Elections in Mexico

The goal of this article is to provide astrological context to the upcoming presidential elections in Mexico, which will be held on Sunday, June 2, 2024 from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The first challenge faced is to choose the event that we can use to build the chart for the country, so allow me to go on a tangent and state a few historical facts about Mexico and its origins. Entire series of books have been written on these subjects so please bear in mind that this is just a very quick overview of what I consider the relevant facts for our discussion but I am most definitely not a historian.

Perhaps an appropriate start would be the foundation of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire, generally accepted to have occurred in 1325. Sources dating from the 16th century speak of correlating the Aztec and European calendars to agree on March 13 as the most probable date, but some scholars prefer June 20 for the highly mythical event captured in Mexico’s national seal. Alternatively, we could use the fall of Tenochtitlan on August 13, 1521, which gave way to the building of Mexico City on top of what remained of the Aztec capital. Mexico City then became the see of the Viceroyalty of New Spain for three hundred years, a hundred more than the Aztec Empire or independent Mexico.

Independence from Spain

On September 16, 1810, the priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, widely considered the “father of the country”, rang the church bell in the parish of Dolores, Guanajuato (now Dolores Hidalgo in his honor) as a call to arms that triggered the Mexican War of Independence from the Spanish Empire. Although no document was produced at the time, this event is generally considered the birth of Mexico as an independent country and it is celebrated yearly.

The corresponding chart, shown above, has been analyzed countless times by many astrologers. Among its salient features is Pluto at Pisces 15°52′ opposing both Sun at Virgo 22°55′ and the Ascendant at Virgo 14°01′. Such opposition has been used to explain the many years of violence that characterized the young country, for it denotes an intense need by the head of state (Sun) to control and dominate others. Although the war began in earnest, it was mostly fought as guerilla warfare, a reflection of the opposition formed by Moon at Taurus 5°12′ and Uranus at Scorpio 11°38′. In mundane astrology, Moon symbolizes the people, in this case rebelling (Uranus) against the long conquest. The other key aspect worth noticing is the conjunction formed in Sagittarius by Saturn (9°35′) and Neptune (6°29′), which brings an element of deception (Neptune) to the State institutions (Saturn) that has led to widespread corruption.

Back to our story, the initial leaders were apprehended and sentenced to death for insurrection early on. Hidalgo himself was executed by firing squad on July 30, 1811¹ and another priest, José María Morelos y Pavón, became the leader of the independence movement. Two years later, Morelos convened the Congress of Chilpancingo where a declaration of independence, called Sentiments of the Nation, was finally produced on September 13, 1813, another date that could be used as the birth of the country. Morelos also died by firing squad on December 22, 1815 but the struggle continued on and off until September 27, 1821, eleven years after the conflict began, when the liberation army occupied Mexico City. A peace treaty recognizing Mexico as an independent empire was signed by the viceroy the following day although Spain failed to recognize it until December 28, 1836—both being dates that could also be used.

Constitutional Mexico

Mexico has had five major constitutions! After a brief Catholic empire (1821–23), Mexico became a republic and its first constitution was enacted on October 4, 1824. Its main purpose was to cement the new independent nation under a federal system of 19 states with the power shared between an executive, legislative and judicial branches. However, the young nation was mired in logistical problems and on December 29, 1836 a new centralist constitution was enacted which concentrated most power in Mexico City and in the executive branch. It transformed the states into government departments, a decision that eventually motivated Texas and Yucatán to declare their independence. Notably, in order to vote, a citizen had to earn at least $100 pesos per year, thereby depriving the poor of such fundamental right. That constitution was superseded on June 13, 1843 by a new one which further centralized the powers in the executive branch and specifically in the president, Antonio López de Santa Anna, also taking power away from the clergy. This constitution barely lasted three years and in 1846, while fighting a war against the invading United States, the country reverted to the 1824 constitution, thereby restoring the states’ autonomy.

