21 thoughts on “Planet Waves FM: Edward Snowden’s Birth Chart”

  1. The main reason Snowden exists in the public consciousness does seem to match his chart info. The results of his public actions do connect to his Aquarius mid-heaven; a call to further the welfare of mankind. The traditional (old) ruler of Aquarius, Saturn in the creative 5th house conjunct dig-deep Pluto, forms a grand air trine in his chart with the Gemini north node, Sun and Mars, and with his natal Ceres (motherland?) in the Aquarian 10th house. A natural, conscious release of this combination of energy would be to publically (10th house) expose secret (Pluto) government (Saturn) data (Gemini) to benefit one’s countrymen (Aquarius). The modern ruler of his mid-heaven, Uranus (shocking, revolutionary) is conjunct Jupiter (excessive) in Sagittarius (truth-seeking) in the 6th house of service. Nothing else needs to be said if that were all we astrology-lovers sought in order to understand and confirm his public actions. But because he IS now a public figure we want to know what makes him tick.

    Snowden was born to gab with his Mercury on the Gemini ascendant. What he chose to gab about, at least at the point in his life where we-the-public came to know him, leads us to his natal 12th house Chiron in the very last minute of Taurus where the fixed star cluster known as the Pleiades reside. The Pleiades connote spiritual development. To see how Chiron affects what Snowden would come to be famous for we go back to the traditional ruler of his mid-heaven, Saturn.

    Snowden’s natal Saturn (conjunct Pluto) is sextile natal Neptune (conjunct south node) in Sagittarius, which is the same sign where the newer midheaven ruler – Uranus – is also located. The sextile of Saturn (Pluto) and Neptune (south node) forms a yod to Snowden’s 12 house (sacrifice) Chiron (making aware). This is a pattern meant to stimulate adjustment through the apex planet, which in this case is Snowden’s natal Chiron.

    Presently, transiting Neptune and transiting Saturn are also in aspect, and they form the trine awaiting transiting Jupiter’s arrival in Cancer to form a super-duper grand trine. In the meantime, transiting Mercury, Venus and, by tomorrow, the Sun have started the water grand trine rolling. We must learn to be good swimmers. Remember that “glass-bottom boat” that was the symbol for last year’s total solar eclipse at 0+ Gemini? That boat was meant to reveal unconscious energies while keeping us dry. Edward Snowden’s natal Chiron at 29 Taurus 59 was only 21 arc minutes from that solar eclipse Sun and Moon. His Mars was conjunct the eclipse Venus in Gemini and his Vesta (what he’s dedicated to) at 24+ Taurus was conjunct the eclipse Jupiter. It’s time to get our feet wet.

    Along with the transiting grand trine in water, transiting Chiron, also in Pisces has just stationed retrograde. Chiron has been in the degree of Pisces where he turned retrograde for well over a month and will be there most of July. That degree of 13+ Pisces is trine the U.S. Sibly Sun at 13+ Cancer. It is a teachable moment for this country. Chiron the teacher and shaman will act as guide through the difficult T-squares that are coming for the U.S. Sun between its opposition to trans. Pluto and its square to trans. Uranus. Chiron will travel back and forth in his trine to the U.S. Sun as trans. Jupiter travels back and forth over his conjunction to the U.S. Sun. We are to learn through our feeling faculties less than through our mental faculties. Oddly enough, Snowden’s only water planet is his Moon in Scorpio and it is trine the U.S. Sun and transiting Chiron and therefore it completes a water grand trine.

    Edward Snowden is for the USA a symbol of the transiting Chiron trine it’s Sun. He is doing what he was born to do; his 6th house Moon (squared by his natal Leo Venus in the elementary school ruled 3rd house) will teach his fellow Americans how to feel. Snowden is making it easy as pie to feel our feelings.
    be

  2. “We do have an issue whether to trust what this guy is saying and doing”. I so agree with you on this, Eric. Haven’t had time to lsiten to your programme yet, am looking forward to it.

