America votes – November 6, 2012

by DW Sutton

The astrological environment – the planets and zodiac signs – is a fundamental reality that influences everything that happens here on Earth. So it’s easy to see why the old astrology was based on a theory of inevitability and fate. If the planets foreordained an event it was fated to occur. And it wasn’t long before the theory gave rise to the idea that what happened in a political contest was mapped in the contestant’s birthcharts and inevitable. The theory implies that the presidential candidates have birthcharts and the voters have birthcharts and how they vote and who gets elected is all inevitable. It was a wrong theory and a wrong idea.

In the 1936 edition of Course 13, Mundane Astrology – just type ‘Gauging Elections’ into the find window of your Brotherhood of Light Courses ebook – CC Zain presents the procedure that he (Elbert Benjamine) and the Monday night astrology class developed (and successfully used) for gauging the outcome of a political contest. The procedure involves the assessment of each candidate’s birthchart, their progressed charts and certain mundane cycle charts. It’s based on the theory that these charts display fundamental astrological realities that destine an inevitable outcome. But in 1948, after observing and judging twelve presidential elections and many state and local elections, Elbert Benjamine proposed that the astrological realities mapped in these charts were not inevitable, but were subject to control by an astrology savvy electorate.

In the October 1948 issue of The Rising Star magazine, just prior the November 3 presidential election, Elbert Benjamine discarded the theory of inevitability and proposed that in a political contest the voter was in charge of the show and that with enough astrological information s/he could vote for the candidate who had the character and progressed aspects that most incline towards peace and prosperity. In a Crusade Talk entitled ‘How we should vote’ he claimed that a candidate’s birthchart plus their conditioning by experience provided a complete character reference and their progressed chart provided an accurate forecast of their next four years. He wrote:

‘While the basic traits of character of a candidate can be ascertained from his chart of birth, such as whether he has courage, initiative, organizing ability, intelligence, integrity, ability to get along with others, ability to pick good subordinates and get their loyal support, etc; much also depends upon conditioning. To handle a big executive job he should have had extensive experience as an administrator. No matter how intelligent an individual may be, to handle a complex machine, or a complex position requires training. And whether he will be unduly influence by party friends or special privilege is easier to determine from his record.

Ability, integrity and inclination, however, are only half the qualifications for the head of an important enterprise. In addition, he should have what is commonly attributed to luck. This means that the president of the United States should not merely have progressed aspects that are favorable enough to get him elected, but that he should have harmonious progressed aspects during his term of office. The fortune of the nation usually closely coincides with the progressed aspects of its president.’

Then, in regard to voting intentions, Elbert Benjamine wrote: ‘The Church of Light desires that all the people of the world shall have the opportunity to develop their intellectual and spiritual progress as much as possible. And we believe, for reasons set forth in detail in B of L Course 17, Cosmic Alchemy, that this can only be accomplished by providing freedom from want, freedom from fear, freedom of expression and freedom of worship to all the people of the world.

Having a definite objective which can only be attained through political methods, it behooves every Stellarian to vote at election time, and before election time to influence as many as possible, not to vote for candidates who favor special interests, or merely for candidates they believe will win, or whom the newspapers and radio (and now television and internet) commentators most praise, but for the candidate, and party they sincerely believe, after careful analysis, will most assist the world to realize the nine-point plan for the New Civilization.’ He then explained: ‘But astrologers are not so foolish to believe that all will agree on the candidates or party who will best forward this nine-point plan. We know that given the same set of facts, people of different astrological make-up are apt to arrive at different conclusions.’

1900 to 1948 was a period of horrible events and after examining the birthcharts and progressed charts of eight US presidents Elbert Benjamine concluded that what happened was not inevitable. In regard to Harry S Truman, who took charge when Franklin D Roosevelt moved on, he wrote: ‘Whether he has been a good president or a bad president is not significant in this discussion. What is significant is that these harmonious aspects (in his chart) coincided with the quick ending of the war, with high wages and full employment, and no financial depression. There have been many difficulties, but to the moment, no major catastrophe.’ So according to Elbert Benjamine wars and financial depressions or recessions are catastrophes that hinder the realization of The Church of Light’s Nine Point Plan and that freedom from want and freedom from fear can only be attained by the astute election of the best presidential or other political candidate.

Presidents operate in a dangerous and uncertain world and two recent examples of presidential characters in action are worth noting. Mars is the planet of catastrophes and George W Bush with Mars in the second house of his birthchart presided over (an easy to predict) banking-financial (second house) catastrophe that adversely affected the lives of millions of Americans. And Barack Obama with Mars – the planet of war – in the seventh house (of war) has defied those astrologers (including me) who predicted that war was inevitable while he was in the White House. He did inherit a ‘war on terror’ from George W Bush but he’s successfully avoided getting America involved in another conflict even though Mars in his chart has been activated by progression throughout his entire presidency. He seems to have a spiritualized Mars that fights for peace.

It was inevitable that the two most popular theories of life and living would become political philosophies and in America the Democrat and Republican Parties espouse these philosophies. There’s the Democrat point of view and the Republican point of view and due to your character and upbringing you’re naturally inclined to support one or the other. Chances are your vote is already locked in. Commentators reckon that 96% of voters had made their decision 6 months ago and that the last minute Conventions are held to entertain and persuade the 4% who are still undecided.

You need to know that the candidate’s birthcharts reveal astrological data that can be examined and compared to determine the best candidate to vote for and that you – the voter – can factor this inside information into your decision making. But the US is not an astrology savvy electorate so every now and then the voters are destined to elect a President whose character and behavior is inclined to antagonize their intellectual and spiritual progress by causing events that result in want and fear.