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Planet Neptune and the Modern US Presidents: Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama
By Suzanne Angioli Balboa Press
Copyright © 2016 Suzanne Angioli
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5043-5181-2
CHAPTER 1
Neptune Keywords Associated with the Modern Presidents
acting, advertising, alcohol, ambiguous, amorphous, art, bliss, blur, cast a spell, chameleon, charisma, charm, celebrity, compassion, confusion, daydreaming, deception, delusional, dissolving, the divine, dreams, drugs, egoless, elusiveness, empathy, enchantment, escapism, evasiveness, fake, fame, fantasy, fascination, film, fog, flattery and glad-handing, formless, fuse, fuzzy, ghosts, God-like, glamour and glitz, guru, heaven, Hollywood, humanitarianism that is global and universal, idealism, idealistic, idealize, idol, idolize, idyllic, illusion, image, imagination, imitator, infiltration of people and space, inspiring, intoxicated, intuition, intuitive, lack of boundaries, liquid, magic, media (all kinds), merge into one, messiah, mimicry, miracles, movies, music, mystical, mythology, naiveté, narcissistic, nebulous, non-reality, the ocean, oneness, oneness with humanity and oneness with the common man, outer space, painting (art), permeable boundaries, photography, poetry, porous boundaries, prescience, psychic, redemption, retreat, religious, romantic, rosy outlook (seeing world through rose colored glasses), sacrifice, salvation, sea, seduction, sensitive, spiritual, sponge, soulful, stage, subconscious, tears, television, theater, unitive, universality, unrealistic, vagueness, waffling.
Sun-Neptune Aspect Themes and the Modern Presidents
The Sun symbolizes one's basic identity and with the aspects it makes to the other planets it defines one's basic personality and how one attempts to shine (Sun) as a unique individual. The Sun also symbolizes the father so attributes assigned to the Sun can also reflect one's father. With the Sun-Neptune aspect as it relates to the Presidents, these are just some of the themes I found to a greater or lesser degree that are reflective of their Sun-Neptune aspect: physically or emotionally absent fathers — this is in line with Jonathan Alter's observation as noted in the introduction — alcoholic fathers (a few Presidents had drinking problems themselves); fear of failure with the corresponding fear that they would end up a "Nobody"; fathers who were sick, weak, or failures; belief that they and/or their father are victims; wishing to redeem self and/or father; idealistic, big dreamers; confusion about their identity and fear that they may lack a real identity or have no true identity; lives spent striving to become a "Somebody"; inflation of self and feelings of self importance; idealization of the father; narcissistic; heightened sense of self importance and the wish to inflate and elevate their standing in the world; sense that they are special or want to be special; glamorize identity and the self; ability to merge or infiltrate any group and at their core hard to know since they are chameleons changing identities to fit with the situation or event at hand; self-sabotage at various times in their lives; kinship with the "common man" or "Everyman" and the masses; self-delusional; engaging in escapist activities; religious tendencies; see themselves as mythical heroes; celebrity identity, actor, entertainer/performer; artist/painter, musician, poet; storyteller, charmer, flatterer; imitator, martyr, global peacemaker, missionary, populist, savior, rescuer, uniter.
Aspect and Orb of All Sun-Neptune Presidents
This chart indicates the aspect and orb for those Presidents with a Sun- Neptune aspect. Aspects used: conjunction, semi-square, sextile, square, trine, sesquiquadrate, quincunx, and opposition. The novile aspect for Bill Clinton was used. The semi-square, sesquiquadrate and quincunx were used if the orb was less than 3 degrees. Based on birth dates from Astro- databank: www.astro.com/astro-databank.
