Secretary of Defense James Mattis

Secretary of Defense James Mattis

Way back when Donald Trump appointed James Mattis to be his Defense Secretary, I was somewhat pleased, because when reading about him I found that he was an opponent of torture for getting supposed information from prisoners of war. He said that he had always gotten better results from chatting with them over a cup of coffee. Intelligent and decent man, I thought. 

Well, he is one of the few appointees to Trump's cabinet or staff who remains in power. And an excellent piece about him in the New York Times by Robert F. Worth is reinforcing my good opinion. I am not a military type and find killing in any form repulsive, yet I recognize that military types exist, all over the world, and warfare therefore has not totally ended, or at least preparations for it or preparations (we hope) to prevent it. As long as that lasts, we will have generals directing troops, and it is to the advantage of all that they be intelligent and temperate, and hopefully ethical, according to some light or other. And so I have to say, in accord with the admittedly incomplete information I have, that I am pleased that James Mattis is our defense secretary.

Why is he important? From Robert Worth:  " A year into Trump’s tenure, Mattis has become a quietly central figure in an administration of near-constant purges. He may be the lone cabinet member to have survived with his status and dignity intact, and in the process his Pentagon — perhaps the one national institution that is still fully functional — has inherited an unusually powerful role in the shaping of American foreign policy. The removal of Tillerson and the national security adviser, Gen. H.R. McMaster, has further reduced the core of the group once known as the “committee to save America,” underscoring Mattis’s unique position and putting even more weight on his relationship with the president. Although their conversations are a tightly guarded secret, Trump is said to consult Mattis regularly about a wide range of subjects."

At first, in January of 2017, when he was appointed, I looked up his birth information only to note that he was a Virgo, and that in itself was reassuring to me. Why? I have never known a Virgo I didn't like. They are generally temperate, fair-minded, kindly, unassuming, and honest. They have, usually, a winning sort of humility, the touch of the common man or woman. When in government, they usually are respectful of superiors as well as subordinates. Not movers and shakers, they want to serve and sustain the status quo at least most of the time. That is the "reasonable" thing to do, and Virgo is a sign of comprehensive thinking, being ruled by Mercury, and an earth sign wanting to grasp all the ins and outs of things and their details. When one has done all of that, one generally can see that there are good reasons for things being what they are, and one is not inclined to be a revolutionary. 

Of course this formula, as that of any sign, can go wrong in some cases. But let us not veer into such a discussion. 

I am not attempting a comprehensive review or "reading" of Mattis's horoscope. That would take many hours and much more research, and best of all an interview with the man himself, none of which I am likely to be doing in the near future. However, it is possible with astrology to extrapolate and speculate within limits which are reasonable if not infallible. That I shall attempt. Mr. Worth has provided a solid basis of information.

One of the fascinating things about Mattis's chart is its compatibility with Trump's. For years I have checked the relations between Mars and Venus, among many other factors, as major in interpersonal relations, and that does not apply just to sexual, erotic, or marriage issues. It has to do with the ability of two individuals to cooperate in terms of which one is taking the initiative (Mars) and which one fields the other's initiatives or responds to them (Venus). Of course, that goes back and forth when there is a happy connection between the two planets so that it cannot usually be said the one partner or friend is always or usually the "Mars" initiator and the other the "Venus" responder. It's more subtle and complex than that. It works in business and government and, yes, in the military as much as in male-female or same-sex flirtations or partnerships.

Something that leapt out at me when I looked at Mattis's chart was his Venus being at 28 degrees Leo, for it has been impressed on my memory for years that Trump's Mars is at 28 degrees Leo. In other words, they have a Venus-Mars conjunction in their "comparison" or "synastry" chart (as some astrologers call it). That is rare, and very intense.  One might say that Mattis both reinforces and calms Trump's aggressive Mars instincts, which are intense because his Mars is within three degrees of his ascendant. (I do not know Mattis's exact birth time and so not his ascendant, but Venus moves much more slowly and so was joined to Trump's Mars no matter when Mattis was born that day). Perhaps Mattis makes Trump feel manly. He loved to call Mattis "Mad Dog," once a nickname, until Mattis made clear very subtly that he did not like that. (It is not a Virgo thing to be called "Mad Dog," which is just about everything that neat, tidy and careful Virgo is not. It is also not a Virgo thing to offend by saying "Don't call me that" so Mattis very diplomatically gave Trump to know that he didn't appreciate it.) 

