2021 USA Inauguration Astrological Conundrum

by Marilyn Muir, LPMAFA

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

January 21, 2021: What happened yesterday? After all the violent problems in the last two weeks, accompanied by extremist threats of more to come, and with astrological patterns that showed the continuation of such problems up to and through yesterday, we actually had a positive inauguration day with minimal violence. I had prayed continually for a positive outcome despite the way the charts appeared, trying to turn the potential of negative into a conciliatory, positive outcome despite what I was seeing in those charts – I’m the eternal optimist.

The existing visible aspects were truly violent, describing what we witnessed on January 6^th in Washington, DC at the protest turned into a riot at the U.S. Capitol Building in the meeting chambers of our Senate and our House of Representatives. Destruction, damage, deaths, injuries, arrests, crimes, and more, at this symbol of our nation with our nation’s 244-year pattern of the peaceful transfer of power every four years. I, along with millions of others, was horrified as I watched. Later that evening after the destructive earlier hours, Congress restarted the electoral vote counting process and over a few hours accomplished what they had set out to do earlier: count the vote, negotiate through the objections, come to a constitutional decision at around 4:00 AM, and we moved past that horrible event.

What has been revealed about the riot over the last two weeks was far worst than the sketchy live videos that played during the riot. Plus, ongoing extremist threats were disquieting as we approached the transfer of political power that we call inauguration. The moment of presidential power passing is written in stone within the Constitution itself – noon, January 20*, the year after an election. At that moment, the power of the sitting president ceases to exist and the power passes to the president-elect, with or without the ceremony of the Oath of Office. George Washington was out of town for his first election and not able to take his oath for six weeks (transportation was quite difficult in 1789).

Just how did we luck out to have no more damage? Was my charting wrong? I asked the Universe… and as usual it responded, literally with revelations from multiple sources. What were the astrological charts saying?

On December 21, 2020, on the Winter Solstice, we had a Grand Conjunction of the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn at 00:29 Aquarius, a 20-year element of or trigger for a 720-year major pattern. Questions about whether this was the starting of the Age of Aquarius abound, and I have already written about that (“Grand Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn”). But this major conjunction was a world stage-setter and sits at the heart of our current lesson. Let’s begin there.

Any world-shaping chart such as a solstice or a major pattern is usually set for the international (00˚) time meridian for Greenwich, England. It would then be relocated for the country or city of choice (in this instance, the U.S. Capitol at Washington, DC). Comparing the two charts would give you the world base plus the local perspective. The winter Solstice and the grand conjunction occurred within about eight hours of one another (rare). The critical degree for the Solstice is 00:00 Capricorn (cardinal). The grand conjunction was at 00:29 Aquarius. For this article we will be following the Washington, DC perspective.

Our natal base for that perspective is the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776, 9:36 AM LMT, Philadelphia, PA, Virgo rising. The three events we will examine for this article are:

the DC protest turned riot on January 6, 2021,
the second impeachment of President Donald J. Trump on January 13, 2021,
and the inaugurations of President Biden and Vice President Harris on January 20, 2021.

A major difficult aspect pattern slowly developed and gained in strength. It began with the Winter Solstice and Grand Conjunction and continued through the events being studied. The Solstices (two) and the Equinoxes (also two) each year are the markers for the entrance of the Sun into cardinal (initiatory) signs. These are frequently used as indicators for the general, political, and climate developing in any localized area using relocation charting. Since the solstice and the grand conjunction charts are the on same day, the changes are mainly those of location within houses. I will focus on the degrees because I do not intend to read specifically for the locality. The degrees are what move, connect, culminate, and move on for our aspecting purposes for this article.

The world has been experiencing two unusual general aspect patterns. We had a boatload of retrogrades in 2020 – more than usual. Unusual ramifications can be our experience. One of those was Mars which does not go retrograde every year. This time it was at home (strong) in Aries, but it was a very long retrograde pattern with a really slow Mars (withheld, but still building power).