1. George Washington
2. John Adams
3. Thomas Jefferson
4. James Madison
Trine: orb: 0:55
5. James Monroe
Square: orb: 4:38
6. John Quincy Adams
Semi-square: orb: 0:40
7. Andrew Jackson
8. Martin Van Buren
Sextile: orb: 3:55
9. William Harrison
Quincunx: wide orb: 3:38
10. John Tyler
11. James Polk
Conjunction: orb: 4:02
12. Zachary Taylor
13. Millard Fillmore
Sextile: orb: 0:14
14. Franklin Pierce
Conjunction: orb: 5:22
15. James Buchanan
Opposition: orb: 7:14
16. Abraham Lincoln
17. Andrew Johnson
18. Ulysses Grant
Trine: orb: 1:28
19. Rutherford Hayes
Square: orb: 8:43
20. James Garfield
Sextile: orb: 3:29
21. Chester Arthur
Square: orb: 5:53
22. Grover Cleveland
23. Benjamin Harrison Quincunx: orb: 0:11
24. Grover Cleveland
25. William McKinley
Conjunction: orb: 8:54
26. Theodore Roosevelt
27. William Taft
Opposition: orb: 1:54
28. Woodrow Wilson
29. Warren Harding
Quincunx: orb: 2:06
30. Calvin Coolidge
31. Herbert Hoover
32. Franklin Roosevelt Square: orb: 2:39
33. Harry Truman
Conjunction: orb: 2:02
34. Dwight Eisenhower Sesquiquadrate: orb: 0:09
35. John Kennedy
Sextile: orb: 5:10
36. Lyndon Johnson
Semi-square: orb: 2:25
37. Richard Nixon
Opposition: orb: 5:22
38. Gerald Ford
Conjunction: orb: 4:21
39. Jimmy Carter
Semi-square: orb: 1:16
40. Ronald Reagan
Quincunx: orb: 2:57
41. George H.W. Bush
Sextile: orb: 3:14
42. Bill Clinton
Novile: orb: 0:51
43. George W. Bush
Square: orb: 7:50
44. Barack Obama
Square: orb: 3:57
Other Planetary Aspects and the Modern Presidents
Other planetary aspects made by the Suns of the thirteen Presidents of this writing in addition to the Sun-Neptune aspect. Aspects used are the conjunction, semi-square, sextile, square, trine, sesquiquadrate, quincunx and opposition. The Moon is not used since some of the Presidents do not have an exact time of birth.
Sun-Mercury (Sun with Mercury can only make a conjunction)
Lyndon Johnson Conjunction: Orb: 6:35
Sun-Venus (Sun with Venus can only make the conjunction and semi-square)
Franklin Roosevelt
Conjunction: Orb: 5:05
Harry Truman
Semi-square: Orb: 0:19
Dwight Eisenhower
Semi-square: Orb: 0:25
John Kennedy
Conjunction: Orb: 8:54
Lyndon Johnson
Semi-square: Orb: 0:35
Richard Nixon
Semi-square: Orb: 0:55
Gerald Ford
Semi-square: Orb: 0:19
Jimmy Carter
Semi-square: Orb: 0:16
Bill Clinton
Semi-square: Orb: 0:07
Sun-Mars
Franklin Roosevelt
Sesquiquadrate: Orb: 0:52
Harry Truman
Square: Orb: 1:27
Dwight Eisenhower
Square: Orb: 7:25
Lyndon Johnson
Conjunction: Orb: 1:43
Gerald Ford
Sextile: Orb: 1:38
Jimmy Carter
Sesquiquadrate: Orb: 2:49
Ronald Reagan
Semi-square: Orb: 2:28
George H.W. Bush, Sr. Trine: Orb: 4:06
George W. Bush, Jr.
Sextile: Orb: 4:28
Sun-Jupiter
Franklin Roosevelt
Square: Orb: 5:48
Lyndon Johnson
Conjunction: Orb: 7:11
Gerald Ford
Opposition: Orb: 9:22
Jimmy Carter
Sextile: Wide Orb: 6:22
Ronald Reagan
Square: Orb: 2:47
George H.W. Bush, Sr. Opposition: Orb: 7:10
George W. Bush, Jr.
