The
Birth Time of Barack Obama
Published June 20, 2008.
History
As the
year 2008 began, a reported birth time of 1:06 PM was
provided by Fran McEvoy to Astrodatabank who said ‘she
couldn’t remember who gave it to her. She said that the
person reportedly obtained the time from Obama and
wished to remain anonymous.’[1]
Fast
forward to May 15, 2008 when Joni Patry made a dramatic
announcement at the opening ceremony for the United
Astrology Conference that Obama was born at 7:11 PM.
Patry ‘said she obtained it from a client who works for
the Obama campaign. She in turn obtained it from a
“campaign manager” who accessed the data through a
closed-access government database.’[2]
The plot
thickened when rumors began to circulate concerning
Obama’s heritage. Jim Geraghty of the National
Review challenged the blog Daily Kos to produce
Obama’s birth certificate in order to squash rumors that
Obama was born in Kenya (making him ineligible to run
for the office of the Presidency) and that Obama’s
middle name was ‘Muhammad’ not ‘Hussein’ (with potential
to further inflame rumors that Obama is a Muslim, not a
Christian.)
Daily
Kos did so on June 12. One day later the birth
certificate was available directly through Obama’s
official campaign website. Stated birth time: 7:24 PM
Rectification
Compare
the stated birth time of 7:24 PM to three different
rectifications.
In
Working Paper #1 published on November 20, 2007, I
proposed a rectified time of 7:54:28 PM, with methods
fully disclosed in my book: A Rectification Manual.
Separately, two Vedic astrologers proposed slightly
earlier birth times in posts on the Mundane Astrology
Yahoo group. On March 2, 2008, Ron Day proposed 14
Capricorn (sidereal zodiac), or 6:49:25 PM. On April
18, 2008, Ron Gaunt proposed a similar time of 6:56:43
PM. All three rectifications yield Aquarius rising in
the tropical zodiac.
Mercury as the Astrologer
Before
giving a brief update here, let me make an important
observation about what the discovery of Obama’s birth
certificate tells us as about astrology and
astrologers.
In
medieval astrology, Mercury signifies all things written
including astrology. For Obama, Mercury is in the sign
of Leo and moves quickly towards the Sun as a morning
star. What does this tell us? Mercury under the
sunbeams is considered a debility by medieval astrology
because planets under the sunbeams are ‘blinded by the
light’ and lose proper function. Two things mitigate
this condition for Obama: (1) Mercury is in the bound
of Jupiter; and (2) Mercury falls in the same sign as
the Sun which rules Mercury.
As
astrologers attempting to recover the birth time (either
directly through receipt of the birth certificate or
indirectly through rectification), what does Mercury’s
condition tell us about Obama’s birth certificate as a
written document?
Consider
Fran McEnvoy’s 1:06 PM time: she could not remember the
name of the individual who provided the time who
requested to remain anonymous in any case.
Consider
Joni Patry’s 7:11 PM time: this was obtained third hand
from a secret database which could not be independently
confirmed.
In both
cases, the secrecy involved confirms the debility of
Mercury under the sunbeams as ‘blinded by the light’
which makes Mercury’s actions hidden.
The
photograph of the recovered 7:24 PM birth certificate
raised some questions as well because it was evidently a
copy made in 2007. But the format is a common type for
copies of birth certificates in the state of Hawaii.
Still, it was a copy and not the original.
Now
consider the interchange between Daily Kos and the
National Review over rumors of Obama’s heritage which
triggered disclosure of the birth certificate. An
important concept in medieval astrology is a planet’s
ruler is both the source and outcome of a planet’s
effects, an adaptation of the Aristotelian form-matter
paradigm. In this example, Mercury rules the Moon.
Moon/Gemini signifies rumors and gossip about heritage
because the Moon’s placement in the 4th house
of father, ancestry, and homeland ties the Gemini Moon’s
need for information to 4th house affairs.
Mercury/Leo is one significator of Obama’s favorable
press in the blogger community (and elsewhere including
the astrology community) because Mercury’s placement in
Leo adds the optimism of Leo, doubly emphasized because
Mercury is received by the Sun.
In my
opinion, Obama’s favorable media publicity (media as
Mercury/Leo) caused political opponents to start rumors
about his heritage in attempted smear campaign (rumors
as Moon/Gemini) which in turn were squashed with
publication of Obama’s birth certificate (astrology as
Mercury/Leo).
The fact
that the Gemini Moon was interested in 4th
house affairs (ancestry, heritage, homeland) and not 3rd
house affairs is another event which confirms the
general configuration of Obama’s chart based on the
7:54:28 PM rectification because in only this later
proposed time does the Gemini Moon fall near the 4th
house cusp. In both 7:11 PM and 7:24 PM birth times,
the 4th house is Taurus, not Gemini. And no
matter what time is used, Taurus falls on the 4th
using whole sign houses.
Finally
a comment about what Mercury tells us about
astrologers. Mercury in the sign of Leo is optimistic,
especially here because Mercury is received by the Sun.
