Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:
Star Power

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by Kathy Rose

Politicians, celebrities, and culture influencers with a high profile in the news offer astrologers an incredible opportunity to witness natal energies being lived and projected. This is especially true for those who burst onto the scene and gain sudden prominence.

As a consulting astrologer, I find great insight in detecting and studying planetary signatures. I love to observe what’s being radiated by the individual who has stepped into the public spotlight. In fact, I have a special astrological exercise to improve my ability to sense the horoscope frequencies for people who achieve an extraordinary presence in the news cycles — I play the “anticipation” game.

Instead of immediately opening up the ephemeris (assuming I have a subject’s birth date), I first try to discern in them the clear stamp of a particular planet, zodiac sign, elemental emphasis, or modality. I look for anything that helps me to convert their energy field and behavior into astrological symbolism, and I begin with the basic question: “What would I anticipate seeing in their chart?”

A New Political Star Emerges

Enter Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a first-time Democrat office holder from the Bronx, elected to the United States House of Representatives in November 2018. Often referred to as AOC, this dynamic woman is living a Cinderella story. She was a bartender who became a lawmaker and, at 29 years old, has the distinction of being the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.

After fewer than six months in office, AOC was featured on the cover of TIME magazine, described in bold print as “The Phenom.” The flattering article on the progressive congresswoman described her as “… the second most talked-about politician in America, after the President of the United States.”¹

Ocasio-Cortez came out of nowhere to take the public stage by storm. She first began to attract attention in the late spring of 2017, when she officially kicked off her primary run against 10-term Democrat incumbent Joe Crowley. Hers was an unlikely challenge to a powerful House member and anticipated party leader. Though she was a volunteer on Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign, Ocasio-Cortez had never before thrown her hat into the political ring.

A major turn in AOC’s political fortune happened a little more than a year later, in May 2018, when her campaign posted a two-minute video ad that went viral very quickly. Her ascent to high visibility was spectacular, aided by her campaign’s social media savvy and the news media’s eager embrace of her candidacy. Even The Hollywood Reporter, an entertainment industry publication, referred to her as the “new face of the resistance, electrifying the media — emerging as a hero to millennials.”²

Planetary Signatures

When Ocasio-Cortez’s star began to rise, I became interested in watching her from an astrological orientation. As I reached out with my senses to try to anticipate her horoscope, I immediately felt the strong shower of sparks and infectious electricity she emitted. She projected her vibrant persona wearing bright red lipstick, radiating raw courage, advocating highly progressive policies, and being unabashedly outspoken and even impulsive in her idealism.

I sensed a palpable Mars and/or Aries presence and potent revolutionary Uran

us energy. I also suspected that she might have a natal planet at the Aries Point (0° of cardinal signs). This is a special and very reliable brushstroke technique in natal analysis that I consistently use, which heightens the native’s potential for achieving high visibility in life. I also surmised that Neptune or Jupiter would make a strong statement in her chart because of her idealistic mindset.

Mars, Aries, and the Color Red

When I looked up AOC’s natal planets, it was no surprise to find that she has Sun conjunct Mars (oriental: Mars rising just before the Sun), with the Moon in Aries. It takes almost no analytical time to anticipate a dominant Aries or Mars signature when you see that bright red lipstick in virtually every picture and TV appearance of this photogenic political phenom.

In the spring of 2018, when her campaign was really starting to catch fire, we didn’t have a confirmed birth time for Ocasio-Cortez. So, just looking in the ephemeris offered the possibility of her Moon being in either late Pisces or early Aries. Now in 2019, we have a birth time for her with an A Rodden Rating. Her Moon is angular at 3° Aries, located in the 3rd house just a few degrees from the IC! (See Chart 1, below.)

What does this tell us? When a natal planet is conjunct an angle, it instantly gains strength and power in the life-purpose theme. And indeed the perfect expression of the power of her angular Aries Moon is her distinctive red lipstick. It has become iconic, and she is now even affecting fashion trends. Thousands of people have Googled to ask her lipstick brand, and her famous shade (Stila Stay All Day Liquid in Beso) quickly sold out the day after the primary in June 2018. Since she was elected to Congress, demand for her special signature shade has frequently exceeded supply.

