Does the U.S. really have Scorpio Rising? Here's where you'll find the evidence, from full length articles, recent NewsScope pieces, and the definitive book on the subject by NeptuneCafe's resident astrologer Michael Wolfstar O'Reilly:
April 11, 2011 - Political Theater in 2012. Scorpio is associated with leveraged capital, so conser-vative Saturn in this sign tends to favor pro-business Republicans. Saturn enters Scorpio in 2012.
June 6, 2011 - Debt Limit Showdown. The ferocity of the debate will likely escalate as we near the deadline, since transiting Mars and Pluto oppose each other on August 11, well past the deadline.
June 20, 2011 - Q. & A. on the U.S. Horoscope. The Uranus-Pluto square will align with the U.S. Sun-Saturn in 2014, bringing tremendous challenges to the American system of democratic capitalism.
Aug 1, 2011 - In the U.S. chart, the asteroid Columbia is located at 14º Virgo where it forms a harmonious sextile to the nation’s Sun in Cancer.
Sep. 5, 2011 - Saturn opposing the U.S. Chiron in the 6th house of jobs, inicates the government is focusing on the chronic unemployment issue.
Jan. 16, 2012 - Neptune transits to the U.S. Moon have marked the rise of the corporatocracy, beginning with the Supreme Court decision on May 10, 1886.
February 6, 2012 - Financial astrologers are telling us the markets should be turning south. But this is not happening because Pluto is sextile the U.S. Scorpio Asc.
June 18, 2012 - Now that transiting Pluto is sextile the U.S. Scorpio Ascendant, plutocrats are having an immense influence over American politics.
July 16, 2012 - The U.S. Ceres is located at 8º Pisces where it forms a favorable trine to the U.S. Scorpio Ascendant and another trine to Jupiter in Cancer.
July 23, 2012 - The U.S. Black Moon Lilith plays a key role in the shooting during the premiere of The Dark Knight Rises, pinpointing Aurora, Colorado.
2011-2012 NewsScope articles about the U.S. Scorpio Rising horoscope
the sixth house of employment conditions holds Chiron. Currently, progressed Venus is heading toward Chiron, showing the stressed employment numbers.
May 18, 2009 - Automakers. The collapse of the automakers began when transiting Pluto entered into an opposition to the U.S. Mars a few years ago. Industries based on metal extraction are not favored
July 20, 2009 - Pluto Leverages America's Future. For the first time in U.S. history, transiting Pluto is in the 2nd house. Over the past year it has opposed Venus, leading to the current credit crisis.
July 27, 2009 - Health Care Reform. The U.S.Mars is a key in the health care discussions as ruler of the 6th house of health, and located in the 8th house of insurance and budgets.
October 12, 2009 - Obama's Nobel Prize. The U.S. progressed chart shows a unique development: the progressed Ascendant at 24º Cancer is conjunct natal Mercury, plus a double Pluto influence.
October 19, 2009 - The Dow hits 10,000 - The first time the Dow crossed the important 10,000 level was on March 29, 1999 when the U.S. P2 Ascendant and P2 Jupiter were conjunct.
July 19, 2010 - Gemini Rising versus Scorpio Rising. In the Scorpio Rising chart with its many planets in the 8th house, we see a nation built on capitalism and leveraged assets.
November 1, 2010 - Election Day. Election day always takes place when the Sun is in Scorpio. This date falls between November 2 and 8, which is when the Sun crosses the U.S. Scorpio Ascendant.
2009-2010 NewsScope articles about the U.S. Scorpio Rising horoscope
On July 1, 1776, Congress reconvened. The following day, the Lee Resolution for independence was adopted by 12 of the 13 colonies, New York not voting. Immediately afterward, the Congress began to consider the Declaration. Adams and Franklin had made only a few changes before the committee submitted the document. The discussion in Congress resulted in some alterations and deletions, but the basic document remained Jefferson's. The process of revision continued through all of July 3 and into the late morning of July 4. Then, at last, church bells rang out over Philadelphia; the Declaration had been officially adopted.
