (10th house) - you get the idea here. Not all of these will apply, of course! And I can promise you your own Neptune is going to see what it wants to see here.
So Trump is a Gemini Sun with Leo Rising.
Both our Ascendant and our Sun are about self-awareness.
Our Ascendant, remember it is the ruler of our first house - how we start things - is sort of conditioned within us during the first few years of our lives simply by us naturally following our innate impulses. A four year old isn't thinking about his identity (that first house), but he is already experienced in dealing with his immediate environment. He has already cultivated patterns of behaviors and reactions to handle what he needs to handle. Our Ascendant is kind of the 'personage' we build as a response to those first house experiences. It isn't an emotional response like our Moon, but a more matter-of-fact, "This is what I am going to do. This is how I am going to do it". And after an extremely short time we get so used to responding this way it becomes unconsciously instilled within us and becomes how we see ourselves and how we see ourselves becomes what other people see when they look at us. Astrologer Steven Forrest calls the Ascendant - the sign rising on the horizon when we are born - the way we dawn on people.
On the other hand, our Sun, is something that requires our conscious energy - it is, to quote astrologer Liz Greene, our real hero's journey.
It is how we find ourselves, but it isn't totally instinctual. We have to put energy and effort into being our Sun. We have to want to be our Sun because our Sun rules our willpower. We have to work toward an acceptance of this energy (self-acceptance, self-confidence). And 'work' isn't really the right word. Our Sun isn't Saturn (I should toss in here that I have Saturn one degree from my Sun natally, so this almost certainly factors into my thinking when using the word 'work" here), but I think it is often something like work because it takes time and energy. It is really more about self-acceptance and self-awareness - more conscious than the Ascendant which is more unconscious.
The unconscious part is no less real or important though!
This is why we might naturally admire someone whose Ascendant matches our Sun because it seems that they can so easily do the things we struggle toward.
Hubs and I are both Aquarius Suns. Our daughter is an Aquarius Rising. She has no reservations about being strange or different - she once wore a friend's grandmother's lime green polyester pantsuit to high school - just because she liked it. I was happy to see her make it home alive.
She would probably describe herself as unusual, freedom loving and genius - on the outside looking in and more than OK with that. Now, for me and hubs (Sun Aquarius) it is more about discovering and working with being unusual and finding self-confidence and self-awareness through the experience of shining/showing up in life, through this radical Uranian energy. So, Aquarius Sun people grow in self-acceptance and self-awareness through finding out how to be different and through making a difference on a deep level and Aquarius Rising people have the personage/appearance of this. It comes naturally to them through those first house early experiences. But their hero's journey (their Sun) is something else entirely - unless their Sun is in their first house.
HOMEWORK FOR LESSON 1 - Use astro.com and find 3 birth charts for people you know fairly well. You will need their birth time for this. Go to astro.com, free horoscopes, natal chart/ascendant. Ask those people to describe themselves in a few words and see how well their language matches their Ascendant. Note if there is a planet in their first house and particularly a planet conjunct their Ascendant (even in the 12th house like Trump's Mars) this will need to be factored in. Like Trump's Ascendant is in Leo - proud, kingly, attention-loving, mane of hair (ack!) AND that Mars adds a strong Martian flavor - volatile, impulsive, angry, energetic, action-oriented - work together to create his personage.
His Sun is in Gemini. Geminis are funny and good with words. They can say one thing to one person and then something else to someone else - they are changeable. The truth is sometimes slippery. With this lineup he is a natural born salesperson. All this Gemini (ruled by Mercury) in his most visible house gives his career a spotlight with an emphasis on Mercurian themes - quick movement, communication, wit, words, sales, storytelling, transportation, siblings, social connections, versatility, the ability to keep updating himself (how many 71 year olds do you know tweeting everyday? this use of technology is also very Uranian), the ability to weave local people together and create community.
