Skyscript Astrology Forum

I was asked to look at the chart of US Senate candidate, Martha Coakely. She will run in January, in a special election, to take the place of the late Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. Normally this would be considered a slam dunk, since Massachusetts is a heavily Democrat state. But the chart has a few interesting things that indicates a potential fall from grace, so a few of us were asked to look to see if a) that were true and b) if she could be upset in the coming election.

While I was looking at the chart two things stuck out and one of them is the partile Saturn-Mars square that holds three planets besieged.




The Sun, Mercury and the Moon are the traditional planets besieged. I"m not all that interested in Pluto. I did a little reading on besieged planets and all I find is that they are "evil." But how? My first thought is that they cannot "get out" since they are trapped, but I found no authority that made any statement like that.

It may also be noteworthy that Mars and Saturn are in each other's detriment - a so-called "negative mutual reception." It would be a real feather in the cap of someone who could predict her defeat and give sound astrological reasons for it as it would be a major upset. Have at it.

Tom

Hi, Tom,

This looks interesting. I can't read the town of birth--Pitsfield?--or the data rating. Will you let us know? With the MC at 0 degrees, I'm particularly curious about the data rating and source.

Thanks,

Penny

Hi, Tom
It took me a minute to see why you were calling these planets "besieged" as mars and saturn are partile square... but apparently you are taking all the planets within their 90 degrees as besieged? At least to me, this seem like a very wide "orb" for besiegement. I usually allow a much lesser orb for this, like 15 degrees.

I noticed that she was born under an eclipse, and a solar eclipse on 27 capricorn-cancer will happen in january. As she is a public figure, and the eclipse degree will affect her sun, this may be of interest.

Best regards,
Y

I mean that there was an eclipse (acc Janus) a few days before.

It also hits my moon

Greetings everyone

I think there's a fairly strong mitigating influence at work here that is worth mentioning - according to Valens. Jupiter dominates Saturn in this chart(9th, 10th and 11th sign from another planet were considered as dominant position, especially the 10th) and is thus able to break/mitigate its negative influence; moreover, Jupiter is angular and oriental and has the help of Venus.

Tom wrote:[No rating available. The source is private.
Tom[/color]

Hi, Tom and All,

When you say private source for the birth time, Tom, do you know whether the private source got it from a birth certificate?

Here's a timeline for Martha Coakley, with no guarantees for complete accuracy. It's from just a few sites on the internet, starting with Wikipedia.
Sometimes I?ve put in a particular year when the text says something like ?a year later.? So it could be a little off in that way.

I'm going to look at this timeline and the chart to see if it looks like the birthtime is working. If the chart as given can make sense with what has occurred already, maybe it will be possible to see January 19, 2010 and the election.

Political elections--as I think maybe John Frawley and probably others have noted--are always tricky because both (or all) contenders are having a pretty extraordinary time, win or lose, and an unusually successful public life at the time. But maybe it will be visible. It would be interesting to see the Republican opponent's chart.

Martha Coakley timeline

7/14/1953 born; 3rd of 5 children
1 yr. moved with parents to North Adams
late 60s? 70? on the debate team at St. Joseph?s School
6/71 graduated from Drury High School in North Adams; 10th in
class
1975 BA cum laude from Williams College; one of the first
women admitted there
1978 summer clerked for a law firm in North Adams
1979 JD from Boston Univ. School of Law
1979 -85 associate in law firm in Boston, later at another Boston firm

1986 joined the DA?s office as an Assistant District Attorney in
Lowell District Office
1987 invited by US Justice Department to join its Boston
Organized Crime Strike Task Force
1989 returned to DA?s Office
1991 appointed Chief of the Child Abuse Prosecution Unit where
she prosecuted hundreds of child abuse cases

1993 Coakley?s father died
1995 mother died
1996 brother (younger? older?) who was diagnosed with bipolar
disorder, hanged himself

1997 while working for the Middlesex Country DA, Coakley was the
lead attorney in the prosecution of the 19-year old au pair
Louise Woodward, who was later convicted for the shaking
death of 8-month old Matthew Eappen. The case got national
and international attention, especially in Great Britain,
Woodward?s home.
12/97 resigned from DA?s office to campaign for position as DA in
Middlesex County (coming off the successful prosecution of
Woodward)
1999-2007 DA for Middle County?includes 54 cities
1999 (or 00?) married Thomas O?Connor, then a Cambridge Police
Deputy Superintendent. ? retired Chief of Police of
Cambridge, MA? (They live in Medford, MA: no children and
2 dogs?labrador retrievers)
2002? oversaw prosecution of Catholic priests charged with child
sexual abuse
2002 established the Adult Sexual Assault Division of the DA?s office

some awards:
11/2000 honored by Women?s Bar Association of Massachusetts with an
award for contributions to the field of law
2001 successfully lobbied Governor Jane Swift to deny clemency to
Gerald Amirault, regarded by some as wrongly convicted of
sexual abuse in child day care
2002 President of Mass. DA Ass?n
6/2002 Boston YWCA chose her as a member of its Academy of
Women Achievers
2004 received Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Pinnacle
Award
2006 received Eleanor Roosevelt Award from MA Democratic Party


