For the past six or so months in this column we've been watching the rapid deterioration of the Bush administration associated with a series of astrological events. Most of these have been tied to developments in the January 20, 2004, inauguration chart. Others are connected with the 3/29 cluster involving the late March total solar eclipse. Today, the day I am writing this, the decay is evident, but there seems to have never been a more pressing need to hasten it. USA Today reported that AT&T, Verizon, and BellSouth have provided the NSA—the top-secret National Security Agency, which specializes in electronic surveillance and code-breaking—with records of the phone calls of millions of Americans. This program, which dates by some reports to shortly after the September 11 attacks and by others prior to that date, was first reported by the New York Times in mid-December.
At the same time, the president's approval rating fell below 30 percent in one poll for the first time, and ranges between 31 percent to 37 percent in most others, levels that could rightly be described as desperate and that should, I believe, lead us to wonder just what they're going to do in response.
Meanwhile, the grand jury in the Valerie Plame spy-outing case continues to meet, and the investigation of Karl Rove, who was demoted as part of the White House shake up, continues. We have not seen the end of that.
But while one development after the next suggests that a great many crimes have been committed and the noose is slowly tightening, there are apparently plans developing and, some have reported, covert operations under way for a new war against Iran. There has been much discussion in the mainstream media about the use of tactical nuclear weapons against Iran as well.
It's shaping up like a bad thriller. Will the administration cave in before they do something really stupid? When push comes to shove, how far will they go to stay in power?
In June, we have yet another wave of high-tension astrology to watch, feel, and experience. As usual, in mid-June the Sun reaches its northernmost extreme and stands still on the horizon. This is called the summer solstice. It's the first day the Sun enters the sign Cancer and the longest day of the year.
While this fact in itself is not exactly big news, the extremely sensitive first degrees of Cancer, and the related signs Aries, Libra, and Capricorn, are connected to nearly every major news event, and newsmaker, of any significance over the past five years. These range from several charts associated with the events of September 11 to the chart of Patrick Fitzgerald; from the national chart of Iran to the chart of Bush himself. The Asian tsunami of late 2004 was directly related to these degrees. They seem to be the hot spots in the zodiac in these years of history, and once again they are coming into focus.
The Sun reaching solstice acts like a pivot for considerably more unusual astrology. Points called the lunar nodes, which set the pattern for the 18-year cycle of solar and lunar eclipses, reach the first degrees of Aries and Libra at this time as well. We know how much impact those eclipses have, and the lunar nodes are directly related because the eclipses follow them around the zodiac. The nodes have themes like evolutionary growth; public impact; and the relationship between karma (the sum total of our past actions) and dharma (the unfamiliar new territory we constantly need to push into as we grow). And in these very weeks, the nodes come into focus in the first two degrees of Aries, finally arriving at the exact Aries/Libra points just as the solstice happens.
Remember when you were a kid and played with caps? You were supposed to hit the caps one at a time and they'd make a nice little pop. Then you figured out that you could fold the paper over and blow up two or three at once. One day my brother figured out you could hit a whole roll of caps with a hammer and get a nice big explosion.
This is what it feels like to stack the solstice chart on top of the past 10 news charts that have crucial trigger points in the first degrees of Aries, Libra, Cancer, or Capricorn. This one chart is on top and its energy sets off the rest.
But that's not all. There is an exact grand cross in this chart. A grand cross is a configuration of four (or more) bodies aspecting the Earth at 90-degree angles. It's kind of like having the Earth in crosshairs. Since November there have been a long series of grand cross aspects, all in the fixed signs Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius. These have been associated with, among other things, the mass riots and protests in France.