Disrupting the Status Quo: Uranus

The progressive and revolutionary profile that AOC palpably radiates is connected to natal Uranus sitting at 1° Capricorn — in orb of the Aries Point. The congresswoman was born during the powerful conjunction of Uranus, Saturn, and Neptune in Capricorn, which took place in 1989. That significant time period in the late ’80s — with the grouping of three outer planets in Capricorn — was when the Berlin Wall came down. It was also when the Tiananmen Square protests in China focused the attention of the world on the yearning of the Chinese people to be free of the yoke of authoritarianism.

The forcible and violent suppression of mass political protests in Beijing, plus the fall of the Berlin Wall, carried a signature energy of momentous societal change. These two watershed events were in accord with the transiting stellium of outer planets in Capricorn, and stood out as clear indicators of a strong current of upheaval flowing through the collective consciousness. Change and reform needed to manifest in a big way.

Many people born in 1989, including AOC, received the powerful imprint of the revolutionary need for change via the planetary alignment in Capricorn. A new generation of souls whose life purposes are linked with shaking up the establishment was brought to Earth.

Special Astrological Brushstrokes for Natal Analysis

The chart for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has three special natal brushstroke signatures that I consistently use in my practice: (1) the Aries Point, (2) oriental planet, and (3) angular planet(s). These confer emphasis and add prominence to the planets receiving them. Let’s take a closer look at her horoscope with this analytical approach in mind.

1. Aries Point:
The Doors to Visibility Open

The Aries Point (AP) references 0° of any cardinal sign. Natal planets or angles located at the Aries Point want to be seen and are connected to potent public projection. The orb for this signature brushstroke for high visibility ranges from 29° mutable to 1° cardinal.

When I have a client who has natal points at the AP, my favorite way to explain this is to say, “There’s a suggestion here that the doors to public visibility may open more powerfully for you — if you choose to walk through them.”

Of course, not everyone with an AP planet or angle in their natal chart will become famous or achieve high national visibility. The environment needs to cooperate and be receptive, if not outright supportive, and the native with the signature in their natal chart needs to participate in the potential for this special spotlight energy.

AP Uranus

We can say with confidence that the new congresswoman from New York is viewed as a mover-and-shaker who charges through the establishment structure, delighting in disrupting the status quo, even in her own party. This is how we most easily see her — through the lens of Uranus. She leaves upheaval in her wake, and she works to “awaken” others to how she’d like to radically alter the country.

The high-voltage revolutionary energy working through her system from AP Uranus offers her high visibility, which has given her the opportunity to become a loud and insistent voice that garners widespread attention. Ocasio-Cortez exhibits a strong public profile as a maverick personality with a pervasive need to assert her view of progressive governance.

The new congresswoman didn’t just choose to meekly walk through the doors to public recognition; she assertively pushed them open and strode forward as though she were wearing stylish Mars combat boots. She engaged the AP energy from her natal Uranus and very quickly gained notoriety and elevated stature.

Uranus and Social Media

It’s important to emphasize that this fiery millennial continuously uses her special talent for exploiting social media. She and her team are skilled at creating and riding the wave of viral moments that often stir controversy. In May 2017, when she entered the primary race by challenging the entrenched incumbent, Ocasio-Cortez had fewer than 300 Twitter followers. By primary day, she had 60,000, and as of this writing in 2019, she has well over 3.5 million.

Again, the fact that her natal Uranus activates the Aries Point has perhaps given her an advantage in supercharging her rise through social media. Certainly, we can appreciate the role that Uranus plays in the active use of technology, and AOC’s exploding online presence has allowed her to communicate with followers, directly and with an unfiltered immediacy.

In this regard, many see a similarity to Donald Trump’s approach to communicating with his constituency. Of course, we know that Trump also has a powerful Uranus imprint in his chart: Uranus is in the oriental position, conjunct his Sun, and opposite his Moon. Here, we have two politicians who are near polar opposites in their viewpoints, but both effectively use the communications channels offered through social media.

2. Sun Conjunct Mars Oriental

The oriental planet in the natal chart is a key signature brushstroke that is particularly helpful in vocational profiling. When we see Mars in the oriental position, there is a meaningful indication for talent in marketing and self-promotion — basically, “selling an idea.” There can also be a strong sense of being connected to a cause. In many cases, energy naturally flows to activism.