  3. I think that there is potentially a line where the parents’ are concerned, though that does not require much sleuthing and literally anyone can get a person’s birth record in North Carolina for a dime and a stamp. That said, my primary purpose for reading Snowden’s chart was to make an inquiry about the authenticity of him and his claims. That was the compelling public interest of the chart, in my view. He can be accused of being a phantom and or a plant or a double agent, however, if the birth record looks good and it attaches to real people with histories, that helps ground his credibility. Someone’s parents’ names are about as open biographical material as the clothes one wears.

    We do have an issue whether to trust what this guy is saying and doing.

  4. << That once someone becomes part of the public news stream they supposedly give up their rights to private personal information. >>

    That is not what I said, though. If you are trying to represent my position, it’s neither an accurate nor a fair statement of it. I have made none of those generalities.

    I have commented on the ethics and the karma involved in working with a public figure’s chart — and this does not include those with whom I have a confidentiality agreement. (Once that contract is in place, it stays there unless the client waives it for the purpose of my writing. When I propose to use something in an article or chapter, they almost always do, because they appreciate what I have to say and my past writing has been helpful to them and to others.)

    Public figures and private clients get the same fair reading of the chart, designed to be helpful and for the greatest good for all concerned.

    I have said that the content of the reading matters, and the intent of the reading. I have expressed a rationale for accurate rather than inaccurate data where someone’s conduct impacts the public (and the structure of society).

    One of my guidelines is that I prepare any reading of a public figure on the assumption that the person will read the article or hear the broadcast, and be affected by it. So once we get past the public vs private thing, which is in many ways a distraction and a kind of ruse, the purpose of my work remains the same in all instances.

  5. Eric,
    What Snowdon’s actions opened up was the chance for everyone to think about issues of private vs. public information. There have been invitations to discuss this very matter here in the PW community, so I am expressing my opinions on the subject. I know that there are “time honored” unwritten rules that say ( just as you have said here) that once someone becomes part of the public news stream they supposedly give up their rights to private personal information. Who decided that one, BTW? It is one of those assumptions that from the inside seems to support one’s actions but from the outside could in fact be suppressing or violating individual freedom and feeding the spiritual crisis we are now in because of the lack of the sense of safety and trust that used to be part of normal life.

    I am questioning the very assumption that it should be OK that once someone goes “public” everything is fair game. Since we all “know” this is an unwritten rule in terms of what the media will do to a person once something brings a person’s life into the spotlight, perhaps it is this very assumption that keeps people from NOT bringing important information forward. This very dynamic could be part of why people who COULD blow whistles don’t. The media has a direct causal role in keeping the lies and secrets machinery running, they just never admit it.

    In addition and in general, the media never stops at just the person of the moment, but will dig and dig into all the surrounding family and friends. To do this as a matter of professional need is what is expected and I don’t think that is inappropriate. Writers and journalists need this kind of data and access to find all the aspects of a story or event. But, (in my opinion) care should be taken to respect the privacy of those people who did not sign up for the scrutiny once the story is written and is published. In the way the media functions these days, the impulse to deliver the scoop builds more and more intensely as a story gets hotter and we see simple, common decency getting tossed by the wayside as well as huge mistakes sometimes being made.

    To be specific in this situation, it would have been possible to redact the document to protect the personal information of Snowdon’s mother and father who did not take ANY action to step into the public spotlight. That would have been a respectful way to present the document yet protect individuals privacy. It is small steps like this, not taken, that lead the collective into decline as a society. Small steps lead to other assumptions and soon the boundary line of what was considered decent and honourable has moved yet again and we all feel more vulnerable to unwanted exposure.

    But “Transparency” is the buzz-word these days.

    People are not stupid. We’ve all seen the media circus that erupts over whistle-blowers. I believe it is the public’s general awareness of this lack of respect for a person’s private life and especially the fear of what could be exposed re: the private lives of their family and friends that most likely keeps peoples desire to “do the right thing” suppressed. The media rarely admits it has a crucial role in this toxic and sometimes destructive dynamic that keeps people too scared to speak up. The media has had a very big part to play in why we no longer feel safe in our homes and in our private lives. Thru no fault of our own anyone at anytime can be dragged into the spotlight simply by being associated with a newsworthy person.

