Testing Sarah Palin's birth time

Sarah Palin continues to be a force to be reckoned with both in the Republican Party and in US politics. Will she run in 2012? It's very possible given her generally favorable horoscope but it's difficult to make a definitive prediction because her birth time is still unknown. There have been a few birth times floating around for Sarah Palin. When she arrived on the national political scene in 2008, two unconfirmed times soon developed their own legion of followers -- 4.40 pm and 9.43 pm. While I tended to favor the 9.43 pm time, I still had my doubts as neither had any supporting documentation. Instead of rectifying the chart, I simply let the whole thing drop. McCain and Palin lost the election and Sarah emerged as her own unique form of celebrity carving out a space somewhere between politics and entertainment. The Washington Post meets TMZ.

In late 2009, a new time surfaced that promised to have a little more going for it. Taken from a newsletter of the town of her birth, Sandpoint, Idaho, Palin apparently came into the world at 6.00 pm on February 11, 1964. This isn't quite the gold standard for accuracy since there is no birth certificate or hospital record that accompanies this claim. But it is the best of the three because the other two had no evidence at all. While I think we need to treat this time with kid gloves since it is based on some unknown person's memory, it's still worth a look. Here is a very brief rundown on her 6.00 pm chart in terms of its plausibility. What parts of her chart make sense and what parts do not?

Sarah Palin born February 11, 1964 6.00 pm Sandpoint, Idaho

On the plus side, her Sun-Mars-Saturn conjunction is angular in the 7th house, and hence very powerful. She has enormous energy and willpower and does not back down from a fight. The other bonus about this stellium is that is forms a close square aspect with the MC, the unequal 10th house cusp. The MC (Midheaven) represents status and career and having these planets in tight aspect to this point likely increases both her desire for status and the ability for her to get noticed.

Leo is the rising here in the first 1st house and that is certainly a possible ascendant for her given her natural flair for leadership, loyalty and upbeat personality. At the same time, I don't like to put too much stress on the rising sign because we could make plausible arguments for many signs here.

Her Moon-Mercury conjunction in Capricorn in the 6th house is interesting because it focuses on her pragmatic, no-nonsense approach to problems, and emphasizes her role as a fighter. The 6th house is all about defending, protecting, and nurturing and we can see that Palin embodies a lot of those qualities in her public projection. She defends the interests of the average person, or silent majority against the various elites that she feels have taken the US in the wrong direction. The 6th house emphasis often makes a person think more strategically as action is tied to careful planning and making the right executive decisions.

Again, this is quite plausible although one could make the case that this Moon-Merc conjunction could occur in a number of houses.

One thing that troubles me about this chart is that Ketu (South Lunar Node) is in the 5th house of children. This is normally seen as a malefic influence that reduces offspring or causes them some harm. Palin has 5 children and while one has Down's syndrome which would confirm a Ketu placement here, there are simply too many kids here that one would expect. Admittedly, the lord of the 5th is Jupiter and its well placed in Pisces with Venus in the 8th house. So that might improve her fertility somewhat. Also, from the perspective of the Moon, her chart looks much better. Moon is with 9th lord Mercury (very good) and the 5th house is Taurus, which is ruled by Venus, which is exalted in Pisces with fecund Jupiter. So it's conceivable that the strength of her Chandra Lagna chart compensates for some of the weakness from her Rasi natal chart.

Another perplexing question concerns her appearance. She won a beauty contest as a young woman and is known for her good looks. This should show up in the horoscope in some fairly obvious way. Very often, people who are known for their appearance have benefic planets like the Moon or Venus involved with the angles, especially in the 1st or 7th houses. In Palin's 6.00 pm chart, however, both Moon and Venus are pushed back to the 6th and 8th houses. This is not what one would expect from a person who is so easily recognizable in the public eye and whose attractiveness is widely discussed and appreciated.

One possible explanation of physical attractiveness for this chart might be that the midpoint of the Moon (11 Cp) and Venus (8 Pi) is about 10 degrees of Aquarius -- that's almost exactly opposite the ascendant. This is not as clear an indication as I would like for pleasing appearance but it is worth considering nonetheless.

Perhaps the best way to determine the correctness of a chart is to match it against events. I note that McCain offered her the VP spot on Aug 27, 2008 just as the Sun was conjunct her 6.00 pm ascendant. I won't bother going into a thorough recounting of significant life events here, but I do think there is something to be said for this chart.




The upcoming Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in early January will offer a useful test of this 6.00 pm time. With her MC at 3 Taurus, Jupiter and Uranus will conjoin on Jan 4 while in exact sextile (60 degrees) to this point. This is very often a positive influence on a chart and should correlate with a situation or event that increases her profile and boosts her status and reputation. Transiting Venus will also aspect the MC exactly right around that first week of January, so this arguably should make it even better.

If Palin was actually born a little before 6 pm then it's possible that the positive event may be moved up a little, maybe to the last week of December. In any event, this will be an important test of the 6 pm chart. If nothing much happens, then I would lose some confidence in this time.

Regardless of whether this 6 pm time is correct, transiting Saturn is opposite her Jupiter for much of January. So while we may gain some boost from the early January pattern, the Saturn opposition looks more problematic, especially since it will station directly opposite her natal Jupiter. On the plus side, this could mean that she will be facing up to her responsibilities and doing what is necessary to move forward. But Saturn stations can he difficult to handle because they tend to drag on for so long. I would therefore expect there to be some downside here in this Jan-Feb period. Saturn is often a very constraining influence and since Jupiter rules the 5th of children, so one possibility of this transit is that Palin may be distracted by some situation involving one of her children.