A Heart for Politics
by Jean Hinson Lall

As I write, the Democratic National Convention is underway in Boston, preparing to nominate the party’s Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates for the U. S. election in November. These great quadrennial rituals mark off phases in our national life and also punctuate our personal histories. I find myself reminiscing on presidential elections past, all the way back to 1952 when I was ten years old and my Republican parents were avid supporters of retired General Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower. Television not having penetrated to our part of the world as yet, we followed the campaign via newspapers, TIME magazine, and movie newsreels and listened to the party conventions on the radio.

Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee was one of several Democrats vying for his party’s nomination that year, and when he made a campaign stop in Casper, Wyoming, where we lived, I walked right up to him wearing my "I Like Ike" button and shook his hand. He gave me a big V-shaped smile. That was my first face-to-face political encounter and of course it became part of family legend.

On election night my sister and I were allowed to stay up late to wait for the returns to come in. I still recall the suspense as we huddled around the radio at our kitchen table, tabulating the electoral votes as each state’s results were announced, and the excitement as it began to appear that Eisenhower would win. Ever since then I’ve been an ardent follower of political campaigns and a connoisseur of political oratory.

The week leading up to the Full Moon in Aquarius seems to me a good time to hold a party convention and a good time to reflect on our individual political hopes and commitments, whether or not the party convening is one’s own. The pairing of Sun in Leo and Moon in Aquarius expresses so beautifully the polarities inherent in the life of a citizen, whether one is a voter or a candidate for political office. Our Declaration of Independence asserts that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," and that governments exist to protect these rights of the individual. The human being, rather than the king or the state, is thus placed at the center of political theory. Each individual (Leo) counts, and all count equally (Aquarius).

Leo, the Lion, is the Sun’s own royal sign. Its organ is the heart, the seat of courage and heroism; its metal is gold, of which crowns are made. In earlier times we looked to the monarch or chieftain to embody the heart and soul of the people and to express the heroic principle. Under our republican form of government, however, the archetype of the hero-king has to be taken on in some measure by each individual citizen; otherwise it will be projected onto celebrities and politicians, leading to hero-worship and demagoguery. We must vote and engage in political work as though everything depended upon us, as though we ruled our own kingdom, because it does and we do.

Still, as voters we want to know that a man or woman seeking government office has a heart. A little Leo in the candidate’s makeup gives self-confidence, charisma and courage and can inspire confidence in the voters. This week we were reminded of the Leonine qualities of some long-time Democratic Party leaders such as Jimmy Carter (with his elevated Venus-Neptune conjunction in Leo), Bill Clinton (Sun and three planets in Leo), Al Gore (Ascendant and three planets in Leo) and Ted Kennedy (Jupiter in Leo), and were introduced to one of the Party’s young lions, Barack Obama (Sun and Mercury in Leo), who delivered the keynote address. Planets in Leo, the Fixed Fire sign, bestow the ability to concentrate on developing and expressing one’s own talents and winning recognition for them. They help a candidate or officeholder feel at home in the spotlight, as an actor on the great stage of public life.

Balancing Leo in political life is the Fixed Air sign Aquarius, whose image is that of a human being carrying a water jar. Where Fire produces passion, personal vitality and individual creative effort, Air generates objective thought, social consciousness, and group creativity. Aquarius brings individuals together to work toward common ideals. It enables the politician and the citizen to rise above personal desires and ambitions for the sake of the common good, to support laws and regulations that protect the weaker members of society from the depredations of the powerful, to willingly "share the wealth" (Leo’s gold) through paying taxes and contributing money, time and talent to community organizations and charities. Aquarius supplies the intellectual framework for social and political reform and the team spirit that makes political parties possible. In the human body, Aquarius rules the calves and ankles, and in politics it does the legwork – the door-to-door canvassing, precinct-level organizing, caucusing, marching, leafleting, picketing.

The Leo-Aquarius spirit in politics can be seen at the climax of a political convention when those who were so recently bitter rivals for the party’s nomination come together under one banner to support the newly anointed nominee. A Leonian nobility shines forth from their faces as they turn from the pain of personal defeat and dedicate themselves to the work of advancing the party’s objectives and serving the nation’s needs.

If Leo represents the glory of political prominence, Aquarius shows its cost. One who achieves fame, power and public adulation also becomes public property and sacrifices privacy, anonymity and the comforts of an ordinary life. One’s own "pursuit of Happiness" may be sacrificed as one seeks to protect the right of others to that pursuit.

It happens that this week’s Convention opened on the 101^st anniversary of the birth of my first politician, Estes Kefauver, born July 26, 1903 with Sun and Mercury in Leo opposed by Saturn in Aquarius. Kefauver, a Tennessee farm boy with populist instincts and a Yale Law degree, served in the House of Representatives from 1939 to 1948, then in the Senate for the remainder of his career. The closest he came to achieving his Presidential ambitions was in 1956, when he was selected as Adlai E. Stevenson’s Democratic Vice-Presidential running mate against the incumbent Republican team of Eisenhower and Nixon. His service to the nation was nevertheless extraordinary. He stood against the tide of Southern opposition to civil rights for African-Americans during the 1950s and ‘60s, fought successfully against home-state machine politics and interstate organized crime, stood up to anti-communist hysteria during the McCarthy era, worked for international cooperation among the Atlantic nations, and was an early proponent and craftsman of consumer protection and anti-trust legislation. He died with his boots on, "a battle casualty" as one of his Senate colleagues said, suffering a heart attack on the floor of the Senate at the age of 60 while waging an unsuccessful battle to protect the public interest against corporate profiteering. Kefauver exemplified the gifts and the sacrifices inherent in the Leo-Aquarius polarity. He achieved improbable and long-lasting successes in public life, persisting until his brave Leo heart gave out in the service of Aquarian imperatives.

The degree symbols for this Full Moon sum up beautifully the character and the dynamic interplay of Leo and Aquarius in the political sphere. In the image for the 9^th degree of Aquarius, "A flag is seen turning into an eagle." Here an inanimate symbol of national identity and pride is transformed into a noble living creature. A banner of cloth can only "fly" passively and in place, but the eagle (our national bird) soars where it will. It has a beating heart, keen eyesight and aerodynamic power.

In the 9^th degree of Leo, "Glass-blowers shape beautiful vases with their controlled breathing." Glass was once thought of as a hardened form of air, and of course the shape of a glass vessel depends upon exquisite breath control. In this image, Leo’s concentrated Fire is implied in the intense heat needed to produce molten glass and in the artist’s vision and skill. Aquarius is the controlled flow of air and the finished vessel which, like the finest political speech, at once contains, reveals and inspires.

As we move through the coming weeks of hard-fought campaigning, may each citizen and each contender for office hold fast to heart’s purpose and mind’s truth. May the eagle take flight and may the perfect vessels be shaped to carry the people’s vision.

Notes for further research:

1) Astrological charts for many political figures, especially American, can be found at http://www.astrodatabank.com/indexNM.htm

2) On the life and contributions of Estes Kefauver, a nice source is http://www.populist.com/96.10.kefauver.html.

Look for the Leo New Moon
on August 15, 2004.

© 2004 Jean Hinson Lall
All rights reserved