One of only two Gemini Sun Presidents in U.S. history, Donald J. Trump was born on June 14, 1946 in Queens, New York at 10:54 AM (EST)—the same day of a Total Lunar (Full Blood Moon) Eclipse in Sagittarius. Though there are many aspects of Trump’s birth chart that stand out, the fact of his being born on a Full Moon eclipse is possibly both the most unique yet unsurprising one.
Lunar or Full Moon eclipses symbolize distinct turning points in life and as such are rare moments in time when emotional distress, sudden changes and interpersonal dramatics operate at an all-time high. And what does Donald Trump embody if not all that is unprecedented, unexpected, impulsive and extreme. Speaking of extremes, based on his birth chart, it’s clear right away that “Drama” is this man’s middle name.
Whether his audience be family (read: Father), business associates or public-writ-large, all the world’s a stage to this Gemini Sun, Sagittarius Moon with Leo Rising. Yet the more nuanced question of his chart isn’t whether his audience needs him (hint: they don’t), but he who requires an audience.
The combination of Trump’s Sun and Moon in Mutable signs Gemini and Sagittarius make him a natural salesman, but with no planets in Earth signs to ground him, he lives in something of a fantasy world, easily forgetting (or just not caring) to return favors, keep promises or stay true to his word.
And with Uranus in Gemini at the top of his chart opposite his Sagittarius Moon, his moods are erratic and he’s remarkably untethered and frivolous in his words and actions, unafraid of alienating (or even deliberately threatening) whoever he sees as an enemy or obstacle.
Bold moves and big promises are integral aspects of Trump’s persona; but it’s clear from his birth chart that this isn’t some cultivated facade—it’s who he is at his most basic level. This kind of affectation without artifice can be incredibly appealing at first; but the best actors are those willing to commit to their performances. And whether Trump believes what he says or not, he commits to his performances.
Misdirection is a key component of his strategy, consistently eluding accountability through denial, deflecting blame onto others, or simply talking about anything else rather than answering a question he doesn’t like. Either way, admitting wrongdoing is anathema to him.
But is the public’s appetite for his shock value antics and extravagant rhetoric enough to get him the votes he so desperately needs to win in 2024? And if it is, when is it time for us to stop and confront the fact that buying into his hyperbolic promises and over-the-top rhetoric might be too big of a gamble given Trump’s long history of lying to get what he wants?
The big problem for Donald Trump is his need for constant attention (Moon in Sagittarius). Without the lights, cameras, and feeling of eyes, ears and Tweets upon him, it’s not just that he loses his feeling of relevance—he needs the attention to remind him that he exists. And though he may be a public relations genius and possibly even one of the best campaigners ever, the issue when it comes to Trump is what happens when the cameras shut off and the lights of the courtroom dim. What happens, in other words, when the campaigning (read: promising) part of the act ends and the governing part begins?
Sun + Uranus In Gemini: Theater Of The Absurd
Uranus in Gemini is closely aligned to Trump’s Gemini Sun, both placed at the top of his chart in his 10th house of Career, Status and Public Image. Sun-Uranus folks are known for their oratorical abilities and desire for leadership, and tend to seek positions of authority that allow them maximum independence. Often well-liked, Sun conjunct Uranus has the power to command a crowd not through intellect or strategy, but through an inexplicable personal magnetism: it’s their personality (or, in this case, persona) that attracts people to join their cause.
In the words of Astrologer Charles Carter: “The Sun-Uranus man has a keen and true sense of the dramatic, and may often be a most convincing and powerful orator, there being great reserves of nervous and emotional strength, and a burning zeal.” Zealousness, drama and persuasive promises are certainly hallmarks of Trump’s personal brand, and can be seen in his uncanny ability to mobilize legions of civilian supporters and goad them into action with only a few Twitter posts.
But this is the Sun-Uranus person in a nutshell: undaunted, fanatical and despotic as he may be, his political savvy lies in his ability to embody the collective emotions (read: anger) of the so-called “masses”—to appeal to those who feel neglected and disenfranchised by the current political establishment.
