Democratic Party - is this its natal chart?

[Jim Eshelman]

The birth of the Democratic Party is taken, by historians, as occurring in the midst of a speech by Andrew Jackson January 8, 1828, 6:30 PM LMT, Concord, NH. Is this a valid chart?

It has few transits for the 2016 election, which delivered a shocking blow to the party. However, its one transit for that event is at least appropriate, transiting Mars conjunct natal Uranus (quite the "shocking blow"). - Its SLR for that event, calculated for Washington, has nothing very close to the angles. For Concord, it is even worse, with natal Jupiter exactly on WP partile square natal Venus, but I wouldn't dismiss the chart just because a birthplace SLR is bad (I wouldn't expect that to work as well).

Secondary progressions are surprisingly good, with a partile (37') Sun-Saturn conjunction exactly on natal EP. Progressed Venus only recently departed aspects to natal Venus-Jupiter - those positive aspects had been strong for two years then disappeared over the summer. of 2016 Also, progressed Mars squared natal Pluto 33'. and progressed EP was right on that natal Uranus. Altogether a stunning showing IMHO.

Another serious routing of the party was the 1980 election (end of 11/4/1980) when Ronald Reagan not only won the presidency but led a wave that was mostly a purge of generational Democratic majorities in the Senate. Transiting Saturn squared natal Mercury on election night (33'), Jupiter and Saturn were straddling and both just outside orb of conjunct natal Moon (midpoint 37' off Moon). But transiting Sun conjoined natal Jupiter and squared natal Venus which grossly errs on the outcome. (Its SLR that night was mixed, with Venus closest to an angle but part of a partile Venus-Saturn conjunction; and it's more complicated than that.)

Again, secondary progressions deliver something right on target: Progressed Neptune, within 1° orb of natal Sun for half the life of the party, was 0°01' from natal Sun for that election. This is at least interesting.

So there is some reason to trust this chart, especially with secondary progressions, and some reasons not to trust it. It's a curio.


Of course, my main reason for exploring this is to inquire whether we can see an overall Democratic party effect - larger than the presidency - for the upcoming election, using November 4, 2020, 0:00 EST as the measuring point.

Transits to this chart are: Transiting Saturn on natal WP. Transiting Jupiter having just left partile conjunction of natal Sun. Transiting Sun not quite in orb of natal Venus-Jupiter (but right on top of them a day later). If I were to forecast from these transits it would be that the party looked strong up until immediately before the election then, in the last few days, collapsed in defeat.

Secondary progressions have been markers so far. For the 2020 election we have: Progressed Sun opposite natal Uranus (41'); p Mercury sq. p Jupiter (10'); p Venus conj. r Asc (03'!), op. r Venus (25'), sq. r Jupiter (31'); p Mars still sq. r Pluto (20'). Other than the "hard blow" Mars-Pluto, the rest of these are excellent (albeit with surprises). Were I to forecast the election from these, I'd say the Democrats will stun people with how well they do!

Bottom line, I'm not convinced yet that this is a viable chart for prediction, though, if it is, Secondary Progressions have performed better than transits, while SLRs are pretty useless.

[Jim Eshelman]

It's worth checking on the 2018 mid-term elections where the Democratic Party had one of its strongest showings, especially reversing the tide from the prior election and showing a depth of diversity it had never accomplished before. The timing is November 7, 2018, using 0:00 EST.

The greatest showing by transit is transiting Uranus exactly conjunct natal MC (24')! This also squares natal Uranus (20'). It's highly descriptive of the outcome.

However, transiting Pluto opposed natal Saturn (17'), not obviously descriptive. Transiting Saturn conjoined natal Mercury (11'), a transit we've seen before for a loss and seeming to run against the narrative. Sun conjoins natal Mars (which could go either way, just showing a battle). So, by transit (which hasn't been a great showing in the above events) there is one outstanding result and several things that stand against it.

For progressions, we have the early signs of progressed Venus having slipped back into orb of conjunction with natal Ascendant, opposition to natal Venus, and square natal Jupiter - these had been out of orb in 2016. The Sun-Saturn conjunction had recently left orb. Other than progressed Mars square natal Pluto (05'), the main mark is that the progressions that correctly showed defeat in 2016 are gone, replaced by happy indicators (and that long-term Mars-Pluto). Oh, here's the real marker: Progressed MC was partile conjunct progressed Jupiter!

So not only does this chart show, by progression, a positive fit for a positive event, it shows a trend across recent years of falling short / failing stunningly in 2016, moving past that and reversing the trend in remarkable success in 2018, and still having positive progressions for 2020.