    This is a huge part of why no one feels safe any more. It is not just the government we have to worry about.

  6. I am aware of Hastings.

    The chart suggests that his death was politically motivated, but then everything he did was politically motivated. He was driven by anger and that shows up in the death chart.

    I would like to see the official report of how it happened, where he was coming from and where he was going. The plausibility factor vis a vis the official report will make a healthy contrast to the death chart.

  7. I have explained repeatedly how I obtained the birth certificate of Edward Snowden. Along with that explanation are my interpretations of his chart. I am not sure the reason for this discussion, but it would be worthy, I think, to talk about our opinions of the chart rather than debating whether the data should be public.

    Like Ed Snowden, I am of the view that we have a right to make up our minds based on accurate information rather than some speculative chart.

    As for Obama’s we have an AA rating (birth record visible and fact checked), and a chart that works. Anyone who thinks he was born in Kenya is dreaming. Nobody has come up with any actual evidence that there is an issue with the certificate we have, and the chart works just fine.

    Unless of course this is true —

    http://planetwaves.net/pagetwo/breaking-news/a-message-from-pres-obama-on-his-birthday/

  8. Green Star Gazer,

    According to your logic Eric and others could not publish the chart of Monsanto without getting permission from the shareholders. On a similar note one could not comment on Dick Cheney’s psychological disturbances without getting permission from the Dark One himself. Nor could people comment on the chart of the United States without perhaps getting permission from Congress.

    If somebody doesn’t want people looking into their lives – whether that means investigating their astrological charts birth or their stock holdings – then don’t voluntarily inject themselves into the public sphere. The rules – legal and spiritual – are different for public figures versus private figures and Snowden most definitely is a public figure at this point.

    What your suggesting amounts to a serious lock down on free speech. Which is just what the NSA and other such entities would like.

  9. Hi Eric, thanks for the commentary on this. Another thing I’m watching, and wonder whether you’ve seen this is as well, is the car crash death of journalist Michael Hastings. Some Hancock Park residents reporting hearing an explosion sound, which could have been the car hitting the tree. But the force completely detached the engine from the chassis.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/20/business/media/michael-hastings-award-winning-journalist-dies-at-33.html?_r=0

    He was known for, among other things, his piece on Gen. McChrystal. “The article quoted the general and members of his staff making disparaging comments about members of the Obama administration, including Vice President Joseph R. Biden, with respect to their handling of the Afghan campaign. Within days of its publication, President Obama met with General McChrystal in the Oval Office before firing him, ending his 34-year military career.”

  10. Eric,

    We may not even have access to Obama’s real birth certificate. Snowden did not run for public office. There is a difference. Did you contact the hospital yourself?

    Many astrologers use a disclaimer when giving readings, stating that their service is for entertainment purposes and they are not responsible for x, y and z. It might be good to say, “In my opinion…” As many times as an astrologer has been correct in interpreting my chart, they have been incorrect. Astrology is not an exact science.

    He may turn out to be one of the biggest heroes of the 21st century.

    Mia

  11. The rules are different for public figures; that is how I roll, it is a time-honored tradition in astrology, and I am very much in contact with the karma that I am both creating and resolving. Said another way, I consider the ethics of what I do, whether you perceive my role as journalist or as astrologer.

    If you have any issue with what I actually say, that’s for you to speak up about, and I will respond if appropriate.

    The document I have posted is a matter of public record. The person has made themselves and their actions a matter of public record. It’s no different than doing Obama’s chart, or the chart for the United States. Snowden has entered the context of global history and is subject to full evaluation.

