[Making this sticky now that he’s in the ::clink::
I’m not so much updating it as fleshing it out now that he is in custody. I was sniffing up on him at the time, sort of breezed through it. Heil Mueller! Flowers and soil! You! will not! believe what we have for Monday brunch! [::clink::] Heil Mueller!]
I watched Get Me Roger Stone on Netflix, as well as the Zembla documentary about Trump’s Russian mob ties — both very interesting. So without further ado, allow me to Astrosplain one of the architects of Trump’s America, Paul Manafort. Overall this chart is as fascinatingly dark and complex as Ayn Rand’s. Even without the extraordinary synchronicity with Roger Stone’s chart, it is quite a nasty little stew. Gentle reader, slather your bug spray and put your waders on. Behold Paul Manafort.
First thing to say about Manafort, I do not have a birth time, and thus no information on the angles or houses. I suspect he has a Libra Ascendant for a few reasons, some of which are below. Mostly I think Libra because that puts his impaired Neptune on the Ascendant, making him a phenomenon of propaganda and con artistry. He doesn’t come across as a guy you would trust, unless you were in the Russian mob. But he doesn’t seem as ideological or hateful as I now believe him to be. That suggests a Libran smoothing-over, maybe.
Paul’s Sun is in Aries, making Mars, the god of war, the ruler of this chart. Mars is also in Aries, just to underscore the point. If you think about it, Mars’ symbol is the universal one for male, in other words “a dick.” Permanent hard-on. Manafort is a piece of work, he’s all about it. His next best buddy is Jupiter. The combined effect is an Alexander the Great archetype, for whom the world exists to be taken by force.
Jupiter is the second key player in his chart, like the handle on a bucket. The handle planet is like an energetic fulcrum around which the entire life revolves. Jupiter late in Capricorn suggests one whose every move is calculated toward padding his legacy as much as possible, in the biggest and longest-term manner imaginable. That is the prime directive that all the chart factors discussed below serve under. Saturn wants to be the richest one. Pluto wants to be the most feared. Jupiter wants to be the biggest and most famous.
However, his Jupiter is also inconjunct both Saturn and Uranus (as well as Pallas, discussed below). The Saturn inconjunct would give a certain lack of reality checking to his balance of promises and deliveries. I would expect this to be someone who may promise you anything and give you Chanel, or promise you Chanel and give you nothing at all. I expect him to have an extreme sense of entitlement with Saturn inconjunct Jupiter. Then the Uranus influence is just to throw a wild card every now and then. As Jupiter represents the government, that Uranus inconjunct is quite on the nose for putting Don in the White House. [Hey, could we just switch out for Don Lemon? Couldn’t be worse. Donnie Wahlberg?]
The Uranus inconjunct reflects both lucky breaks and weird setbacks, flukes, longshots, and unexpected outcomes. It also represents his buddy Roger Stone, who is always a wild card.
This is an interesting chart, quite a lot to look at in terms of who we know Paul Manafort to be. But I will key in on the fixed stars to allow you, gentle reader, to really understand this man without wading all through the swamp.
The Trump crowd shares a few astrological themes among many members, including a foggy or impaired Neptune. Neptune is about confusion, illusions, delusions, escapism, sleight of hand, sleight of mouth, and sleight of mind. (Neptune has many positive aspects, and is the leader in my own chart. But I am Astrosplaining an individual based on public information, not teaching general astrology.)
Neptune can also represent substance abuse. Paul Manafort is the first one of the impaired Neptunes in this group that I would expect to be quite a heavy drinker. [I did this chart before Roger’s.] He probably never appears drunk. But my guess is that he escapes in a very direct way. I say this partly because when I looked at his Neptune, I smelled strong aftershave, suggesting that he was covering for metabolized alcohol.
I’m going to highlight his fixed stars, because they surprised me. Manafort has Neptune conjunct Algorab, The Crow. He shares a connection to this malefic fixed star with his partner, Roger Stone. They were born under the same dark stars — plural. These two have connections over multiple lives.
Roger’s Vesta, the true believer in him, is conjunct Algorab. I expect Roger has an enormous respect for Paul and views him as a leader, because of this dynamic among the two. Roger may think of Paul as a visionary, or the other way around, or both.
They inspire each other for sure, and are on the same ideological page. I doubt Paul lets Roger literally blow him, though. (Roger is openly bisexual, and again, they have a tremendous synergy with Algorab. Many marriages lack this strength of connection. I love the part in the movie where the Pride parade goes silent as Roger passes; then some boos, and he flips the whole crowd off and keeps marching like it’s his parade, not theirs.) Anyway my sense is that Roger idolizes Paul.
