STARFIRE

June 2008

July 2008 -Americans: Our National Character Chart
Click on the image for a larger view.
NOTE: Image will come up in a new browser window.

Americans: Our National Character

On July 4, 1776, the founders of our country finished drafting the Declaration of Independence. Although we know from historical accounts and personal journals that some signatures were added later, the soul-searching was done by the 4th.

The Declaration put the lives all the Founding Fathers at risk. The July 4th chart represents a point from which those men could not turn back and go home to quiet lives—in other words, a valid chart for the birth of our national spirit. But it was still a secret, a commitment by leaders not yet revealed to the ordinary citizen until it was printed and published in the colonies on July 8th.

The form of our government is shown by the chart for the signing of the United States Constitution on September 17, 1787. The July 8th chart speaks to what we stand up for as a nation, to the values and principles we stand for publicly.

The Declaration and the Proclamation are as similar and different as conception and delivery of a child or the commitment to write a book and publication day. Either conception has consequences, risks of time and energy and values. The July 8th chart represents the principles for which we as a people are responsible and accountable—and it shows our character and behavior as a people.

Politics and Business Are Personal Here

Cancer is the most nurturing and the most security-conscious of all the astrological signs. Our Proclamation chart has four planets—Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter—in Cancer. Since the chart is set for noon (a traditional timing convention for business and public charts when the precise time can’t be obtained), the chart’s Midheaven and Part of Fortune also fall in Cancer. In other words, we talk, live, and believe in our land and our families and our national and personal security—and we’re constantly trying to expand that base. The Cancer Midheaven suggests that our passion for home, family, freedom and land is the primary mission of the United States, and the Part of Fortune suggests we do best as a nation when we do stay focused on our mission.

In America, we thrive on business and treat business success as a personal accomplishment. The American “aristocracy” is a financial and business aristocracy, and inherited wealth (wealth preserved for the family) is especially favored. We like our aristocracy to be currently solvent—although there’s still a respectable allowance for those who are merely land poor.

Saturn rising in Libra gives our national personality a businesslike demeanor. Saturn is well-placed in Libra, giving us the ability to create structures that support our national values. It also, of course, gives us a reputation for getting down to business and ignoring some of the protocol that eases cultural differences.

The rest of the world seems to be more conscious than we are of our tendency to, uh, duplicity is the kindest word. And to enter into conspiracies. Neptune’s not well placed in Virgo; our spies make mistakes. And our hidden agendas worry other nations. With Neptune in the 12th house, spiritual institutions are vital to our national character—and because Neptune makes mistakes in Virgo, religious contention is also part of our character.

The Moon in Aries makes us passionate, but selfish, in international negotiations. Moon in Aries is always aware of its own emotional needs, and Americans need to feel strong and independent. We nurture independence in ourselves and in others, and we offend cultures that place a higher value on community than on individual rights. We want to help the world—but we want to help them the way we think they should be helped and we want to help them be more like us. Uh, oh.

Neptune and the Moon would occasionally make us seem rude or greedy—but it’s really Mars in Gemini in the 9th house that gets us in trouble. Mars is action, and Gemini can be impulsive. Since the Monroe Doctrine, we’ve insisted on our right to go to war based on our own nation’s principles. Sometimes we get into impulsive fights—and sometimes other nations believe we’re fighting for personal gain even when we’re fighting for principle.

Sometimes what “they” say about us is true. Often it’s not. When our intentions are honorable, we assume everyone knows they are.

As a people, we are less selfish than we appear. On the whole, we want the rest of the world to enjoy all the privileges we do—and we’re willing to fight on their behalf. We get in trouble when we forget to ask if they want what we’re offering. There are worse failings. And every nation has its flaws.

With eight of our ten planets above the horizon, we’re ordinarily an open nation with many fewer secrets than most nations keep. Our open borders lull other countries into thinking we’re weak. Nothing illustrates our national character better than World War II. There we were, isolated and minding our national business and national interests (exclusively) for a change. But we do have Pluto (massive and irreversible changes as well as nuclear power) in the fourth house (home, family, property, and the end of any matter). Once mobilized and focused, we would fight without limits.

Our National Boundary Problem

I’m not talking about our national borders, but our national tendency to exuberance and sticking our noses in places where they’re not wanted. On a personal level, we understand that a neighbor we turn in for child abuse won’t like us. As a nation, we forget. Even when we’re doing the right thing internationally, some people will distrust us and some people will dislike us. (During our isolationist years, the international community complained that we weren’t doing our share. It’s not a simple issue.)

We wrangle bitterly over our elections and complain about our elected officials as if they were family members betraying our interests. But in the overall scheme of governments, we shift parties and directions every few years without bloodshed. At worst, it’s a family quarrel. We’ve been shocked by assassinations, but none that rose to the level of a military coup such as other nations have endured.

So it’s more often our manner and style that get us in trouble than our hearts and principles. (Well, there is the question of oil. And there is pollution. Sometimes it’s hard to get our national attention. Pluto, representing trash and garbage, is in our fourth house, and there’s never a big enough landfill.) Uranus in the eighth house makes us wealthy, but the money does come and go cyclically. We’re brash and expansive and rowdy and, at core, spiritual and ethical and humane. We just don’t know what to do with ourselves without a frontier.

And the Elections are Looming

From time to time, we do curb our excesses, usually by changing the political party in power.
 
One approach to the 2008 elections is to look at our national character, as it’s revealed by this chart and see what balances are needed. Another would be to study the constitutional chart. Predicting an election is safer with accurate charts for both candidates, easier still if you have charts for the times they were actually chosen during their respective party conventions.

On Election Day 2008, nine of the ten planets will be transiting below the horizon of the Proclamation chart. Expect emotions to determine this election. Expect us to be ready to retrench. About a third of the voters can be expected to vote from their pocketbooks this year (Sun, Mercury and Mars all in Scorpio, a money sign itself and the sign on the cusp of our national second house of money and banking). There will be lots and lots of talk about the war—but national security and national boundaries may be more important in the actual election.

Some elections are about one issue. This one is not.

Both parties know what has to be done. Everyone has plans. And strategies. And rhetoric. And bells and whistles. Yawn.

In the long run, it may just be about letting the national character rise and shine again. It may all be about the original freedoms and what we as a people expect from our leaders and ourselves.

Mary O’Gara, Ph.D.