Copyright © by Amir Bey, 1998-2000. All Rights Reserved.

There are numerous birth-charts for the United States, that are the results of speculations and rectifications that yield conflicting maps. Why, there is even a chart for July 2, 1776 (probably done by someone eager to beat the holiday traffic), and another done for a different year entirely! The founding fathers didn’t help matters for future astrologers by not leaving either a document or some testimony stating the precise time for the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Otherwise, all of the remaining charts agree that July 4, 1776 is the D.O.B. of the Grand Republic.

For this discussion, two of the front-runner candidates for the natal chart of the United States will be examined. There is the chart that has 8 degrees 27 minutes Scorpio Ascendant with a Midheaven of 15 degrees 58 minutes Leo, done for 2:21PM, and the chart having 7 degrees 35 minutes Gemini Ascendant with a Midheaven of 13 degrees 57 minutes Aquarius, done for 2:14’55"AM, both at Philadelphia, PA.

In order to draw distinctions between these two maps, we should look at 3 major factors: the Ascendants, Midheavens, and what house or houses the six planet Gemini-Cancer stellium of the United States falls.

The Scorpio Ascendant Chart:

The 1st house of a mundane chart for a nation describes the people of that nation. The Scorpio Ascendant chart indicates a people who are a reticent, close-knit family who may undergo fractures, as there is turbulence beneath the surface of this apparently unitary populace. The history of the people will be marked by turning points that transform the make-up of the nation. There is an alchemical quality to these metamorphosis. These transformations are necessary for the nation’s survival.. The transformation of raw materials would be another manifestation of this sign placement. The closest aspect to the Ascendant is an inconjunction from Uranus, at 8 degrees 55 minutes Gemini. The Ascendant is trine the Sun/Jupiter midpoint, and also receives a trine from Venus, all in Cancer. Uranus’s aspect indicates continual disruptions, as Uranus presents challenges from new social and technological developments. The trines from the Sun/Jupiter midpoint and Venus provide material and intellectual resources from external and collective sources, due to those planets’ 8th and 9th house positions. The Sun, as it is in the 9th, with a wide conjunction with Jupiter, has a moralistic or religious character. There are no planets in the 1st house, yet its ruler, Pluto retrograde, is in the 3rd house and receives an opposition from Mercury retrograde in the 9th house, and a trine from Neptune in the 11th. This opposition stresses the forceful communication of ideas, yet the retrograde motion of these planets suggests a subtle influence, especially with Neptune’s trine/sextile taken into account.

The 10th house of a mundane chart for a nation describes the executive branch of the government of a nation. The Scorpio Ascendant chart has a Leo Midheaven, a sign which describes a monarchy, or the power of a singular personality. Combined with the Scorpio Ascendant, there is the implication of an empire rather than a democracy. As mentioned above, the Midheaven’s ruler, the Sun, has a conjunction with Jupiter, and trines the 1st house, which implies a benevolent relationship with the ruler/government and the populace. Thus, the people’s benefits come at the government’s discretion. The Midheaven has a sextile from Saturn, a semi-square from Venus, and semi-sextile from the Sun. The Sun and Venus aspects are essentially benign, while the Saturn aspect is substantial, as it also squares the Sun, the Midheaven’s ruler. This gives the idea of an austere or conservative government. The square would become prohibitive of certain liberties, except that it has a wide separating trine with Uranus, not a very strong aspect, but one that breaks up the rigidity of the Sun/Saturn square. Both of the horoscopes discussed here have this square.

The Gemini-Cancer stellium straddles the 8th and 9th houses, concentrating itself in the realms of collective resources and ideas. Certainly this is the placement of a country whose material wealth is linked with its partners, and especially with Venus ruling the 7th house cusp, and posited in the 8th. The Sun/Jupiter conjunction on the 9th house cusp with Mercury in that house indicates a nation possessing a philosophy that could border on self-righteousness, particularly when the square from Saturn is considered. Literacy and higher education would be on a significant level. The importance of the law, national and international, would be pronounced. The Moon is in Aquarius in the 4th house, and is the ruler of the Cancer stellium. The Moon would be strong with these factors, yet is void of course, which is not good in an inception chart such as this.

The Gemini Ascendant Chart:

This chart has Uranus within 1 degree, 18 minutes from the Ascendant, with Mars also in the 1st house, in the house’s latter half. Gemini describes a people who are diverse, youthful, mobile, and curious. With Uranus dominating the Ascendant inventions, new social trends, and in Gemini, innovations in various fields including communications, travel, and commerce are likely manifestations. Freedom, a Uranus concept, would be emphasized. Mars’s 1st house position would describe personal liberties, or self-rule. Uranus rules the cusp of the 10th house, and as with the Scorpio chart, the Moon, which is located in the 10th here. This indicates a relationship between the populace and the government, which would be characterized as a constantly changing one. The 5th house Saturn trines the Uranus/Mars midpoint, which channels the restless energy of those that midpoint into more conservative forms of expression. There are possibilities of conflicts between the government (Saturn) and the individual rights described by Uranus/Mars. This is due more to the character of the planets involved, and not to the aspect between them. There are grand trines in air signs involving Mars, Saturn, Moon & Midheaven, and Uranus, Saturn, and Midheaven. There is a distinction between the trines that involve Uranus in one configuration, and Mars in the other. Uranus is the planet of fellowship, discovery, social trends, freedom, and science. In Gemini, it has a circulatory movement, and suggests a populace that is linked through channels of communication. Mars is the planet of personal initiative, machinery, the military, and industry. Mars is pioneering, and assertive. They both indicate an autonomous people, with Uranus describing freedom in a social context, and Mars in an individual context.

