The USA, its charts and approaching Pluto return

drafted December 11 2002

First I should explain that there are two ways of looking at Harmonic charts - the most frequent, and the one used by Cosmobiologists and Uranian Astrologers, is that known as the 'dial system' whereby at the 4th Harmonic the chart is collapsed into a 90 degree wheel or dial, for the 8th harmonic the wheel covers a span of 45 degrees etc. This approach to harmonic analysis has many advantages but it suffers from one basic lack. The houses and signs are hidden from view and are frequently discounted in analytic work. Also one loses the pattern approach to the shapes of charts so ably elaborated by Marc Edmund Jones. Long before I studied Midpoints and Uranian I was a devotee of Jones pattern analysis and still use it extensively in my work. For that reason the Harmonic charts I use in this article are calculated, not by division of the 360 degree wheel but by multiplication of all placements by the harmonic number. This is effectively the same operation as the creation of dials with certain differences of emphasis. Here orbs are enlarged, not narrowed and effectively what emerges in the pattern analysis are the sub influences that inform the issue of orb of influence itself. This form of harmonic analysis is capable of answering the question of the difference between a 1 degree orb conjunction and a 5 degree orb conjunction, for they are indeed different in how they operate - with the wider orb offering a degree of freedom as well as certain challenges - at the 8th harmonic the 5 degree orb opens to a Novile. In the article that follows I make extensive use of this pictorial presentation as well as the sign relocations of the planets consequent on such a calculation method. I personally find them not only significant but highly informative, revealing an inner structure that is otherwise lost to view.

Charles Carter once said that for anything to take place it must be present as potential in the Natal Chart. In looking at the Harmonic charts for Bush and the Inauguration as well as for the US (Sibly) a number of disturbing correspondences and their probable manifestations become apparent.

The US chart has an interesting second / eighth house focus that is especially relevant now that we have entered the nation's most intense period of experience of Pluto. This fundamental dynamic emphasis: 8th to 2nd Nodes, Leo to Aquarius, in Cancer / Capricorn ruled houses: Pluto at 27:34 Cap, 2nd - opposition Mercury. The Sun is also in the eighth.

Pluto's placement is entirely consistent with the circumstances of the birth of the US. The Nation grew out of a revolution in governance over the issue of taxation and representation. It was born out of a war to throw off an economic slavery; similarly the Civil war was also over the throwing off of slavery (aided and abetted by financial issues that related to the foundations of power in the North and South - 2nd 8th issues again). Given that Natal Pluto is retrograde does this mean that the Pluto return will bring about another revolution in governance as a repetition of the core reasoning of the first? A central government fails to heed its citizens [hijacked by the Plutocracy] but embarks on projects that spend the nation into poverty and consequently higher taxation while enabling its friends to become rich and powerful (for such was England at that time). We approach the final semisextile before the Pluto return and so we enter the final phase of the cycle, that conclusionary phase that is common to all cycles - but only Neptune and Pluto stretch completely beyond a human lifespan (we are fortunate as Astrologers to witness this phase of the cycle,. We can learn a great deal).

As we all know, there is a maturing process that occurs through the repetition of cycles. If we are fortunate enough to be able to learn at the planetary return we develop naturally - if we don't some element of our nature becomes frozen in its development and one discovers that aspects of the previous cycle will repeat. The challenge with all repetitions of cycles is to draw the particular planet and its radical aspect pattern into a more conscious and more psychological relationship. Only Peoples, Nations, companies and institutions can experience Pluto and Neptune returns. And just as I understand Neptune returns to correspond with a deeply rich period of the arts, as well as decadence (among many other things) I fully expect that we shall experience the full emergence of a Plutocracy as we move into the US Pluto return.

GWB

Natally Bush has a Bundle chart, enclosed within a trine and lacking oppositions (the British press refers to him as being famously unreflective), running from the third to the eleventh. The notable matters in this chart are the oriental and cutting Uranus, the conjunction of the Moon, Chiron and Jupiter in the third and the first house Mercury Pluto conjunction two and a half degrees from the ascendant. The Leo ascendant in this circumstance leads toward the development of a persona that likes the spotlight but lacks substance.

The least aspected planet in this chart is Saturn in Cancer in the 12th, a most uncomfortable placement. His 4th harmonic chart adds emphasis to Uranus and Mars while the Sun conjoins the Moon, Chiron, Jupiter conjunction. In the fourth harmonic he gains a Venus Neptune opposition that aligns with the natal MC / IC axis.

