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INAUGURATION 2001

PART 4

George W. Bush
by Zip Dobyns

In early February 2000, I wrote a 3-part article on the charts of McCain, the 2001 inauguration of the next U.S. president, which is scheduled for January 20, and the inauguration of our first president in 1789, progressed to 2001.  Our web site will carry periodic updates on the political scene throughout the year whenever I have time to write them.  We hope that our former subscribers to The Mutable Dilemma and Asteroid-World will be able to access them.  Those who have requested it will receive an e-mail when new articles are posted to the site.

Since my previous article on the presidential contenders, McCain has suspended his campaign, said that he would not consider running for the vice-presidency or running as candidate for another political party; that he will support the nominee of his Republican Party.  This leaves George W Bush and Al Gore as probable nominees of the two primary political parties.

An enterprising astrologer persuaded an employee of the hospital where George W Bush was born to look up his birth time, and it seems to be accurate.  He was reportedly born on July 6, 1946, at 7:26 AM EDT, in New Haven, CT; 41 N 18.5, 72 W 55.7.  I always look at the house cusps of one’s residence, as well as the birthplace, so we will check his houses in Washington D.C., where Bush hopes to take up residence next January.  To shorten repeated typing of his name, and also to avoid confusion with his father George Herbert Walker Bush, I will call the younger George “W.”  In Texas, this is his common nickname, locally pronounced “Dubya.”

Like Bill Clinton, who was born just a few weeks later, W has his major emphasis in the fire and air elements.  This combination signals a basic optimism, which sometimes is carried to the point of over-confidence and arrogance.  Fire says “I know what I want, and I have the right and power to get it and do it.”  Air shows easy relationships with people, versatility, flexibility, and verbal facility.  Fire goes actively after personal desires, while air is usually willing to let others do their share or a little more.  Fire can be very one-pointed, focused on immediate goals, while air sees the overview, the broad perspective, and tends to delegate many of the details to people with more earth.  Individuals with an air-fire emphasis usually have a strong sense of humor and would rather play than work.  They expect life to be fun and easy.

W has much less water, and still less earth in his chart, though he is identified with his work with Mars in Virgo and Vesta, the Virgo asteroid, in Aries, the sign of Mars.  Individuals identified with Virgo have to feel productive, but they want to work in their own way, on their own terms, to have independence and variety in their work.   The asteroid Pallas is in W’s other earth sign, Capricorn.  Pallas seems mostly Libra in significance, so its placement in Capricorn could reinforce the air willingness to let other people handle the practical details of one’s career.  Pallas is typically drawn to fields like counseling or consulting, including law and politics, so W’s career choice is appropriate.  The aspiration to have personal power to do what we please is associated with letters one and five:  the first and fifth houses, Aries and Leo, Mars and the Sun.  Letter ten represents the laws, which are bigger than personal will, as well as the authority to enforce them if we are realistic about their limits.  Astrology’s letter ten factors include Capricorn, Saturn, and tenth house rulers.  Planet, sign, and/or house combinations of one-ten and five-ten factors show the desire to make one’s personal will into the LAW, to have personal control over the law.

Most individuals with a strong power drive have these combinations.  W’s Venus is a ruler of the Taurus in his tenth house and it is placed in his first house.  Even the minute amount of Gemini in his tenth house makes Mercury, its ruler, a key to letter ten, so its placement in the first house is another one-ten combination.  W’s East Point, an auxiliary Ascendant which is equivalent to Mars, on the midpoint of Sun/Saturn produces a one-five-ten mixture.  The combination is equivalent in meaning to a Mars-Sun-Saturn conjunction, though obviously not as intense as having the planets conjunct.  The planets are always the most intense form of our astrological alphabet.  If W becomes the next U. S. president, his identification with the Saturn principle, which is said by any form of one-ten, will be intensified when he moves to Washington.  His N Saturn on the midpoint of his N Sun and his local Ascendant in Washington D.C. repeats the Mars-Sun-Saturn mixture.  His P Saturn on his Washington Ascendant says it again with Saturn on a Mars equivalent in the sign of the Sun.