The answer to this question determines what the rising sign is for the U.S. horoscope. A precise time would also give the exact degree of the rising sign. No one knows for sure, but the official U.S government's account of the events gives a ballpark time of late morning to early afternoon:
Figuring out the hour and minute when the Declaration was adopted is then a matter of rectification. However, it's an odd and unexplained fact that the obverse side of a hundred dollar bill shows a time of 2:21 pm or perhaps 2:22 pm. Here's a close-up of the clock, which is housed in the bell tower steeple of Independence Hall where the Declaration was adopted. The time may be when the famous Liberty Bell started ringing to announce the historic event.
The Scorpio Rising national horoscope is catching on, but many feel that Scorpio just doesn’t fit the American identity. In basic astrology, the Scorpio archetype is naturally associated with the warrior. The U.S., as the world’s reigning superpower, has by far the largest military complex. The Pentagon’s budget is larger than the next 17 nations’ military budgets combined. Across the planet, other nations feel the influence of U.S. military power.
Or, one could think of the Scorpio archetype on the national level as a financial power house. In the earliest times, the U.S. economy was largely built on the backs of slaves who comprised a full one-third of the population during the Founding Fathers’ day. Later, loans from England, and the growing ability to leverage capital allowed corporations to grow in influence to the point where corporations nowadays have the same constitutional rights as people. When Scorpio is rising, four planets are found in the 8th house of capitalism, doubling the sense of Scorpio as a corporate archetype.
Scorpio is associated with the eagle which is the nation's national symbol. One of the nation's proudest moments came when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. Astronaut Neil Armstrong's first words at this historic moment were "The Eagle has landed." The eagle is the centerpiece for the Great Seal, which is used to authenticate passports, military insignia, embassy placards, all the nation's currency, and various U.S. flags.
The Scorpio Archetype
when the chart ruler, Mercury, was retrograde, as it was on this date. Nor could Uranus, representing the urge for independence and freedom, be placed on the Ascendant, since it wasn't even discovered until 1781.
The Gemini Rising chart's popularity can probably be attributed to Evangeline Adams, who is often referred to as "America's most famous astrologer." Her radio show broadcast from New York City in the late 1920s and early 1930s reached millions of listeners. She made a number of accurate predictions using a chart set for 2:15 am on July 4, 1776, and so her followers and the followers of her followers latched onto this chart.
As Nicholas Campion explains in The Book of World Horoscopes, this Gemini Rising chart was created in 1861 by Luke Broughton, who was at the time, the U.S.'s most prominent astrologer. Without knowing the time the Declaration was signed, he placed Uranus on the Ascendant to depict the revolutionary nature of the event. Uranus was at 8º Gemini, and so this became the basis for the Gemini Rising cult.
In Foreseeing the Future, Karen Christino's biography of Evangeline Adams, we discover that Adams learned astrology from Luke Broughton. So her use of the Gemini Rising chart is not based on any timed event from 1776, but the symbolic chart with Uranus on the Ascendant. The fact that Uranus wasn't discovered until 1781 should underscore that Benjamin Franklin did not set his stopwatch for this moment.
The Scorpio Rising chart is set for 12 hours later (at 2:21 pm), and thus reverses the MC/IC axis 180º. Personally, I believe that the Gemini Rising chart's often accurate correlations to historical events is due to its being a mirror image of the Scorpio Rising chart. Campion estimates that half of American astrologers who profess a preference use some version of a Gemini Ascendant. Perhaps if they knew of this charts' origins, they might switch to one that has more historic support.