Everybody loves a rebel, especially in America—and Donald Trump knows this. But it’s imperative to ask yourself when dealing with a Sun-Uranus Gemini: what exactly is his cause? Unfortunately the short answer is simple: himself. Yet, to those who feel angry and neglected, the innate rebelliousness and obstinate refusal to abide by the rule of law embodied by Donald Trump makes them feel a camaraderie with him, as his words seem to reflect their own dissatisfaction with a status quo where inflation is through the roof, jobs don’t pay enough and politicians appear more self-interested than ever.
Trump is no fool: he senses this dissatisfaction and knows just how to capitalize on it.
But what the people he appeals to might want to consider heading into this 2024 election year is simply this: can we really trust this man to fulfill the dramatic promises he so often makes? Though there may be no “good” candidate going into November, Trump is a person who is at his core in it for personal gain.
Why? If he doesn’t win this election, he faces legal consequences, financial ruin and even potential jail time; if he wins, he can dismiss all investigations and ongoing criminal cases and, quite literally, pardon himself—something no President has ever done in the history of the U.S.
The point here is that Gemini is infamous for making promises, only to change their minds later. And believing themselves to be “right” regardless of any evidence to the contrary, they’ll ultimately deny having made any such promises, much less admit any wrongdoing, if only to avoid potential consequences to themselves or the integrity of their brand.
But keep in mind: Trump is a Double Mutable (Sun and Moon in Gemini and Sagittarius). And with Uranus in Gemini, the planet of sudden change, upheaval and unpredictability, figuring so strongly in his birth chart, his propensity to manic episodes, fickleness and fits of impulsive rage isn’t conducive to consistency or diplomacy but to catastrophe.
What do I mean by the catastrophe of his Uranus in Gemini? Trump’s manic spending sprees and infidelities of the late 1980s, including two of the most expensive, financially irresponsible real estate deals of his career. In 1988, he bought the Plaza Hotel in New York for over $400 million, only to purchase the Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City for almost $1 billion in borrowed money. Meanwhile, he openly cheats on Ivana with Marla Maples as she was running Trump casinos, including the Castle and the Plaza in Atlantic City, to the point of bringing Marla on the family’s ski trip to Aspen, allowing Marla to confront Ivana on the ski slopes with his infidelity in the cruelest possible way (Venus-Saturn). So to get her away from Marla, Trump buys the Plaza Hotel and puts Ivana in charge, effectively keeping Ivana working for him in New York while continuing his affair with Marla in Atlantic City.
All of this sets the stage for his financial and personal life crises in the early 1990s, when the professional career he’d built in real estate begins to slowly crumble.
By 1991 he was divorced from Ivana, who’d become an integral part of the Trump family business; banks were calling in his loans of over a billion dollars, placing him on the brink of financial ruin and, though bolstered by his Father, he’d alienated lenders, was living almost entirely on borrowed money, had mounting debts, and the Taj Mahal project ended in his filing for bankruptcy, and was only able to generate profit by finally turning Trump Enterprises into a publicly traded company on the NYSE. All of this occurred during his Uranus-Uranus opposition, one of the “mid-life crisis” transits everyone experiences around the ages of 42-44, depending on your birth chart.
For Trump, upheaval and unpredictability are the status quo, and he thrives on the drama of sudden change, chaos and heightened emotions. And with both Uranus and his natal Sun in Gemini falling in his 10th house of Career, Social Status and Public Image, he’s not satisfied unless the dramatics in his personal life are indeed playing out for all the world to see.
Mars + Leo Rising: Born To Perform
One thing to know about Leo is that there’s no one who craves attention (and is willing to put his emotions on center stage to get it) than someone who has both Mars Rising (Mars conjunct Ascendant) and Leo Rising in their birth chart. Leo Ascendants project self-confidence, drama, courage and impulsivity—traits that are only amplified by his Moon in Sagittarius.
