It seems the Pied Piper of Crawford has led us over a cliff and into the sea. The beguiling sound of his hypnotic tune filled our heads for months with fantasy threats and magical, simplistic solutions, molding us first into frightened children and, later, into noble heroes out to save the world. As we begin to rouse from our somnambulistic stupor, aided by a bracing plunge into dangerous and icy surf, our sanity slowly returns. With it comes an awareness of the wretched situation in which we find ourselves, and that we were led here by the Pied Piper.
Despite the lateness of the hour and direness of the situation, our White House Resident persists in his bewitching rhetoric, though it is sounding quite tinny of late. He continues to link the tragedy of 9/11 with the conquest and plunder of Iraq, as if one could excuse or make sense of the other. No one who listened to him at the United Nations took any of it seriously. They knew it was for domestic consumption, to shore up his dragging poll numbers, which are plummeting rapidly as people become aware of the fetid financial sinkhole that stretches beyond the horizon.
For many, Bush’s appeal (sic) to the UN was the last hope for financial support from other nations and increased troop involvement in Iraq. That Bush failed so miserably at this task will not go unnoticed. People are balking at the $87 billion price tag that is surely not the end of the story, and angry that we are carrying this burden with no aid from allies. A majority would like to pay for this by cutting back the Bush tax cut. But the Emperor is resolute in his inability to reassess policy in the midst of changing circumstance. As I have said repeatedly, Saturn demands humility and compromise, and Bush has refused to do either.
While the disparaging reviews of Bush’s fatuous speech began to hit the media, Saturn was entering into a one-degree orb of the US Sun. This heightened Saturn energy is especially strong from September 23 through October 25, 2003, at which point Saturn will turn retrograde. We can expect during this month of Saturn that Bush’s poll numbers will continue their downward trend, his policies will increasingly be considered failures, the economy will be utterly slack or worse, and instability and violence in Iraq will continue to choke progress. Already, the UN is further shrinking its presence in Iraq to a bare minimum as a result of a second bombing aimed at its workers. This is a huge setback for Bush, who wishes to increase the UN presence, not lessen it. In addition, there is now talk of calling up more National Guard and Reserve forces due to the President’s inability to persuade foreign leaders to send in additional troops. Such a move is certain to further erode Bush’s increasingly tenuous support.
To add to Mr. Bush’s woes, there is a quincunx from the Saturn station (13 Cancer14) to the US Ascendant (12Sagittarius46) that runs from September 17 through November 16, 2003. This aspect brings a general sense of burden and woe to the Homeland (Ascendant). It was strongly triggered by the Mercury station from September 17 through 21, the days when Hurricane Isabel tormented a large swath of the mid-Atlantic states. Causing severe flooding and extensive property damage, Isabel downed power lines serving several million people. The contribution of the Mercury station could be seen in the total halt of commerce, transportation, school attendance, and all electrical-powered media for several days.
Further triggers to the transit of Saturn quincunx the US Ascendant over the next six weeks, though far briefer than the Mercury station, are nonetheless likely to bring further hardships to be endured, all contributing to the generally sour national mood. Of particular note is the period from November 9 through November 13, when this aspect is stimulated by Mercury, Venus, and most especially Mars, which will cross the US Ascendant at that time. Uranus also moves direct during this period, unleashing its pent-up power. These few days could be a time when difficult, pressing, and perhaps violent, events cause distress and anger among the public. Unlike Isabel, this situation could precipitate a significant crisis for the administration that is likely to continue through the entire month.
In any event, it is quite likely that Bush will be embroiled in a huge crisis from late October through November 2003 due to the final crossing of Pluto opposite his progressed MC/natal Uranus configuration and the final crossing of Pluto conjunct the Inaugural Moon. Things will move from the stuck, miserable hole the administration finds itself in during October (Saturn station on the US Sun) to a more active crisis, when sudden, upsetting, and unexpected circumstances catapult events into uncharted and dangerous waters. Earlier Pluto crossings of this degree corresponded to the sudden and frightening North Korean threat of nuclear weapons in January 2003, at a time when US dealings with the UN were also extremely acrimonious, and to the time of greatest post-war looting and destruction in Iraq, in May 2003.
By December 2003, much of the agitation and tension of the preceding few months may have dissipated, although the landscape will have been radically transformed by recent events, especially in Iraq. But December also brings the beginning of a new combination of year-long Pluto transits, all inextricably linked, that could decimate the Bush presidency. Pluto will come to the Midheaven of the Gulf War ll chart (20Saittarius42) just as it arrives on Bush’s South Node (20Sagittaarius35). This is a very clear indication that Bush’s undoing (South Node) comes to him from the Iraqi war. The Pluto transit to the war chart MC suggests that a slow but powerful transformation will be taking place in Iraq, with profound power struggles at the forefront, that will alter the entire meaning of the war by the time the transit is finished in November 2004. The simultaneous transit of Pluto to Bush’s 5th House Sagittarian South Node suggests that December 2003 through October 2004 will be a time when arrogance, recklessness, and an irresponsible and shallow attitude, immersed in idealistic platitudes, will cause a real train wreck for the administration. The best thing for Bush to do would be to work with allies, both domestic and foreign, as one among equals, and to think through goals in a rational way (11th House North Node in Gemini). His tendency, however, will be more authoritarian than collegial, and more dogmatic than rational, relying instead on ideology and arrogant misperceptions. We have already seen this pattern. It will intensify with Pluto, yielding dire results for Bush in the process.
Almost concurrent with and likely related to the above two transits, Pluto will oppose the US Mars (21Gemini22) from late December 2003 through December 2004, especially strong in the first five months of 2004. This indicates an emphasis on and augmentation of US military activity and conflict on the world stage. Since Mars is the ruler of the US 4th house, an area pertaining to the emotions and life of the people, we can also expect agitation, potentially violent demonstrations, and civil unrest on the home front. In 1968, Pluto was square to the US Mars position during the crushing Tet Offensive, when the war turned significantly against the US. That year also saw the assassinations of Martin Luther King (followed by devastating riots) and Bobby Kennedy, and a burgeoning and violent anti-war movement, including the infamous Chicago Democratic Convention.
Due to his penchant for reckless gambling and arrogant miscalculation, the Pied Piper has truly led us to a dark and terrible place – militarily, economically, and diplomatically. For the moment, all seems very bleak with no conceivable exit, especially given Mr. Bush’s self-defeating inflexibility, characterized as “resolution” by the spinners. Events in November 2003 are likely to stir up the situation from many angles. Violence may well increase in Iraq, and a purge in the administration during this high-tension time is not to be ruled out. A separate foreign policy crisis is also a possibility, further destabilizing an already tenuous situation. Although it seems things will calm somewhat in December, it is likely to be the calm before the storm, as Pluto moves in 2004 to set off the US Mars, and other planetary alignments suggest that Bush is on the warpath once more. We are about to begin the fourth and final act in the Tragedy of King George the Deluded Piper.
