After the Democrats swept Congress in the mid-term election, Nancy Pelosi will be the new Speaker of the House, the first woman ever to hold that position. Breaking glass ceilings is nothing new for Nancy; she was the first Minority Whip back in 2001 and once the Democrats take over the House in January she will be third in line for the Presidency.

Nancy Pelosi was a homemaker married to a wealthy banker turned real estate developer until her last child was a high school senior, after which she began working her way up in the California Democratic party. Because of her husband’s wealth she has been criticized by both Republicans and progressive Democrats for her fundraising practices which illegally used multiple PACs to exceed federal fundraising limits (the PACS were immediately shut down when declared illegal). She has raised more money for Democrats than anyone else other than the Clintons. She has also been criticized for signing off, along with Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, on President Bush’s NSA spy program. Pelosi is reviled by Republicans as a “San Franciso Liberal,” hinting at her support of gay marriage although she has been cagey on this issue which has drawn fire from liberals as well. Correctly, she sees this issue as a diversionary tactic to draw attention from the real issues of the day: the war in Iraq and the state of the US.

Still, Nancy Pelosi is generally respected and admired by Democrats and has shown a strong and fiery leadership style. She has brought the congressional Democrats together to form a solid voting bloc, sometimes with encouragement and sometimes by withholding funds. House Democrats under her leadership have been more unified than any other time in the past twenty-five years.

Pelosi’s birthchart tells an interesting story of a strong and passionate woman who is comfortable with power and seeks to effect real change in the world. The word most frequently used to describe her is “fiery” which is not a surprise: her Sun is in Aries, the sign of the warrior. Those with Sun in Aries are courageous and independent, seeking experiences that will allow the purest expression of their will.

The Sun represents the expression of the ego and the individual Self, and Pelosi’s Sun makes a harmonious aspect (trine) to Pluto, the planet of power. The alignment of the Self (Sun) with the planet of power (Pluto) encourages a passionate drive to achieve and a single-minded focus of purpose. Pelosi is comfortable with power: she once said as a child that she would rather be a priest rather than a nun because the priests had all the power. Pluto gains power through the transformation of endings and regeneration; throwing off the old skin that no longer fits in order to grow into the new, more powerful self. Pelosi’s political career has demonstrated this focused evolutionary growth as her power steadily has increased without the usual bumps and blips that other powerful people endure.

Pelosi’s Moon is in Scorpio, showing her emotional intensity and passion. Scorpios are courageous and fearless when it comes to their emotions, and Pelosi is not afraid to release the Scorpio sting when she is angered. She has attacked her Republican colleagues for running a criminal enterprise. She unapologetically calls President Bush incompetent. She called Hugo Chavez a thug. But her self-avowed thick skin has won her the respect of both her fans and her critics.

Pelosi can be extremely stubborn with three planets conjunct in Taurus: Uranus, Venus and Mars. The placement of Mars shows our aggression and drive, and in the fixed earth sign of Taurus there is a drive for stability and a fixed nature. Nancy Pelosi is not very flexible and doesn’t like change. The conjunction of Mars to Venus shows an individual who has a strong drive (Mars) for relationships with others (Venus) and can be somewhat pushy, and the addition of Uranus to the combination shows that she is drawn to people who are unusual and different from her. This quality serves her well in politics where she must deal with a wide variety of personalities.

Mercury in the birthchart reveals our communication style and the way we process information and our experiences. Nancy Pelosi’s Mercury is in the watery sign of Pisces, the sign of the mystic and visionary, showing that she is intuitive and imaginative but can get lost in daydreams and fantasies. Mercury is retrograde in her chart, meaning that it appeared to move backward at the time she was born. Those with Mercury retrograde in their birthchart find it difficult to express themselves clearly and to feel that they are understood by others. Pelosi is notorious for her clumsy speaking style and inability to think fast on her feet. She resorts to repetition of talking points that doesn’t do justice to her ability to synthesize the positions of various individuals and create a single point of focus that becomes a goal for that group. This is the innate intuition that the Pisces Mercury bestows, a terrific tool for bringing people together in action.

Although the trine of the Sun to Pluto discussed above gives Pelosi a natural affinity for the evolution of power in her personality, she also has Saturn in square to Pluto which creates an ongoing battle within her psyche and often creates a sense that one is responsible (Saturn) for the evolution of society (Pluto). For Pelosi I suspect that this causes her to constantly see where things need to be improved and provides the push that she needs to continue pushing the envelope for change.

Whether you agree with her or not, Nancy Pelosi will no doubt continue to break through boundaries as she continues her quest to fix what’s wrong with America, transforming the governmental power structure in the process.

Sources: Lesley Stahl interview, Wikipedia, American Prospect.