The Aquarius Midheaven depicts a government that is determined according to social trends, and with the Moon in the 10th, describes periodic adjustments to a popular government. Uranus and Aquarius are significators of legislative bodies, which implies the executive branch is closely connected to the congress. Because Uranus is the dominant planet of the 1st house, and ruler of the cusp of the 10th, the congress in turn is determined by the people. The Gemini Ascendant government must appeal to the people of this nation, and understand what the social trends are.

The stellium of the Gemini Ascendant chart involves only the sign Cancer, and is mainly in the 2nd house, with Mercury in Cancer in the 3rd. A conjunction of Venus and Jupiter, with a wide conjunction from the Sun with Jupiter in the 2nd house in the most fertile sign describes an extremely wealthy country. With the Moon, ruler of these planets elevated in the 10th, this enormous wealth is a factor in the governing of the nation. The Moon in this chart is not void of course, and its last aspect was a trine to Mars, which is favorable for an inception chart. The square from Saturn to the Sun, along with its role in the grand trine in air, indicates this wealth will not be squandered, and at times will be conserved for practical use.

Of these two charts, I favor the Gemini Ascendant chart although I admit I haven’t followed the Scorpio chart as closely through the years. I am basing my opinion on the description it yields for the people and government of this country, and the how the stellium in the 2nd house indicates the United States’ extraordinary wealth, and progressed and transiting aspects. I cannot imagine an astrological map that fits its subject so well: America’s inventiveness (Uranus in Gemini in the 1st) airplanes and air travel, the telephone, highways, television; its popularly elected government (Moon in the 10th in Aquarius) which even signifies the Electoral College by showing the relationship between the legislative body and the executive branch.

The Scorpio chart is not without foundation. The description it offers with the U.S. Sun conjunct Jupiter in the 9th does fit this country’s tendency to preach to the world, and with the Moon in the 4th, there is an indication of this country’s international appeal, and of resultant immigration.

There are affinities between these two charts, and it is likely that you will find some affinities between any two charts that are approximately 12 hours apart. For example, both charts have the ruler of the 1st house in the 3rd, emphasizing travel and communications, yet there is a difference between retrograde Pluto in Capricorn with Capricorn on the 3rd house cusp, and a retrograde Mercury in Cancer conjoining the 3rd house cusp. The former would project power, the latter flexible communication. America does exert influence through its media and world view, which could also be manifested by the 9th house Pluto of the Gemini chart. As mentioned above, the Sun of the Scorpio chart in the 9th house conjunct Jupiter denotes a nation that preaches morality to the world, but so would Sagittarius on the 7th of the Gemini chart, with the same Jupiter conjunction with the Sun.

Progressions and Transits:

Finally, the proof is in the progressions and transits. For an explanation of the United Parcel Service strike of the summer of 1997, the inconjunct aspect from transiting Mercury in Virgo to a retrograde transiting Uranus in Aquarius seems to be an important factor. I say seems because I do not have any data for UPS at this time, and I don’t have information on events of the days preceding the strike. Uranus has a connection with strikes, and combining that planet with Mercury in Virgo the sign of labor, in an inconjunct aspect would upset the regular functions of labor and of delivery services. This transiting aspect occurred on August 1st, and therefore should have had some influence for the affairs this combination governs for the month of August. Both planets were also in signs of their rulership, giving this combination even more significance.

It should be noted that on August 1st 1997, Mercury, which was at 6 degrees 35 minutes when the Mercury/Uranus inconjunct aspect was exact. Thus Mercury began an applying square to the US natal chart’s Ascendant using the Gemini Ascendant chart of 7 degrees 35 minutes Gemini (Gemini- mail, communication). The transiting Sun began approaching a conjunction to the US’s natal IC cusp (13 degrees 57 minutes Leo) on the day that the strike began (August 4th), indicating the domestic influence of the strike. Mercury also exactly squared the US’s progressed Ascendant for August 1st, which was at 6 degrees 30 minutes Sagittarius on that day! The US’s natal basis for the strike can be found in natal Uranus’s conjunction with the Ascendant and the two planets in question, Mercury and Uranus, were originally in a semi-square.