After the Mexican–American war and a brief dictatorship,² a federal republic was reestablished and its constitution enacted on February 5, 1857. Notably, it abolished slavery by declaring that “everyone in Mexico is born free”, which was very progressive at the time; this was before the American Civil War. It also removed Catholicism as the official religion of the country and, in fact, religious institutions could not own property, nor members of the clergy were allowed to hold public office. That said, the 1857 constitution was violated many times, in particular when Mexico became an empire for the second time, ruled by Maximilian I (1864–1867), and when Porfirio Díaz began a dictatorship that would last over thirty years in 1876.

The 1917 Constitution …

On November 20, 1910, Francisco I. Madero proclaimed an end to the Díaz dictatorship and the so-called “Mexican Revolution” began. Díaz resigned on May 25, 1911 and Madero became president on November 6 of the same year. However, in early 1913, the general Victoriano Huerta staged a coup, proclaimed himself president, arguably the second worst for Mexico, and ordered Madero’s assassination. Among the many who didn’t recognize the illegitimate government was Venustiano Carranza, governor of the state of Coahuila, who declared war on Huerta, forcing him to resign in July 1914. After consolidating power, Carranza convened a congress in December 1916 to correct the constitutional “failures” that had resulted in Díaz dictatorship. Perhaps more importantly, while the 1857 constitution focused on individual freedoms, it lacked the needed contracts between the individual and the state.

The congress met in the city of Querétaro for two months and ended up producing not a revision but a new constitution based on the 1857 one. I should note that it has been recognized as a very progressive document, especially for 1917 when Europe was fighting the First World War and Lenin was about to launch the Russian Revolution. The 1917 constitution ratified the division of powers in three branches, albeit abolishing the office of the vice president. Similarly, the individual freedoms of work, religion, press, thought, education, association and commerce were kept intact from the 1857 constitution, while adding social protections like the free and mandatory secular education, and the eight-hour work day. But perhaps its greatest achievement was to legalize the free municipality as the basic division of each state, not only in territory but also as a political and administrative unit with no intermediate authority between itself and the state to which it belongs. Each municipality is a legal person able of enter into contracts, own property, sue and be sued, etc. It is managed by a council which is elected by way of a direct popular vote and has the freedom to administer its coffers.

… is Signed …

On January 31, 1917, the convened congress ended its session with the signing of the Political Constitution of the Mexican United States that reforms the one of 1857. The horoscope of the signing, shown on the right, has an important stellium of Sun, Mars and Uranus in Aquarius, the latter in its own sign. Aquarius is the sign of societal power in the form of culture and strongly favors decentralization, which is clearly represented in the concept of a free municipality. It may be interesting to know that the 1917 constitution is one of the most amended in the world: over 200 times with more than 700 changes.

… and Enacted

Laws in Mexico are enacted when published in The Official Daily. Seeing that the 60th anniversary of the 1857 constitution was the following Monday, February 5, Carranza decided to delay the enacting publication of the new constitution until then.

On the left, you will find the chart for February 5, 1917 at 9:00 a.m. when the constitution was published in the official newspaper. I should note that the time is not universally agreed among astrologers, some using 12:00 a.m. of the same day, and yet others using noon for some reason. As I result, I will not use the angles or house positions for the discussion that follows.

The chart revolves around three stelliums, starting with the triple conjunction in Aquarius between Sun at 16°18′, Uranus at 19°30′ and Mars at 21°22′, which screams modernity. At the same time Moon, which had just entered Leo (0°10′) also forms two conjunctions: with Neptune at Leo 3°09′ and with Saturn at Cancer 25°39′. Moon in Leo is never a quiet one. Finally, in Capricorn, we see the North Node at 19°49′, Mercury at 21°32′ and Venus at 26°27′, a grouping indicating the importance of a rational and solid value system for the country’s evolution. Note how Jupiter (Aries 28°57′) forms a T-square with the wide opposition of the planets in Capricorn and the Moon stellium. A T-square is a highly energetic configuration that forces a resolution to the crisis of awareness symbolized by the opposition. The three stelliums and the T-square, will be key when interpreting any subsequent events, like presidential elections, as we will presently see.