But Trump’s overconfidence of Mars and Leo on his Ascendant is a double-edged sword, on the one hand giving them the self-assurance and entitlement to go after what the want, but on the other setting the stage for arrogance and hubris which can lead to self-undoing.
Pride belies the extent to which they become frustrated should they feel their dignity has been insulted, and even the idea of public humiliation or embarrassment—of being laughed at—is intolerable for anyone with planets in Leo/Leo Rising.
Despite this, though, Leo Rising can’t help but move toward the spotlight. Not only do they believe that life is performance, but no matter how magnanimous and even generous they may seem, there’s a deeply unconscious belief that there are ultimately only two kinds of people in the world: the Rulers and the Ruled. And Leo does not take kindly to the idea of being ruled.
The idea of public humiliation or embarrassment—of being laughed at—is intolerable for anyone with planets in Leo/Leo Rising and can be so difficult for them to bear that stewing in it can also be their undoing, causing them to focus so ardently on their “enemies” that they forget the bigger picture. Trump’s predisposition toward self-destruction can be seen in the placement of his natal Mars in Leo, and since Leo is the Zodiac’s most prideful of signs, hubris will be his downfall unless he conducts himself with at least some degree of honesty and discretion.
The thing about honesty, though, is that regardless of the effect it may have on public opinion, its primary drawback for Trump is that honesty typically brings finality to any questionable situation or debate. And there’s nothing a Gemini Sun with Sagittarius Moon loves more than a never ending debate (why do you think the courtroom is his favorite place?). Remember when Trump went on and on demanding that Obama show us all his birth certificate? He got a lot of meaningless publicity from that whole shtick, but once Obama indulged him and produced it, all it did was put a full stop to the conversation and leave Trump looking like an idiot—especially when Obama dished it back to him at the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner.
This goes back to my point about Trump’s birth chart as a whole: what becomes of the performance artist without an audience? He starves, crumples up in a ball, loses his life force and forgets his will to live. That said, what’d happen to him if he did choose one day to “just admit it” in a court of law? The whole performance would be over pretty swiftly, that’s what. And no outcome would be worse for Trump, whether he knows it consciously or not, than having the traveling circus that is his life come to a screeching halt.
The ability to act as a mirror for the frustrations of the “common man” coupled with the compulsive need for attention/to be in the spotlight that dominates Trump’s chart has led him to create something of an inverse of the “Anthony Hopkins v. Hannibal Lecter” effect. Just as many of us could never quite “see” Anthony Hopkins the Actor after his uncannily vivid portrayal of arguably the most terrifying murderer in the history of horror films, Donald Trump the Politician (or even Real Estate Mogul) is still challenging for many of us to take seriously after his creation of a public persona built largely on his portrayal of himself as an Entertainer. In other words, by casting himself in the role of harmless TV host and humorous media personality, Trump was able to successfully elude the public from “catching on” to his more serious ambitions.
And just Anthony Hopkins’ role as the preternaturally intelligent, emotionally manipulative Hannibal Lecter set him up to play a long string of similar roles that came to define much of his acting career, Trump’s positioning of himself in the public eye as the perfect, if paradoxical, combination of Hapless Playboy and Media-Savvy Businessman for nearly three decades set the stage for his fore into a more permanent role in public life as President of the United States. This belief is a hallmark of the Leo Rising person with Mars conjunct Ascendant: if someone plays a certain role long enough, it becomes impossible to see them—or their true intentions—clearly.
Moon In Sagittarius: Freedom V. Dependency
With this in mind, of all the themes and contradictions in his birth chart, the powerful opposition between his Sagittarius Moon and Uranus in Gemini across his 4th and 10th houses, respectively, reveals the central paradox of independence v. dependence that defines him. What I mean by this is that while on the surface he may seem to act independently and completely of his own free will, his existence is in fact heavily dependent on other people, from his Father to Roy Cohn to Ivana and all the other people who made his life possible.
