There’s a lot of excitement about Kamala Harris, Senator from California, being picked as the Vice Presidential running mate of Democrat Joe Biden. It’s a bit confounding since in 2016 we a two woman running for the top spot of president – wasn’t that more exciting?

What’s even more confounding is that Harris dropped out of the race quite early and doesn’t even appear on delegate and vote counts. If we like her so much, why didn’t we support and vote for her?

In 2016 when Hillary Clinton was running for president so few liked her not because she was female, they said, but because she was Hillary. With Harris we seem to have flipped our position. Now we like Harris because she is female where a female was promised the spot on the ticket. While we may like her specific qualities, would any female have been enough?

Harris is not the first woman to run for the Vice President. The first, also in the Democratic Party, was Geraldine Ferraro in 1984. Next in female line for Vice President was Sarah Palin on the Republican ticket in 2008. And well before Hillary Clinton there was Victoria Woodhull of the Equal Rights Party who ran for President in 1872 with former-slave Frederick Douglass as her running mate – just seven years after the Civil War and 48 years before women were even allowed to vote!

While it’s exciting to see a talented female rise to the top, this is a very traditional marriage and Harris might want to get some astrological tips from her predecessors who, you may have noted, were not successful. Vice Presidents in general are definitely in the passenger seat on the arduous drive to the While House whether male or female.

And Harris’ chart suggests she is not a silent passenger.

Sun and moon

Harris has sun in Libra and moon in Aries – opposite signs (full moon to the average person). These two signs are cardinal signs and therefore take charge, like to start things (but not necessarily finish them) and are often pushy and bossy.

Libra is the sign of the “other” while Aries rules the “self.” Since the sun represents our conscious self, Libra tends to form its identity by partnering up with others and often taking on some of their personality characteristics. Aries, in contrast, is about self and is courageous and assertive, wanting to be first, and embracing the new. But it’s the moon not sun in that sign which suggests a reactive nature that is impulsive, self-oriented and bold.

Moon in Aries, I’ve discovered, has a type of courage that will challenge even the strongest powers and most established institutions (such as moon in Aries Bernie Sanders). Moon in Aries leads; it does not follow and is highly competitive.

With this opposition of other-oriented Libra and self-oriented Aries, Harris is very aware of the opinions of others and constantly reacting to those opinions. While Aries moon is bold, the weakness of Libra sun in politics is that it has a deep-seated need to be liked. So the balance of force (Aries) and diplomacy (Libra) is always a challenge.

Neither sign likes to be told what to do. Cardinal signs tend to react to advice like cats to having their teeth cleaned. When offering advice to cardinal signs it’s best to provide the advice, listen patiently to their several dozen reactions and then wait. They do listen, but will not demonstrate that immediately.

Harris’ Mars in Leo is a fire trine to moon in Aries. This provides a lot of energy which will be very useful in the political battle to come. Mars and moon in fire also means she never backs down – or apologizes.

Discriminating in Relationships

Mercury in Scorpio trine Uranus/Pluto/Venus in Virgo creates a very discriminating mind and very direct speech. Both signs have perfectionistic tendencies and the “love me perfect” Venus in Virgo expects to give and receive love in a very specific manner.

Uranus/Pluto/Venus conjunct suggests erratic love life with sudden shifts. Since love and sexual indiscretion are the first targets of political attack, I’m expecting some odd Pluto/Uranus type to come forward.

Research shows Harris first marrying at age 50, unusual in this country and highly unusual for Libra, suggesting the prominence of the Aries moon and need for independence. That independent streak may be a problem in this traditional political marriage.

Saturn Return

Saturn in the horoscope is where we feel lack and often is an area of unconscious focus – a wound we keep trying to fix. For Harris, Saturn is in Aquarius, the sign of social organization, individual and group ideals, technology and humanitarianism.

Just this year, Saturn moved into Aquarius. You may not have heard that but you did begin hearing the term “social distancing” at almost the same time that Saturn moved into Aquarius from Capricorn. What a perfect term for this aspect.

Those with Saturn in Aquarius might be loners due to the feeling that they don’t fit in with the group. As with today’s “social distancing,” there are many reasons people and groups ostracize others. Today it’s because of illness, but isn’t this also a good excuse to stay away from people you don’t like?

By running for president with Saturn in Aquarius, Harris will be facing her greatest learning – dealing with acceptance and rejection by the group. Her second Saturn return will occur in winter 2023. Harris’ Saturn is nicely aspected to both the sun and moon. When feeling out of step with the group, Harris may choose Libra charm and diplomacy to assimilate; or she may choose Aries fiery boldness to impress a group that loves technology and new ideas. Or she may choose to use her Mars in Leo opposite to stand with pride and fight.

She has several good astrological strategies for dealing with her Saturn.

Saturn returns in general are about maturity. The first at age 29 is when people begin to “settle down” and “grow up.” If they don’t mature at this time, chances are they never will. The second when one is close to 60 is that portion of life where one decides how they want to live that last portion of their lives.

