Saturn Beats Down Bush by Gary Brand, Traditional Astrologer

e all get a good dose of Saturn every once in a while just for our own good and now it's George W. Bush's turn (hereafter referred to as "W"). But, first a brief introduction to his birth chart. Notice how all of the planets when he was born are on the left side of his chart and tightly grouped. This signifies a very self-contained and self-absorbed personality, one that responds to events in very personal ways and that tends to be selfish (e.g. I've got mine; I don't care if you get yours unless you can help me get mine). W was born with Sun at the 13th degree of Cancer (guess where transiting Saturn is in October 2003) - the same degree as the Sun in the U.S. birth chart (July 4, 1776), so it is no wonder that he has pushed his way to the top of the political pork barrel in this country. However, his Sun and Saturn are in the 12th house, an inauspicious position for the country. Why? Because a 12th house Sun makes the person private and secretive, especially since it is peregrine (in a sign foreign to the Sun's nature where it is apt to be expressed negatively) in the sign of Cancer. A 12th house Sun represents subconscious or unconscious avoidance of suppressed energies and a lack of will to openly confront them. The 12th house is frequently referred to as the house of "self-undoing" because it reveals the means by which we defeat ourselves through our own actions (or lack of action). The reason this is a problem for the country is because his self-defeating behaviors could bring this country down from its pinnacle of World political and economic power. But maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing! Inherent in the 12th house Sun placement is a tendency toward hidden egotism and arrogance coupled with a deficit of personal courage (albeit plenty of bravado when far from the fighting). For example, although always present, dissenters and protesters are kept far away from W and the press cameras wherever he goes. In addition, anyone allowed to get near him must sign a loyalty oath - an agreement to not make him look bad. People born with a 12th house Sun are often not as compassionate or generous as they believe themselves to be. In other words, they tend to deceive themselves in many ways.

People born with Saturn in the 12th house are usually threatened by the competitive business world and prefer working behind the scenes. Now you might be saying to yourself, the guy is a multi-millionaire - he can't be very uncomfortable in that world. Well, he is known for backroom wheeling and dealing (ask any Texas politician) and look at all the bribes he offered other countries to join, against their wishes, the so-called "coalition" that invaded Iraq. Additionally, he came by his fortune, not by creating his own company like Papa Bush, but by owning a ball team. The 12th house Saturn person is often quite insecure and loathe to confront personal fears, self-doubts, anxiety, loneliness and depression (all Saturn keywords). Instead, they tend to suppress such inadequacies and pretend they are not there. This often results in escapism through alcohol and/or drugs and flailing about for some personal meaning in life. After all, how much personal or spiritual meaning can he derive from owning a ball team (or being the worst president in U.S. history)? At this point in his life (2003), W escapes the pressures by delegating them and by taking more vacation time than any other resident of the White House in recent memory. I'll bet he doesn't give his staff that much time off! The need for order (Saturn) can result in rigid religious beliefs and oppressive attitudes (the 12th house). Saturn in this house indicates a father who did not provide a model of forthright self expression (wasn't he CIA Director once?) or who made his son feel inadequate. Saturn in the 12th can indicate a person who avoids combat duty during wartime. Bush dodged military combat during the Vietnam War and yet he has no problem putting 140,000 U.S. troops in harm's way on a daily basis in Iraq. All for what - those phantom weapons of mass destruction?

Which brings me to the present state of distress in the White House. Neither the news from abroad nor the domestic news are good and they are affecting W approval rating polls which, in mid-September, were at only 45-52%. I predict (as I write this article in September 2003) that they will fall much further - to about the same level as his father's approval ratings in the polls (25%) his last year in office. [By July 2007, approval ratings of W had fallen below 25% - the lowest ratings of any U.S. president]. U.S. soldiers in Iraq continue to die and be maimed on an almost daily basis since W declared the war over. By next year, after 100s of billions of dollars more in budget-busting deficit spending on the occupation of Iraq and after who knows how many more U.S. "casualties," as they are euphemistically called by the military and politicians, most Americans will be fed up. The domestic news is no better. The indicator of all this bad news in the chart of poor W is that old, trouble maker Saturn. Beginning in October 2003 and lasting through July 2004, transiting Saturn is conjunct his Sun (this happens every 29.4 years). Only one president, Dwight Eisenhower, won in the voting booths during this transit and Bush is no Eisenhower. "Tricky Dick" Nixon lost his 1960 bid against John Kennedy when Saturn was conjunct his Sun. Gerald Ford (appointed by Nixon) ironically announced his candidacy for president in July 1975 just one week after Saturn precisely conjoined his Sun (he obviously had no astrologer working for him behind the scenes like Ronnie Reagan did) and was never elected president because he lost the 1976 election (when Saturn was conjunct his Mercury).

