when to run for office?

I am volunteering on a campaign and the candidate had to file officially for the race in a certain time period. Now, no one was asking me for astrological advice but I decided to take a look and did drop a suggestion to wait until after Mercury went direct. I have memories of wacky elections when Mercury was retrograde. Anyway, the date I thought was most favorable was not picked, but the one that was, and the time the filing was done, looked like this:

Gemini on the ascendant, with a prominent Mars in Gemini. It opposes Pluto in the 7th(you go with the planets you have, blah blah...) but in a way, that gives a flavor to the campaign which is accurate: an outsider, running against a status quo candidate, pushing for change. Pluto is nothing if not that!
Saturn in the 3rd, opposing a midheaven Sun in Pisces. Okay, I did not pick just after noon as the time to file, but having a midheaven sun seems like a good idea - got the filing filmed for local news.
just a few other highlights: Moon in the 6th(candidate promotes universal health care) Jupiter in the 7th in Capricorn(but away from the Pluto) Mercury, Venus and Neptune in that order in the 9th, and Uranus in the 10th, not conjunct the Sun.

The date is Feb. 28, 2008, 12:15 EST. I would prefer to not give location for privacy.

Any thoughts on this?

fears about the election

I just read a headline that Willie Nelson fears we won't have a 2008 election. He is quoted as saying,

"It's a long time until election day and some sort of national crisis could put off the elections and we could have George in there ten years longer," Nelson told the Alex Jones Show today.

It is certainly one possibility, though unlikely. I don't think W. wants the job any longer, for one, and as the chart for that day indicates, with a Saturn/Uranus opposition, change will come. I also read an article about sunspot activity, how increased sunspots seem to correspond with times of increased rebellion. Personally, as someone who grew up in the humid hell of East Texas summers(which Molly Ivins once described as "Los Angeles with the climate of Calcutta") I can see how the sun gets us cranky - why do you think we celebrate our independence in July? Too hot to put up with it any longer!

As for sunspots, they do have a cyclical activity and a bit more research is certainly warranted. I read that we have been in a lull, which makes a kind of sense, given the way our rights have been stripped away while people just don't seem to have the energy to rise up and take a stand. That cycle is about to change, this year and the next should see a rise in sunspots and we will have to see if it increases other kinds of heat, for justice.

In the mean time, there are guys hammering on my roof today, installins solar panels. At least I am ready - here comes the sun!

some news around the net

I have been enjoying an interview on coyote news network, from Caroline Casey's radio show. She talks about 2008 and the chart of the November election with Heather Roan-Robbins, who is an old and dear friend of mine and excellent astrologer. One point that she brings out is how we go in cycles between wanting the energy of Saturn in our lives(order, order, structure - then, ooops!totalitarianism!) to the energy of Uranus (freedom, freedom, chaos, oops! Can't pay the bills! Need more order...). Looking back at elections of recent decades, one frame is to view each president as a reaction to the previous.

After Nixon, we chose a very clean, Sunday School teaching Jimmy Carter. After Carter's stumbles and his seriousness about conserving, we picked "morning in America" for that Hollywood gauzy future that Reagan could promise. We sort of continued that with Bush Sr. but after the glow of the "painless Nintendo" Gulf War wore off, we looked for someone more inclusive and feeling, with Bill Clinton.

Goerge W. Bush was something of a reaction to the tabloid times of Clinton, although we would have had that with Gore and that election is still one that was not decided by the people. Now with eight years of scaring us, whether with fears of the boogie man or the sheer incompetence, we are looking for a doer AND a believer. It remains to be seen what will happen in this election, with a Saturn opposite Uranus. Caroline Casey says something along the lines of "Whether we win or not, the revolution will come."

welcome to astrowonk!

I created this blog for people interested in progressive US politics and astrology. It is a place to discuss candidates, election times, personalities, issues, whatever is fun and thoughtful!