Why is Donald Trump So Royally Orange?

People tend to look and act like their Ascendants. Donald Trump gives us a perfect example of how this works—energetically. The pervasive joking around Trump’s “orange-ness” goes beyond his tanning-booth skin and tinted hair. We’re also picking up on his energy. Donald Trump is a Leo rising. The warrior Mars stands on his Ascendant. Kingly Leo vibrates within a golden yellow frequency. The color for Mars is red. Quite simply, mixing golden yellow with red makes bright orange.

So what does that mean? Color indicates energy. Trump announced his candidacy by descending from on high, like a king, riding his escalator into the gilded lobby of his Trump Tower castle. In the weeks he ran for the Republican nomination, protecting his much-discussed Leo mane from the wind, he went everywhere in his red cap (matching his frequently worn red tie). Trump widely projects the yellow/red frequencies of his nature. But don’t take my word for it. See if your intuition picks up the same cues. This is what I mean by practicing “naked astrology”—you can use your innate equipment to explore whether or not what I’m saying feels true for you.

Let’s start with the “yellow” vibration of Leo. If you’ve known any Leo risings, investigate. Did you ever perceive something “golden” about them?

The Leo frequency occurs in nature as the Sun (which rules Leo). Many schoolchildren instinctively draw yellow suns—even though this luminary can appear as bright white, slightly silver, deep orange or red, depending on the sky. Often, these yellow child-drawn suns are smiling. Yellow is an electric, joyful energy. Universally, the emergence of the sun lifts people’s spirits. It inspires and energizes us. It draws us out of our homes and puts us in a more buoyant, playful mood.

Imagine now sitting in a restaurant where a famous celebrity has just entered. Notice how quickly a charge fills the room—as though an electric current were running through it. People will sit up in their chairs, look around, and become more animated. On an unconscious level, it will feel as though the King—or an emissary of the Sun—has just arrived. The room feels more luminous.

We perceive Leo’s “yellow” vibration at the cellular level as excitement, as being “lit up” or “turned on.” This is why we love celebrities—and many are Leos. They excite our joy. Indeed—love Trump or hate him—watching his performance inspires a certain kind of glee on all sides. Friends and foes alike—we can’t take our eyes off him.

What would it be like to live inside this yellow vibration all the time? From the photos of Trump’s home, it looks as though there’s gold on the walls, ceilings, furniture, fixtures, and floors. How might it feel to live in such a highly gilded atmosphere? I can only guess—but maybe it would feel a little like being a Sun, the center around which everything in the world should revolve.

There’s something in Leo’s frequency that expects to be #1, that craves to win the prize, to be great, the best, and the most. Trump often says things like he’s the most humble, he’s the most respectful of women, he has the best words, he’s the only one who can beat Isis, and he alone can make America great again. Buoyed by his confident and joyful vibe of Leonine gold, Trump once declared that his supporters are so loyal, he could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot someone without losing a single vote.

Few of us, feeling so loved and confident, would think to randomly shoot someone in the street. This is Trump’s Mars talking—the red planet on his Ascendant.

When people want to broadcast their power, they wear red, the color of Mars. We give important people the “red carpet” treatment.  Red has a strong, masculine vibe and is stimulating. It’s the color of fire, blood, and battle. Red ignites action. It’s hot. Matadors taunt bulls with red capes. Nearly 80% of world nations have the color red in their flags. By consciously attuning ourselves to the red vibration, we can stimulate confidence and decrease our anxiety and fear.

Red is nature’s adrenalin rush. It can boost our survival instincts and strength—also our heart rate, blood pressure, and pulse. Red is a passionate color. You can see red in the faces of both angry people and those who are making love. Too much red can wear us out. We become easily agitated, provoked, combative, and/or reckless. People tend to see life through the colors of their Ascendants. Seeing the world through the warrior’s red filter sharpens our vision for two things in particular: enemies and the booty that can satisfy our desires.

In the old myths the gods would sometimes descend to earth, disguise themselves, and masquerade as human. Something like this happens with the planets on our Ascendant if we have any. We become their emissaries. We embody their spirit with our form. Channeling such power can overwhelm and confuse not only us, but those around is. It can also empower us to become “larger than life.” Through our personas, the gods get to walk around in the world.

Mars has enjoyed a field day traveling around as Trump. He was seemingly untouchable in the Republican primaries, where this proud and crude warrior fired up the crowds, resonating with–and recruiting–the long-simmering anger of average disenchanted Americans. The angry chants he led of “Lock her up!” were positively joyful.  As a boy, Trump’s Mars was quite a handful. Trump’s brother has said that Donald was always the one who started throwing birthday cake or knocked down the blocks someone else had just built into a castle.  By 7th grade, he’d pushed his father far enough and was sent to a tough New York military school, where Mars as Trump, thrived. He was a star athlete. He liked that the challenges and rewards were clear; there he honed the Trump family passion for “winning.” But the award of which he was most proud was being voted the school’s #1 “Ladies Man.” Sometimes a Mars just can’t help himself. He likes to kiss, grope, and grab. Bill Clinton has Mars on his Ascendant too.

A famous prayer begins, “Oh Lord, make me a hollow reed for spirit.” The truth is that’s what we are—we’re hollow reeds for all of the spirits that our charts describe. Only we get to shape the flutes—the universe blows its forces through the spirals, curves, holes, and corners of our personalities. That’s our “free will” escape clause. We can shape the energy that runs through us–to worse or better ends.

Another reality star with Mars on the Ascendant is Kim Kardashian, also a shrewd entrepreneur and someone who’s managed the trick of getting famous for the primary talent of being famous. We might think that like Trump, Kim has a rising Leo Mars too. But let’s tune in. We can feel her Mars—she’s definitely hot. In fact, her career as a model/actress languished until a sex tape of her surfaced–which, as with Paris Hilton, boosted this woman’s power instead of doing her in.  Like Trump, Kardashian is superb at self-promotion. “Self” is a Mars word–and no one has promoted “selfies” more powerfully than Kim. But Kardashian has Sagittarius rising.

As surely as we can see Leo’s lion in Trump, we can see the Sagittarian centaur in Kim. She has the horsey face of a Sagittarius rising—and perhaps the most famous haunches in the world. She is wide where Sag reigns—in the hips. Purple is the Sagittarius color. Kim is a cool kind of hot. Sag purple is the color of religious royalty, making Kardashian more of a priestess than a Trump-style entertainer.

Not everyone has a planet on the Ascendant. Rising signs alone can say a lot about how we look and act. I once worked hard at learning this—I bought books that itemized the long nose of Sag, the flying hands of Gemini, the stocky build of Taurus, etc. But in the end I’ve found it easier and more interesting just to observe people and let them show me what they’re projecting. You don’t need to read auras to sense people’s Ascendants. Just start with the feel  of the people you know best. How do they alter a room with their energy? Make an intuitive guess and then investigate what their charts have to say. You’ll learn a lot about astrology and people this way.

You can calculate charts here. You can explore zodiac colors here—I don’t agree with all of Avia’s colors, but they’re a great starting point against which to clarify what you sense. You can check out rising signs and physical appearance here. We don’t have Hillary’s birth time, so we can’t discuss her Ascendant, but you can look at her Venus here.

If you resonate with my more intuitive approach to astrology, you’ll likely enjoy my Naked Astrology ebooks, which are still available at the pre-release discount here.