  12. Thank you all for your love and concern. Dear bkoeler, really, all is well, just feelin’ it as some song somewhere must go. Getting ready to turn 57 on July 4th, and maybe having a bit of midlife ‘rage against the night’ popping up, I think. I know my poem is dark, but it was dark and windy when I wrote it, so there(!) as my mother would say. My husband is better, emotionally and psychologically, as am I; we have re-commenced to enjoy life as well as we can given his new diagnosis of prostate cancer. I was able to bribe him with sex to get some second opinions 😉 ; first it worked and then I got nailed on my manipulation and then he manipulated me back and got me to withdraw my loaded request and then he chose to do it anyway. (Just a small example of the rollercoaster we have been on.) Never let it be said that when tears, begging and threatening fail, that Susyc is too highly evolved to (try to) manipulate Randyc with sex. Never let it be said. (As reported on Facebook). It was funny, it’s been so long since I did anything like that that I was surprised to find that I still know how. That little tool had some serious dust and cobwebs on it but it’s all shined up now! ;p While my ethics in the situation were certainly questionable, I don’t blame myself for going there, but hopefully now it can go back in the toolbox to gather more dust and maybe I’ll find another way next time.

    The good thing about the second opinions is that Randy was empowered to make a treatment choice that really reflects his own evaluation of his needs and concerns given the big picture of his health. So I am as happy as can be expected and somewhat less apprehensive. Lizzy, thank you for remembering us and asking. I really do feel cared about here at PW.

  13. I am in agreement with Green-Star-gazer on this one Eric. Many astrologers will not look at the chart of a boyfriend or girlfriend of a client without the permission of said partner, even to be used in a private consultation. Astrological aspects can manifest in dozens of different ways in dozens of different people. It is not set in stone.

  14. Once a person fully immerses himself or herself in the public consciousness, and takes on public karma, they are subject to public evaluation and scrutiny. We have a right to know who Edward Snowden is, particularly in the context of many evaluations that he’s a double agent. That includes establishing that someone in North Carolina was born on the day we are told he’s born, as best we can know that, and proper identification of his parents. His whole movement is in the spirit of transparency and disclosure. In terms of an astrologer INCURRING karma by the use of his data, that’s something that comes via what the astrologer says and the intent behind the interpretation. And for that a birth time is not necessary.

  15. I’m going to play Devil’s advocate….

    We are in the midst of a grand discussion about the invasion of privacy done by the Government on individual citizens. People are up in arms about the loss of personal space and privacy in the digital era…

    … and here in this forum where we depend on trust and respectfulness to create an environment of safety so all can speak freely we have one of the most private and personal documents an individual gets when they arrive here on the planet… their Birth certificate. If this was published with permission by Ed Snowdon, then I’ll sit down and be quiet.

    Just because the document COULD be requested by anyone, and supplied by the state of NC, does not mean that publishing a facsimile of the document is the “right” thing to do, does it?

    If my birth certificate were published in a public forum without my permission, I’d be rageful mad and feel VERY violated. Before I get all Pluto-in-Leo-opposite-Mars-in-Aquarius on you, let me ask: Did you get permission from Ed Snowdon and his parents to publicly publish this very personal document?

    In your podcast and in your article, you said you would not be publishing the actual document, and I appreciated that journalistic level of professionalism in keeping your “sources” out of public view yet giving us all that we needed to know. This added cache to your article and a level of respect towards Ed Snowdon and his parents which I felt elevated your work above the usual sensational-styled news reporting…..yet, here is the document. Huh???

    If you had his permission, then good for you. If you did not, then I am disappointed you chose to publish this.

  16. Thank you, Eric, for bringing us not only a world-class piece of journalism, but also a world-class interpretation of the personal and political astrology that goes with it.

  17. susyc — thank you for sharing the poem. and bkoehler — thank you for the astro perspective to go with it.

  18. Thank you for this beautiful beautiful comment, dear be; and Susy, for your exquisite poem. How’s it going? How is your husband doing? My thoughts are with you both.

  19. suzyc, I hope that the mood you were in has passed – do you have a Cancer Sun or Moon? If it helps, let me tell you that I have those moods sometimes too, but I am not a poet and can’t express it so exquisitely as you have done here. What I CAN do is to tell you the Universe is providing support for our spiritual natures, such as what the grand water trine forming now is doing.

