The Inauguration Train: Obama and Pluto Pull into History

Dear Friend and Reader:

Jan.В 17, 2009 at 7:10 PM EST, the Inauguration Train and President-elect Barack Obama rolled into Union Station in Washington, DC hauling 250 years of history and a whole lot of Pluto in Capricorn along with him.

Two weeks after Americans elected Barack Obama as the their next president, the dwarf planet Pluto returned for a 15-year stay in the sign of Capricorn. This is significant because Pluto has not been in the sign of Capricorn for 247 years. Since the time of America’s Revolutionary War, in fact.

In Philadelphia, where Obama began the Inauguration ride, the president-elect reminded his audience of their 18th century origins: “It was here, in this city, that our American journey began…It was here that a group of farmers and lawyers, merchants and soldiers, gathered to declare their independence and lay claim to a destiny that they were being denied.”

Obama continued to invoke the 18th century spirit at each train stop: ” ‘We should never forget that we are the heirs of those early patriots, ordinary men and women who refused to give up when it all seemed so improbable – and who somehow believed that they had the power to make the world anew,’ he told a crowd estimated at 35,000. ‘That is the spirit that we must reclaim today.’ ”

In Next World Stories, we offer a deeper look at the themes and events of Pluto’s last pass through Capricorn 247 years ago. It was an era that birthed the American Experiment — truly worth studying because the return of Pluto to Capricorn will likely force Americans to recreate the government they created 250 years ago.

Pluto reforms slowly, almost imperceptibly — and inexorably. There’s no turning Pluto away at the door; when it arrives, it feels like an encounter with destiny. Capricorn sees the big picture, the view necessary for leading huge projects. Capricorn demands steadfastness against hardship and set-backs, moving mountains of change rock-by-rock. Capricorn physicist and theologian Isaac Newton once said he was only building on the shoulders of giants of history; this is the kind of vision Capricorn is famous for — looking to and learning from the architects of the past in order to build a new reality. It’s the kind of vision that, after the job’s done, seems a little other-worldly. Who knew that moving rocks could be so profound? Yet, this is Capricorn — the practical visionary. With Pluto alongside, we can look to history and recreate visions that feel like destiny.

Obama’s words reiterate that vision: “We recognize that such enormous challenges will not be solved quickly. There will be false starts and setbacks, frustrations and disappointments,” he said. “And we will be called to show patience even as we act with fierce urgency.”

Instead of buffing-up glamorous images of our famous “Founding Fathers,” Obama’s speeches on the Inaugural Train emphasized the ordinary men and women of the nascent American Revolution 250 years ago. Then, as now, the work required hard effort and patience, he said. Like them, we’ll experience disappointment, but we’ll persevere. Finally, to make the point perfectly clear, Obama tells this audience that today’s Americans, like those ordinary people of the 18th century, are called to “make the world anew.”

But the chart for Obama’s arrival in DC suggests Obama’s words still sound like fairy-tale hardship, the kind where we expect him to kiss the hurt away as The Prince in our happily-ever-after plans. The chart shows Leo is rising, so we have Obama the Leo (his Sun sign) arriving to greet his partner — us — in the seventh house (in Aquarius, the sign of the people). Neptune sits just inside of the seventh house, representing one quality of this partnership. Neptune can dip into self-deception, but can also represent those “angels of our better nature,” words of Abraham Lincoln that Obama used in his election acceptance speech and repeated at each stop on the Nov. 17 train ride.

We could interpret this either way: maybe this partnership depends on illusions to sustain it, or maybe he inspires our better nature. Looking at the nation’s reaction to Obama, we’re clearly seeing a little of both. But it’s a lot like the fantasy that often accompanies those first days and weeks of falling “in love.” Neptune’s placement in Aquarius should also cause us pause: it’s this configuration that has also accompanied our infatuation with the media’s version of reality. Sure, love does put a spark in our hearts, but does any mature nation really believe we can build a healthy relationship with our president — or anyone — by text-messaging?

