I was mistaken about the result of the 2008 presidential election, when I first examined Obama's horoscope chart earlier that year. So, maybe I should refrain from speculating about the 2012 election? Naah.

     I later realized that already when Barack Obama's political career commenced, by winning a seat in the Illinois State Senate in 1996, this was marked by astrological events in his 12th House. That's the House of sacrifice and hardship. Normally, this House indicates failure instead of success, which is what fooled me at first.

Well, indeed Barack Obama's presidency has so far been one of hardship and sacrifice. Even before his inauguration, the USA was heading for what could very well be depression, and the financial crisis isn't over yet. Obama had to start his presidency with the nation having a record depth and every economic prognosis pointing towards the basement.

     Other presidential candidates can't have envied him much. He had a Pyrrhic victory, risking to cost him more than he won.

     At first, people were aware that the financial situation was not his fault, but memories fade quickly. When the crisis was not over in a heartbeat, people started blaming Obama for it. That's still a heavy weight on his shoulders, which will increase as long as USA:s wealth doesn't.

     There are other problems Obama struggles with as President, but the economy is the major one. Also, it leads to several of the other problems. His presidency is not a bed of roses. That's the 12th House thing.

In 2008, it was difficult to see any clear signs of the Barack Obama victory in his horoscope chart. Unfortunately, his chart for the 2012 election is just as unclear – even more so. There's not even any transit event with the planets in his 12th House, by which he won previous elections to political offices.

     His transit horoscope for the election day, November 6th, 2012, lacks any astrological ingredients that indicate if he will lose or win. As if the election doesn't matter to him at all.

Barck Obama election 2012 horoscope, with the transit planets outside the circle.

Well, the transit horoscope has one event of astrological significance: a trine aspect (120°) between native and transit Pluto. That's a once in a lifetime thing, which signals a great, drastic, and vastly important change in his life. A change that will have a life-long effect on him and his situation.

     Obama's native Pluto is in the Zodiac sign Virgo, at 7°, in the 7th House. That stands for drastic changes in his relations – both those of love and those of other kinds of partnerships. Virgo reveals that those changes are the results of struggle and meticulous scrutiny, but when they come they are still surprising, even shocking at times.

     We haven't seen much of this, so far, which is partly because of the Virgo tendency towards the discreet and seemingly minute. Also, partnership things tend to stay private, especially in this Zodiac sign. His partners would know more about it.

     Transit Pluto is in Capricorn, the sign of ambition and constructive capacity, which is in the 11th House of Barack Obama's horoscope. This House rules a person's role in society as a whole, his ideals and how he contributes to the world around him. The 11th House is often significant and active in the horoscopes of politicians and all kinds of celebrities.

     Capricorn in this House indicates that Obama has always had the ambition of making a mark in society, but he lacks planets there in his native chart. That means he lacks the means of accomplishing fame and significance by himself. Instead, he is very much helped by all kinds of partnership. The House of partnership, the 7th, contains his native Pluto as well as Uranus in conjunction with the ascending lunar node (also called Dragon's Head). That's both significance and power.

     So, a transit aspect between the 11th and the 7th House is very likely to deal with his political career. In this case, a drastic change in his position in society also causes an equally drastic change in a partnership of his – not necessarily that with his wife, but one of comparable importance in his life.

     The reverse is also possible: a change in his partnership causes a change in his political life. In astrology, it's not always easy to pinpoint what is the cause and what is the effect. Well, that's true for life as well.

The exact nature of this double-sided change is much more difficult to extract from the horoscope. Several scenarios would fit well to what the transit aspect symbolizes.

     Astrology and the horoscope are systems of symbols for forces at play in one's life. Maybe dynamics is a better word for it – the different drives by which a human being is composed and through which he acts or is acted upon. Translating these dynamics into concrete and precise events is really just guesswork, sometimes obvious and sometimes not at all.

     Barack Obama's Pluto to Pluto transit could be explained by Michelle having enough of sharing her husband with the whole nation and divorcing him. A divorced president is not that likely to be reelected. Or it could result in Obama retiring from the office to save his marriage. Or he could find a new vice president to replace Joe Biden, guaranteeing him a landslide victory – or an embarrassing defeat. And so on.

But the trine is a benevolent and pleasant aspect. Positive effects are more likely than the opposite. On the other hand, that means positive for Barack Obama and his life. As we have seen from his first term in office, that's not necessarily keeping it.

     Still, it would be a weird trine in his 11th House to kick him out of one of the most elevated positions in society a person can have. Either it implies that Obama will win in 2012 – with a landslide or some other kind of obvious success – or he gets an even more elevated position, whatever that can be.

     What's certain, astrologically, is that he has this success due to a partnership – an old or a new one. Because native Pluto is involved, I would say it's a new partnership, or at the very least a drastically renewed form of an old partnership.

     The most likely explanation is a new vice president, someone coming as a surprise to all.

     Well, changing vice president between terms is a rarity in itself. The only case that comes to my mind is that of Spiro Agnew's resignation in 1973, shortly before Richard Nixon did the same. But here it also means finding a partner that really makes a difference.

     It also means that if he gets reelected, he moves his political career from the 12th to the 11th House, making it less of a burden and more of a success story.

     Since his major problem so far is the bad economy of the USA, it's likely that a new vice president will be extremely helpful in solving the economical problems – already by being a person people trust tremendously in financial affairs.

