Political Astrology
by Michael O'Reilly
book reviews
from The Mountain Astrologer
April/May 2006
Book Review of Political Astrology
by Claudia D. Dikinis
Michael O'Reilly's book, subtitled How to make accurate forecasts using the Scorpio Rising U.S. Horoscope, tackles the debate about the "real" U.S. horoscope in a sparkling new way. O'Reilly takes on history, planetary cycles, asteroids, and the U.S. horoscope with an experienced ease.
The book is divided into three parts. Part One is devoted to the U.S. Scorpio Rising chart (July 4, 1776; 2:21 pm LMT; Philadelphia, PA) by using several clear-cut techniques for chart verification. In this section, several chapters list and explain the astrologer's tools of the trade, describe how to delineate a chart, and give a detailed exposition of key planetary cycles that propelled the United States into various wars. A bonus in this book is O'Reilly's listing of the Sun. Moon, and Mars positions for all U.S. presidents and how they connect to the chart angles of the U.S. Scorpio Rising chart.
One of the best reads is Chapter 5, Relocating the U.S. around the World. Here, O'Reilly describes techniques for using Jim Lewis's
Astro*Carto*Graphy (ACG) lines and Maritha Pottenger and Zip Dobyn's method for relocating a chart. O'Reilly takes the reader on a world tour, by moving the U.S. Scorpio Rising chart to power centers around the globe. The author's work here is innovative; he demonstrates in an easy-to-grasp, no-nonsense manner why it is so difficult for the U.S. to relate in an evenhanded way to nations such as Saudi Arabia, Japan, Russia, Vietnam, China, and Iraq.
In Part Two, O'Reilly explores the four main asteroids, by combining them into the horoscopes of famous personalities: David Letterman, Britney Spears, Angelina Jolie, and Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton. O'Reilly's chapter on The Astrology of the Kennedy Curse is bound to become hugely popular. This chapter alone is worth the price of admission.
The big four asteroids Ceres, Juno, Pallas, and Vesta are, in the author's estimation (and for many astrologers!), necessary to the balance between male and female power. Before the big four were discovered and integrated into astrology, women had two lone significators, Venus and the Moon, leaving the universe out of harmony. O'Reilly has made a valuable contribution to astrologers
who haven't yet learbed how to incorporate asteroids into their readings.
Part Three of Political Astrology is a compendium of O'Reilly's specially selected "NewsScope" columns from the years 2001-2005. "NewsScope" is featured weekly on Jeff Jawer's and Rick Levine's Web site StarIQ.com. In this column, O'Reilly practices political and celebrity astrology under the pen name "WolfStar". Typical columns embrace thorny topics like 9/11, geologic and weather-related disasters (the Indonesian Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina), the Iraq War, al Qaeda's horoscope, movie stars, and politicos such as George W. Bush and Tony Blair.
Michael O'Reilly isn't shy about discussing his experiences with the U.S. Scorpio Rising horoscope. The chart sparks controversy to this day; however, his intention was not to re-ignite the flames. This book is a first-class work on its own. It models a disciplined, reasoned way to practice astrology, and combines an astrological integrity with a passion for clean analysis. Whether or not the reader embraces all of the author's conclusions, there is much in this volume to keep and savor.
Horoscope Guide
February 2006
Book Review by Ken Irving
Political Astrology, by Michael O'Reilly, Wingspan Press, Livermore, CA, www.wingspanpress.com. Available through overlookedbooks.com. 221 pages, paper, $17.95.
Michael O'Reilly has been on the astrological scene for quite a few years, and some readers of the current magazine may remember him as the writer of "Tomorrow's News" for American Astrology a few years back. Michael's columns always got plenty of reader feedback, and Michael had a good predictive record. Of the techniques he used, the two that made him stand out at that time among mundane writers were his use of the asteroids, and his championing of the "Scorpio rising" version of the U.S. horoscope.
