Three guys walk into a bar. The first one is an Austrian, the second is an Italian, and the third guy is an American. The Austrian says to the Italian “I think you may have murdered me?” The Italian replies “I was never your problem.”  And the third guy, the American, says “I’m the only one that matters”.  

The first guy’s name is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The second guy is Antonio Salieri.

And the third guy’s name is Donald Trump.

What are they doing in the bar and what do they have in common?

Munakara – What is it?

Munakara is a two-step process based on the planetary sect principle that each of the seven original planets can be divided into either the diurnal or the nocturnal sect. The four qualities of hot, cold, wet, and dry are part of a planet’s description and these qualities are either compatible with, or modified by, their belonging to one division or the other.

The following table shows the planets’ membership to their correct sect division. Sun, Jupiter, and Saturn belong to the diurnal sect, whilst the Moon, Venus, and Mars belong to the nocturnal sect. Mercury can belong to either sect as it is classified as diurnal if it is oriental to the Sun and rises before it, or it becomes nocturnal Mercury if it rises after the Sun and is occidental to the luminary. In the three example charts shown below, Mercury is a diurnal planet in Salieri’s chart, but is a nocturnal planet in the chart of both Mozart and Trump.

Munakara, or contention, is not tricky to work out. But you do have to know your rulerships and these are best shown in the wheel of the zodiac signs.

The first step to finding munakara is simply selecting any of the seven planets, i.e. Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, or Moon and noting the sign in which that planet resides. Ideally you would prefer the diurnal planets – Sun, Jupiter, Saturn – to either be in rulership in their own sign, or to be in a sign belonging to another diurnal planet. For instance, Jupiter in Leo is in the sign belonging to the Sun. Another term for this is ‘dispositor’, in that the Sun is the dispositor of Jupiter’s sign (Leo).

If the diurnal planets are not disposited by another diurnal planet, then you will need to go to the second step in this process. For instance, if either the Sun, Jupiter or Saturn is in a sign belonging to one of the nocturnal planets (Moon, Venus, or Mars) then you will need to look for their dispositor. If the nocturnal planet is in a sign belonging to a different diurnal planet, then your original planet will be in the state of munakara.

Mercury will comply with this two-step process in finding munakara according to whether its position in relation to the Sun classifies it as a diurnal or nocturnal planet. A planet in its own sign of rulership will save it from contention, as will mutual reception (planets in each other’s sign with aspect) or ‘generosity’ (planets in each other’s sign but with no aspect), as there is no need to call in a third planet for dispositorship.

Exaltation will not save a planet from munakara as the ruler can still be from the opposite sect, i.e. Jupiter, a diurnal planet,  is exalted in Cancer, but the Moon belongs to the nocturnal sect. If the Moon’s sign belongs to a different diurnal planet Jupiter can still be exalted but it is also in a state of munakara. This condition can make Jupiter very volatile or extreme in its behaviour – almost turning it from a benefic to a malefic – as it tends to act like a planet with privileges but also carries a chip on its shoulder.

Mars in Capricorn is exalted in this sign owned by Saturn, but if Saturn is in a sign belonging to a different nocturnal planet, then a situation is created whereby Mars is powerful, but may also be vengeful or overly aggressive, particularly if it is out-of-sect in the chart.

The reverse applies to nocturnal planets in that if their dispositor is a diurnal planet, you will have to look further to see if the diurnal planet’s dispositor is another nocturnal planet.

Munakara gives us an idea of the dangers of crossing boundaries  – twice – and the trouble a planet can get into when it moves through enemy territory.  A planet’s dispositor (the ruler of its sign) is ideally required to support and validate the planet in all its actions. However, if there is a feeling of mistrust or tension because the first dispositor (who has its own hostile ruler) is stressed, then the planet feels like it has its back against the wall and will behave in a way that shows its more extreme qualities.

Imagine the youngest child in a family of three siblings. If the middle child is getting picked on by the eldest because they are suffering their own torments, then retaliation goes back to the smallest child, who risks danger from both its elder siblings.

Each of the planets reacts differently to being in munakara according to its own character and its significations are often areas of stress for the individual. The Table below provides a starting point for how a planet might respond to being in this situation.

Munakara is a foreign word to our ears but it is worth knowing that its translation from Punjabi to English is “apostate” (a disloyal person who betrays or deserts his cause or religion or political party or friend), “atheist”, “disbeliever” or “repudiator”.  From these words we get the impression that munakara is a judgement involving dishonour, loss of faith, disenchantment, nonconformity, and a deep or profound sense of loss.

The translation of the 11^th century astrologer al-Biruni’s work The Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology provides a different explanation for munakara, calling it “contention” meaning not only conflict, friction, and a heated disagreement, but also assertion, declaration or allegation. Somewhere in the middle between the two translations lies the truth of what this condition might mean for a planet found in the difficult state of munakara.

Before moving into a delineation of the natal charts for Wolfgang Mozart, Antonio Salieri, and Donald Trump, it is worth mentioning two things. Firstly, munakara is not the missing link or the great eureka! moment as no single technique, traditional or modern, will provide you with all the answers to what makes a person tick. There is no signature, no short cut, and no special formula for delineation that opens up a chart and forces it to reveal all its secrets, every single time, to the waiting astrologer. What works for one, may not work for another and we all search for ways that make sense to us, regardless of which type of astrology we have faith in, and whether we practice in private, teach others, hold podcasts, or run a thriving consulting room. 

Secondly, if you are intrigued by these three examples then you might want to run this technique through your own natal chart. Use only the major seven planets with the rights to rulership honours and if you do find the same planets, or others that are in contention, don’t worry that you are a modern Mozart and your brilliance remains undetected by the world, or that your legacy will be poisonous like Salieri, or that you must be a narcissist if you find similarities to Donald Trump’s three planets in munakara.  There are many, many different expressions for a planet in contention and you have had the planet in this condition since your birth. Look at the planet’s sign, its dignity, position, and the two dispositors in play, and read the brief explanation to kick-start your thinking on how it may work for you.

‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was undoubtedly a brilliant composer who has left a legacy of divine music that enriches our lives individually, and lifts our spirits collectively. But he was human, and he had a multitude of faults as have we all. We may classify him as ‘good’ but his paranoia, greed, and emotional instability all but destroyed him.

Antonio Salieri was branded by history as ‘bad’ when in fact he was a man with morals and was kind, generous, and ethical in his dealings with others. Being maligned and the subject of constant speculation led first to depression and self-harm, and then to insanity, towards the end of his life.