W’s water comes from his Sun and Saturn in Cancer in the natural house of Pisces, and the water planet, Pluto, is rising close to his Ascendant.  The emphasis on Cancer, Leo, and Libra show that family is important to him.  Close relationships are connected to idealism with the Cancer in the Pisces house, and with Neptune, Chiron, and Jupiter all in the sign of Libra in addition to the latter two conjunct the Moon and Juno.  Sagittarius in the fifth house repeats the message.  Of course, there are many possible ways of mixing love and ideals.  We may delay marriage and kids as we look for the perfect mate, or only want to have kids if they are perfect or we can be a perfect parent.  Or we may attract people who are looking for perfection in us.  They may be our primary value in life, where we look for meaning and trust.  If we can share goals and values and avoid expecting too much of each other, relationships can be mutually rewarding.  W’s emphasis on the air element should help him to do that.  Air symbolizes the conscious side of the mind, the ability to be an equal, to see the broad perspective, understand it, talk about it, and accept it without needing to change it.  Fire and earth try to change it.

Cancer in the house of Pisces should be capable of compassion for everyone, but the rest of W’s factors in relationship signs are in the personal or interpersonal houses, so in light of his emphasis on air and fire, his capacity for empathy may be mostly directed to personal needs and very close relationships.  He talks about compassion, but his record as governor of Texas shows little evidence of it.

As usual, W’s asteroids reinforce the message in his basic chart.  The two alternatives for his personal name, N George and N Georgia, are both in 0 Leo, showing his identification with royalty and personal power. N Midas conjunct his natal Sun hints at his attachment to wealth.  He was born with a golden spoon, not the traditional silver one.  Remember that, though Mars and the Sun both want personal power, letter five in our alphabet shows the drive to do more than we have done before and to get a response from others, in contrast to letter one which just wants to be free to do what comes naturally. Midas progresses over W’s N Ascendant from about 1996 to mid-2003, a neat description of a successful fund-raiser.  Columbia is also on his N Sun in 13 Cancer.  This asteroid could signify the District of Columbia for our capitol, and the country which is the major source of cocaine in our country, and which will be a continuing challenge for our next president.  To reinforce the message, P Columbia conjuncts P Saturn through the decade of the ‘90s and well into 2001.  The asteroid could also signify the persistent questions about W’s previous personal use of cocaine and his harsh laws passed in Texas while he was governor, calling for jail for t4 year-old kids for possession of a fraction of an ounce of cocaine. 

One additional asteroid within one degree of W’s N Sun hints at his possible choice of a running mate.  N Elizabeth is in 12 Cancer 47, just making the one-degree orb I use for the “new” asteroids.  When we increase our number of factors, we need to tighten our aspect orbs.  P Elizabeth at the 2001 inauguration will be in 4 Leo 46 conjunct P Kaiser.  The latter asteroid carries the name of the German ruler prior to World War I.  As we will see later when we look at Elizabeth Dole’s chart, she is a very strong leader, with a major emphasis in the sign of Leo in the house of Scorpio (IF her birth time is accurate).  P Elizabeth will reach W’s N Ascendant fairly early in 2004.  Life details are always an educated guess in astrology.  Obviously, we are piling one guess on another when we speculate that IF Elizabeth is picked as VP candidate, and IF she and W win, that she may have an increasingly powerful impact on W from 2004 on.  Or he may have an impact on her?  At the inauguration, P Elizabeth will square P Ganesa.  IF Ganesa is “working” for the Republicans, the square suggests some questions relating to Elizabeth and Republicans.  As the VP candidate, she might draw some female votes, but also alienate some conservative Republicans.

We are still testing the meaning of many of the “new” asteroids, and one of these is Ganesa, the elephant-headed Hindu god.  IF Ganesa can symbolize the Republican Party, its conjunction with W’s IC in Washington certainly fits a Republican impact on W’s home, family, and (by extension of the fourth house meaning), the public. Chiron is like Jupiter, and can manifest either the Sagittarian or the Piscean sides of Jupiter.  W’s P Chiron conjunct N Ganesa, trine the north lunar node, and sextile P George in 20 Leo, seem auspicious for a Republican win.  P George just reaches a conjunction to N Venus at the inauguration, but P Venus sextiles N Venus through W’s campaign, and it is also sextile P Mercury, which is conjunct N Venus.  To add to the harmony, P Uranus conjuncts the north lunar node, sextiles Venus and P Mercury, and trines P Venus.