If you will look at the charts above, you can see that all ten planets were grouped tightly in about 150˚ of space, between a bundle- and a bowl-shaped chart. By the solstice and grand conjunction, only Uranus was retrograde but Mars was still slow, picking up its speed and getting ready to pounce. If you look at the outside (rim) planets to that planet grouping you will see Venus is direct, tightening the bundle pattern and Uranus is retrograde, also tightening the overall pattern to an even tighter bundle. The pressure in the cooker was mounting. Only the Moon can move fast enough and far enough to alter that bundling, which it did over the next two weeks as it swung outside the bundle, aspecting first one then another of the bundled planets – a build up of energy and activation. There were many happenings that can be charted, but this is an article not a book. There were more than sixty legal challenges and decisions related to the November election, including recounts, certifications, re-votes, threats, etc. Events and public displays stirred up the political crowd into literal frenzies as the aspects and collective energy built themselves.

We move now to the DC protest-turned-riot chart, which is also the chart of the congressional electoral vote count. For research, I have done an extensive timeline of the events of January 6, 2021, but had to choose one chart that I felt best fit the day’s events. I chose 1:10 PM for two main reasons. The urgency of that day was the congressional vote on our electoral process to certify the election, and that commenced with the joint session of Congress for that purpose at 1:10 PM. Although specific orations began around 11:00 AM and the marches (there were more than one) towards the capital building had already begun, President Trump finished speaking at the rally at 1:10 PM as well. The protestors joined at the Capitol and breached the building at 1:10 PM just as Congress started its discussion and voting. It took a very few minutes for the rioters to reach dangerous proximity and Congress shut down. The rest of that day still blares at us from our televisions. 1:10 PM seems pivotal overall, and is therefore my choice.

The chart was tightening as a bundle as the Moon had swung back towards and was gaining on Venus as the ongoing rim planet. The Moon had earlier finished squaring the day’s Sun and was applying to the square of the Pluto / Mercury conjunction near the Midheaven, plus the Midheaven itself, as well as the opposition to Mars at 29:55 Aries as it leaves the sign. Mars here is NOT void of course – it is still active. The Moon went on change signs and to square the Jupiter / Saturn conjunction and oppose the other rim planet, Uranus, which is still retrograde (applying to Mars), tightening the screws on the bundling of energy. Mars has been wide and out of sign conjunct Uranus, but it is applying, picking up speed, and will square first the Grand Conjunction Jupiter / Saturn and then the current position of the pair as it gains on its conjunction to Uranus. This is a powder keg that has found a way and a place to happen!

It is important to point out here that the U.S. Declaration of Independence (D of I) has six natal cardinal placements with aspects that can be triggered. In particular, the D of I Sun is 13:01 Cancer and Saturn 14:48 Libra, both just triggered by the transiting Sun and Moon. Most significantly, the D of I Mercury at 24:20 R Cancer opposes the D of I Pluto 27:33R Capricorn, with the transiting Pluto 24:23 Capricorn on D of I Mercury and transiting Mercury 27:08 Capricorn on D of I Pluto, and the transiting Midheaven triggering all those sensitive degrees leading up to and including the moment of the riot phase. Look at what the 1:10 PM Midheaven does next. First it squares transiting Mars, and within one minute on the day’s clock, it moves into Aquarius and sets off the Saturn/Jupiter square Mars/Uranus. Did you wonder why there was a riot? It cannot get clearer than this. I have a four-page minute-by-minute spreadsheet of events. I could, but I won’t here, do an event-by-event cascade using actual times. Just after that I would have a nervous breakdown and you would as well just from reading it!

Those hard aspects were not finished. And that is why I worried that there would be more violence.

Mars in Taurus (detriment) is not as comfortable as when it is in Aries (dignity) but it had already built up a head of steam (retrograde plus slow forward motion). It would catch up to Saturn (square), then Jupiter (square) then Uranus (conjunction), in that order.
Mercury moves faster so it would also aspect Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and Uranus in that order. Communication was wild and frenzied – hard to keep up with.
This was followed by the Moon doing the same connecting as it travels about a half a sign a day, triggering and re-triggering all of that nonsense.
And then only to be followed by much slower but massive Jupiter. The experience would grow in the telling, forensic study, and retelling. Sound like our experience?