Donald Trump is a little different from these two men from the 18^th century. Donald Trump is probably exactly as we perceive him to be. To assume that he is hiding his ‘good’ nature from the whole world is a big stretch of the imagination, and to brand him as ‘bad’ only feeds his ego and gives him power, and he has enough of these two commodities already.

Simply put, Donald Trump is an ugly man. He is an ugly man who is racist, sexist, sadistic, homophobic, bizarre, and just plain obscene and he is a five-star general of the Ugly Americans Army who are either incapable of seeing his, and by reflection, their own ugliness, or worse, who totally refuse to acknowledge its existence.

It is hard to know what is worse – to be a follower who fully embraces Trump’s ugliness and without apology or shame sees it mirrored within themselves, or to be a follower with intelligence and reasoning who chooses to look past the outlandish statements and vulgar behaviour (as if the ugliness simply does not exist) in order to promote what will be advantageous to their own ends.

Donald Trump is not the only world leader who makes us despair for the safety and wellbeing of their own country’s citizens, or makes us want to abandon hope for the future of humankind. Throw a dart at the world map on your wall and you will invariably hit a location where leadership is suspect, corrupt, greedy, cruel, or downright evil. Perhaps Donald is not quite at the same level as despotic rulers, dictators, or oligarchies, but why does he annoy us so much?

Is it his track record of failures, misdemeanours, crooked business dealings, or his ability to look like The Most Wanted Man on the  #MeToo hit-list?

Is it his inane comments and the lies he tells on his tweets? Is it his obnoxious personality?

Is his ugliness confined to the external vanity and snide mannerisms of the man, or do we catch glimpses of his internal ugliness too?

Maybe the answer lies in Donald’s natal chart, or in a simple but expressive technique that has been long lost, but needs to be brushed off and brought back into its rightful place in our astrological toolkit.

‘The Good’

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period, composing more than 600 works within his short lifetime. Mozart began as a child prodigy, composing his first musical composition at five years of age, had toured and performed before most of Europe’s nobility by the time he reached puberty.

During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his early death at the age of 35. The circumstances of his death have been much mythologized.

Mozart’s Moon in Sagittarius is one of his two planets which are in a state of munakara. From its state of contention, I would expect to see a history of indications that the Moon, and all that it signifies, has been under duress due to the double-change in dispositors from one sect to the other and back again; in this case, from nocturnal Moon, to diurnal Jupiter, to nocturnal Venus.

The Moon signifies the mother, the family situation, the state of the physical body, and the fluidity for their emotional landscape to flourish, and to nourish the individual. When the Moon is munakara I might anticipate one or more of the following scenarios: a struggling mother caught in poor circumstances, tense family relations, health issues for the individual, challenges in maintaining physical strength or mobility, a broken heart somewhere along the line or emotional upheavals such as a sensitivity to rejection, isolation, betrayal, jealousy, or even quite opposite reactions such as a complete lack of awareness or interest in others’ feeling states.

Mozart’s Sagittarian Moon is disposited by his Jupiter, which in turn is disposited by Venus. This indicates a chain of indulgent and excessive planets which are prone to unbridled appetites and the individual is likely to have very little self-control when it comes to hedonistic pleasures, or restraint or self-discipline when it comes to any emotions which they see as negative or painful.

The heart ( very much) wants, what the heart wants, and whilst these three planets together feed Mozart’s passion and create brilliancein his musical talents, it has also shattered his reason, and plagued those things which are signified by his Moon; his mother, his health, and his peace of mind. Jupiter’s placement in the house of money is anxiety for the comforts which the dispirited Moon seeks, and Venus’ sixth house placement is a warning of toil, poverty, or the potential for a weakened constitution if this man cannot control his excesses.

Wolfgang’s mother, Anna Maria Mozart (nee, Pertl), was one of three daughters born in Salzburg in 1720 to a local administrator who fell deeply into debt before his death when Anna was four years old. When all their possessions were sold to pay his debts her mother and older sisters (one of whom died in 1728) lived on a charity pension of eight florins a month. We know that Anna Maria was a frail child as legal documents describe her as “constantly ill” (1733) and “the constantly ill bedridden daughter” (1739).

Anna married Leopold Mozart in 1747, presumably on her Saturn Return, with one writer recording “the two were regarded at the time as the handsomest couple in Salzburg.” Leopold was estranged from his own family of good standing, mainly architects and bookbinders, and scraped a living as a music teacher. His one claim to fame was to publish a violin manual in the year of his famous son’s birth.

Anna gave birth to seven live children over a period of eight years, but only two were destined to survive infancy; their fourth child, Maria Anna “Nannerl” (born 1751), and their last child, Johann Chrysostomus Wolfgang Amadeus (born 1756).  

Mozart’s chart shows a tight conjunction between his Moon and Pluto so it is not surprising to learn of his mother’s grief at having to bury so many infant babies. Anna Maria almost died giving birth to Wolfgang, as her womb retained the placenta and its forced removal posed an extreme risk of fatal infection for her.

Mozart’s Moon Pluto is in the fourth house and his parents’ marriage does not seem to be a particularly happy one. Leopold was controlling, his nature was described as “phlegmatic and painfully conscientious” and he relentlessly drove his two talented children to achieve perfection at all cost. He was sensitive to others’ criticisms and perceived slights, mistrustful (bordering on paranoia), frustrated in his own ambitions, explosive, possibly violent, and extremely difficult to live with: characteristics which Leopold fostered in his son and which Wolfgang developed in his adult years.

Surviving letters describe how Mozart’s mother “will have drawn a veil over many an unpleasant incident not merely out of prudence, but also from fear. She was utterly devoted to him (Leopold) and willingly submitted to the strict regime to which he inevitably and unquestioningly subjected her.”

We are told from these letters that Anna Maria was a caring mother and a refuge for her children when Leopold’s hand fell heavily upon them, and that Wolfgang loved and admired her to distraction. Anna Maria accompanied her young family on a series of tours (1762-1768), living in squalid dwellings and travelling in primitive conditions whilst exhibiting her two children before nobility and the royal courts of Europe. Munakara Moon rules the eleventh house and not all receptions were warm, with many courtiers whispering their suspicions that it was Leopold, not Wolfgang, who was the true author of many of the compositions attributed to the child. Both mother and children succumbed to illness on their travels, and Wolfgang contracted smallpox during this period.

When Nannerl became too old at age eighteen to no longer be classified as a ‘child prodigy’, Leopold left mother and daughter in Salzburg to fend for themselves whilst he took Wolfgang on the road again for the next four years.

