Tag Archives: new moon

Trump’s 2nd Impeachment: Timed to Mars Antiscia

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Introduction

About a month ago, I published an article on the timing of Donald Trump’s political downfall. The focus was on how the solar eclipse of Dec. 14th, 2020 was metaphorically an eclipse of Trump’s political reign. It occurred on the day of the electoral college vote that sealed Trump’s loss.

The eclipse, as a New Moon, signaled the important events of the lunar month Dec. 14th to early Jan. 13th. Additionally, as an eclipse it has relevance even beyond the month. See the article on the eclipse for more details. Also see the article on the Six Elements for Deducing Advanced Knowledge for why lunations are especially significant mundane charts.

Distribution through the Mars Bound of Libra

Since late 2019, I have pointed out that the key astrological factor symbolizing a sea change in Trump’s fortune is the activation of Trump’s Mars as distributor. The distributor is the bound lord of the directed Ascendant (by primary directions).

In an April 2018 update to my 2012 article on the distributor technique, I noted that Trump’s rise corresponded with a Venus distributor period. The transition to a Mars distributor in late 2019 preceded Trump’s 1st impeachment. That impeachment itself occurred on the day of an exact transit of twelfth-part Mars conjunct to Trump’s Sun at 22 Gemini (and his natal twelfth-part Mars).

Transits

In comments on my article on the Trump Eclipse, one reader seemed to put a lot of stock in the appearance of seemingly positive transits for Trump on the 6th. I noted to him that transits in themselves are insignificant in traditional astrology. The significance of transits is solely in terms of timing out indications from root charts and activation techniques.

In fact, the preoccupation with transits as being the most fundamental predictive technique in astrology is a direct byproduct of the factor-as-index fallacy. This fallacy is pervasive in modern astrology and much astrology of the traditional revival as well.

As I noted in those comments, the eclipse is indicative of the downfall of Trump while the transits merely time out the events. As the factor that most vividly symbolizes a threat to Trump’s leadership and authority is Mars in his chart, one must have a pretty good grasp of that Mars and all its “positions” in the chart.

The Traditional Symbolic Palette

This brings us to the things that the index view further obscures. Indexation not only puts the emphasis on just the natal chart and transits to it, but also toward dismissal of factors that are “merely symbolic”. Such factors include twelfth-parts, lots, and antiscia. In the symbolic view, twelfth-parts and antiscia are echoes of the symbolism of the planet but projected to different positions. In the index view, one just scratches one head, what could these things index? There is little room for symbolic redundancy in the index view.

For a true full analysis of the indications of Trump and the noteworthy Mars timing points, we need to know more than the natal planetary positions. We need to look at the solar return and important mundane charts like the ingresses and lunations. Not only the plain Mars positions and interactions with Mars in those charts must be examined, but we should also be aware of the twelfth-part and antiscia Mars positions.

Antiscia

I will not be delving deeply into all these things in this article, but I will be looking at one of the most overlooked factor types, the antiscia.

I am not immune to overlooking these factors. Only a handful of my articles ever mention antiscia positions. In fact, I also have very few articles looking at fixed stars, which are another crucially important traditional factor. Antiscia has been touched on a little bit in articles on the site, particularly in the analysis of serial killer David Carpenter’s chart.  I have also provided an overview of some of the history behind antiscia.

Rather than a robust analysis of the timing of the January 6th, 2021 insurrection and Trump’s 2nd impeachment, I will only looking at a minor matter of timing. The transit that most pertained to the timing of Trump’s impeachment was a transit by antiscia. As I noted, a transit in itself is insignificant. This transit became significant in timing because of events which were indicated pertaining to the downfall of Trump connected to Mars.

A Mars Antiscia 2nd Impeachment

During the 2nd impeachment, which occurred just after a New Moon (within 24 hours), Mars made an exact transit antiscia to Trump’s Mars. This was a historic impeachment on multiple counts. It was the fastest impeachment and most bipartisan impeachment of all time. Additionally, it was the first time a President has ever been impeached twice and it occurred despite Trump having only one week left in his term.

The timing of this historic impeachment pertains to a number of significant mundane charts. However, here my main focus is on looking at how indications pertaining to Trump’s natal Mars were timed to the event. I have noted that Mars pertains to the indication of Trump’s demise and showed how the timing of the 1st impeachment and Trump’s electoral college loss were closely linked to that Mars. We continue this line of inquiry.

Trump’s Antiscia Positions

In the free and open source traditional astrological software Morinus, you can pull up antiscia positions very easily around any chart. Below is the natal chart of Donald Trump with the antiscia positions around the wheel. Note that Trump’s Mars antiscia is 3 degrees 13 minutes Taurus.

