Reflections on the Election
by Steffan Vanel 11/04
Dear Friends/Clients, and Countrymen,
I wish to recommence my newsletter by sharing an
announcement and some observations and comments on the
presidential election.
The announcement is that my book: The Astrological
Karma of the USA, is now being distributed by Baker &
Taylor, the main distributor to libraries across the
nation. So if you would like to read my book but are
short on cash or would like to help get my vision of
the country into the presence of the mainstream public
you can now go to your local libraries and ask them to
order a copy.
Those of you who have read my book may have read that
on the day before the election the Progressed Sun of
the United States went into the sign of Pisces. For
the last thirty years it has been in the sign of
Aquarius, an airy mental sign of communication,
technology and group consciousness. This has
correlated with the arise of the internet and
electronically linked communities and the
strengthening of group consciousness in the United
States.
This strengthening of group consciousness in the
United States, however, has led to the strengthening
of two intensely opposed groups in the United States,
rather graphically portrayed by the blocks of red and
blue states in the post-election map.
The Progressed Sun of the United States going into
Pisces for the next thirty years, the day before the
election, is highly significant. Pisces is a watery
emotional sign, ruled by the planet Neptune, which can
represent emotional sensitivity, healing compassion,
and spiritual faith and surrender in positive aspect.
And, in difficult aspect, it can represent illusion,
confusion, delusion, victimhood and martyrdom. I
pointed out that these energies would be in play no
matter who won the election.
If Kerry had won, those of us on the left would have
felt that finally we could be a nation which could
hopefully return to a quality of heartfelt compassion
and sensitivity to those who suffer within our own
nation and around the world. We could respond more
compassionately in all of our international relations.
And, the right wing would be feeling that they are
victims and martyrs suffering from our delusions.
With George Bush winning the election his supporters
may well be feeling the emotional impact of a
Neptunian faith that ‘God has answered their prayers’
and that George W. Bush is clearly God’s choice for
this time in history. And the rest of us are now
feeling that we are victims and martyrs suffering from
the delusional manipulation and power of all of those
red states.
Those who have read my book will remember that,
although I was feeling optimistic that Kerry could
win, I did see one factor affecting Kerry’s birthchart
which could cause him to lose the election. I will
paste in my observations on that factor from the book
here:
If John Kerry does lose the 2004 election it could
well be due to energies derived from yet another
factor related to Kerry’s First House Sun. That factor
is:
The main karmic significance of this placement is the
necessity to pass through many testing periods in
terms of the ego or self. In numerous cases a breaking
down of the old pattern is necessary, and this may
come about through a nervous crisis, through a
severedepression or through manipulation by others —
for example in any of a number of “cult” groups
presently on the earth which practise confrontation as
a technique to secure the obedience of members. This
karma arises from a past life in which similar
pressures were applied against others, always with a
retarding influence on the soul-growth of those
affected.
As far as I know Kerry has not been involved in any
“cult groups.” And for you conspiracy buffs I don’t
think the Skull and Bones Society at Yale classifies.
Kerry has, however, had to frequently deal with the
efforts of others to manipulate and control him in
order to secure his obedience....... With Pluto
currently conjuncting Kerry’s First House Sun, I am
sure that he can feel the deep underground
investigation by the Bush forces into every past
statement, vote, or other activity of his which they
could manipulatively use against him. Just like
President Nixon attempted to discredit Kerry,
President Bush is attempting to do the same thirty
years later. Vice President Cheney has orchestrated
attacks by himself and designated Republican Senators
to distort Kerry’s combat service records. On the
surface this may appear to merely be a Republican
maneuver to deflect questions regarding Bush’s own
military service records. Given the Bush parallel to
Nixonian duplicity and the current conjunction of
Pluto, however, I believe Kerry may once again be
experiencing his karmic challenge relating to
manipulative and controlling forces.
Kerry demonstrated an awareness of these forces while
campaining in the 2004 Florida primary. He was asked
how Democrats can be assured that the Republican
forces in Florida would not once again undermine the
voting process. (For a detailed account of the hidden
machinations in the 2000 Florida election results I
recommend Greg Palast’s book The Best Democracy Money
Can Buy). Kerry responded that the new electronic
voting machines recently purchased by Florida
GovernorJeb Bush’s administration needed to also have
a back-up paper trail of how votes were cast in case
those machines malfunction.
Since the recent election has concluded many
revelations have been making the rounds which indicate
possible fraud in the election. It seems quite curious
that all the exit polls in the swing states except
West Virginia predicted that Kerry would win that
state. Then later in the day when the votes were
tallied Bush won all of those states. The networks who
conducted those exit polls have now said that the
reason for the discrepancy was because of ‘young and
inexperienced poll takers.’ Sounds fishy to me. One
website you can go to for some good investigative
reporting on this is www.gregpalast.com.
Nonetheless it seems that if there were behind the
scene shenanigans it would resonate with the Plutonian
karmic exams on Kerry’s First house Sun.
This can be rather depressing. I am writing this
newsletter on Thanksgiving Eve with the top news
story, as true irony would have it, being the outcry
over the fraudulent elections in the Ukraine. It has
made me feel and wonder about George W. Bush. I wonder
what he must be feeling now, while he is publicly
decrying this horrible abuse of democracy when his own
position is possibly due to similar abuses.
Many Astrological observers have noted that Saturn,
the planet of karmic limitation and restriction is
right now conjuncting Bush’s natal Saturn, his 2nd
Saturn Return. There have been dire predictions for
what this might entail. This Saturn/Saturn conjunction
is in the 12th House, however, the house of the deeper
unconsious and past life memory. There is a lot of
personal karma involved with this which I wrote about
in the chapter about George Bush. My feeling about the
overall effect of this Saturn transit now on Bush’s
12th House Saturn is that of a heavy weight and
pressure on his own unconscious, including his
conscience, which for Bush, seems to be rather
unconscious.
Bush’s conscious ego apparently more identified with
his proud and arrogant Leo Rising self-image and his
feisty Aries Mid-Heaven persona are in denial of this
Saturnian weight in his own unconscious. He has to be
in detached denial from all of the suffering in Iraq.
September 12 (a rather omenous date) is when Saturn
conjuncts his Leo Ascendant self-image exact to the
minute. A Leo Ascendant is given to an individual to
help them to overcome or compensate for feelings of
inferiority or insecurity arising from previous lives.
This is when this Saturnian pressure will become very
conscious to both Bush and those who observe him.
Saturn will be in George Bush’s First House of
self-image for a couple of years. I don’t think this
will be an easy time for him.
In 2005 Uranus, the planet of sudden unexpected
change, will be opposite Bush’s natal Mars, with exact
‘hits’ on April 14 and August 18. What will this mean?
Well, Uranus represents surprise. It will, however, be
affecting his own Martial will and energy.
To finish this rather lengthy newsletter I find myself
wishing we were like the Ukranians right now. I wish
we had tens of thousands in the streets.
Still, this is Thanksgiving Eve and I want to focus on
what I am thankful for. I am personally thankful for
the faith that the powers of darkness will not
succeed. Eventually the new birth that the Master
Hilarion prophesizes will take place, will take place.
What we are going through now and in the years ahead,
as I see it, are labor pains. Eventually the birth
will come. Whether we have a 4 hour labor or a 72 hour
labor is still subject to the freewill choices we all
make individually and collectively.
I am happy and grateful, as well, to be part of a
network of lightworkers, midwives as it were, to this
new birth. I am grateful for the work that everyone is
doing out there to help us on our way home.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone,
Steffan Vanel
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone,
Steffan Vanel