2006 elected Massachusetts Attorney General with 73% of the vote;
first woman elected MA AG; second elected to any statewide
office in MA
1/17/07 sworn in as AG
1/07 widely quoted in news media re a bogus bomb scare, defended
Boston?s emergency services and their handling of the scare
which included halting traffic on two bridges over the Charles
River
5/07 testified before Mass. State Legislature in support of passage
of a ?buffer-zone? law that created a 35-foot buffer around
reproductive health facilities. Coakley is Catholic.
7/8/08 US Court of Appeals upheld the buffer zone law, with Coakley
(or her office, I didn?t check which) defending it
9/08 worked with Apple and Nat?l Federation for the Blind to get
Apple to redesign iTune software to comply with federal and
Mass. disability rights laws
11/08 argued and lost a case before the US Supreme Court taking
the position on behalf of the State of MA that crime lab
technicians should not have to testify in court to defend their
findings in drug cases.
1/09 joined six other AG?s in suing the Bush Administration to block
the ?conscience clause? that allows health-care providers to
refuse to participate in medical procedures to which they
object on moral or religious grounds
2/5/09 led an 18 state coalition to urge the Environmental Protection
Agency to take action in response to the 2007 U.S. Supreme
Court ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA to decide whether it
believes that greenhouse gas emissions pose dangers to public
health or welfare.
3/26/09 settled the final lawsuit pertaining to the 2006 Big Dig ceiling
collapse, litigation inherited from her predecessor. She
recovered $600+ million for the State of Mass.
7/8/09 filed a suit that challenges the constitutionality of the Defense
of Marriage Act. The suit claims that Congress "overstepped its
authority, undermined states' efforts to recognize marriages
between same-sex couples, and codified an animus towards
gay and lesbian people." Massachusetts is the first state to
challenge the legislation.
2009 won settlements of $60 million from Goldman Sachs and $10
million from Fremont Investment & Loan for their abuse of
subprime loans and lending.
9/1/09 Coakley was the first candidate to take out nomination papers
to run in a special election to succeed the late Edward M.
Kennedy in the United States Senate in the special election in
2010. Two days later, on September 3, Coakley officially
announced her candidacy on her website.
12/8/09 won the Democratic primary by more than a 20% margin

1/19/10 election day


Coakley:
--supports a public care insurance option in the health care overhaul
--opposes Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell policy that forbids gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military
--opposes President Obama?s plan to send more troops to Afghanistan
--Coakley was a delegate for Hillary Clinton at the 2008 Democratic Convention. Even after Clinton released her delegates to vote for Obama, Coakley cast her final vote for Clinton
--known as advocate for equal rights for all people
--known for support of same sex marriage


Penny

Here is what I think is the relevant passage from Bonatti:

Sometimes a planet is said to be "besieged": and this comes to be in two ways. By one [way] it is called called [sic] "veneration," and this besieging is said to be in a good part [of the figure] , namely when a planet is between two benefics or their rays, so that it has one benefic (or its rays) in front of it, and one (or its rays) behind it, so that it is separated from one (or its rays), and is joined to the other, (or its rays).

A planet is said to be besieged in another way, and this besieging is evil, and in an evil part [of the figure], namely when a planet is between two planets or their rays, namely so that it has one malefic (or its rays) in front of it and the other malefic (or its rays) behind it. page 244-245 Dykes translation

I'm reading this as meaning a planet or planets contained within the aspect as they are in this chart. He goes on to say that if the besieged planet is in trine or sextile to a benefic, within 7 degrees, then the besieging is dissolved. In this chart Mercury is sextile Venus so, Mercury is not to be considered besieged in this chart.

I note that Bonatti limits his comments to one planet in this section. I'll look at the others to see if he mentions multiple planets between two malefics.

Tom

Hi Penny,

When you say private source for the birth time, Tom, do you know whether the private source got it from a birth certificate?

I mean I didn't get it from a public source, and because it was private, I'm not giving any more information than that.

I wasn't looking for a campaign statement for Martha Coakley either {She favors equal rights for everyone? Her opponent does not? Even if that's correct, it isn't relevant). I was looking for an astrological analysis of her chances of being upset in a very safe state. Upsets make the case for predictive astrology far better than going with the odds. Her resume isn't necessary or desirable. This was about predictive astrology only or I would have brought up the other stuff.

Tom