Donald Trump’s presidency was written in the stars—at least that’s what astrologers are saying. He was born during a lunar eclipse, they point out, which makes him more susceptible to the power of eclipses. And if eclipses are monumental celestial events with real-world consequences, as astrologers believe, then the rare total solar eclipse happening in August could have major implications for Trump, especially given the growing drama around his administration.
“There’s been a lot of conversation about this eclipse in terms of what’s going on with Donald Trump,” says Wade Caves, an astrological consultant who earlier in July published a 29-page analysis of the coming eclipse. “The astrological world has been completely buzzing with this for quite some time, even more so since Donald Trump was inaugurated.”
On August 21, the solar eclipse will occur as the moon passes between Earth and the sun, casting a shadow about 70 miles wide on the U.S. Total solar eclipses happen every year and a half or so, but this is the first time since 1918 conditions will align so that the shadow will cross the entire continent, in what is called the “path of totality.” It’s also the first eclipse since 1776 whose path falls exclusively in the U.S. Small towns within the path are preparing to see their populations temporarily balloon by as much as 250 times, and as many as 7.4 million people are expected to travel to see the phenomenon. For people watching from any given spot inside the path, the eclipse will last about two minutes.
As space scientists and enthusiasts have been preparing to view the August eclipse, astrologers have been taking to the blogosphere to predict how it spells out doom. Humans have long monitored cosmic events for clues about the future, and for certain people, eclipses hold special meaning. “Solar eclipses have been interpreted as evil omens by many civilizations because the life-giving sunlight is obscured for a few minutes,” wrote space scientist Duncan Steel in his 2001 book Eclipse: The Celestial Phenomenon that Changed the Course of History. Steel pointed out that accounts of the death of Jesus Christ have depicted a so-called “Crucifixion eclipse,” and that the ancient Chinese would beat drums and shoot arrows into the sky to ward off what they believed was a dragon devouring the sun. Read More
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What is fascinating about the first of these two article is the great store that Americans still appear to set in the practice of astrology. This includes many who are self-identified Christians. Their relaxed attitude toward astrology is not new. Despite the Copernian revolution the Ptolemy model of the solar system in which each of the planets is viewed as having spiritual significance and influencing life on Earth in some divinely ordained way continued to influence sixteenth century thinking. Queen Elizabeth I, while she was a devote Christian, had a court astrologer, Dr. John Dee. The signs of the Zodiac appear in the Almanac of the 1559 Book of Common Prayer. While Bishop John Jewel argued against soothsayers and the like on biblical grounds, he recognized their power in the sermons that he preached before the queen. The Preces Privatae of 1564, published under the queen's authority, includes the Zodiac in the Calendar. It is presented in special tables with an explanation for the common reader. For an interesting article on the role that astrology played in the thinking of the twentieth century Christian apologist, C. S. Lewis, see David W. Congdon's "C. S. Lewis and the Remythologization of Christianity." Also see Alison Gunn's "C. S. Lewis and the Seven Planets of the Medieval Cosmos" and Brenton Dickieson's "'The Planets' in C.S. Lewis’ Writing."
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