Do you think Trump would be more likely to describe himself as his Sun - those Gemini qualities? Or like a Leo or Aries (Mars conjunction)? I think he would almost certainly describe himself in proud, kingly Leo or brave, action-oriented Aries terms, don't you? That's the Ascendant/Sun self-awareness part of our story. Works for Trump. Works for all of us.
Now just from this quick look at his chart we can tell his Mercury - the ruler of Gemini and his 10th house is uber important.
So, the next thing we might do is look at Mercury.
Trump's Mercury - which remember rules his 10th house - sits uncomfortably and insecurely in Cancer in his 11th house.
With Mercury in Cancer words come from the gut. Words are taken personally. They can be soothing or they can be painful. Cancer is all about family and home and history and patriotism and security - about having our needs met and meeting the needs of others we are close to. It's about vulnerability and how we deal with that. And the 11th house makes this vulnerability and self-protectiveness visible to other people. So, how do all these planets wanting to take charge and go and do their own thing deal with this innate vulnerability? Well, maybe this could lead to self-esteem issues. And because his thinking is so malleable with Uranus and Gemini - maybe one minute he is feeling on the top of the world and in charge and confident and the next he is feeling the world on top of him and insecure and wanting to lash out from that barely hidden Mars. We'll tuck these ideas away for later and see if anything else confirms this - we will watch for echos.
Mercury squares his Neptune (2nd house - money, values, self-esteem) and sextiles (opportunity) his Pluto in the 12th. He is obsessed/compulsive (Pluto) with that 2nd house - money, wealth and gets his value/status (that foggy 2nd house Neptune) from power (Pluto). The problem is that 2nd house Neptune will never feel like he is good enough (echo!) or that he has enough. So the Pluto is making him ambitious, but the Neptune is providing a bottomless cup he can never fill! It makes him confused when people criticize him (remember we are looking at his Mercury connections). He thinks people don't understand him. Mercury square Neptune might give him a tendency to say things that are confusing or contradictory (Gemini's two faces). I don't think he so much lies - although yes, he can lie - as he thinks one thing and then he changes his mind and thinks something else - the words just kind of dissolve or float on down the river as soon as they leave his mouth. He can't hold onto the things he says or the things he reads/hears (that Mercury/Neptune square). His words are slippery. Maybe hypnotic to some people, especially people with strong Neptune or Uranus in their own charts. He is probably a bit psychic. One person listening to him hears one thing and someone else listening to the exact same words hears something else.
Also remember Mercury in Cancer is feeling the words and when someone is dealing with him they are feeling his words, too! This is why his supporters will say they like what he is saying, but so many times cannot tell you just what it is he is saying that they like. Really they are liking how his words makes them feel.
Now he is feeling what he is hearing/saying, too, and that is what his memory is about - how did this conversation/this information make him feel - that is what he reacts to (we will talk more about his Mars later!) - not the actual contents of the conversation/information if you can see what I mean here.
This doesn't mean everyone with Mercury in Cancer operates this way because not everyone has their Mercury ruling the 10th house (and home to a super powerful triple line up of planets and points) squaring a 2nd house Neptune and sextiling a 12th house Pluto. Most Mercury in Cancer people have excellent memories, but probably not with a Neptune square - this would make him very intuitive or imaginative though. This is why cookbook astrology - Mercury in Cancer is blah, blah, blah ... is good for learning some things, but not ever totally accurate about real, flesh and blood people.
So, now with Mercury in Cancer - we'll move on to his Moon because the Moon rules Cancer and is in his 4th house conjunct his South Node in Sagittarius - we will move there in Part II
In the meantime take a look at those Ascendants on astro.com. Start with your own. Stand in that Ascendant energy and the energy of any planets in your own first house and look into your childhood home. Stand in your childhood feet. What made you feel safe? What made you worried or scared? Happy or sad? How did those first house experiences shape your view of yourself? And how does that work with or challenge your Sun's hero journey?
xo all
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