Trump’s Natal Chart with Antiscia Positions Along Outer Wheel

January 13th, 2021 New Moon

The New Moon on the morning of the 13th (and the solar eclipse of Dec. 14th) are far more significant than any transits through the month. That is because these lunations actually say something about the month, while the transits merely time out indications. The New Moon of Jan. 13th from D.C. speaks not only about the impeachment later that day (or rather the next day astrologically, as it occurred just after midnight), but also of other important events for the lunar month.

tMars Antiscia nMars

The New Moon shows the close (within a degree and applying) antiscia of Mars. Below I shows the lunation chart with its own antiscia positions around the outside. You can see that Mars is at 2TAU57, approaching Trump’s Mars antiscia (3TAU13).  Or put another way, you can see that the antiscia of the lunation’s Mars is in late Leo, conjoining Trump’s natal Mars.

 

New Moon Chart 01-13-2021 with its Antiscia Outside the Wheel

Mars Touches the 10th House While Secretly with the Natal Gemini Sun-Mars

As a reader noted in the comments of the eclipse article, impeachment time to the entrance of transiting Mars into Taurus. This is significant as Taurus is Trump’s 10th house of authority (strongly linked to his rise). Additionally, as Mars is between 2TAU30 and 5TAU00 its twelfth-part is in the following sign, Gemini, co-present with Trump’s Sun and own twelfth-part Mars.

Saturn’s Rejection

In addition to the timing of the Mars symbolism, there is Saturn symbolism (ending; banishment; rejection) all over the chart. The lunation itself at 23CAP13 is in partile (same degree) opposition to Trump’s natal Saturn (23CAN48). Lunation Saturn is at 3AQU02: lunation Mars (2TUA57) is applying a tight square (less than 5 minutes of a degree) to that Saturn while antiscia Trump’s natal Mars.

New Moon 01-13-2021 Around Trump’s Natal Chart

Timing of Trump’s 2nd Impeachment by Transit

Trump was reportedly impeached at 4:33 pm EST on Jan. 13, 2021. During the session for debating impeachment, Mars transited 3TAU13, the exact antiscia position of Trump’s Mars. It concluded as the transiting Moon was conjoining transiting Saturn, both square to that Mars antiscia Trump’s Mars. The Ascendant in Cancer (17CAN) was approaching Trump’s Saturn (23CAN), with its twelfth-part conjunct Moon-Saturn.

Trump’s 2nd Impeachment Transits (4:33 pm EST 1/13/21) Around His Natal Chart

Conclusion

The micro-zodiac of the twelfth-parts is nearly as old as the zodiac itself. Twelfth-part and antiscia positions have been at times hailed as a key to the hidden secrets of the astrological chart, since at least the time of Julius Firmicus Maternus. Noteworthy ancient astrologers like Abu Ma’shar used twelfth-parts across an array of predictive techniques, even in returns, directions, and transits. Still, such “implicit” or “symbolic” positions continue to be neglected today.

The timing of the 1st impeachment of Trump revealed how astrologers ignore transits by twelfth-part at their own peril.  His 2nd impeachment reveals the same for antiscia positions.

To learn more about twelfth-parts and antiscia, please feel free to search the site for relevant articles. If you find yourself biased against even trying out such positions, please check out my essay on the symbolic nature of astrology. For another look at the significance of twelfth-part and antiscia positions in transit, please see the article on the Notre-Dame Cathedral fire.

Featured image attribution: Amir Pashaei, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons: Ceiling of Chehel Sotoun’s mirror hall that contains Āina-kāri art, Isfahan, Iran

Persian Mundane Astrology | The Six Elements for Deducing Advanced Knowledge

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Foreward

There’s a lunar eclipse today. It seems like a good time to discuss the importance of solar and lunar phenomena in ancient mundane astrology. Honestly, despite my great interest in mundane astrology, I haven’t studied it thoroughly. Therefore, I avoid mundane prognostication.

I’m sure that if you search for “lunar eclipse December 10, 2011, astrology”, you’ll be inundated with mundane astrological predictions. I’m also pretty sure that most of the predictions will be vague and obvious. You’ll see people predict that some existing long-term crisis will be prolonged. You know, the type of crisis that always takes years to resolve anyway.  🙂

However, if you want to spot a change in the trends, then you should know the type of charts to look at. Let’s take a look at that.

Mundane Astrology

Mundane astrology is the study of astrological significations as they relate to the general world, including political, religious, cultural, and meteorological events. In many regards, there is simply a lack of high quality and clear Hellenistic and Persian mundane texts in English. By contrast, there are extensive works on natal astrology. Additionally, in the Persian medieval period, there is an outpouring of pivotal horary and electional material, but the mundane material is less pronounced.

Abu Ma’shar On the Great Conjunctions

Perhaps, the most comprehensive, and certainly the most influential, treatment of mundane astrology from the period that interests me (pre-1100 CE), came from Abu Ma’shar in the 9th Century CE. It is known as The Book of Religions and Dynasties, or On the Great Conjunctions, among many other names.