Traditionally, the north lunar node was considered to be like Jupiter, while the south node was like Saturn, signifying lessons.  Once the lessons have been learned, the node asks us to give something to the world.  The lunar nodes mark the spots where the Moon’s orbit crosses the plane of the earth’s orbit.  I interpret them as equivalent to two more Moons in the chart.  As water factors, they show habits brought from the past, functioning at the subconscious level.  As with all oppositions in a chart, our goal is to integrate the opposing factors, to create a partnership between the polarities of their signs and houses.  If any part of our nature is denied, it will make trouble for us.  For those open to additional tools, all of the planets have nodes, which can be interpreted as carrying the same meaning as the planets.  The nodes of Mars are like two more Mars positions in the chart, etc.

Returning to the asteroids, W’s financial luck is shown by several in addition to Midas.  Ops, a goddess of underground wealth, is in 29 Cancer, within one degree of his George and Georgia.  Could anything be more appropriate for a father and son, both named George, and both involved in the oil business?  P Ops in 24 Leo trines W’s MC and sextiles his P Jupiter, which has been on his IC for years.  P Aten, an Egyptian sun god for fame and power, is also in 24 Leo, sharing the preceding aspects.   N Abundantia in 13 Taurus sextiles his Sun, while P Abundantia has moved to octile it.  W is drawing abundant donations for his campaign, but also spending them and constantly looking for more.  N Tyche, a goddess of good fortune, is retrograding on his Descendant.  P Tyche opposes Saturn, pointing to a change in W’s handling of executive power.  The aspect could signify a defeat of his ambition to be president, or it could indicate his leaving his role as governor of Texas to become president of the U.S.  N Nortia, another goddess of fortune, is on W’s N Mars, while his P Nortia in 27 Virgo is semisextile P Karma in 27 Leo.  N Fortuna (fortune) in 3 Libra sextiles W’s P Saturn and opposes N Vesta for work changes.  P Fortuna in 20 Libra repeats the message with its conjunction of P Chiron and opposition to his local MC.

Both Pluto and Juno, the fourth asteroid to be discovered, carry the meaning of Scorpio, which signifies joint resources, pleasures, and power.  Letter eight of our twelve sides of life may be manifested in giving, receiving, and/or sharing money, possessions, sensuality, and power.  N Juno on W’s Moon can show his receipt of money from others or his effect on the resources of others, whether through donations, changes in tax laws, etc.  N Jupiter’s conjunction with his Moon and Juno connects his faith/ideals to money and possessions (Juno), as well as to relationships (Juno, Moon, and Libra).  W’s P local Antivertex in 18 Leo sextiles N Jupiter.  P Pluto sextiles his P Mars.  P Juno sextiles N Starr for the assistance given by Kenneth Starr.  Assistance need not be purposeful to be effective.  The constant media focus attacking the morals of Bill Clinton and fed by Starr is bound to have a negative effect on Gore.

A letter eight emphasis can often be manifested as excesses, as not knowing when to quit, whether in the handling of money, appetites, or power.  Several asteroids are named for mythical figures who overreached and crashed to their deaths: Phaethon, Icarus, and Bellerophon.  W has N Icarus retrograding in 9 Aquarius opposing Mercury and Pluto.  P Icarus is still retrograde in 5 Capricorn where it reaches a conjunction to both N and P Victoria and to N Pallas in time for the election in November.  Pallas is the asteroid I find often prominent with lawyers and politicians.  Both P Icarus and P Victoria are trine W’s P Sun and his P George.  The latter is closely conjunct his P Sun. The combination certainly looks like prominence and political success, but also the danger of overreaching.

The computer has calculated N Phaethon as 29 Taurus 60, which could be read as the end of Taurus or the beginning of Gemini.  N Fama (fame) is also in 29 Taurus.  P Phaethon is now retrograding in 8 Gemini.  It squares N Mars, which repeats the potential of overreaching.  P Fama in 19 Gemini is on Uranus and the mean (average) position of the north lunar node.  W’s N Bellerophon in 4 Pisces is octile his Washington MC, but sextile N Pallas.  The mixture of stress and harmony aspects is typical for getting what one wants but then being challenged by it.  P Bellerophon is still retrograding, and has moved back to 26 Aquarius, where it has just left the 8^th house cusp at the election to move fully into the seventh house.  It continues to hold an opposition to P Karma.  Be careful what you want with letter eight factors and the overreach asteroids.  You may get it.

I have run out of time, so Parts 5 and 6 on Gore and Elizabeth Dole will be continued when I return from a conference.

Zip Dobyns

Copyright © 2000 Los Angeles Community Church of Religious Science, Inc.

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