    I’ve just discovered that even later, near the end of the year, when Jupiter and Saturn have moved on from their trines with Neptune, they will form the first of two exact trines with each other and both times they will happen in the same degree – 18+ Cancer and Scorpio. Furthermore, both times they will form a grand trine with Chiron in Pisces. Both of these times the grand trines will be in effect within weeks after the 4th and 5th squares between Pluto and Uranus. I feel it is a process of transformation – 1st the bitter medicine to make us (as a whole) more conscious, giving us that feeling of “racing towards disaster”. That’s the Uranus-Pluto part, and then we get the soothing (magic) potion to settle us into the new phase – a step up the evolution (consciousness) ladder.

    See what you make of the two symbols Jupiter and Saturn will be in both times they trine each other (and Chiron); first this December and the second next May.

    Cancer 19 (Jupiter) A PRIEST PERFORMING A MARRIAGE CEREMONY, key phrase “individual endeavors acquire SANCTION”
    Scorpio 19 (Saturn) A PARROT REPEATS THE CONVERSATION HE HAS OVERHEARD, key phrase “the possibility of learning from higher Intelligences (birds symbolize spiritual forces)” These symbols and phrases come from Dane Rudhyar’s book An Astrological Mandala.

    Chiron’s first exact trines to Jupiter and Saturn will be in August and October but in November, only days after the next Uranus square Pluto, he plays a key role in the total (and annular) eclipse of the Sun-Moon-Saturn-Mercury in Scorpio. He will be (1) stationing direct in opposition to Mars in Virgo, and (2) trine the Sun-Moon-Mercury-Saturn conjunction, and (3) sextile to Pluto in Capricorn. He will also be semi-sextile Uranus in Aries, all in an effort to allow Jupiter and Saturn – the planets that symbolize societies – an integration period (eclipses can be in effect for years!) unimpeded by the outer or challenging planets.

    Also at that time, Neptune will slowly be coming back into his septile (51+ degree) aspect with Pluto and begin again to go down the quirky, irrational path of spirituality (Robt. Wilkinson calls it the fork in the road of destiny) they were on earlier this year and late last year.

    I find this comforting, knowing that the Universe is not punishing our (as a whole) evil ways, but gradually (yet remarkably quickly) giving us support during these testing times. I think of Chiron as a tutor during this phase – preparing us as well as allowing us to absorb the new and difficult lessons (the bitter medicine) with a better understanding of – through the emotional element of water – the divine grace we are being given. We are getting tougher and yet more compassionate through this process, and it won’t last forever.
    be

  20. I am in some kind of a mood tonight,
    seeing everything as an omen for the apocalypse–
    bees dying; powers that be lying and hiding
    like they always do;
    always we race towards disaster;
    people in Turkey, Brazil, Syria fighting for their future;
    Fukushima irradiating everything;
    BP Oil poisoning the Gulf; oil giants
    fracking the skin off our mother
    climate change wrecking the earth;
    some kind of dead world waiting for humanity to step into it;
    and the wind outside tonight howling, blowing
    my own personal apocalypses right at me
    I can look straight up death’s skirts
    in the whirling of the clouds;
    nothing to do but keep walking
    doing the things to keep breathing
    acting as if there is something to live for
    tonight I fed my husband
    bites of homemade coconut pineapple
    ice cream sweetened with honey
    as he read his book at bedtime
    not because he can’t feed himself
    but as a way to make love to him
    he smiled, sliding his eyes at me
    between the lines, taking each bite–
    his mouth, a delicacy of wit and humor
    allowing me to pamper him in this way
    these are the things
    I will miss most of all.

  21. Perhaps a very naive question: (so please forgive if this is a dumb question): I am so interested in how you might view a chart that is same year, one minute later, one day later, in Boulder, Colorado. It is such a very different looking chart.

Leave a Comment