Returning to Bush, he will suffer Saturn squaring his Moon and Jupiter in July and August 2004. These planets are in Libra in his 3rd house and this is why much of the public seems to just swallow whatever he says. But not so next summer! Instead, the public won't like what they hear or they won't believe it. A scandal of some kind at that time could be part of the reason. Beginning in August 2004 and lasting through June 2005, transiting Saturn will conjoin his Saturn, called his second Saturn return. No candidate for president has ever been elected during a Saturn return and only one past president out of a total of nine, Woodrow Wilson, was elected to a second term while Saturn was in the sign of Cancer (as it is during 2003-2005) but the outcome was determined by the votes in one state (just like the 2000 "election" farce). So I am making a bold prediction over a year in advance of the 2004 presidential election and without knowing who the Democratic challenger will be - that Bush will lose that election. The only event that might change this outcome is a terrorist attack just before the election.

[The following was written in July 2007]
Although I was wrong about Bush being elected for the first time in 2004 (the Supreme Court and Bush's cronies in Florida, not the voters, determined the outcome of the 2000 presidential selection), Saturn has, in effect, beaten Bush (because this planet continues to plague his chart): he has the worst job approval ratings of any U.S. president in history (as Saturn transits Venus in his chart, which represents his popularity), he started and refuses to end (as of this writing) the most unpopular war in U.S. history, and he will leave office in disgrace as Nixon did (see my article Bush Compared to Nixon - the Past Repeats Itself).