As Obama’s train arrived in Washington for the Inauguration, a Libra Moon in the third house suggested a national mood that wanted only words that were lovely, gracious and diplomatic. So forget confronting our obsession with Blackberrys. The Moon was also in an out-of-sign opposition to Vesta. More about Vesta later, but the opposition smells of image at the expense of substance, especially when that Libra Moon’s in an easy relationship to Neptune — us. We want to the make the best of a bad situation, and prefer the lovely illusion of Obama en route to the White House, happily pulling our collective whistle-stop chain along the way.

This isn’t wholly cynicism. Saturn is retrograde in this chart — in the second house, the house of resources and values. Money. In another era we would politely call this Saturn retrograde period a “belt tightening,” but today’s economy defies politeness. Together with a Mercury in retrograde that’s about to head back into Capricorn right after Obama takes office, it’s a picture of recession. Or worse, as I hear repeatedly these days, “depression.” So we’re no different than the folks who lived the dark days of the Great Depression: bring on a little Libran-styled Busby Berkley, even if it’s just our president-elect waving happily from the back of a train. Just don’t forget it’s a show.

But a retrograde Saturn in the house of values does return us to Obama’s words, if not the imagery. Saturn values time. Here Saturn’s affection for history’s lessons looks more retro than usual — like 250 years retro. So suddenly we’re hearing a lot of talk about the 18th century, ancient American history that sounds surprisingly current and real.

The problem is, America’s history is rarely the romantic story we want to hear. 250 years ago we could have emancipated all Americans, but we didn’t. Our great Founding Fathers had a chance to eliminate slavery, but for economic expediency they chose not to. The Great Compromise was the first great legal failure of our young nation.

Then, our leaders couldn’t t imagine giving up the the conveniences of a comfortable middle class lifestyleВ  based partly on free labor; now few of us can imagine a comfortable life without credit cards. We once enslaved others for the color of their skin; we now enslaved ourselves to debt, and willingly wear invisible chains with the marks of Citigroup and Bank of America.

When Obama speaks of hard work and labor, are we really prepared to imagine life without swiping? As Pluto moves through Capricorn, we may have to consider this. It’s possible, though we may end up with yet another version of the Great Compromise. I know a lot ofВ  people adopting a socially conscious lifestyle, but then I spend most of my time with cultural outliers — people who actually keep chickens in the back yards of their urban homes. Despite their commitment, they struggle because our commerce laws don’t reward consumers or producers this kind of self-sufficiency. We don’t all need to keep poultry on the back porch, but we do need to think creatively. We depend on cheap labor so we can bring home bags of disposable junk. Now is probably as good a time to reconsider our history.

250 years ago, we couldn’t embrace the radical idea of universal emancipation, and the idea of a black President was unthinkable to all but a tiny handful of prophetic dreamers. How are we different?

We have a chance to redeem that wasted past. Pulling against Saturn’s heavy lessons is Pisces, Uranus and Venus together in the eighth house of rebirth and inheritance. We are reawakening (Uranus) a love (Venus) for America’s spiritual inheritance. Uranus wants a spiritual connection that’s weirder, wilder and wider than any conventional religious tradition. It’s revolutionary stuff. Forget our stiff, parochial American Protestantism. Forget Bush’s theocratic “City On A Hill” patriotism. This is the stuff of Frederick Douglass, James Otis, Sojourner Truth, Dorothy Day and, of course, Martin Luther King, Jr. If we can honestly chose the better angels of our human nature, something tremendous seems ready to drop in our laps.

Lastly, I want to mention Vesta. In the last New Moon chart, I wrote that Vesta in Taurus grounds this amazing new order, and because of this we ought to be mindful about what grounds our internal flames. This mindfulness returns us to the idea of sacrifice. In Taurus, it could easily be money that fuels our fires — and demands our sacrifices. Here the Taurean Vesta is the most elevated point in the chart; she has the upper hand in Obama’s message. Our new president may cloak reality in a pretty Libran package, but Vesta’s message of sacrifice is uppermost in Obama’s message. Maybe we didn’t catch those words, charmed as we were by his regal bearing and our need for a fantasy partnership, but we probably shouldn’t ignore that humble vestal servant. Lucky for us, though: sacrifice is no stranger to Capricorn (or Pluto’s) brand of success — 250 years ago or today.

Yours & truly,

Shanna Philipson