Looking at the Gulf War, Astro*cart*ography reveals an interesting distinction between these two charts. Both maps have a Mars line running through Kuwait and Iraq. The Scorpio map has a Mars IC line, while the Gemini map has a Mars MC line in the same area. President Bush’s natal Sun conjoins the natal Mars of the United States, which illustrates his role as the architect and leader of that operation. Which Mars describes that action most appropriately, a 4th house Mars, or a 10th house Mars? Domestic activities are in the domain of the 4th house, yet this was not a domestic war for the United States. Remember, the necessity of United States involvement was debated by many. This was undoubtedly a 10th house activity, as it had to do with United States Prestige, with the United States promoting "New World Order."

Observations For The Future:

Natal Uranus conjoined the 1st house cusp, ruler of the Moon, and the 10th house cusp of the Gemini chart. Transiting Uranus will enter the 10th house of that chart on February 22, 1999. This could indicate a crisis in government, or the government will have to be ready to make adjustments because of unusual circumstances. Uranus the ruler 10th, conjunct the 1st and transiting the 10th would be an indication of a new development in the participation of the citizenry in governmental affairs. This aspect will be in effect from February 5 through March 13 of that year. Uranus will make another pass on August 30, 1999, with the aspect forming on August 4 and lasting through October 8. It will make its final pass on December 13, with the aspect forming on November 5 and will run through January 4, 2000. Uranus will be approaching this point during May of 1998, but goes retrograde on May 17 before it will be within orb of aspect.

For the Scorpio Ascendant horoscope, Uranus was in the 8th house, ruler of the Moon, and of the cusp of the 4th. It was in a separating inconjunction with the Ascendant, semi-square Mercury, and has a wide trine to Neptune. Uranus will enter this horoscope’s 4th house on April 6, 1999. This indicates changes in domestic areas, influencing immigration, labor, and further technological advances effecting home-life. Old ways of families’ living and relating will be tested. Privacy may give way to wider forms of socializing. Natal Uranus’s conjunction with the 8th house and rulership of the 4th house, and the Moon (and the Moon’s of the 9th and Jupiter) indicate effects from America’s trading partners on the economy of the nation. The aspect will first form on April 2, 1999, and last until August 4. This will be a significant pass, as Uranus will be stationary (May 21) while still in aspect. It will make its final pass beginning December 31, 1999, be exact on January 23rd, 2000, and last through February 9, 2000.

It shouldn’t be forgotten that both charts will also have a conjunction by Uranus to their natal Moons. These conjunctions will be more revealing than the house cusp transits discussed above because there will be a greater separation of time between their occurrences due to the 7 degrees, 17 minutes of arc between their positions. The dates for Uranus’s conjunctions with them are as follows:

The Gemini chart will enter aspect on February 11, 2000, exact on March 2, through March 21, 2000. Its next pass, while retrograde, will be August 2, 2000, exact on August 28, through September 29, 2000. Its final pass will be on November 22, 2000, exact on December 22, through January 12, 2001. Because the Moon is in the 10th house here, the effect will manifest in the public and governmental arena, and because of the Moon’s rulership of the 2nd house, there will be economic repercussions.

The Scorpio chart will enter aspect on April 30, 2001, will go retrograde while still in aspect until exiting on June 29, 2001. It will re-enter aspect on February 8, 2002, exact on February 25, through March 15, 2002. Because the Moon is in the 4th house here, the domestic situation will influence the United States’s international relations and philosophy, due to the Moon’s rulership of the 9th house.

For both charts there is the implication that the usual fashion of tending to the affairs of these houses will be challenged, or adjustments will be necessary. Innovation, emancipation, and renewal will be positive results, while reversals, unrest, incompatibility with reforms are negative possibilities.

When mundane research is done for entities such as countries, cities, or corporations, one chart will not give a complete picture for them, no more than a natal chart is sufficient to have a full scope of an individual’s chart. There are many stages in a nation’s development, and it is useful to take charts for those times into consideration. In this case, the chart for the Declaration of Independence, which would be the chart for this country’s inception, its natal chart, does not have a recorded time. There are reliable times for other phases of this country’s history that yield revealing insights.

Because the charts are rectifications, I did not explore the subtleties of the Sabian Symbols here because the differences between the effects of the three factors used, the Ascendant, Midheaven, and the position of the Gemini-Cancer stellium can be observed with more certainty.

Interested readers should look up John Worsdale’s (1766-1828) Astronomy And Elementary Philosophy (1819). He gives the opinion that the "elevated and dignified" positions of the planets at the time of American independence "most clearly forebode, that the time will arrive, when THAT EMPIRE shall give laws to all Nations, and establish FREEDOM and LIBERTY in every part of the habitable Globe." Worsdale was an English astrologer/astronomer. I came across this while reading Patrick Curry’s Prophecy And Power: Astrology In Early Modern England, Princeton University Press, 1989. Mr. Curry is thorough in his research, and this inspiring book illustrates the power and prevalence of astrologers and their craft in 17th - 18th Century England. At present, I have been able to locate only two copies of Worsdale’s book, one at Harvard, the other at Northwestern University in Chicago. Neither library will copy this book, due to its fragility.