A Personal Mission

Abraham Lincoln's Legacy

by Guest Author Judith Goldberg

Barack Obama is a man on a mission. He is often compared with JFK, yet a stronger resonance exists with Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln’s election, coming at a time when the Union was fracturing into slave and free states, is on the Saturn-Uranus timetable, with the current red-blue state electoral map reflecting these pre-Civil War boundaries. Obama almost seems to be channeling the 16th President; he certainly shares the gift of inspired oratory. Lincoln’s portrait hangs above his Senate office desk.

Following in Lincoln’s footsteps, Obama announced his candidacy on the steps of the Illinois State Capital in Springfield, site of the famous 1858 house divided speech. He spoke in the Great Hall at Cooper Union where, in 1860, Lincoln delivered the anti-slavery speech that is said to have won him the presidency. Lincoln, also a lawyer from Illinois who served in the State Legislature before being elected to the Senate, was in Congress only two years before occupying the White House.

Last March, prominent psychic, Gordon Michael Scallion, speaking to a group at the A.R.E. (Association for Research and Enlightenment, The Edgar Cayce Foundation) in Virginia Beach, channeled the information that Obama is a reincarnated Abe Lincoln-- a compelling if improvable thesis. Lincoln may have freed the slaves and defeated the Confederacy, but he did not live to complete his mission of reuniting the nation. Many of the deep divisions that persist today are the legacy of a reconstruction gone awry. Obama is passionate about uniting the country, as if to complete Lincoln’s unfinished business. His statement I don’t see red and blue states, I see the United States, echoes Lincoln’s sentiment to bind up the nation’s wounds. Pundits are already predicting that the electoral map will morph into the color purple. Obama often cites the motto on the Great Seal epluribus unum, out of many one. Unity is essential if we want to effect real political change and fulfill the founders’ vision.

Archetypally, Obama is a strong Aquarian. He has a Leo Sun with Aquarius rising. His South Node at 27° Aquarius sits squarely on the (Sibley) US 27° moon (the people) and conjoins Lincoln’s 23° Sun, a possible past life indicator according to astrologer, Steven Forrest. Obama’s 3° Gemini moon trines his Jupiter at 0° Aquarius, expanding his inclusive grassroots message. Given his own mixed race, multi-cultural background, he recognizes America’s diversity as her strength. Since the turn of the millennium, and the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, many astrologers have been watching for an Aquarian leader to step forward. The American collective (unconscious) shares this messianic quest, a factor that could explain the momentum behind Obama’s campaign.

Inauguration Day

In 1937 President Roosevelt moved Inauguration Day from March 4, to January 20th, creating a chart with a 10th house Sun in Aquarius, ruler of democracy. Inner planets often conjoin the Sun, but the rarer conjunctions of outer planets set up long term influences. Sun conjunct Neptune for GWB’s inauguration ushered in an era of delusion and deception. In contrast, on Inauguration Day, 2009 , benefic Jupiter conjoins the Sun, Mercury and North Node (the dharma sign), promoting optimism, vision and foreshadowing a new future course. By a fortuitous coincidence, Obama’s natal Jupiter conjoins this stellium (his Jupiter return!), as his Jupiter-Saturn conjunction (Aquarius-Capricorn) triumphantly straddles the Midheaven. Lucky stars!

The stakes are high in this dog-eat-dog election. Each side is fighting for survival and ugly partisan battles will certainly characterize an un-civil war. As the electoral process unfolds, it will reveal much about who we are as people and a nation. On the way to our common destiny, we will be challenged, tested and called upon to do a great deal of soul searching. Over the next 14 years, our country will face critical challenges that will require enlightened leadership as well as collective commitment. United by a common purpose, perhaps we Americans can perfect the union envisioned by our founding fathers, and ensure, as Abraham Lincoln spoke on November 19, 1863 in his Gettysburg Address: …that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

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