At every US Presidential Inauguration since 1938, Taurus rises at the hour of the event, implying stability and steadfastness while Capricorn, abode of Saturn culminates on the MC. The date also marks the Sun’s ingress into Aquarius, also ruled by Saturn. This date is enshrined in the Twentieth Amendment of the USA Constitution. Previously, Presidential Inaugurations were set for the 4th of March.
In 2021, Joseph Biden Jr will take the Oath of Office on the western side of the Capitol Building in Washington, DC. What marks this Inauguration from all previous ones is that it will be held inside a security perimeter maintained by 20, 000 armed National Guards as well as security details and a massive police presence. After the events of 6th January this year, when the world witnessed the unprecedented breach of the Capitol building by rioters trying to prevent the endorsement of the election results, the US Congress and its elected representatives have responded to the seriousness of the situation.
We know that the whole country is on a high alert as planned protests are scheduled to take place in all fifty states. In Washington DC, flights into the capital are being intensely screened and monitored as well as all transport routes.
The Chart of the Moment
The chart for the Inauguration reflects this sense of danger in spite of the solidity and stability that is reflected in the date itself and also the fact that stability has been the foundation of American democracy over the last century and a half.
The 20th January chart has both Mars and Uranus rise at the moment of Inauguration squared by Jupiter-Saturn in the Tenth house as Pluto conjoins the MC. Not the most stable or peaceful of testimonies. Mars-Uranus describes a moment redolent with instability, unexpected eruptions of activity or violence and a certain excitement and volatility which is visible and potent.
The Moon, void of course, at the moment of Inauguration, changes sign shortly after. The Moon in the sign of Taurus is in exaltation and will square the Sun, also in the Tenth suggesting that there is something emerging that will be surprising and unexpected. Another interesting and symbolic expression of the void of course Moon is the lack of a crowd that is usually a feature of Inaugurations. The people are not present in person as a consequence of the extent of the corona virus pandemic but also as a consequence of the massive security lockdown.
The Moon in Taurus joins the Mars-Uranus conjunction in the early hours of the following day. I think it will serve as a trigger as the Moon in a mundane chart represents the people or popular opinion and the people will provide the catalyst to whatever action is promised.
Venus, the lord of the Ascendant trines the Ascendant and Neptune squares the Nodal axis. There are some very important ideals at stake both symbolically and politically and with Neptune squaring the Nodal axis at the Inauguration, makes a very strong statement that these very same ideals which have underpinned the US system are being tested and the in-coming Biden administration represents the crucible where these ideals will be tested. The concern as we have seen over the last few years is that these ideals have been somehow misrepresented and corrupted to serve the purposes of those who have a very different agenda.
Roots of the Matter
The tri-wheel above involves the inner wheel which is the Sibley chart, the middle wheel is the American Civil War and the outer wheel is the Biden Inauguration Chart.
What is interesting is that the Inauguration chart highlights a sensitive degree: 6 degrees of Fixed signs and they have been activated over the last few years starting with Uranus and now Mars, Jupiter and Saturn in that order.
This 6 degree of Fixed signs is enshrined in the Sibley chart Nodal axis at 6 Leo – Aquarius and the Ascendant-MC midpoint at 6 Scorpio. The most potent of these is the Ascendant – MC midpoint which in Mundane astrology according to Nick Campion is the point which describes how national images and myths (Ascendant) are realised (MC) in the world. In the Sibley chart, this point is at 6 Scorpio, ruled by Mars in Gemini in the Seventh house. The potential for unrest and upsets (Uranus) triggered by unstable or unexpected opposition or enemies is always present. US history has shown the importance of this placement of Uranus: at every return (two at present), the US has had to contend with major conflicts which have challenged what it has stood for.
At the first Uranus return this manifested in the American Civil War – a conflict predicated on the sustainability of the Union and underpinned by the issue of slavery. These matters are entrenched in the American psyche and as the world witnessed, they exist just below the surface, are still a part of a festering resentment not only in southern states but have also been adopted by those who feel that Washington has abandoned or does not represent them and their concerns.
The Civil War chart[i] (middle wheel) caused an incredible rift in the political and social fabric of America. The conflict remains the deadliest military conflict in American history, and accounted for more American military deaths than all other wars combined until approximately the Vietnam War.[ii] The Civil War chart captures the Uranus return but additionally it has transiting Mars travelling together with Uranus and transiting Pluto opposing the Ascendant-MC midpoint and squaring the Nodal Axis.