However, just as Mercury’s placement under the sunbeams
created problems for uncovering Obama’s birth
certificate, so too does it pose problems for
astrologers. Mercury’s weakness means that astrologers
are also ‘blinded by the light’ in their optimism for
Obama’s fame and will bias their predictions
accordingly. This is something that needs to be
watched.
Out
of Sample Tests
For many
astrologers, production of a birth certificate copy with
a time of 7:24 PM is sufficient to settle the debate.
For myself, whether a natal birth time originates from a
birth certificate or a rectification, it requires out of
sample tests to confirm.
On April
2, 2008, I published two out of sample tests on my
rectified birth time of 7:54:28 PM on this site. I
compared dynamic activity to relevant Arabic Parts for
the resignation of Obama’s foreign policy advisor
Samantha Power and for the Rev. Wright fracas. To recap
the key measurement for Samantha Power’s resignation:
Part
of Servants
Part:
25AR54
Antiscion: 4VI06
Samantha
Power’s March 7, 2008 resignation was timed by the
transit of Saturn located at 4VI08, only two minutes of
degree from the antiscion of the Part of Servants.
Saturn rules the the 1st, or 8th from the 6th. While
technically delineation of this derived house should
signify the death of employees, I suggest it also
signifies their termination. I recently observed a
client who fired one-third of his work force as he
started his 1st house year by annual profection.
Fast
forward to June 11, 2008 when Jim Johnson was forced to
resign. Johnson was one of several individuals chosen
to vet Vice Presidential candidates. On this date,
Saturn had returned to 3VI02; close but a bit wide for
my taste. But consider that using converse measurements
the converse transit of the South Node was 4VI05 on this
day, only a minute of degree in error. Note also natal
South Node falls in the 1st house, or 8th
from the 6th. Both the South Node and Saturn
are significators for the resignation, termination, or
death of Obama’s employees.
Profections
Profecting the Ascendant at the annual rate of 30
degrees per year to planets and their aspects is one of
several predictive methods which can be used to rectify
or test charts.
For the
7:54:28 PM time, consider:
Ascendant trine Mars = June 9, 2008
Ascendant conjunct Saturn = July 12, 2008
Ascendant conjunct Jupiter = September 17, 2008
On June
9, 2008 Obama announced his proposal for a windfall
profits tax on energy companies. Is this event a match
to Mars/Virgo/8th?Consider that Mars
signifies cutting and Virgo is an earth sign. In
Working Paper #1 I delineated Mars/Virgo as the real
estate developer Tony Rezko because cutting the earth is
an action performed by most property developers. In
client work, I have also seen many examples of
Mars/Virgo signifying natural resources development of
all types – ranging from hard rock mining to oil well
drilling. Mars/Virgo is a match to energy companies. I
suggest placement in the 8th is consistent
with taxation.
For a
similar example, turn to page 204 of A Rectification
Manual for Hoover’s 1929 solar return. For that chart,
Mars/Virgo fell in the 1st and ruled the 8th.
For this return, Mars/Virgo signified tariffs on
agricultural products.
I will
be watching closely to see how events unfold for
profections of the Ascendant to Saturn and Jupiter later
this summer.
For
those tracking the 7:24 PM chart, the appropriate
measurements are:
Ascendant trine Mars = September 28, 2008
Ascendant conjunct Saturn = October 31, 2008
Ascendant conjunct Jupiter = January 6, 2009
Final
Comments
In
finishing this post, I wish to make one observation
about astrologer’s comments on various birth times as
the year has evolved. For the most part, astrologer’s
discussing possible birth times attempted to make the
chart consistent with Obama’s rise to great fame. The
first comments I saw on the 1:06 PM time suggested its
appropriateness because the Sun in the 10th
was a common placement for a King. While this position
is one of several indicators for a King, there are many
others. Consider also among the American Presidents
that only three Presidents had the Sun in the 10th:
Martin van Buren, Grover Cleveland, and George H. W.
Bush. That’s less than 10% of the sample. That any
astrologer can get away with saying the 1:06 PM chart
was valid because the Sun was in the 10th is
shocking and reflects poorly on astrology as practiced
in the United States. Sun in the 10th? Give
me a break!
A second
common observation I made was the tendency of
astrologers to choose a Taurus Moon because the Moon in
its exaltation, significator of the people, provided an
explanation for Obama’s popularity with the public. For
this and the Sun in the 10th comment, I wish
to respond by stating eminence cannot be solely judged
by a natal chart. A poet (Havel in 1993 for the Czech
Republic); a trade unionist (Walesa for Poland in 1990);
and a professional wrestler (Ventura in 1999 for the
state of Minnesota) can all be lifted up from the masses
to positions of leadership if appropriate mundane
astrological forces are at work.
My
parting advice to astrologers is to focus on individual
life affairs which can be directly tied to the natal
figure and to separately examine mundane factors which
can shine a spotlight on individual achievement. I have
found study of Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions, Ingresses,
and Eclipse cycles, and the Declaration of Independence
figure useful in this regard.
Dr. H.