To find the oriental planet in a horoscope, simply begin with the Sun in the chart and move clockwise until you come to a planet. If you were to spin the chart around to put the Sun on the Ascendant, you’d easily see that the oriental planet would contact the Ascendant before the Sun does. In other words, you are looking for the planet that preceded the Sun on the eastern horizon on the day of birth.

Sometimes there will be a big distance between the Sun and the planet that rose just before it. In Ocasio-Cortez’s case, we see that the oriental planet, Mars, is conjunct the Sun in Libra in the 10th house.

We hear her talking about economic inequality and social justice as primary political messages. Certainly, this falls under the purview of her natal Libra statement amplified by Mars oriental in that sign. AOC assertively sells the broad ideas of progressive government. Her Green New Deal — a bold and far-reaching plan that she promotes to combat climate change — underscores her interest in environmental issues, and she beats the drum of this cause relentlessly.

3. Angular Planets:
Enhanced with Power

For Ocasio-Cortez, Mercury in Libra sits less than 4° from the Midheaven (MC): This is a very clear statement of her prevailing need to communicate a message about fairness. The Moon in Aries is opposite Mercury and also angular, so we see an assertive thrust added to the communication style.

There is pervasive cardinal restlessness and high energy that flow through her chart. The opposition between Mercury and the Moon is involved in a cardinal grand cross with Jupiter in Cancer and the stellium in Capricorn (AP Uranus, Saturn, and Neptune).

Idealists often have a visionary gift for transcending the gravity of the current condition (Saturn) and are attuned to a higher sense of possibility (Neptune and Jupiter). There is devotion to the dream, to what’s perceived as lofty and noble principles. The involvement of Neptune and Jupiter in the dynamic grand cross adds the frequency of idealism into virtually every aspect of AOC’s messaging. Her focus is almost always what “could be” and — in her opinion — what “should be.”

She uses assertive catalyst energy from her angular Aries Moon to communicate a big, idealistic idea, filled and expanded with Jupiter’s optimism. Winning a seat in Congress has allowed her to have a prominent platform to express the potent cardinal grand square.

One clear example of Ocasio-Cortez’s idealism is her Green New Deal, which has drawn fierce and impassioned criticism, largely from the standpoint of feasibility, practicality, and affordability. The dreamy and hopeful prospect of a better world (what “could be”), offered from Neptune, quite often lacks the clear substantive plan for how to achieve the goal.

Since AOC has the warrior mindset, her life-purpose issue is to fight for what she believes is right and just — refusing to back down and even showing defiance in the face of skepticism. It certainly seems that part of her life purpose is to be the agitator, the activist, the catalyst to help propel the discussion in a new direction. This would fulfill her angular Moon in Aries.

Astrological Redundancy

When it comes to the art of synthesis, astrologers seek echoes and repeating themes in the horoscope in order to understand life-purpose direction. We look for redundancy and resonance in the message, to try to discern what the soul needs to learn, polish, and accomplish in life.

The North Node in Aquarius echoes the power of AOC’s AP Uranus and her thrust for humanitarianism and environmentalism. The gutsy, aggressive, go-for-it Mars oriental energy is echoed and reinforced by the Moon in Aries, amplified due to the Moon and Mercury being in angular positions.

The Libra stellium flows energy to social issues connected with fairness, and this is channeled through the Capricorn stellium, which is associated with government and the political establishment. Whether one agrees or disagrees with her principles and policies, Ocasio-Cortez is aligned with and fulfilling the dynamic energies offered in her chart.

Understanding the life-purpose issues suggested by the horoscope is, in my opinion, critical because, in the end, all transits and solar arcs trigger personal developmental phases that are related to the core themes from the natal chart. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has received spectacular planetary contact from solar arcs and transits over the past few years. This ignited and launched her move into the political arena. Let’s take a look at these important cycles.

Whether one agrees or disagrees with her principles and policies, AOC is aligned with and fulfilling the dynamic energies offered in her chart.

Integrated Transits and Solar Arcs:
Cycles of Becoming

Exploring the overlapping outer-planet transits and solar arcs for the past two years, we can better understand the triggers that led Ocasio-Cortez to move fully into the political arena.

Soon after Donald Trump was elected president, AOC raised money and went on a road trip to North Dakota, where Native Americans and others were holding protests against the oil-transporting Dakota Access Pipeline. When she got back from the trip, the idea of running for office came forward. With the help of a friend she had met at the restaurant where she was bartending — a man proficient in graphic design — a bold campaign poster was developed and her basic brand created.