Interestingly, the outbreak of World War II was the second Uranus return and the USA went to war to defend the democratic principles it stood for. The Asc-Mc midpoint or any of 6 degrees of Fixed signs were not activated until Mars made a transit to the Fixed degrees point a month later in late January 1942 but it was fleeting. The difference here is that Mars never conjoins Uranus at the Uranus return like it did in the Civil War chart and how it does in the Inauguration chart. What this brings in World War II is an externalization of the issues focused on the Nazis and the Japanese. Otherwise, the issues of what the nation stands for centres on the different perceptions of liberty and equality and who it applies to, the concept of the Union and what it represents and the long-held view of State’s rights vs Federal influence.
The issues of the Civil War in the white South are crystallized in the myth of the Lost Cause that the Confederate cause was a just and heroic one. The myth shaped regional identity and race relations for generations. Alan T. Nolan notes that the Lost Cause was expressly “a rationalization, a cover-up to vindicate the name and fame" of those in rebellion. Some claims revolve around the insignificance of slavery; some appeals highlight cultural differences between North and South; the military conflict by Confederate actors is idealized; in any case, secession was said to be lawful.[iii]
What is astrologically interesting now is that the Inauguration chart (outside wheel) triggers off the Asc-Mc midpoint with Uranus opposing it and Mars hot on its heels, about to do the same, within hours of the Inauguration.
Just two weeks after the nation teetered closest to the brink of civil war since the original one in 1861, President Joe Biden in his Inauguration speech, has called for an end to what he defined as the ‘un-Civil War’ of political division which has riven the nation especially in the last five years. Biden called down the moment of division which horrified the world and has called for unification. These same issues of division and union which rocked the nation 150 years are still present and are crystallized at the roots of the Biden administration.
Summary
So what does this augur for the USA and what will characterize Biden's administration? As discussed, Biden has already called for unity especially his statement where he emphasises that he represents and governs for all Americans.
Is this enough? He will still have to deal with the nascent unrest that is part and parcel of his ascendancy into office. There are still threats to the security of the Union as Mars moves through and acts as a trigger as it hits some of these sensitive points:
· The Ascendant-MC midpoint at 6 Scorpio
· Natal Uranus conjunct the Descendant
· The Nodal axis
· The MC
This graphic superimposes the breaching of the Capitol building on the 6th January 2021 over the Sibley chart. We see Mars tracking its way to sit conjunct Uranus on Inauguration Day and moves through the Sibley chart over the next 12 months.
I believe Biden and his administration’s first contest will come in mid-March as Mars moves through the Seventh house, conjuncting the natal Uranus and completing a Mars return.
This brings out the first possible conflicts or spot fires that Biden may have to deal with. One major issue is the COVID pandemic and the implementation of vaccination and aid relief programmes for those affected. There will be questions asked as to who got what, when. What Biden has shown so far is how one can disagree without constant conflict. Over the last four years, the White House has been a battleground of policy and priority where disagreements became wars, where dissention became treasonous and opposing views were treated as unpatriotic.
By the beginning of May, Biden will have completed 100 days in office and the real issues and contentions emerge in June. As the Cancer stellium is activated with transiting Mars triggering the transiting Pluto opposing USA Mercury, we may see the stark truths emerge about the lies that have surrounded White House activities over the last four years. There may be serious allegations and perhaps charges raised against former staffers and these may open up some serious rifts which culminate or become a public concern by September.
The challenges will be how others react to the actions taken and the conflict arises as some see an over-stepping of the mark where others are looking to mete out the full measure of the law.
These will echo the entrenched issues which have divided the nation since the Civil War and which arise when the expressed goals and ideals of a government are seen to be against the will of the people. The USA has some gaping wounds which have rubbed raw the scars that have been over 150 years in the making. By November there will be a turning point as Mars comes to the Ascendant –MC midpoint and squares the Nodal axis. That turning point will be significant for Biden: his actions and his reactions to their effects will define his and his administration’s legacy for the years to come.
Mari Garcia
20th January 2021
Endnotes: [i] Lieutenant Henry S. Farley, commanding a battery of two mortars on James Island fired the first shot at 4:30 A.M. (Detzer 2001, pp. 269–71) Detzer, David R. (2001). Allegiance: Fort Sumter, Charleston and the Beginning of the Civil War. New York: Harcourt. ISBN 0-15-100641-5. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Sumter#CITEREFDetzer2001 [Accessed 25/12/2020] [ii] Binghamton University. "U.S. Civil War took bigger toll than previously estimated, new analysis suggests." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 22 September 2011. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110921120124.htm. [Accessed 21/01/2021] [iii] Nolan, Alan T., in Gallagher, Gary W., and Alan T. Nolan, The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War history (2000), pp. 12–19.