Americans are awakening now out of a dream, foisted upon us by an administration of megalomaniacal dreamers, the PNAC crowd, who view the world as an unruly American province. The plan, shrouded for the benefit of mass consumption in patriotic platitudes and threats to our survival, was to establish an American outpost in Iraq from which to orchestrate a transformation of the entire Middle East. Like accommodating dominoes, the countries in that region would fall to the irresistible force of democracy, sometimes with a little nudging from our omnipotent military, modeling themselves on a newly liberated and pliant Iraq, itself a Mini-me of America. A more myopic and ill-advised plan has not been attempted in recent history. Perhaps it was conceived by the Brothers Grimm. In any event, the magical coach turned into a pumpkin as soon as the smoke from the bombs cleared. Bush’s refusal to cede any real power to the UN derives from an unwillingness to relinquish this plan and its attendant hope of a US power center in Iraq. Increased UN control would allow the Iraqis more latitude to create their own destiny, which may not accommodate American hegemonic interests. This is the elephant in the living room.
Instead of the anticipated rose petals, our soldiers have encountered thorns as the post-war atmosphere metamorphoses into a sullen, angry resistance movement, now increasingly nurtured by Islamic radicals. The birth chart of Gulf War ll clearly intimates that the initial goals of the war will not be accomplished. Born with the Sun in the 29th degree of Pisces, void of course, and square to Saturn and Pluto, the essential meaning of this war will transform itself completely from its original intent. Perhaps the real result will become more apparent when the progressed War Sun moves into Aries by April 2004. Until then, there is the feeling that the purveyors of war claim one thing but are being drawn irresistibly towards another.
It may also be that increasing turmoil and outright rebellion are in the process of manifesting in Iraq. Uranus, the planet of sudden, explosive transformation and rebellion, is just returning to its opposition with Iraq’s natal Sun and Mercury, stationary there through mid-December. Already the level of tension has escalated considerably. The terrorist bombing of the UN headquarters on August 19, followed by the lethal explosion at a Shiite mosque on August 30, and the consequent death of the Iraqi Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim, have had enormous repercussions. Numerous international aid workers have fled the country, and the Shiites have now re-formed their militia to better defend their people. This is directly opposed to Pentagon mandate, and it remains to be seen how it will play out.
But the central dynamic for understanding the final two years of the Bush administration is Saturn - the planet that brings limitations, restrictions, burdens, losses, and responsibility. Saturn aspects are best handled with the wisdom of caution, careful planning, compromise, and humility, and, conversely, can elicit painful and difficult lessons in response to impulsive and rash, irresponsible behavior. There are three somewhat overlapping Saturn configurations impacting the US Sun in 2003 and 2004. The tertiary progressed US Saturn (13 Capricorn) is currently in opposition to the US Sun (13 Cancer) for the first time in American history. This began in February 2003 and will continue to intensify until it is exact in October 2003. By February 2004, tertiary progressed Saturn will have moved into a square with US natal Saturn (14 Libra) until early November 2004. In addition, the progressed US Sun (29 Aquarius) is currently sesquiquadrate natal US Saturn, spanning the period from August 2003 through August 2004. Finally, transiting Saturn will come within 5 minutes of the US Sun during its station in October 2003, then will return for the actual crossing in June 2004, essentially impacting the period from late September 2003 through June 2004. Besides the turmoil usually associated with this 30-year cycle, this Saturn transit will also trigger the underlying power of the two aforementioned progressions - US progressed Sun/natal Saturn and tertiary progressed US Saturn/natal Sun.
In the natal US chart, there is a very tight Sun/Saturn square, with Saturn in the 10th house and the Sun in the 8th. This sets up a dynamic struggle between the nation’s goals (Sun), especially those related to the manipulation of both domestic and foreign resources, hidden wealth, and power (8th house), on the one hand, and the need to be a world leader that accepts the limitations of responsibility and working for the greater good (Saturn in the 10th), on the other. The Sun also represents the president, who manifests these goals. Activation of this square (a triple dose of which we are going through currently) often brings great challenges and adverse conditions for the Chief Executive related to these issues of power, responsibility, and resources.
In 1974, Nixon resigned on the day of the exact transit of Saturn to the US Sun. The largely unprepared Truman felt the weighty responsibilities of this transit in 1945 during the final months of World War II, just after the death of FDR. The 2003 - 2004 compounding of this Saturn transit to the US Sun by two progressions suggests that the current burgeoning crises in Iraq and in the domestic economy will go down in history as one of the darkest hours for a US president.
Mr. Bush is likely to be confronted with limitations and failures from every direction. His popularity will likely plummet and the results of his misbegotten policies will become ever clearer. Were he to embrace the humility and pragmatism of Saturn, he might be able to save his presidency. Among other things, he would need to freeze or repeal his tax cuts due to the exigencies of present circumstances. He would need to give command of Iraq to the UN, retaining authority only over US troops. He would need to relinquish the fairy tale of US world domination and rejoin the community of nations as a partner and not a petulant tyrant. He would need to speak the truth.
But you cannot grow a rose out of poppy seeds, and I think it virtually impossible for Bush to see with an unfettered eye, devoid of ideology and illuminated with humility. He does not have the character, the vision, or the courage. And so we must live through our Saturn lessons, spanning from February 2003 through November 2004, with the pain of frustration, failure, and sacrifice in both blood and resources. It is likely these more pragmatic conditions will be met by the next administration, but the price will have been enormous, and it will take the country many years to get over the scars.
