Five-Star Ike

dde.gif  (28850 bytes) On October 14, 1990, the free world (and parts still not very free) celebrated the centennial of the birth of Dwight David Eisenhower, born 10 14 1890, 3:40 AM CST, Denison, TX, 33N45, 96W33. What was there about this man, born with the Sun at 21 Libra, the degree of the exaltation of Saturn, that brought him to the glory of leadership of great armies and the highest seat of power the world can bestow, while at the same time enabling him to retain the love and respect of millions?


Born to an impoverished farm family of German-Swiss descent sojourning briefly in Texas before their permanent move to Abilene, Kansas, “Ike” was one of 7 brothers (6 survived childhood) who grew up in a classic American childhood of earlier, hardier times: practical and fiercely idealistic parents, biblical injunctions discussed and memorized, rising and retiring with the sun in extremes of Kansan weather, most of the day taken up with heavy farm chores and responsibilities…his clothes were patched hand-me-downs, and he and his brothers not only helped on the farm but took surplus produce and sold it door-to-door to help the family survive.

Ike excelled in sports, and his favorite library books were stories of ancient wars and battles; his boyhood heros, Hannibal and Abraham Lincoln. His parents were River Brethren, a pacifist sect that preached that military conflict was a great evil; if Ike’s war books were discovered in the house, they were hidden under lock and key; Ike promptly searched out the hiding place and read them anyway. Thus it is likely that at a very early age he knew that he had been born on the anniversary of one of the great turning points of history: the Battle of Hastings, 10 14 1066 OS, 50N55, 0E29, 9:30 AM LMT: William of Normandy`s invasion and conquest of England. Our language, our customs, our laws, our very civilization came out of that event, with its resulting merger of Anglo-Saxon and Norman (Norseman) French. But Ike’s birth was not only the anniversary of Hastings; his Saturn-Asc conjunction was the Saturn of Hastings (in other words, he was born on the 28th Saturn return of the battle) and squared its Mars; his Moon-Uranus conjunction was the Sun of Hastings. The Battle of Hastings was an invasion of England from Normandy; barefoot “Ike” grew up to lead an invasion of Normandy from England.

1066 was a fascinating year; in the Far East it was the dreaded once-every 60-year Year of the Fire-Horse; and it was also the 11th century’s only visit of Halley’s comet, a 76.7-year phenomenon. The comet was first sighted April 24th as it sped eastward through the horns of Taurus, a constellation sacred to the ancient Druids; it frightened the English, but William the Conqueror took it as an omen favorable to his cause. As the Battle of Hastings began, Halley’s culminated at 21 Virgo 08, conjunct the NNode, square Uranus and trine Neptune, which was in the *Hyades, the cluster of stars in the Bull’s face. The comet aligned with the fixed star *Zaniah, eta Virginis; Ike, born exactly 824 years and 11o 30′ of precession later, had Mercury, his chart ruler, on *Zaniah. Royal war-star *Antares rose (the 1990 precession correction is 12o54′- in 1066 Antares was still in Scorpio) as Royal *Aldebaran set. (Winston Churchill, England’s World War II Prime Minister, was born with the Sun on *Antares).

Young Ike wanted desperately to go to college, but there was no possibility that the family could help. When he discovered that the naval academy was free, provided he could prove eligibility and worthiness, he rushed to apply. He came in first in the state’s competitive exam, but then discovered he was too old for Annapolis; West Point however, had a later age limit; he went through the process again, but this time he came in second in the state exams. The young man who came in first was not considered as strong all-around, and the appointment went to Ike. Kismet?

His parents were upset, but decided not to stand in his way. As Halley’s comet came through in 1910-11, Ike, the son of militant pacifists, entered West Point. On the day he arrived, June 14, 1911, the comet was 2 Virgo, the Jupiter of the Battle of Hastings.

