ELECTION DAY’S MERCURY RETROGRADE

With the presidential election now over, astrologers have been weighing in on the meaning of Mercury going retrograde on election day. Since a similar astrological event occurred in the 2000 election, some thought there would be a similar result – the verdict would be delayed. This did not occur and at 11.14 pm on November 6, NBC declared the winner.

            In hindsight, the meaning of the retrograde can be gleaned from each candidate’s chart and the house of Mercury’s travel. Moving direct, the messenger entered his shadow on October 18, 2012 at 18° Scorpio. This was two days after the second presidential debate that solidified Romney’s momentum  and highlighted Obama’s questionable handling of the Benghazi attack. As Mercury traversed Scorpio, it was moving through Obama’s 9^th house of foreign affairs as he faced questions about the killing of the American Ambassador and three others on September  11, 2012. For Romney, Mercury was moving through the 6th house and he was hammering home his theme of fiscal responsibility, getting rid or Obamacare, and enacting policies that would bring new jobs. The race was tightening. 

            On October 29^th, Mercury left Scorpio and entered Sagittarius, bringing a change of agenda. For the president, Libya was off the front burner and Hurricane Sandy was in the news. In Jupiter’s hopeful sign, Romney’s pollsters were running fanciful numbers that showed their candidate winning in a landslide.

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            Election day came, and with it Mercury’s station. For Obama, the station occurred in his 10^th house and he won. Days later, as Mercury re-entered his 9^th house of foreign affairs he would once again face questions on Benghazi and whether he covered-up the truth in order to win re-election. For Romney, the station of Mercury occurred in his 7^th house, the house not only of marriage partners, but anyone with whom we have a close relationship with. This would include supporters, who came out in jubilant numbers, expecting a win. But Mercury in Sagittarius is in detriment, and for the Romney camp this symbolized inaccurate beliefs that he had the numbers to win. So certain was he of victory he had no concession speech; when the results rolled in he was ‘shell-shocked.’ In the following days, as Mercury retraced its steps in Scorpio, the truth emerged: Romney’s pollsters had made optimistic and erroneous estimates that had no basis in fact. The mainstream polls they called biased, turned out to be correct.