On Friday Jan. 20 2017, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States. In 1933, the 20th Amendment to the United State Constitution moved the date of inauguration to “noon on the 20th day of January.” Before the enactment of the 20th Amendment, the new president was not sworn in until the March following the election. This long delay caused problems described in the attached article below.
Under the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, the old president continues to hold full power through 11:59:59, and then power shifts at noon. However, the 20th Amendment, Section One, further states that the president needs to be sworn in: “Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:–“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
On first thought, one might consider that 12 PM is the time to use for calculating the “elective” event horoscope for the inauguration. However, it is the swearing-in (oath-taking) moment that is more appropriate to use, and these two times do not always exactly coincide, and even a few minutes difference can matter in a Vedic astrological chart, especially for the divisional charts. (Thanks to my friend, the brilliant Vedic astrologer Steve Stuckey, for discussing this matter with me at length and helping me determine that the oath-taking time is the correct one to use).
The Constitution also states that if the 20th January falls on a weekend, then the president will be sworn in twice, which happened to President Barack Obama in his second term: the first time (official time) was in a private ceremony at the White House on Sunday, Jan. 20 2013, and the second unofficial time was during a public ceremony on Monday the 21st. The first chart is most relevant according to astrology, but the second one will also have meaning.
Ironically, President Obama was also sworn in twice in 2009, but for a different reason. According the Reuters, this happened because “John Roberts blew it. In his debut at swearing in the next president, the Supreme Court chief justice stumbled over the oath at Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony. That led Obama to mix his words up too and the historic swearing-in of the first African-American president briefly became an awkward muddle. To silence doubts that Obama’s presidency might not be legal because he failed to say the oath properly, the two men tried again the next day in the White House and went through the correct, constitutionally mandated avowal, word for word.”
As mentioned, sometimes the swearing-in time is not that close to 12 PM, as in the case of JFK who was sworn in at 12:51 PM. So before I analyze the Inaugural chart, I will wait to see the exact moment that President-elect Trump begins stating his oath, and then will cast the horoscope based on that moment and will analyze it from there. If you are curious about my analysis of Donald Trump’s Inaugural chart, look for it here sometime late Friday or during the weekend.
PS for those who might want to do some research on US inaugural charts, Astrologyweekly has compiled a useful list of the inauguration dates of all the US Presidents, but unfortunately most do not have recorded times which limits the scope of astrological research since the exact time is one of the most sensitive and important considerations in casting an astrological chart: http://www.astrologyweekly.com/…/us-presidential-inaugurati…