Starcatsastrology’s Blog

“The deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff hasn’t even been signed by President Barack Obama yet, but Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) has already moved on to the next fight by suggesting that Republicans should shut down the government if they don’t get drastic spending cuts before agreeing to raise the nation’s debt limit.”  (Rawstory.com).

Pat Toomey (R-PA) appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” this morning sporting his natal Sun conjunct warring Mars (out of sign) in square to radical Uranus (a short fuse aspect. John McCain has a Mars-Uranus opposition) by shouting his Thelma and Louise hopes for shutting down the government over the debt ceiling. The appropriations bill allowing the U.S. government to pay bills its already racked up has to be passed by the drop dead date of March 27, 2013. (See Toomey’s horoscope below. He was born on November 17, 1961 in Providence, RI. No time known).

Toomey’s stellium in fixed Scorpio with Saturn in it’s own sign of rulership (Capricorn) is always dug in. Always prepared for battle. His Mercury is conjunct Venus and Neptune, so his words are music to the right wing’s ears and the alignment of both with Neptune makes him a true believer who draws upon “fuzzy math” to create blurred edges around truth should it suit his purposes. His Saturn, so close to the USA’s natal second house Pluto (27 Capricorn) aligns him with America’s plutocracy. [I use the Sibley chart with 12 Sagittarius rising).

The fiscal deal vote of January 1, 2013 (see biwheel with Declaration of Independence chart below) is a perfect set up for a planetary promise of many dreadful money hassles to come. First, the transiting Sun is very close to a t-square to the USA’s natal Sun (13 Cancer) and Saturn (14 Libra). Pluto is about 4 degrees away and will make the long term t-square by February 26, 2014. Power hungery Pluto will then be opposite the USA’s Sun — still in square to rebellious Uranus —  and close enough in orb to square the USA’s administrative master Saturn. This is a cardinal grand square configuration when including the USA’s natal Sun in security oriented Cancer.

Cardinal planet configurations are rapid-fire energy systems that initiate change at a breathtaking pace. A noon chart set for March 27, 2013, the deadline for the USA’s debt ceiling, finds transiting Saturn  in Pluto ruled, power-control Scorpio — conjunct Toomey’s Mercury, Venus and Neptune. Saturn, in mutual reception with transiting Pluto, fortifies Toomey and gives him the relentless energy and drive to drum up the support he needs to be one of the key actors who advocate a government shutdown. The consequences of this insane act of national self-destruction would lead to another major credit downgrade driving up the cost for America’s borrowing; pitch the markets into free fall; impact economies worldwide; and deflate the U.S. economy so rapidly that a national and international depression becomes a reality.

I mention Toomey in today’s blog not because I find him important or unique in the long term. I find him interesting in that his remarks on morning Joe set against the backdrop of his horoscope are a useful lens in which to view our planet actors so we can get a glimpse into who the harshest ones (Saturn, Uranus, Pluto) are going to come through. Toomey just happens to be one great example of far right extreme politics at work.

March 27, 2013’s Noon chart shows 5 planetary bodies in close alignment in the sign Aries: Venus, Sun, Uranus, Mars, Eris and Pallas.

The Mix:

1. Deal making Venus;

2. Organizing/overseeing Sun;

3. Rebellious, uncooperative Uranus;

4. Angry Mars;

5. Discordant Eris; and

6. Rational, strategy-savvy Pallas, who seeks to weave all these forces into a cohesive whole.

Moon in diplomatic Libra at 10 degrees of the sign opposes all but Eris and Pallas at the lunchtime hour. She is in square to Pluto, and her Venus ruler is “uncomfortable” in combative Aries. However, she’s Ruler/Terms (essential dignities) with Mars which helps the two at least “talk” to one another. Moon is trine Expansive, law-making Jupiter but he’s in quincunx (out of step) with Saturn-ruled Pluto. We could continue to unpack this box of hot planetary mess for several more paragraphs but suffice it to say that we have enough of a cosmic picture to correctly judge that Congress remains dysfunctional and the dialogue corrosive.

Immediately before and just after the Fiscal Vote passed the House of Representatives, MSNBC commentator Luke Russert, among others who also reported, immediately ginned up angst about the Appropriations battle set for March. Phrases like, “If you think this was bad. . .” and “This was nothing in comparison to what lies ahead” became the next talking points.

This, along with the pandering for network ratings rhetoric, is what Naomi Klein clearly defines as the shock doctrine of economics. In her book by the same title (SHOCK DOCTRINE), she lays out how governments, notably the United States via the right wing and the Chicago School of Economics (Milton Friedman) succeeded in destroying the economies of South America and now the United States by fomenting crises that keep the citizenry fearful, insecure, and in economic distress. Meanwhile, those at the top — the 1% — are continually engorged on ill gotten gains via destructive tax breaks that tear a nation down.

Pinochet in Chile, a friend of the Chicago School and Milton Friedman (read Ms. Klein’s book) was a past master at Shock Doctrine economics, including the “disappearing” and execution of thousands of citizens who didn’t go along with the plan. While the USA, to the best of my knowledge isn’t “disappearing” members of the middle or lower economic classes here, the impoverishment, draconian sentences given to people of color for holding miniscule amounts of pot or other drugs, the ghettoizing of populations, black prison sites, GITMO Bay, et al., serve enough of a destablizing function to keep most Americans “in line.”

Claudia D. Dikinis/Starcats, Jan 2, 2013

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA)

March 2013 Appropriations