The trip to North Dakota and the idea to run for office came in December 2016, during the very year when transiting (TR) Saturn was conjunct her Ascendant, TR Uranus opposed her Sun, and TR Pluto squared her Mars. It’s also significant that TR Jupiter was in Libra and conjunct her Sun–Mars in the 10th house that month.

In May 2017, still under the influence from the transits received from Jupiter and Pluto, AOC officially kicked off her primary run against incumbent Representative Joe Crowley. She embraced the inner empowerment from TR Pluto square her Mars and the expansion from TR Jupiter conjunct her Sun by taking the courageous step of entering the race — a contest that almost no one in power thought she could win.

It’s also key that TR Pluto was just one degree from squaring her Sun in 2017 — this is what I call the “tickle.” She could no doubt feel the background pressure of her need to take a bold power step forward in life.

In February 2018, the candidate quit her job bartending so that she could fully focus on the campaign. She gathered a crew of politically energized but largely unconventional associates to help run her race. Interestingly, the first hit of her Saturn return would be exact in March. In early April, TR Mars in Capricorn would join in and super-energize the impact from the Saturn return.

Perhaps the most powerful cycles in 2018 for AOC were solar arc (SA) Mars conjunct natal Pluto — moving exact on April 12 — and TR Pluto square her Sun. There was also a turbocharged dose of luck from TR Jupiter in Scorpio conjunct her Pluto overlapping the period when SA Mars activated Pluto. From December 2017 through August 2018, she would receive potent activation of her 11th-house Pluto.

Clusters of overlapping, major planetary contacts provide the formula for important personal development. It’s spectacular that the novice candidate made power moves while receiving her Saturn return and the overlapping contact from TR Jupiter and SA Mars to her Pluto, and TR Pluto square her Sun! Taking deliberate and positive action steps to achieve goals is the best possible use of these cycles.

Many people fear contact from Pluto, which is unfortunate. When we can open up to the empowerment this influential planet offers, we can engage beautiful transformation. Just look at all the Plutonian energy that ran through AOC’s system throughout 2018, and consider what she accomplished.

On May 30, 2018, her campaign produced the aforementioned low-budget online ad that quickly went viral, opening the door for exponential growth in her social media footprint. Again, this is reflected by TR Jupiter conjoining her Pluto, and her Saturn return being in full swing! (See Chart 2, at left.)

On June 26, 2018, Ocasio-Cortez pulled off a stunning upset and won the Democratic primary, beating Crowley by 15 points. The number of her Twitter followers dramatically increased, as noted, and she became a very hot topic in the news cycle.

On election day, November 6, 2018, she won the congressional seat with 78% of the vote and became the youngest woman ever to take a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Fascinatingly, on November 7 — just hours after her victory — the New Moon in Scorpio conjoined her highly energized Pluto in the 11th house.

On February 7, 2019, the new congresswoman released her highly publicized and hotly debated Green New Deal; TR Jupiter was just a few degrees past its conjunction with her Ascendant, and TR Neptune was squaring that same angle.

As 2019 progresses, AOC will continue to have TR Pluto and Saturn square her Sun. TR Jupiter will retrograde back to station at 14° Sagittarius in August, hovering very close to her Ascendant. The final exact contact of Jupiter to the Ascendant is in mid September.

Currently, much of the media is in love with this millennial congresswoman. She is young, attractive, extremely energetic, has big ideas and sex appeal — the kind of combination that today’s news outlets exploit for their own purposes. It’s always tricky when TR Neptune is aspecting the Ascendant: The risk is that the fickle media may be infatuated with the idea of AOC and how they want to see, and use, her.

We will need to watch carefully as we go through 2019 to see how this media relationship develops. Since the TR Jupiter vibes are adding such luck and expansion to her Ascendant until September, Ocasio-Cortez may enjoy some protection from possible media rejection.

Given these planetary energies for the first-term lawmaker, there is no reason to believe that the intensity of her visibility, scrutiny, and controversy will diminish in 2019.

Looking Forward: 2020–21

In 2020, AOC will need to win another election in order to keep her seat in Congress. The transits and solar arcs paint an interesting picture for her next year, and it’s going to be fascinating to watch.

