The Senator Lott imbroglio has clearly set back the Bush agenda, at least for a while. With policies now seen through the lens of their possible racial implications, judicial nominations, anti-affirmative action policies, and even tax breaks for the rich may need to be toned down or tweaked in order to pass muster. There is even a renewed potential for the Democrats to push through some of their own agenda at a time when any Republican resistance may be seen as suspect. Clearly this was not the anticipated result of the great Republican election victory of 2002.
The continued loss of Venezuelan oil poses an enormous obstacle to the Bush War Machine. The US will not easily tolerate the loss of Iraqi and possibly Saudi oil, both a potential outcome of the coming Gulf War II, with no Venezuelan oil to back it up. Already oil prices are rising. It is hard to know if Venezuela is a factor in Bush’s unusual restraint in response to Iraq, or if the War Chief simply wants to reassure his international and domestic support that he is not a warmonger (sic). In any event, the administration has clearly been struggling uphill of late and holding itself in check.
The astrological indicators for these temporary inhibitions and difficulties are clear: the Inaugural tertiary progressed Sun, as well as the Inaugural tertiary progressed Mercury, have both moved into a square with Inaugural Saturn, the planet of frustration, obstacles, and self discipline. In addition, transiting Saturn has been in a semisquare to Bush’s natal Mercury. Between December 22 and December 30, 2002, however, all of these restraining influences will have come to an end.
As of the turn of the year, we move into a potentially very disruptive and dangerous period. The cautionary guidance of Saturn will no longer be in evidence. By late December, transiting Pluto will move to within orb of 19 Sagittarius, setting off three significant aspects in three separate charts. The potent transformative impact of Pluto is deep and intense, subtly moving things to a profound and discordant emotional intensity before actual transformation can manifest. Pluto will remain at 19 Sagittarius through May 2003, due to stationary and retrograde movement, and will return in November 2003 for a final crossing.
In Bush’s chart, Pluto will oppose his progressed MC, currently conjunct natal Uranus, at 19 Gemini. This transit is likely to increase Bush’s unilateral tendencies, push him into a high-energy whirlwind of unexpected events and crises, and bring about power struggles and intensified pursuits of a very extreme nature.
In the Inaugural Chart, Pluto will conjunct the Inaugural Moon at 19 Sagittarius during the same late December through mid-May period and later in November 2003. The Moon in the Inaugural chart represents both the interior feelings of the administration and the experience of the people of the United States, in particular, how they feel toward the administration and its policies, as well as to events in general. The natal Inaugural chart has a Moon/ Pluto conjunction, with Pluto at 14 and the Moon at 19 Sagittarius. Ever since its inception in a dubious Supreme Court decision, this administration has been a source of distrust and resentful feelings for much of the population. Even more significant, the events of 9/11 traumatized the nation and created a widespread feeling of fear and concern, soon accompanied by an increase in suppression of basic freedoms, manifested through the US Patriot Act. Thus, the feelings of the population during the Bush Presidency could be described as upset, disturbed, at times fearful, resentful, and in a power struggle with overwhelming and frightening forces – both terrorism and the potential abuses of a repressive and powerful regime. These are all traits of a Moon /Pluto opposition. And it is these traits that will be highlighted by the coming Pluto transit to the Inaugural Moon.
The third significant chart stimulated by the coming Pluto transit is the chart for 9/11 itself, the chart for the War on Terror. This chart takes the battle of wills implied in the Saturn /Pluto opposition of 2001 - 2002, the battle between the power of a radical mass movement (Pluto) and the power of the established order (Saturn), and describes its embodiment in the War on Terror. In the 9/11 chart, the Sun forms a T-square to the Saturn/Pluto opposition, suggesting that this dynamic of power struggle is connected to the central theme of this chart. During the Pluto transit of 2003, transiting Pluto will move into an exact square with the War chart natal Sun (18Virgo51), thereby setting off the inherent energy of the T-square, the huge power struggle that lives at the heart of this war. In particular, the 12th house Sun, indicative of secret enemies operating though a vast brotherhood (Sun rules 11th house Leo cusp), will be aroused by the Pluto transit, as well as secret police and investigations. It would seem that this Pluto transit may well activate both a period of terrorism, as well as the battle of the US government and its allies against terrorism. This transit has already begun as of mid-December. The recent Gestapo-like mass arrests of immigrants on the West Coast, as well as several global arrests related to terrorism, are likely early manifestations.
