Barack Obama's Moon

I've really been struck by a part of Barack Obama's story that nobody else probably cares about. He's part of the big Pluto in Virgo Divorce generation. In addition to this, Obama's parents died while he was young. So he had his share of painful family experiences early on and managed to thrive in spite of them.

Barack Obama
b. Aug. 4, 1961 7:24pm Honolulu, HI

Sun 13 Leo; Moon 4 Gemini; ASC 19 Aquarius; MC 29 Scorpio; NN 28 Leo

A while back I was reading about how he expressed regrets that he was writing his book about his Father while his Mother had Cancer and was dying. He felt that he should have concentrated on his relationship with her instead at that point. His Mother died a few months after the book was published. That seemed like such an awful set of opposite experiences to go through. But it really explains his Moon. Obama has a Gemini Moon. Gemini moves in multiple directions at once. He's certainly had to multi-task with family issues. The Moon, of course, is a major indicator of one's relationship with one's Mother. Obama's Moon is placed very strongly and quite stressfully in his chart. It is conjunct the IC so is angular. It is also apex of a t-square to a heavy opposition between Pluto at 7 Virgo (H7) and Chiron 6 Pisces (H1). These are all on the angles. Moon, Pluto and Chiron working together really like to test a person on an emotional level to make sure the person is plumbing the deepest emotional depths possible. They learn this through real life experiences. These bring about issues related to Death, Family, Emotions, Woundings that can't be healed. Also they bestow a great depth of caring and insight which can be harvested from these experiences to help others.

I was reminded about this because Obama just took a couple of days off from his campaign to see his Grandmother in Hawaii who is said to be very ill. What difficult timing. He is once again facing this horribly stressful split between deep emotional inner pain (Moon at bottom of chart) and great outer success. The empty leg of a t-square is said to fulfill in some way the stresses caused by the squares and opposition. In this case, Obama's t-square points straight to his 10th House. That's house of Career and, well, President (should the corrupt side of U.S. politics not prevail before next Tuesday's election on Nov. 4). By coincidence this is very close to the anniversary of Obama's Mother's death which was Nov. 7, 1995. She'll be hanging out over his shoulder, for sure.

Obama was 2 when his parents separated. I don't have a date for that. His parents didn't divorce for a while after that.

Obama's Father died of a car crash when Obama was 21 years old. He never really knew his Father, only spent a month with him when he was around 9 or 10, and apparently couldn't mourn the death. This led him to eventually write a book about his Father and his Father's side of his family. In 1982, transiting Uranus was passing over Obama's Midheaven. Uranus is very mental and distant and is often known for not being able to feel. It also marks an initiation of joining a bigger societal entity than one's own clan. Obama's Midheaven is squaring his Nodal Axis to the degree so any planet hitting that point is going to affect his sense of his own destiny very strongly. Uranus is also Obama's Chart Ruler so his projection out into the world may have changed quite a bit. Interesting that his book about his distant Father became his entrance into successful public life.

I don't have a date for the Father's death but during 1982 there was a conjunction of Saturn-Pluto in Libra. This would have been in Obama's 8th House of Death and squaring his natal 12th House conjunction of Jupiter-Saturn at the end of 1982. 8th, 12th and 4th Houses all rule the Death experience in some way.

The progressions at this time were very strong. Obama's progressed Moon would have been passing through his first house, maybe conjunct natal Chiron and hitting his t-square. His progressed Sun was at 3 Virgo also hitting the t-square by conjunction with natal Pluto and North Node. And exactly square natal Moon in the 4th House (Parents). Transiting Chiron also would have been very close to conjunction with natal Moon. One can definitely see how his "Roots" (not being funny here, that's a literal translation for Moon/4th House issues) would figure so importantly in his public life. Obama is about to go through a Secondary Progressed Moon return for this time of his life as his Progressed Moon is now passing into his first House.

When Obama's Mother passed away on Nov. 7, 1995, his angular Moon-Pluto-Chiron t-square was again strongly activated. Remember he's got this connected with the angles; it includes the IC/MC which rules the parents. When his Mother died, transiting Pluto was passing over Obama's Midheaven (t.Pluto 30 Scorpio, MC 28 Scorpio) and so squaring his Nodal Axis and also opposing natal Moon. His progressed Moon was at the opposite spot of where it was around the time of his Father's death at 28 Leo. It was in his 7th House and conjunct his North Node to the degree and widely conjunct Pluto at 7 Virgo.

Progressed Venus was at 12 Leo conjunct his 13 Leo Sun (it's so strange how Venus so often is involved and no one ever acknowledges that. When Obama's Father died, t.NN may have been conjunct natal Venus).

Transiting Uranus and Neptune were in conjunction at 24 and 27 Capricorn and conjunct his natal SAturn 26 Capricorn-Jupiter 1 Aquarius conjunction in the 12th House. The Transiting North Node was at 27 Libra up in the 8th House of Death. This squares the natal Jupiter-Saturn conjunction (and transiting Uranus-Neptune). It also is at or close to the same spot where the Saturn-Pluto conjunction were around the time that Obama's Father died in 1982.

As I said before, Obama's progressed Moon is now passing over his Ascendant, moving into the same spot where it was when his Father died and opposing the spot where it was when his Mother died. It is at 17 Aquarius in conjunction with Neptune-Chiron-NN and moving away from opposition with his Sun (13 Leo). This is close to being a Return Point for the Secondary Progressed Moon (Mother, Family, Public, Women) for when Obama was Age 21. It seems that he is closing a Chapter in his life and beginning another really big one. For what it's worth, his progressed Venus is at 28 Leo conjunct his North Node to the degree and also conjunct n. Uranus 26 Leo.