The main difference when comparing this chart with the one of January 31 is the position of Moon, but it is a minor difference since it forms an active aspect with Neptune in both charts, either an exact sextile or a conjunction. Neptune represents a process of dissolution of paradigms that are no longer working, much like a strong acid dissolves whatever it touches. This may be expressed as the ego giving way to a spiritual self or the acceptance of diversity in a collectivity, but in a negative manner it may bring a foggy sense of equality between reality and fantasy, or plain deception. It should be no surprise that Neptune is also related to drugs that evade reality, both medicinal (think of painkillers) and recreational. In addition, Moon also forms an awareness aspect with the stellium in Capricorn in both charts, either a sesquiquadrate (135°) or an opposition. That said, having Moon between Saturn and Neptune in the enactment chart touches on the aforementioned issue of institutional deception, crystalized as corruption, that has plagued the country. Thus, for the rest of the article, I will use this February 5 chart.

Mexico in the 20th Century

Despite the progressive nature of the 1917 constitution, Mexico did not become a world power in the 20th century and instead suffered the stagnation of a party dictatorship until 1997, when the country held its first true democratic elections. Astrologically speaking, the Sun–Pluto opposition in the 1810 chart symbolized the power struggles of the 19th century. In the 1917 chart, Sun and Pluto are once again in contact, but this time forming a quincunx (150°), a creative aspect whose effect may be seen in how the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI) was able to maintain power with peaceful transitions for seventy years.

We have seen that Moon represents the citizenry of a country and that its placement in a chart represents important issues for it. In mundane astrology, besides symbolizing the State institutions, Saturn refers to the land and its natural resources along with the people who labor on it. The conjunction formed between Moon and Saturn is thus reflected in the agrarian reform included in the 1917 constitution, which had the motto: “The land must belong to those who work in it”, a reaction to the enormous haciendas owned by just a few families close to Porfirio Díaz during his dictatorship.³ However, recall that Moon is also conjunct Neptune which may explain the idealistic nature of such reform. Whereas the stellium of Moon, Saturn and Neptune establish a connection between the people, the land, and the availability of drugs, like the shamanic use of peyote, they also explain the “institutional” rise of drug cartels.

A Deceiving Election

After the intermediate elections in 1997, when PRI, the party that had been in power since 1930, lost the legislature for the first time, Mexico became a true democracy. In 2000, a president from the opposition National Action Party (PAN) was elected and it seemed that we would embark on a lasting road of democracy. Alas, the dream suffered a setback when the PRI returned to power in 2012 and did their thing, but it became a real nightmare in 2018.

The chart on the left shows in blue the transiting planets at the time the polling stations closed for the 2018 presidential election, which I take to be the beginning of the next term. In order to keep things simple, I will only concentrate on a few relevant features.

At Aquarius 20°50′, transiting Moon forms a tight conjunction with radix Mars at Aquarius 21°22′ but when the stations opened at 8 a.m. Moon was at Aquarius 16°55′, in the same degree of radix Sun, which means that Moon formed conjunctions with the entire stellium throughout the day. People (Moon) sought a new beginning (Moon–Sun) that would be unlike previous starts, something truly revolutionary (Moon–Uranus) with huge emotional appeal (Moon–Mars). This is how the transit of Moon perfectly summarizes the initial appeal of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and his “fourth transformation” (4T) for the country.

However, transiting Mercury (Leo 4°01′) and the North Node (Leo 5°59′) form a conjunction with radix Neptune, foretelling that what was being experienced (North Node) and contracted (Mercury) was not necessarily based in reality (Neptune). Astrologers always warn people not to sign documents or enter into any kind of agreement when Mercury transits over their natal Neptune, so imagine what such transit represented for those elections. The planetary processes forewarned us of a six-year term where nothing would be as it seemed (North Node and Neptune), instead being an administration full of lies, deception and corruption.

