When President Obama took the Oath of Office on Tuesday, Chief Justice Roberts flubbed the wording slightly. The President caught the flub and recited the words correctly, and he was duly sworn in; nonetheless, in the interest of dotting i’s and crossing t’s, the Oath was readministered, lest any question of his validity be put forth by a detractor based on the words having not been spoken in the correct sequence.
Sound familiar? 😀
Someone, on one of those lists I don’t admit to reading, hinted that the flub will raise issues from a ritual standpoint and wondered what this new Presidency will be like, as it was begun under a waning moon and during a mercury retrograde. And I say, does anyone know under what baneful omens the previous administration began its reign?
Why yes, yes they do.
At the time of Mr. Bush’s first inauguration, on 1/20/01, Mars was in Scorpio, a conjunction signaling the presence of vehement, fearsome enemies. We all know what happened later in 2001; OMG, does that mean astrology works?! The moon was waning that year, too, and in 2005 during his second inaugural as well. Mercury was direct on both those occasions, but it certainly doesn’t seem to have helped Mr. Bush’s communication skills any. President Obama seems an effective speaker, so perhaps his abilities will offset any influence that a wayward planet might place upon him.
As far as the oath-taking goes, well, I’ve taken a few of them in my day; but these days I’m more swayed by the spirit of the law than the letter of it. It’s not always about speaking every syllable exactly as ordered–and I say that both as a Kemetic and a British Traditionalist; of equal importance are the operator’s intent and understanding. Clearly Mr. Obama had both of those things in place, and was able to correct Chief Justice Roberts and proceed accordingly. The redo was less about his actual validity than his perceived validity in the eyes of those who for whatever reason might seek to undermine it; which is invariably the case, and thus made the retaking of his Oath a prudent preventive measure, symbolically important even if it was ritually unnecessary.
Oh, my aching brain.
The Serpent and the Moon 
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