The Challenge of a Sharp Destiny, Part 3, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

The vibrant and outspoken Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, from the 14th district of New York, has Jupiter and Saturn in an opposition aspect in her natal chart. This is a Sharp Destiny that differs somewhat from the one defined by a square between the two significators which has been discussed in the analysis of the charts of Anthony Bourdain John McCainJupiter and Saturn in square aspect animate a heightened moral struggle that encourages the native to align their behavior in accordance with principles of right action. The same indicators in opposition aspect, as seen in the horoscope of Ocasio-Cortez, is described in the following passage found on page 124 of the Essentials of Astrological Analysis by Marc Edmund Jones:

Jupiter and Saturn in opposition aspect indicate an ordering of life’s fundamental motives, through which the native is usually compelled to dramatize himself continually in the presence of his fellows, at least if he wishes to participate with them in any course of everyday experience. This necessity often tends to throw a given lifetime into two entirely separate periods, with the latter revealing greater depth and continuity of realization, as perhaps an unsuspected consequence of the mirroring it has given itself through some more superficial role-playing in the former. There may be either a prodigal expenditure of the self’s resources, with their ultimate recapture in a refinement of soul, or a moral vacillation that accentuates every weakness of character, and so encourages a surrender to a final and hopeless ineptitude.

The activist and unapologetic socialist candidate Ocasio-Cortez, in a surprising upset defeated Joe Crowley, the ten-term Democrat Caucus Chair, in the midterm election primaries held on June 26, 2018.

She then went on to win victory over Republican Anthony Pappas, in the November 6, 2018 general election. The candidate was 29 years old when Saturn in transit approached the first of its three possible Returns, which could dramatically activate her Sharp Destiny. This first activation subsequently propelled events that would prove the aspect’s primary characteristic explained by Jones, that through increasing awareness, the life can be thrown into two distinct periods. It is well-known that Ocasio-Cortez’s life was spent in far less significant fashion as a waitress and bartender, before successfully acquiring the status as the youngest member ever to be elected to the United States Congress. This extreme and consequential turnabout in life direction gives stark witness to the powers of the Sharp Destiny, facilitated through the opposition between Jupiter and Saturn, that is the Departmental Pair of Motivation.

Throughout the time of Saturn’s transiting pilgrimage toward its natal location in the first house, it periodically traveled direct, went retrograde, and also stationed closely with its sensitive point of origin, before its final pass of natal Saturn, one month after her historic win. For astrologers, and for Ocasio-Cortez, the Saturn Return will forever be known as the major astrological indicator of the start of her career in politics. However, recognition must be given to other planetary actors in play at the same time as the Saturn Return. The native’s launch into her more significant life role was also synchronous with transit Jupiter, as it partnered in a passing conjunction with natal Pluto. Transit Pluto, at the same time, was approaching the 2nd house cusp in square with the natal Sun. The pressures of a square from the planet of transformative possibilities gave impetus to the Sun; the symbolic representation of one’s true purpose and vital potentials.

Success came with the Greater Benefic lending its good fortune through the support of the masses, in concert with the Sun, representing herself in a role to be played on the political stage. Pluto’s transit ingress into the 2nd house signaled the native’s upcoming position on the House Financial Services Committee. She would also secure a seat on the committee for Oversight and Government Reform, also pointing to Pluto; the planet known to encourage reformation and transformation toward a higher expression of conscious behavior of either an individual or group entity.

THE COMPLEX CROSS

At the core of the chart is a complex configuration that may include up to eight out of the ten planets. It is a coalescence of energies that can manifest in one of two possible ways, depending on the orb-allowance accepted by the astrologer. The chart’s basic aspect-structure is a Grand Square with six planets if the orb chosen is 10 degrees for the planets, Sun, and Moon. If however, the astrologer uses Marc Edmund Jones’ orbs of 17 degrees for the Sun and 12 and a half for the Moon, the Grand Square would then include eight planets, rather than the six planets involved when using a lesser orb-allowance.

An examination of the planets’ aspects reveals the foundational complexities. The horizontal oppositions of Uranus, Saturn, and Neptune spanning from the first to the seventh house Jupiter, includes the Sharp Destiny, and these four are perpendicular to the Mercury opposition to the Moon that both tightly hug the Midheaven and Nadir respectively. This creates a more simplified cross structure.

The integration of the Sun-Mars conjunction, with the six-pronged Grand Square, just described, forms a subtle tangent away from the four-pronged multiple squares, and either option gives the native an exceptional inner self-grounding, only described as slightly different potentials.