Many so-called successful people are born with the Moon in Sagittarius: business-savvy visionaries, Sagittarius Moon folks are by nature friendly, easily endearing themselves to others. This is especially true in the case of Donald Trump, whose natal Moon not only falls in this gregarious, hyper-social Fire sign, but whose influence is amplified in its supportive alignments with his natal Mars in Leo and Jupiter in Libra, both of which increase his emotional energy, fueling his desire to compulsively build relationships with (and perform for) others.
Jupiter rules the sign of Sagittarius, so when the Sagittarius Moon connects with Jupiter in Libra, abundance comes through close relationships with others. The flip side of this is that the person with a natal Moon-Jupiter combination brings opportunity and provides Trump with connections galore, it signifies a tendency to exaggerate and aggrandize—a trait that can overwhelm people as much as it entertains.
Like a ticker tape parade, it’s simply his nature to share every thought and feeling with the world as it pops into his brain. Sagittarius has many charming qualities and, like its opposite sign of Gemini, is symbolized by the traveling salesman—someone who’s innately gifted at selling their ideas and emotions to whomever they need to in order to turn a profit.
The only issue here is that, with no planets in Earth signs and a weak Saturn, alignments of his Moon with his natal Mars and Jupiter that would otherwise be considered “positive” or “lucky” instead cause him to go overboard in a way that ultimately works against him.
Why? Because despite the supportive alignments between Trump’s Moon, Jupiter and Mars, his Moon-Uranus opposition will always dominate, taking his natural talent for sweet talk, charm and persuasiveness to an extreme that inevitably ends up alienating him from others and turning former friends into foes. For example, he’s likely to lose opportunities gained through relationships simply through talking too much, promising friends and allies the world only to inevitably disappoint them when returns fail to come in.
Trump is a compulsive “over-promiser,” a trait which may gain him a cohort of loyal friends and business partners initially but who, when inevitably let down by his failure to deliver, will eventually tire of giving him second chances. The same is true for his cohort of followers and spectators: eventually, people grow tired of hearing the same story over and over, no matter how entertaining it may be.
We see this playing out now in the media as Donald Trump faces yet another round of litigation in 2024—the same year in which he plans to run for President in yet another attempt to maintain his sense of self by keeping himself eternally in the public eye.
Mercury Square Neptune: Fake New
One of the more notable planetary alignments in Trump’s birth chart involves his natal Mercury, which forms a tense angle to Neptune, planet of confusion and obfuscation. Mercury rules the mind, and represents how an individual thinks, speaks and how they express themselves. Trump’s Mercury is in Cancer, a Water sign, and is placed prominently in his 10th house of reputation, career and public image.
With this placement, his consciousness is dominated not by logic but by sentiment (Cancer), his words act as a mirror for how the public (or at least his audience) feels—a facet of his persona that continues to endear him to his supporters while at the same time leaving others not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
But while it’s true that Trump’s natal Mercury in Cancer in tense alignment to Neptune in Libra indicates a mind prone to deception and deceit, its placement in his 10th house compels him to use sleight of hand, offhand remarks and other sneaky methods to strategically misdirect attention away from himself and onto, well, pretty much anything or anyone else when caught with his hand in the cookie jar, so to speak as, at its most basic level, any tension between one’s natal Mercury and Neptune in the birth chart indicates a slick mind prone to deception.
Of all the planets, Neptune is known as the “dissolver,” putting a fog over reality and blurring the line between fact and fiction. So, when in tense combination with Mercury, Neptune has the effect of dulling the person’s capacity for concentration, clarity and practical thinking. With Mercury in his 10th house of reputation at odds with Neptune in his 2nd house of material wealth, any lies he tells will in the end lead only to confinement and suffering through loss of whatever’s gained.
A tense Mercury-Neptune alignment in the birth chart is like trying to drive with fogged up rear-view mirrors: without an accurate perception of past words and action, how can one move forward safely? In short, they can’t. At least not forever.
