Showing posts with label Intelligence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Intelligence. Show all posts

2 Mar 2025

Donald Trump

I wrote this post in December 2015, ahead of Trump's inauguration the first time he became president. It was published on the Astrological Psychology website, and I've decided to revisit the chart and republish the article on my own blog following the unprecedented public falling out between him and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in the Oval Office on 28th February 2025. 

And now, in April 2026, with the eyes of the world on him he appears to be struggling to retain credibility as a world leader as he's up to his neck in the consequences of his decision to join Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu in an illegal war both countries started against Iran on 28th February.

What I saw in his chart, and wrote about in 2015, is 10 years old; has he changed at all now he's back in the White House? I leave you, the reader, to speculate on this and invite you to leave comments.

Now, in 2026, his Age Point is in the 2nd house for the second time (see my co-authored book The Second Time Around). The 2nd house psychologically and physically is about possessions and raises questions and stimulates behaviour about what we want to hang on to, and what we are willing to give up. With a 2nd house Age Point the second time around, when the individual is between the ages of 78 and 80, it's often a time of letting go of things and attitudes which have lost their significance or "pull". Trump's Age Point is conjunct his 2nd house Neptune, the planet which can, on a less conscious level, or even unconscious level, be about escapism, ideals, dreams, and illusions. It could represent the psychological drive or need for all of these, especially in someone who is not self aware. On it's highest level the drive will be focussed on inclusion and acceptance of what is, along with a strong ethic of unconditional love and respect for people and the world we live in. Trump, without a doubt, is not there yet.

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 Here's what I wrote in 2015

If you’ll pardon the pun, this man has been trumpeting forth on a variety of controversial subjects for the past few months as he ramps up his bid to be nominated as the Republican Party candidate to become the next President of the United States.

Much as I dislike the views and opinions of this man, I’m intrigued to see if, and how, his mind set and attitudes might show up in his chart.

         14 June 1946, 10:54, Jamaica, NY, USA (Rating AA *)

The overall chart image brings to mind two overlapping images: a well-aimed dart, maybe a paper plane, with the Moon at it’s sharp end, the apex. But look again – the dart, the blue/green quadrilateral ‘Megaphone’ figure, is overlaid by a louder, heavier triangular ‘Ambivalence’ figure, which is reminiscent of a paper “thunderclap” toy, which when held in the hand and thrust through the air like a sword, emits a loud bang. I’m already beginning to connect these initial images of sound amplification and attention-seeking to the windbag-like behaviour that Trump has been exhibiting.

There is no doubt that this man is an impressive and successful entrepreneur. The Sun/Uranus conjunction in Gemini in the 10th house of his chart speaks fathoms of his ability to communicate, think divergently, and possibly wheel and deal too. The Moon’s North Node sits in the middle of this conjunction, indicating that standing out as an individual and making his mark on the world is part of Trump’s developmental path. But wait a minute… he was born the son of a millionaire, and chose to develop his own empire of riches. What he’s possibly neglected here (as far as I know, I’m not a fan or a follower) is the South Node end of the nodal axis. His South Node offers the possibility of balancing the big 10th house “out there” stuff by making a connection with the other end of this axis, namely the 4th house and the collective. His Moon sits in this house, and by default is conjunct the South Node. He appears to be currently tapping into this collective area, but in a way which fuels the needs of his Sagittarian Moon, namely to be outrageous yet still admired at the same time.

It’s interesting to note, too, that both Sun and Moon are intercepted in their respective houses, so Trump will have to shout louder and work harder to express these aspects of his personality in more garish and noticeable ways to get them recognised and acknowledged. Which begs the next question, if we move on to consider the Family Model… how did he as a child (Moon) perceive and experience his father (Sun)? Connected as they are by the hefty oppositions on the 4/10 Individuality axis, things were probably not always smooth. With two key ego planets intercepted, Trump has to divert their expression to go via the third pinning planet in the triangular Ambivalence figure – Jupiter. In the 2nd house of the chart, where possessions are significant, Jupiter’s risk-taking and adventurous entreprenuerism seem to have been capitalised upon to help him make his millions. Yet Jupiter is on the Low Point, making it more challenging for him to do this, so here I’ll cut him a bit of slack as he has successfully made a whole heap of money. It’s more than likely that the intercepted planets have sought a less blocked pathway out into the environment via the Venus/Saturn conjunction in 11th, and through Mars in Leo, stressed before the AC, which could be extremely pushy.