By 1777, Leopold had secured a position for Wolfgang back in Salzburg but father and son were ambitious for more, and Leopold ordered Wolfgang back to touring to find a more lucrative benefactor. At this time Leopold was in jeopardy of losing his own benefactor so Anna Maria was forced to accompany her son on the trip to Paris to find better employment for Wolfgang. His mother had objected that she was too old for this lifestyle but Leopold didn’t trust his wayward son and regardless of her protests, Anna Maria was sent on the arduous journey.

Whilst Wolfgang made regular, and often humiliating, visits to Parisian nobles to ply his trade as court musician, his mother waited for his return in cold, dank lodgings. Food in Paris was expensive and often bad and Anna Maria’s health deteriorated to the point that she became too weak to leave her bed. Wolfgang was already in debt and selling valuables to survive and there was no money for medical attention for his mother. Anna Maria died in Paris with her 21 year old son at her side on 3^rd July 1778 and was buried the next day in a foreign city far from home. Her death was the first that he had witnessed and he suffered transient fits of melancholia after the event. 

Mozart’s constitution was never strong: a full medical analysis of Mozart’s health is available from the September 1983 JRSM (Journal of Royal Society of Medicine) at //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1439384/?page=1 .

Mozart suffered from frequent attacks of tonsillitis, constant upper respiratory tract infections, he contracted rheumatic fever in 1763 at age seven and experienced re-occurring bouts of it throughout his life, and he also contracted small pox and typhoid fever as a child. The Journal states that Mozart suffered chronic ill health during the last six months of his life. Recurring violent headaches and blackouts suggest epilepsy, worsening depression, paranoid delusions that someone was poisoning him, and a maddening belief that an anonymous patron has commissioned him to write his own Requiem.

Given the summary of his various medical conditions it seems unfair that accusations of Mozart’s hypochondria abound, but if this is true, then it may have been a contributing factor in his death. Mozart had great faith in the benefits of blood-letting as a health restorative and was prone to its overuse whenever he fell ill. He also took regular doses of the purgative metal, antimony, and an excessive quantity induces intense vomiting, fever, swollen abdomen and swollen limbs – all symptoms which Mozart displayed during his final two weeks. He was convinced that he was slowly and systematically being poisoned, but he had no idea it was by his own hand, and not by Antonio Salieri.

As luck would have it, Mozart’s Jupiter – the dispositor of his Moon – is also in a state of munakara. Diurnal Jupiter is disposited by nocturnal Venus, which in its turn, is disposited by Saturn, another diurnal planet, which is in rulership in Mozart’s chart.

Normally Jupiter in the second house tends to fortify the finances but Mozart’s money management was erratic to the point of non-existent, and the poor handling of his constantly accumulating debt meant that financial security was always a hit-and-miss affair.  Perhaps he learnt early from his father (Jupiter rules fourth house of father) that an appearance of wealth was everything as the family’s expenses when they were touring would have been gobbled up by beautiful costumes for Nannerl and Wolfgang, expensive instruments, and useless paraphernalia for the children when they entertained the court. Monarchs and emperors may have lavished praise and attention on the child prodigies but they rarely get involved in the lowly act of payment for services and Leopold would be nervous of offending any of his wealthy patrons.

‘The miracle which God let be born in Salzburg’ was part of Leopold’s patter when he introduced his son, and he was consciously aware that it was his duty to God to draw The Miracle to the notice of the world (and to profit from it). Amadeus means ‘loved by God,’ and Leopold fostered a type of affected snobbery in Wolfgang which bordered on a God-complex, leading the boy and then the man, to believe that he was entitled to the same lavish lifestyle as his benefactors  – even  though he was often having to survive on the wages of a lowly musician. This is the statement of Jupiter in contention – a lack of humility, a touch of the divine, and sometimes a misplaced sense of privilege that may not be supported by reality.

Mozart certainly had the goods, but there were contributing factors beyond his control that constantly tested his Jupiter in the second house, especially when it also ruled his seventh house of allies and open enemies. The Mozarts were of German Austrian extraction pedalling their compositions when Italian opera was in higher demand.

In truth, the rivalry between Mozart and Salieri was more an issue of race than personal rancour, but it began when Mozart, a travelling musician, visited Vienna at age eleven where the seventeen year old Salieri was already established as the favourite in the Roman Emperor court of Joseph II.

Joseph was a passionate supporter of Italian opera so the young composer from Venice was naturally going to be more appealing than the novelty of an inexperienced child from Salzburg.

Jupiter in contention (ruling father’s house) came into play again when in Mozart’s youth it was Leopold who was responsible for choosing his son’s wealthy benefactors. Unfortunately Leopold was no business man and his choice of his son’s mentors were often erroneous or misguided as he would target benefactors who were either out of pocket themselves, or were too miserly to pay a decent wage for a young musician.

Leopold remained in Salzburg when Wolfgang finally moved to Vienna twelve years later, but his correspondence was filled with angry claims that the young Italian was deliberately blocking his son’s popularity at court. Unfortunately Jupiter in munakara makes a mental note every time Salieri is paid a higher wage for his services, or a pampered child’s tutoring job is snatched away by the more established composer. Truthfully Antonio ‘s fortunes were just as precarious as Wolfgang’s, but Salieri managed his finances better, being able to maintain his household in lean times and raise eight children in modest accommodation.

In the latter years when Mozart’s operas were much in demand in Vienna, he and his wife Constanze spent any money that came into the household on servants, furnishings for their expensive home, all manner of luxuries including exquisite costumes, beautiful adornments, jewellery, and opulent social gatherings. When a benefactor disappeared or the money dried up, they would sell everything to pay the debt and hope for better times to come.

At the time of his death Mozart’s young family should have been comfortably provided for as Mozart had been paid for his new opera, The Magic Flute, had received some payment for the mysterious Requiem, and had several wealthy patrons lined up to pay him annuities in exchange for the occasional composition. However, once more their lavish lifestyle habits had gotten out of hand and Constanze was recorded as appealing to the Emperor for money just five days after Mozart’s death, claiming poverty and crippling debt. Constanze was also desperate to find a substitute composer to complete the Requiem begun by Mozart but now unfinished, in order that she might receive a final payment for the commission, so she too is represented by the Jupiter in munakara ruling the seventh house of ‘my spouse’.

Jupiter in contention can play out as a person who is often trying to prove themselves to be as good as anyone else, carrying a chip on their shoulder, and trying desperately to belong to the upper-classes they most secretly despise. Inferiority complexes often accompany such feelings, and even the world’s greatest composer, I suspect, was guilty of constantly made to feel shunned, humiliated, and simply “not good enough” by those who claimed a more noble lineage.

