Eliot Spitzer, Governor of New York and former district attorney for the State of New York, is likely about to resign after being associated with a prostitution ring under investigation. As with most situations of this kind, there is a bitter irony associated with this scandal since Spitzer was well-known for his bulldog techniques in fighting crime in New York and presided over the prosecution of prostitution rings himself as attorney general. His vigilant prosecution of Wall Street firms and corporations brought him great acclaim from many and hatred from others and his run for Governor promised a return of ethics to Albany.

Scandal is not a new thing for Spitzer – his entry into the political arena in 1998 when he ran for state Attorney General was marred by questions over campaign spending involving his father’s money. But his crusade to clean up the ethics of state politics made him popular with the public and he won the governor’s seat in a landslide victory.

Astrologically Spitzer has the Sun in Gemini that is unaspected except for a wide conjunction to Mercury. The unaspected Sun stands alone and usually denotes an individual who acts independently but it can also reveal a lack of self-understanding. Gemini is a shapeshifter in any case – there is a need to take on a variety of roles and experiment with a variety of lifestyles that can make it more difficult to establish a strong personal identity, and when the Sun is unaspected that quality can become more pronounced.

Spitzer has a stellium (grouping) in Leo planets that includes Venus, Mars, the Moon and Uranus. A strong Leo emphasis such as this longs to be at the center of the stage, recognized and admired for one’s achievements. Neptune squares the Leo planets which shows a tremendous creativity but also a tendency towards self-deception and illusion. Still, a trine from Saturn to Pluto in Spitzer’s chart shows an ability to apply discipline and structure (Saturn) in a way that facilitates a growing power and influence (Pluto).

Spitzer’s political life was proceeding rather smoothly until a series of mis-steps after his inauguration as governor cost him a great deal of public support. Last summer he was exposed in the use of state troopers to investigate the opposition Senate Majority Leader, and it appears to be around this time that his visits to “Kristen” began. At the time, transiting Pluto was opposing Mercury in his chart, a transit that can dredge up our darkest thoughts and obsessions, and transiting Uranus, the reckless revolutionary, was beginning a square to Spitzer’s Gemini Sun. “Kristen” reports that Spitzer asked her to do “things that … you might not think are safe.” Under pressure politically, he likely sought to relieve the pressure through the relative anonymity of kinky (Uranus) prostitution (Pluto).

At the moment Spitzer is going through a Saturn/Pluto double whammy. Transiting Saturn (pressure and challenges) is aspecting Pluto in his chart (endings and rebirth), and transiting Pluto is aspecting Saturn in his chart. This is a time of change, and it doesn’t help that the lunar eclipse of February 20 was in exact aspect to Spitzer’s Pluto. This is a time of momentous change for Spitzer, but other more fortunate planetary cycles going on at the moment for him (including a trine of Pluto to his natal Pluto which facilitates inner transformation and greater personal empowerment) show that this period, though difficult, will result in a deep and lasting personal growth.