There is no space here to recount his constant moves, studies, discouragements, achievements, etc.; but when in 1925 he was accepted into the prestigious and almost-impossible-to-get-into Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, he was warned that he would probably fail the strenuous course; officers often did, and his classmates had more training and experience than he. Working with fanatic dedication, he stayed the course – and in a class of 245, came in first. His extraordinary performance earned him an appointment to the Army War College, which he completed with ratings of “Superior” in all areas. (He also was rated, throughout his life, as an extraordinarily shrewd and highly successful bridge and poker player…these facts should be recalled by those who have claimed, in later years, that he was a man who got by on his charm). Among other assignments, he spent six years as an aide to General MacArthur, four of them in the Philippines. Never one to criticize colleagues, the only comment he allowed himself on that extraordinarily trying period was that he had “studied drama under MacArthur.” It was here that he began to learn to handle military and political prima donnas with patience, tact, and firmness. (He paid a price, however; his blood pressure rose to sometimes dangerous levels, and his Saturn in Virgo gave him chronic stomach aches from stress.)

In 1941, 26 years after his graduation from West Point, Ike was still a mere Lieutenant-Colonel, so discouraged by his lack of advancement that he had given serious thought to leaving the army. The December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor brought the US into World War II; in just 3 1/2 years Ike went from Lt-Colonel to 5-star “General of the Army” (a rank created for him as an American equivalent of Field-Marshal) and Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force (SCAEF). (The constellation of Orion culminates on Ike’s chart – in ancient China Orion was called “The Supreme Commander” (!)) Such an astonishing rise to influence and power leads one to look for a royal star on the horoscope, and indeed, he was born with Pluto on alpha Tauri, Royal *Aldebaran, the star setting at the start of the Battle of Hastings, and rising, with Uranus, at the Declaration of Independence.

Ike’s first major wartime assignment was to coordinate and oversee the first American participation in the European war – an invasion of North Africa; on 7/24/42, with Saturn on *Aldebaran, this invasion was secretly given the code name “Torch”.

Of those in Taurus…the stars in the

head, the one of the Hyades that is

bright and somewhat reddish, [Aldebaran]

called the Torch has a temperature like

that of Mars…

-Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, ca 150 AD

Though eventually successful, the invasion of North Africa had a difficult start; it was bogged down in torrential rains

…in China…[the “rainy Hyades“] were wor-

shipped as Yu Shi, the General of Rain;…the

whole group was known as The Announcer of

Invasion on the Border…

-Allen, Star Names, 1899

On December 5 1943 Roosevelt decided to make Eisenhower the commander of OVERLORD, the allied invasion of Europe; Ike was told two days later. Transiting Mars, at perigee, was on the MC of his chart, and Venus, dignified in Libra, was on his Moon-Uranus conjunction (on the Battle of Hastings Sun); his ruler Mercury was in exile (an old word I prefer for “detriment”) in Sagittarius, describing his position as an “outsider” to the Europeans, but receiving a trine from Jupiter, (echoing the Nercury-Jupiter trine on his natal chart) that assured him of the backing of his superiors.

Hitler, convinced that jealous rivalry and fear of Russian communism would break up the Allies, had his propaganda machine constantly working to this end. In making Eisenhower OVERLORD’S Supreme Commander, Roosevelt and Churchill chose a man who could set personal feelings aside and put himself completely at the service (Saturn rising in Virgo) of the cause. His dedication, persistence, and insistence on maintaining the strongest possible bonds within the Atlantic alliance amidst the intense nationalistic rivalry that plagued it, was the glue that held it all together; historians agree that no one else could have done it. In this he was unique.

On D-Day, June 6, 1944, the troops hit the beaches at 7:45 AM; the Moon was at *Antares, the Ascendant-star of Hastings; the NNode was on Hasting’s Moon (the degree of the fall of Mars), and the MC/IC axis held Hastings’ Jupiter-Pluto opposition. Of the five Allied beachheads, two American (Utah, Omaha), two British (Gold, Sword), and one Canadian (Juno), Sword landed precisely where William the Conqueror embarked 878 years before, at the mouth of the River Dives. (The participants were keenly aware of the parallels between 1944 and 1066 – General Patton carried a history book with him, so he could pursue Germans “down the same (expletive deleted) roads the Normans used.”)