The US chart (Sibly) is a locomotive with a cutting retrograde Pluto in the 2nd, (the US gets its first Pluto return in 2022). The President's Sun conjoins the Sun in the National chart (00:28 arc), His Saturn conjoins the National Mercury (arc 2:18) and the National Saturn sits at the direct midpoint of Bush's Neptune/Chiron. The US Radix presents a nation that is, on the surface, idealistic and driven to seek a friendlier world within reason (Saturn in the 10th).

The fourth harmonic for the Sibly chart reveals a different face with a moralistic and policing attitude toward the world. With Chiron now placed in the Natal 7th there is a high probability of difficulty in relationships with other nations. The shape of the chart is a Bucket with a Moon handle (Natal 12th) - a reflection perhaps of "We, the People" - and the rim of the Bowl segment is defined by Pluto (Natal 8th) and Uranus (Natal 1st) separated by 165 degrees (Quindecile - the aspect of obsession) here a statement of an obsession with Power, there is also a Mars - Neptune conjunction in the Natal 3rd. Most often reffered to as a conjunction that produces depleting and debilitationg illnesses, the forms of allergies. It is also, however, necessary to note that this conjunction shows up with great regularity in the charts of artists, especially musicians and should thus be regarded as a hallmark of creative potential which, when unused and unaccessed produces illnesses of the 'nervous' disposition.

The 4th harmonic is that of manifestation - how we show up in the world through the nature of the Form we assume and concretize. Here there is a definite presentation of a dark and undermining National Psyche with a tendency to go it alone and to work in clandestine ways. [In case you think this is all silly nonsense consider also that this harmonic has a Venus Transpluto conjunction (00:23 arc) in the 4th - what better shorthand description of June Cleaver and all the other idealized images of Mom - as well as that All American illness called 'Momism' - could there be.]

The Bush Inauguration chart is also a Bucket, this time with a 7th house Mars in Scorpio as the handle. [This is a very interesting chart as the secondary progressed Moon conjoined radical Pluto on Sept 11 2001. ] The 4th harmonic of this chart places Pluto in the radical 10th conjunct the MC and at 27:31 Capricorn it is 3' shy of the Pluto placement in the Sibly USA chart. I take this to mean that how this presidency manifests in its public performance is a foreshadowing of the dominant themes of the next 20 years (to the USA's Pluto return). The Mars handle in the Inauguration chart also further emphasizes the belligerent and precipitate nature of this Presidency, a fact emphasized by its opposition to the ASC and forming the spine of a Kite with Venus (Pisces 11th) and N. Node (Cancer 3rd). The other salient features are the difficult Sun Neptune conjunction to the MC (serious deception both by and of the Solar function and perhaps hinting at religious bigotry - remembering the Mars handle), the 10th house conjunction of Mercury and Uranus (dogmatic ideology - a do not confuse me with the facts aspect) and the Saturn Jupiter conjunction in the 1st. The Saturn Jupiter conjunction sits across the Taurus Gemini cusp - one I know from Natal work as being productive of violent personality disorders (the dissonance of the energies can be difficult to handle).

In the 4th Harmonic Saturn squares Venus (6th to 10th) and Jupiter squares Chiron (7th to 11th) as well as there being a Sun Pluto opposition 4th to 10th. Mars is here conjunct Mercury in Libra 5th. Fourth Harmonic squares are indicative of a striving and in the realm of 7th and 11th relationships it suggests a lack of Harmony with our partners and other nations ( - an effect we are beginning to see very clearly now - Nov 2003). The Saturn Venus square is also troubling as it suggests the development of a deep malaise in the economy. This too is revealing itself ever more clearly.

Addendum:

With the Snow nomination chart and its tight Sun Pluto conjunction in the 10th we are seeing the emergence of a direction of development in the Bush Presidency (in the Inauguration chart Pluto is 180 Sun at the 4th Harmonic - it becomes the conj at the 8th harmonic) into blunt manifestation. Since this conjunction in the Snow chart occurs in the 10th alongside the South Node and there is a tight opposition from Transpluto to the Moon Uranus conjunction in the first, I expect that we are entering a period that will produce deep disillusionment among the American people concerning their government and its profound involvement with the business community. Such an elevated Pluto position cannot help but force to the surface the unsavory underbelly of US governance and reveal the deep corruption of democratic ideals.

The Moon Uranus conjunction (24:57 - 25:26 AQ) is conjunct the Moon in the US radix (27:10 AQ) as well as the 4th harmonic conjunction of Mars Neptune (25:30 - 29:41 AQ) further tying together this family of charts and emphasizing that the current presidency and its actions are an outworking of the National chart. In this sense the neocon core in the US government is the surfacing of long buried demons from the early years of the nation.

 

Since this piece was first written much of what was merely speculated upon has evidenced its horrific presence