Why Is An Inauguration Chart Worth Looking At?
Historically, when astrologers want to understand a monarch’s reign, they look at the chart of the coronation of that monarch. Similarly, when astrologers want to understand the administration of a president, they look at the chart that began that president’s administration—the inauguration chart. What follows is a brief, not exhaustive, look at why a change in schedule leading to a different inauguration chart could lead to a very different administration than we would have had.
Inauguration Charts Tend Towards Sameness
The United States government has developed a policy for when its inaugurations happen and how they are conducted. This has resulted in inaugurations happening on January 20th at noon since the inauguration that began Franklin D. Roosevelt’s second term in 1947. As a result, many of these inaugurations yield charts that have much in common. Barack Obama’s original inauguration was scheduled for the usual day and time and would have yielded a chart that had the usual characteristics. It also had some additional factors (linked to Mercury and to the Moon) that are unappealing in an administration and which no one would have chosen if they’d been given the opportunity. When a mistake occurred during the oath and it was decided that a fresh oath was necessary, a very different chart was made possible. Between January 20th at noon and January 21st at 7:30 PM there is a world of astrological difference.
Persistent Themes In The Usual Inauguration Charts
For sixty years, the inauguration charts have had Taurus rising, a Capricorn Midheaven and the Sun in Aquarius in the tenth house. All other factors have varied, but these have been stable.
A Taurus rising suggests a stoic, peaceful exterior and a resistance to change, at least on the surface. This resistance to change is contradicted by the Sun in Aquarius, which has as its very heart and center the desire for overthrow of the old and progress into the new that is so consummately American (arguably both our country’s greatest strength and greatest weakness). There is an intellectual stubbornness about this Aquarian Sun, a tendency to hold to ideals long past their usefulness, which can be mitigated by other chart influences that change from one administration to the next.
The placement of the Sun in the tenth house adds a different note: one of the acquisition and centralization of power. A person with the Sun in the tenth house tends to be ambitious and hard-working, avidly climbing the ladder of success. A country with this placement could be ruthless at times, merely driven at others. This trait is underscored by the fact of Capricorn being on the Midheaven, showing that power, prestige and status are this entity’s goal and that showing a strong leadership face to the world is valued. Basically, in the world theater, the USA wants to look good and garner respect.
What’s Different About the Do-Over Chart?
These themes change with Obama’s evening inauguration chart (not permanently, but for his first term only). The Do-Over Chart (as I’m calling it) has the Aquarian Sun in the sixth house, not the tenth, and Virgo is rising, with a Taurus Midheaven.
The usual inauguration chart’s tenth house emphasis on government and its leaders shifts in the new chart towards a sixth house emphasis on the working class and “getting our house in order.” This is accentuated and underscored by the 7:30 PM chart’s Virgo rising, which suggests an administration with an attitude of humbleness and service. This could spell a shift from an entrenched, stubborn leadership style to a more flexible, service-oriented leadership style and a lessened emphasis on looking good and gaining power with a greater emphasis on what actually works and is effective.
This chart’s Rising sign (aka Ascendant) is Virgo, ruled by Mercury, which in this chart is retrograde. This is a difficult thing to overcome and it needs to be overcome or else much of the value of the chart change could be lost. In Part 2 of this article (coming out tomorrow) I’ll talk about the Mercury retrograde problem. . . and solution.