Square: Orb: 4:22
Bill Clinton
Sextile: Orb 2:47
Sun-Saturn
Franklin Roosevelt
Square: Orb: 5:03
George H.W. Bush, Sr. Trine: Orb: 4:28
Sun-Uranus
Harry Truman
Trine: Orb: 5:34
Dwight Eisenhower
Conjunction: Orb: 5:22
George H.W. Bush, Sr. Square: Orb: 0:04
Bill Clinton
Sextile: Orb: 4:51
Sun-Pluto
Dwight Eisenhower
Sesquiquadrate: Orb: 1:19
Jimmy Carter
Square: Orb: 5:28
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
32nd President
Presidency from March 4, 1933 - April 12, 1945
Born January 30, 1882, 8:45 P.M., Hyde Park, New York (Rodden Rating AA)
Sun square Neptune
Venus square Neptune
Mars semi-square Neptune
Jupiter conjunct Neptune
Saturn conjunct Neptune
Uranus trine Neptune
Aspects between Roosevelt's natal chart and natal chart of US:
His Moon conjuncts US Sun, Jupiter and Venus
His Mercury exactly conjuncts US Moon
His Mars conjuncts US Mars
His Uranus conjuncts US Neptune
His Ascendant forms a tight conjunction with US Neptune
President Roosevelt is one of the giants in the pantheon of US Presidents, consistently ranking among the top three Presidents to ever serve the United States. His presidency is particularly interesting in the context of this writing since he was President when the US had its first and only Neptune return (Neptune returning to its natal position) since it became a nation. This return was exact for the first time in 1938. Moreover, both Roosevelt's private and public lives were imbued with many motifs associated with the archetypal complex of the planet Neptune.
Roosevelt was born into wealth that stemmed from both sides of his family. Opium (drugs are always associated with Neptune) was a chief commodity for his mother's family, and the West Indian sugar trade, real estate and other investments brought wealth to his father's family. He had a happy childhood and especially loved sailing the Atlantic during the family's annual trips to Europe, which often lasted for months. He also enjoyed sailing around Campobello, the family's summer retreat, with his father. He was particularly fascinated by the sea (Neptune), and by sailing, and spent hours reading about boats and the adventures of various mariners.
His mother came from an adventurous seafaring family, and Roosevelt often spoke of her long sea voyage to China. Water (Neptune) and sailing (Neptune) played an important role in his life story (Sun square Neptune), water and the ocean (Neptune) always symbolic of Neptune's permeable and dissolving qualities.
Private tutors were procured for him until he entered Groton, a private boarding school, when he was fourteen. His many boyhood travels were the reason he was so fluent in French and proficient in German. During his youth, Roosevelt spent almost as much time in Europe as he spent in the United States. When he was born, his father, James, was already in his mid-fifties, and when Franklin was eight, in 1890, he had a mild heart attack. James played with him as much as he could and taught him how to sail, but after his heart attack he gradually grew too frail to participate in a lot of activities with his young son.
In their annual travels to Europe, the family often went to the spas (Neptune) in Germany and France renowned for their curative powers, hoping to heal the elder Roosevelt. In December, 1900, when Franklin was eighteen and a freshman at Harvard, his father died. Roosevelt's Sun square Saturn-Neptune is symbolic of the frail (Neptune), sickly (Neptune), old (Saturn) father (Sun) who was not completely available to him in his youth.
When his father died, transit Neptune was in the tenth house of FDR's natal chart forming a conjunction with his natal Mars. The fourth and tenth houses are symbolic of the parents — some astrologers assign the tenth to the mother and the fourth to the father, and other astrologers assign the tenth to the father and the fourth to the mother. Neptune transiting the tenth house at this time not only suggests the loss of Roosevelt's father but also his confusion and malaise concerning his future, feelings perhaps to be expected of a college freshman but made even more poignant because Neptune was transiting in his tenth house of career and status, and his father had just died.