‘The Bad’

Antonio Salieri (18^th August 1750 – 7^th May 1825) was an Italian classical composer, conductor, and a pivotal figure in the development of late 18^th-century opera, composing over 40 operas during his most productive period. His last opera was written in 1804 but he remained one of the most important and sought-after teachers of his generation with such famous pupils as Liszt, Schubert, Beethoven, Hummel, and Mozart’s own son, Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart.

Then, at the height of his achievements, something went horribly wrong. He came to be accused of killing Mozart.

Just over five years separates the birth of Antonio Salieri in 1750 and Wolfgang Mozart in 1756 but there are uncanny similarities between the two composers.Both men’s Moons are in signs belonging to Jupiter – Mozart in Sagittarius and Salieri in Pisces – and both men’s Jupiter lies in signs belonging to Venus – Mozart in Libra and Salieri in Taurus. The commonality in the change from nocturnal planet (Moon) to diurnal planet (Jupiter) and the return again to nocturnal planet (Venus) is more than a little spooky especially when both charts are examined through the lens of munakara.

If we are going to examine the Moons, then we should begin with a physical description of both men. Mozart was described as “a remarkably small man, very thin and pale, with a profusion of fine, fair hair of which he was rather vain.”  His facial complexion was pitted, a reminder of his childhood case of smallpox. Salieri was of a similar stature to Mozart, but whilst Wolfgang was the blue-eyed fair Austrian, Antonio was the swarthy Italian, being described as “a little, dark, miserly, quaint, odd, rather vain and envious Italian.”  

Antonio was the eighth in line amongst twelve children born to a merchant engaged in a large, dangerous overseas trade that failed and left the family destitute when he passed away in 1763. No mention is made of Salieri’s mother and the only information we have is that both parents died within a short time of each other, leaving the 13 year old Antonio an orphan who was sent to live with his older brother, a monk living in Padua.

Salieri’s Moon is in contention so we can assume that his mother’s life was difficult, but an all too common tale in these times; bearing a dozen children over her lifetime to a man who eventually became bankrupt and left his family impoverished at the time of his death.  Antonio’s experience of his Moon still bears the tragedy of a broken home and the disintegration of his family structure, but its placement in the eleventh house, with its dispositor, Jupiter in the angular first house, gives a more optimistic outlook to Antonio’s situation.  His Pisces Moon has mixed mutual reception with Venus in Cancer (exaltation to rulership), and this may soften the effects of munakara when it comes to the pure good fortune that this child, and later man, would experience in his lifetime.

In fact, Salieri’s life changes for the better with his orphanhood and at the move to his brother’s monastery (Moon rules third house of siblings), he was immediately enrolled at one of Venice’s foremost monastery schools where he was able to develop his natural musical talents. Presumably Antonio’s considerably skills were obvious as the Moon’s dispositor, Jupiter, is located in the angular first house, and at age fifteen he meets two benefactors who will improve his fortunes and help to broadcast his name as a skilled musician and composer.

Antonio was taken under the wing of a friend of the family, Giovanni Mocenigo, where in a short period of time, he was introduced to a man who would become his mentor and guardian, Florian Leopold Gassmann.  Gassmann held appointments as Court Ballet and Court Music Composer to Joseph II (Holy Roman Emperor 1781-1790) and Gassmann took his young charge to Vienna to live with his own family and to extend his formal and musical education.  Antonio soon came to the attention of Joseph II who was impressed by the youngster’s talent and invited him to play each evening after dinner.

Salieri’s favour with the court was established from this time onwards and his reputation and opportunities grew from strength to strength, often causing him to divide his time between Vienna, Milan, Venice, and Paris, where his compositions were lauded by Joseph II’s younger sister, Marie Antoinette.

Over the past twenty years historians have been fighting to clear Salieri’s name and to reintroduce his works to modern opera fans. But his Moon in munakara has meant that during his lifetime these rumours caused him to suffer greatly. A Pisces Moon in the eleventh house needs the acceptance and adoration of its prime supportive group, in this case, the Viennese court, but there are a number of contributing factors – aside from Mozart’s early death – that aided in Antonio’s fall from grace.

The Austro-Ottoman War (1788-1791) was Joseph II’s futile attempt to come to the aid of their Russian allies and Joseph spent most of the war at the front with his troops. Malaria and other diseases decimated the Austrian troops, infecting Joseph and leading to his death from the illness in February 1790. There simply was no money, and no royal audience, for symphonies, concerts, operas and courtly entertainments, and with the death of his greatest patron and protector, Salieri began to disappear from sight. 

The war had serious negative effects on Austria’s economy so when Leopold II came to the throne after his older brother’s death, food prices and taxes rose and the Enlightenment period seemed to come to an abrupt end.  Leopold II was not a patron of the arts and his reign only lasted another two years after Joseph’s death, when in 1792 he died suddenly from what looked suspiciously like poisoning. 

Salieri retired as director of the Italian opera in 1792 and his final opera, not performed, was written in 1804. Vienna was mourning the loss of Mozart, and along with the whispers of Salieri’s supposed role in his death, German nationalism was on the rise after the disaster of the war with the Turks. His music went out of style and he was seen as an interloper who had frustrated or shortened the career of Mozart, “the true German hero of operatic composition.” It didn’t help that Salieri’s grasp of the German language had never been good and even after being a resident of Vienna for almost forty years, his eleventh house Moon in contention saw him branded as a foreigner, a poisoner, and a composer who had outlived his time.

The rumours continued to grow in strength and conviction until Salieri, suffering from depression and the grief of losing first his son in 1804 and then his beloved wife three years later, suffered a complete physical and mental breakdown. He was institutionalized and reports circulated that he had accused himself of poisoning Mozart and burdened by guilt, had attempted to take his own life. For many German Austrians this was seen as an omission of guilt and only served to feed the rumours; so much so that they followed him far beyond the grave.

Saturn in Scorpio in the seventh house is the second planet which is in a state of munakara in Antonio’s chart. Diurnal Saturn is disposited by nocturnal Mars in Leo, which in turn is deposited by the diurnal Sun in Leo.