I just described Neptune above as mysticism, escapism, and illusion. Here, Neptune is opposing three of the key planets in aggressive Aries, directly opposing his Sun. The Sun represents the conscious mind, and here I see some escape mechanism involved, a false self-image that is central to the native’s thought process. Manafort’s Neptune would be challenging even without the pack of nasty fixed stars.
Algorab is a malefic star, adding an inclination to misbehave to his already shaky Neptune, directly opposing his personal planets in volatile Aries. This chart shows a very complex relationship to anger and potential willingness to act out. It would be very easy for such a native to lash out at “others.” People would be easily externalized.
Crows are highly intelligent birds, which can mob together and kill an eagle. So I think Algorab is a very interesting connection for these two men. It is sort of the emotional theme that their partnership brings to the table. This implies there are others; this is a spiritual mob of crows with a loyal family connection.
Algorab shares much in common, attitude-wise, with the also prominently placed Antares. Antares is literally anti-Aries, the unevolved form of the war god. So displaying the aggression and impulsiveness of Aries, without the clarity or leadership portion, with the wily persistence of a crow, the coyote of birds. Antares is also opposite the fixed star associated with the Archangel Michael, Aldebaran. They are sort of the Goofus and Gallant of fixed stars. Antares has the specific vibration of disrupting clarity and leadership, countering the Archangel Michael. Prominent Antares in such a Mars-intensive chart is gasoline on the toxic masculinity, basically. An ego raging out of control with anger and desire for conquest like a forest fire.
Manafort has Chiron , the Wounded Healer, directly on Antares. Chiron is a fragment of a destroyed planet, and has recently been described by Bashar as the vibration of letting go that which is no longer relevant. If you think about a crow (Algorab), they like shiny things. A crow sees a shiny thing, takes it. If another bird also wants it, the crow intimidates him. Crows are not about letting go of that which they don’t actually need. They want stuff because they want it. And they are okay with using force. And in this case, denial and treachery. Bob Mercer also has prominent Algorab. I am coming to understand the crow thing as those who come together to pad their nests as a group, basically, on whatever they can see in the world, with that same sort of entitlement.
Manafort’s Chiron is (conjunct Antares) in Sagittarius, so answerable to Jupiter, the bucket handle and thus boss of this chart. Something about learning to control his worst impulses despite his strong need to secure his legacy and pad his nest egg.
To me, Manafort doesn’t come across like someone with this amount of ill-will in his heart/mind/spirit. Without his birth time we cannot know his ascendant, but my guess, again, is Libra. He appears polished and professional, if not trustworthy. But he looks more Steve Bannon-like in the chart than in the photograph. He is employing the falsity of the impaired Neptune with Libran social skills to good effect. Libra on the Midheaven might not surprise me either, but that requires further review.
The first two ugly fixed stars weren’t the worst thing in this chart. Next we have a real doozy, Juno conjunct Algol, the blinking demon. Juno represents the spouse. The two together suggest one who is okay partnering up with literally anyone, including Roger Stone. I can’t actually think of a better example of Juno conjunct Algol than a guy who partners with both Roger Stone and the Russian mob. No barrel too dirty to scrape. (Note that this same thing could also make someone willing to partner with very unexpected people in much more positive ways. There’s nothing in this chart to suggest any higher-level activity though, especially in light of publicly available information.) Bottom line, the difference between Paul Manafort and a coyote? There are some things a coyote just won’t do.
One of the big questions I’m working on right now is about Mintaka, whether a prominent Mintaka connection reflects souls who have come to finish the business of ancient Orion. Manafort has Mintaka conjunct Pallas Athena. If you were looking for someone willing to field marshal for the devil himself — or for Pallas Athena in her role as heroine — I would go with this configuration. Pallas Athena has a diamond for a head. She recognizes patterns and is a master of strategy. That’s what Manafort does for a living.
So the big nasty roundup for Paul Manafort: Antares, Algol, Algorab, Mintaka. Four strong malevolent influences. He looks like a sleaze, which is what I’d expect with his Neptune. He looks like a shady bastard. But he doesn’t look as mean and nasty as this combo platter would suggest. All that Aries, I’d expect him to be more personally obnoxious, like Roger. So again, maybe Manafort has a Libra Ascendant or something that makes him appear perfectly stable.
In summation, the most surprising thing in this chart is the actual bullying mean-spiritedness of it. He used to strike me as a weasel, not a bully. He’s both, but most importantly watch out for his mean streak. He shares that prominent Antares, the Bart Simpson within, with Ivanka. He’s actually fairly predictable himself overall, but he has no moral compass, and is willing to ride the crazy train into hell with Roger.
Ayn Rand, Astrosplained: Orion and You
Artnunymiss 