When The Needs Of The Many Outweigh The Needs Of The Few. Or The Needs Of The One. Or The 1%.

They say in Astrology that Mercury ruled Virgo is only ruled by that planet as a foster ruler until their true ruling planet of Vulcan is discovered and charted.  It is said that once the discovery of this planet is made, we Virgos will come in to our own like never before and our lives will change dramatically. Until then, we are the step-children in Astrology and will always wonder where our true place in the cosmos lies. I have never doubted this theory for a moment. Certainly not all Virgos are alike, as there are a multitude of unique influences in everyone’s chart, but being a Virgo myself, I know for a fact that our fit in the world is a particularly individual one. A bit like the Vulcan, Sarek (in the film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home) said regarding Klingon justice as being “a unique point of view”. Ours is a unique fit in the larger scheme of things. I was so sad to hear about the passing of Leonard Nimoy recently. His portrayal of the quintessential Vulcan, Spock, in television and film was one of my absolute favorite things about the entire Star Trek saga. He was half- human, half-Vulcan; the very nature of the sixth sign in the zodiac. Spock, Sarek, and just about every other Vulcan in the Star Trek series has Virgo looming large in their maybe fictional, but well defined, characters. It makes you wonder if Gene Roddenberry was in to Astrology!

With a presidential election coming up in November 2016 I have been working on the astrological chart of a Virgo who recently made the declaration that he is running for that office.   A critical look at his chart may tell us what a Virgo president would have to offer in these days of turmoil and uncertainly in America.

I have not researched the number of U.S. presidents we have had who were born in the sign of Virgo, but I would venture to guess that there have not been many. You are more likely to find most of them born in air signs and fire signs. Lots of ego is normally required to prompt an aspiration this high, but sometimes people can surprise you. Any time an unlikely hero appears it is probably because the system is greatly out of whack. We are experiencing a great many out-of-whack situations today and I am sure that this is the only reason that Bernie Sanders has tossed his hat in to the ring.

Bernie was born September 8, 1941. His sun sign is Virgo and his moon sign is Taurus. There were two different references for Bernie regarding his moon sign in the tables that I consulted to work his chart. One of them said that he had the  moon in Aries, not Taurus. As with any reference, it is only as good as the calculators who put it together. I would not say that the information is open to interpretation necessarily, but I will say that having researched the inherent qualities of an Aries influence verses a Taurus influence, there is nothing in the quality of an Aries moon that would explain Bernie’s lifelong interest in the welfare of others and the path that he has served on with regard to the problems of the poor and disenfranchised, and his excellence in economics as the influence of Taurus would. The place of birth (which for Bernie is Brooklyn, New York) is considered when doing the calculation, but one must also rule with what one knows intuitively in these cases. Without knowing the time that he was born, I cannot calculate precisely that Taurus is factually accurate, nor can I calculate his rising sign, but we can get a pretty accurate view of what he is without knowing this. It is possible that he has Taurus rising, which may strongly influence his true self. You may be the judge of whether or not you recognize Taurus traits, but I do not see the necessary Aries traits well enough to make the call for that to be his moon sign. Bernie was also born in the sign of the Snake in the Chinese zodiac. Not your average person to seek a position as high as the presidency, but one that will not shrink from the position of making his voice known when he sees that others are not putting a voice of fairness and reason out there as they should be.

