The race for the Republican nomination to challenge Barack Obama is now on and a surprise woman candidate is starting to steal all the headlines, Michele Bachmann. You know, sometimes it’s the one with the momentum, the one who comes out of nowhere who often steals the crown in American elections. Barack Obama emerged from the pack last time out having relatively little experience as a US Senator to eventually waltz away with the Democratic nomination and then the presidency, and the one I remember the most was Bill Clinton. Back a year and a half before Bill won the presidency, I read a newspaper article about this relatively unknown (unknown to those of us in the UK) politician from Hope, Arkansas who was building up a head of steam in the 1992 race. Twenty years on and the effect is happening again. Is this woman the real deal? Let’s look at the astrology.
Michele is a fiery Aries, born on 6th April 1956 in Waterloo, Iowa. I do now have an unconfirmed birth time for her, of 12.08. Is this am or pm? We have a couple of strong clues that it is pm. The first is an insatiable love for caring for children. She has had 5 herself and cared for 23 foster girls too!! The fifth house is the house of children and in her chart Sagittarius ruled by Jupiter (the planet of generosity and excess) is intercepted in the 5th. We also find Scorpio ruled by Pluto which on the cusp which if anything increases the effect – Pluto never knows when to stop. Those foster children had eating disorders, born out by the Pluto effect. Saturn sits in the 5th house too showing a serious attitude to looking after children opposite to Venus. You can see the link immediately in the opposition, girls (Moon) with serious health problems (Capricorn ruled by Saturn sits on the cusp of the 6th house of health). Placing Sagittarius squarely in the 5th house of children, confirms the second of the two clues. Michele has strong Christian faith, also ruled by Jupiter. By placing Sagittarius in the 5th, we suddenly find that Neptune the planet of spirituality is on the cusp of the 9th house of faith and beliefs. Serious Saturn sitting in Sagittarius adding a conservative edge to her beliefs. A very nice fit indeed. She will feel that he rightful place is at the top, and with Leo on her Ascendant and Sun and Mercury conjunct to her Midheaven, it only reinforces these desires.
Ok, working to the assumption that 12.08pm is a probable birth time, we have a 10th house Aries Sun conjunct to Mercury with an Leo ascendant too. The 10th house Sun is always a position of wanting to run things, her career and reputation will be very important to her. The Sun Mercury combination is a partisan one, she will see things her way and she will be outspoken. Aries ascendants as well as Mercury and Sun in Aries always remind me of the proverb “Look before you leap”. This is the thing that she has to learn to do as Sun/Mercury in Aries often doesn’t, landing those with the conjunction often in hot water. She will say and do things she will regret later, however if ever you want someone to lead you out of difficult situation (as the US is financially in), then there is nobody better than a forthright Aries to lead the way & Michele will be “vey” Aries in nature. That is what they were brought onto this earth to do.
The Sun/Mercury conjunction is trine to a Jupiter/Pluto in Leo conjunction sitting in the 2nd house of money and finance. Here is a need for the control of finance and this conjunction is opposite to her Aquarian Moon in the 8th house of big business and dealing with other people’s money. Michele is a finance and tax expert with huge experience. She has an emotional connection to the handling of other people’s money. With Mars in the 6th house of everyday work and Capricorn as I mentioned on the cusp of this house, Michelle will be extremely very hard working and have a very disciplined attitude. A money expert is just what America needs in these austere times? Returning to Pluto and Jupiter, Michele will have a love of luxury life and will spend hugely on making her own home as comfortable as possible. Pluto and Jupiter hate petty minded people, so watch out for her cutting down critics to size in a forthright manner, and also need to feel power and recognition, especially as both these planets sit in regal Leo.
