Details of Analysis

    Ancient Astrologers sought to find clues about where things were going for the country by consulting the birth chart of the leader of the nation.  Thus, for the USA, an analysis of the Vedic Astrology chart of Donald J. Trump seems justified. In any case, his birth chart is exceptional in many ways, and makes a good astrology lesson.

    The two main significators of any natal chart are the Ascendant sign and the Moon sign. After that, we have the sign that the planetary ruler of the ascendant occupies. Notice that in Mr. Trump’s chart, all three of these factors (Leo, Scorpio, Taurus) are Fixed Signs, i.e., signs that exhibit strong willpower. This is both a plus, and a curse: strong determination is good for powering on through to the goal, but simultaneously doesn’t allow for much flexibility once the course is set.
    Mr. Trump is Leo Rising. Leo is the sign of Royalty; Leo needs to be in charge, but also to be appreciated, to be acknowledged. Leo grooves on Praise. Leo is a Cat: a cat strategizes, waits for the right moment, and then using the element of Surprise, springs into Action. As Mr. Trump says: “I never show my cards.”
    Note that Mars, the planet of Action, Combat, and Victory, is closely conjunct the Ascendant Degree. Mr. Trump is an Action-oriented Person. And when cooperation is not forthcoming, he quickly resorts to Confrontation, Intimidation, and Force. One of the downsides of Mars in the Ascendant is that Mars wants Fast Results. Mars is Impatient. This easily feeds into the Leo predisposition to take Risks, to take a Gamble. When things don’t go his way, the Mars anger comes up readily.

    In Vedic Astrology Chart analysis, the next most important factor after the rising sign is the Moon’s sign. The Moon is the natural planet of The Emotions. Mr. Trump was born on a Scorpio Full Moon. Being born on a Full Moon amplifies the emotions, making one highly reactive, subject to extremely intense, even overwhelming, emotional responses. The Moon’s placement in the 4th house of the chart emphasizes 4th house meanings, indicating an attachment to Home, Property Ownership, Assets, Security, and Comforts. The Moon is closely conjunct Ketu, one of the eclipse points, which in Vedic Astrology is the connector to Past Life Karma. Ketu further amplifies the Scorpio qualities, and as an eclipse point, it causes distortion to the Moon’s significations.  
    Scorpio is noted for the talent of acquiring Power through forming Alliances. Trump has surrounded himself with a cabinet made up of Billionaires, Generals and CEO’s… i.e., all successful, powerful people. Scorpio also acquires power by appropriating the accomplishments of others; claiming the credit for work done by someone else.
Scorpio is known for other qualities as well. This is the Psychologist of the zodiac, adept at understanding the inner workings of others. Scorpio has extremely powerful Intuition. Trump has often been characterized as operating primarily from his Instincts.

    The Ruler the Ascendant is the significator of Self, of Ego, in the astrology chart. Leo is ruled by the Sun. We find the chart’s Sun up at the top of the chart, in the 10th house of Actions in Public, Status and Position, Profession and Career, Renown, and Notoriety. In this position the Sun picks up a lot of strength for expressing its natural qualities of Authority and Reputation.
    The Sun is in the very materialistic sign Taurus, the sign that wants to see Tangible Results, and associates success with Ownership and Wealth. Since the Sun represents his first house, the house of Self, its placement in Taurus is what impels Mr. Trump to have buildings emblazoned with his name, and to even make his name a Brand, a brand associated with wealth and success.
    Note that his natal Sun is tightly conjunct Rahu and Uranus. Rahu is a significator of Obsession. In the 10th house it gives an obsession with Success, and obsession with Reputation. Uranus is an indicator of Sudden Unexpected Events, of Eccentricity, of Disruption. It’s placement in the 10th house is a real “wild card” adding an element of Unpredictability to Mr. Trump’s actions and success, giving him both amazing accomplishments, and amazing failures.