How will she get along with Joe Biden?

While Harris and Biden have a representation of all elements (fire, earth, air and water), Harris is more comprised of air and fire (sun in Libra, Saturn in Aquarius, moon in Aries, Mars in Leo) while Biden has lots of earth and water (Mars, Mercury, sun and Venus in Scorpio, Jupiter in Cancer and moon in Taurus).

For Harris, Biden is a bit slow and methodological; she processes mentally very quickly and makes decisions immediately. Biden, in contrast, with Taurus moon is slow to react. I expect some behind-the-scenes “talks” from Biden to Harris about reacting to quickly or strongly.

Biden’s Scorpio energy is quite controlling emotionally. Moon in Taurus isn’t controlling so much as seeking certainty which sometimes is through simplicity and “either/or” thinking – which does work well in politics. Biden will focus responses on one or two points where Harris is willing to tackle the complex and ambiguous with a mind that is agile willingly to denounce all 50 of your misstatements.

Harris may initially enjoy Biden’s Jupiter-in-Cancer let’s have Sunday dinner together every week. But this Aries moon may not want meatloaf with gravy every single Sunday until the election and definitely not for four years.

Astrological Tips from Predecessors

As noted above, no woman has succeeded in reaching the US vice presidency or the US presidency. Let’s see what these women learned.

Victoria Woodhull – If there’s one woman who rises to the top on straight courage, it’s Woodhull. She not only ran for president at a time when women could not even vote, she also was the first woman to open a brokerage firm and the first woman to start a weekly newspaper. If that wasn’t enough, she was an advocate of “free love.” This is 1872, remember.

Woodhull was born on the cusp of Virgo and Libra. She formed the “Equal Rights Party” and promoted free love which suggests Libra. She like Harris also had Mars in Leo, suggesting courage and pride and lack of fear. Unfortunately, Woodhull spent the last part of her life in exile in England.

Woodhull’s Saturn and moon were in Scorpio, the sign of sex, death and regeneration. Scorpio treads into these areas that most avoid. For Woodhull, public discourse on sex created an accusation of obscenity.

Lesson for Harris: Women are generally attacked politically for not having traditional female traits. Harris’ Moon in Aries is Annie Oakley singing “Anything you can do, I can do better.” You can. Just don’t say it.

Geraldine Ferraro – Ferraro had sun, Neptune, Mercury and Venus in Virgo which is the very discriminating mind and buckets of intelligence. Moon in Leo provided that fiery pride and energy that appears in the charts of our presidentially-minded females. Jupiter and Mars were conjunct in Scorpio – another energy that seems incline females to seek male power.

After the 1984 election, we didn’t hear much about Ferraro. She ran with a flat Capricorn Walter Mondale. This seems a similar situation to the one Harris faces – both women seemed to have more energy and charisma than than their leading partner.

Lesson for Harris: The more dynamic female partner generally does not cancel out the dominant male partner. Aries moon will try excessively hard to do the work of two. This may hurt Biden.

Sarah Palin – Since the 2008 election, Palin has gone into obscurity. Like Harris, she has Saturn in Aquarius having been born in the same year. As blogged in OHA, Palin has a very similar chart to Axl Rose and a similar volatile quirkiness. Palin was clearly selected as a light-weight counter balance to the serious and brusque John McCain.

Palin like Harris has Saturn in Aquarius, having been born about eight months prior to Harris. But unlike Harris, Palin had a little too much air (Mercury, moon, sun, Mars and Saturn in Aquarius) which created incoherent speech and disjointed thoughts.

The fire in Palin’s chart comes from Venus and Jupiter in Aries. It seems a little Aries or Leo energy is needed to have the pride and courage to challenge the big guys.

Lesson for Harris: McCain’s plan didn’t work; adding a woman to the ticket to challenge the history-making black presidential candidate indicated that gender trumps race. Biden still has to win the election on his merits alone.

Hillary Clinton – Clinton ran for President in 2008 and 2016 and both times was overrun and defeated by a male upset. Clinton has the Scorpio energy (sun, Venus, Mercury) and Leo energy (Mars, Pluto, Saturn) that seems to be in the charts of the few women who make it this far.

In 2008, Barack Obama won 95% of the black vote while Clinton only won 54% of the female vote in 2016. And deeper analysis showed that 64% of non-college educated white women voted for Trump. A woman running for President is not a role model for other women.

Lesson for Harris: Women do not admire and support other strong, successful women. Female low self-esteem will be projected upon you.

What’s Harris to do?

In the effort to compete with men in one of the most powerful positions on the planet, women tend to appease the pollsters that say she must smile more. So far, the advice has not worked.

Harris has a good balance of diplomacy and drive in the horoscope. And Aries moon is not one that accepts defeat. I suspect with Mars transiting Aries throughout the election cycle, Harris will fight back – even if Biden tries to suppress it.

It’s fight or drink a cup of instant smile.