Okay, bearing in mind what I just wrote above as my impression of the current state of this debacle on Congressional Hill take a look at the event chart for the Winter Solstice for the USA.
Be aware that all natal positions for the USA should be added to with an additional 03* 24' 37" to adjust for the 243 years and 5 and 1/2 months that the Sidereal Zodiac has precessed since the birth of the nation.
I find that transiting Mercury was conjunct the USA's natal Part of Slyness, adjusted for the precession, at 19* Sag. 44' 41"
The Precession adjusted USA Part of Advancement [aka Part of Father] is at 22* Cap. 35' 34" and we find that Pluto was and still is conjunct that.
The precession adjusted USA natal Part of Catastrophe is at 21* Pisces 08' 48" and the precession adjusted USA natal Part of Intelligence & Skill is at 21* Pisces 16' 48" and the Desc. of the event chart is conjunct both by being of less than one degree orb in conjunction.
May I remind you all that the Sabian Symbol for the natal Part of Catastrophe and the Part of Intelligence & Skill is [ibid.]
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PISCES 18°: IN A GIGANTIC TENT, VILLAGERS WITNESS A SPECTACULAR PERFORMANCE.
KEYNOTE: The collective appeal of a well-staged and exciting display of skill and/or oratory.
At first, Marc Jones interpreted the 'gigantic tent' as the locale for a revivalist's meeting; later he suggested a circus tent instead. In a sense, the basic meaning is the same whether it is the traditional performance of skilled clowns, acrobats or animal trainers, or that of a religious fundamentalist dramatizing an old religious imagery, what takes place is the use of personal achievement and conviction to bring a crowd to a state of enthusiasm sufficient to make it forget its boredom with everyday routine or its familiar sins of commission or omission.
At this third stage of the seventieth five-fold sequence, the individual person and the collectivity are brought together in a significant performance which subtly strengthens the communal spirit directly or indirectly. The implication of the symbol, whenever it is found operating, is that the time has come for the individual to dare to present himself and his works to his community for applause, or for the purpose of attracting a following. What is suggested is PUBLIC SELF-DRAMATIZATION."
I have always found these two Astrological Parts for the USA's natal chart to be most accurately and appropriately symbolized by the Sabian Symbol found for the 18* of Pisces. Political speeches, Evangelistic ministers, a salesmans' pitch, have all been our greatest skill at applying our collective intelligence and it has also been the cause of some of our greatest catastrophes.
I forgot to mention that the USA's natal Lilith by adjustment for the precession is currently at 22* Virgo 48' 11" and that is conjunct the event charts' Ascendant.
Is this all just making perfect sense as to the events going on presently in Congress...well, it sure does to me.
The USA's natal Jupiter adjusted for the precession is at 09* Cancer 10' 55" and the transiting N.Node is conjunct that.
The Asc. for the event chart is in the 23* of Virgo [ibid.]
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VIRGO 23°: A LION TAMER DISPLAYS HIS SKILL AND CHARACTER.
KEYNOTE: The need to tame one's vital energies in order to fulfill one's destiny.
We see here the development of the concept of training. The true aristocrat is the individual who is in complete control of his vital and emotional energies; at the spiritual level this includes the overcoming of pride — pride in one's strength and mastery, and the pride attached to an exalted status or social Office.
This is the third stage of the thirty-fifth sequence of five symbols. The meaning of this phase of development is traditional and evident. The whole process of social-ethical and occult-spiritual conditioning of the individual aims at the control of man's 'animal nature'. The energies of this nature can be put to many uses. Implied in any successful process of taming and training is RESOLUTENESS and PATIENCE."
I wish to particularly emphasize Dane Rudhyar's words above, "
The true aristocrat is the individual who is in complete control of his vital and emotional energies; at the spiritual level this includes the overcoming of pride — pride in one's strength and mastery, and the pride attached to an exalted status or social Office. "
...and I'd also like to remind you that natal Lilith, adjusted for the precession, is "all over that", in a manner of speaking.
