June 18, 2001
Nancy Lubar Sommers, LCSW
The last few days of May 2001, marked the first real downward turn for the Bush Residency. The defection of Jim Jeffords followed by the loss of the Republican Senate indicated the earliest stirrings of real resistance to meet the Backslapper-in-Chief. A few weeks later Bush was off to Europe, where he was greeted by a wall of opposition to his policies as well as hordes of angry protestors. In fact, Baby Bush was the inspiration for the first mass mooning in history, not a thing to make the Americans back home very proud. As mentioned in a previous article on this site and on my Timeline, the summer months of June and July and, to a lesser extent, August are likely to be very stressful for Bush, confronting him with tremendous criticism, upsets, and unexpected and painful challenges.
The greatest culprit in this picture, astrologically speaking, is the Inaugural Chart. Many of its inborn tensions will be blazing alive with great force during the summer. The most potent is the Mars/Uranus square, enlivened by the movement of tertiary progressed Mars to the exact square. This will be strongly triggered by transits from the 19th to the 26th of June, although it will be in effect until the last week of July. As we have already seen by the European trip, this configuration brings intense anger and some violence aimed at the Dim Son and his unpopular,extremely conservative agenda.
Another planetary aspect of concern during this period is the retrograde transit of Uranus square to the Inaugural Saturn. This is active all of June and the first two weeks of July, the latter period being the strongest. This same transit was in effect (with other influences as well) during the downing of the US spy plane. It suggests confrontations with the conservative administration (Saturn) by rebellious, disruptive forces (Uranus). It was triggered by a semisextile from Jupiter during the week of Bush's European trip when he encountered a great deal of opposition to his rigid and backward-looking (Saturn) policies. It has no major triggers in July but several minor ones, thus adding more of a flavor of tension than a huge incident by itself.
One further planetary indicator of a general feeling of anger and criticism toward the Shrub misadministration and its policies is the secondary progression of Inaugural Mars square Inaugural Mercury. This has actually been in effect since the Inauguration itself, but reaches its peak in late August. The waning of this progression after August may signal a decrease in the intensity of opposition and disagreement to Bush until the next strong indicator of such sentiment arrives around January 2002. There are several trigger times for this aspect in July.
Another planetary configuration that must be addressed regarding the summer months is the Inaugural Chart tertiary progression of the Sun conjunct natal Neptune which lasts most of the month of June. It has thus far brought three minor scandals to the Bush White House and may bring more. The underage drinking arrests of the Resident's twin daughters and the conflict of interest issues surrounding Karl Rove and Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill have certainly cast a shadow on the administration. The revelation that the Clinton transition /White House trashing stories were dishonest, slanderous, and manipulative in the extreme may also be attributed to this aspect. Besides the unearthing of scandals, however, the Sun/Neptune progression is likely to bring to light the innate weakness and vacuity of His Fraudulency. These qualities are inherent in the Inaugural Chart by virtue of the natal Sun/Neptune conjunction in the 10th house, but they become more fully apparent with the progression.
A further characteristic of this Sun/Neptune is described well by Molly Ivins in her oft repeated description of the former Texas governor: "What you see is not what you get". This is quintessential Neptune: the image obfuscates the reality. "Compassionate conservatism" is certainly a prime example of this since the results of Bush's far-right policies are anything but compassionate. The budget/tax cut duplicity is another, exhibiting extraordinary smoke and mirrors gimmickry. A more recent example of the cognitive dissonance between reality and appearance is the purported bonhomie of Bush's European trip, especially the chummy relationship now claimed between Bush and Russian President Vladamir Putin. The reality underlying all of the charming friendliness and humor of the Traveling Frat Boy is his fundamental and significant disagreement with virtually all of Europe on numerous policies. Even worse, the US positions are derided and disparaged by many on the eastern side of the Atlantic.
All of the planetary energies thus far discussed derive from the unfolding of the Inaugural Chart. In a way, these may be seen as energies swirling around the Resident that color the evolution of his administration. For significant impact on the Shrub himself, we must find indicators in his birth chart. In this regard we find three consequential aspects that will affect him during the summer months.
The first aspect of importance is the transit of Mars opposite Bush's natal Uranus, currently square his progressed Ascendant. This alignment acts primarily as a trigger to surprising and upsetting events that are better described by the other planetary energies of the moment. The last Mars transit to activate this progression happened when the US spy plane was downed and when Bush announced our repudiation of the Kyoto Protocol, which precipitated a much stronger reaction around the globe than he expected. The next Mars transit to 19 Sagittarius comes on June 19 through June 23, 2001. The transit will also be triggering the tertiary progressed Mars square to Inaugural Uranus mentioned above. It is likely to herald destabilizing and sudden, rather disturbing events that include an angry attack of some kind on the administration's policies.
The final Mars crossing of 19 Sagittarius will be from August 10 through August 13. Although Bush may be dealing with some surprising and disturbing events at the time, they do not seem to tie in as strongly with the fate of his administration as do the June events since there are fewer simultaneous indicators.
The next significant Shrub planetary event is the first phase of his upcoming Saturn transit when Saturn will both square his Mars and semisquare his Midheaven. We may look at this transit as having two layers: the broad qualities it imparts over the entire period that it is active, including late July 2001 until mid-March 2002, and the three periods of intense activation when the transit is most exact. The first phase of the latter is from June 25 to July 3, 2001. This transit, perhaps more than any other, may signal a turning point for Shrub, Inc. It is the first real sign of brakes being administered to the administration's activities since the Inauguration. Saturn tends to force the limitations of reality into the consciousness of the individual. It causes frustrations, obstacles, and difficulties. When handled well, it signifies discipline, compromise, and restraint. None of these qualities, however, have been in evidence in this administration since its inception, despite talk of timely meetings and business attire. I think we will see some brief regrouping and attempted restraint in early July, although the real wake-up call won't come until the turn of the year with the Saturn station (December through March 2002).
The final significant planetary event in Dubya's chart during the summer months is the retrograde motion of Neptune over the Descendant during all of July and the first week of August. We have already seen the Neptunian flavor of the current administration in the unrealistic and ideological nature of its policy formulation. The magical appeal of a "star wars" missile defense despite enormous opposition at home and abroad as well as its clearly unproven feasibility is one example. The Bush II fixation on the magical power of the "free" market to cure all economic ills, including the economic rape of California by competitionless Texas energy barons, is another. Any Neptune activity touching the Resident-in-Chief will always bring a whiff of unrealistic and ideologically-driven, almost magical, policy conception. Thus, what can we expect from Neptune crossing Bush's horizon line? Unfortunately, Neptune may undo some of the realism offered by the first phase of Bush's Saturn transit in early July and bring him back to pursuing his own fanciful yet dangerous agenda. More problematic is the "what you see is not what you get" aspect of Neptune of which we have already had more than enough. There may be an attempt to give the impression of cooperation and conciliation, while pursuing the same right- wing agenda we came to understand after the initial compassionate, bipartisan charade wore off. (The first phase of this Neptune transit was in February when this backslapping charade was at full throttle.) But Neptune can also indicate disillusion and feelings of loss as reality clashes with fantasy. It may be that the combination of Saturn and the angry Mars energy still strong in July will penetrate the rather impervious Resident Bush, leading him to retreat inward in confusion, questioning some of his earlier decisions and their disconnect with reality. One can only hope.