Nothing like looking at someone’s horoscope chart to generate a little sympathy.
This afternoon, in gleeful anticipation of tonight’s debate, I’m checking out the birth charts of Vice Presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin –- specifically, their abilities to translate thoughts into meaningful, convincing words, and nicely.
(Please note: My image uploader is being temperamental. I’m working on posting the candidates’ charts here. In the meantime, enjoy my handicapping of tonight’s debate.)
Both candidates have been accused of not being able to filter thoughts before they escape from their mouths. With Biden, the charge is usually around his long-windedness and we can certainly see from the preponderance of green lines (quincunxes and semi-sextiles) in his chart that the man has a lot on his mind. On one hand, he’d like to just sit and enjoy his thoughts. But another part of him needs to process them out with a willing audience. His tendency to go on and on is a reflection of a mental process that tries to capture many ideas at once.
It certainly doesn’t come from Mercury in Scorpio in the 12th house, which would normally keep its own counsel – though that might allow him to think on another level even as he speaks. As you listen to Biden during the debate tonight, see if you can trace these mental processes in the way he responds to questions.
For Palin, the filtering problem comes off as faltering for smart responses when she’s unscripted. Though her Moon-Mercury conjunction suggests a facility for communication, Palin’s larger chart picture suggests significant vulnerability to the environment swirling around her. That is, without clear direction from an advisor, friend or event, she appears to have little anchoring for how to respond to a situation. Her Mars-Saturn-Sun conjunction may also signal a tendency to get defensive when feeling cornered. These patterns have been painfully obvious in the clips of her interviews with Katie Couric over the last few days. Look for similar stymies in the debate tonight. When does Palin switch from eloquent to defensive?
Palin can wow audiences with prepared speeches that are paradoxically aggressive and charming: That lineup of five planets in Aquarius around the descendant, with Moon-Mercury sextile Venus, helps a lot. But the Moon-Mercury-Venus aspect is only distantly connected with Palin’s Sun – her self-awareness and, ideally, her reference point for self-expression. And the Moon is her weakest ego planet, so she may work very hard to say the right words that will appeal to the right people. But the question remains whether she herself connects with them.
Speaking of disconnect, the other criticism of Biden is that he can come off as condescending – indicated, perhaps, by his Saturn in the 7th house. Normally we associate a 7th house position with how others present themselves in your life, not how the chart native comes off to others (for that, we look to the 1st house). But on a more basic level, the 7th house is about projection: If I can’t accept a trait in myself, I’ll attribute it to you instead. And if you don’t deliver on it, then I’ll either do it myself or provoke you until you do.
In addition to Biden’s Saturn being in a prime place for this projection dynamic, and being his weakest ego planet to boot, it is also disconnected from the rest of his aspect structure – with lines only to power planets Pluto and Mars. So it’s not surprising that he still has trouble reining in his condescension. As long as he’s working from his stronger ego planets – Sun quincunx Moon, in a great position for bringing deep thinking out into the public sphere – Biden should do fine tonight. But if things get really heated, if his game is thrown off somehow, look for that condescension to come out.
Frankly, many people, myself included, found much of Palin’s RNC speech to be condescending as well. Not surprisingly, she also has Saturn in the 7th house – though unlike Biden’s, hers is, as noted above, closely aligned with her Sun and Mars. Like Biden, though, this Saturn is barely connected to the rest of her aspect structure, making her vulnerable to its unconscious expression and possibly making it hard for her to translate her thoughts into tangible self-expression. She’s not, as many have suggested, a stupid person. But her ability to give voice to her thoughts may be Palin’s great challenge. Watch tonight and see if you can tell when Palin is working from her Moon/Mercury sextile Venus (proper choice of words, beautiful expression) or from her Mars-Saturn-Sun conjunction (defensiveness or attack). See when she’s able to move her thoughts into concrete words and when she has trouble with that.
It should be an interesting night.
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