The first part of this essay is a very brief piece I did yesterday, and I am leaving it as originally posted. I decided today that it may be a bit too brief and cryptic, so I am adding a second part where I expand on the symbolism.
Part One
I am writing this Tuesday morning July 16, 2024, one day after the Mars/Uranus conjunction perfected, and three days after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
I noticed a curious piece of astrology symbolism at work here.
Not surprisingly, the past few days I have seen a couple of repostings of the meme of the comedienne holding up the bloody severed head of Trump. It looks really, really tacky and bad just now, in the light of this weekend’s events.
Do you know what that bloody severed head is an image of?
Algol. The Medusa.
Algol is the malefic fixed star conjunct Donald Trump’s natal Midheaven by ecliptic longitude. Look at the public image of Trump and there’s Medusa.
Algol is also closely conjunct the Mars/Uranus conjunction yesterday, and in very close orb when Trump was shot.
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You know what else is curious? Weren’t people who stared at the head of Medusa supposed to become manic insane?
In star lore it’s known as, Medusa Derangement Syndrome.
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Given that a bloodied head is associated with the image of Medusa – where have we seen unforgettable images of a bloodied head this week?
In a couple of the blogs I follow, the writers have noted that there seems to be a dramatic shift taking place now in the public perception of Trump – in other words, in his image.
The key to that shift in perception is the bloodied head.
Part Two
The symbolism of the fixed star Algol is the focus here.
Algol, also known as El-Ghoul or The Ghoul, is one of the most malefic of fixed stars, and is associated with all sorts of deadly violence, including beheading. It is related to the myth of the Medusa, the head of of a very lovely woman who was decapitated, and when that happened her hair turned to hissing serpents. The sight of Medusa’s head was so frightful that anyone who looked at it was driven mad.
The star Algol is conjunct the major Mars/Uranus conjunction, that perfected on Monday, July 15. The symbolism of Mars/Uranus has similar connotations of dangerous violence as Algol, so having the two conjunct emphasizes the symbolism.
The other piece of the puzzle is that Donald Trump has the star Algol conjunct the Midheaven in his natal chart. In traditional terms this means he is marked for deadly violence, most likely violence to the head.
There is another aspect of this symbolism that occurred to me this week. Not surprisingly, the very famous photo of comedienne Kathy Griffin holding up the bloody decapitated head of Trump resurfaced this week a couple of times in blogs that I follow, in discussions of the assassination attempt on Trump this past Saturday.
Looking at the Kathy Griffin photo it struck me that it was an image of Medusa – the bloody, frightening decapitated head. That got me thinking about the symbolism of Medusa.
I think is is admitted that Donald Trump has been the subject of very extremely charged emotional reactions, including a level of irate rage and agitation, that is common enough that it has a name and acronym – Trump Derangement Syndrome, or TDS for short. I have seen people flip from calm and aware to agitated and manic in a heartbeat at the mention of Trump. It is a real thing, and it’s scary.
Remember, anyone who looked on the head of Medusa was driven mad. I think you can say the same about some people’s reaction to Trump. This got me wondering if that is connected with the symbolism of Algol/Medusa right on the Midheaven of Trump’s natal chart.
Is looking at Trump related to looking at Medusa’s head? I am not being flippant here; I really wonder if there is some sort of archetypal, powerful malefic charge to Medusa, and that gets connected to Trump for some people.
As an astrologer that is something new for me to consider. Should I consider the archetypal charge and symbolism of planets and stars, and how that larger-than-life charge can get projected on to people?
Consider that image of Kathy Griffin with the decapitated head. She was caught up in Medusa’s spell, most likely without being aware of it at all. In the Voudon sense of being ridden or possessed by a god, she was being ridden by Medusa.
How many others are, or were, caught up in Medusa’s spell when it comes to Trump?
Is Trump Derangement Syndrome a form of Medusa Derangement Syndrome?
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In the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Trump last Saturday we have some very powerful photos of Trump with his head bloodied from the shot, including one where he is raising his fist in defiance at the sky.
It struck me that once again we have a powerful image of a bloodied head – except that now the tone and symbolism is changed, transformed.
The bloody decapitated head of Medusa shifted in symbolism to the bloody, surviving and defiant bloody head of Trump. The feel is profoundly different now. It is like the new bloody head image has transformed and defused the violence of the previous image as it refers to Trump.
This is a major transformation at the level of iconic symbolism, and that has a powerful effect. The strong emotional charge is still there but is changed.
A couple of the bloggers I follow have noted that there seems to be a major shift in attitude towards Trump by a lot of people, including by a lot of the media.
For instance, not too long before the assassination attempt, Biden called for Trump to be “put in the bullseye” – that comment is unthinkable now, and just a week ago it was par for the course. If you’ve been paying attention there have been countless statements at that level of suggestive violence towards Trump for years now, going back at least to 2017, the year of the birth of the Kathy Griffin bloody head meme. I don’t think you could get away with that now.
The bloody decapitated head of Medusa has been succeeded by the bloodied, but unbowed and defiant head of Trump.
Mosaic image of Medusa by Javier Perez Montes, Creative Commons license via Wikimedia Commons.