Apparently some years ago, using that particular chart was a source of trouble, at least according to what he says in his introduction, as many editors preferred their writers to use standard issue U.S. charts like the absurd Gemini rising version for circa 2 a.m. on July 4, 1776. When Lee Chapman and I offered him the "Tomorrow's News" job in 1990 (Lee and I edited American Astrology together for many years), Michael quickly learned that our policy with writers (and certainly with those who chose to tackle the hard work of predicting the news) was to give them relatively free rein on the tools they used and the opinions they expressed.
Over the years, the effort to introduce the Scorpio rising chart to the astrological community has met with some success, in part due to a few enlightened editors, in part due to the freedom granted to writers by the Internet, but mainly to Michael's own writing, technical skills and predictive ability. The Internet became part of the story when Michael began writing "NewsScope," a column which is syndicated at various sites on the web.
In one sense this book is a selection from some of those diverse sources. However, this is not simply a hash of old articles. Instead, it is put together to make a strong point about the way mundane astrology should be done, and the value of those two important tools mentioned above, the Scorpio rising chart, and asteroids. The author makes a very strong case for both of these, and his
understanding of the basic elements of predicting "tomorrow's news" is both broad and deep.
His asteroid writing is of interest to me mainly because Michael was one of the first writers on political astrology I saw using them. Frankly, at the time, despite the "relatively free rein" policy on writers mentioned above, this editor tended to be leery of the asteroids, for various reasons. Perhaps the most persistent, though, was the fact that over my own many years in astrology, many of the people I'd seen using them would use asteroids to the exclusion of nearly everything else. In short, the asteroids would often serve as a cover for someone's lack of understanding of the simple basics of houses, signs, and planets.
With Michael O'Reilly, as one can see from this book, this clearly is not a problem, as he is thoroughly grounded in the fundamentals. For that reason alone, the book is worth reading if you are interested in learning about the use of the four basic asteroids (Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta) in astrology. Even if you're not sure of your interest in political astrology as such, not to worry, as where the asteroid chapters are concerned, the examples are drawn from a variety of sources, which include everything from political events, to movie stars, to personal clients.
This points up the fact that even though parts of the book deal with technical matters, O'Reilly is a writer who can convey information on current affairs (or current celebs) which is completely readable and very accessible to the average reader. One fascinating chapter that makes this point well is Chapter 9, "The Astrology of the Kennedy Curse." The so-called "curse" of the Kennedy clan seems real enough, as despite the long life of matriarch Rose Kennedy, the family that spawned a president and a president-to-be lost both to assassins, and their elder brother and sister were lost in tragic plane crashes many years before, just as was the president's son, many years after. These are of course only the starkest of the events usually associated with the so-called curse. O'Reilly frames his discussion of it (reflecting on Edward Klein's treatment in The Kennedy Curse) as the result of "a psychological pattern of self-defeating behavior."
His take on it is based on a very careful reading of the historical record of the Kennedy family and its troubles, and though it is astrologically detailed,
the story is the setting for the astrology, and not the other way around. In other words, while you do have to know basic astrology to read this, there is not more here than the average student can handle.
If I'm beginning to sound somewhat apologetic about accessibility and what average students can handle, it's not because of Michael O'Reilly the writer, or because of Political Astrology itself, but rather because experience tells me that in current times if you even say the word "political" many people start rolling their eyes and looking for the channel zapper so they can flip over to Entertainment Tonight. There certainly are many readers who have a passionate interest in current affairs and who like to read astrology's take on them ("Tomorrow's News," for example, has maintained a small but dedicated audience relative to other sections of the magazine back to its origins in American Astrology). But what I'm getting around to is that even though you'll like this book for sure if you're a "Tomorrow's News" fan, if you prefer less serious news there's something here for you as well.
Of course you don't have to take my word for it, as this review happens to coincide with an excerpt from Political Astrology in this very issue. This excerpt deals with the U.S. horoscope itself, which is the subject of the five chapters that make up part one of the book. In the second part, consisting of four chapters, O'Reilly covers asteroids and the Kennedy curse. Part three is a selection of his Newsscope postings from 2001 through 2005, and the rest of the book consists of several appendices that include a complete listing of Newsscope up to the present, a book list and astrological information on the U.S. presidents.
