A Shamanic Astrology Perspective

by Erik Roth

10/29/16: I made a correction below on Donald Trump’s Pluto cycle: Pluto is squaring his natal Jupiter, not opposing it.  Also, he is in a Jupiter Return.

There have been many, many astrologers who have written and spoken about this Presidential election, as we do every election cycle.  Predictions are popular and amplified by regular media and social media alike.  Each one has a 50% chance of being right or wrong.  And each one will share their reasoning behind what they see.  But that is not something I will be delving into as far as predicting who will be the next president.  Instead I will be sharing the archetypal whys of these candidates and the intent of the overall astrological climate.  The archetypes of both candidates are driving this election to their maximum potential, but perhaps, sadly, not necessarily the potential most of the public wanted.

Astrologically-speaking, we are at the Turning of the Ages, a time period in which there is an acceleration of events that promote a world-wide change in consciousness and the evolution of the soul.  Revolutions are taking place in many fields of human knowledge and spirituality with some areas on an extreme level of expansion and other areas at a vanishing point.  Human history and incidentally cosmic history is being re-written or having our preconceived ideas of who we are being challenged on many fronts scientifically and philosophically.  While the 2016 election is a part of that challenge, however, I believe it is setting the stage for the 2020 election cycle, which will be even more dramatic than this one due to the planetary alignments taking place then.

Getting back to the archetypes of the candidates, one can see two very different people in Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton (Using the common 8:02 am birth time for Clinton).  From a Shamanic Astrology perspective, the former Secretary of State came from the lineage of mastering “selfless service to others” and “empathy” (Pisces Moon) to this current lifetime intent to develop a healthy ego and willpower of complete self-interest and mastering the control of her passions (Scorpio Ascendant, Sun, Venus, Mercury).  Catalyzing shadow from the underworld through great transformation and empowerment creates ambition on a personal level to become power itself, pushing the edge for the sake of crossing the edge.  It is a very radical journey to go from egoless and selflessness to exercising the maximum capacity of self-interest, willpower, and “edgewalking”.

The business mogul Donald Trump comes from the lineage of the vision-carrier truth seeker (Sagittarius Moon) to an intent of creative force of self-interest and shining through fiery inspiration and radical-radiant self-love (Leo Mars and Leo Ascendant) while burning the fuel of the Jester/Trickster/Entertainer archetype (Gemini Sun).  While Trump can come across with some measure of empathy/compassion and the importance of family (Mercury in Cancer) it tends to be subject to his own desire for attention (Leo) the one who holds the ultimate truth (shadow end of his Sagittarius Moon).  His truth is only to serve to “bigness” of his Leo identity, roaring the loudest and being “the best”.

Both Hillary and Trump can be masters in their own domains and have a proven track record in their own individual arenas.  The dominant archetypes are the ones previously mentioned: Scorpio & Pisces (Hillary), Leo, Gemini, Cancer and Sagittarius (Trump).  These are primary players expressed or noticed on the scene vying to be heard, understood and honored.  There are other factors here on each of the two astrology charts (the signs/archetypes don’t operate in a void) which I will talk about but I will place the majority of my focus here on the archetypes mentioned above.

A Closer Look at the Archetypes in Action

One of the biggest issues in this election (and in the last several years) has been the spectre of the continuing, but dissolving, patriarchal world and its relationship to women along with our definition of gender and gender stereotypes (and subsequently relationships and all that is tied to it or brought into our spheres of consciousness).  And who better at this time than to have patriarchal man of the old, traditional mind-set and a woman that has come into her power to show us a glimpse of where are culture is at the moment in the United States?  This is truly new territory for the country.  Just that can be a catalyst for a deeper look into the shadow of our social-economic structure.

Donald Trump

As a shamanic astrologer, I can’t help but look at where on his astrology chart that shows Trump’s trouble with women.    It turns out that his trouble with women is the most challenging issue he has in this lifetime.  The primary factor on the chart concerning his relationship with women or at its essence, the feminine principal / anima, his natal Venus in the sign of Cancer in conjunction with Saturn at his birth.  His projection of the feminine is of a traditional mother-nurturer with her primary role being in the home.  This is filtered through his own masculine as the (Leo) king of his world (essentially being the center of attention) and the feminine mother-nurturer in his world plays a supporting role only to his bravado and masculinity.  In short, he is attempting to overcome his shortcomings in the area of the (his relationship to the) feminine by being a more “traditional” alpha male and shouting over his vulnerabilities.