Saturn is retrograde, as ever indicating that lack of love received from her father in her younger years (as mentioned before her parents divorced) and squares onto Pluto. This square is a profound aspect when activated by transits or progressions. Often losses or disappointments in life lead to some sort of emotional breakdown or depression, frustration and reinvention of the personality. Change comes at a cost, often through great pain – I suspect the parental split would have hit her very hard. Alongside these possibilities comes the potential with Saturn/Pluto for great achievement, high ambition and success. These people strive for the ultimate. With a square from Pluto to Venus indicating deep emotions and potential transformation through relationships, a t-square is formed. I get the feeling that when activated, this t-square has the potential for great heartbreak. Luckily for Michele at this time, that activation is someway off in the future. Saturn also trines onto Uranus, so she will have a knack for keeping the conservative values she holds true, yet pushing forward new radical ideas in the same breath. With the same old faces like Mitt Romney & Newt Gingrich seemingly towards the head of the running, and seeing that last time John McCain rain a pretty lame campaign on behalf of the Republican party, I get a feeling that they will be looking for a fresh new face to battle against Obama. Having got a taste of the female touch with Sarah Palin last time out, I wonder if Michele might just be the right woman to appear at the right time? Will her more controversial views like banning same sex marriage (conservative Saturn in the 5th of love given opposite to Venus and trine Uranus) hold up when opened to scrutiny?
There is one more t-square on the chart based around a dynamic Mars/Uranus opposition. Mars is in serious hard working Capricorn and Uranus accentuates this. Michele is a grafter, highly ambitious, disciplined somebody who will use all her energies and talents to get the job done. She will be an excellent strategist and planner and realistic in her aims. Even if she doesn’t make the top job, I can see her being very influential in the financial planning of a future Republican administration along the way. Mars squares onto Neptune in the 4th, so she has an ideal, a dream that that serious Mars in Capricorn is working towards, and she will have some innovative ideas to back her up vision. That vision I believe is two-fold, a social and spiritual vision for society in general based around her faith (Neptune in Libra) and more pertinently to her own situation a dream home full of peace and harmony. Having come from a broken home, one can certainly wish that she finds that ideal.
Finally Uranus conjuncts her ascendant from the 12th house. This gives Michelle a identification with those who are suffering. There is a very humanitarian response to those in need and her instinct reaction will be always to help. With the US in dire need of someone with financial management experience to pull the debt around, I think that this placing was very powerful and instrumental in her decision to run for the Presidency. She like to be an individual, someone out on a limb, and the conservative Tea Party, part of the Republican party but distinct in philosophy and ideas suits her perfectly.
Michele’s chart stacks up nicely alongside the US natal chart too if her birth-time is 12.08 instead of 00.08 . Her Aquarius moon is in conjunction (around 3 degrees) of the US moon, so her emotions will be picked up favourably by the American public. Her Sun/Mercury and Midheaven opposes the US Saturn; this is a huge link as her message will sit well with how the US needs to be administered. Her Neptune (dreams) trine the US Moon or public’s perceptions. Her hardworking Mars opposes the US Mercury, I suspect she may have battles with the press.
Michelle has been very vocal in the recent debt default crisis. Saturn opposite the Midheaven which is happening right now will encourage criticism of her stance on the matter. Saturn will go on to oppose both Sun and Mercury causing frustration and maybe run-ins with the media (Mercury rules the 3rd house of the press). However Saturn transits cause you to learn and by late autumn these transits will have passed. One other slightly worrying transit for her campaign is the fact that transiting Neptune will be square to her Saturn/Venus opposition for quite a while. Neptune tends to hide the truth until other transiting planets bring things into the open. Maybe there are skeletons in her closet? Also Transiting Saturn will hit her natal Neptune mid campaign which may things spinning off the rails.
At the time of the next Presidential election she will have SA Jupiter opposite her natal Sun & Midheaven which signifies luck, success and recognition, her SA Moon conjunct her natal Sun also giving her illuminated achievements and a female initiated influence. Her Solar Arc Pluto will be sextile natal Jupiter which is fortunate and hints at some sort of influential position. Solar Arc Venus will be opposite natal Uranus which gives excitement and a sense of being appreciated. All together, these are a very fortunate set of Solar Arc transits all hitting at the same time. It bodes well for her. Oh yes, one more aspect for you to consider. On the date of the next Presidential election, transiting Saturn will be exactly trine the US natal Venus, the sign of a female influence on the administration of the country perhaps?
Having looked at all the three main candidates, I am siding to the view that Michele will be involved in some way in the shake-up in the end, but maybe not as the Presidential candidate herself. I am leaning the way that she may be possible vice-president material, possibly to Mitt Romney as the main challenger to Obama, and as a pay off to the tea party supporters who’s influence now have a firm hold within Republican circles. There is a lot of water to flow under the bridge, however Nov 2012 may turn out to be a highlight time for Michele whatever happens.