A Translation of Light becomes operative to include Mars, when the wide orb of the Sun conjuncts Mercury and opposes the Moon, and the Sun is activated by Mars, when using the 10-degree orb linking Saturn and Neptune through squares. If only a 10-degree orb is used, there is the possibility that the oppositions of Saturn, Neptune, and Jupiter can give rise to a T-Cross bringing the Sun and Mars into Point Focus. This eliminates the inclusion of the Mercury/Moon opposition from the grand configuration, as they would lie outside this narrower orb allowance.

Either orb-allowance supports a Grand Square, and in order to avoid a confusion of focus, one must define a Focal Determinator that can point to one of the four prongs as High Focus, which leans the native’s attention toward a special area of interest. Although Mercury is High Focus by virtue of its elevation, it is actually Jupiter that is the High Focus planet of the Grand Square because it is a Singleton in Hemisphere, if one ignores Mercury’s slight lean to the western side of the meridian by a few degrees.

Jupiter in High Focus draws energy and support from all other planets and is empowered as the Handle of a Bucket Temperament Type. The Natural Disposition is obviously Cardinal which motivates the native toward a characteristic ambition, and in Ocasio-Cortez’s potentials, it is tempered by a concern for justice and balance in judgment, enhanced by the presence of a strong concentration of planets Point Focus in Libra.

A Cardinal disposition defines an immediate, restless, self-directed and crisis-oriented personality, and endows the native with an exciting and charismatic quality, that aids the native in attracting the attention she so dearly covets. When functioning in the positive, these individuals are problem-solvers and live to be needed and admired. Jupiter and Saturn act as the needed core opposition of the Temperament Type, so that there is backbone to the character, helping to thrust the native ever-forward courageously.

The Bowl segment of the Planetary Pattern contains the elements of intelligence that are filtered through the planet in High Focus, and Jupiter’s placement in the 7th house gives Ocasio-Cortez an alert awareness for all incoming opportunities that enhance her purpose in life: which is to work in partnership with others on an equal basis. Jupiter makes her enthusiastic, paternal, optimistic, and with the influence of the sign of Cancer, is maternal as well, with a perpetual willingness to expand her horizons.

Mercury and the Moon form the Dilimiting Rim opposition of the Bowl segment of the Temperament Type, and act to restrain the emotions, offering the native time to think before acting. Together these contradictory features, of the core opposition charging forward unrestrained, yet having the control to hold back when necessary, helps balance the multifaceted attributes of the native.

The 7th house is also the indicator of any push-back or challenge to the native’s intentions. It facilitates a place of competition, conflict, and direct combat, but when handled with real moral authority, which the Sharp Destiny can provide, the congresswoman becomes a force for cooperation and compromise in order to reach any lofty goals she has in her sights.

The combined energies of Sun and Mars point their release in the direction of the 10th house of career, honor, and authority, which the congresswoman has begun to acquire at an early age, by winning a seat in the House of Representatives, in the 2018 U.S. mid-term elections.

Ocasio-Cortez has come onto the political scene, with at times, a characteristic over-exuberance, powered by a naturally energized Sun/Mars in Point Focus. The liberties she takes in her outspokenness and authoritarian determination, already in her relatively short career, has been demonstrated at congressional hearings when chastising those not living up to the promises they made as public servants.

SEXTILES AND TRINES, ASSISTING SQUARES AND OPPOSITIONS

Whether considering the chart to have a Grand Square with eight planets, or a Grand Square with a T-Cross combined, only natal Pluto and Venus stand apart from the stress and strain of the squares and oppositions of either Cross. In contrast, these two planets lend the horoscope a much-needed relief of tension, through a series of sextiles and trines, that integrates nicely into the formidable Cross structure. There are no hard aspects to or from Pluto and Venus with any other planets in the horoscope.

The High Focus Jupiter applies in trine to Pluto, while Venus graciously receives a trine from the Moon and a sextile from Mercury. These two forces become the reins of the entire configuration and add supportive direction for the expansion of potentials seen at the descendant, which is the place of all forthcoming opportunity.

PAST DYNAMIC CHARTING

The dynamic conjunctions of progressed Sun and Mercury took their turns joining forces with natal Pluto, to deepen the understanding of the native’s creative role in life throughout 2014. The Sun’s conjunction brought to life the deeper side of herself and put Ocasio-Cortez in touch with friends and those of like-kind associated with an 11th house placement of Pluto. Personal associates became powerful connections that helped manifest the native’s political aims. Progressed Mercury, a year later, assisted in forming more specific ideals and objectives with its own passage over natal Pluto.

