Autumn 2008 Newsletter Supplement by Joseph Crane

Updates – John McCain’s corrected birth chart.

I have been analyzing presidential elections for the past sixteen years and up to this point the natal charts I’ve used have had correct birth times.  This election year has been the exception: having written on a Scorpio-rising birth chart for Barack Obama this past winter, somebody produced a birth certificate that gave him Aquarius rising.  Now, having worked with John McCain’s 9 AM chart extensively, in newsletters and in my book, now there’s a different birth time for him.

          McCain’s “new” chart does give us additional insight that the previous chart did not give; it also helps me correct a prediction for his that has not yet panned out – the one about being at the peak of his reputation.

          Why is it important to get a correct birth time?  Based on the time of day, planets may change zodiacal signs.  For example, what had been Moon in Capricorn for McCain is now Moon in Aquarius.  This may be the case as well for other planets.

          When the birth time changes the Ascendant is very likely to change and so are the planets in their houses.  If one uses a Whole Sign House system, as we do here, all the planets’ house placements changes when an Ascendant sign changes.  Because planet in its house can tell about the strength of the planet and in what area of life that it pertains to.  In McCain’s case, the revised chart shows many more planets in the strongest or angular houses or places.

          How is it that we have revised McCain’s birth chart?  The original time of birth, 9 AM, was obtained from a time supposedly given by John McCain’s mother.  This information was not obtained from his mother directly, however, but by people working for McCain’s 2000 campaign.  However, this indirect information from his mother gave McCain’s time of birth an “A” rating according to the Lois Rodden rating system.  Mostly this is considered good enough and I felt confident using this chart in by book.

          But an “A” rating is not an “AA” rating, which comes directly from the birth certificate.  Recently somebody tracked down a copy of the birth certificate from a NH court that contains a time of birth of 6:25 PM! 

          Is a birth certificate infallible?  Certainly not.  In fact, I have reason to believe that the time recorded on my birth certificate is 5-10 minutes off – partly because I trust my mother’s recollection more, even if she was giving birth at the time.  Yet it is less likely to be wrong than other sources of birth time information, hence it receives an “AA” rathing.

          So here is McCain’s new and revised birth chart.

What are differences between this chart and the previous one that I wrote so eloquently about in the latest newsletter?

          One quickly notices that now there are four planets in the angular houses or places: Saturn in the first, Sun and Venus in the seventh, Jupiter in the tenth.  Importantly, the Ascendant ruler (and dispositor for Saturn) in Pisces is a very strong Jupiter in its own sign at the Midheaven.  This tells us not only about McCain’s successful presentation of himself, a personal confidence that seems not compromised by adversity, and a nobility of character – or a tendency toward sanctimoniousness. 

          I have written and spoken often about McCain’s Mars placement that tells us about his military and national security background but also about his famous temper.  In a 9 AM chart, McCain’s Mars is in the fortunate eleventh house.  Mars is also oriental and out of sect in a daytime chart, meaning that it can be too strong for McCain’s own good.  Because Mars is in a “predominating” trine to Jupiter in the Tenth, Mars can pre-empt Jupiter’s nobility through personal pique.  This continues to be the case with his revised natal chart.  Because Jupiter is so much stronger here, Mars’s influence upon Jupiter can be even stronger.

          What is the meaning of Marsnow in the sixth house?  Mars is in its house joy in the sixth, and so Mars does enjoy a good fight.  However, the sixth is also the ancient house of enemies – McCain can prevail over enemies, but this placement can also indicate that his enemies are strong.

          Looking at the span of McCain’s life, one could say that he has not given as good as he got but has gotten back more than he has given.  We can begin with the North Vietnamese.  Indeed, as he himself has said, he never got an award for “Mr. Congeniality”, yet he was also famous for taking on the leadership of his party in critical issues who have taken umbrage at this.  We can look at McCain’s campaign against George W Bush in 2000, in which a strong victory in New Hampshire was followed by defeat through a smear campaign in South Carolina.  And, in the process, McCain alienated the religious conservative wing of his party.  Now, eight years later and many fences attempted to mend, McCain is not trusted or liked by significant portions of the Republican base.  We can add to this that McCain has not had an easy opponent in Barack Obama.  It is clear that McCain’s Mars in the sixth gives us good additional information about him.

          The effects of Mars in McCain’s chart is magnified because with Mars is with his Lot of Fortune.  He has had many triumphs and defeats in his military and public life, and all of them relate to McCain the fighter.

