Edward Snowden speaking at the 2015 International Students for Liberty Conference; photo by Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons.
While actually a Gemini Sun, Edward Snowden was born near the summer solstice of 1983 (June 21, 1983 @ 4:42 AM Elizabeth City, NC). Snowden was a former employee of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and former contractor for the United States government. He gained international attention in 2013 for leaking thousands of classified documents to journalists from the National Security Agency (NSA)--revealing several global surveillance programs. Stories based on the leaks appeared in the Guardian, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.
Snowden’s natal Sun sits at the 29th degree of Gemini, conjunct the entry of Cancer, the point of the summer solstice. His Sun touches what is known as the Aries Point (the first degree of all cardinal signs: Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn). Astrologer Noel Tyl suggests in his book, Synthesis and Counseling in Astrology, that when the Aries point is prominent in the horoscope, “there is the potential of public projection for the person”. It’s what Hans Niggemann, in The Key to Uranian Astrology said, “is every being’s connection to the larger world”. And what Planet Waves founder, Eric Francis, calls the “intersection between the personal and the collective”.
Astrologer Brenda Brush says of the 29th degree (the final degree of a sign), that it is “something you must give away”. In an e-mail correspondence with Brenda, she stated that “The 29th degree is where you have to accept what it is asking of you. I feel like it is a bit like the 12th house, the sign Pisces. It is the last of a sign just like the 12th house is the last house or Pisces is the last sign. Something has to be accepted and surrendered at the same time.”
Snowden is considered to be a hero/patriot or a traitor/dissident from differing viewpoints. No matter the opinion, he made an obvious sacrifice in an attempt to help people become more conscious of the world we now live in. He used his Gemini potential (the gift of the storyteller, writer, and researcher), to freely give information critical for the world to acknowledge. His chart features five major placements in the sign of Gemini such as the Ascendant, Mercury, Mars, the lunar North Node, and the Sun.
With such heavy emphasis in Gemini, especially tapped into his lunar North Node, Snowden had a clear destiny tied to the need to communicate a message to the world. And we can’t forget, as with last week’s featured chart, that Gemini is notorious for being a trickster due to its association with the trickster planet Mercury. And any good trickster can easily cross between realms to undermine societal structures that have become too rigid and controlling. In trickster like fashion, Snowden left the U.S. for Hong Kong in May 2013 before releasing the documents to journalists. He now resides at an undisclosed location in Russia and has been granted a three-year asylum as of 2015.
In an article from The Washington Post in Dec. 2013, Snowden was quoted as saying, “For me, in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission's already accomplished. I already won. As soon as the journalists were able to work, everything that I had been trying to do was validated. Because, remember, I didn't want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself. All I wanted was for the public to be able to have a say in how they are governed.” Snowden’s words reflect the heart of his gift to the world, the ability of society to change itself in light of the information he freely provided. Whether a hero or a traitor, it’s clear that Snowden is fulfilling his evolutionary path--the destiny of the trickster who gave an important message for all.
Below is a recent episode of HBO's VICE featuring Edward Snowden....
Photo by Mactographer via Wikimedia Commons