Eating the Wild: Notes on Hillary Clinton
Our mothers understood something essential: the green is poisonous to civiliation. If we eat the wild, it begins to work inside us, altering us, changing us. Soon, if we eat too much, we will no longer fit the suit that has been made for us. Our hair will begin to grow long and ragged. Our gait and how we hold our body will change. A wild light begins to gleam in our eyes. Our words start to sound strange, nonlinear, emotional. Unpractical. Poetic. Stephen Harrod Buhner, The Secret Teachings of Plants, p. 145
A student tonight asked to work on Hillary Clinton’s or Barack Obama’s chart for her lesson. I knew the birth time of Obama was uncertain, so I looked up Clinton’s. Hers is, too, of course, but I didn’t know that - I only recently began following politics again. (Awareness of these things is one way to re-enter the world, after years of holing up on what might be called the spiritual plane - at any rate, a plane less involved in the physical world.)
Her South Node in Scorpio with Mercury-Venus in Scorpio and Jupiter in Sagittarius conjunct it tells of an acuity in the realm of politicking, in understanding the ways that people are, think and feel. A familiarity with the workings of power (Scorpio), how it affects people and how people affect it (Mercury-Venus in Scorpio). And with Jupiter there in that particular sign, an understanding of how to inspire people by formulating and expressing vision. And yet with the South Node ruler Pluto square the nodes, she’s her own worst enemy when it comes to the expression of her desire to be an aggressive, powerful authority figure (Saturn-Pluto-Mars in Leo square the nodes).
She’s got a karmic history of, on one level or another, going for the big office, or expressing the big idea (the whole story of her healthcare reform proposal from some years ago tells this story in parallel to her bid for the nomination, by the way), and in the end feeling that she didn’t do some part of it right (squares to the nodes indicate energies we need to learn to make different choices about - typically they tell of choices in other lives that didn’t serve us well because we didn’t understand all we needed to in order to navigate some choice successfully).
And then that North Node in Taurus. Taurus being the sign of slowing down, and the ruler of it, Venus, in Scorpio conjunct Mercury. If she were a client, I’d advise her to come to her senses.
Literally.
There’s a highly developed strength of observation and sensing of others with that conjunction in Scorpio on the South Node. And yet how much is her ability to listen and sense, and probe into deeper layers of reality, turned on herself? The aggressive expression that is the hallmark of her public persona (Saturn-Pluto-Mars in Leo) represents what is, from the viewpoint of the journey of the soul, an overdoing that I suspect is a repeat of a karmic scenario from her past, an investment in a deep desire that doesn’t actually get her where she wants to be (the respected authority who has the ultimate say in something).
With this node in Taurus, all things natural are called for. Natural ways of being, of perceiving. Feeling life through her body as part of her whole being. Connecting with the natural side of anything is what’s foreign territory for her. Taurus also calls for the development of a personal relationship with the natural world, with nature or, perhaps, Nature.
If she came to me as a client, I wouldn’t necessarily advise her to drop out, head to the wilderness, grow her own food and get off the grid, but I would advise to see how to heal the memories of the karmic past of not getting recognition as the authority figure - that she craves, that takes so much of her energy - and reconnect with herself as an extension of the natural world.
If she loses the nomination, her challenge for growth will be in understanding that what she’s offering doesn’t speak to the majority of people at this time. Taking it personally, which would be the reaction from habit, would only fuel the momentum of the karmic wound, with all the Leonine Saturnian-Plutonian-Martian action covering up the pain under even more layers of thwarted ambition.
My take on what does speak to us, what we’re hankering for in the present moment (aside from ideas for solutions for current concerns), is someone with heart. It’s true that Obama doesn’t have the experience that Clinton has, and yet it’s evident that more people are more willing to trust him. Anyone connected with him- or herself can’t trust people so obviously disconnected from heart-informed ways of being.
As Pluto continues its fresh transit through Capricorn, we’re getting the opportunity to see any assumptions we might have about what it would mean to have a woman in the White House. As I wrote here a few weeks ago regarding these assumptions, would she bring a compassionate stance to the office? Would having a woman in the highest office in the land mean having a heart-centered person as the nation’s chief executive? Would we automatically have an emotionally centered individual (a prevalent assumption about womanness) running the show, checking in with her heart instead of just her head (a prevalent assumption of manness)?
Anyone checking in with how they feel in their bodies when they hear her speak will be very clear that the answer is no.
And while I admire Clinton’s dedication, tenacity and clarity of purpose, I would hope she can learn to slow down. My wish for her is not just to learn to remember and eventually enjoy smelling the roses, but also to toss them into her mouth and chomp away with abandon, letting the natural world enter her, and share its emotion, and let its nonlinearity, unpracticality and poetics speak to her through her body.
(In case it’s not clear yet, the opening quote kind of hints at my wish for Clinton, whether or not she wins the nomination.)
Tom is available for heart- and soul-centered consultations. See his website for more information and contact details.
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March 3, 2008 By Tom Jacobs
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:25 am
[...] 4th, 2008 · No Comments Lynn Hayes wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptOur mothers understood something [...]