Not Kevin McCarthy – Most of the time it’s good to be first. In the case of Kevin McCarthy, maybe not so much. He holds the unusual distinction of being the first Speaker of the US House of Representatives to be voted out of his position 9 months to the day after he was elected! His desperation to be Speaker led him to make risky and unusual deals with the extreme faction of his caucus. It took 15 rounds of voting for McCarthy to get the votes to secure his position. One of the agreements made to get the needed votes from the extremists in his caucus was that he could be ousted with just one vote by another member. McCarthy wanted the speakership, so he gambled and lost. Matt Gaetz part of the extreme faction of the Republican party called for McCarthy’s ouster from position of Speaker after McCarthy relied on Democratic votes to help pass a bill to avoid a partial government shutdown.
Kevin McCarthy was born on 1/26/65 12:40PM, Bakersfield, CA. We do have a confirmed time.
The above double wheel shows the close approximate time that McCarthy finally secured the Speakership. Noteworthy is that both Mars/Gemini and Mercury/Capricorn were retrograde which probably is why it took so long to get results. Unfortunately, these two retrograde planets also created instability in the action (Mars) and the decision (Mercury). Mars Rx was close to his Ascendant and opposite his Moon/Sadge. Venus/Aquarius was conjunct his Sun/Aquarius and transiting Sun/Capricorn was conjunct his Venus/Cap. Venus was granting favors, but the event was still inherently unstable. He was receiving a Mercury return to his birth Mercury (although retrograde) with the Sun/Capricorn conjoining and Moon/Cancer and the Midheaven opposing the Capricorn grouping. Another signal of instability is indicated by transiting Neptune/Pisces exactly square his Nodal axis in Gemini/Sadge and opposing his Mars while transiting Pluto/Capricorn made a trine to his Mars/Virgo, power was bestowed but it was fragile, illusory, or complicated.
McCarthy lost the Speakership on 10/3/23 when Mercury, just past its most recent retrograde conjoined his birth Mars 28Virgo (ruled by Mercury). This combination of Mars and Mercury is important. Mercury is his Chart Ruler (ruler of his Ascendant) and when he won the Speakership, Mars was retrograde in Mercury ruled Gemini on his Gemini Ascendant. On 10/3/23 transiting Moon was also in early Gemini triggering the MarsRx/Gemini when he won the position. There are more aspects we could discuss but this particular combination shows how important actions begun under MarsRx are often short-lived.
The House GOP elected Mike Johnson of Louisiana as Speaker of the US House of Representatives on 10/25/23. This is the most powerful position after the Vice President of the United States. This man is second in line to the Presidency. Here’s what we know about Mike Johnson. He is a Trump ally and election denier. After the 2020 Presidential election, he helped mastermind Trump’s plot to overturn the 2020 election by leading 126 Republican to support an amicus brief, which he wrote (he’s a constitutional lawyer) and presented to the Supreme Court. In the brief he claimed that Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan “usurped” the constitutional authority of state legislators when they relaxed voting restrictions during the pandemic. The Supreme Court rejected the case. He served on Trump’s legal defense team during his two impeachment trials in the Senate. As an evangelical Christian, he supports a nationwide abortion ban and believes in restricting LGBTQ+ rights. Johnson celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade. He called it, “a great and joyous occasion.” He advocates cuts to Social Security and Medicare. He voted against aid to Ukraine.
At his acceptance speech upon attaining his position as House Speaker, he said his wife could not be there. “She’s spent the last couple of weeks on her knees in prayer to the Lord. And, um, she’s a little worn out.” (Yes, he said that)! Homosexuality is an "inherently unnatural" and "dangerous lifestyle," he once wrote, according to CNN. He believes man-made climate change is a hoax. Annie Karni, journalist and White House correspondent for the NY Times says of him, “hard line views with a gentle personal style.”
After the mass shooting in Maine last Wednesday 10/25/23, which killed 18 people and wounded many others, a clip circulated of Johnson blaming mass shootings on 20th-century American reforms. Listing “no fault divorce laws”, “the sexual revolution”, “radical feminism” and “government-sanctioned killing of the unborn”, he said liberals had created “a completely amoral society” in which young Americans were “taught there is no right and wrong.” Reported in the Guardian. This man is second in line to the Presidency! I encourage you to listen to some video clips of Mike Johnson speaking on various topics. It’s sobering.
Mike Johnson was born on 1/30/72, time unknown, in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Note: For unknown birthtimes, it’s common to use 12Noon to cut the Moon’s motion in half and then to use 0 Aries (the natural start of the Zodiac) for the Ascendant.
Mike Johnson won the Speakership with the Moon/Pisces conjunct Neptune/Pisces (an unstable combo) conjunct his Venus/Pisces and transiting Venus/Virgo opposite his Venus, placing focus on his faith and the sticky, tricky nature of combining religion and politics. Transiting Pluto/Capricorn was conjunct his Mercury and trine his SaturnRx/Taurus. Sun, Mercury and Mars all in Scorpio squared his Nodes, Sun in Aquarius and his Moon/Leo and with transiting Jupiter/Taurus formed a Grand Square in fixed signs. With Taurus/Scorpio (the financial and resource axis) making the Grand Cross, his first issues to navigate will certainly be the debt ceiling and aid to Israel and Ukraine.
He appears mild-mannered but has a strong and strict bent to his thinking with Mercury in Saturn-ruled Capricorn and also trine Saturn – doubling the effect. He was born under a Full Moon Lunar Eclipse 9 Leo and transiting Mars/Scorpio triggered his personal birth eclipse degree on the day he was named Speaker! Johnson has three well-placed planets in his birth chart: Mars in its own sign of Aries (direct and goal-oriented), Venus in Pisces, which shows up for him as a deeply religious Baptist, and Jupiter in its own sign of Sagittarius trine his Mars adding to a fiery devotion and righteousness in his beliefs. He has a quirky, independent or unpredictable quality with Mars/Aries opposite Uranus/Libra and we don’t know how that will express itself in his new position. From his past speeches and writing, we do know that he is adamant in his beliefs and very willing to promote them.
A most interesting coincidence is that both men have Sun in Aquarius and Mercury in Capricorn. This shows the pivot we are making in the cosmos and the attendant chaos attempting to integrate a whole new energy system – as we leave Pluto in Capricorn for Pluto in Aquarius. The old rules are being broken and strong ideologies and idealogues are aiming to exert their influence. Mike Johnson does not believe in the separation of Church and State and that will be an ongoing problem for the United States and indeed the world. Do search out his own words in the available clips on YouTube and elsewhere.