The Barack enigma. Beneath the distance and detachment.
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uranian system of astrology
The reason I love working with the Uranian system of astrology is because the Uranian system goes right to the heart of one’s personal story with amazing subtlety. With the dial, a patterning emerges and we get an intimate look at the “path and purpose” as well as our dilemmas along the way.
I decided on Barack Obama because after six years in office he’s more of a mystery than ever and I wanted to get some insight into what started off as this romance with this romance with the country and quickly cascaded into the country’s ambivalent relationship with him and him with the country. I know there are some pretty strong opinions out there about Obama so try to reserve some judgement because the point here with astrology is understanding and respect for the path each and every one of us is on. So let’s get started.
Neptune transit to obama's ascendant, Meridian and moon
Before we dive into his natal chart I wanted to take a moment to point out a rather major side note. For the past ten years Barack Obama has been under quite a heavy Neptunian transit to some very personal points in his chart, beginning with the Ascendant in 2004 and moving to his Meridian and then his Moon. I would think that this period has been the most difficult of his life. Neptune transits dissolve structures that straightjacket the soul, creating a tremendous amount of a sort of “divine discontent” in one’s life. Neptune forces us to go within and develop identity from a place of soul and inner whisper instead of from a place of heavy earthly ambition. Let’s move on to his natal birth chart.
Strong poseidon energy right on obama's meridian axis
First and foremost this is the chart of an artist. The Poseidon here strongly aligned with his Meridian axis tells us of someone who has a profound inner world that is very receptive spiritually and intellectually and needs to reflect out illuminating ideals that inspire. He needs to express from this subjective place and give it form, and being on the Meridian axis means it inhabits every corner of his being.
hades is the three point picture with his mercury/apollon midpoint structure.
The platform for his artistry is Mercury/Apollon which is someone who is free and open minded, who wants to expand and do so through their communication skills, and with the Poseidon it becomes oratory. But the Hades here in this three point picture drags that Mercury/ Apollon into the underworld indicating a real lack of mobility and freedom in this area. So basically we’re dealing with someone who has deep emotional yearnings with extraordinary skills, a man who is a seeker on a path and he’s looking for a place of shelter for his feelings and ideas. But there’s exists this huge dilemma in his chart that revolves around identity and issues of self-acceptance.
The moon and barack obama
The Moon structure here is incredibly revealing. The moon is the emotional nature, the emotional unconscious, what we need for our peace and wellbeing. The Saturn Uranus predicament here is in full stretch and there’s a conflict between his needs for security and his needs for his self-expression and the Hades/Apollon is alerting us to the fact there is trouble with this expansion and usually Hades has primal roots, that is situations that have originated early, and you can see they originated in his early environment. Back to the Saturn Uranus, the Uranus is alerting us to a situation of “too early emotional independence,” where he might have needed comforting and support it’s inconsistent. And indeed when we go to the Moon/Ascendant midpoint which tells us about the actual mother, you can immediately see the Neptune/Admetos, which means she was very back and forth with Barack, strong closeness and strong separateness, and with that Uranus right on the Moon/Ascendant midpoint she was restless and perhaps had her own ambivalent feelings around motherhood.
Back to the Saturn/Uranus. So with the Uranus here he carries this inner restlessness but it doesn’t go anywhere because it would threaten his emotional security. So he goes for the security of Saturn, and negates the expressiveness of the Uranus and sells himself short, where he just functions and adapts. And the Sun/Neptune with the Hades here is indicating he readily accepts situations and is just too passive to do anything about it. Since there’s a real sense of lack of effectiveness he avoids conflict and moves himself into a second rate positions because he’s shy about competing.
So there’s this outer acceptance….as a way of sort of convincing himself that he’s in control of his life, but a total inner unacceptance. So he lives with this tremendous feeling of unrest and he really never really knows the source, all he knows is that he never feels content with his lot.
barack obama - 2004 DNC keynote address
I think the clearest example of the Saturn/Uranus dilemma in his chart this was the trajectory of Obama after the 2004 DNC speech that mystically captivated a nation and propelled him into a run for President. But due to that lack of clarity around his identity, he didn’t see the situation realistically.
So he wins the Presidency, and it’s no longer this romantic oratory orgy and now he’s got to deal with a very hefty everyday mundane reality that is the Presidency. And remember Obama lives mostly in his imagination and those Poseidian waters; he’s not too much into mundaneness which turns this into an incredibly tenuous situation for him.
His lack of “clarity of self” causes him to make unrealistic choices and also the lack of mobility and freedom to communicate only increase the isolation he feels. But it’s the complex emotional setup and the separation he constantly feels with others and all of humanity that will be the final straw for Obama.
The Venus/Saturn with the Ascendant in this three point picture around the Meridian is telling us that he is desires close relationships, solid relationships but that he tends to feel lonely and disconnected.
His Gemini Moon, that rational, sociable yet neutral persona he carries conceals an intense and very raw feeling nature below.
intense emotional nature with moon/pluto around the sun.
The Moon/Pluto on the Sun and Chiron reveals this emotional depth and intensity but he’s got tremendous fears around them being invaded and intruded upon. The Moon Uranus around the Meridian tells us of a person who harbors a lot of nervousness and anxiety, who distances because they are vulnerable. So this is someone who builds a world where they can be themselves but where others can’t gain entrance. He can only maintain his autonomy by detaching and distancing himself and the highly fixed quality of his chart means that he’s resistant to most outside influences and this is what gets him disliked. This is also what completely blocks the career area. But ultimately I do think that the profound loneliness and the lack of emotional connection he experiences will force him to dissolve that inflexible will and really reconnect with those parts of himself he has cut off. Not only will this help him to see things more realistically and build the correct external structures which for him would be using his emotional depth and leading through inspiration but he’ll also regain that lost sense of relatedness and unity with the rest of life.
