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.]
The post Dr James Dobson – an American throwback first appeared on Astroinform with Marjorie Orr – Star4cast.