Saturn, through the vehicle of Mars, manages to totally destroy this man’s reputation, and given that the Sun is in rulership in Leo, it would be a terrible blow to someone who places so much value on being an honourable man. The implications of Saturn in contention can involve feelings of being under attack by authority figures, of having one’s own authority, expertise, or integrity challenged by others. For Salieri, it was never a direct problem with father figures, or even authority itself. We know that he had a very close and loving relationship with Florian Gassmann, his adopted father and benefactor and the man who had taken him into his own home, educated him, and provided him with an opportunity to play before Joseph II.

In January 1768, almost two years after Salieri had arrived in Vienna, an Austrian family came to the city to call on the emperor. Wolfgang’s first introduction to Joseph II had been at the age of six and now he had returned to court as an eleven year old, where he was no longer a novelty and his appeal was on the wane.  When Joseph II offered Wolfgang the opportunity to compose a three hour opera on his behalf, Leopold jumped at the chance to show his son’s talents and to refill the coffers which were running low at the time.

Unfortunately, it was a project doomed to fail, and although Salieri had nothing to do with the young Mozart, he was somehow drawn in by Leopold who was casting around for someone to blame for his son’s first operatic failure.  Leopold was convinced that the Italian cabals (artistic cliques) were the true cause of Wolfgang’s misery, and he was especially galled by the seventeen year old Salieri who was only five years older than his own son, but seemed to be lauded as Vienna’s next Italian genius of the opera.  Mozart and his father stayed in Vienna for eighteen months but their star would not rise, and except for a short two month period,  an embittered Wolfgang would not return for another twelve years. 

On Gassmann’s death in 1774, the twenty four year old Salieri was appointed in his benefactor’s role, as Kapellmeister, a senior position of authority that involved the supervision of other musicians and almost total control over all matters of a musical nature in the court.

Saturn’s placement in the seventh house certainly does suggest a rival, peer, friend or enemy who perhaps challenged Salieri to perfect his craft and to work hard and tirelessly to beat his competitor, but this is not a bad arrangement given that Antonio’s Saturn rules both the Midheaven in Capricorn and the tenth house of career, vocation and public reputation. And Saturn in the seventh is certainly not enough incentive to murder your opponent, even if it is in the sign of an animal with the poisonous sting in its tail!

Antonio’s first Saturn Return at twenty seven was a little rocky when in 1777, Vienna’s Italian opera company collapsed through financial mismanagement and Joseph II decided he wanted to dismantle it and focus on a greater promotion of German opera. Salieri’s style of opera, and his difficulty with the German language, excluded him from this new fashion and Saturn’s rulership of the ninth house shows the difficulty of a foreigner who is made to feel excluded or rejected because they do not belong.  However, Antonio’s Saturn adapted beautifully as this shift gave him the freedom to return to his homeland where he wrote five operas and produced their performances in theatres in Rome, Venice, and Milan.

For all Mozart’s brilliance he was never granted the honoured position of Kapellmeister along with the regular income which accompanied the title, instead receiving money sporadically for commissions or payment as a chamber composer. This must have been yet another insult for Wolfgang, especially when Joseph’s tastes turned in his favour and German Austrian operas became all the vogue.

When Mozart did return to Vienna in the 1780s without Leopold the letters between him and his father are littered with references to the machinations of Salieri in particular, and the Italian cabals in general, serving in Joseph’s court. Every slight and frustration experienced by Wolfgang is attributed to Salieri’s alleged plotting to inhibit his growth, when in fact, Mozart had fallen foul of his protector, and was trying to establish an independent career – something which was virtually impossible in those times.

Wolfgang  writes bitterly that “the only one who counts in the Emperor’s eyes is Salieri”, and three years later accuses him of “trickery” when Antonio is given the post of music teacher to the royal children over Mozart’s application for the same position, and still six years later in 1786 when Salieri is paid double the salary of Mozart for similar work. Leopold fans his son’s mistrust and jealousy of the more popular composer, and between the two they create a nasty fictitious rivalry that only exists in the minds of father and son.

However, from these simple beginnings is born the ruin of a man through malicious gossip and innuendo and as the rumours take hold and grow, not just for the remaining 30 years of Salieri’s life, but far into the next century, his music is forgotten and he is branded as Mozart’s murderer.

The year 1788 was huge in terms of Salieri’s fortunes which were inexplicably joined to the fate of his Holy Roman Emperor.  At the age of thirty eight Salieri was elevated to an even higher position, as Hofkapellmeister, a role he was to hold until a year before his death in 1725. The term implies such virtues as superb knowledge, skill, dedication, and achievement in music. This is the same year that  Joseph went to war against the Turks and his involvement on the battlefield meant that he was missing from court. When Joseph II died on 20^th February, 1790, rumours started to circulate that Salieri was to be dismissed or forced to retire as Hofkapellmeister, but it was Salieri himself who asked for his duties to be reduced so that he was only required to produce one opera a year.

The rumour mill had already started to turn against Salieri even before Mozart’s illness and death and he retreated from the public eye as the stories became more vicious. The commencement of the French Revolution on 5^th May 1789 also had a huge impact on Salieri’s fortunes as he had lost his other great supporter in Joseph’s sister, Marie Antionette, the French queen who was having her own problems with the Revolution.   

In Salieri’s case fiction overtakes fact and Saturn in a compromised state could do very little to put matters right. Saturn’s dispositor Mars rules both house of agitation – the seventh house of open enemies and the twelfth house of hidden enemies. Between them Saturn had very little recourse but to retreat as denying the rumours would often only fan the flames.  In truth it was a complicated relationship as they were rivals rather than enemies, and there is evidence to suggest that they may have even collaborated on several pieces. It is likely that the stories of animosity were based more on Mozart Senior’s bitterness at what he perceived to be Wolfgang’s missed opportunities ‘because of the Italians’, than the reality of two men working in the same profession in a restricted environment for a limited amount of cash. Saturn rules the tenth house and as well as being the career, tenth house is also the house of my enemy’s father (four houses from the seventh).

When an individual has Saturn is in a state of munakara they can be someone who is captivated by the idea of conspiracy theories. They tend to have a fascination for secret dealings, or to believe that the government or other powerful organisations are involved in plots that have malicious intent or harmful agendas. Salieri became a victim to these theories based on hearsay and they created a totally false legacy that cast Salieri as the ultimate villain who robbed the world of a genius at the peak of his creativity.

In 1830, five years after Salieri’s death, Russian poet Alexander Pushkin wrote his “little tragedy”  entitled Mozart and Salieri, casting Mozart in the role of brilliant composer and Salieri as his scheming arch-rival who ruins his reputation, forces him into poverty, drives him insane, and finally, poisons him.

