NewsScope for February 10, 2009

Obama and the Juno-Jupiter Alliance
 
From the feedback department, a reader ponders President Obama's recent missteps in his cabinet appointments and his inability to put together a congressional stimulus package that both Republicans and Democrats can rally around. Obama is caught between recalcitrant Republicans and free-spending Democrats. "Are there any transiting or progressed planets in his chart that would indicate a more stabilizing effect coming soon?"
 
First, I would remind readers that transiting Mars and Mercury are currently passing through Obama's Twelfth House (as described in NewsScope January 20, 2009), making long-term constructive changes unlikely now. "These conditions are better suited for political wrangling and backroom deals," I wrote. And so over this past weekend a small group of Republican and Democratic senators met in private to try and find some middle ground.
 
We can see the Twelfth House influence in Obama's oft-repeated confession last week, "I screwed up," which was in reference to his missing Tom Daschle's tax problem. But this week, the transiting Sun has emerged from Obama's Twelfth House, as he uses the bully pulpit to sell the economic stimulus plan. Still, Mars and Mercury remain in the hidden sector of his chart, indicating that there's plenty of backroom deal making to come.
 
On Wednesday (February 11) transiting Juno and Jupiter are conjunct at 8º Aquarius. This combination favors success through partnerships and alliances, and happens to be exactly square the U.S. Scorpio Ascendant. It's also square Obama's Neptune, bringing fruition to his vision for the nation. Then, a compromise bill could reach his desk as early as February 19 when Juno opposes his Sun, or no later than February 27 when Jupiter opposes his Sun.
 
Nadya Suleman's Unconventional Fertility
 
In her exclusive interview with MSNBC reporter Ann Curry, octuplets mom Nadya Suleman said she meant to have seven children, not 14. When asked if she's not being completely irresponsible and selfish to have all these children, Nadya said, "For me, I feel I've been under the microscope because I've chosen this unconventional life... All I wanted was children. That's all I've ever wanted in my life."
 
Astrologer and data sleuth Shelley Ackerman reports that Nadya Suleman was born on July 11, 1975 in Fullerton, California, which places her Sun in Cancer and conjunct Saturn, the taskmaster. Many Cancer women have a similar dream of fulfillment through family and children, but in Nadya's case, with her Sun tensely square Uranus, her simultaneous need for independence, to be a single mother, has raised a ruckus. 
 
Angela Suleman (Nadya's mother) said that her daughter was obsessed with having children. Nadya's chart reveals the truth of this appraisal in the placement of her Ceres, the parenting asteroid. Ceres is placed in fertile Taurus and conjunct the South Node, indicating that her intense maternal instincts are a pre-existing karmic condition. Ceres forms a close trioctile (135º aspect) to Pluto, the planet associated with obsessions.
 
By secondary progression, Ceres is now trine to natal Pluto, which reflects the phenomenal success of her six embryo implants—two of which were twins. Nadya's story is unfolding now as transiting Saturn and Uranus oppose each other. Since she was born with a Saturn-Uranus signature, she is the sudden celebrity who mirrors back to us our expectations (Saturn) and our shock (Uranus). With transiting Uranus trine her Sun-Saturn, she should do quite well.
 
Christian Bale's Meltdown
 
A NewsScope reader asks about Christian Bale's verbal assault that made the news last week. The famed actor blasted a lighting technician for walking onto the set while he was deep in character and the film was rolling. "I can see how he found the dark energy to play American Psycho," she writes. "Is he just having a mid-life crisis?"
 
Christian Bale was born with his Sun in the cool, cerebral sign of Aquarius (January 30, 1974; Haverfordwest, UK; time unknown), a placement that often finds emotions and feelings uncomfortable business. His Sun squares Mars, which is the key celestial dynamic that fuels such outbursts and allows him to convincingly portray violent super-heroes and super-villains. His Moon is in either Aries or Taurus depending on his actual birth time.
 
I'm betting his Moon is in headstrong Aries*, which means it's also opposed to erratic, explosive Uranus. A speculative birth time of 11 am puts Mars on the Ascendant, and his Aries Moon in the Twelfth House of Secret Behavior. Such a placement would explain how he can play the serial killer in American Psycho and the darkest version of Batman in The Dark Knight.
 
The embarrassing incident (for which he has apologized) actually took place on July 16, 2008 while he was filming Terminator Salvation. At the time, transiting Pluto was exactly trine his Twelfth House Moon, releasing a flood of pent up emotions. Also, his progressed Sun was sextile Mars, giving him an extra dose of egotism. However, the underlying cause may have been a shaky marriage: the progressed Moon opposed his natal Sun, which was conjunct progressed Juno.
 

*On the day he was born, the Moon entered Taurus at 11:42 am. Any time before that, the Aries Moon is closely opposite Uranus.

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