It still did not explain my conundrum. Why wasn’t there more violence during the two weeks between the riot and the inauguration? What was I not seeing? That is when I asked the Universe for help. I just stopped and spoke out loud, “Help me.” And it did. Of course, as I tried to clarify what was happening, I eventually learned that I had one part of the answer sitting on my screen, just waiting for me to wake up.

First the Universe pointed out that I was only looking at one factor, the violence. I had to turn my attention to a wider perspective, and so I did. I was still struggling.
I received an unexpected call from a Native American tribal wise-woman who just happens to be my long-time personal friend, and she revealed more of the pattern on a universal level, dropped into channeling with warning, and told me what was expected of me. Gulp! Back to work, still struggling with part of the story.
Decided to take a mental break and clean up some files… and there was the rest of the answer, sitting on my desktop, waiting for me to wake up. It was a chart, one out of so many, and it filled the hole in my understanding so I could proceed. Thank you, Universe!
Finally, I remembered something I teach regularly and had not applied to this conundrum. Life is a process and not a series of unrelated events.

I have been an astrologer for 47 years, the Scorpio researcher type of astrologer, searching for answers to the Universe. Difficulty doesn’t bother me as I seek answers wherever that leads me. I was so focused on the horror and the violence, I had forgotten to open my vision and allow the chart to teach me. Let me start this part with a common teaching principle of mine. “Every front has a back.” When you are looking at a sign, a house, an aspect, a planet, it is a whole thing. It is not “all good” or “all bad.” It just is, and it is our use of it, our perspective, our personal opinion or interpretation that brings in a judgment of good or bad. Our perhaps unintentional judgment is generally based on our preconditioning. It was right to be horrified by what I saw, but that was not the whole of the picture or the lesson. I inadvertently created a misconception. Sit back, take a deep breath, LOOK at the larger picture, and let it teach you.

Another really important astrological concept was happening here. When we look at life as a series of unrelated events, it is hard to develop a wholeness in what is happening. Life is not a series of unrelated events; life is a process with a past and a future to each inter-related event. There is always that larger picture.

We got to see a weakness in our political system. We got to see another viewpoint, another side to many issues, forcibly. For many years, I have taught my students that the sun sign books tend to only show one side of a sun sign, almost exclusively positive keywords. But each sun sign is a whole thing in and of itself, positive, negative, transpositional at times. I mentioned I am a Scorpio, all of it, not just the parts I like or identify with. I am a student in Scorpio school. Sometimes that is positive, sometimes not so much! To be whole I must be willing to look at ALL of it, and to turn that into a workable, inhabitable personhood. That is what was going wrong in my vision of the horror of January 6^th and the aspects that produced the horror. My vision saw only one side of a complex issue. What was the disease? Acute polarization (seeing one side of an issue) also known as endarkenment. Remedy? Enlightenment.

Look at the human citizenry’s response to the riot itself:

We rallied to our country’s defense and to those who were endangered, hurt or frightened. We called on our better natures to remedy the situation. We also generated heroes!
We picked up the pieces and did the job ahead of us, got it done and went to bed.
The difficult energy still existed. The whole of that emerging energy was not finished until about 4:15 AM January 21^st, the day after the inaugural (final activating lunar aspect).

A lot of positive things went on as well in that period. Our first reaction was who did this and why? We searched for answers. Who was to blame? Who should be punished? What needs to be fixed? How did it get broken? We are talking about a 244-year-old country here. This is not new stuff; it has been here a long time, festering until citizen actions broke it loose. Time to get a good look at it and fix it. We broke through a barrier to our progress. Democracy is a work in process, not a finished thing. Times and needs change, and success depends on our stepping up to face and implement those changes.