And what of the Megaphone, connected as it is to Sun and Moon, both of them also pinning planets in this figure? A Megaphone in the chart is like having an amplifying mouthpiece to hand, to help express closely held ideals. Regardless of whether or not Trump’s personal ideals are liked or accepted, he’s going to use that figure to make them heard. The Huber’s described the Megaphone thus: “We speak quietly into the narrow end and our voice suddenly fills the room.”

We have a personal choice with Trump though. We don’t have to listen.

 

  • Further thoughts on Trump's chart are shared here, on the Astrological Psychology website. Take a look and offer your own feedback.

* Chart data from astro.com.

 

 

28 Jan 2025

Intelligence in the horoscope - human or artificial?

In his book, Astrological Psychosynthesis, Bruno Huber explores significators of intelligence in the horoscope. He takes into account the importance of the formative background influences and conditioning which shape the direction and expression of the individual's intelligence and this might be used.

Bruo says there are "differences between innate intelligence and conditioned intelligence". This is so important to bear in mind in view of current proliferation of AI as its development moves apace. Does it have the potential to push aside more tried, tested and conventional routes to problem-solving and finding answers? Is it, could it be, a good thing? Or are we in danger of being overtaken by robots?

Much is written about AI at the moment, and it's easy to overlook the deeper meaning of the "A" part of its moniker. "A" stands for "artificial" - defined in the Concise Oxford Dictionary as "produced by human art or effort rather than originating naturally", with Artifical Intelligence defined as "the application of computers to areas normally regarded as requiring human intelligence".

That's the nub of it the conflict  - human or artificial intelligence? How to choose, how to use AI responsibly? And which would you choose? As Shakespeare said, "Ay, there's the rub". 

Personally, give me the real human stuff everytime, although I appreciate that AI can be beneficial if used wisely and responsibly. AI is not real, It has no heart, no feelings, no morals and will only be as good, skilled, clever, capable and knowledgeable as the information it gleans from what is already available.

How about intelligence in the horoscope? Where would you look for it? Which planets or significators would you home in on? Bruno Huber suggests that for well-functioning intelligence we could look at:


Jupiter - gives us the ablity to observe, perceive, comprehend, assess and evaluate. With Jupiter we experience the world around us at first hand. We don't know what "hot" means until we touch something hot, and the experience tells us that if the hot is too hot, we could be burned and hurt. Can AI do that? Apart from describing what "hot" is in words, along with the  implications  and descriptions of getting burned, it can't offer any real hands-on experience.

Mercury -  gathers up information and, combining our memory bank (Saturn) with observations (Jupiter), allows us to arrive at logical conclusions, communicate these and strive for synthesis. With Mercury we can learn things by rote - very AI, parroting information in a logical manner - and it can be useful in synthesing facts, but it functions mainly as a gatherer of information, vacuuming up what's out there in an fairly indiscriminate way.

Saturn - ability to retain, store and recall knowledge and observations.  AI again, especially as Saturn relates to organisation, systems, regulations, boundaries and structure. However, for humans, Saturn is the keeper of our memory store, based on real experiences we have had. It's the keeper of those memory banks, personal to all of us as individuals, and the guardian of not overstepping the mark and keeping us safe. Saturn might hold us back and make us cautious when challenged to do something new, but  this can be counterbalanced by Jupiter's adventurous spirit and Mercury's grasp of the facts. 

Saturn is important, and combined with Jupiter and Mercury the three planets working together are fundamental to human intelligence and intellect.


One final thought  on looking for indicators of intelligence in the natal chart - the aspect patterns can offer clues as to how and in what areas of life the individual uses their human intelligence. One of these patterns is called the Ear/Eye or Information triangle, which acts as a sensor picking up all manner of unrelated facts and interesting snippets from the environment, very Mercurial and again AI-like. But in astrological psychology, this aspect pattern relies on being connected to other parts of the chart and other planets. We are, after all, real and not computers!

Suggested reading - Aspect Pattern Astrology and Aspect Patterns in Colour,