Since entering the world of politics, and especially since his criminal and civil trials post-January 6th, Donald Trump has been compared to Hitler in terms of his ability to gain extraordinary personal power by appealing directly to the emotional distress of a nation in a period of prolonged economic crisis. And though such a comparison is not the subject of this analysis, a main source of Trump’s populist appeal among his supporters stems directly from the same uncanny ability to manipulate public opinion to his advantage through propaganda.
To be fair, Trump exhibits an incredible degree of political and media savvy, learning from an early age that “all press is good press,” and using the realization that he could get a lot done with very little effort, simply through leveraging social media to his everlasting advantage. And he’s been incredibly adaptable to the advances of technology, not hiring a team to post for him but using his social media to speak directly to his audience. This is an incredibly effective tactic for gaining not only supporters, but loyal ones.
Like FDR’s WWII-era “fireside chats,” there’s no political tool more effective than to give your audience the feeling that you’re speaking directly to them, having the effect of reassurance—as if the public is hearing not “news,” but words from from a supportive friend, conveniently obscuring that the main purpose is to keep your attention focused solely on them.And like other dictators before him, Trump prefers to stay in the realm of the abstract, presenting himself as a savior who’s the only one with the key to restore America’s “greatness,” but never says much when it comes to the specifics of how he plans to do this.
Consequently, what many of Trump’s supporters fail to see is that he speaks as if he’s prepared to solve such problems, when in fact his only goal is to cast himself as a rebellious yet relatable “everyman,” willing to go up against an elitist establishment he characterizes as uncaring and unfeeling yet is desperate to be a part of. The irony here is overwhelming, because nothing about Donald Trump’s life indicates he knows anything about the day-to-day struggles of economic distress.
Born into privilege, though his father Fred Trump was a somewhat tyrannical figure, he ran a successful real estate enterprise—a business that Donald inherited. Early interviews with Donald Trump depict a young, arrogant heir to fortune, always in a suit, flying on his private plane or attending exclusive events in Manhattan.
This is where his Mercury-Neptune alignment comes in handy for him as, keenly receptive not to what his audience thinks but how they feel, Trump is aware that the bigger the divide he creates between political parties, the likelier his chances are of winning. So this is what he does. By continually convincing his audience that he is the only voice of truth, and that he is the only one who cares about the anger they feel, he’s able to gaslight people through denial and misdirection, effectively advocating for a system wherein he is the sole voice of reason when it comes to articulating society’s problems and what’s to be done to fix them. This undercuts the essence of democracy: if only his voice is the voice of truth and no one else can be trusted, the only possible result is an autocratic style of leadership where only by listening solely to him and rejecting all others can the nation’s problems be solved.
Venus-Saturn In Cancer: Using People
The placement of Saturn in one’s birth chart is of paramount importance in ascertaining how the person views “the rules.” In a larger, more abstract sense, Saturn represents the rule of law; but on a more personal level, Saturn represents the life lessons we’re forced to learn as well as our willingness to do the work it takes to learn these lessons.
Do we learn from the mistakes we make, or do we just, well, keep on making them? To this end, Saturn’s placement in our birth chart signifies our capacity for self-control, responsibility and respect—respect not just for authority or the rules but respect for other people.
Saturn represents lessons we’re supposed to learn in life. In the sign of Cancer, Saturn is in its “detriment,” one of its weakest positions by sign. This is particularly problematic in Donald Trump’s chart, as the prominence of his natal Mars (Impulse), Jupiter (Expansion) and Uranus (Upheaval)—all three of which form alignments to his natal Sun and Moon—signify a level of impulsivity and volatility that requires discipline (Saturn).
Venus, meanwhile, is the planet of Love and Money. So what happens when Venus is conjunct Saturn? On the most basic level, the person will be pushed to learn lessons (Saturn) through experiences involving relationships and finances (Venus). And because Venus-Saturn is in his 11th house of long-term goals and aspirations, he’ll have to face public scrutiny in these areas of life, particularly at the times of his Saturn Return.