A True Social Revolution

I have written about how Jupiter and Saturn form what is called a Grand Conjunction approximately every twenty years. The relationship cycle of these two planets marks the rhythm by which our collective evolution moves from one stage to the next. They represent the pulse of civilization which is why together Jupiter and Saturn are the keepers of time. But their rhythm obeys a larger cycle: for a period of about 150 years, their conjunctions happen in signs of the same element. Since 1842 and until 2000, that element was earth, characterized by making use of natural resources for concrete productivity. Indeed in those 158 years humanity achieved great advances in technology beginning with the Industrial Revolution. Unfortunately, during those years we not only used but literally abused the planet and we are currently paying the price.

The Grand Conjunction of December 21, 2020 marked the beginning of another 150+ years cycle, this time in the signs of air. Unlike earth, air represents the world of ideas and relatedness, impulsing the search for philosophical and scientific truths, not just technical innovations, as well as the development of local groups and communities that are not hierarchical in nature. That conjunction ushered a new era of global consciousness where each individual is becoming an organ within the organic humanity.

Even though there were no elections or other major political events in Mexico, the latest Grand Conjunction is very important in our story, for it occurred at Aquarius 0°29′, in exact opposition to the radix Moon in the chart of Mexico. The keepers of societal time began their new 20 and 150 year cycles, when truth will be paramount, bringing awareness (opposition) to the citizenry (Moon). Subconsciously, that was when the people of Mexico woke up from the lies and deception to which it had fallen pray in 2018.

Flexing the Citizenry Muscles

Six months later, the country had the intermediate elections in the AMLO administration. By then it was clear that his government was a huge disappointment for the people who thought he represented true and positive change from the despotic and corrupt prior governments. In the end, this election took away the huge legislative majority AMLO had in Congress, with which he had pushed some pretty awful laws and even modified the constitution. By doing so, the electorate foiled his plans to turn himself into a dictator, as his friends in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua had been able to do.

Astrologically speaking, the big story is transiting Pluto at Capricorn 26°27′, forming an exact conjunction (to the minute) with radix Venus. In mundane astrology, Venus primarily represents the female population which was indeed instrumental in the turnaround. The pattern is sort of duplicated by transiting Venus at Cancer 5°23′ forming a conjunction with radix Pluto. But that is not all, transiting Pluto also forms two important oppositions with Saturn and Moon, which empowered the institutions and the voting population, respectively. For good measure, Mars was transiting at Cancer 27°10′, adding pure energy to both of those radix planets. Finally, note how Pluto and Mars form squares with radix Jupiter, expanding even more their already mentioned influences.

A Day to Reclaim Democracy

The upcoming elections will be held on Sunday, June 2 and the chart on the right shows the planetary patterns when the polling stations will close. The exact conjunction formed between Sun (Gemini 12°55′) and Venus (Gemini 12°28′) is a reflection of the fact that the next president (Sun) will be a woman (Venus) and, indeed, the most likely candidates to win are both women: Claudia Sheinbaum from the party of AMLO, who promises to continue his destructive policies, and Xóchitl Gálvez who represents most of the opposition parties, even though she was not really their choice. The support Xóchitl obtained from the citizenry forced the parties to make her their candidate.

There are a few other patterns worth mentioning. First, the exact trine formed between Jupiter (Gemini 1°53′) and Pluto (Aquarius 1°53′) is the prototypical aspect of optimism and the ability to see the positive side of things, which will provide tons of uplifting energy through the day and the six-year term. But perhaps more important is the triple conjunction in Aries between Moon at 26°29′, Mars at 25°23′ and Chiron at 22°21′. Together, these processes will make available enormous emotional energy (Moon–Mars) to heal the hurt of feeling that we don’t “belong” (Chiron in Aries).

Finally, from the powerful anaretic degree of Taurus (the last degree), Mercury at 29°33′ forms several important aspects. Placed between Jupiter and Uranus (Taurus 24°17′), its higher octave, the double conjunction it forms with them energizes once more the Jupiter–Uranus conjunction of April 20 which encouraged us to trust our intuition having faith in the future. When we also realize that it forms an exact sextile with Neptune (Pisces 29°42′) and a trine with Pluto, Mercury makes what we could call cooperative contacts with the three transpersonal planets! Recall that the process of Mercury is our day-to-day experiences, in this case centered around casting our votes. The strongest generational energies are poised to help us follow our hearts in such an important Sunday.