Major transits also played a great part in the native’s maturing process when Pluto passed over the three natal planets in the first house from 2008 to 2013. This was followed by a refinement of character, with Saturn’s passage of the same planets throughout 2018, which included her first Saturn Return. Ocasio-Cortez came into her powers with the stimulation of the Sharp Destiny’s Jupiter/Saturn opposition. Life changed radically in 2018, laying the groundwork for years to come.

FUTURE POSSIBILITIES

Marc Edmund Jones defines Astrology as the “science of probability.” Looking forward to what may possibly occur is a tempting pass-time for astrologers. It is contrary to the Humanistic approach, where the astrologer encourages the client to use astrology for self-realization as opposed to seeking advantages in the manipulation of circumstances. However, it can bring personal gratification and public recognition when an astrologer can prove his or her talents of prophecy.

Identifying major transits and secondary progressions to natal planets is astrology’s way of pushing the curtain aside to reveal the possibilities of future accomplishments. The Dynamic Aspects (progressions and transits), that will stimulate the profound future potentials for Ocasio-Cortez, will take effect in approximately ten years. If the adept congresswoman maintains her career in politics, she will have experience in legislation by the time the Dynamic Aspects mature. This will provide her with all the necessary planetary support needed to advance her career toward great accomplishment if she is able to rise to the occasion of the forthcoming cluster of progressions.

FUTURE PROGRESSIONS

In the search for significant progressions in the distant future, one finds Mars standing out by its conjunction with natal Pluto, commencing on October 20, 2030. The conjunction takes place at 14 degrees 08 Scorpio and lies at the center of one of the four fixed power signs of the zodiac. The progression will set off an intense release of potentials.

SCORPIO 15. Children playing around five mounds of sand. This is a symbol of absolute self-integrity at a simple extreme of social consciousness, or of the human spirit in its nascent competence for meeting all possible eventualities. There is here, a dramatization of the psychological faculties as a means for contact with other people, and of the illimitable capacity for experience in any situation where man may find himself. The individual is able to deal with whatever may arise in the circumstances of his being and to commit himself to whatever proves to be worthwhile. The keyword is NAIVETÉ. When positive, the degree is a gift for a continual discovery of new and effective facets of selfhood, and when negative, wholly purposeless ineptitude.

Squares, conjunctions, and oppositions from progressed planets to natal, are more noticeable to a native because of the stresses they produce, especially when they resist change. Sextiles and trines on the contrary, indicate momentum and assistance, and a general continuing flow of conveniences that were set in motion at the times of the more challenging and productive hard aspects. It is wise to observe when aspects enter, are exact, and completed, and then connect corresponding events, even before and after these precise astrological dates, to identify experiences that may also be related to the planetary activities in motion at the time.

Mars is exact in its conjunction with natal Pluto, April 8, 2032, and completes the intense interaction on September 25, 2033. This is an astrological calculation that must link to experiences that are not necessarily bound to the enter, exact, and leave dates, as previously mentioned.

When the conjunction of Mars to Pluto begins, it will occur in the midst of an array of progressed Moon squares, which exacerbate the tension around the conjunction. The progressed Moon will square the planets in the 1st and 7th houses from the 10th house of career, honor, and authority, and foretells of either a devastating fall from power or the exact opposite; the rise to a high position, possibly well anticipated.

A reasonable prognostication is that the native may launch a campaign or project during this three year period, that requires a vast amount of energy and focus. To assist in this matter is the exact phase of the Mars conjunction of Pluto, as it is surrounded by supportive conjunctions, sextiles, and trines from the progressed Moon to various natal planets. 

These future astrological events certainly point to an important time in the career of the newly positioned congresswoman.  Ocasio-Cortez will undoubtedly continue to impress the American public with her unrelenting presence and driving force, thanks to her Sharp Destiny and her Bucket Temperament, and their pressing desire to fulfill a missionary vision in life.

With all that has been said to reveal a powerhouse of personality and drive, there is yet another extremely encouraging feature of the horoscope that is effective from birth and throughout the native’s entire life. Her natal Sun is located in the heavens, adjacent to the benefic fixed star Spica, that offers one of the most gracious stellar influences in the astrological pantheon of stars. It promises great good fortune by its placement in the 10th house, especially for her hopes and wishes, which presently are well underway.