The Origin of the
Gemini Rising U.S. Horoscope
Inexplicably, many astrologers use a Gemini Rising chart, which corresponds to an early morning time, most popularly stated as 2:17 AM. While there is zero historical evidence to suggest an early morning time, an entire mythology has developed around the idea that one or more of the Founding Fathers were astrologers and selected this time as the most propitious. The fallacy of this argument is that no astrologer would pick a time
The Sagittarius Rising Horoscope
Perhaps the current favorite among astrologers is the Sagittarius Rising horoscope, which has a much older pedigree than the Gemini Rising charts. It was calculated by Ebenzer Sibly and first published in 1787. Evidently, he lived in Portsmouth, England where he maintained close connections with the American Freemasons, which included Washington, Hancock, and Franklin. However, due to some muddled calculations by Sibly, two rival "Sibly" charts exist, one set for 4:50 pm and the other set for 5:10 pm. These give 8º or 12º Sagittarius. Other variations are rectified from these two.
Both Dane Rudhyar and Liz Greene favor this one, citing the Americans' love of the outdoors, their love of freedom and wide, open spaces, and their generally outgoing, friendly, philosophical personalities. Sagittarius does infer these qualities, but so does a ninth house Sun, which is the case when Scorpio is the Rising sign. The Sun/Jupiter conjunction trines the Scorpio Ascendant from the ninth house, offering these same traits in abundance.
Astrologers who prefer a Sagittarius Ascendant seem to be on safer ground when considering reasonable birth times. As in the Gemini Rising chart, Uranus is strongly placed with its conjunction to the Descendant and Mars also angular. The overwhelming crises of development that have marked American history when transiting Uranus comes around is the strongest evidence for either of these charts, most notably, the Civil War and World War II during Uranus Returns.
The touted Sagittarian qualities of American lifestyles can be seen in the Scorpio Rising chart in several ways. In each of these three proposed national horoscopes, the Sun is conjunct Jupiter, as it was all day on the fourth of July, 1776. When the Ascendant is 8° Scorpio, natal Jupiter further infuses its energies onto the American spirit by its trine to the Ascendant. In addition, the Sun is located in the ninth house, which is the natural equivalent of Sagittarius.
The parallel meanings found between the three charts makes them nearly indistinguishable from each other. However, the defining quality of the United States not seen in its natal planets, and therefore represented by its Ascendant and Midheaven, is its lasting prominence as an international power. The United States is, after all, the world's most enduring sovereign democracy, a quality which can only be attributed to having fixed signs on the angles. Both Gemini and Sagittarius are mutable signs, and their essential nature is too tenuous and flighty to hold onto power for very long. The fixed signs accumulate energies. They are the builders of the zodiac, and are therefore the reservoirs of geopolitical stability. Without a healthy dose of fixed signs in the natal horoscope, the country gets shuffled about by internal crises and foreign intervention.
With Scorpio Rising, the emphasis in the United States is on the accumulation of power itself, whether its financial, military, or ideological power. America's
never-ending quest to be the world's richest, strongest, most righteous nation is its globally recognized signature.
9/11
Those who favor the 5:10 pm version are fond of pointing out that a Saturn-Pluto opposition landed right on the Sibly Ascendant when the 9/11 tragedy struck. The fallacy of this argument is that it also works for those who prefer Gemini Rising, since Saturn and Pluto were in the Gemini-Sagittarius polarity. Clearly, one needs to look at more than one event in isolation to demonstrate the validity of one chart over the others.
However, to show how well the Scorpio Risng chart worked in describing the 9/11 event, one must consider progressions as well as transits. Looking at just transits is getting only half the picture.
In essence, secondary progressions describe the evolution of an individual or nation. When a progressed aspect is shaping up - getting close to exact - transits come along and activate the dynamic.
Naturally, such an aggressive attack would have to involve Mars. The U.S. progressed Mars has been at 18º Libra for some time, and this was true in September 2001. Since the 9/11 attack unfolded 225 years after the birth of the nation, we look at 225 days after July 4, 1776 to find Mars's position by secondary progression. In the Scorpio Rising horoscope, Mars had uniquely progressed into the twelfth house of secret enemies. No other national horoscope reflects this common sense vulnerability to a terrorist attack.
