MARS AND THE PRESIDENT

For a very good article on what’s likely to be happening with George Bush, Congress and Iraq/Iran, see Nancy’s blog of 10th Feb. Meanwhile I’ve got one or two other bits of astrology to chuck in. By and large, though, it’s about stating the obvious: Bush is at odds with Congress over his Middle Eastern policy, that’s going to carry on, and God knows what he’ll try next.

The Democrats were sworn in as the majority party in the House of Representatives at 12 midday on 4 Jan 2007. The composite chart with George Bush’s natal chart has Sun in Aries opposite Pluto, and Mars in Scorpio opposite Uranus-Node in Taurus. Mars is conjunct Mercury in Libra, which is in turn widely conjunct Pluto. So their basic relationship is one of power-struggle and hostility. As if we needed astrology to tell us this.

By transit, Mars is currently at 25 Capricorn. Mars will be squaring the composite Mercury exactly on 21 Feb, and will successively square composite Mars, Uranus and Node over the following 10 days, taking us through to 3rd March. So the rebuke over Bush’s Iraq policy that has just been voted through is going to provoke a lot of hostility over the next 10 days or so, even though it may or may not make it to the news. And we may well see outbursts. In the middle of this, on 24 Feb, Retrograde Mercury in Pisces will cross the composite Midheaven at 2 Pisces. Clarity will not be the order of the day! It is likely to be a very messy, confused political situation, with plenty of lies being told.

The Democrats, with the public behind them and a majority in the House, have the stronger hand – I think their job is to push steadily and calmly and let the President hang himself. The chart for Democrat rule in the House has Saturn trine to a Mars-Pluto conjunction in the 9th, which means it will be easy (Trine) for them to exert authority (Saturn) over this foreign war (Mars-Pluto in the 9th). And I don’t see why we shouldn’t include Iran in that as well. Which is re-assuring.

If we look at Bush’s Progressions and Presidential inaugural charts, we can see that Mars has played a central role in his Presidency. At the 2001 inauguration, Mars was in Scorpio conjunct the DESC, and in the 2005 inauguration, Mars was conjunct Pluto in Sag in the 8th House. Meanwhile, since 2002 Bush’s progressed Mars has successively squared his natal Sun and then conjoined his natal Chiron, Moon and now Jupiter. His Progressed Mars will be moving in on natal Jupiter until the end of next year. We can expect ongoing fantasy and swagger around his Middle East 'policy'.

Remarkably, the US Prog Mars is also conjunct Bush’s natal Jupiter at present. What this also means, of course, is that BUSH’S PROG MARS IS CURRENTLY CONJUNCT THE US PROG MARS. So it is not just Bush that the Democrats are having to oppose: Bush’s attitude to war and to Iraq/Iran says something about America herself and where she currently stands as a nation.

Bush’s natal Mars at 9 Virgo is unaspected. I’m never quite sure in advance what an unaspected planet is going to mean. I think in this case it means that it is not integrated into his personality, and as such is unusually susceptible to Collective influences (which Sun in the 12th, weakened by a square to Chiron, and Pluto Rising, also suggest). Which could be seen as quite worrying in a President.

As Bush’s Prog Mars is currently conjunct the US Prog Mars (they are moving in opposite directions), I think his warmongering is an excellent opportunity for America to get know certain sides of herself. George Bush is like a sub-personality within the American psyche, that ideally would have emerged only on the psychiatrist’s couch. With the US Prog Mars having recently gone retrograde – or about to, depending on which chart you use – this is an excellent time for the US to get to know that Mars, which by natal transit will be squared by Uranus over the next couple of years, another helpful awakener to self-knowledge.