Later in life, his natal Venus is there to provide Trump nourishment and love through the recognition and development of his own inner beloved (or inner partner).  This would be his anima being able to be of support to him unconditionally without him trying to fill that space from an external partner.  The Venus-Saturn conjunction (at the time of his birth) provides incentives to do his sacred marriage work in the development of his inner beloved.  From a shamanic astrology point of view, he is a “beginner” at being Leo as his identity overall and as a man on a deeply personal level.  He is meant to be big, shine for the world, be a leader and be noticed.  But as a beginner in anything, there are minefields and pitfalls in learning to be this new archetype. Some of the biggest shadows is a sense of entitlement and the exploration of vanity and narcissism to even the denial that he has no shadow, he can do no wrong or have a vulnerability and that he is a winner in all respects.

The contrast between Leo and Cancer is vast and one can see it most times when Trump is on stage in how he views women (with his many, many statements, insults, off the cuff blurbs and twitter rants) and the feminine in general.  Trump’s Leo & Cancer archetypes is shining a bright light on sexism, gender and women’s rights in this country.  Through him, Leo takes on a more macho approach (i.e. look at me and how great I am, how I am the best, King of the Pride) and with Cancer he brings his family into the limelight with him in support of his ‘peacock throne’ where he can show all of his colors.  The women in his life almost always appear to be secondary or treated as if they have to know their place around him.

Most of the problem stems from that Saturn-Venus conjunction on Trump’s chart in form of projecting judgments, criticalness, imposing rules and subordinate to the billionaire himself (and “you must be supportive to me”).  I won’t go into the hundreds of quotes demeaning and degrading women (and other nationalities and races) as it is all over everywhere so it is not necessary to repeat them here. Based on the astrology chart, I believe this problem is rooted in his early relationships with women, including his mother and potentially the lack of love and nurturing in his childhood.  And that is why, I believe, it is vital that finds a way to love himself and have compassion for his losses, heartbreaks and vulnerabilities.

Of course, the world sees his Leo vanity in everything that bears his name, especially the properties he had a hand in building or funding on some level.  But this is a natural way that Leo, unencumbered and free can express itself.  Even more, through the burning of Gemini fuel (Trump’s Gemini Sun) he can make up the rules and change them often and give himself permission to not have to follow the rules he or anyone else created.  It can make Trump crafty, brilliant at times, a shape-shifter, changing direction suddenly and then not concern himself with what others think of him too much as he enjoys what the effects of words and actions have on others.

One of his strengths and gifts (especially in the Leo archetype) is the ability to move and inspire people to go in his direction.  He is knowledgeable in understanding certain emotional tides in which he can direct the current and flow and we have seen this at his numerous political rallies and catch-phrases that reach into the shadows of the American populace.  It is a form of leadership through the ‘vision-carrier’ ability.  He won’t necessarily do the work but can lead the way.

But with his strengths in shining the light on issues real or made-up in his personally created world, the minefield is active and explosive on a national stage.  With all of the tremendous backlash and counter-criticism, Trump doesn’t seem to skip-a-beat and has answers for it all and his natural charisma (Leo/Gemini) continues to keep a central core of believers in his messages (as varied and contradicting as they are from day to day and change more frequently than the phases of the Moon).

NOTE: Trump is in a Pluto cycle involving his path to enlightenment (Pluto squaring his natal Jupiter in Libra during a Jupiter Return cycle), so this can attract shadow to him and/or trigger it in his relationships, partnerships, etc.  This is a purely underworld cycle where things will tend to be beyond his control.  It is intended for him to surrender and can also act as an antidote to hubris.

There is no denying he has risen to an apex (in being noticed) in his journey learning to be Leo and this archetype has been in many American Presidents’ astrology charts, but Trump’s chart shows very little “check & balance” in terms of planetary aspects and it is like the Universe has given him free reign to do whatever he wants and to create the future and his world in his image, even if it is in part, make-believe.

Hillary Clinton

When it comes to Hillary Clinton’s archetypes, Scorpio takes the big lead as it dominates her chart in a major way.  For many decades of Hillary’s life, her Pisces Moon has seemed to take a back seat to her life path, at least in public.  Hillary and Trump both like power, but for different reasons. The Scorpio archetype has been feared and misunderstood by the patriarchy for millennia, especially when it shows up in women.  With Hillary on one of the biggest stages of the world, her expression of Scorpio is also in the spotlight and she carries with her the ages of oppression on women built-into Scorpio.  This archetype is about control and mastery of the emotional and physical realms, a healthy ego-structure and willpower and maximum life force energy as an end in itself.   It is not just because she has it as her Sun Sign, but because there are four personal points and planets in the sign of Scorpio on her chart, including Venus, Mercury and the Ascendant.  This makes her a beginner in learning Scorpio.

Many, many years of Hillary’s life has been in politics, either married to it or becoming a politician herself (I include her stint as Secretary of State 2009-2012).  Wherever she has gone or done, she has worked to gain personal power through the training of understanding the mastery of her emotional and physical realms.  She has shown incredible strength in ignoring the revealing (in public) her own inner turmoil and the intense pressures she endures having a theme of death/rebirth, attracting shadow to her (primarily in others and especially in the masculine principle) and continuing initiations of personal empowerment (due to Pluto’s influence in her astrology chart).