It is heartening to me to see Michael O'Reilly's work finally between the pages of a book, even though his writing has been widely disseminated via magazines and the Internet, a book gives more solidity and reality to an author's work. Political Astrology provides a welcome introduction to one of the best modern writers on the relationship between astrology and current events, and it gives the reader a good sense of how Michael O'Reilly has managed to make so many successful predictions in this area over a good number of years. What more can I say? Check out the excerpt, buy the book, and read it
E-News from NCGR
February 4, 2006
Book Review by Tim Rubald
Will the real USA chart please . . .
Political Astrology by Michael O'Reilly, 2005, WingSpan Press, CA, $17.95
"Astrology as a world view shows us that everything is connected, that the individual is an interdependent part of the whole. The holistic universe that astrology describes better than any other discipline includes a sense of the nature of consciousness, and especially how our reality is shaped by the collective influence of our individual choices." (p. 17)
Michael O' Reilly writes that ". . . getting astrologers to agree on anything is a bit like herding cats, but when there's food around, the cats all come a- runnin'" (p. 97). His new book, Political Astrology, addresses the herding cats question with his well reasoned, researched, and tested examination of a Scorpio Rising chart for the U.S.; July 4, 1776, 2:21 PM LMT, Philadelphia PA. The book addresses the "when there's food around" suggestion with a wealth of material that is both interesting and useful even for cats that recoil at a big bad eagle rising in a chart for the USA, and especially for cats interested in the catnip that asteroids offer.
In The Book of World Horoscopes (1999), Nicholas Campion writes that Boyd's The True Horoscope of the United States "failed to undertake the primary step fundamental to any rigorous astrological methodology. [It] had omitted to locate the significance in the chart. [And] failed to adequately establish precisely what symbolism might indicate a dead president, or a world war, and proceed on that basis." O'Reilly takes that step, even from the carefully chosen cover design of his book.
Whether you are a fan of Gemini, Virgo, Scorpio, Sagittarius, or some other Rising for a July 4, 1776, chart, the history and astrology in the book is fascinating and worth exploration. O'Reilly has put years of thought, study, and research between the covers of Political Astrology. His careful work shines with professionalism. The political astrology essentials he gives in "Tools of the Trade", Chapter One, are a must for the practitioner.
Political Astrology is a fun, interesting read and a fine reference for years to come. Contemporary examples and case studies suggest that reading it sooner rather than later is a good idea (the 2000 and 2004 elections as well as the astrology of the two Iraq wars, etc.).
On page 66 is a fair example O'Reilly's interpretation style. "Another major transit influencing the 2004 election cycle was Pluto's
opposition to the U.S. Mars, and the simultaneous square to the U.S. Neptune. The natal Mars-Neptune square in the U.S. horoscope represents the tendency to use deception to get into wars, the acting on misinformation, and the possibility of getting stuck in a quagmire with no good exit strategy." [The observation is applicable to any proposed 7-4-1776 chart.]
Political Astrology includes material previously published in Dell Horoscope magazine and in articles released on the Internet (esp. O'Reilly's NewsScope). It may be appreciated by a reader with a general interest in astrology as well as by the seasoned astrologer and is full of useful and provocative material.
O'Reilly offers interesting examples of astrological connections with historical events. Scorpio "houseology" is given with cycles, transits, and progressions; many that are applicable beyond the Scorpio Rising chart. For that he offers the transits of Pluto to the angles, relocations, and an examination of progressions of and to the MC unique to the Scorpio chart (p. 55).
To support a particular time for a July 4 chart writers often give examples that refer to the planets. The planets, with the exception of the Moon, are in very nearly the same positions from midnight 7/4 to midnight 7/5. Events involving transits, progressions, or directions (except for the angles natal/progressed/directed) will be the same no matter the time used. O'Reilly gives many examples of transits, progressions and historical coincidence with the angles specific to the Scorpio rising chart.
He rounds out delineations using the four first discovered asteroids and Chiron. He writes that "Not using asteroids may be the modern astrologer's biggest mistake" (p. 84). To help resolve that mistake he gives an introduction to Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta, using celebrity charts for demonstration.
