The 2009 Presidential Inauguration Chart

Well I’ve had no inclination to write a blog for some days, and I usually trust that and slightly fret about it at the same time. Mercury is retrograde which, whatever else you might say about it, is a good time for sorting practical things that have been hanging around, particularly involving transport. So I’ve sorted out a key for a friend’s car and finally sorted, I think, a damp problem that has bedevilled my car since the summer. I’m just about to sort a CD system for my car. And I’m in the process of buying a water pump (that transports water) to save a lot of leg-work taking water out of the river for our horses.


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Anyway, Barack Obama will be inaugurated (crowned) at 12pm on 20 Jan in Washington. This gives a chart for the first term of his Presidency. I like the Mars, in the 9th House of foreign policy. It is in its favourite and most effective sign of Capricorn, sextile to Uranus/Venus and trine to Saturn. And Venus is in its favourite sign of Pisces in the 11th House, the community of nations. So America will not only achieve its foreign policy aims (Mars), it will be popular too (Venus). What a combination, exalted Mars sextile exalted Venus!

Hillary Clinton, the new Secretary of State, has a Mercury-Venus conjunction in Scorpio. So she has an ability to communicate (Mercury) on difficult issues (Scorpio) while staying on friendly terms (Venus). Her Mercury-Venus makes harmonious aspects with the Mars-Venus of the inauguration chart. So she looks set to be very effective.

That said, Hillary's Sun at 3 Scorpio squares the inauguration Sun, as well as widely hard aspecting Obama's natal Sun square Neptune. So there may be a wider context of a power struggle with Obama's administration, which comes as no great surprise.

Slightly worrying is unaspected Pluto in Capricorn in the 8th House of secret enemies. The last inauguration chart had a Mars-Pluto conjunction in the 8th in Sag, aspecting the Moon and Jupiter. So it was a lot more pronounced, with the obvious interpretation being the insurgency in foreign places (Sag) – i.e. Afghanistan and Iraq. In Iraq, however, this Mars-Pluto was put to good use via the ‘surge’ (Mars in Sag!)

I’d find, say, an unaspected Mars in the 8th more worrying than Pluto, for it would be almost certain to express itself in an unpredictable manner. I’d say an unaspected outer planet has more chance of just disappearing for a while. But it would be advisable for the administration to keep an eye on what secret enemies might be getting up to within the boundaries (Capricorn) of the USA.

There is a tight sextile between the Sun (leader) and the Moon (the people). So Obama will be creatively in tune with the American people. It is also, however, an out-of-sign sextile. So there will be a disjunction between the people’s focus on economic survival (Moon in Scorpio) and Obama’s forward-looking approach (Sun in Aquarius). Because of the close sextile, however, he should be able to carry this off: i.e. dealing with the economic mess while ploughing money into e.g. education and renewable energy.

The inauguration Moon, however, is right at the end of Scorpio, and will progress into Sagittarius before the end of January 2009. This suggests that Obama may be effective at quickly shifting the mood of the American people from survival (Scorpio) to something a bit more optimistic and expansive (Sagittarius).

The inauguration Moon is in the 7th House of partners and open enemies. So again the mood may quickly shift from the us-against-them (Scorpio) attitude of the Bush years to the generosity of spirit for which America at its best is known.

The inauguration Mercury is retrograde and very closely conjunct the Sun, suggesting a President who speaks his mind in a considered manner (contrast this with the 2005 and 2001 charts for the Bush years, with Mercury at least 15 degrees from the Sun). In early August this Mercury will move by Progression from Aquarius to Capricorn, suggesting a change in Obama's tone from visionary possibilities to practical matters concerning economic security. Many people consider that the recession will get a lot worse this year, and the Presidential Mercury shift perhaps reflects this.

If we look at the condition of Obama’s Presidency via the Solar Returns, we see favourable aspects to the Sun up until the final year. 2009 has Sun Conjunct Jupiter and sextile Moon; 2010 has Sun conjunct Venus, sextile Moon and trine Saturn; and 2011 has Sun conjunct Mars and sextile to Jupiter and Uranus.

But 2012, election year, has Sun in a t-square with Saturn and Jupiter. So it will be a time of reckoning (Saturn), as one would expect, but being a t-square it has the possibility of being very creative. Obama has a natal Saturn-Jupiter conjunction, which I have previously said is a good lens through which to view his Presidency. So it is interesting that it should be these 2 planets that will impinge upon him as he comes up for re-election.

In fact I have just spotted something remarkable: Obama's Saturn in Capricorn is within one degree of the inauguration MC; and his Jupiter in Aquarius is within a few minutes of the inauguration Sun. The Sun and MC are almost the same in all inauguration charts, they are part of the institution of the Presidency. This shows conclusively the importance of Obama's Saturn-Jupiter, and the 'destined' quality of his rise to the Presidency.