The Citizenry in Charge

The chart on the left combines in blue the background energies just discussed with the chart we have been using for Mexico, presenting the energies that will be received by the country when we go to the polling booths and elect the next president. This is not just another election for who will be the head of state for the next six years, it is either a referendum on the deception and corruption that began when we mistakenly elected AMLO and his 4T, or a continuation of the democracy project that began in 1997 and was woefully derailed in 2018. The stakes couldn’t be higher and there is considerable anxiety among the Mexican citizenry. This chart should be interpreted not only as what will happen on Sunday but as a seed of potentiality for the next six years.

When looking at transiting Pluto in the chart above, we see that it forms a key opposition with radix Moon, once more empowering the citizenry, and another one with Neptune, which may be interpreted as giving power to people’s dreams or deceptions. Although Pluto is always seen as the planet of power, its core symbolism is one of transformation which often requires the prior destruction of what is obsolete. When speaking about the transpersonal planetary processes, Uranus identifies the old paradigms, Neptune tries to dissolve them and, if unsuccessful, Pluto simply destroys them—this is an oversimplification but you get the idea. In this case, Pluto is energizing the people of Mexico so they transform themselves, possibly destroying the obsolete paradigms represented by Neptune: deception, corruption, drug-related activities, etc.

The triple transiting conjunction of Moon, Mars and Chiron, with lots of healing emotional energy, is placed over the radix Jupiter, which forms a T-square and thus connects and expands the existing conflict between the country’s value system and the institutionalized corruption. I want to emphasize that these are potentialities available for the people (Moon) to actualize in the next six years. And last, but definitely not least, we have Mercury which, as we saw, is particularly important in Sunday’s end-of-voting-day chart. All the cooperative transpersonal energy with which it is linked will be productively imbued in the citizenry, by virtue of the sextile it forms with Moon.

Epilogue

You will notice that I didn’t pay that much attention to the person of the president. First of all, I couldn’t find the birth time for either candidate but, more importantly, this Sunday and the next six years will belong to the citizenry of Mexico. Astrologically, this can be seen by how Sun, the next president, is not involved in the major patterns of the elections chart discussed above. This doesn’t mean that she will be irrelevant, for Sun forms a key sextile aspect with the transiting North Node (Aries 14°02′): the practical opportunities for the country’s evolution (North Node) will be productively determined by our madam president.

The other planet that deserves a moment of reflection is Neptune. From the anaretic degree of Pisces, the last degree of the sign it rules and the last degree of the entire zodiac, it forms a very close (only 0°28′ apart) but out of sign trine with Moon, the oft mentioned citizenry, but it also forms another trine with radix Neptune. As I mentioned earlier, the energy of Neptune may be used to dissolve the ego which is why it is linked with spiritual development, mysticism and compassion. If we add the fact that Xóchitl Gálvez was born with Sun in Pisces, ruled by Neptune, this could end up being a very compassionate presidential term.

Always Love. 🌹🙏💖

1. The colonel of the royal army who signed Hidalgo’s death sentence, essentially confirming that the trial was performed in accordance to the law (he was not the judge), was Rafael Bracho Sáenz de Ontiveros (August 24, 1786–August 23, 1844), my third great grandfather. He later was one of many who switched sides and even became the first constitutional governor of the state of Durango once the independence was consummated. ↩︎
2. López de Santa Anna assumed the presidency eleven times, although many of them after short leaves. However, he declared himself dictator for life when reaching it for the last time in 1853, only to be deposed two years later. ↩︎
3. My own family had a collection of haciendas comprising around 60% of the state of Durango, which is about the size of Ohio or Pennsylvania in the United States. That land was eventually expropriated by the government as part of the agrarian reform and my grandfather ended up working as a traveling salesman instead of being a rich landowner. ↩︎