A potential trigger to the three above-mentioned Pluto transits, is the Mars transit across 19 Scorpio from 12/29 through 12/31/02. In particular, this will quincunx Bush’s natal Uranus/progressed MC, definitely giving him a jolt from some kind of upsetting and significant event. Another potential trigger will be the Mars /Pluto conjunction on 2/15 through 2/16/03. In all three charts, the transit will be exact during most of January and again during May 2003, but will remain well within the one-degree orb range for the entire five month period, January through May 2003.
Another transit of great significance during January 2003, will be the final crossing of the US Third House Moon by Uranus, from 12/30/02 through 1/20/03 (exact transit). This transit signals sudden, unpredictable and powerful events including: the possibility of strong action from the anti-war movement, the potential of accidents and controversy in the transportation sector and the media, wild gyrations in the Stock Market, and the possibility of accidents and violence for US citizens and US allies. Of particular concern, is the period from 1/10 through 1/12/03, during a Mars /Uranus square that will be in a waxing aspect to the US Moon. This is a potentially very dangerous and violent time. Also likely to trigger this Uranus transit, will be the Mercury station from 1/19 through 1/24/03, which will sit in exact semisquare to Uranus for several days.
In addition to the extraordinary convergence of three powerful Pluto transits with the final transit of Uranus to the US Moon during January, there are two simultaneous tertiary progressions in the Inaugural chart that come in late December and January which signal events of enormous consequence for the Bush administration. The tertiary progressed Inaugural Midheaven will reach a conjunction with tertiary progressed Uranus (21 Aquarius) at exactly the same time as the tertiary progressed Inaugural Ascendant comes to opposition with natal Pluto (14 Sagittarius). Both of these aspects run from approximately 12/22/02 through 1/23/03. Together, they suggest sudden, powerful, and upsetting events (Uranus), which cause a deep and profound transformation (Pluto) in the Bush administration. Pluto in the Inaugural chart rules the 7th house of open enemies. The Ascendant moving into opposition with Pluto also suggests an increasingly intense struggle between the administration and its adversaries. This will be triggered by the Jupiter transit trine natal Pluto from 1/15 through 1/24/03.
In the United States chart, there are also two tertiary progressions that signal a potential for significant events beginning late December or early January 2003. The tertiary progressed US Sun will oppose natal Mars (21 Gemini) from 12/18/02 through 1/18/03, while simultaneously, but extending into a longer period, the tertiary progressed Mars will square the US Sun (13 Cancer) from 12/20/02 through 2/16/03. Both of these aspects suggest the possibility of aggressive or military action by the United States. Minimally, they suggest a very confrontational approach and harsh, threatening rhetoric. The current intensification of aggressive verbal jousting between the US and North Korea is a likely early manifestation of these progressions. The tertiary Mars square to US Sun will be significantly triggered from 1/17 through 2/9/03, first by the Mercury station at 13 Capricorn and then by the transit of Uranus sesquiquadrate from 28 Aquarius.
It should be apparent from the above that a multitude of aspects will coalesce during January 2003, many of them with significant activation between 1/10 and 1/25/03. I believe that early 2003 will prove to be the turning point of the Bush administration, when theory becomes action, and wishful thinking smashes into the wall of reality. There will be unexpected crises and severe power struggles, perhaps on many fronts. The potential for war, terrorism, and other unexpected crises is very strong during this time. It seems that the evolution of the American consciousness has taken us to this point, in the same way that it has created the shallow and aggressive George Bush at its helm. The difficult path ahead, which only begins in January, will be a clarion call for those who can hear it, a call to wake up to the responsibilities of global citizenship, grow beyond an infantile good and evil worldview, and stop wielding power like a playground bully.
