ASTROLOGY ARTICLES BY JON

THE ASTROLOGY OF GERALD FORD

I thought it was appropriate tonight to take a moment to pay tribute to our 38th President, Gerald Ford, and since this is an astrology website I'd be remiss if I didn't include his astrology. Gerald Ford was the President of the United States when I was born so, obviously, I don't remember his days in office, but I think you always feel an affinity for the sitting President when you were born. I think it was the movie Parenthood when granny says after taking a hit of helium, "when I was born Grover Cleveland was President," and of course now I can say when I was born Gerald Ford was President.

I've always been fascinated by Presidents and I got this Presidents' book when I was like five and it only went up to Jimmy Carter so I recall some of Gerald Ford's biography. I remember being really impressed that he was a star football player at the University of Michigan. Of course in subsequent years I've seen a number of biographies on him so I'm going to attempt to cover the basics of his birth chart.

The first thing that sticks out in his biography is the fact that his biological father was an abusive alcoholic who left the family shortly after his birth. He was actually born Leslie King and took the name Gerald Ford from his adoptive father who his mother married when he was 3. He wouldn't find out about his biological father until he was 15 years old.

This is explained quite clearly in his birth chart: notice the Sun/Neptune conjunction in Cancer with Neptune sitting right on the IC (Imum Coeli, or nadir). Neptune is the planet of confusion, deception and illusion, and the IC represents one's roots and the beginning of one's life. The Sun of course represents the father figure. Notice the arc of the Sun to the IC is 3 degrees or 3 years and this symbolizes the time in 1916 when his mother would marry his step father who would turn out to be a very strong, nurturing and positive (Cancer qualities) father figure in his life.

The Sun in Cancer on the IC indicates a very strong love of family, tradition and country. He was kind of the all American boy despite the early family problems. He was a football star, a law school graduate and a war hero.

Athleticism and bravery are words often used to describe him. Notice the strong and sturdy Taurus Ascendant with Mars (courage) rising and the athletic Sagittarius Moon. He truly was a great football player (an MVP) and had offers to play pro football. He also received numerous medals while he was in the Navy in World War 2. The planet Jupiter (law) in the disciplined sign of Capricorn in the ninth house of higher education is a good indicator of someone who would graduate from law school.

I heard on the news today that he wasn't a particularly smooth talker. For this we look to the communication planet Mercury and we see that it is square (friction) the planet Mars (harsh and rough) but it's in the sign of Leo (creative self expression) so he was able to get across what he wanted to say. Cancer is on the third house cusp (communication) so I'm sure that his speech and demeanor inspired trust and reassurance despite not being very eloquent.

He spent 25 years in the House of Representatives then suddenly became Vice President and then President in a period of less than a year without being elected to either office. He's called the "accidental President."

Capricorn on the Midheaven could suggest a long slow climb to the top of one's profession but to an eventual executive position hence 25 years in Congress followed by the ultimate executive position "The President of the United States." Uranus (the planet of the unexpected) is in his 10th house of career — what better astrological symbolism to explain the title the "accidental president."

This was just a very brief look at the birth chart of Gerald Ford. I hardly did it justice but I wanted to share with you some of the obvious points. When a President passes on it's really a history lesson for the country particularly when it's been 30 years since he's been in office at a time when the country was in such turmoil. I heard Gerald Ford described as a healer over and over again today. How often do you hear that about a politician?