
Presidential Pardonpalooza
by Alex Miller
Inauguration Day, January 20, 2025, was a record-setting day for US presidential pardons, with both outgoing incumbent Joe Biden and incoming chief executive Donald Trump issuing scores of reprieves, totaling upwards of 1700 pardons. As one of his last acts on the way out, Biden issued preemptive pardons to family members, former Trump administration officials who had offended Trump, and the entire staff of the House January 6th Committee which investigated the 2021 Capitol insurrection. The move was designed to prevent possible legal harassment of potentially vulnerable parties by the incoming administration. For his part, hours later Donald Trump pardoned more than 1500 persons convicted of crimes committed in that riot, supporters who had rallied to his call to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. The blanket pardon includes violent offenders who attacked and beat police, some sentenced to 22 years in prison.
When it comes to pardoning, celestially, there are two chief players. Jupiter governs judicial acts as well as acts of mercy; Venus relates to forgiveness. Saturn involves accountability and punishment, but also represents the presidency, as ruling chief executives.
Here we see a union of Saturn with Venus at 16 and 17 Pisces, which in itself suggests presidential (Saturn) clemency (Venus). This is heightened by a square (90 degrees) to Jupiter at 11 Gemini, focused on the judicial process of extending mercy, and also ruling taking things to excess, which helps to explain the inordinate number of pardons issued by both presidents in one day.
This pattern is the superstructure of the event, but of course asteroids are always there to fill in the details. In this case we see asteroid Donn (for Donald Trump) exact with Venus at 17 Pisces, opposing (180 degrees) asteroid Themis at 13 Virgo, named for the Greek goddess of justice, underscoring the theme. As well, asteroid Whitehouse at 2 Scorpio, representing the Oval Office and the US presidency, is sesquiquadrate (135 degrees) the Venus/Saturn conjunction. Not to be outdone, Biden’s participation in the pardonfest is signaled celestially by asteroid Josephina (feminine form of Joseph) at 10 Sagittarius, squared Venus/Saturn.
Although Trump’s pardons on the day may seem the most egregious, Biden comes out the undisputed presidential pardon champion, with more than 8000 issued during his one-term tenure, including some 6500 pardoned for marijuana possession.
Title Image Credit: US presidential seal image by Welcome to All ! ツ from Pixabay, scales of justice image by jpornelasadv from Pixabay; combined by author.
Alex Miller
Alex Miller is a professional writer and astrologer, Editor-in-Chief of ANS, author of The Black Hole Book, detailing deep space points in astrological interpretation, and the forthcoming Heaven on Earth, a comprehensive study of asteroids, both mythic and personal. Alex is a frequent contributor to “The Mountain Astrologer”, “Daykeeper Journal”, and NCGR’s Journals and “Enews Commentary”; his work has also appeared in “Aspects” magazine, “Dell Horoscope”, “Planetwaves”, “Neptune Café” and “Sasstrology.” He is a past president of Philadelphia Astrological Society, and former board member for the Philadelphia Chapter of NCGR. His two decades of chronicling asteroid effects in human affairs can be found at his website, www.alexasteroidastrology.com.
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Asteroid Corner News Tags: astrology, Donald Trump pardons, January 6th insurrection, Joe Biden pardons
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