So I have my own strange tale from the polling place to tell. I live in France, so the Obama campaign had this offer where you could Fedex your vote for just 20$. When I went to drop off my ballot, the woman in front of me was sending 48,000 Euro in cash in a small box. That’s about 70,000$ US. Fedex took it! She was a totally normal looking woman, like one of those old ladies you see at the vegetable market. Wild…

There are three factors in John McCain’s chart that make me predict he will lose today: Jupiter is in close opposition to his mid-heaven, the Sun is squaring his Mars in his house of career success (and emphasizing his angry gnome qualities) and a major life transit: the Saturn Opposition to Natal Saturn.

Barack Obama’s chart is, while not favourable, not as negative as McCain’s, more neutral. The death of his Grandmother can be seen by his upcoming Pluto opposition of Venus, which goes into affect in December, and this will probably be when he truly realises his loss and enters the grieving period. In regards to the election, there is not much going on. He has many planets in his 9th house approaching his mid-heaven, and his Mars is within orb of a conjunction to that point, the culmination of career success. Obama has a great chart on inauguration day, when his yod, a point of destiny, is triggered. The only catch is Obama has a lot of stuff in his 9th house, so there may be some legal issues to deal with.

Joe Biden has his Saturn conjunct his mid-heaven, which really represents the pinnacle of career achievement.

Now back to John McCain. The Sun’s square of Mars in his house of career success today does not bode well, and the same can be said of the Moon’s opposition to Pluto in the same sector. There may be a loss of personal power due to work circumstances.

He is also undergoing a Jupiter opposition to his mid-heaven. This can be a time when career losses spiral out of control, and one feels they have no ability to make things better.

Finally he is undergoing his Saturn opposition, affecting his houses of dreams and public service. This is a major life transit and normally signifies some kind of major loss. This transit occurs only once every 29 years or so and is quite powerful. At the time of his last Saturn opposition, he divorced his first wife.

McCain’s Saturn Cycles are quite important and influential, here they are in sequence. There are about 7 years that separate each point of the cycle.

First Saturn Return: Assigned to Combat
Saturn Square: Freed from capitivity. Enters physical therapy.
Saturn Opposition: Divorce from first wife
Saturn Square: Keating 5 Scandal
Second Saturn Return: Career takes off, Named on Time Magazine’s List of 25 Most Influential People, Makes VP Short List
Saturn Square: Supports Iraq War

If this were a Saturn Return, I would call for a more favourable outcome, but as an opposition, they often signify having to let go, move on, or some type of loss.

Uranus opposite Saturn: Election Day

Big deal, this is. This is a relatively rare transit and this is the first of a series. Uranus and Saturn will be playing tag a number times between now and 2010. Last time this happened was in the mid-60s, and before that 1920, the dawn of the modern era, filled with flappers and liberation from the past. Uranus opposite Saturn is a call for change to the conservative world order. It can also be a time of riots and civic unrest, even a coup d’etat and changes in government. Remember that John Lennon comment that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus, he made that during a Uranus-Saturn opposition, although the riots it inspired didn’t happen until some months later. As these oppositions will be occurring from now through 2010, the entire period can have a sense of volatility to it.

This transit occurs on election day, with Mars squaring Neptune. Mars is the planet of action and Neptune is the planet of delusion, illusion and deceit. Could there be intimidation or even underhandedness during the US elections? Mars square Neptune could also lead to a feeling of powerlessness, maybe people will be denied the right to vote or the polls may close before they cast their ballot. Mercury, the planet of the mind, sextiles Pluto, the planet of power also on this day, signifying that there may well be a cunning plan afoot to grab power or control. The fact that Mercury slithers into Scorpio later in the day, just emphasizes the aura of secrecy that surrounds this day. Could the voting machines be involved?

The Mars Neptune square can also lead people to a feeling of losing confidence – a feeling of being let down. I think if things go bad (and bad depends on who you supported) there could be uprisings. But it may be from the Repub supporters, as well, whose hate-filled rallies have shocked many. The Uranus – Saturn opp could represent the fact that those who have held power are now losing it and change, major change is on the horizon. When Uranus opposes Saturn (traditon), Uranus (change) normally wins, as it is the heavier hitting planet

Obama has Mars and Mercury transitting his 9th house of legal action on election day. I don’t think he will take a loss sitting down. Saying that, Mars will be conjunct his mid-heaven, on the 14th. This transit is powerful enough to feel its effects on the 4th. When a planet passes the mid-heaven it represents career achievement, as it is the highest point of the chart. Mars here is very powerful. Biden has Saturn conjunct his mid-heaven on election day, even more powerful. McCain on the other hand is undergoing his Saturn opposition, hitting his dreams and public service sector. Saturn opps are no fun, and represent an ending in some way. His last Saturn opp coincided with his divorce from his first wife.

If there is rioting that breaks out, it may not do so right away, just like the Beatles in the 60s but blow up later, and like that time it was the “good”, well-fed suburbanite people who were rioting against the threat to their status quo ways.

All the horoscopes for November are now posted! November’s energy is really intense so get ready! I will be adding some new blog posts today about the election, so check back.

Horoscopes are at: astrologydetective.com

If the new horoscopes are not appearing you must empty your browser’s cache or temporary internet files. This way you are insured that you are viewing the latest version, of not just mine, but every site you visit online.