          As said above, McCain’s Moon is no longer in Capricorn in the fourth but now in Aquarius in the twelfth.  Although Saturn governs Moon in both cases, in Aquarius Moon is not in detriment but is more neutral.  Saturn also becomes Moon’s triplicity lord, because Saturn governs the air signs by day by triplicity.  Such a saturnine Moon is not greatly inclined to sentiment or emotional goo. As Moon is in the twelfth, however, the vulnerability and insecurity of Moon lies hidden from direct view. Since Saturn is in the first, it is his stoic qualities that are on display.  Moon is in an exact applying trine to Mercury, and to Mercury we need to turn our attention.

          In McCain’s 9 AM chart, Mercury is in the first: this links well this McCain’s nature as a very talkative politician.  At first its placement in the eighth house makes no sense, since the eighth house does not relate to the house of the Ascendant.  However, as Mars becomes more important because it’s in the same sign of his Lot of Fortune, Mercury is in the same sign as his Lot of Spirit.  This lot is less about what comes to you from life circumstances and what qualities you bring to your world.  This gives McCain a great trust in his own mind and mental resources.  I hasten to add, however, that Mars will have an influence on Mercury and disposing him to the resentment and aggression that Mars is known for. 

          This brings us back to Saturn: both Moon and Mercury have Saturn as dispositor – overwhelmingly so.  Ptolemy would consider Saturn the planet of McCain’s “soul” or mind or personality).  I discussed McCain’s saturnine personality in my recent book; he may range from the noble and steadfast to petty and narrow-minded.  Because Saturn has testimony from such a strong Jupiter in Sagittarius at the Midheaven, one would be inclined toward the more positive qualities.

          Importantly, McCain’s Saturn is also configured with the fixed star Bellatrix, one of the shoulders of the hunter Orion and a very visible star in the night sky.  The fixed star program Starlight defines the Saturn/Bellatrix combination as “a battler, a person who struggles against the tide.”  Because of Saturn’s new prominence as a first house planet, this only increases the influence of the fixed star Bellatrix and McCain’s rather engaging but competitive nature.

          Looking at his predictive indicators, particularly his secondary progressions, I have expected McCain’s campaign to go more positively and nobly that it has thus far been the case.  (In a 9 AM birth chart, his progressed Moon was conjunct progressed Midheaven and progressed Jupiter was conjunct progressed Ascendant.)  A new birth time invalidates these factors.

          In my previous newsletter, I remarked that McCain’s decennials featured Mars-Saturn at this time and I could make no sense of them.  In this revised birth chart he has the same planetary lords and they make perfect sense. 

          The combination of the two malefics Mars-Saturn is made more difficult because Mars in Leo and Saturn in Pisces are in unrelated signs.  Although Saturn is in sect, it is fully on display in McCain’s first house and not to his credit.  As one who is seventy-two years old and running against a young candidate of a different political party than the current unpopular inhabitant of the White House, the last thing McCain has needed is to run a campaign managed by Saturn. 

Additionally, at this time transiting Saturn has been in conjunction to natal Neptune, squaring natal Jupiter, and is about to oppose his natal Saturn in the first house. Ordinarily, transiting Uranus conjunct his natal Saturn would be an opportunity to enact Saturn in a different way.  In fact one can see how often Saturn has transited important planets in McCain’s chart since the middle of 2008.  Below is his graphic ephemeris for the second half of 2008.  Note the yellow line toward the bottom of the page, indicating transiting Saturn in the mutable sign Virgo, and note how often this planet makes contact with natal positions that are depicted by the horizontal lines.

 This much Saturn does not bode well for John McCain and helps explain that the campaign, win or lose, has not allowed him the nobility of character that he is noted for.

I see no interesting transits to his chart on Election Day.  For the 2009 Inauguration it is noteworthy that McCain’s new Moon position in early Aquarius does connect with the Sun-Mercury-Jupiter combination of that day.  The astrology does favor Obama, however: the combination in Aquarius relates very particularly to his Aquarius/Leo axis and his natal positions of Mercury, Sun, and Jupiter.

Well, so far in this election I have had to revise charts for both Barack Obama and now John McCain.  The latter was particularly frustrated, since the previous chart had an “A” Rodden rating.  I am also painfully aware that Sarah Palin’s birth time of 4:20 PM is not officially verified.  I do hope I do not have to come out with a new newsletter supplement.