Chapters about asteroids (Part 2 of the book, more than 50 pages) include a 'stroid-in-sign "cookbook". O'Reilly points out that there are many thousands of asteroids and offers ways to put them to use. He gives examples of less known asteroids like Atlantis. He shows its connection with the Scorpio Asc. U.S. chart and synchronicity in the Disney release of the film, Atlantis, the bestselling book, Atlantis Found, links with the space shuttle, Atlantis, and the significance of the asteroid in the horoscope of Edgar Cayce (aspecting his MC/Pluto - reincarnation and professional life).
Some examples given in the section on asteroids offer the guilty pleasure of reading People
magazine in a waiting room or tabloids in the checkout line. This might reflect that O'Reilly has written articles for magazines that are displayed with those very periodicals; like American Astrology and Dell Horoscope (where parts of Political Astrology were previously published). The point is that there is fun reading in the book as well as information, tools, and scholarship.
O'Reilly really uses the Scorpio Ascendant chart with ACG* mapping, relocation charts, tertiary progressions and more. A dramatic tri-wheel for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor utilizes the Scorpio Rising chart relocated to Pearl with progressions and transits for that "Day of Infamy" (p. 74).
There is a chapter on "The Kennedy Curse" (the title of a 2003 book by Edward Klein) that utilizes a chart set for the 1914 marriage of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rosemary Fitzgerald for study of the family that has assumed a mythic place in American history.
O'Reilly offers examples of charts "working", not just for a Scorpio Rising declaration chart, but for a variety of events, from what he calls the "Megathrust Quake" of 1700, for the evaluation of earthquakes, to the ceremony of Japan's 1945 surrender as a chart to use for that country.
The author considers ACG maps and chart relocation with key charts. He uses the 1945 Trinity NM nuclear bomb test as a base chart for the "Nuclear Age," and offers that among the relocation examples. He points out highlights of relocating that chart to New Delhi, India, Beijing, China, and to Pyongyang, North Korea, and includes transit and progression examples for times of significant events.
The content of the book is wonderful. This reader, congenitally under the influence of the Earth element and Houses 3 & 6, notes that there is no index. The value of the book as a reference would increase substantially was it well indexed. Although there are lists of recommended books it would be helpful to have a bibliography either as footnotes, at the end of chapters, or in the back of the book.
O'Reilly does a better job "proving" this chart for the USA than many authors who have written about a USA chart. The book is at times fascinating, useful, and revealing, even for those not terribly interested in political astrology (and a must read for those who are).
* Astro-Carto-Graphy, maps lined with representation of where planets rise, set, culminate (similar to conjunct MC), and anti-culminate (similar to conjunct IC) at different locations.
Dell Horoscope
December 2005
Book Review by Chris Lorenz
Political Astrology by Michael O'Reilly; Wingspan Press, PO Box 2085, Livermore, CA, 94551; www.wingspanpress.com; 2005, paper, 225 pp. (6" x 9"), $17.95, ISBN 1-59594-023-5.
Astrologer Michael O'Reilly* writes a popular weekly internet column called "NewsScope", where he analyzes political developments and celebrity profiles from an astrological perspective. While his planetary explanations are generally based upon widely accepted techniques, he often describes current events in relation to the Scorpio Rising U.S. national horoscope. And when he looks into politicians' or celebrities' personal charts, he occasionally mentions an asteroid or two. The problem here is that not much material is available on either of these subjects.
In Political Astrology, O'Reilly builds a solid case for the use of the Scorpio Rising U.S.A. chart and the four major asteroids Ceres, Juno, Vesta, and Pallas. The book is essentially a collection of his essays and articles on these subjects, and appears in three parts. Part One begins with the formulation of a methodology for substantiating a national horoscope, derived from ideas presented by Nicholas Campion in his The Book of World Horoscopes. Then, through natal interpretations and the pattern of historical cycles, the validity of the Scorpio Rising chart is demonstrated. Part Two is primarily about the power of asteroids, and especially Ceres and Juno. The fifth chapter in Part One and the four chapters in Part Two have previously appeared in Horoscope magazine. Part Three is an anthology of selected NewsScope articles covering 2001 to 2005, and includes the horoscope for Al Qaeda, plus 15 other national and international players.