An English translation by Keiji Yamamoto and Charles Burnett was released in 2000.  This translation can be a bit confusing, and at a price over $500 on Amazon, it can also be prohibitively expensive.  College students should know that Texas A&M University has a copy available for inter-library loan.

This text should serve as something of a bible for traditionalists into mundane astrology, particularly for those who are fans of Abu Ma’shar. I’ve heard that Benjamin Dykes, who produces clearest and most thorough translations of ancient astrological texts available, has planned on translating the text at some point.

A 16th century Latin translation of Abu Ma’shar’s classic text of mundane astrology, On the Great Conjunctions.

Six Elements for Deducing Advanced Knowledge

One of the first issues that come up with mundane astrological work is deciding which charts matter most and how they fit together.

In Book I, Chapter 1, of The Book of Religions and Dynasties, Abu Ma’shar sets out the 6 levels of important mundane charts. These are hierarchically arranged in terms of the length of time for which they give significations. One of the more fascinating aspects of that exposition is that all of the charts are of lunar syzygies (New and Full Moons) and solar sign ingresses.  The level of importance assigned to a specific ingress or syzygy pertains to its proximity in time to important phenomena.  Here is the list of the six elements for deducing advanced knowledge (from Book I, Ch. 1, 12-21).  You may find it helpful to use the handy tables of Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions and Mars-Saturn conjunctions supplied on Richard Nolle’s website.

1. Aries Ingress Preceding Great Conjunction in Aries

A great conjunction is a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. Presumably, this is the first conjunction in Aries of the series in the fire triplicity.  This occurs about every 960 years. The next 1st conjunction in Aries of the fire triplicity series would take place every 960 years ideally, but can actually be a much shorter or longer period.  Currently, it’s the Aries Ingress of 1702.

2. Aries Ingress Preceding Great Conjunction in New Triplicity

Presumably, this is the 1st conjunction in a new triplicity marking the beginning of the series in that triplicity, even if there are one or two last bastion conjunctions after it in the series of the prior triplicity.  This occurs about every 240 years. Again, it seems it could be applicable for quite a bit longer or shorter a period, depending on the particular length of time of the series.  Currently, it’s the Aries Ingress of 1980 (great conjunction in air).

3. Aries Ingress Preceding Mars-Saturn Conjunction in Cancer

This occurs about every 30 years.  Currently, it’s the Aries Ingress of 2004.

4. Aries Ingress Preceding a Great Conjunction

This occurs about every 20 years.  Currently, it’s the Aries Ingress of 2000.

5. Three Quarterly Charts

A. Solar ingress into a cardinal sign (i.e. charts of the equinoxes and solstices – especially the Spring Equinox)

B. New Moon that precedes “A” (i.e. the New Moon preceding a equinox or solstice)

C. Full Moon that precedes “A” (i.e. the Full Moon that precedes the equinox or solstice)

The Aries ingress is the most significant of these and is the main chart used for predictions of the year.

6. Three Monthly Charts

A. Solar ingress into a new sign

B. New Moon

C. Full Moon

Typically B (new moon) was preferred when the lunation directly preceding the ingress was a New Moon, while C (Full Moon) was preferred when the lunation directly preceding the ingress was a Full Moon.

Solar Ingresses and Lunar Syzygies

This is the hierarchy of mundane charts presented by Ma’shar in Book 1.  Many indications and predictive techniques, such as profections of the chart Ascendant, are derived from these charts for the relevant locations.  There is much more to Ma’shar’s own mundane predictive system than just these charts, but this exposition gives a general sense of the fundamental role solar ingresses and lunar syzygies, including eclipses, played in traditional mundane astrology. Basically, all the mundane charts looked at were of one of these classes (i.e. either the moment of a sign ingress or the moment of a lunation).

Note on Mean Conjunctions and the Zodiac

Please note that I give the ingress chart date using the true conjunction in the tropical zodiac for each of the first four categories. However, many Persian astrologers (including Abu Ma’shar) used mean conjunctions and the sidereal zodiac instead. Mean conjunctions assume an idealized steady progression through the signs with a clean transition to each new triplicity, rather than the actual progression in which the length may vary.  I feel strongly (and so did some medieval astrologers and most later astrologers) that the actual Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions in the tropical zodiac should be the point of reference.

References
Abu Ma’shar. (2000). Abu Ma’Sar on Historical Astrology: The Book of Religions and Dynasties on Great Conjunctions (Islamic Philosophy, Theology, and Science). (K. Yamamoto & C. Burnett, Trans.). Leiden and Boston: Brill Academic Publishers.
Image Attributions
Featured image of the painting Selene (1880) by Albert Aublet (cropped) is in the public domain.
Image of the 16th-century translation of Ma’shar’s On the Great Conjunctions is in the public domain.