Like the albatross that hung heavily around the neck of the Ancient Mariner, the second Gulf War, borne in deceit and managed with criminal stupidity, hangs mercilessly around the neck of the Bush administration. In Coleridge’s famous poem, the albatross appears as a divine messenger, sent to a ship of suffering sailors in the ruthless, icy-winded North, to bring them back to their true path on a warm and friendly sea. In a moment of thoughtlessness and hubris, however, the Ancient Mariner shoots and kills the albatross, bringing instead a long nightmare of death and destruction to the hapless ship.
In the aftermath of 9/11, the goodness of the world rose up, like the heavenly-sent albatross in the poem, to bring its blessing to America during her darkest hour, offering a window of opportunity for healing and for the furtherance of worldwide unity and justice, as well as a possibility for a united stand against the viciousness of terrorism. But George Bush shattered that window with his invasion of Iraq just as surely as the Ancient Mariner shot the albatross with his crossbow, and now he, like the Mariner, carries the choking weight of his misdeeds amidst the death and destruction of what he has wrought.
As things stand now in Iraq, the insurgency is growing stronger and its weapons more deadly. This is clearly demonstrated by the recent surge in casualties and the expansion of targets to include Shiite civilians and politicians. The country totters dangerously on the brink of civil war, if it has not already fallen off the cliff.
Uranus is the planet of sudden, disruptive, and explosive transformation, as well as the planet of rebellion against perceived domination and tyranny. Very active in the 1921 Iraqi chart during the past few years, Uranus’ recent movement gives a pretty clear indication of how events in the Second Gulf War have unfolded thus far. First, during the initial invasion, Uranus opposed the Iraqi Sun and squared its MC, both symbolic of the country’s ruler. Saddam was deposed and the ruling elite torn from power during this early transit. This phase ended when Saddam was captured during the final crossing of Uranus opposite the Iraqi Sun in December 2003.
During most of 2004 through January 2005, Uranus hovered around the Descendant of the Iraqi chart, thus opposing the Ascendant, and continuing its enormously disruptive influence, including significant chaos and pockets of enraged rebellion. Now, in its final phase, Uranus is conjunct its natal place in the Iraqi chart, and the deeper yearnings of the people for freedom, both from the occupation and from any perceived oppression by fellow Iraqis of a different sect, is being loudly proclaimed by the increasing intensity of the insurgency. In 1861, the US Civil War began with a “Uranus return” in the US chart followed by a transit of Uranus across the Descendant. Currently, the potential for an Iraqi civil war is marked by the same planetary aspect.
The crossing of Uranus to natal Uranus in the Iraqi chart will continue through the first half of January 2006, with particular intensity coming between late August and September 22, 2005 and December 7, 2005, through January 10, 2006. These may be particularly agitated times in Iraq, with demands for freedom and self-determination coming from all quarters. The level of instability and rebellion may not begin to diminish until after mid-January, 2006.
Besides the Iraqi chart, the chart for the Second Gulf War has been an important indicator of conditions in the past two years. In particular, it points to the ongoing power struggles, lack of coherence, and missteps that have hounded the war from its inception. In an article written on March 21, 2003, just after the war began, I wrote:
The chart for Gulf War II is drawn for when the first bombs were dropped, on March 20, 2003, at 5:33 AM in Baghdad. The most significant feature in this chart is the Pluto conjunction with the Midheaven opposing the Saturn conjunction with the Nadir, suggestive of an overwhelming power taking full and brutal control of the situation, polarized by the crushing sorrow, suffering, and sullen resistance at its roots – the Iraqi people…
…The VOC Sun position here suggests that the thrust of war could lead to unexpected and unwanted results. It is as if the goal (Sun) of the chart is no longer anchored in an organized and logical reality. There is an inherent weakness or flaw in the entire venture that can lead to a weakened, confusing, or disjointed outcome.
In addition, the 29-degree Pisces Sun squares the Pluto /Saturn opposition mentioned above. Thus, the goals of the war (the Sun) are continually in a tension relationship with the US military aggression and assumption of power (Pluto/MC), as well as with the suffering and intense resistance of the people (Saturn/IC).
Currently, the Gulf War chart suggests a continuation of the intense battle for dominance and the vicious power struggles that accompany it through at least through November 2005, while transiting Pluto concludes its year-long opposition to Gulf War Saturn followed by its crossing of progressed Gulf War Midheaven. The situation is then further complicated by the difficulties described in the chart for the election of the National Assembly, drawn for January 30, 2005. The coming Saturn station will be exactly opposite the Sun in the National Assembly chart from October 9 through December 23, 2005. This could indicate that there is an extreme impasse as the year wanes regarding either the impending Iraqi constitution or some other serious difficulty encountered by the National Assembly. In addition, the very incendiary Pluto/Mars conjunction in National Assembly chart will, for the first time, be exact by transit during all of December 2005, indicating the potential for a huge, angry rupture in December. It should be pointed out that this is simultaneous to the final phase of the Uranus return in Iraq’s chart (rebellion) mentioned above, that runs from December 7, 2005 through January 10, 2006 Conceivably, somewhere on or around January 11, 2006, after weeks of struggle and unending turf battles, things will calm down as these transits pass and the next phase in Iraq begins to take a clearer form.
Beginning in Spring 2006, Uranus will strike again, but this time not in the Iraqi chart but in the US chart, square to the Ascendant, from late March through early September 2006. This suggests something unexpected and powerful will change the direction of US policy around that time. One indication of what this might mean comes from the transit of Uranus across the Ascendant of the Gulf War chart from April 28 through July 1, 2006. This would seem to indicate a very dramatic shift in the activities of the war, including the potential for a huge evacuation of American soldiers. Simultaneously, George Bush will be under the final phase of Saturn crossing his Ascendant, Mercury, and Pluto, from May 21 through July 4, indicating the president is pursuing policies that are not to his liking but may be taking into account some hard cold realities on the ground.
The third planetary configuration of interest during this period is the Pluto transit quincunx Inaugural IC/solar arc progressed Saturn, from early May through the first half of June 2006. The Inaugural IC/solar arc Saturn progression, from February 2006 through February 2007, indicates a sense of failure in the administration and a deep sense of loss. This will be triggered by the Pluto quincunx in May and June. Given Bush’s rather painful acknowledgement of reality and enforced contraction of goals (Saturn/Ascendant/Mercury), the sense of failure in the administration (Saturn/Inaugural IC), and the major transformation and shift in the Gulf War chart (Uranus/Ascendant), it could well be that Bush is forced out of Iraq by the newly created government and left with a huge sense of defeat regarding his long term goals and the loss of those much-desired military bases on Iraqi soil. The final phase of our departure from Iraq could well be from January to March 2007 when Uranus crosses the Gulf War chart Ascendant for the final time, squares the US Ascendant for the final time, and the Gulf War progressed Moon crosses Pluto and then the Midheaven of the chart, the latter aspect being a sure sign of change.
In sum, it seems that extreme violence and tension will continue in Iraq through most of 2005, with the potential for a crescendo of trouble in late December 2005 and very early January 2006, perhaps moving to some kind of resolution by mid-January 2006 that changes the equation considerably. Huge and upsetting changes may sweep in from March to June 2006 that will not be to Bush’s liking and seem to indicate a major failure for the administration. Unfortunately for George Bush, this misbegotten imperialistic adventure, doomed from its incoherent inception, will become the central theme in his legacy, a theme that will weigh upon his memory like an albatross.