In 1898, Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov adapted Pushkin’s play to become an opera of the same name. Eighty years later Peter Shaffer’s play Amadeus (1979) became a hugely popular adaption of the story, and the rest, as they say, is history, when the play became an Oscar-winning film adaptation in the 1984 Amadeus directed by Milos Forman. In both modern play and film Salieri is portrayed as a bitter and corrupt Machiavellian character who uses his connections to break Mozart and then murder him. Total fiction, but riveting cinema all the same.

Strangely enough, Salieri’s Saturn in munakara may have actually helped to keep Mozart’s music alive, rather than killing it off. In life Mozart was unreliable, unstable, a drunkard, and abusive towards his players – the epitome of the tortured artist who is an absolute nightmare to work with if you have a production deadline.  ‘Dead Mozart’ was totally manageable and his absence was a blessing; any production manager with a good work ethic could get on with the opera without interference from its temperamental composer.

The rumours of the mysterious circumstances of Mozart’s death probably added to his fame and rather than dying out, his popularity grew with each passing year. Perhaps the legendary rivalry between himself and Salieri added a Jupiterian twist to Mozart’s notoriety, prolonged the interest in his music, or adding religious fervour to his supporters’ claims that they had been unfairly robbed of a genius. Mozart died at the age of 35 – just  months before his third Jupiter Return – and what better Greek mythic tragedy to create than one of competition, jealousy, betrayal, ruin, and murder by an inferior rival? 

The comparison between the two men highlights which of the seven planets – apart from their Moons – were caught up in munakara. Salieri’s destiny became tied up in his Saturn, damaged, forgotten, melancholic, quietly moving into obscurity, and dying as an old man from dementia. But Mozart’s fate was the story of his Jupiter. Cut down in the prime of his life at the third return of his Jupiter, Mozart is a Zeus who left this planet too early. Who knows if the world was robbed of the magical composition of all time, the ultimate perfection of the Harmony of the Stars?

Mozart’s final symphony, Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K551, was completed in 1788 and it was uncertain whether the work was ever performed during his lifetime. In 1819 it was affectionately nicknamed Jupiter in a London concert program, and the name has stuck simply because of the work’s good humour, its exuberant energy, and its unusually grand style for a symphony of the Classical period. Perhaps Jupiter is The One, but how will we ever know for sure?

‘The Ugly’

Donald John Trump (born 14^th June 1946) is the 45^th and current president of the United States.

In his campaign for presidency: “I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever  created.”

On Russia’s interference in the election: “Russia will have much greater respect for our country when I am leading it than when other people have led it.”

His analysis of his early days in office: “I think we’ve done more than perhaps any president in the first 100 days.”

On immigration: “Why are we having all these people from s-thole countries come here?”

In reviewing his presidency so far:  “I would give myself an A+.”

Before entering politics, Donald Trump was a businessman and television personality. He took charge of his family’s real-estate business in 1971, renaming it The Trump Organization.

            “I take advantage of the laws of the nation. Because I’m running a company.”

“I’m not a schmuck. Even if the world is going to hell in a hand-basket, I won’t lose a penny.”

He bought the Miss Universe brand of beauty pageants in 1996, and sold it in 2015.

“Before a show, I’ll go backstage and everyone’s getting dressed, and everything else, and you know, no men are anywhere, and I’m allowed to go in because I’m the owner of the pageant and therefore I’m inspecting it……You know, they’re standing there with no clothes. And you see these incredible looking women, and so, I sort of get away with things like that.”                

As of 2020, Forbes estimated his net worth to be $2.1 billion. Trump often makes exaggerated claims on his net worth.

            “The beauty of me is that I’m very rich.”

“I’m proud of my net worth; I’ve done an amazing job…..The total is $8,737,540,000 USD. I’m not doing that to brag, because you know what, I don’t have to brag.”

By pure coincidence, both Donald Trump and Wolfgang Mozart have Moons in Sagittarius disposited by Jupiter in Libra. Venus’ sign differs in the two charts (Mozart has Venus in Aquarius; Trump has Venus in Cancer), but there is a deeply hedonistic quality to both the Moons, especially when the trail leads from the Moon (my appetites) to Jupiter (excessiveness) to Venus (pleasure-seeking).

In Mozart’s chart Aquarian Venus shows some self control as it is disposited by Saturn in rulership in the second degree of Aquarius. Mozart may have had a ‘big’ appetite for all sorts of things, but he knew the difference between work and play and much of his sixth house Venus was engaged in the dedication of his time to his beloved music.  

Donald Trump’s chain of command is different from Mozart’s Moon in contention. His Venus returns to his appetites and keeps feeding his Moon in munakara in a never-ending cycle of self-gratification.Trump’s Venus in Cancer also has an attachment to Saturn, but this is not by rulership as in Mozart’s case; instead Venus is in aspect to a debilitated Saturn which unfortunately, is disposited by his out-of-control Moon. The potential for so much damage by this circulatory system cannot be underestimated and all of this perpetual motion keeps putting pressure on his Sagittarian Moon.

Donald’s Moon rules his twelfth house and Venus of course will reside here in a whole sign chart. This indicates not only the enormous potential to accumulate hidden enemies but with a ruined Saturn ‘in the house of its joy’ and Venus alongside it, will suggest that Donald’s attitudes to women, his numerous affairs, his sexual conquests and his terrible track record with the opposite sex may one day lead to his undoing. So far he has been able to pay hush money to silence his tawdry conquests (Mercury, ruler of 2^nd house, is also in twelfth house), but how long can he keep doing this?

Much has probably been written on the fact that Donald was born just before a full moon at the time of a total lunar eclipse – one that lay between the solar eclipse on 30^th May 1946 (S.S. Old North) and the following solar eclipse on 29^th June 1946 (S.S. New North). There are two images that I would take away from this fact and both would affect the quality of his Moon in munakara. Firstly, in ancient times the vision of a blood-red Moon at the time of birth would be considered to be a bad omen as the Moon is swallowed by the shadow of the Earth and would be starved of the Sun’s light and life-force.

Secondly, the Moon is conjunct the South Node, a malefic that had the power to destroy the good influences of the Moon. South Node was thought to diminish any planet which lay alongside it, whilst the North Node would embellish or inflate the qualities of any planet which was conjunct it, in this case, the Sun in Gemini.

Donald has been known to wax lyrical about the qualities he inherited from his father, but rarely does he mention his mother. Mary Anne MacLeod Trump was born the youngest of ten children on 10^th May 1912 in a pebbledash croft house in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Local historians have described properties in this community at the time as “indescribably filth” and characterized by “human wretchedness.” Mary’s father was a crofter and a fisherman and we know very little about how he might have provided for his large family. In a similar vein to Mozart and Salieri’s Moon in munakara, the mothers of all three menwere born into a world of deprivation and hardship.