For over 30 years, Hillary has been a symbol for what a woman can achieve, especially in the last 15 years when she served as a senator and on President Obama’s cabinet in his first term in office.  Her Scorpio energy has been an enormous motivator for her in seeking that nectar of personal power initially through her husband, Bill, and then pushing things beyond on her own in becoming a senator.  And now she, like Trump, has a chance to take it to a higher political office.

Scorpio can be highly ambitious but it doesn’t seek power to be noticed or become a leader, like Leo does, or to get results, like Capricorn, but instead seeks it as a way to channel the life force

energy and power as an end to itself.  Scorpio is motivated to test the edge of life itself and go beyond it.  Hillary has pushed the edge of what few people have accomplished in the USA and she may even push it further whether or not she wins the election.

Hillary does have a capacity for empathy and understanding what it means to be of service to others through her lineage in the Pisces Moon.  There have been moments where the strong mind of Hillary cracked just enough to allow vulnerability of heart to show, like it did early on in her 2008 campaign to run for the office of President.  It also shows up in her ability to forgive others.  While she has a natural streak of being nice and genuine, she can be highly self-involved and even aggressive when she taps more into her Scorpio nature.

There is another quality to Scorpio that can show up and has shown up with Hillary and is related to the mastery of her emotional and physical realms.  It comes in the form of protecting her personal power through keeping much of her private life private, which causes some to accuse her of keeping secrets.  Most folks with heavy Scorpio energy keep big secrets for the sake of survival (not necessarily because they enjoy keeping secrets).  It is not out of the realm of possibilities that she does have some dramas that have gone on behind the scenes with her marriage and her own personal relationships with others.  Scorpio gets an authentic charge out of life force energy from others or even from the aura of real power.  I speculate that there is much more going on in her private life that may shock us if we learned about it (and I’m not talking about just the e-mail scandal).

With the feminine, gender and women’s rights being a hallmark in this election and center-stage in recent years, Hillary Clinton, a woman who isn’t afraid to take on anyone, is an intriguing synchronicity in challenging the governing patriarchal paradigm and her current opponent, Donald Trump, who is a symbol for that traditional paradigm.  One of the reasons is that her natal Mars is in Leo, which means her own inner beloved (or inner masculine) is the charismatic leader dedicated to radical, radiant self-love.  Her husband, Bill, has significant Leo present (Sun and Mercury in Leo) in his chart and now her current opponent has it front and center in his natal Mars and Ascendant.  Her past opponent when she ran for office in 2008, was Barack Obama and he also has an abundance of Leo (his natal Sun and Mercury).  So Leo has been strongly present in her rise in power and it is not a coincidence that Trump is her opponent (astrologically-speaking).  She continues to face Leo in order to truly “get it” within herself, both the healthy and unhealthy expressions of it.

What is also interesting is that perhaps in another Universe, Trump and Hillary could have been a power couple with those charts.  But I imagine the relationship would not have lasted very long in the battle of strong-minded wills.

Last Thoughts

No matter the results of this general election in the United States, both candidates have stirred up more from “under the carpet” than I can remember in past elections.  The US itself is experiencing a radical change and future leaders will continue to be catalysts for upsetting the traditional social-economic balance that has long held the nation together.  The rise of other presidential candidates this year like Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz and others are not just ‘new faces” on the national scene but are also teachers about what the public can do to make the kind of nation we want in this world.  Even though she isn’t a candidate for President, US Senator Elizabeth Warren has also found her voice and has had the strength to challenge the ruling patriarchy.

Each of them have their ideology and personal desires, but the archetypes generally don’t have an ideological preference.  They work through the human being and their soul’s intent.  Even more, the archetypes are real-life players on the stage that drives us all.  But we have free will in it all and can make whatever choices we must make.  Our soul’s greatest rewards comes from being aligned with the new story we are continually creating for ourselves, especially as it relates to our Ascendants (Rising Signs).

 

Birth chart of Donald Trump derived from Astro.com.  Link here: http://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Trump,_Donald

Birth chart (Generally Accepted) of Hillary Clinton derived from Astro.com.  Link here: http://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Clinton,_Hillary

Note: There are 2 alternative birth times for Hillary Clinton, but I have used the one most noted in astrology.  Perhaps at some point, we will all learn what the real birth time is.  But based on Hillary’s life, Scorpio Rising seems to fit best (but Gemini Rising is an intriguing alternative).

The Archetypes described above are based on the paradigm of Shamanic Astrology, which originated by Daniel Giamario

A few descriptions of the archetypes come directly from both Daniel Giamario and Cayelin Castell, founders of the Shamanic Astrology Mystery School