In addition, the progressed Ascendant was at 18º Cancer, exactly squaring progressed Mars. The progressed Ascendant advances at the rate of one degree per year, and was uniquely squaring progressed Mars in 2001. On September 11, 2001 transiting Sun and Venus were both at 18º of their respective signs, activating the underlying dynamic of progressed Ascendant square progressed Mars. A variety of other transits to the U.S. horoscope further pinpointed 9/11 as the critical day.
The graphic below is a section of a biwheel, which shows the U.S. Scorpio Rising natal placements on the inner wheel. The outer wheel shows the natal chart progressed to September 11, 2001 and highlights progressed Mars in the 12th house of secret enemies being squared by the progressed Ascendant.
Full length articles featuring the U.S. Scorpio Rising horoscope
Presidential Astrology - How using the U.S. Scorpio Rising chart can help decipher who will win Presidential elections. An extraordinary statistical anomaly is that ten of America's 44 presidents have Mars in Leo. Find out why.
Why Scorpio Rising? - Why not Gemini or Sagittarius? The three most popular U.S. charts are compared and contrasted. This essay is ten years old, but still rings true.
The planets in their houses
Pluto, the Ruling Planet - is located in the third house, and thereby defines where the country finds its dominant strengths: mass media, transportation and communication systems, computer and information technologies, and the innate intellectual power of its founding Declaration.
Sun in 9th House - points to the patriarchal religions which have done so much to form the essential American character. The U.S. Sun is also conjunct Sirius, a first-magnitude star with a long, exalted history, and one that has played a prominent role in our planet's greatest empires.
Moon in 4th House - describes American as a nation of immigrants. In Aquarius, Americans' security needs are associated with multicurtulaism and a litany of personal freedoms. Transiting Saturn through the Aquarian fourth house has consistently brought organized movements toward socialism.
Fist of God Formation - connects the Moon, Sun, and Saturn with aspect lines that make the configuration resemble the so-called Finger of God, but because the aspects are all hard, it has been given the more forceful name of the Fist of God. With Saturn in Libra, this complex can be associated with America's balance of power.
Leo Midheaven - describes astrologically how American culture is dominated by entertainment, sports, and Hollywood movies. All major wars, Presidential deaths in office, and seemingly random, but historic turning points feature major transits and progressions to the U.S. Leo Midheaven.
The Eighth House - The overall tone of the U.S. natal chart gravitates toward the eighth house, which is tenanted by four planets. This stellium emphasizes the importance of corporate and financial affairs in American lifestyles. The eighth house is the house of pooled assets, or essentially, the house of capitalism.
Major Transits - to the Scorpio Ascendant have all left their characteristic imprint on the nation. This essay takes a look at how Saturn transits have brought conservative governments, while Uranus and Neptune brought an independent President (Carter) and Neptune a glamorous one (JFK). Pluto transits have been the most historic.
US Mars Turns Retrograde - American history as it corresponds to the U.S. progressed Mars, which made its epochal retrograde station in September 2006.
As the Gauquelin studies have shown, and as most astrologers realize, the angles are the most sensitive points in the horoscope. In this writer's opinion these rankings are due to the U.S. horoscope having Scorpio Rising and Leo at the Midheaven. A birth time of 2:21 pm puts eight degrees Scorpio on the Ascendant and sixteen degrees Leo on the Midheaven.
When comparing these specific degrees to the elected presidents' horoscopes, an astonishing number of precise hits to these angular points crop up. John Adams, Warren G. Harding, James Polk, and Theodore Roosevelt all have their Scorpio Suns within three degrees of the U.S. Scorpio Ascendant. Presidents McKinley, Buchanan, Grant, Monroe, and FDR all have their Suns either opposite or square the Scorpio Ascendant, also within an orb of three degrees. In addition, five more presidents have natal Mars within one degree of forming an exact conjunction, square or opposition to the eight degrees Scorpio Ascendant. The U.S. Scorpio Ascendant cosmically magnetizes presidential caliber.