In the summer of 2020, there will be an eclipse exactly conjunct her Ascendant on June 5. At that same time, TR Venus will be retrograde in Gemini, making three conjunctions with her Descendant: on April 24, May 31, and July 21. The eclipse and the Venus transit to the 7th house will be made stronger because SA Venus will exactly square her MC in July. Receiving a Venus arc is generally favorable; there is the suggestion of popularity and grace offered to the path — especially when you are a public figure and when it’s the MC receiving the contact.

It’s hard to predict how the eclipse, the Venus transit, and the Venus solar arc will manifest and what will develop with AOC’s public image and political fortunes. We can say for sure that it is a super-active time, astrologically. I’m certain

Despite the fact that many consider AOC very controversial, she seems to know instinctively how to convert strong planetary contact into success.

that Ocasio-Cortez will find her way to the spotlight again, if she will ever have been out of it.

The summer of 2020 is a noteworthy time for her, and that’s when she will need to be working hard to be in good standing with the voters. Moving into fall, just days before the election in November, she will have SA Sun semi-square her MC (exact on October 31). Receiving an arc from the Sun is a beautiful thing, if your life is on track. The Sun will shine light on whatever planet or angle it contacts by solar arc. This is a very supportive cycle that bodes well for her.

However, the most potent cycle that will be building at election time in 2020 for Ocasio-Cortez is SA Pluto moving to a conjunction with the Ascendant (exact in July 2021). Angles are the power zones in the horoscope, and they are amazingly responsive to outer-planet transits or solar arcs.

Even though the Pluto arc to the Ascendant will not reach perfection until more than six months after next year’s election, it must be considered as a background energy that will be making itself known. This arc from Pluto could be very empowering — or it could provide an extremely challenging intensity that pushes AOC in a new direction. It is important to remember that she is very engaged with moving her life forward aggressively, and so far, she has had noteworthy success.

Despite the fact that many consider her very controversial — and abundant criticism flows her way — Ocasio-Cortez set a goal (being elected to the U.S. Congress in 2018) and achieved it, against all odds. She seems to know instinctively how to convert strong planetary contact into success.

If, for whatever reason, she is not re-elected in November 2020, AOC would likely use the solar arc from Pluto to set a new goal and pour all of her energy into conquering the fresh task she puts in her sights.

But first things first: We need to observe how the Pluto and Saturn transits play out for her in 2019. Remember, she has the beneficial beams from transiting Jupiter conjunct her Ascendant until early fall of this year. So far, she has garnered near-constant public attention — much of it positive, some not so positive. Given the highly charged political divisions in the U.S., with the two main parties constantly at each other’s throats, one would never assume that she’d escape without receiving major criticism.

As astrologers, we can observe a spectacular display of natal energies in this young congresswoman being projected and broadcast nearly every day in the news. So, watch the signs, absorb the obvious planetary statements, and appreciate the fireworks.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has stepped assertively and passionately onto the public stage to do the soul work she feels that she is meant to do. The real question for her now is whether she will maintain courage and energy enough to be true to her life-purpose theme of being a firebrand for the ideals in which she believes. The real jeopardy for AOC, certainly, is found in the ancient Chinese proverb: “The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long.”

Chart Data and Source

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, October 13, 1989; 11:50 a.m. EDT; Bronx, NY, USA (40°N51', 73°W54'); A: from memory; e-mail from her assistant.

References

1. Charlotte Alter, “ ‘Change Is Closer Than We Think’: Inside Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Unlikely Rise,” in TIME magazine, March 21, 2019.

2. Marisa Guthrie, “Social Media Warrior Goes to Washington,” in The Hollywood Reporter, January 23, 2019.

© 2019 Kathy Rose – all rights reserved

For 36 years, Kathy Rose has been a full-time consulting astrologer, lecturer, and teacher, with a thriving international practice. She brings an intuitive and therapeutic approach to consultations. A highest-honors graduate of Noel Tyl’s masters course, Kathy maintains a popular YouTube channel (roseastrology). She hosts and teaches the Empowered Astrology Conference annually in Washington, D.C., and has lectured at SOTA and Edgar Cayce’s Association for Research and Enlightenment. To contact her, e-mail: roseastrology@yahoo.com; or visit her website: http://roseastrology.com.

e-mail: roseastrology@yahoo.com;
Or visit her website: http://roseastrology.com
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