Mary was raised in a Scottish Gaelic-speaking household and English was her second language, which she learned at the school she attended until secondary school. When Mary was eighteen years old she emigrated from Scotland to the Unites States and became a naturalized citizen in 1942. As one account has put it, Mary “started life in America as a dirt-poor servant escaping the even worse poverty of her native land.”

Mary married Fred Trump on 11^th January 1936 and produced five children, the fourth child a son, Donald John in 1946.  She kept a very low profile as a housewife and mother, and worked as a volunteer for a number of charities but she had ailing health and was often incapacitated or removed from caring for her children. End of story. Moon conjunct South Node – Mary lived in the shadow of her husband and her son’s dazzling light and the only comments are about her outlandish hair styles and her artificially-coloured orange hair.

Another Mary Trump of a completely different nature is causing a stir at the moment. This Mary carries her aunt’s name, but she will not wait obediently in the background like her namesake. Modern day Mary is Trump’s niece and her expose on the Trump clan, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man has just been published in July 2020, three months before the next US elections.

Even the name of Mary’s book is a reminder of her uncle’s Moon-Jupiter-Venus conundrum. Too Much and Never Enough is a textbook description of an excessive Moon that cannot control its cravings and threatens to be consumed by the things it believes has been denied it.

In Too Much and Never Enough Mary claims that all five siblings were warped by the family’s oppressive frigidity when it came to emotions displayed by both mother and father. Donald was abandoned at age two and half when his mother nearly died from post-partum complications and was hospitalized for months. Mary says “she never completely recovered” and that she was “unstable and needy, often using her children to comfort herself rather than comforting them.”  Decades later Mary told her niece that Donald was always a self-pitying brat and that she was so relieved when he went away to the Military Academy.

There is no doubt that Donald Trump has been described as a megalomaniac but how much of this is due to his Moon in contention?  A modern term for megalomaniac is narcissistic personality disorder (NPD).  Only 1% of people are believed to be affected at some point in their lives by the psychiatric condition of NPD, but there are many others who display the signs and symptoms without being diagnosed. These symptoms include a long-term pattern of exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive need for admiration, an unreasonable sense of entitlement, arrogant and haughty behaviour, and a lack of empathy for other people.

Astrologically the Moon represents our interaction with the environment around us, especially when it comes to our emotional responses and our ability to feel loved and secure within our physical surroundings. A Moon in munakara can find itself feeling defensive, exposed or abandoned, not only by mother and the nurturing figure but also be the environment around the person when they are in their early development.

All three subjects – Mozart, Salieri, Trump – have their Moons in munakara. Does that mean all three men were (and are) narcissists?  Were the two 18^th century composers incapable of relating to the real world, or did they control their tendencies and live balanced emotional lives?  Were they conditioned by their circumstances to believe themselves superior to everyone else? Was Mozart a narcissist with a Sagittarian Moon in contention? Was Salieri a narcissist? Or did he escape this condition because his Moon was in the water sign of Pisces, and therefore he was capable of self-nurturing and had the capacity to empathize with others?

Similarly to the Moon, environment can have a huge impact on the causes of NPD and with Mozart’s history in mind it is worth noting how many of these conditions can be related to his life.

• An oversensitive temperament (Mozart)
• Excessive admiration that is never balanced with realistic criticism of the child (Mozart)
• Excessive praise for good behaviours, or excessive criticisms for bad behaviours in childhood (Mozart)
• Overindulgence or overvaluation by parents, family, and peers (Mozart)
• Being praised by adults for perceived exceptional physical appearance or abilities (Mozart)
• Severe emotional abuse in childhood (Mozart)
• Unpredictable or unreliable care-giving by the parents (Mozart)
• Learning the behaviours of psychological manipulation from parents or peers (Mozart)

Author Mary Trump is a clinical psychologist so I suspect that she may have her own opinions on whether Donald’s environment placed him in any of these categories. She has described Fred Trump (Donald’s father) as a “high-functioning sociopath” and claimed that Fred destroyed Donald: “short-circuiting his ability to develop and experience the entire spectrum of human emotions.”  

For a person’s behaviour to lean towards megalomania or narcissism, and for their condition to be truly determined as a mental health problem, there are five subtypes for NPD: Unprincipled narcissist, Amorous narcissist, Compensatory narcissist, Elitist narcissist, and Normal narcissist.

An Unprincipled narcissist is described as unscrupulous, amoral, fraudulent, deceptive, arrogant, exploitative.

An Amorous narcissist is sexually seductive, indulges in hedonistic desires, tends to have many affairs, often with exotic partners.

A Compensatory narcissist seeks to counteract or cancel out deep feelings of inferiority or lack of self-esteem. Offsets deficits by creating illusions of being superior, exceptional, admirable, self-worth results from self-enhancement.

An Elitist narcissist feels privileged and empowered by virtue of special childhood status and pseudo-achievements. Entitled facade bears little relation to reality, cultivates special status and advantages by association.

Dr Trump would be the most qualified to decide whether her uncle fits into any or all of the above category, but she states in her book “Donald’s pathologies are so complex and his behaviours so often inexplicable that coming up with an accurate and comprehensive diagnosis would require a full battery of psychological and neuropsychological tests that he’ll never sit for”. Mozart most definitely diasplayed signs of NPD, but at least he had the brilliance and the work ethic to back up the claims made by his narcissism.

 

Donald Trump’s second planet in munakara is the Leo Mars which sits on his Ascendant. Nocturnal Mars is disposited by the diurnal Gemini Sun which is then disposited by nocturnal Mercury in the sign directly behind the Sun (Cancer).

Mars in munakara can be described as being overly sensitive to criticism, suspicious of others’ actions or motives, constantly on the lookout for attack, defensive, hyper-competitive, arrogant, abrasive, bullying and confrontational. Sometimes Mars in contention meets these characteristics in others and the person has to learn how to protect themselves from the onslaught of others’ anger and frustrations. Sometimes the individual expresses these traits themselves and plays out the exaggerated role of warrior, killer, or winner-at-all-costs. Often this unconscious choice is made in childhood and it will depend on the experiences of Mars’ sign, position, and dispositor which will help to identify the direction this might take for the individual.