To do this in Explorer, go to “tools”, click on the “general” tab. Under “Browsing History” click on settings. Where it says “Check for newer versions of stored pages” check, “Every time I visit the webpage”. Then press OK. In Safari: go to the Safari menu, and click “clear cache”. If you are having problems, please drop me a line and I will be sure you get the horoscopes. michelle – at – astrologydetective – dot – com

There is this weird fatal, yet inevitable, attraction between Scorpios and Leos. They are by far two of the most intense signs of the zodiac, and they feed off each others passion, loyalty, selfless generosity and integrity. Sometimes though, the brooding Scorpio element can suck down the Leos more sunny disposition. Hillary and Bill Clinton are a famous Scorpio / Leo couple.

Leo Obama is himself a Scorpio magnet. Other than Hillary, both Joe Biden and his grandmother are both Scorpios.

The past few years, from late 2005 onwards have been incredibly magical for Obama. He has also been free from any major challenging long-term astrological transits from the heavy-hitting outer planets. The heavens have truly been smiling on him.

That all changes in 2009, when Obama will be hit with a number of challenging transits. The harshest of which is Pluto opposite his natal Venus, which will go into effect on the 19th of December 2008 and be in effect on-and-off for all of 2009. This transit often brings with it much heartache. It calls for complete regeneration in how one loves and is loved. Often romantic partnerships or marriages go through a rocky patch, but it may signify a period of heart ache if he must let go of his beloved grandmother who is currently seriously ill. He may also lose a little luster in the eyes of the public. In general, Pluto opposite Venus are times when there is very little love coming one’s way from family or society-at-large.

When this election cycle first began, I was kind of glad it was Obama versus McCain. More than anything else, I just wanted a moderate to win, someone who wasn’t spewing all the hate and division that has really divided the USA ever since Monica Lewinsky came on the scene.

I thought McCain was a kind of political Orville Redenbacher, a jovial, grand pa figure riding around on his bus popping out folksy goodness. Unfortunately, he has morphed into some kind of grumpy, renegade garden gnome, and his maverick shoot-from-the-hip image just seems scary and illogical.

In his chart, McCain has two aspects that can indicate his anger issues and emotional volatility. It is interesting to note, that these types of characteristics may be suitable to someone in the military, as they need to be at war, basically, but it may not be the best characteristics for a president. In battle, you may not have time to think and need to act aggressively and instinctually. Off the battlefield, these same attributes could have disastrous consequences.

He has Pluto opposite Moon. This placement can lead to power struggles, manipulation, and playing the victim card when things don’t go their way. This also is a configuration that leads to a lot of struggles with inner-emotional demons. There may be a tendency to shut down or emotionally isolate oneself and this deadening of inner-emotion can be manifested by outbursts of uncontrollable anger or temper tantrums.

He also has Uranus squaring his Mars. This also makes him extremely volatile and subject to making rash decisions. There is a tendency to act first, think later.

Both of these aspect affect his career sectors. He made his name as a maverick, but it is these same unleashed maverick tendencies that are pulling him down.

His recent outbursts and volatility can be prescribed to his recent transit of Uranus conjunct his Natal Saturn in his house of public service. This transit went into effect in late August. When Uranus hits Saturn stability and a methodical approach are thrown out the window. Structures and strategies are pulled down and changed at will in the hope of catching the new, better wave. There is a tendency to be all over the map, and at a time when society needs a steady hand, this just isn’t working.

Watching the debates, it was amazing to witness how collected Obama is. It was as if he were the Buddha sitting at the foot of the tree of enlightenment refusing to allow himself to get caught up in the maya of the world

This can be seen in his birth chart by his Grand Trine of Saturn/Jupiter, the Moon and Mars. This gives him incredible composure. Saturn’s controlled and measured maturity can effectively keep the more tempestuous and emotional aspects of the Moon and Mars in check. He is definitely no drama queen.

This is a very harmonious aspect and does not in any way denote repression, but instead the ability to not allow one’s feelings to overtake one’s senses, but always remain the captain of one’s emotional ship, so to speak.

First off, I, too, do not see why Palin had to spend 150,000 dollars on new duds when her old clothes, as witnessed in the photo above, already demonstrated her indomitable sense of style.

Recently a McCain advisor had the following words to share on the topic of Sarah Palin, “She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone. She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else. Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom.”

That last bit is like a saying from a fortune cookie. In previous posts, I mentioned Sarah Palin’s Jupiter square, which she is now undergoing, as a time when her ego and sense of personal importance could blossom out of control, and she could get too big for her britches. This transit comes to a head on October 30, but will be in effect for the weeks surrounding this date as well.

You can read more about her Jupiter square here. Also for the Palin “Princess Di” effect.

A number of news organisations including CNN have had pieces on how easy it is to hack electronic voting machines and that there is a lot of vulnerability in the US voting system. So what is the astrological outlook?

On election day, there is an exact square of Neptune and Mars (this is just the icing on the cake of a number of major transits on this day).

Neptune rules voting and is currently transiting Aquarius which rules electronics and computers. Neptune is also the planet of deception and illusion, so there is the possibility that machines could be tampered with. What makes this even more of a possibility is its exact square to Mars in secretive Scorpio. This could definitely be interpreted as covert action. Scorpio also rules manipulation and power. Mercury’s entry into Scorpio on this same day could indicate some people trying to put their brain power to covering their tracks.