When Scorpio and Leo ride the angles in the U.S. horoscope, fixed signs suddenly become important. Otherwise the Moon in Aquarius is the only other placement in fixed signs. Thirty-four of our 44 presidents have either their Sun or Mars in fixed signs (Scorpio, Leo, Taurus, and Aquarius), while only 22 have their Sun or Mars in cardinal (Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn). For the mutables (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces), only 17 presidents have their Sun or Mars in these signs, in spite of the fact that any 4th of July horoscope has both Mars and Uranus in Gemini, placements that would seem to naturally attract presidential planets.
One of the most significant trends in American politics is that all recently elected Presidents have precise aspects to the U.S. Moon either natally or by progression, and often both. This can be attributed to the rise of mass media. A candidate has to come across well on TV or he sinks in the polls. Having a close link to the U.S. Moon provides a celestial link to the pulse of the nation, and the closer the link the better.
Bill Clinton is a good example in the political realm. His Sun is at 26º Leo (only half a degree from an exact opposition to the U.S. Moon). His Juno (representing his wife Hillary) is at 25º Libra. At the time he was elected, his Mercury had progressed to 25º Libra, activating his underlying personal connections to the U.S. Moon. In spite of his later scandalous affairs, the public loved Bill and Hillary as a team, symbolized by his Sun sextile Juno and both connecting directly to the U.S. Moon.
Having a Mars connection to the U.S. Moon represents a good choice for Commander-in-Chief. The elder George Bush and Jimmy Carter both have their Mars at 25º Aquarius, exactly conjunct the U.S. Moon. When Carter's mission to rescue the Iranian hostages failed, he became a one-term president, having disillusioned the public. However, when George Bush's progressed Sun opposed his own Mars (and simultaneously, the U.S. Moon), he sent the troops into Iraq. The date was January 17, 1991, and this progression was almost exact. The public loved his actions, and his popularity soared. Ronald Reagan had no natal planets at 25º degrees, but when he was elected in 1980 his Mars had progressed to 25º Aquarius.
Obama's natal Vesta, Saturn, and Uranus are all at 25º in their respective signs where they form tight connections to the U.S. Moon. His Neptune conjoins the U.S. Scorpio Ascendant, while his progressed Jupiter is right on the U.S. Pluto. These precise links symbolize his connection with the American people and other American insitutions.
Presidential Astrology
Working with an accurate national horoscope will facilitate accurate forecasts. I have been working with the Scorpio Rising chart for 25 years, and see it as an ideal tool to track presidential elections, economic developments, tragedies, successes, and much more. These American stories have been chronicled in my weekly NewsScope column since 1996. Below, you'll find listed the most recent NewsScope stories that use the Scorpio Rising chart, with a number of good predictions. Click on the links to read the whole story. For more in depth looks, check out the articles to the right, which are drawn from my book Political Astrology and articles published by Dell Horoscope.
The U.S. Scorpio Rising horoscope was first proposed by Mark Penfield in his 1984 book Horoscopes of the Western Hemisphere. He uses a time of 2:20 pm which was rectified based on the biography of John Hancock by Herbert S. Allen. Penfield quotes from page 228:
For three days impassioned oratory pro and con, echoed through the government chamber. At last, about two o’clock in the afternoon of the 4th, the great white paper was reported out of committee to the House with recommendation for approval, and was immediately ratified. Hancock and his secretary, Charles Thomson, were then ordered to authenticate it with their signatures in the customary manner of handling all Congressional matters. They were also directed to have copies printed for dispatching to the colonial assemblies and to the army. The printing was done by next morning.”
I began using this 2:20 pm Scorpio Rising chart when I was writing the Tomorrow’s News column for American Astrology magazine beginning in 1987. Soon after I tweaked it a bit to 2:21 pm which is what I’ve been using ever since. It works!
