James Dobson, the Conservative preacher once called “the nation’s most influential evangelical leader” with an entrée to the White House under Reagan has died. He believed in the notion of the traditional family with a male breadwinner and a female caregiver, thought spanking children aged 15 months and on was advisable with switches or belts kept on the child’s dresser as a reminder of authority, was against LBGT+ and pro-conversion therapy, was against abortion and feminism and opposed teaching about evolution. His wiki entry is an eye-opener.
He was born April 21, 1936 with a travelling evangelist father and a mother who was ‘was intolerant of “sassiness” and would strike her child with whatever object came to hand, including a shoe or belt; she once gave Dobson a “massive blow” with a girdle outfitted with straps and buckles. He later became a child psychologist by training.
A Sun, possibly New Moon in Taurus conjunct Uranus with Mercury Mars also conjunct in Taurus, he would certainly be fixed and traditionalist in his outlook – though his Uranus clearly had its own idiosyncratic tilt and not in the direction of progress. Uranus like Aquarius, which it rules, can have a rigid, intolerant streak. And underneath Taurus’s indulgent persona there often/always lurks a desire for power.
He also surprisingly had Neptune opposition Saturn which can be creative and often lacks decisiveness, but clearly not in his case. His Jupiter in crusading Sagittarius was virtually unaspected which can indicate a lack of judgement with a strong sense of disconnection and a need to keep searching for answers. It will depend on the house position which is not known but could give him the zeal to push his message.
His Capricorn North Node according to Schulman would tend to make him ‘a self-appointed hallmark of tradition.’ But it would also root him in immaturity since this Node hates letting go the past. ‘The soul has become fixated at one point in early growth.’ With an abusive childhood and parents he could neither face nor walk away from, he turned traumatizing children into a virtue with a cosmetic dollop of Christian purity as a way of avoiding facing up to his own damage.
The only aspect of Jupiter is a minor quincunx to Pluto in Cancer which latter plugs into the USA Mercury in Cancer opposition Pluto which opens the country up to coercive individuals who bulldoze them into listening to/accepting fixed opinions which are not open to rational discussion.
[Years back I talked to Ellen Bass who wrote Courage to Heal for abuse survivors. In conversations (no doubt heated) with Ralph Underwager, a preacher, who defended accused child abusers and went to ludicrous attempts to do so, she reckoned the key difference between their viewpoints was – he thought children were born evil and had to be ‘made’ good. While she thought the opposite. One gets that impression with other religious zealots – a very odd belief.]
Thank you, Marjorie for covering him. I had some extended relatives growing up who practiced the form of religiosity that Dr. Dobson preached – rigid, ignorant, and controlling. They were mean & cold to their children, bigoted in their world-views, and judgemental towards my immediate family for rejecting their perspectives. Their piousness and supposed virtue was always laughably hypocritical to me. All of them have since gone through multiple marriages, divorces, multiple children out of wedlock, and some of those children were even taken away by the authorities. If Dr. Dobson and his followers are supposed to be the voice of conscience on family values, it makes one wonder what hope there is the youngest and most innocent amongst his flock.
Yet these zealots who terrorise their children somehow always forget Christ’s vehement instructions in Luke 17:2. A millstone round their necks indeed.
Here is his speculatiive chart with KITE formation, Saturn focal point, funadamementalist,
oppose Neptune, religion, in 6th of work. Jupiter in rulership in 9th of religion.
https://postimg.cc/KK4Y9m91
My parents were heavily influenced by James Dobson. I remember that book- it was on prominent display at home.
And yes my parents (particularly my father) could have been described as religious zealots.
AHis Paran Analysis:
1. Schedar on the IC as Jupiter rises…”A person who values the past, the fundamentalist”
2. Al Reschi on the IC as Sun on IC….”A person who unites or polarizes.”
3. Zuben Algenubi on the IC as Mars culminates…”Actively involved in the quality of
other people’s lives.”
4. Hamal sets as the Moon sets….”A rogue, but liked by many people.”
I think he’s an interesting study for an unaspected Venus in Aries, that rules his strong Taurus focus. I’d guess that might reflect being a socially confident individual identified with a passion for relating/sharing his values with others.
Thanks Marjorie for your very interesting astrological insights. Yes, I think it’s important to understand that Uranus and Aquarius are not necessarily progressive and groundbreaking but also cruel, pitiless and tyrannical. Ouranos, the sky god who was so repelled by his own children that he stuffed the infants back into Gaia’s womb in an attempt to conceal them. The unaspected Sag Jupiter reflects the lack of critical thinking or questioning, but also I think this is the shadow side of Taurus. Taurus can get stuck in ‘this is good enough and I don’t need to change’ and are perhaps more than any other sign unwilling to consider the possibility of progress and transformation. The Shadow Taurus will justify their choice to remain where they are, regardless of the consequences. You see this to an extent with the very Taurean British Royal family. Thus, the likelihood of repetition compulsion is strong in this mindset. I’ve seen this in the very fixed chart of a woman who repeated the emotional abuse of her mother on her own children. The result was that one child was anorexic and the other a drug addict. The third child became a doctor.
This man was a monster disguised as a Christian. Good riddance.