One simple reading of Mars in one chart with Venus is another is that Venus may calm or draw off Mars's energies. This seems to be true in the Trump-Mattis relationship. Says Robert Worth:  ' . Although their conversations are a tightly guarded secret, Trump is said to consult Mattis regularly about a wide range of subjects. “I think the president calls him for a gut check on all these things,” I was told by an executive who knows Trump well. “He doesn’t do whatever Mattis says, but he does defer to him.” Mattis seems to possess a unique ability to steer Trump without drawing his wrath. He has deftly deflected some of Trump’s rulings (on transgender soldiers in the military, for instance). Sometimes he issues veiled criticisms; at other times, it’s his silence that sends a message, as when he refused to join cabinet members defending Trump’s decision to abandon the Paris agreement in June or when he refused to join the chorus of sycophantic tributes by other cabinet members shortly afterward.'

Of course Mattis is a military man to the core and himself demonstrates a strong Mars presence in his horoscope. Therein Mars lies in Scorpio, its own sign, and its closest aspect is an exact square with Pluto. Such individuals are very much likely to be involved in combat or games of combat. I have known two of them who were violent video-game enthusiasts, and both also got in trouble on the street with fighting to the point of needing medical attention. Others want a military lifestyle. 

Mattis's Mars is at the degree 18 Scorpio 19 (marked 18 on charts but read as Scorpio 19 in the books which delineate the degrees of the zodiac). The symbol for that as given by the clairvoyant Charubel is one of the most violent in the zodiac:  "A serpent with many heads, all in a circle, with fangs protruding.  One who may become a pest and a terror to society; unless overruled by benefics, will prove a curse to his relations and acquaintances. This is the cursed degree of the so-called cursed sign; yet even this may have its purposes."  Indeed: "Mad Dog Mattis!" Trump seems to sense that this "many-headed serpent" is a strong representative of his own belligerent Mars instincts. Another interpreter of the symbolic degrees gives Scorpio 19 a more beneficent reading: "A stiletto and tavola.  A mind given to disputes and assaults, eager in contention and yet cautious in self-defense. A formidable and untiring adversary, yet convivial companion. A taste for the good things of life, a good trencherman, a man of sharp wit; will make friends easily but his enemies will be equally numerous. Headstrong and quick-tempered, he will yet bear himself bravely and honorably in strife and his enemies will have much respect for him, while his friends will hold him up as a champion.  A degree of Avidity."  This is so accurate, in accord with Robert Worth's portrait of Mattis, that it could hardly be better, and written in the 19th century! (By Signor Borelli of Italy, the clairvoyant,  and Sepharial, or Walter Gorn Old, of England, the commentator.)I am shocked that most current astrologers do not use these amazing symbols.

Yet Mattis has Jupiter as his high-focus planet, the beneficent Jove who tries his best to be good. The keyword Marc Edmund Jones gives for this is "paternal" and that is indeed one of Mattis's strong qualities. His men are said to love him, as far as "love" is an acceptable designation for the feelings of troops for their officers. Although fierce to those he regards as inimical to the human race, his motives appear to be noble. Worth quotes one who knows him well, "a retired senior officer," as having said, in regard to Donald Trump's possibly disastrous trigger-happiness, “Can Mattis win the president over in the most important debate we’ve had in decades, maybe centuries? I believe there is a moral hazard with this president, he will take everybody to the cliff. ... If Mattis is able to prevail, that is what God put him on earth to do. It’s that serious.” The officer's language is precise, because Jupiter is the planet of G*d, in a sense (Zeus or Jove to the Greeks and Romans), and it stands out in Mattis's chart as the "handle" in the "bucket" configuration, without a doubt the most important planet in the chart, and strengthened in its own sign Pisces. Mattis in fact may have been "sent by G*d." 

We have discussed how Venus in Mattis's chart draws off some of Trump's Mars energy; now, what is the relation of Venus in Trump's chart to Mars in Mattis's? They are in a beneficent trine, and this, I have found from counseling about 6,000 individuals, is very good for interpersonal compatibility. Trump's Venus is in Cancer and therein represents his patriotism, his "America first" attitude, and Cancer is the sign of fences or walls (it rules the breastbones), suggesting Trump's immigration attitudes; and it is with Saturn in that sign. It is trine Mattis's Mars in Scorpio, his militaristic defensive stance (as emphasized even more by the symbols we have just pointed out). And so from two directions Mattis is a calming influence on Trump's impatience. As Worth says of Mattis, " One of his most frequent talking points, in speeches and off-the-cuff press appearances, is the need to match military strength with more soft power and diplomacy."  Soft power and diplomacy are Venus in a big way. 