Trump is used to breaking the rules when it comes to both Love and Money while somehow managing to get off pretty much scot free. In his adolescence, his Father sent him to military school after he was caught with a knife. While working in real estate, he regularly incurred debts, overcharged for shoddily-built apartments in “luxury” buildings, demanded multimillion dollar tax breaks to build projects in Manhattan, failed to pay employees for their work, and eventually built a casino so expensive that he eventually had to declare bankruptcy. In love, he’s had a similarly tumultuous life, marrying and later undergoing a very public divorce from first wife and business partner Ivana (who he married in 1977, during his 1st Saturn Return), Marla Maples in 1993, which didn’t last long, then finally third wife Melania in 2005 (during his 2nd Saturn Return).
One major turning point that came during his 1st Saturn Return, which occurs from age 28-30, was meeting his future mentor Roy Cohn, who he met at 28: his attorney for years, Cohn was the one who taught him how to use the news media to his advantage by spreading gossip and trading secrets—and who showed him how to evade consequences by never admitting wrongdoing and suing anyone who tried to go against him.
Learning how to use people to get his way is the definition of what it means to have a Venus-Saturn conjunction in Cancer in the 11th house of the birth chart, and, if there are no other forces in the chart to counteract it, the Venus-Saturn person won’t hesitate to take advantage of anyone should the opportunity for personal gain present itself. In short, he doesn’t get what he wants on his own, he looks for every opportunity he can to use others to do his bidding.
Venus in Cancer’s basic need is security, which it seeks instinctively through relationships (in Trump’s case, he’s relied consistently on his father to bail him out of difficulties in business while his father was still alive, on marriage partners to represent his interests and bolster his image, on friends and business associates to keep his secrets) and through material wealth (despite past bankruptcies, appearing as a person who’s able to independently create his own wealth has always been a cornerstone of Trump’s personal brand).
With his Venus in the 11th house and Jupiter in Libra in the 2nd house of his chart, there’s an innate ability to attract friends ready to assist the person in attaining his long-term goals and objectives; however, the prince can easily become a pauper with both placements—particularly if relationships are taken for granted.
The Venus-Saturn conjunction, when placed in the 11th house of the chart, indicates a deep selfishness that inevitably brings the potential for great financial success through others, or the potential for great financial distress through others. If generosity and willingness to give and share what they have with others isn’t actively cultivated in this lifetime, the Venus-Saturn person ends up suffering.
Enter the problem of Venus conjunct Saturn in Cancer: there’s a lack of sensitivity in the person born with Saturn in Cancer, as the person feels they must protect themselves emotionally from others, leading to a profound loneliness in old age should they refuse to accept the test of Saturn in Cancer—namely, to learn the value of taking personal responsibility and empathy for others.
One example of this is the mistaken belief that love or loyalty can be bought, only to realize the superficiality of those relationships if and when money goes out the window. Or, conversely, the Venus-Saturn person may believe that if they give (or appear to give) themselves in love or friendship, that these friends and lovers should then provide him with material (financial) security if needed. In short, the Venus-Saturn person, at worst, uses people, seeing them solely as a means to attaining their own ends.
Mars + Pluto In Leo: Power Drive
A recurring theme in Donald Trump’s chart is his tendency to manipulate or ride roughshod over others in his drive to fulfill personal ambitions. This is due in large part to the placement of his natal Pluto, which falls at 10° of Leo, in his natal 12th house.
For those interested in history, Pluto occupied the sign of Leo from 1939 - 1957, marking a period marred by dictatorship: Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito all rose to the heights of power during this time, operating through similar tactics of populism and propaganda to gain favor by espousing extreme nationalism and relief from economic distress, only to impose radical policies whose sole goal was control once in power.
Put bluntly, those born with Pluto in Leo (especially in the first 10° of Leo) exhibit an unparalleled drive for power. Trump was born with Pluto at 10° of Leo, so his modus operandi is that of an undercover dictator: populist, appealing to disenfranchised groups to garner the support needed to get elected, then dominant and selfish once in power, leaving the people who elected him in the dust.
