| It is probably fair to say that journalists in the USA are extremely grateful to Dick Cheney, who on February 11th 2006 supplied them with the first light relief of the year by shooting hunting partner attorney Harry Whittington whilst actually aiming at some quail. (Note 1) 78-year old Whittington ended up in hospital with pellets lodged close to his heart, but as a good Republican he was man enough to take full responsibility for the accident, and was able to say from his hospital bed: “My family and I are deeply sorry for everything that Vice President Cheney and his family had to go through this week”. Dick Cheney is an Aquarian, and yes, they certainly know how to choose their friends.There are however some who may think there is a certain symbology to the event. This is the man who immediately after September 11th 2001 asked his staff to find any information linking the terrorist act to Iraq, and went on to organize the invasion of a country which at the time was completely free of international terrorists. Cheney, who as Vice President is just a heartbeat away from the most powerful job on Earth, actually shot a lawyer… somebody dedicated to uphold the law. The metaphor is surely that Justice is endangered by this man.
With Virgo rising, and the Sun in Aquarius in the 6th house, there is no doubt that Cheney is devoted to being a part of a team and a conscientious public servant. See chart: Dick Cheney 30 Jan 1941 19.30 Lincoln, NE. AS 2.55 VI Obviously the Sun/Pluto opposition shows a man who knows how to wield power, and indeed the exact sesquiquadrate from Pluto to Mars indicates extreme and life-threatening situations that can arise from time to time. It is actually in this period that progressed Mars – currently at 2.30 Aquarius – opposes his progressed and then radical Pluto. With progressed Moon soon to come over this Pluto/Mars in May and June this year, this must be a traumatic and exhausting time for Cheney… and a dangerous period for those he comes into contact with. The square from the Sun to Saturn and Jupiter indicates extraordinary ambition and resilience. This same square also shows a man of great stubbornness – particularly as regards beliefs and principles – he will never change, but he is loyal. Regarding the Iraq war, Cheney says he is “absolutely convinced we did the right thing in Iraq” even as the insurgency is degenerating into civil war. When Cheney is absolutely convinced, all he is saying is that he cannot imagine ever changing his rigid views. At the time of the lamentable shooting incident, transiting Saturn was at 7 Leo conjoined by the Moon, and therefore strongly aspecting Cheney’s Sun/Saturn/Jupiter. The long Saturn opposition to his Sun hardly enhances his popularity at this time, though some Americans claim his approval ratings went up after he shot a lawyer. Curiously, Mars at 27 Taurus was exactly conjoining Cheney’s MC on the day. This aspect repeats every two years, and wise hunters should refuse any Vice Presidential visits at these times. Transiting Neptune was sextile Mars at the time, which may account for the wobbly aim. Perhaps there is some truth to the rumor that he had just enjoyed a beer or two. Transiting Neptune conjoined Cheney’s Aquarian Sun (as it did Tony Blair’s Moon) in early 2003 with the ill-judged invasion of Iraq, just as Uranus came to conjoin his Descendant – inspiring him to embark on a real foreign adventure. Furthermore Pluto transited his Mars in Sagittarius three times at the time of the Iraq invasion… astrologically speaking it really does look like he was the main man as far as this war was concerned. His shotgun was loaded. Watergate journalist Bob Woodward, who was given unique access to the Bush administration, was convinced that he was the driving force behind the war. Cheney had been Secretary of Defense during the first Gulf War, and to him, Saddam was still a threat to the United States. Woodward writes: “Colin Powell, the secretary of state, saw this in Cheney to such an extent, he, Powell, told colleagues that ‘Cheney has a fever. It is an absolute fever. It’s almost as if nothing else exists”. Transit Pluto conjoining Mars, OK? There is another more worrying aspect to Cheney’s horoscope, and it is worth taking up in the light of the recent controversy regarding the cartoons lampooning the prophet Mohammed printed in the Danish press, which led to riots and deaths worldwide. The Danish prime minister is also an Aquarian with a Sun/Jupiter square, and he refused to meet 11 ambassadors from major Muslim countries on the grounds that there was really nothing to discuss. Prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen managed to sell his views to the Danish population by equating the cartoon issue with freedom of speech, but actually the working majority in his right wing government is based on the overtly racist Danish National Party (example comment: “All western lands are infiltrated by Muslims…”) Standing his ground against the Muslim immigrants is simply a vote-winner for him. The once so tolerant and politically enlightened Denmark is a shadow of what it once was, and is now viewed in international political circles as a reactionary and intolerant land. It was in March 2006 that the leader