The Desc. of the event chart is in the 23* of Pisces,
[and pay particular attention to this Sabian Symbol if you will, please...!][ibid.]
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PISCES 23° A "MATERIALIZING" MEDIUM GIVING A SEANCE.
KEYNOTE: The ability to give of one's own vital energy to substantiate one's conscious ideals or unconscious desires.
The person who believes he or she has a mission or mandate, or any special gift that can be of value to his community, must substantiate this belief. He has to produce results. Sometimes this involves difficulties and special conditions or circumstances; it always demands to some extent the gift of some power of value which is deeply one's own. The thought of sacrifice was suggested by the "white lamb" in the first symbol of this five-old series. Something precious involved in a deeply personal experience has to be surrendered, offered to others. The medium's psychic substance provides the materials made visible in the phenomena, if the latter are genuine. After the séance, the medium is usually exhausted. The performer gives of his very life to the performance.
This refers to the third stage in the seventy-first five-fold process. The display of psychic power that the symbol depicts can be interpreted positively or negatively according to the motives that induced the "medium" to give the seance. In its most constructive aspect it suggests the Keyword: SUBSTANTIATION. The shadowy aspect of the process is "deception."
When one is able to "pull the rabbit out of the hat", that is
SUBSTANTIATION", otherwise, all that you managed to actually produce is naught but "]"The shadowy aspect of the process ...
DECEPTION."
THE M.C. OF THE EVENT CHART, THE "WHY" OF THE CHART IN A MUNDANE ANALYSIS, OR THE "HOW" IN AN INTERPRETATION WITH SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION IN CONSIDERATION, IS IN THE 21* DEGREE OF GEMINI [WHICH IS THE SAME SIGN AND DEGREE WHERE THE USA"s NATAL MARS IS FOUND [ibid.]
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GEMINI 21°: A TUMULTUOUS LABOUR DEMONSTRATION
KEYNOTE: The revolutionary impact of mental concepts upon the collective emotions and desires of man.
This symbol parallels the one that began the process of 'exteriorization' (Gemini 16°), but the process is seen here operating definitively at the level of collective responses. The mass of men have been aroused by mental images, slogans and an appetite for the abundance the 'ruling class' enjoys. This also applies to the individual person in whom contrasting spheres of activity have taken shape as the result of the mind-based individualizing process. The organic functions make their collective demands upon the lordly intellect. The stage may be set for the kind of 'revolution' we call psychoneurosis.
This begins the seventeenth five-fold sequence of symbols. It sets the stage for a tumultuous process, which may lead to a new approach to the problems resulting from individualization. The repressed or oppressed instincts stage an EMOTIONAL OUTBURST, claiming their due."
...and the I.C. of the event chart in the 21st degree of Sagittarius, [the "HOW" in a mundane interpretation, the "WHY', symbolically] [ibid.]
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SAGITTARIUS 21°: A CHILD AND A DOG WEARING BORROWED EYEGLASSES.
KEYNOTE: The use of imagination and make-believe in anticipating higher stages of development.
This rather peculiar symbol seems to imply here that by imitating features belonging to a level of consciousness as yet unreachable, the process of growth may be accelerated. Eyeglasses symbolize intellectual development; the chiefs of primitive tribes in some instances have sought to impress their people by wearing spectacles without glass, or western hats – simply because these objects seemed characteristic of a race of superior people. This is similar to the process of growth by identification with a ‘Master’ or guru. In a sense it is mere pretending or make-believe, yet wearing the ‘mask’ of a god the medicine man at the time becomes for all practical purposes the incarnation of the god. Growth is always a hierachical process, even if the growing entity is not aware of it.
This is the first of five symbols constituting the fifty-third sequence. It suggests the value of LEARNING THROUGH IMITATION."
IT ALL SEEMS PERFECTLY CLEAR TO ME.