After graduating from Harvard in 1904, Franklin entered law school at Columbia University. He failed to complete law school — dropping out in the middle of his third year — but he still passed the New York State bar. He practiced law briefly, but it didn't hold his interest for long. Young Frank was rather bored with the law profession and told his fellow law school clerks at one point that he wanted to get into politics as soon as he could, that he thought he could actually be President someday. Apparently, he had his route to the White House all mapped out. His goals were to first win a seat in the New York State Assembly, then an appointment as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and then get elected to the governorship of the State of New York. His plans drew heavily from the route taken by his cousin, President Theodore Roosevelt. With his natal Mars in the tenth house — the tenth house symbolic of one's career and standing in the world — he probably needed a career that was exciting and action-packed. Politics at this time probably seemed very glamorous (Neptune) to him as transit Neptune was transiting his tenth house of career.
While transit Neptune was still in Franklin's natal tenth house and approaching the conjunction to his natal Moon in 1903, when he was still at Harvard, he fell in love with his distant cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt, who was the niece of President Theodore Roosevelt. They married in March, 1905, as transit Neptune made a very tight conjunction (one degree from exactitude) to his natal Moon (wife). This marriage glamorized (Neptune) politics for him even more since it gave him the opportunity to pay a number of visits to the White House while Theodore Roosevelt ruled the country.
When he and Eleanor took a second honeymoon to Europe during the summer break between his first and second year of law school, they visited a clairvoyant in Paris. Franklin wrote his mother about this experience and reported, "I am to be President of the U.S. or the Equitable, I couldn't make out which."
FDR's dream of entering politics was realized in November, 1910, when he was elected to the State Senate in New York. Roosevelt proved to have a gift for the art of campaigning, displaying confidence and self -assurance, perhaps in part due to his status as a member of the wealthy, aristocratic, New York elite. Jean Edward Smith writes, "FDR was having the time of his life. Nothing seemed to lessen his enthusiasm for jumping into a crowd, pumping hands, and making friends." One constituent described him as a "top-notch salesman." The biographer H.W. Brands wrote that Roosevelt "had no special qualifications for office; he brought no compelling new ideas to the campaign; he had little in common with most of the voters of his district; he utterly lacked elective experience. But he had that something — that sincerity, that charisma [Neptune] — that caused people to respond." Brands also quotes a feature writer from the New York Times who was profiling FDR. The reporter quoted wrote that in Roosevelt one "saw a young man with the finely-chiseled face of a Roman patrician, only with a ruddier glow of health upon it. He is tall and lithe. With his handsome face and his form of supple strength he could make a fortune on the stage [Neptune]."
These descriptions of FDR are symbolized in his natal birth chart. His natal Sun-Venus conjunction in the fifth house of fun and games suggests that campaigning and politics were fun for him, fun in the sense that politics and campaigning are, at their most basic, a form of game playing.
Roosevelt's Sun square Jupiter and Neptune are indicative of the larger (Jupiter) than life, charismatic (Neptune), mythical (Neptune), and god-like (Neptune) qualities that were attributed to his character. As in theatre (Neptune), there was mutual suspension of disbelief between the performer, FDR, and the audience, his constituents (fifth house Sun is associated with the archetype of the performer, a natural trait of the Sun wanting to show off its specialness, and in astrology the fifth house is considered the ultimate placement for the Sun as the Sun rules the natural fifth house).
Like an actor upon the stage, Neptune has the ability to create illusions and deceptions. Like many with Sun square Jupiter, Franklin had a knack for exaggeration both in his personal and professional lives. Jupiter enlarges whatever it touches and is known for its "salesmanship" ability, including the potential to oversell a person or product through some form of exaggeration when in a hard aspect with the Sun. Adding Neptune to the mix brings the potential for deception (Neptune) and illusion (Neptune), or at least the ability to create an image (Neptune), whether the image created is true or false or somewhere in-between. Of course, exaggeration and deception do not necessarily illicit bad outcomes if they are used as tools to obtain noble goals. Franklin would indeed use these tools when he became President, but in the early stages of his political career, some thought of him as a rather snobbish aristocrat who was arrogant, superficial and somewhat of a dilettante.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Planet Neptune and the Modern US Presidents: Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama by Suzanne Angioli. Copyright © 2016 Suzanne Angioli. Excerpted by permission of Balboa Press.
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