Brooksley Born

Back in 1996 President Clinton did a very great thing. The President appointed a lawyer named Brooksley Born to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Problem is, he didn't listen to what Ms. Born was warning against which was all the financial bubbles which we have since popped. Born has strong earth content in her chart so she's a good one to give a reality check. I suppose one would want to be in the mood for a reality check, though, in order to take advantage of the situation.

Brooksley Born.
b. Aug. 27, 1940

Sun 5 Virgo; Moon Gemini or Cancer; NN 13 Libra Rx

There are a whole bunch of reasons why nobody took Born's warnings seriously. For one she's a native Californian and I figure that always knocks one's believability down a notch on the East Coast. Her name is also kind of fun, so maybe they thought she was a Disney cartoon. Also, and oops about this but Brooksley Born is a woman.

Seriously on an Astrological scale: Born has no oppositions in her chart. This is often thought to indicate that an individual doesn't have the inner sense of how to engage others in confrontation.

Brooksley Born is a Virgo and they're also not necessarily confrontational. They just say things straight from the hip and let the chips fall where they may. The Sun-Mars conjunction in Virgo in Born's chart shows a person with great analytical abilities but perhaps which comes across as impulsive or pre-what, what's the word I'm looking for, nobody's ready to hear it. Born has Mercury in Leo, which can come across as too much bravado especially in a woman and Mercury here is squaring Uranus which explains more mental acuity and intuition. The Sun-Mars conjunction, except for the out of sign connection with Mercury is unaspected to other planets. This gives the sense that the energy has trouble hooking up other energies in the chart and comes across as out of sync. Perhaps she came off as being too alarming at the time.

Born also has a tight one degree conjunction of Saturn 15 Taurus Rx to Jupiter 16 Taurus. Jupiter and Saturn conjunctions represent one of the most studied planetary cycles especially in connection with politics. They are in conjunction with each other every 20 years. Taurus is the sign of money and banking and Jupiter-Saturn aspects can show where social awareness occurs within each generation.

It just so happens that there was another Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in Taurus in 1999-2000 which sort of marked the peak of the first of the financial bubbles. So she and people born within a few months of her would have been hooked into this year very strongly on a psychic level (and material as well apparently).

Born also has Uranus at 27 Taurus so 3 of her outer planets are in that sign. Her generation was meant to go through something connected with Taurus' rulerships, of money, banking, possessions, self worth, material world. Uranus represents rebellions and shocks and surprises.

Looking at Saturn in this chart one sees why (now that it's afterthefact, of course) Born would be the one to give off the warning for her generation. Saturn rules caution and all warnings. Saturn also rules an excellent sense of timing. Saturn in this chart is heavily emphasized because it was Stationing Retrograde in Taurus on the day she was born.

Saturn is also the Lead Planet of the bowl shaped chart. Bowl shaped charts have all planets on one side. Spiritually this is supposed to mean that the person is aware of the fact that they are missing their other half. In this case it could account for Born's hyper awareness, especially of her generation's faults.

Or because of the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction she was speaking out on behalf of her entire generation. The Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in this chart is unaspected by major aspect to other planets which means that it stands out in some way. That could be why no one paid attention, not the pessimists (Saturn). Not the optimists (Jupiter). Not the Democrats (Saturn). Not the Republicans (Jupiter). (I may have the parties turned around, whatever at this point).

A person with a Sun-Mercury-Mars conjunction is also going to be the type who will give off an alarm as they will want to communicate. Sun-Mars will be the first to enter the room. This impulsiveness is perhaps the problem. Perhaps Born needed to prepare and plan for her announcement so that it would be believable, as stupid as that sounds.

So, Born's chart contains many indicators for why no one would have listened to her at the time. No oppositions (show relationship, harmony, balance). Bowl shaped chart. Lots of Islands. Saturn Rx. Low key earth personality, especially with Virgo Sun.

I was curious to see what Chiron is doing in Born's chart as Chiron is known as the wounded healer. It usually shows where we can't seem to fix a problem. Chiron is at 28 Cancer and in conjunction with Pluto 4 Leo. The connection over the Cancer-Leo cusp could perhaps just show that she represented a bridge between one way of thinking and another. Pluto brings Fame. It also brings Crises and, of course, is connected with Financial Crises as it rules all dealings with other peoples' money. Cancer represents emotional security. Leo represents risk taking and fun. They thought she was just being a spoilsport. She also has Lilith in conjunction with her South Node in Aries which shows some sort of rejection coming into her destiny from a spiritual element. She was appointed to her post during a Nodal Return(18.9 year cycle) in Libra. Libra NN has lessons to learn about diplomacy and how frustrating people are to deal with.

Born's progressed Sun was squaring this conjunction during her appointment at the Federal Trade Commission so it was really coming out. It was at 4 Scorpio squaring natal Pluto within a degree in 2001 so her Warnings came true at that time.

It's important to realize that in 1996 when Born gave her warning Pluto had just moved into Sagittarius, Saturn had just moved into Aries. That's a lot of Fire and fire represents enthusiasm. There was a Jupiter-Neptune conjunction at the end of Capricorn so Clinton was being torn apart by the Republicans for all kinds of bull shit reasons. This would have been a huge opposition for Born because it was still within conjunction with Uranus at the beginning of Aquarius and this would have opposed her natal Pluto-Chiron.