Humility must always be the portion of any man

who receives acclaim earned in blood of his

followers and sacrifices of his friends.

-Eisenhower, The Guildhall Address June 12, 1945

There are even more contacts between the charts of Dwight D.Eisenhower, D-Day, and the 1066 invasion of England, too many to list here; but surely it is evident that he was born to lead, born to lead armies, and born, very specifically, to lead the allied invasion of Europe in 1944, while at the same time learning, as a soul, the value and skills of patience and peacemaking.

It was perhaps inevitable that the “war hero” should be pressured into running for president, and eventually succumb; he epitomized so many virtues rarely found in public life: directness, honesty, dedication and trustworthiness; but politics never really suited him. Ike was above all a soldier and military commander, one of the finest in history.

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There is much confusion and disagreement about Eisenhower’s birth time; in the 1940’s astrologers were led astray by his statement that he thought he was born “very late in the afternoon”. I have based my work on his mother’s recollection that his birth took place about 3 AM, reported by Kansas astrologer Mildred Schuler and in “Eisenhower, Man & Soldier” by Ike’s cousin Anne Woodward Miller; this puts 3 Gem 21 (*Hyades) on the MC & 5 Virgo 51 on the Asc. Frances McEvoy reports that Grant Lewi used 3:40 AM; this gives 12 Gem 47 MC, 14 Virgo 16 rising. T. Pat Davis, who was kind enough to share her extensive research with me, used geo and helio to obtain a rectified time of 2:40 AM: MC 28 Tau 33, ASC 1 Virgo 40. T. Pat notes that Ike was unwilling to enter politics until his 2ndary prog. Mars moved to square the 2:40 AM MC, that he had a heart attack, an operation, and a minor stroke while p. Mars opposed this Asc, and that he first came into prominence a week after Pearl Harbor when transiting Saturn & Uranus were conj. this MC with Neptune trine it, and was sent to Europe 6/42 as US commander with Saturn to this MC. He passed away when t. Neptune opposed it, 3/28/69, 11:25 AM EST, Washington DC.

My own preference is for 3:40 AM or close to it; this gives an MC transited by the perigee Mars when he was given command of the D-Day invasion, and by the Sun at the invasion. At this year’s October 14th centennial of his birth, stationing Mars conjuncts this MC while Venus and Mercury trine it.

References:

Miller, Merle: Ike the Soldier: As They Knew Him, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, NY, 1987

Lloyd, Alan: The Making of the King 1066, Holt Rinehart & Winston, 1966

Linklater, Eric: The Conquest of England, Crossroads of History Series, Ed. Orville Prescott (no date)

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, trans. Anne Savage, Dorset Press 1983

Two Body Ephemeris for Comet Halley calc. by Donald K Yeomans, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena CA, & T K Kiang, Dunsink Observatory, Ireland, 1985 (Not a publication-loose pages sent in a pack)

Ike birth data: “mother’s recollection” from him to Grant Lewi in 1951; same data from him to his cousin who was writing his biography, as reported in in Geocosmic News, 1988 (Winter issue, I think – it’s back in the city and I’m not – it’s the issue with all the presidents and candidates in it)

Allen, Richard Hinkley: Star Names Their Lore & Meaning (orig. published by G. E. Stechert, 1899), Dover Press, 1963

Ptolemy: Tetrabiblos, Ed. and translated by F. E. Robbins, Ph.D., Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 1971

there are 2 other refs that I don’t have with me – the date of the code naming of “Torch” is from Harry C. Butcher’s book “My Three Years with Eisenhower” – I think that’s the title – he was a naval aide who kept a diary; the Guildhall Address is from the appendix of a book by Ike called “At Ease”; it’s a famous speech that was compared to the Gettysburg address by the British press.

Rate of precession correction used: 0 00′ 50.23″ per year. Fixed star orb: 1 degree moiety, i.e. 1 degree either side of exact position.

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