of a major opposition party, Marianne Jelved, in an extraordinary personal attack, felt compelled to say that the Danish prime minister was in fact a dangerous man who was creating a serious polarization in Denmark which could have very serious long-term consequences. This outburst from a woman renowned for her clarity and self-control was prompted by comments from Anders Fogh Rasmussen where he divided Danes into the sheep and the goats in the matter of whether they were prepared to stand up for freedom of speech. It is here that his horoscope gets really interesting: See chart: Anders Fogh Rasmussen 26 Jan 1953 2.02 Ginnerup, DK. AS 10.02 SC Fogh Rasmussen has a Sun/Mercury conjoining the South Node in the 3rd house, so it is clear that free speech is a matter of central importance for him. The fact that he is born close to an eclipse with the Sun square Jupiter in Taurus which is prominently placed on the Descendant, shows just how ideological the matter of freedom is to him, and this is indeed why he is a conservative with a belief in minimal government interference. The problem with the Aquarius/Taurus polarity is that it is incredibly stubborn and self-righteous, and clearly this is something Fogh Rasmussen has in common with Dick Cheney who has the same Sun/Jupiter square between the same two signs. But there is another thing that these men – who have featured so prominently in the news recently – have in common. The Danish prime minister has Mars in the 4th house square the Moon. It is this aspect that lays him open to the accusation that he is a dangerous man for the country because he creates a split amongst the people. It is obviously true. Marianne Jelved expresses it thus: “He behaves like God Almighty, who comes with bombastic and cryptic remarks to the people, creating a huge divide”. It is fascinating to see how the recent transit of Pluto has opposed Fogh Rasmussen’s Moon and squared the Mars/Venus conjunction at the time when Denmark has been at the centre of a huge controversy about religious caricatures (Pisces) in a major Danish newspaper (Gemini). His horoscope is thus played out on a national scale to the detriment of Denmark as a whole. The ethnic minority is in fact the Mars/Venus conjunction intercepted in the 4th house in a finger of God – quincunx Neptune on the one hand and Pluto on the other. The intercepted planets in Pisces in the 4th may relate to some suffering in childhood; his father certainly started life extremely poor, and was virtually a slave labourer at the local landowner’s estate. Whatever the psychological or ancestral history, Fogh Rasmussen has consistently held a negative focus on Muslim immigrants, and the Pluto transit triggered this psychic material. For those interested in progressions, Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s chart is a real treat. During the course of 2006 both Mars will progress into Taurus, and the Sun – currently on the last degree of Pisces – will come into Aries. Venus is in fact about to go stationary retrograde, which means that Mars will conjoin Venus in just two years. Born then with Ascendant ruler Mars two degrees behind Descendant ruler Venus, slower moving Mars catches up with the normally fast moving Venus when he is 55 years old. That could have a major impact on his relationships, but it also suggests that the coming years will be plagued by domestic strife while he is prime minister. It is also worth noting that progressed Mercury is currently retrograde in Pisces and will soon activate the Mars/Venus square the Moon. This is something that will follow him for the rest of his life, so even if he doesn’t get it right with the ethnic minorities now, he has a couple more chances. But right now, with his progressed MC apparently on Saturn, the situation looks dire for him and for Denmark. Getting back to Dick Cheney, there are important parallels with the Danish prime minister, for – with Mars in the 4th house square the Moon, and at pretty much the same degrees of mutable signs – he has much the same effect on the American population, creating split and domestic strife. In his case however the Moon makes harmonious sextiles to Venus in Capricorn and Uranus in the 9th, which seems to have been beneficial for his success in the oil industry. Since the invasion of Iraq Pluto has activated the Mars/Moon square, and this has been reflected in both domestic unrest and stress and international combat and chaos. These two examples from political life illustrate just how much individual aspect patterns play themselves out on the national or world stage as soon as a person is catapulted into the public sphere. Unless that person is extremely aware of his or her internal chemistry, then their individual psychological dramas will have a profound effect on the countries they hold sway over. Being an Aquarius does not mean a politician is predisposed to be like Cheney of course; one of the most respected presidents of the USA was an Aquarian – Abraham Lincoln – and he was renowned for his principled fight to abolish slavery and the injustice it represented, and he too had a Moon/Mars square. Adrian Ross Duncan 17th Mar 2006. Note 1. Cartoonists in particular made the most of this extraordinary event. |