Biden’s Big Announcement
No one was particularly surprised when President Joe Biden announced his intention to seek a second term yesterday. He has been hinting at such a move for several months. Also, it would be unusual for any first term president not to go for a second. What might make Biden an exception is the fact that he will turn 82 years old in 2024, but the President and his supporters apparently don’t see that as a problem.
Astrologically, the announcement couldn’t have been better timed. It came just as transiting Jupiter was making a 90 degree square aspect to Biden’s natal Jupiter. Square aspects usually imply action and Jupiter is all about expansion and optimism. Of course, Jupiter in a square aspect can sometimes mean too much optimism and, when we look at what’s coming up in Biden’s horoscope for the second half of 2023, it’s evident that Jupiter’s benefic glow is not going to last. (Click on Joe Biden to see the chart.)
By late May of 2023 Uranus will be moving into a opposition aspect to Joe Biden’s natal Mercury. This aspect will remain within a one or two degree orb for the rest of the year. Uranus aspects are tricky. They always bring surprises. Sometime those surprises and extremely positive, but just as often they are profoundly negative. Trying to figure out which you’re going to get can be very difficult.
We saw an example of this earlier in the Biden administration when Uranus opposed his natal Mars. The first “hit” of this aspect coincided with the passage of the Infrastructure Bill. This will probably be remembered as one of the most significant accomplishments of the Biden’ first term and early on there were significant doubts it would get through the Senate. But it did. That was Uranus being good.
The second opposition of transiting Uranus to Biden’s Mars was different. It coincided with Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. This was a surprise to many people (Uranus) and it was an act of aggression (Mars). More important, it brought about a monumental shift in U.S. foreign policy toward Russia and Eastern Europe in general, and no doubt created a giant headache for Joe Biden. This was Uranus being bad.
The opposition of Uranus to Mercury is not likely to be as warlike, but Mercury does rule negotiation and deal-making. Over the next few months the administration is going to be trying to make a deal to raise the debt limit and avoid a financial disaster. The terms currently offered by Republicans in the House contain several measures that Democrats will find unacceptable so, at the moment, the chances of such a deal don’t look so good.
Of course, we’ve been down this road before. Republicans played the same game of chicken with the Obama administration and, in the end, a sensible solution was found. However, this current crop of Republican representatives seem more interested in Uranian chaos than “sensible solutions.”
And that's just one of the issues that could take a surprising turn in the latter half of 2023. Whether these turns will be good or bad remains to be seen. What also remains to be seen is if this Uranus passage will change Joe Biden’s plans for 2024. The only thing that is certain is that its going to be wild ride.
