Mercury Retro and the Electoral College

Mercury retrograde – when the trickster planet appears  to move backward relative to Earth – doesn’t just affect us as individuals. It has important repercussions for worldwide events as well. So before you snicker and cough into your hand, think about this. On November 7, 2000, Mercury had been retrograde since mid-October – first in Scorpio, then it slipped back into Libra and at 9:20 p.m. on 11/7/2000, it turned direct in that sign. When Mercury stations – which means it’s about to turn retrograde or direct – the potential for miscommunication is strong. But for that date, the station caused bedlam because it was election day in the U.S.

Astrologers were predicting chaos and, sure enough, at 7:49 p.m., NBC decided they had enough data from exit polls in Florida and Tom Brokaw called the state for Al Gore. With the 25 electoral votes Florida had at the time, it meant he had won the election.

However, shortly after 10 p.m. – less than an hour after Mercury had turned direct – Brokaw backtracked and said that George W. Bush had won the state and the election. We all know what ensued after that – the endless dispute over the chads on Palm Beach County’s ballot and the eventual decision by the Supreme Court that Bush was the 43^rd president of the U.S.

Now here’s where things this time around may get interesting. Trump is a Gemini, a sign ruled by Mercury. On December 19, Mercury turns retrograde in Capricorn at 5:55 a.m. Eastern time and 2:55 a.m. Pacific time. Capricorn is the sign that represents the establishment, government, power. December 19 is the day that the Electors of the electoral college meet in their respective states and vote for President and VP on separate ballots.  This will presumably happen after Mercury has turned retrograde, unless these folks are getting up before 2:55 a.m. Pacific or 5:55 a.m. eastern.

By January 5, Mercury has retrograded back into Sagittarius, and it turns direct in that sign on January 8. However, on January 6, Congress meets in joint session to count the electoral votes. From the electoral college website:

The Vice President, (who will still be Biden at this point) as President of the Senate, presides over the count and announces the results of the Electoral College vote. The President of the Senate then declares which persons, if any, have been elected President and Vice President of the United States.

If a State submits conflicting sets of electoral votes to Congress, the two Houses acting concurrently may accept or reject the votes. If they do not concur, the votes of the electors certified by the Governor of the State on the Certificate of Ascertainment would be counted in Congress.

If no Presidential candidate wins 270 or more electoral votes, a majority, the 12th Amendment to the Constitution provides for the House of Representatives to decide the Presidential election. If necessary the House would elect the President by majority vote, choosing from the three candidates who received the greatest number of electoral votes. The vote would be taken by state, with each state having one vote.

Given that Jill Stein has raised $5 million already for a recount in the rust belt states, that CNN still hasn’t called Michigan, that there are apparently discrepancies in absentee ballots, that Clinton has won the popular vote by more than two million, this entire setup strikes me as chaotic.

On several of the radio shows I did before the election, I was asked for my prediction about who would win. This type of astrology isn’t my strength. But around the same time, Mountain Astrologer published an article by an astrologer who has studied elections back to the 1880s. Her process made sense to me – except for one thing, a simple thing.

In December, Trump enters his Jupiter return year, when Jupiter returns to where it was when he was born, a cycle that happens about every 12 years, always a fortuitous time. That worried me. But I figured this woman was the expert on elections and if she was right that the Dems would hold onto the White House, then Trump would still come out smelling like the proverbial rose. I was wrong. And so was every other astrologer. His approaching Jupiter return ushered him into a shocking win.

His Jupiter return still worries me. Historically, there have been only 157 “faithless electors” who didn’t vote for their party’s designated candidate.

“71 of these votes were changed because the original candidate died before the day on which the Electoral College cast its votes. Three of the votes were not cast at all as three electors chose to abstain from casting their electoral vote for any candidate. The other 82 electoral votes were changed on the personal initiative of the elector.”

But with this Mercury retrograde beginning in the archetypal sign of power and turning direct in the archetypal sign of truth, I think it’s fair to say that the trickster planet could have the last laugh.

Stay tuned. That vote is about 2 weeks away.