There is a scene in the 1951 film The Day The Earth Stood Still where the residents of the boarding house where the spaceman Klaatu is staying (unbeknownst to them) are having a conversation at the breakfast table about how frightened and bewildered they are with a “spaceman” running loose in their city.  One of them asks “Why doesn’t the government do something?” Another says that the government probably doesn’t know what to do about the situation as they are just people.  There is a Bernie Sanders/Virgo/Taurus at the table who says “People my foot!  They’re Democrats!”  Spoken like a true earth sign!  I suspect that the character Klaatu in the film is also a Virgo, based on his impatience with the “stupidity” of the people of Earth. The actor, Michael Rennie, who portrayed Klaatu was also a Virgo. Bernie Sanders knows what to do because he has studied the matter and wrestled with its implications for a long time before he opens his mouth and proffers a solution. You can bet that he has one, just like the man at the table is sure that the Democrats do because they are the ones who are in the business of knowing. Don’t ever doubt it. Bernie is in the business of knowing because he probably doesn’t sleep nights until he has worked out the best and most balanced solution to whatever is wrong. As with Spock, it is only logical. It has nothing to do with whether or not he is liked or whether he makes a good impression on the people who fancy themselves to be important. It has everything to do with what will work to solve the problem.

The Virgo/Taurus combination is usually comfortably in the position where they feel that they can be most effective already by the time they reach Bernie’s age. I would say that he is feeling a discomfort with his current status, as in he no longer feels that his position in the Senate can adequately address the preponderance of troubles he sees in this country and he therefore sees the need to be in a position of making more of a difference than is possible in his senate post. There is also the possibility that he wants to be in the position of taking to task other presidential hopefuls by challenging them in a higher forum than his senate position allows. Taking the next step toward higher office was likely thought out long and hard before he decided to run for the Presidency. It is not in his nature at all to seek a grand position unless he truly believes that reason has been abandoned and logic is no longer being used. Virgo/Taurus is not the thought police. They normally are too busy with their own work and principles to step in and push their views onto people who aren’t of the same mind set,  but when others aren’t getting the job done you will most likely hear it from Virgo first. Others may have louder voices, but it is usually pretty easy to spot a dissenting voice that makes itself known by crowing or barking in ego from one that has done his research on the issue and speaks out with the authority of one who has studied why current thought is not effective. This is Bernie Sanders, pure and simple.

Bernie has Mercury and Venus in Libra which tells me that he is quick, inventive, and has advanced and open-minded views. This is evident in his position on gay rights. As I said before, Virgos are not the thought police, but they do know when there is an imbalance in prevailing views, and everything in Bernie’s chart tells me that he doesn’t have to be one of the disenfranchised to know a disenfranchising issue when he sees it. He was apparently out there rallying for causes even in his youth.

There is an aspect in Bernie’s chart that tends toward being more influenced by the views of one’s mother. It is possible that Bernie’s mother was someone who held strong beliefs and was able to influence him greatly toward what he would become as an adult.

Of all the people that I have done charts on, famous or not, I rarely see one where the public face of the person is as true to their inherent self as Bernie Sanders appears to be. There are traits in his chart that one cannot possibly see as truth without knowing him intimately, but in viewing what the universe sent him here with on the day he was born, I see no contradiction in what he says and what astrology says about him. He is unique in that he does not seem to want anything other than what would bring this country together for the betterment of all. Once a person has their own needs met in this life there are only two things left that one may strive for; they will either strive to see that others have the opportunity to create a life like that, or they will set about to create trouble for those that they deem not as good. There has to be something at their core that makes a person advocate on behalf of others. Not everyone has that in them. Our task is to discern in the available pool of those who wish to represent us who has that capability and who does not. We try to make the most informed choices based on what they say and the information that is available to us from the media, but we can be easily fooled when the inner person has been separated from that which they believe will get them love and accolades. So many people create a public face to hide their true self, like in the Oscar Wilde novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. While it is a world where we are expected to meet the demands and expectations of others in order to attain employment or have a relationship, it is a problem that we will always find difficult to overcome if we do not find and embrace the trueness of what we are and are meant to be.  I do not know if Bernie has ever had a chart done before, but he is one of those rare people who appears to live and be just exactly what he was created to be. What an amazing thing to see in an age of narcissism and selfishness!  It may be that the planet Vulcan is closer than ever to being discovered. It would seem that its influence is already being felt by Bernie Sanders, who is taking the ultimate step forward into what he could truly be. We could all take a lesson.