To use the power of Pluto in Leo for good requires the individual to balance their personal ego drive with respect for the needs of others. But if the person is desperate enough, as Trump seems to be on the road to the 2024 election in November, achieving this balance doesn’t seem likely at this stage in the game.
With his Mars in the sign of Leo, his drive for dominance is only amplified, as the combination of these two planets signals a propensity for violence, rebellion, ruthlessness and cruelty. And with both in his 12th house of secrecy and subterfuge, the depth of his need to occupy a position of power at any cost is obfuscated, as all planets in the 12th house represent parts of ourselves that operate on a hidden, subconscious level.
Mars in the 12th house can be a particularly dangerous placement in a chart like Trump’s, who feels no compunctions about acting out his obsessive-compulsive drive to do whatever it takes to secure his own needs, even if it’s at the expense of others.
So how does such manipulativeness work on so many people? Well, he hides his drive for power from his constituency through his “Everyman” act, while bullying others into doing his bidding behind the scenes, then blaming them publicly if and when things don’t go his way. Case in point: Mike Pence. Once his most trusted political ally, as January 6th neared, Trump didn’t hesitate to take to Twitter and blame Pence for “not getting the job done,” implying it was Pence’s fault for his not getting re-elected despite the fact that Trump simply didn’t get enough votes.
Mars in Leo is dramatic, ambitious, passionate, refuses to take a back seat to anyone, and despite tremendous courage cannot stand to be wrong to the point where he will fight to the death to prove otherwise. Pluto in Leo, as mentioned, cannot stand to be dominated and has an insatiable appetite for power that cannot be quelled. These ruthless, angry energies lie deep in his subconscious, meaning that no matter how powerfully these qualities manifest in his words and actions, they’re to some degree out of his control.
Astrologer Isabel Hickey characterizes the nature of the 12th house perfectly: “Anyone with 12th house planets feels cribbed, cabined and confined by life on earth. It is difficult for him to submit to the rules of the road and to live by those rules. [Therefore,] the enemy lies within.” So it is for Donald Trump: with Mars and Pluto in Leo and his 12th house of Self-Undoing, he continually paints himself into increasingly tight corners, to the point where his future quite literally depends on being elected President in 2024. To say the situation is extreme is possibly the biggest understatement of all time. But here we are—to love or hate him is irrelevant: we’re all members of his captive audience once again, watching and waiting for what he’ll do next as he refuses to live a quiet life outside the spotlight.
Is it his destiny to be in power? Or is it high time he learned his lesson that using others to get what you want only leads to a life of confinement? The reality is that based on his birth chart, unless Trump is forced to learn some kind of lesson about the inevitable downfall of those who exhibit such extreme, unadulterated hubris, even if he wins in November it won’t really be a win.
Sure, it’ll provide him temporary relief from criminal charges and allow him to make yet another great escape from financial trouble, but as Hickey points out, with Mars and Pluto in his 12th house of imprisonment, he’ll only continue living a life completely devoid of any meaningful human relationships. So even if the cage is gilded, the prison of living life alone, in relative obscurity, without news cameras or courtrooms to validate this existence is the ultimate form of confinement for Trump—because, tweet as one might, there’s no way out once the battle is lost.
The lesson of this chart is to mind the gap between the person you are v. the persona you create. Because when one’s ability to perform, attract attention or be recognized becomes the factor that defines your existence, the compulsive need to be in the spotlight quite literally eclipses your capacity for self-awareness & obliterates the possibility of personal growth. If you see people solely as stepping stones to fulfilling personal ambitions, it’s inevitable that the focus of your life will narrow to the point of a myopathy—to the point where the compulsive fulfillment of one’s drive for power ultimately leads you to lose your sense of self & question who you are without cameras & courtrooms—without the stage.
If the spotlight becomes not a novelty but a means of survival, and you place no value on meaningful personal relationships outside the realm of public life? The only logical ending to that story is a life defined not by glory or power but of confinement.