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Pandora's Box

May 24th, 2002
Nancy Lubar Sommers, LCSW

Pandora’s Box has been opened, and the Bush Administration is desperately trying to get it shut again. The recent revelations that President Bush knew of an impending al Qaeda hijacking and did precious little to thwart it have led to demands from Congress for a full inquiry. With Dick Cheney as its lead henchman, the administration is attempting every possible means to encase any investigation in secrecy and minimize its extent and impact. Insisting that all congressional scrutiny be kept away from the public eye, Cheney is also pushing a refusal to release critical data, including the now notorious August memo that warned about potential airplane hijackings by terrorists. Cheney is even leading the attempt at diversionary tactics by dourly announcing an imminent, brutal, and nonspecific terrorist attack in order to shift the focus of the headlines away from Dubya’s deadly negligence of last summer.

As of this writing, some of the furor over the initial story has died down, but the seeds of distrust have nonetheless been planted. There is now a big ugly crack in the façade of our Fearless Leader. If a full investigation is conducted, it will lead inexorably to the ghost of John O’Neill, the lead FBI Al Qaeda specialist who quit last summer in frustration over the many roadblocks put up against his investigation of bin Laden. According to Bin Laden: the Forbidden Truth by Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasquie, O’Neill complained bitterly that the Bush administration had purposely slowed down FBI investigations of al Qaeda and terrorism in Afghanistan to pursue its oil pipeline negotiations with the Taliban. If these facts emerge in a publicly aired investigation side by side with Bush’s knowledge of an imminent hijacking threat, charges of criminal negligence will not be far off. Thus, we have the administration’s increasingly desperate and aggressive attempts to seal off further scrutiny with extraordinarily lame excuses (a “traditional hijacking”?), smoke and mirrors.

The astrological indicators for Bush during this period are quite interesting. Uranus, the planet of sudden awakenings, reversals, and upsets has been stationary at exactly 135 degrees (sesquiquadrate) from Bush’s Sun. This minor hard aspect gains strength from the duration of the station: May 10th through June 13th, using a 10-minute waxing orb. Previously, I had predicted that the Jupiter transit to Bush’s Sun, May 11 through May 17, would bring successful initiatives and acclaim. It did bring the announcement of a significant nuclear arms pact with Russia and Bush’s wildly successful $33 million fund-raising effort. But, more importantly, the Jupiter conjunction to Bush’s Sun acted as a trigger to the slower-moving Uranus. This transit occurred during the height of the controversy over Bush’s less than stellar performance pre-9/11. The astounding speed of the transition from Bush the Teflon-Coated War Leader, to Bush the Vacationing Negligent, was truly Uranian.

Since March, transiting Uranus also has been stationary near to its conjunction (exact in late March) of the US Moon. In the US chart, the Moon is in the 3rd House, in Aquarius. This indicates the importance of free speech and a free press in the national psyche. Uranus has a tendency to wake people up and bring them closer to a deeper truth. It is about breaking the inhibitions of societal norms and speaking out in freedom. During this recent upset over the pre-9/11 intelligence, there were certainly rumblings of a press that was waking up to its true mission. Dan Rather even made a statement admitting that his role as a questioning journalist had been somewhat self-limited by the surge of patriotism of the last several months. He courageously spoke out and said, in essence, “No more!” We can expect this trend to continue through mid-August and again receive a jolt next January ’03. It is important to remember here that Uranian changes usually signify a change in direction that continues after the transit is long gone. The new direction then becomes the status quo.

In addition to the Uranus station in Bush’s chart, currently we find a progressed Moon square to progressed Saturn. This began in mid-May, but will wax in intensity during the first half of June. It is an aspect of sorrow, loss, and hypersensitivity. Things will seem frustrating and lonely to the Resident-in-Chief. This aspect may well coincide with the departure of Karen Hughes, which is an event far more disturbing to Dubya than we have been told.

The final aspect in Bush’s chart worth noting is the transit of Neptune opposite his Mercury, moving towards its second pass all of June and up to July 23. Here we see the endemic confusion, obfuscation, retreat, and inability to separate fact from fantasy that so plagues this administration. Significant Neptune transits weave all through this presidency, with the influence of this planet clearly imprinted in the Inaugural chart as well. Neptune is the planet of spin, smoke, and mirrors. Nothing is as it seems. Neptune eventually leads to great disillusionment after unrealistic expectations. The further the flight into fantasy, the greater the fall back to reality. Dubya’s “divine mission” received on the mountaintop of ash that was the World Trade Center is a setup for this kind of plunge.

As for Dick Cheney, he is coming to the end of some very difficult planetary configurations. In recent months he has gone from one failure to the next, probably capped by his disastrous trip to the Middle East and numerous legal challenges. Even his recent dire terror warnings, a clear tactical distraction from Dubya’s malfeasance, managed to propel the Stock Market into a nosedive. Cheney’s converse progressed Sun is currently quincunx his natal Saturn, triggering the natal square between them. This aspect has been increasingly active for a year and will be exact around 6/24/02. It brings frustrations, difficulties, criticism and failures. It also adds to his intransigence and general stiffness. In addition, transiting Neptune has been conjunct Cheney’s natal Sun since early March, making successful manifestation of goals almost impossible and adding to his “slippery fish” persona on all things relevant. For the moment this transit will lose most of its impact after mid-June. But difficulties continue for Cheney through the first half of July, when Saturn will be squaring his Moon. Again we may see failures, frustrations, and difficulties in many areas. Any of these aspects can indicate health difficulties, which I would not rule out until these planetary positions shift (after mid-July).