There is no excuse, I got it wrong. In a two horse contest, there is a 50/50 chance of being right or wrong.

The methods I used were the ones I used to correctly predict the last three UK elections and leadership contests, Brexit and the 2016 American Election. Kind friends have said 6 out of 7 predictions is really good, but that is not the point, I was wrong.  I thought the Republicans would hold the crown.

I do not use the charts of the “personalities” as there are various conflicting birth times, whereas with the Aries Ingress, you know where you are.

The astrology was not wrong. I was wrong in my interpretation.  I think it boils down to one very simple factor – I considered Mars and Saturn to be strong and beneficial due to their sign placement and accordingly gave them more power than they actually had. 

Looking at the Aries Ingress. I took a very simplistic approach; Fixed sign rising, there would be no change. Mistake number 1.

Mistake number 2:  I did not consider either the MC point falling in Virgo, nor the Sun in the 6th as the Crown.

With that remarkable gift called Hindsight, I can now see I could/should have considered Mercury, ruler of the MC point in his detriment.

I ignored Mercury as potential indicator of the “King”, due to the fact that in the last 120 year period, Mercury was found in Pisces in 76 of those years. Mercury was also in Pisces at the time of the 2016 Aries Ingress, so I more or less ignored the potential importance of Mercury as a possible indicator of the current ruler.

If you are using a quadrant based system, then Mercury is within a few degrees of the IC so can be put in the 4th house. The 4th does correlate to the grave, so you can say, the King will be buried!

I also placed reliance on Mars, ruler of the Ascendant being in his exaltation and with his dispositor co-present. That there would be “damage” of some sort, I ascribed to Jupiter being in his fall and besieged.  But, I thought the two malefics would “lift” the Jupiterian damage and work together to keep matters as they stood.

Using Whole sign houses these three planets are cadent and therefore according to one of my teachers, Rob Zoller, they would only be able to act with 25% efficiency. In the quadrant system, they are succedent and can act with 50% of their energy.  But all three planets were in aspect with the degree of the Ascendant. Again, I took this to indicate ability to manage the affairs of the year.  

But reading Abu Ma’sar The Great Introduction to Astrology[1]

Of Saturn he has this to say “. .  . its temperateness and good fortune are during the day, because of its heat and being in diurnal and masculine signs, and when it is in the east by itself or when it is in one of the signs that conform to it, such as a house, exaltation, or term, or one of the shares suitable to it, then, this being so, it indicates good fortune and, according to which good conditions come together with it, its indication indicates the abundance of good fortune and its power. If these conditions decrease a little, the indication of its good fortune decreases.” (6.6a-b)

Saturn is in its own sign of feminine Capricorn, in the same hemisphere as the Sun, but it is a nocturnal chart so reading the above, some of its apparent good fortune is lessened. 

When discussing Jupiter, (remember it is in its fall and besieged), he gives:

“. . .  the nocturnal position, in feminine signs or in positions which do not agree with it, its good fortune decreases, and sometimes it gives corrupt, evanescent good fortunes, and fortunes because of which unpleasantness happens to it. When they meet these bad conditions because of it, . .  it indicates harm by its conditions and position, then, because of the corruption of its condition and its dignity in those bad places, it acquires the nature of the malefics.” (6.8a/b)

Reading the foregoing, Jupiter is now a malefic and corrupts or damages matters with which he is associated. Again, because I read Jupiter as being contained by the two malefics who had status, I thought there would be problems, but they would be overcome or contained.

Now to Mars:

“When Mars is in the nocturnal position, in the west, in the nocturnal, feminine signs, in the wet, cold signs, or in positions that conform to it, such as a house and exaltation, and in good positions, it indicates temperateness and a good mixture, and it is in the nature of the benefics.” (6.7)

Here Mars is not in the West, nor is he in the opposite hemisphere to the Sun, but he is still exalted and is the first planet to rise before the Sun. Again, because I was blinded by the exaltation of Mars, I failed to consider his house placement and the potential corruption of his partile conjunction with damaged Jupiter.

Further on Abu Ma’sar nails it when he says:

“As for the malefics, even if they indicate good fortune, they are not called benefics, but are said to be ‘in the nature of the benefics’ in the thing about which they indicate good fortune. That good fortune is acquired with difficulty and hardship and the possessor of it dislikes it, having many troubles because of it. He sometimes does not turn to his advantage the good fortune in a thing, and does not take pleasure in it, and he gives its benefit to someone else or bequeaths it to another, or many harms and misfortunes happen to him because of it.” (6.19)

Despite having so many Americans vote for Trump, it appears he gave away his “fortune” to the opposition.

Looking at the position of the planets on the day of the Election, I considered as Jupiter and Saturn had almost returned to the degrees they held in the Aries Ingress, they would reinforce the matters indicated by that chart. Again, I was wrong.

In future I will not consider a planet in exaltation as bringing a crown to the Incumbent. A good lesson learnt.

As always I am indebted to the incomparable Steven Birchfield for his time and freely sharing his extensive knowledge in helping me make sense of my errors.

January 2021.

[1] Translated Keiji Yamamoto & Charles Burnett. Pub: Brill 2019 .ISBN 978-90-04-38114-8.  Pt IV:6.6a-6.19