March 10th, 2002
Nancy Lubar Sommers, LCSW
As predicted in both Fasten Your Seatbelts and the Timeline of the Bush Residency, the end of March indeed brought a crisis to the Bush administration that the President has been grappling with ever since. The brutality of the Passover Massacre sparked a full-scale invasion of the Palestinian territories by Israel. This rapid escalation of violence demonstrated in cold clarity the absolute bankruptcy of Bush’s Mideast policy. Not only had he purposely done nothing as violence escalated for 15 months, but once engaged, he floundered and flip-flopped impotently like a hooked fish.
The crisis level of activity which peaked in mid-April with Powell’s belated twin negotiations with Sharon and Arafat can be seen in Bush’s chart by the tertiary progressed Ascendant conjunct natal Uranus. This has kept events moving at a dramatic and upsetting pace, with shifts and changes daily. No doubt Bush has been irritable and somewhat agitated from this very intense energy.
The continued level of frustration and failure of policy, which continues at least through April, can be seen in Bush’s tertiary progressed Sun square to tertiary progressed Saturn, exact about April 26. Interestingly, the timing of this is mirrored in the transit of Saturn to the US Descendant (4/14 –4/26), an aspect suggesting a somber and difficult time for the country and a diminishment in world status (natal Saturn in the 10th house).
Despite the frustration of these Saturn aspects, we will see the Bush administration become more and more aggressive in its statements and policy formulation through April. This may be attributed to the Inaugural tertiary progressed Sun square natal Mars. The administration will likely seem somewhat belligerent and angry, but so too will its adversaries. The morning of April 21 is likely to bring us a clear example of the administration’s aggressive stance when the Mars/Sun aspect is strongly triggered by both the Moon and Mercury.
A second wave of crisis builds in late April and most of May for President Bush as Uranus makes a station in exact sesquiquadrate to Bush’s Sun, and the Inaugural Moon reaches a semisquare to natal Uranus (4/25 – 5/10/02). Events will again move rapidly for the President, with circumstances changing quickly. As mentioned in Update on Israel, some level of tension and violence is likely to continue in the Middle East through the first third of July 2002, at which point the transiting Uranus, which is currently stationary on Israel’s Mars, will begin to wane. There seems to be a particularly dangerous period of time in the Middle East from May 11 through May19 during which Bush may be more fully engaged, quite bold, and seem far more effective and successful in his efforts (5/12 –5/17/02). During this time, we find transiting Uranus sesquiquadate Bush’s Sun, powerfully strengthened and triggered by transiting Jupiter conjunct his Sun. Unfortunately, just as Jupiter moves away from the “success” aspect in Bush’s chart, Mars moves into a very dangerous position (23-24 Gemini) in Israel’s chart that could ignite tremendous violence (5/18 –20).
Immediately upon the heels of this high voltage period in the Middle East and Bush’s more aggressive and successful stance, we have the final pass of the Saturn/Pluto opposition from May 20 to 26, 2002. There may be a strong sense in the world at this time of a real battle against the forces of chaos, especially on May 25th and 26th with the additional triggering of the stationary Uranus by Mars and the Moon. There is also the possibility that the oil weapon will be used during this period, though I would expect that to diminish shortly after this transit is over. Saturn and Pluto in opposition suggest a tremendous power struggle as well as a scarcity of resources and economic contractions. On a positive note, the final pass of this opposition is quite brief. Though turbulence is likely to continue in the Middle East through the first ten days of July or so, there may at last be an end point in sight.