Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and the August Total Eclipse

In ‘The Astrology of Fate’, Liz Greene uses the story of Parsifal to provide a mythic context for Leo. Parsifal is a young man who has been brought up without a father, and goes on a quest for the Holy Grail. She writes: ‘This beginning which has no father (or no father-principle, although there may be a physical father present) is something I have seen in many Leos lives. The father is either absent of wounded on some more profound level, and he cannot provide the sense of creative renewal of life which the son or daughter needs; and so the child must go out seeking this principle, in the form of his life’s adventure.’

I have certainly seen this absent/wounded father principle myself in the lives of Leos. And it is interesting that both Bill Clinton, the old Democrat President, and Barack Obama, the probable next Democrat President, are both Leos. Bill Clinton’s father died in a car crash 3 months before he was born. Obama’s father separated from his mother when he was two, and he only met him once again. Obama senior also died in a car crash. Clinton lost his father through accident, but in the case of Obama Snr it was a conscious act.

I think we can also see the theme of renewal of life in Obama. He is very much someone who has made himself what he is, and he has taken this further into having a vision of renewal for his country. And in the process the early Leo theme has repeated itself, as first of all there has been a necessary separation from his spiritual father, Rev Jeremiah Wright; and now the person who should be a political father-figure, Bill Clinton, is having a childish Leo tantrum and supporting Obama only very reluctantly.

These betrayals can undermine some people, but in others it is a spur to growth and to individuation. Some years ago Obama wrote his autobiography, in which he did not whine on about how his father left him; rather, he called the book ‘Dreams from my Father.’ So it’s as if these events have been necessary for Obama to become who he is, and even when running for President the same archetypal theme keeps throwing itself at him, demanding that bit more independence and individuality.

Incidentally, in my last post I was looking at Bill Clinton’s compulsive sexuality. Liz Greene also has a take: ‘In the brightness and nobility of [Leo’s] aspirations, he will not permit the lowly shadow, his own flawed humanness, entry. That rejected shadow strikes back from the unconscious through the disintegrating effects of uncontrollable eroticism.’

In Bill’s case, we see only one earth planet (the Moon) and no water planets, exacerbating the disconnection from his human feet of clay. Obama has a similar emphasis on Fire and Air, but there is more Earth and Water than in Clinton’s chart, so perhaps less of a tendency towards disconnection from his ordinary earthly self.

So the big issue at present is getting Bill on board (see my last post). Obama and Bill have good synastry. One of the connections between the charts is Bill’s Pluto at 11 Leo conjunct Obama’s Sun at 12 Leo. At present this is coming out as a power struggle, as Bill continues to withhold his support. But the connection could also be very empowering for Obama. Obama is Bill’s political heir, and Bill should be having the deeply satisfying experience of passing on the flame, and making his experience available. Instead Obama has this big kid to deal with (classic Leo at its worst). Bill needs to change his outlook, from selfish dreams of dynasty to something broader and less personalised. Pluto rules the 8th House, the House of Inheritance. And it is Obama’s Sun that touches Bill’s Pluto, not Hillary’s.

On August 1st there is a total solar eclipse. These events are powerful if they hit your chart. The eclipse is at 9.32 Leo. Bill’s Pluto is at 11.51 Leo, Obama’s Sun is at 12.32 Leo. Some astrologers only use a 1 degree orb for eclipses, but I experience them as operative within a wider orb, certainly the 2-3 degrees we have here. So the eclipse is going to do something powerful to the relationship between Bill and Obama.

Eclipses are part of long-lasting (Saros) series. The nature of the series can, naturally, be read from the chart for the 1st eclipse. The series of which the Aug 1st eclipse is a part began on March 10 1179 AD. Bernadette Brady has this to say about it:

‘This Saros Series concerns itself with breaking out of a very negative situation where no hope can be seen to a more positive space containing many options. A worry that may have been affecting a person will suddenly clear. The solution is shown by the Cosmos and needs to be taken up without too much delay.’


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So there we have it. It looks like Bill will come on board properly in August. This is further indicated by the fact that, at the moment of the Eclipse (which will only appear to be total in certain parts of the world), the Sun-Moon conjunction will just have risen in Washington DC. So it not just powerful and activating (Eclipse) but also suggestive of a new beginning (Sun-Moon Rising) for Obama and Bill.

I don’t envy Obama having to deal with the Clintons in their defeat, or even having them around anyway. But if he can get it to work, and get them campaigning hard on his behalf, I’d expect a landslide win for the Democrats in November.