    The question of Mr. Trump’s rather loose relationship with objective facts has caused a lot of concern. Mercury is the planet of Information, and the Intellect. Interestingly, he does have a strong Mercury: it’s in its own sign, Gemini, indicating a facility with Facts & Data, an ability with Communication, and potentially, a strong intellect. Gemini is the Information Vacuum Cleaner of the zodiac: Gemini sucks up Information and Data, and loves to find the patterns in the apparent Chaos.  But Gemini is not too discriminating where it gets its “facts” from: we know that he watches Cable TV regularly, and frequently quotes unsupported statements he hears spouted by his favorite pundits.
    Mercury is the Communication planet. Gemini is able to intuit the thoughts of others, and then adjust its own expression to fit the needs of the situation. Mercury in Gemini reinforces the natural Gemini characteristics.  In conversation, in interviews, in press conferences, Trump’s mind hops all over the place; he changes the subject rapidly, throwing out ideas, opinions, supposed facts one on top of the other. He responds quickly to any question, and often detours to other topics. This is typical Gemini behavior. Gemini is not known for patience. Gemini needs to communicate its thoughts now. Twitter is a totally made-for-Gemini medium of expression. We now have our first Twitter president.

    One of the mysteries of Trump’s chart is the rather unusual combination of Saturn and Venus in the 12th house. The 12th house is a mysterious sector of the chart. It is the house of Endings and Separation, of Expense and Loss, and the house of the Subconscious and Hidden Things.
    Saturn is the planet of Pressure. Saturn is Harsh Realities. Saturn is an especially negative planet for Leo rising, because it is the bitter enemy of the chart ruler the Sun, as well as being the planetary ruler of the 6th house of Struggle, Difficulty, Enemies, and Litigation. And here it is in the 12th house of Hidden Action and the Subconscious. Saturn is also the planet of Control. The interpretation is that there are hidden Problems, hidden Fears, and even hidden Enemies, with control over Mr. Trump. This explains Trump’s preoccupation with Bad Hombres, Terrorists, Evil Foreigners, in other words, tantamount to paranoia.

    And then there is Venus. As a natural benefic, Venus has a special meaning in the 12th house. Venus is the planet of Pleasures; in the 12th house of hidden actions it indicates Hidden Pleasures. Venus represents Beauty, Luxury, Entertainment, Young Females. Venus is the ruler of Taurus, therefore the chart’s 10th house, the house of Career. Its association with Saturn, the planet of Structure, explains why most of Mr. Trump’s career has been about building Structures for Pleasure, mainly hotels and golf courses. The 12th house is also Unknown People, i.e., The Masses. Venus as ruler of the 10th house of Career in the 12th house = providing Entertainment for the Masses, i.e., Mr. Trump’s TV show, “The Celebrity Apprentice.”
    But then there’s another, more sinister, interpretation of this Saturn-Venus combination. Saturn represents his 6th house of Enemies; Venus is the significator of Advice and Guidance, and therefore Advisors. The 12th house is the house of Hidden Action, and therefore, Conspiracies. Leo, the sign of the King, is naturally vulnerable to betrayal from someone in his court. Here we have the source of Mr. Trump’s downfall: Betrayal by an Advisor. No wonder he is so preoccupied with leaks from within his Administration.

    Now for some of the predictive analysis. In Vedic Astrology’s Vimshottari Dasha system, a.k.a. the Planetary Period system of predictions, Mr. Trump is now in a Jupiter Major Period, a 16 years’ long period, which began for him right around the time of the election. Jupiter is the planet of Expansion, Prosperity and Wealth, Optimism and Opportunity. Jupiter also signifies Beliefs, Wisdom, Morals & Ethics, and Law.
For a Leo Rising chart, by way of its signs Sagittarius and Pisces, Jupiter represents the karma of the 5th house and 8th house. The 5th house is Creativity, Children, Good Past Life Credit, Speculation and Investment. The 8th house is Partner’s Wealth, Financial Arrangements with others, Special Knowledge, Secret Actions, Chronic Problems, Scandal and Humiliation.
In Trump’s chart, Jupiter is positioned in his 2nd house, the house of Family, Personal Finances, Speech, and Values. Thus, He derives his 2nd house Income by way of 5th house Speculation and Investment, and making use of 8th house Other People’s Money. His Children (5th house) influence his Values (2nd house). His children also participate in his moneymaking schemes.
    Upon examining his natal Jupiter, we find, once again, like most of his chart, there’s something exceptional about it. Donald Trump was born on a day when Jupiter was Stationary. That Rx symbol after the glyph of Jupiter means it was retrograde, but not really. Jupiter had just come to the end of a retrograde period, and went back to direct motion later that very day. In other words, it was Motionless in the zodiac on the day he was born. In Astrology, a Stationary planet is considered Exceptionally Powerful.
    Jupiter is the planet of Truth and Beliefs, Confidence and Faith.  A natal Jupiter that is Not Moving means that one’s Truths & Beliefs are Immovable, & Intensely Personal. And if you think of the things he has said, the positions he has taken, and the steadfastness with which he maintains those positions, you start to understand how this stationary Jupiter manifests. Note too that his Jupiter is associated with Neptune, the planet of Dreams and Fantasies, Idealism and Delusion. Combining Neptune with Jupiter results in High Idealism, as well as Delusional Beliefs. And this is happening in his 2nd house of Speech: Trump expresses his fantasies with Conviction, with Certainty. This makes him very appealing to people who are confused, scared, and lacking real facts.
    This Jupiter is key to his recent successful run for president. But, it’s a combination of good & bad: his Jupiter Major Period activates both his 5th house Good Past Life Credit and Investments, as well as his 8th house Financial Arrangements and potential for Scandal & Humiliation. Combining these two sectors of the chart into the 2nd house of Money, we can see (as so many have suspected) it is his Financial Investments that will help to engineer his downfall.  

