Aug. 29 was John McCain’s 72nd birthday and it was also the day he revealed his vice-presidential choice to the world. As anyone who reads this blog knows, I wasn’t surprised by McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin.
We’re moving to a Saturn/Uranus opposition that is exact on Election Day. Democratic candidate Barack Obama signifies Uranus to me because of his skin color and his sudden success. To balance his ticket, he picked Saturnian Senator Joe Biden, who brings lots of Washington connections and experience to the ticket.
McCain personifies Saturn because of his age and his conservatism. It seemed natural that he was going to pick a surprising (Uranus) running mate — either a woman or Democrat-turned Independent Joe Lieberman. In addition to Palin, I had speculated that Maine Senator Olympia Snowe was a possibility for astrological reasons.
Now that McCain has made his choice, everyone wants to know more about Palin, the Alaska governor who was born Feb. 11, 1964 in Sandpoint, Idaho. As expected, Jude’s Threshold came out of the gate quickly with her post on Palin.
You can read Jude’s post here.
As Jude and her commenters point out, the stellium of Neptune, North Node, and Chiron in Aquarius has been transiting Palin’s Sun/Mars/Saturn stellium in Aquarius. This can undermine her professional status, according to Reinhold Ebertin’s The Combination of Stellar Influences, but it also can signify weakness and involvement with health care.
Palin gave birth to a baby with Down syndrome, Trig Paxson, in April, and is unabashedly pro-life. Abortion wasn’t an option for her when she learned during her pregnancy that her son would have special needs.
Palin’s husband is a former employee of oil company BP but now works as a commercial fisherman (Neptune). According to Wiki, she has been a strong proponent of energy (Neptune) development in Alaska but also has helped pass new taxes on oil company profits.
Palin’s Sun/Mars/Saturn stellium in Aquarius touches the U.S. Moon, though how tight the connection is depends on which U.S. chart you use. She could get the people (Moon) “fired up,” but she could also anger (Mars) them, especially if she becomes an authority figure (Saturn) for them.
The choices that Palin has made in her life — competing in a beauty pageants (she was runner-up in the Miss Alaska contest), hunting game, and joining the National Rifle Association — promise to spark (Mars) controversy about the role of women (U.S. Moon) in our society and shine light on our stereotypes, both liberal and conservative.
Palin’s Sun/Mars/Saturn equals the U.S. Moon came into play on Sept. 1 when the McCain campaign announced that the vice-presidential nominee’s 17-year-old daughter, Bristol Palin, is pregnant. She plans to keep her child and eventually marry the father.
This turn of events continues the theme highlighted in the U.S. Summer Solstice chart: concern about teenage pregnancy. It echoes some of the brouhaha about the spate of pregnancies at Gloucester (Mass.) High School that made national headlines shortly after the Solstice.
I’ve blogged about why pregnancy is such a hot-button issue in this country. You’ll find my musings here.
McCain has made a brilliant choice with Palin. Her conservative values appeal to the Christian right, but her independent spirit and working mom ethos can help McCain pick up some Democratic supporters of Hillary Clinton who can’t get themselves to vote for Obama.
The downside? Palin’s relative youth and vitality make McCain appear old by contrast. At his press conference to announce Palin, his face appeared miraculously free of wrinkles for a man of his age, but strangely immobile, perhaps because of recent Botox treatments.
Palin’s relative lack of experience drew criticism from those concerned that she doesn’t have the credentials to become President should McCain die in office.
It’s going to be an interesting election. If you divide the country along the Mississippi River, the Obama-Biden ticket represents the Eastern half of the U.S., while the McCain-Palin duo comes from the Western part.
Historically, the tensions in this country have been between North and South. Perhaps we are moving into a period where the schism is between East and West.
The late Tim Russert gets credit for coining the term Red States/Blue States to describe the divide between Republicans and Democrats. According to the Wiki, most of the Red States carried by Republicans in the last few elections are in the West, but there are many in the South.
Astrology Mundo 