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SATURN BEATS DOWN BUSH
by Gary Brand - written September 15, 2003, published in the October 2003 edition of Echo* newspaper and updated in July 2007
e all get a good dose of Saturn every once in a while just for our own good and now it's George W. Bush's turn (hereafter referred to as "W"). But, first a brief introduction to his birth chart. Notice how all of the planets when he was born are on the left side of his chart and tightly grouped. This signifies a very self-contained and self-absorbed personality, one that responds to events in very personal ways and that tends to be selfish (e.g. I've got mine; I don't care if you get yours unless you can help me get mine). W was born with Sun at the 13th degree of Cancer (guess where transiting Saturn is in October 2003) - the same degree as the Sun in the U.S. birth chart (July 4, 1776), so it is no wonder that he has pushed his way to the top of the political pork barrel in this country. However, his Sun and Saturn are in the 12th house, an inauspicious position for the country. Why? Because a 12th house Sun makes the person private and secretive, especially since it is peregrine (in a sign foreign to the Sun's nature where it is apt to be expressed negatively) in the sign of Cancer. A 12th house Sun represents subconscious or unconscious avoidance of suppressed energies and a lack of will to openly confront them. The 12th house is frequently referred to as the house of "self-undoing" because it reveals the means by which we defeat ourselves through our own actions (or lack of action). The reason this is a problem for the country is because his self-defeating behaviors could bring this country down from its pinnacle of World political and economic power. But maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing! Inherent in the 12th house Sun placement is a tendency toward hidden egotism and arrogance coupled with a deficit of personal courage (albeit plenty of bravado when far from the fighting). For example, although always present, dissenters and protesters are kept far away from W and the press cameras wherever he goes. In addition, anyone allowed to get near him must sign a loyalty oath - an agreement to not make him look bad. People born with a 12th house Sun are often not as compassionate or generous as they believe themselves to be. In other words, they tend to deceive themselves in many ways. People born with Saturn in the 12th house are usually threatened by the competitive business world and prefer working behind the scenes. Now you might be saying to yourself, the guy is a multi-millionaire - he can't be very uncomfortable in that world. Well, he is known for backroom wheeling and dealing (ask any Texas politician) and look at all the bribes he offered other countries to join, against their wishes, the so-called "coalition" that invaded Iraq. Additionally, he came by his fortune, not by creating his own company like Papa Bush, but by owning a ball team. The 12th house Saturn person is often quite insecure and loathe to confront personal fears, self-doubts, anxiety, loneliness and depression (all Saturn keywords). Instead, they tend to suppress such inadequacies and pretend they are not there. This often results in escapism through alcohol and/or drugs and flailing about for some personal meaning in life. After all, how much personal or spiritual meaning can he derive from owning a ball team (or being the worst president in U.S. history)? At this point in his life (2003), W escapes the pressures by delegating them and by taking more vacation time than any other resident of the White House in recent memory. I'll bet he doesn't give his staff that much time off! The need for order (Saturn) can result in rigid religious beliefs and oppressive attitudes (the 12th house). Saturn in this house indicates a father who did not provide a model of forthright self expression (wasn't he CIA Director once?) or who made his son feel inadequate. Saturn in the 12th can indicate a person who avoids combat duty during wartime. Bush dodged military combat during the Vietnam War and yet he has no problem putting 140,000 U.S. troops in harm's way on a daily basis in Iraq. All for what - those phantom weapons of mass destruction? Which brings me to the present state of distress in the White House. Neither the news from abroad nor the domestic news are good and they are affecting W approval rating polls which, in mid-September, were at only 45-52%. I predict (as I write this article in September 2003) that they will fall much further - to about the same level as his father's approval ratings in the polls (25%) his last year in office. [By July 2007, approval ratings of W had fallen below 25% - the lowest ratings of any U.S. president]. U.S. soldiers in Iraq continue to die and be maimed on an almost daily basis since W declared the war over. By next year, after 100s of billions of dollars more in budget-busting deficit spending on the occupation of Iraq and after who knows how many more U.S. "casualties," as they are euphemistically called by the military and politicians, most Americans will be fed up. The domestic news is no better. The indicator of all this bad news in the chart of poor W is that old, trouble maker Saturn. Beginning in October 2003 and lasting through July 2004, transiting Saturn is conjunct his Sun (this happens every 29.4 years). Only one president, Dwight Eisenhower, won in the voting booths during this transit and Bush is no Eisenhower. "Tricky Dick" Nixon lost his 1960 bid against John Kennedy when Saturn was conjunct his Sun. Gerald Ford (appointed by Nixon) ironically announced his candidacy for president in July 1975 just one week after Saturn precisely conjoined his Sun (he obviously had no astrologer working for him behind the scenes like Ronnie Reagan did) and was never elected president because he lost the 1976 election (when Saturn was conjunct his Mercury). Returning to Bush, he will suffer Saturn squaring his Moon and Jupiter in July and August 2004. These planets are in Libra in his 3rd house and this is why much of the public seems to just swallow whatever he says. But not so next summer! Instead, the public won't like what they hear or they won't believe it. A scandal of some kind at that time could be part of the reason. Beginning in August 2004 and lasting through June 2005, transiting Saturn will conjoin his Saturn, called his second Saturn return. No candidate for president has ever been elected during a Saturn return and only one past president out of a total of nine, Woodrow Wilson, was elected to a second term while Saturn was in the sign of Cancer (as it is during 2003-2005) but the outcome was determined by the votes in one state (just like the 2000 "election" farce). So I am making a bold prediction over a year in advance of the 2004 presidential election and without knowing who the Democratic challenger will be - that Bush will lose that election. The only event that might change this outcome is a terrorist attack just before the election. [The following was written in July 2007] Although I was wrong about Bush being elected for the first time in 2004 (the Supreme Court and Bush's cronies in Florida, not the voters, determined the outcome of the 2000 presidential selection), Saturn has, in effect, beaten Bush (because this planet continues to plague his chart): he has the worst job approval ratings of any U.S. president in history (as Saturn transits Venus in his chart, which represents his popularity), he started and refuses to end (as of this writing) the most unpopular war in U.S. history, and he will leave office in disgrace as Nixon did (see my article Bush Compared to Nixon - the Past Repeats Itself). _____________________________________ *Echo is a monthly newspaper about community, the environment, health, cuisine, and spirituality that is distributed in central Virginia.
Good Timing and Location are Keys to Success Gary Brand, Astrologer P.O. Box 3673, Tallahassee, Florida 32315 850-656-5758 © 2003 Gary Brand. All Rights Reserved.

SATURN BEATS DOWN BUSH