By Lalia Wilson
Card images from the Golden Botticelli Tarot by Atanas Alexandrov Atanassov published by Lo Scarabeo
Want to figure out the election results ahead of time? Here we look at how to phrase a question for a tarot reading about the election. Then we look at other tarot-related techniques to tease out a possible outcome of the election.
Tarot can only answer a question of personal significance. (This is also true of Horary Astrology, which is ridiculously difficult when you can just draw some cards instead.) So, how you phrase the question, and how you relate it to yourself, is the crucial matter. Reading the cards is the easy part. Here are some example questions and the difficulties contained in each:
"Will Donald Trump win the election?" Unless you have an immediate connection to DT, this question has no standing. If you are Melania Trump, you can ask, "Will my husband win the 2016 presidential election?"
"Will Donald Trump be happy with the result of the election?" We have the problem of standing if we are not connected to him. We also have the problem with Mr. Trump winning and not being happy. Or not winning and being happy with that result.
"Will I be happy with the results of the 2016 US Presidential election?" This question has standing, but your political opinions may change before the election, switching the candidate you think you will vote for to the other, or other conditions may change so that you are happy even if your non-preferred candidate wins. For example, say you are not a Donald Trump fan, but you inherit a wall-making enterprise along the Mexican border and find yourself unbelievably prosperous because he's building the wall.
Let’s look at some alternative ways to view predicting this election. Let us first look at combinations of Tarot and Numerology. This year is 2016, which adds up to nine. The associated tarot card is The Hermit. Judging by that card alone, Trump more clearly fulfills the role. The Hermit is male. The Hermit is alone. The Hermit is an “outsider.” Donald Trump is all those things. Hillary Clinton is none.
How about Election Day? The day is 11/8/2016 which totals to 10. In converting this to the tarot we can simply look at The Wheel of Fortune (card X) or look at the three cards whose numerology reduces to one: The Wheel, The Magician, and The Sun. To me, these suggest Donald Trump. The Wheel is a CHANGE of Fortune. (Clinton’s party is in power now, and she served that administration.) The Magician is again male, a male who manifests things. The Magician is associated with astrology’s planet Mercury which happens to be Donald Trump’s Sun-sign ruler. Then we come to The Sun. Here we have male, and a newbie (usually the card shows a toddler), and the Sun is associated with Leo, Donald Trump’s Rising sign.
But let’s look ahead to Inauguration Day, the 20th of January 2017. This day reduces to 13 or 4. The associated cards are Death and The Emperor. You can suggest that the Emperor is a male ruler, like Donald Trump, but the Death card is associated with Scorpio, Hillary Clinton’s Sun sign. Further, the number 13 is associated with all four Queens in the tarot, another indication of Clinton winning. Clinton’s horoscope features a very rare triple conjunction of Mars, Saturn, and Pluto. This powerful configuration could also be that Emperor energy associated with Inauguration Day.
Let’s look at the two contenders with a combination of astrology and tarot. I translate the big three in a horoscope, the Sun, Moon, and Ascendant, as the King of the astrological Sun’s element, the Queen of the Moon’s element, and the Ace of the Rising Sign’s element.
Thus Donald Trump is a combination of the King of Swords, the Queen of Wands and the Ace of Wands.
Hillary Clinton is a combination of the King of Cups, the Queen of Cups and the Ace of Cups. (Note that astrologers have not entirely agreed on Hillary’s time of birth, and the Ace is possibly another element.)
Now, for the Inauguration, the Sun is in Aquarius, corresponding to the King of Swords. The Moon is in Scorpio, which would be the Queen of Cups, and the Ascendant is Taurus—the Ace of Pentacles. The Ace would seem to throw the advantage to Mr. Trump, as the “Rich Man” in the contest.
Let’s look at the social planets and the outer planets, though, to see what other themes are operative. The two social planets are Jupiter the planet of plenty, and Saturn, the planet of rules. Jupiter says “Go,” and Saturn says “Stop.” Jupiter says “Indulge yourself,” and Saturn says “You don’t deserve that.” Everyone has Jupiter and Saturn, but we differ in their placement. On Inauguration Day, Jupiter is in the sign Libra, associated with the Justice Card. Saturn is in Sagittarius, the sign of the Law, associated with the Temperance card. Both the Justice card and the Temperance card can be associated with Hillary Clinton since she is a lawyer who is known to be moderate in her personal habits. Neither of these two cards describes Trump. If I were going to pick cards from the Major Arcana as significators for Trump, I would choose The Sun and the Wheel of Fortune as most descriptive.
As it stands today, Thursday, October 13th, Hillary seems to be most likely to win according to the polls and pundits. The Tarot seems more neutral, perhaps trending towards Trump. Most astrologers seem to favor Clinton, either through astrology or interpreting the charts through their own pro-Clinton bias. (This matter of bias effects all intuitive readers, astrology, tarot, and other means. Bias is not limited to politics!)
As an astrologer, I see both Trump’s chart and Clinton’s as showing a lot of fame and strength at this point. This is certainly true for all final candidates for our nation’s highest office. However, if you look at the charts of their life-partners, Melania Trump and Bill Clinton, Bill Clinton’s chart shows victory very clearly.
Now, let me draw a card to see if I will be happy with the result of this election… I get The Star, so yes. That is a Clinton win.
Let me ask the question, “What archetype will the next US President represent?” I get The Ace of Cups. As seen above, this is more an indicator of Clinton than Trump. It does seem like a strange archetype for a president or a presidency, though. We will all see what happens before too long.