Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

Did you learn this adage as a child? While it may be technically true in a physical sense, words, if you ponder it a bit, cause a lot of hurt.

How many of your fights come from verbal interaction versus physical interaction? What if we were silent all day? How many fights would we have?

Do the math.

Words are a form of communication and are ruled by the planet Mercury. Mercury rules the signs of Gemini and Virgo. Gemini is viewed as the more pure manifestation of Mercury.

In today’s world of instant, ephemeral and often superficial communication, words paradoxically seem more permanent than ever. Once your words and images are in cyberspace, you can’t get them back.

The Republican front runner in today’s US presidential election is Gemini sun Donald Trump who seems a master of words and rhetoric. Gemini sun Marco Rubio isn’t doing badly for a first-run as he’s not a billionaire or sponsored by one.

On the Democrat side, Virgo sun Bernie Sanders is giving the purported unbeatable Hillary Clinton an early challenge.

Words change things.

Candidates Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton are hurting right now from the Mercury-inspired words of Trump, Rubio and Sanders.

Gemini/Virgo Presidents

Only two US presidents have been born with sun in Gemini – Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican George H. W. Bush. Total years in office for these two men was six as Kennedy was assassinated while in office and Bush served only one term.

As with Gemini, only two US presidents have been born with sun in Virgo – Republican William Howard Taft and Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson. Total years in office for these two men was a little over eight (Johnson assumed the presidency after Kennedy was assassinated).

Gemini and Virgo don’t have a strong history in the Oval Office.

Gemini and Virgo are mutable signs (as are Pisces and Sagittarius). Mutable signs are flexible, changeable and fluid.

There are three modes: cardinal, mutable and fixed. Cardinal signs are the initiators. Fixed signs are the maintainers and mutable signs are the changers.

By count, our nation prefers fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius). Eighteen of our 44 presidents were born in a fixed sign. Aquarius and Scorpio are preferred in the fixed realm.

Fixed signs project consistency, focus and purpose. They are leaders because they can keep with the cause while others wander off, get bored or were never committed in the first place. Fixed signs are strong. A very common complaint during a presidential debate is that one’s foe has switched positions. In a sense, the presidential process demands the projection of a fixed nature whether you have one or not.

Or has that changed?

Have we finally moved from the Stone Age to the Digital Age in the US presidential elections? Are we now okay with our candidates ebbing and flowing in the waters of the public opinion? Don’t politicians serve the constituency and shouldn’t they change?

Or are we having mutable fun until marriage when we seek that stable, fixed partner?

The Cat’s Opinion

While pondering with my cat a turn of energy in presidential elections, she was very cutting in her opinion of humans.

“Your ideas of consistency are a delusion. Animals are much more consistent.”

When I expressed disagreement, I was assaulted with a list of my own inconsistencies: I don’t wake up at the same time each day (I explained weekends); sometimes I woke up at different times on those days called weekdays (sometimes I oversleep or take off work); I didn’t always brush her in the morning (sometimes I’m running late) and I almost never came home at the same time (does she think cat food grows in the cupboard?).

She then clarified that her own habits were entirely consistent: wake between 4 am – 5 am; eat, get a brushing, poop, go back to sleep, wake later, eat, play with toy mice then back to sleep for the evening. If there’s a full moon, run back and forth around the house prior to sleeping.

While starting to feel hurt, she explained that possibly the American public was being more honest by supporting mutable signs. Maybe we really don’t have solid, fixed opinions about the ever-changing world. Maybe we don’t know what to think right now.

“Didn’t Ralph Waldo Emerson say that “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines?” she asked.

Yes, I responded. Gemini sun Emerson did say that. But now I wasn’t sure what we were discussing. That’s what happens with words.

What about Saturn?

Just as my cat was convincing me that the American public was becoming more openly fluid in honoring and following the changing ideas of a Gemini leader, I stuck in the knife.

“What about Saturn?”

We all know that Saturn is currently transiting Sagittarius, the sign opposite of Gemini. Saturn is the great heavy that brought you time and gravity. When Saturn visits, you are asked to make good on your promises – or else.

Saturn “or elses” can be punishment related to loss of reputation up to physical constraints. If it’s really happening, it’s Saturn.

For Republican front-runner Trump, Saturn makes its full opposition to his sun in the second week of January 2017 – right around inauguration day (January 20, 2017). In the first week of that January, it will be conjunct his moon in Sagittarius. Transiting Saturn will first oppose his Uranus in Gemini at the end of November, several weeks after the election.

The time between election and inauguration is particularly difficult for Trump. Saturn is coming to get you!

It’s easy to say that Saturn will put the brakes on Trump. But will the brakes come from winning or losing? Winning the US presidency could truly be more difficult for Trump than losing. Winning means having a great weight on your shoulders (bones and responsibility are ruled by Saturn). Losing means an independent life saying whatever you want, more in line with his Gemini-Sagittarius freedom-seeking energy.

For Gemini Rubio, the transiting Saturn opposition (and conjunction to his Jupiter and Neptune) has already passed. Rubio has already walked the hot coals in bare feet. On inauguration day 2017, transiting Saturn will square his Pluto (in Virgo). In one way or another, Rubio will face off with some new, powerful forces.

Sanders, as a Virgo sun, experiences the Saturn transit of Sagittarius as a square. Jupiter is currently in Virgo which has given rise to five Virgo candidates (out of a total of 21 candidates). That transit will end in September as Jupiter enters Libra. The Virgo Political Tsunami may end at that time.

Saturn will square Sanders’ sun in mid February. That’s the time of the start of the primaries so we may see some setbacks here.

Sanders has the additional aspect of transiting Uranus (in Aries) conjunct his moon. Without knowing Sanders’ time of birth, we don’t know exactly when this will culminate in exact degree. Aries moon is the passionate and aggressive speech; Uranus has added to that. When Uranus passes, the energy is still there but must exist without the added dose of caffeine.

A Mutable Presidency?

While my cat thinks the American public is openly acknowledging its constantly evolving opinion in an ever-changing universe, I’m expecting Saturn to bring them back to the land of the concrete through Saturn’s old trick – fear. Saturn has things to protect like family, reputation, jobs, homes and cars.

“Maybe you don’t have enough mutable energy,” my feline said with purring accusation.

I was quite offended. This is a cat who still has a Pick Rick (Santorum) poster over her litter box from the 2012 election.

“Shall we take down the Santorum poster now that he is dust in the wind?” I asked.

“It’s not over till it’s over,” she replied then changed the subject. “It’s already six o’clock, where’s my dinner?”