We did several successful things:

We quelled the violence. We kept our congressional people and their staff as safe as possible.
We did what we could to help those who were wounded or worse.
We did the job for the day, the official ballot and congressional vote for the incoming presidency. We accomplished that by 4:15 AM within the same 24-hour period. (Moon?)
We searched the archives of the day’s activity and named and rooted out the most violent and responsible and took them off the streets. We are still learning details and there is more to go, but we are pursuing the truth and its consequences.
We threw in another impeachment. Conviction in the Senate is a work in process.
We examined our military and our policing for participation in the riot. And now we are in the process of examining our Congress and staff. Was this embedded, participatory, intentional?
We got through all the threats against our nation and state governments and took steps necessary to stop further violence, with a minimum of violence after the 6^th, threatened but not realized.
We held an inauguration and restored the peaceful transition of power demanded by our Constitution. The new President immediately acted on multiple important issues. As I write this two days later, I marvel at what good has emerged from the chaos. The larger picture.

What was the object on my desktop that I had not recognized as part of my answer? The impeachment itself, the chart for it that got lost in the shuffle of outrageous activity. And what a chart it is. Want to find the midpoint between the riot and the inauguration? January 13, 2021 at 4:42 22 PM EST, Washington, DC. The gavel came down and for the first time in our history, a President was impeached for a second time for complicity. Look at the chart… it is amazing in its simplicity.

Remember the bowl becoming a bundle chart and the outlier Moon moving through the bundled energy. Talk about focus.
The Sun/Pluto conjunction is again on the natal D of I Mercury/Pluto opposition.
Mercury has moved through the early degrees of Aquarius, past the square to Mars/Uranus, with the Moon right on its heels, redoing the same aspects, bringing to a head the early degrees of this difficult aspect pattern.
Uranus itself was at station on the 13^th (impeachment) and direct by the14^th. We changed direction energy-wise and politically.

What was left of that powerful pattern that had been building since the grand conjunction?

Jupiter was still applying to and passing the square to Uranus.
Mars was still slowly applying to the conjunction of Uranus, exact on inauguration day.
And that lovely shining Moon had moved through the bundle of conjunction later that same day, somewhere in the middle of all those celebrations and moved free of that finishing pattern about 4:15 AM on January 21, 2021.
All those positive outcomes revealed the reverse side or alternative to such anger and hostility.

We lived through all of that in the last two weeks. Amazing. Revealing. Let it be for healing. How did the positive influence the outcome? You don’t suppose the millions of people around the country and the world who have been saying prayers for the healing and safety of our country had something to do with the outcome? I know I prayed continually as did so many others I know. Regardless of what side we may stand on, most of us were praying for the same thing, just from different perspectives. Many years ago, I was part of the international prayers for a safe landing of the 1979 Skylab’s uncontrolled descent back into Earth’s atmosphere. It stayed up about seven days longer than scientists had predicted and crash-landed safely in the ocean off Australia. (See “Revisiting History: Skylab” article.) Prayer is formidable, especially when millions are praying together and for common interests. Something to remember.

We cannot let our guard down. There is more than one pattern operating currently that affects or infects our country. But this particular pattern has run its course. We have to be willing to look at who we are, who we have been, what we have done, what we must and will do to live up to a workable concept of Democracy. We have to open our eyes and be willing to see so we can remedy and heal what ails us! We can do this. That is the dream that is the United States of America!

Legend:

Winter Solstice: December 21, 2020, 10:04 AM GMT, London, England

Relocated: December 21, 2020, 5:04 AM EST, Washington, DC

Grand Jupiter/Saturn Conjunction: December 21, 2020, 6:22 PM GMT, London, England

Relocated: December 21, 2020, 1:22 PM EST, Washington, DC

USA Declaration of Independence (DI) Virgo rising natal

Jul 4, 1776, 9:36 AM LMT, Philadelphia, PA

USA DI Virgo rising, diurnal 2021 inauguration

January 20, 2021, 9:36 AM LMT, Philadelphia, PA

USA 2021 Inauguration, power passed constitutionally

January 20, 1021, 12:00 PM EST, Washington, DC

DC protest turned riot, congressional electoral vote