     I'm far from certain about all the above, but that's where I would place my bet (though not spending that much money on it).

Pluto moves very slowly along the Zodiac, so this trine aspect with native Pluto appeared already in the beginning of this year (2011). It was exact the first time on February 22, but its influence may well have started in January. That influence will remain until mid-November 2012, the month of the presidential election.

     That means the big change the transit indicates will take almost two years to be completed. Either it's the time it takes to make the change, or there are hesitations and reassessments before the final decision is made and turned into action.

     Because of Pluto's retrograde movements (seemingly going backwards in the sky, as seen from Earth) twice during these two years, there's a rhythm to how this change will happen:

     In February 2011 the transit aspect appeared for the first time, as Pluto progressed through the Zodiac (the trine was exact on February 22, 2011). That would be when the idea or possibility of the change emerged.

     In May 2011 transit Pluto formed the trine again, through a retrograde movement (exact on May 26). At this time – not necessarily on the day, since Pluto is slow and its influence is a lasting one – the planned or approaching change seemed to be canceled, or met obstructions that postponed it. It may almost have been deserted or regarded as obsolete.

     In December 2011 transit Pluto makes a third trine with native Pluto (exact on December 22), this time moving forward through the Zodiac. Here, the change is again on the table, seriously considered or even expected.

     Usually this third encounter is the decisive event for transit aspects. It means that the change happens at about this time, and with Pluto the change is both drastic and lasting.

     But in this case, the transit aspect occurs two more times. This is very rare. It's because native Pluto happens to be very near the Zodiac position around which transit Pluto makes its retrograde movements. Of course, this enhances the complexity of the change in question, and the many considerations involved. Not to mention a lot of hesitation. Probably there are also several difficult obstacles.

     In September 2012 transit Pluto makes a second retrograde movement into the trine with native Pluto (exact on September 8). This indicates that the change seems to be canceled or interrupted at the very last minute. Something happens that threatens to make it all undone, as if there will be no change at all to the previous situation.

     But that's not for long.

     Already a couple of weeks later transit Pluto makes its final trine with Obama's native Pluto (exact on September 27) in an accelerating movement soon taking Pluto far away from the aspect. In this phase the change takes place, irrevocably, and its effect will remain.

Joe Biden, the present vice president. His horoscope from 2008 is here.

If the five phases of the Pluto transit trine is to be understood as a change of vice president, the opportunity first appeared in the beginning of 2011. Either Joe Biden suggested that he would not want to remain on a second term of office, or Obama implied that it was not the preferred solution. It may also have happened by a very appealing alternate candidate popping up.

     During the spring, the possibility and its plausible consequences must have been discussed just as intensely as secretly among those involved. The fear of backfiring by the change getting the reception of a scandal instead of a sensation, may have made the ones involved want to abandon the idea. The following summer it was all but dead.

     But during the fall, especially towards the end of the year, the idea is again getting strong support. Something happens, probably in December, making the change much more doable and likely. Maybe Joe Biden gets discredited, or wants off for some other reason. Or an alternative candidate for some reason appears so much more attractive.

     The following months, the change of vice president seems more and more trustworthy, maybe even unavoidable. But already by April 2012 there is again some hesitation. Vague at first, but growing stronger in the fall. Joe Biden might decide to oppose the change and threaten to fight about it, or the alternative candidate gets cold feet. Barack Obama may also wonder if he's really doing the right thing.

     September 2012 this problem leads to a crisis, which can hardly be kept a secret within the White House. It must be very intense and scary to everyone involved – probably also to the public – since the retrograde movement of Pluto ends at almost the exact spot of the trine to Obama's native Pluto (at 6°57'15” in Capricorn, whereas the trine is exact at 6°58'40”). It's as if the heavenly body itself focuses on this very problem and shows uncertainty about where to go from there.

     The calamity in these few weeks gives the impression of the future being completely uncertain, but the change is really inevitable and those understanding the situation will see it. There's just a lot of noise before it's a fact. By the end of September the change comes and nobody thinks it can be revoked.

     Then things rush on towards the election. If my theory about the drastic change being one of vice president is correct, the horoscope says rather clearly that Obama will win the election. If the change is of another nature, it's still likely he will win – provide he wants to.

The transit aspects with Pluto are of tremendous astrological significance, since they appear so rarely. Pluto takes almost a quarter of a millennium to go through the whole Zodiac, so none of us experiences all the transit aspects with that planet. Usually just a few aspects and only once with each.

     For example, Barack Obama will not have another transit Pluto aspect with his native Pluto until the year 2049, when they form an opposition (180°). That's when he's in his late 80's, so he might not even live to experience it.

     But that's far away. Of course he has aspects coming with transit Pluto and other native planets in his horoscope, especially the conjunctions with his Saturn and Jupiter in the 12th House taking place between 2021 and 2024. Astrologically speaking, they are so important in his horoscope that not even his presidency compares. But that's another story.

Barack Obama's horoscope, the nativity chart. My 2008 reading of it is here.

While writing this text, I spot on the news that Barack Obama's longtime companion in the White House, his special assistant Reggie Love, is leaving him. That's an indication of the change the Pluto to Pluto transit aspect creates, albeit a minor one.

     The influence of this transit aspect will create more events of that nature – changes in partnership, especially those related to Obama's public role.

© Stefan Stenudd, November 10, 2011.


If you want to comment the text,
please go here (my astrology blog).