We all lie (if we’re honest about it).  But why do we lie?  “Do you like my hat?” asks your grandma.  You might lie because you feel in this particular situation making her feel good is more important than telling the truth.  If someone tells you they were at the library when really they were at the pub, there could be many reasons for the lie.   If it’s your collegiate son, he knows you want him to be studying, not drinking.  If it’s your spouse, he may be hiding an affair.  If it’s your friend, he/she might simply want privacy.  It’s all about motivation.

The fun of being an astrologer is looking past the personality traits and behaviors and looking into motivation.  When I watch Dennis Kucinich on a platform amongst presidential candidates I often wonder, “What is he thinking?”   Or, what is his motivation?  Does he really believe he has a chance?

Using data from Astro-Databank information on Dennis Kucinich, his chart shows the sun in Libra conjunct Neptune in the 7^th house (partnerships) and the moon in Pisces in the 12^th house (hidden enemies, secrets).  Kucinich has lots of planets in Scorpio (Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury) squaring Pluto and Saturn conjunct in Leo.  So what’s his motivation for jumping into the political arena?

The sun in Libra and moon in Pisces suggests his bleeding-heart liberalism is true to his personality.  Libra loves others and reflects off of others.  Libra is social.  Libra is an air sign, represented by the scales, that symbol of justice and fairness.   Libra loves partnership, marriage.  Sounds like Kucinich. 

Moon in Pisces is the empathetic person, the sensitive old soul who feels the pain of humanity.  Pisces sometimes has this bad habit of trying to save or rescue people.  Neptune conjunct his Libra sun emphasizes that he sees himself as your savior.  Kucinich is your political and spiritual savior, even if you never asked for help.  He’s over-zealously helpful to the point that you probably want him to leave you alone so your life will be easier.

Libra and Pisces combined suggest that the idealism is true but also that he is reflecting and mirror others.  I’m guessing his interest in politics stems from something having to do with that 12^th house moon.  Pisces moon is unusually sensitive to pain and/or trauma.  Possibly his mother or something having to do with a female in his life drove him into the political sphere.  He wants to right some wrong, correct a grievance.  If he can achieve this Presidency, it will make up for something that occurred in the past, some unfairness.

Neither Libra nor Pisces is a fighter by nature.  Kucinich’s rising sign is Aries, the sign of the warrior.  His bark is definitely worse than his bite as Libra is the opposite of Aries.  He fights with you, but ultimately wants to get along.  That may be hard to see, but he is unhinged if you leave angry from an argument.

While idealism and a sense of mission are a strong part of Kucinich’s motivations, there are some other elements in his chart that are not so idealistic.  Saturn and Pluto conjunct in Leo in the 5^th house is a need for recognition and control.  This conjunction squares a host of planets in Scorpio.  Scorpio is an intense water sign that always looks for motivations in others.   Scorpio is also quite possessive and controlling.

And lastly, there is Uranus in Gemini, trine the Libra sun.  Quirky?  I don’t need to tell you about Kucinich’s quirkiness if you’ve read the least line about him.

So what’s Kucinich’s motivation?  I would say there is true idealism but that it stems from some past, undisclosed incident that made him seek the power and control of politics to ultimately balance the scales of injustice.  That’s quite a motivation.  I wish him luck.