Why should astrologers consider Scorpio as the Rising sign for the U.S.? After all, isn't Scorpio associated with creepy motivations and the deadly sting of the lowly scorpion? Actually, the traditional symbol for Scorpio is the eagle, and this majestic, soaring figure has long graced American iconography. The most notable example is the Great Seal, the design of which was commissioned on the same day as the Declaration of Independence was signed July 4, 1776. The eagle in this image holds 13 arrows in its left claw, and the olive branch in the right, describing
America's desire for peace, but willingness to use force if necessary. The Great Seal has become as emblematic of the American political scene as the red, white, and blue flag, and is 100 percent Scorpio.
Finding and working with an accurate U.S. horoscope may be one of the most important choices the political astrologer makes, since the U.S. is the reigning superpower in the modern era. The problem is that most astrologers don't take the time to properly investigate the available choices. If a major historical event takes place under a reflective transit to the preferred U.S. horoscope, then most astrologers are convinced. To justify any chart, suggests Campion, one should look at all previous and successive transits of a similar nature, and see if similar events transpired. This kind of research requires a lot of work and knowledge of American history, which most astrologers tend to avoid. It's easier to just say that X Ascendant best fits the American people, and that's the end of it.
Campion estimates that approximately half of American astrologers use the Gemini Rising horoscope, set for somewhere between 2 and 3 am that morning. O'Reilly describes how this horoscope was originally constructed by the 19th century astrologer Luke Broughton, and how it gained popularity through the work of famed astrologer Evangeline Adams, who was his student. Broughton decided that Uranus was the ruling planet of the American Revolution, and following the practice of his day, placed it on the Ascendant. It was meant to symbolize the revolutionary spirit of the event, not be a timed birth. Since Uranus was in Gemini, Gemini eventually became the official Ascendant even if all historic documents and journals from those days all indicate that the Founding Fathers conducted their business during normal daylight hours.
A more realistic timing for signing this document is in the afternoon, and according to actual records, around 2 pm. Astrologer Marc Penfield rectified this to 2:20 pm, and O'Reilly uses 2:21 pm, both of which put Scorpio on the Ascendant and Leo at the Midheaven. This chart has very strong parallels to the traditional 2:17 am Gemini Rising chart, with the Midheaven on one exactly 180º reversed from the Midheaven of the other. After the historical
evidence is laid out for the reader to absorb, O'Reilly then gives the natal interpretations for the planets and asteroids in the Scorpio Rising horoscope, and follows this with the cycles of development associated with the outer planet transits over specific natal placements. Here, cyclical transits show predictable patterns, and can be projected into the future to make accurate forecasts.
America's influence is so strong in today's world that whatever country America focuses on whether through conflict or partnership that interaction appears in the relocated U.S. horoscope. Chapter Five shows how to relocate the Scorpio Rising chart to various global power centers to see how events will develop there. O'Reilly uses several examples to illustrate how this works, including Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the assassination of Vietnam's President at the beginning of the Vietnam War, and the invasion of Iraq. Only an accurate American horoscope would reflect this kind of sensitivity to global events, and it seems that only the Scorpio Rising chart fulfills this expectation.
Throughout the discussion of political astrology, the main four asteroids are used to assist in interpretation and prediction. Asteroids also have very personal meaning, and these are fleshed out in Part Two of Political Astrology. Ceres, Juno, Vesta, and Pallas represent the feminine archetypes most commonly expressed by modern women, and which are not detectable by examining just the Moon and Venus. By exploring asteroids in celebrity horoscopes, their dramatic relationships and career paths begin to make sense. After reading these chapters, astrologers may wonder how they ever got along without these asteroids.
