Tomorrow voters in 24 states plus American Samoa will go to the polls to express their opinion about the presidential election. Most of us know by now that we don’t really get to vote for our president (maybe this is something Pluto in Capricorn can fix) – we just get to express our opinion and hope that the delegates in our state vote the way the state requests.

This Super Tuesday event falls in the shadow of the upcoming (annular) solar eclipse at the New Moon on February 6 with the Sun and Moon conjunct at 17 degrees Aquarius. The New Moon is part of a stellium (grouping) of Aquarian planets which includes Chiron, Mercury and Neptune as well as the Sun and Moon. Aquarius is associated with invention, technology, originality, and humanitarian goals but can also be emotionally detached and quirky. Venus also makes a sextile (harmonious aspect) to Uranus (ruler of Aquarius) during the New Moon which accelerates the radical revolutionary energy of the time. All of this Uranian/Aquarian energy is perfect for an election which is all about change.

Let’s compare the charts of the four major presidential candidates with the eclipse chart. Remember that in the lunar eclipse it is the Moon’s light of instinct and emotion that is kept in darkness.

Barack Obama – the Aquarius stellium (including the New Moon and North Node) falls in his seventh house of partnerships and open enemies, suggesting that he will pick up new key endorsements and forge new alliances. The North Node in the eclipse chart opposes Obama’s own North Node within 1 degree, suggesting a challenge (opposition) in his ability to perfect his destiny (North Node). Surprisingly, none of the other Aquarius planets oppose Obama’s Leo planets except for a separating opposition of Chiron to his Sun which completed back in December. In a hotly contested election it’s clear who the open enemies are, and this New Moon is likely to further illuminate this.

Obama is also experiencing the second phase of a transit of Saturn over his natal Pluto which is not part of the eclipse, but an important transit nonetheless. Saturn combined with Pluto can bring great power, but it can also bring important tests of that power. This transit began last fall, and we can see how an increasingly difficult campaign has increased his power rather than lessened it, and I suspect this will continue under the eclipse energy.

Hillary Clinton – The eclipse stellium falls in Mrs. Clinton’s ninth house of travel and ideology and exactly squares Venus in her chart. This would seem to indicate that Mrs. Clinton’s partnerships (Venus) will be challenged and that she will be forced to make some radical changes in her platform (9th house). Because the 9th house rules the press, she is likely to have some difficulty with media coverage as well. Mrs. Clinton is going through some challenging planetary cycles, but as we’ve seen they have not slowed her down much. Transiting Mars is stationing on Uranus in her chart where it’s been since mid-January, and she has been having trouble controlling her irritation, something which will continue throughout the month. I have rectified Mrs. Clinton’s chart to show a Cancer ascendant, and if this is true she is a lunar type that will be more sensitive to eclipses than other mortals. It’s hard to predict whether this will create difficulty for her, but there’s no doubt that there will be some sort of change in her campaign.

John McCain – Last year I wrote that John McCain would never be president, and now he’s surging to the forefront of the Republican campaign. What happened??? McCain is another individual who thrives under adversity, and transiting Saturn has been making a pass over his Sun since last fall, coinciding with his sudden takeoff in the polls. Saturn transits give challenge to some people but its hard work and discipline brings success to those who utilizes those qualities. The eclipse falls in his 5th house of creative self-expression, creating a need for McCain to be more personally involved in the campaign. At the same time, transiting Uranus is passing over Saturn in his chart, opening doorways to new modes of expression. The eclipse goes easy on McCain and creates no challenges for him.

Mitt Romney – We have a new birthtime for Romney which gives him Gemini on the ascendant and puts the eclipse stellium in his 10th house of career and public life. This shows the importance of this eclipse to Romney’s life in the public arena and puts the North Node of the eclipse exactly square to Romney’s Moon/Jupiter conjunction in Scorpio. Jupiter conjunct the Moon bestows great inner confidence and a sense of grandeur, and the square of the eclipse North Node to this point could show a shift in his destiny and a challenge to that confidence. It’s interesting to me that Saturn is transiting the planets of each of the candidates, and for Romney that planet is Mars which shows that his will is blocked now. Romney’s planetary cycles are equally positive and negative, so it’s difficult to predict how he will survive the campaign.

Our fate is not set in stone, and we can make choices each moment that alter our destiny which makes it impossible to predict the future using planetary trends. Each of these candidates has shown tremendous strength in the face of great challenges, which shows that they are not likely to be destroyed by one eclipse.