I am not attempting here a complete rundown of Mattis's chart but will mention a few important features. When doing a chart for which I do not have a birth-time, I use various methods, one of which is to put the Part of Life as the artificial "ascendant" or cusp of the first "house" or field. The Part of Life is the distance in the zodiac from the sun to the moon added to 0 Aries. In Mattis's case this would be about 10 Aquarius, or anywhere from 5 to 18 Aquarius (since the moon goes about thirteen degrees per day). This puts Mars in the 10th field, highly significant since it is the field or house of career. This man assumes power naturally. The chart puts either Saturn, Mercury and Neptune or the sun, Saturn and Mercury in the 8th house (depending on exact birth-time), the house of death. If you read Worth's article you will find Mattis's frightful statement about killing. But then, it is part of his job description. Further, Saturn, Mercury and Neptune are linked by a two-degree-or-less nonagen, quincunx, or bi-octile with Mattis's Jupiter in the 1st house (or field). Any such aspect from the 8th to the first is said to be an "anuretic" or death-dealing aspect. Mattis means business and feels he has a mission to eliminate whoever is a threat to what is "good" according to his lights. That goodness would be his first-field Jupiter in its own sign Pisces, already pointed out as the high-focus planet. It is also in a bi-septile with his Mars in its own sign in the 10th, so indeed it appears Mattis has a destiny-laden mission. I shall not attempt to define what that might be in terms of the complex politics of Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran, or North Vietnam and China. But you can be sure Mattis is up on everything. The interplay between his important Jupiter and his important Mars, each in its own sign and linked by the aspect of Destiny or Fate, one beneficently helpful and one potentially lethal, is reflected in something he said while among his forces in Iraq: “I come in peace. I didn’t bring artillery. But I’m pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: if you [expletive] with me, I’ll kill you all.”

I am not deifying the man, but it is reassuring to know that someone of his competence and apparent sincerity and honesty is our Secretary of  Defense. Whatever his faults, another man could have been much much worse. 

Some of the symbols for the degrees of the planets in his chart are fascinating. I shall confine myself to one which stands out because it is also emphasized in the charts of two other individuals in the current Washington melee. Here it is: 8 Cancer 9 (Charubel):  "A spider in the corner of a room intently watching the giddy dance of silly flies, as they heedlessly approach the confines of his dominions.  This denotes a student of law and order, a shrewd lawyer.  He would make a good detective."  Mattis's Uranus is in this degree. Guess who else? The Mercury of Donald Trump is in that degree. Whether he would make a "good detective" may be questionable, but that he tries to represent himself as one, tossing out tweets pretending to expose his "enemies," relishing the writhing of the "flies" he has supposedly captured in his web of possibly "fake" news, is without question. Guess who else? One of those "enemies," who may not be so much a fly as another spider: Robert Mueller!  He was born with Saturn in that same degree. While Mattis's Uranus may be somehow a liberating influence for Trump, Mueller's Saturn is without doubt a restrictive one. He is quite literally "a shrewd lawyer."  And that spider is a very patient one.I can only smile at the accuracy and aptness of John Thomas's (Charubel's) symbol applicable to all three of these men (given out in 1893!). 

I make no predictions from that. Astrology is not basically a science of prediction but of insight and analysis. One might find the spider symbol amusing, yet more deeply we ought to take it seriously as pointing out something going on in the consciousness of our nation right now through these three important men. So we ought to pray that those spiders eliminate only what is wrong or evil and not the good or the innocent. As Mr. Worth says, '[Former Secretary of State] Tillerson’s departure will leave Mattis far more isolated, with an incoming secretary of state and a national security adviser who are said to share Trump’s “America First” instincts.' 

May the Supreme Lord take control and protect us all. If enough of us try sincerely to know Him and pray in this manner, we shall be protected: "Scatter thou the people that delight in war." --Psalm 68:30  "I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about."  --Psalm 3:6  "For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.  But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us." --Psalm 44:6-7  "He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.  Be still, and know that I am God:  I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."  --Psalm 46: 9-10

Cosmic Piper

Hugh H H

March-April, 2018