Political Astrology is fundamentally about using astrology that works in the real world. This includes the Scorpio Rising U.S. horoscope and the four main asteroids, plus the core techniques where astrologers have reached consensus. All these are displayed in Chapter Nine's narrative on the Astrology of the Kennedy Curse, and the NewsScope articles in Part Three. Political Astrology is suitable for beginners to advanced astrologers, and includes a "favorite books" reading list to facilitate further study.
Circles of Light
www.circlesoflight.com
Political Astrology: Making Sense of the Past and Forecasting the Future
Book Review
by Donna McLaughlin Schwender
Those who are new to the science of astrology might think that Michael O'Reilly's book "Political Astrology" is beyond what they will be able to comprehend. There's no denying that there's a great deal of astrological scientific terminology to be found within its 223 pages. However, it's balanced with practical, as well as interesting, information that beginning astrologists would probably benefit from learning sooner versus later in their journey to understanding what O'Reilly himself describes as "not only a field of knowledge, but a tool to study life itself."
The book is a compilation of O'Reilly's previously published articles from Dell Horoscope and his long-running internet NewsScope columns, along with some new words of wisdom thrown into the mix to tie it all together. Its primary focus is on discussing and demonstrating how the use of the Scorpio Rising United States national horoscope can significantly aid in making "meaningful forecasts, much like a meteorologist makes weather forecasts."
Political Astrology is more "efficient" at "interpreting planetary cycles" than the popularly entertaining and familiar Sun Sign columns that litter newspapers and magazines. O'Reilly defines his approach as the "art/science of tracking and forecasting the most important economic, social, political, and cultural developments that shape a national psyche." He does a thorough job of
explaining both the historical background of this "branch" of Mundane Astrology and the long-running controversies that surround this method that has often been brushed aside in favor of the Gemini Rising approach.
As a beginning student of astrology, I have to admit to having no prior knowledge of Political Astrology until I saw the title of this book. I also have to admit to how impressed I was with how O'Reilly took such potentially complicated concepts of Fractual Astrology, the Complexity Theory, the "butterfly effect," Astro*Carto*Graphy, and Relocation Astrology and made them understandable to those of us whose bookshelves aren't yet lined with astrology books that span the centuries. O'Reilly can just as easily quote from Nicholas Campion's 1988 "The Book of World Horoscopes" as well as he can explain how a horoscope can be drawn up for any entity that has a "birth moment," whether the United States when the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4th, 1776 or the first date of operation for a family-run business.
The book is nicely divided into three distinct sections. As expected, the first part of the book delves deep into the creation, interpretation, and relocation of the Scorpio Rising United States horoscope to various "power centers around the global village." An insightful historical perspective on the cycles of war and presidential astrology is also included.
The second part of the book emphasizes what O'Reilly believes to be an often overlooked but extremely critical component of "basic horoscope analysis"--the four major asteroids known as
Ceres, Juno, Pallas, and Vesta--"feminine archetypes [that] add tremendous depth and interpretive value when analyzing a horoscope." O'Reilly concludes the section with a unique look into the role that Ceres and Juno play in the Kennedy Clan horoscope and its' associated "tragedies and successes."
The final part of the book contains reprints of O'Reilly's NewsScope articles that were written from 2001 to as recent as May 9, 2005. Written under his pen name of WolfStar, it was this section that made me realize the full potential and applications of Political Astrology. As O'Reilly himself states, these articles "offer an astrological perspective of history as it unfolds." "Newbie" astrologists, as well as seasoned professionals, will enjoy reading about such wide-ranging events as Martha Stewart's downfall, Wal-Mart's "Moon-Mar's Dilemma," the capture of Saddam Hussein, and the death of Pope John Paul II, all in an astrological connotation.
Michael O'Reilly's "Political Astrology" is definitely a book to add to any serious astrologer's reference library. Even though O'Reilly himself states, "beginners are urged to study the meaning of the planets in signs, houses, and in aspect to each other before plunging into Political Astrology," this book actually does have something to offer all levels of astrologists. As he envisions a time "when astrologers are consistently seeing and describing events before they happen [and] the astrological community as a whole benefit[ting], as will the emerging global community," the more who read this book, the sooner this goal might actually be reached.
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