    Against the backdrop of his Jupiter Dasha, now consider what the transiting planets are doing for the rest of 2017 to get more clues about where things are going.
    During the summer of 2017 Saturn, the Reality-Check planet, moves into position to have a major impact on Donald Trump’s astrology chart. Due to its retrograde period Saturn “backs into” Scorpio in late June. Retrograde Saturn, especially in a sign it doesn’t like to be in, is highly malefic. From this position Saturn is conjunct Mr. Trump’s natal Moon and simultaneously opposing his natal Sun.  At the same time Saturn afflicts the Rahu-Ketu axis, and opposes natal Uranus. Saturn represents The Established Order, which for the President, would probably be Congress. Saturn is also the Established Structure of Rules and Regulations, thus, the Constitution. Due to transitioning from retrograde to direct motion, Saturn is barely moving, hanging out at the end of Scorpio for several months, causing maximum misery for Trump’s natal planets until late October.
    In July, during the midst of the Retrograde Saturn in Scorpio transit, Mars will move into Cancer, Mr. Trump’s 12th house, where it will immediately impact his natal Saturn and natal Venus. One of the traditional interpretations of the planet of Aggression transiting through the 12th house of Hidden Actions is “An Attack From a Hidden Enemy.” Mars in the 12th house of the Subconscious also indicates High Anxiety.
    Then on August 21st there’s a Total Solar Eclipse @ 5 deg Leo, which puts it right in between his natal Mars and Ascendant Degree. Eclipses signal changes in general; if they land on an important point or planet in a personal chart, the eclipse causes some change in that person’s life. The event doesn’t occur on the day of the eclipse, but rather later, when another planet subsequently transits through the eclipse point. And that is what happens: On September 2nd, both Mars and Retrograde Mercury come together, right on 5 deg Leo, right on the eclipse point and simultaneously conjunct Trump’s natal Mars and natal Ascendant Degree. So… Something Happens; likely some sort of Crisis.
    Immediately on the heels of Mars connecting with the Eclipse point in Leo, the Nodes, Rahu and Ketu, change signs. Rahu will move to Cancer, Trump’s 12th house. Ketu enters Capricorn, his 6th house. These points are considered natural malefics in Vedic Astrology. Their effects are strongly karmic in nature, and often show up as events connected to The Past. Rahu entering the 12th house puts emphasis on 12th house themes, such as Endings, Hidden Activities, Conspiracies, and Unresolved Past Karma. This transit position is often associated with Sacrifice. Ketu transiting in the 6th house can bring Mysterious Problems, Diseases, and Enemies from The Past. This is also the house of Service, and The Job. Ketu’s transit indicates constantly Changing Conditions in this area of Trump’s life. The nodes are in these placements for 19 months, until March 2019.
    From the analysis of Donald Trump’s Vedic Astrology Chart we can see that he has unusual karma, creating a destiny for extreme events, both good and bad. The predictive evaluation indicates that 2017 will be a particularly challenging year for the new president.