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In posts about political figures I try to avoid bias and let the astrology speak for itself. I’m a person with strong opinions though, and some may leak through. 

Sometimes the most aggressive people are the most insecure, utilizing aggressive behaviors to feel more confident and give them a sense of control. We are in a time right now where gender roles are being realigned, and it’s only been 50 years since women have been allowed to have their own credit card without the husband’s permission. Some men are having a difficult time adjusting.

Background

Pete Hegseth, the head of the Department of War in President Trump’s second term, grew up in a very traditional household in Minnesota. He attended Princeton University where he was an outspoken conservative fighting against homosexuality which he termed “abnormal” and organizations which promoted women in leadership.

In the Trump cabinet, as well as during his tenure on Fox News,  he has worked hard to eliminate what he sees as the restrictions of the laws of war, saying that such laws hinder the “warfighters” to “hunt, dismantle, demoralize, destroy” the enemy. In a recent publication about the current war in Iran, he wrote:

Our warfighters have maximum authorities granted personally by the president and yours truly. Our rules of engagement are bold, precise and designed to unleash American power, not shackle it. This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they’re down, which is exactly how it should be.

Trump himself has Mars conjunct his Leo ascendant, and much has been said about his father and mentor Roy Cohn having taught him to utilize aggression as a tool of domination. He respects men who exhibit this kind of aggression and disdains anyone who demonstrates compassion. It has become evident that both Trump and Hegseth have little to no respect for women, and even Hegseth’s mother criticized him for this:

You are an abuser of women — that is the ugly truth and I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.

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We might assume that someone with this kind of aggressive personality has a forceful natal chart, but Hegseth’s astrology chart reflects a complicated nature. His Sun is in Gemini, a sign which can slip easily in and out of a variety of roles, and all of his personal planets and luminaries but Mercury (Sun Gemini, Moon Pisces, Venus retrograde Gemini, Mars Virgo, Jupiter Virgo, Saturn Virgo) are in mutable signs which are flexible and adaptable but lack the power to push forward an agenda. Sagittarius is rising in the chart, another mutable sign which is driven by optimism, faith, confidence and ideology, and the ascendant ruler Jupiter in Virgo is intellectual and perfectionistic.

The planet Mercury rules much of this chart since it rules both Virgo and Gemini – a strong Mercury emphasis in a chart suggests someone who is driven by ideas and an intense need to communicate them. But Gemini can also lack focus, especially Hegseth’s Sun in Gemini which is squared by both Saturn and Mars. Saturn squaring the Sun suggests an individual who lacks self-esteem, and Mars squaring the Sun often erupts in anger. In a mutable chart such as this, the frustration arising from an inability to manifest one’s needs can be the fuel for this anger to ignite. And then we have Mercury in emotional Cancer, hyper-sensitive and fusing feelings with ideas and perspective.

With a Pisces Moon (sensitivity and escapism) squaring a retrograde Venus (shy and insecure) in Gemini (needing flexibility and the dopamine of change), his feelings and relationships would be complicated – especially with the insecurity that derives from the Saturn/Sun square. The placement of the Black Moon Lilith (primal feminine rage against the patriarchy) on the Midheaven (career and public life) is fascinating in light of his very public campaign against women in leadership roles.

There is much more that can be said about his chart and this article is not meant to be a complete delineation of the chart. But the overall picture that we can see is that of a man with a strong ideology (Sagittarius rising, Jupiter, Mars and Saturn in the 9th house of philosophy and big ideas), who is deeply insecure (Saturn square the Sun), has issues with women (Black Moon Lilith and Moon square retrograde Venus) that lead to repressed rage (Mars conjunct Saturn and square Sun) that emerges not in violence but in alcoholism (Neptune opposite Sun and square Saturn) and ideological warfare (Mercury domination of the chart).

This makes him a perfect foil for Donald Trump. Unlike Pete Hegseth, Trump has no problem dominating his environment with his Mars/ascendant conjunction in Leo, and Trump seems to have given Hegseth free rein to live out his revenge fantasies. Where Hegseth is an ideology guy locked in an astrological mutability that makes action difficult and frustrating, Trump is an action guy who cares little about ideology or ideas. He runs completely on instinct (for more information read my update on Trump’s astrology from last year here).

 

 

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