In Donald’s chart Mars is on the Ascendant so it is likely that he is the one whose personality will feel the most comfortable displaying these tendencies. Mars in Leo is ruled by the Sun and from what we are being told of Fred Trump in Too Much and Never Enough Donald has learned much of his Mars behaviour from his brutish father. Even without looking in the direction of the Sun, Mars rules the fourth house, the house of father and early home-life, so father’s influence is accentuated by these two statements. Remember that the Sun lies next to the North Node which exaggerates the role of the planet and Donald’s idolisation of his father has created the adult Donald’s aggressive stance born of a Mars in contention.

Dr Trump claims “Over time, Donald became afraid that asking for comfort or attention would provoke his father’s anger or indifference when Donald was most vulnerable.” In many situations if Mars is in soft aspects to the luminaries – Mars sextiles the Sun and trines the Moon – we might hope for a more relaxed and loving relationship between the individual and one, or both of his parents, but when Mars is munakara everything is a battle that must be won and this can be terrifying if the child feels unsupported by either parent. Mary Trump says “Every one of Donald’s transgressions became an audition for his father’s favour, as if he were saying ‘See, Dad, I’m the tough one, I’m the killer’”.

Mars also rules the ninth house and we might think that Donald has completely absorbed Fred’s philosophies on how one achieves greatness and survives by always keeping one step ahead of the opposition. Without a Mars in contention, that is, in the hands of its enemy, you might comfortably adopt such a philosophy as your own, but I believe Mars holds a deep rooted fear within Donald that he is a failure and a disappointment to his father. Even achieving the most coveted role in American politics cannot hide the huge hole of Donald’s insecurities as he lurches from one Press Conference to the next and one Congressional drama to the next.

Recently Donald’s Mars has completely deserted him as he no longer appears before the Press and his mannerisms are becoming less aggressive and more confused as he tries to cope with Covid-19. His statements are nonsensical and his leadership is a shambles and one might pity him if not for the fact that he is supposed to be one of the world’s most influential leaders and he is incapable of showing direction, conviction and courage when his country needs it the most. His Mars has deserted him and this is not helped by the fact that his Sun, which should be helping Mars, has its own problems when we see that it is disposited by Mercury which lies in the twelfth house.

Dr Trump describes her uncle as a “pathetic, petty little man” who is “ignorant, incapable, out of his depth and lost in his own delusional spin.”  She also claims that he has “some undiagnosed learning disability that has interfered with his ability to process information.” What we are witnessing in the Daily News is the unravelling of Donald’s Mars in contention and all the usual tricks of bullying, confrontation and arrogance are useless in the face of today’s pandemic. Fred was always there to save Donald when a business failed, or an official needed bribing, or a new venture needed a financial boost, but Fred has gone and Donald is standing on the stage alone with no-one to bail him out. It will be interesting to watch how his troubled Mars will react in the next few months to see if it comes out fighting for its life, or it implodes into self-pity, paranoia, and impotent rage.

Saturn appears to finish the threesome of planets in munakara and a twelfth house Saturn in detriment is not a good way to complete the trifecta of planets that struggle because their dispositors have made life hard for them. It is no great stretch of the imagination to see that the personification of Saturn in Cancer is Fred Trump. A father who is a “high-functioning sociopath” is not a great role model for a child and whilst Donald may have convinced himself that Fred deserves his place at the top of the pedestal, there are some damning truths that are going to be hard for Donald to swallow as more and more is revealed about his childhood.

Too Much and Never Enough is going to do some serious damage on several levels. Some of Donald’s staunchest supporters may not accept the idea of Donald as a victim, especially if they are looking for him to be their saviour. This book makes him look weak and dependent on his father’s approval and this may be unpalatable for his followers.

But for Donald the hit will be much harder. Someone in his inner sanctum, a female from his own blood, has turned into the traitor, the hidden enemy in the twelfth house (debilitated Saturn in munakara). Worse still, his own sister, Maryann, has provided Mary with much of the information and has betrayed both her father and her brother. Saturn conjuncts Venus in Donald’s chart and he has never trusted women – easier to use them as sexual conquests or to humiliate, dismiss, or belittle them. But Maryann has always been stronger, more intelligent, and more resilient than her brother and probably would have been heir to the Trump dynasty had she not been born a woman. Rather than personally attacking Donald (to which he is immune) Mary and Maryann have gone for the head of the snake and this action will be unconscionable in Donald’s mind. It will strike at Donald’s belief that his father was an icon of success and power, and it will diminish the son in the eyes of the world. 

The only love of which Donald is capable is reserved for the image of a dead father – Saturn disposited by the Moon – and to have his Zeus-like father exposed by a family member as a toxic crook who swindled his children of affection, and his creditors of their money, will wound his fragile ego. Together the two women have painted him as an object of pity rather than fear, and to be overlooked as the villain of the piece is humiliating for his Saturn.

A debilitated and struggling Saturn rules the sixth and seventh houses and Donald’s hypochondria is part of this scenario. He is terrified of illness and any ‘conspiracy’ concerning his health and his physicians (7^th house) is a constant fear for twelfth house Saturn. The deterioration of his body is something he cannot control and one can only imagine how much terror coronavirus must invite for someone who fears pain and his body’s incapacitation.

Saturn in munakara has an obsession and a fascination for secrets, conspiracies, and whisperings behind closed doors where plotting and furtive conversations take place. It distrusts authority and craves control over things and events which are none of its business so there is no surprise when two of Trump’s greatest anxieties – illness and conspiracies – have collided (or colluded) under the umbrella of Covid-19. Trump’s total inability to take control of his country and show decisive leadership is a direct result of his Saturn in such a diabolically bad situation.

Nor have his partnerships proven to be to his advantage but I suspect that Donald is incapable of choosing a partner who is his equal. A debilitated Saturn worries about being ‘bettered’ or controlled by the person they love so his wives are chosen to be beneath him in some way and he can always keep the upper-hand in the relationship. Mary Trump describes Fred’s father as a “brothel-keeper” and by deriving the houses the grandfather (father of the father) is the seventh house with Capricorn on the cusp, ruled by the dishonourable Saturn in contention, in the twelfth house.

Antonio Salieri also had his Saturn in munakara and it took several centuries before his reputation began to improve with Time. I wonder what Donald’s legacy will be and what he will be remembered for? Perhaps his narcissistic personality believes it is better to be remembered as a scoundrel than to be completely forgotten by history.

But to be remembered as pathetic, petty, and ugly? No, that simply will not do.

N.B. The pdf. version of this article is available for printing from the Astro Mundi website:
//www.astromundi.com/articles