Saturn in Leo II: Bailing on the Chief

12.6.05


As we already learned from Gov. Schwarzenegger's recent defeat at the California ballot box, Saturn in Leo likes to keep our royal rulers humble. And the Governator ain't the only lordly leader being exposed to Saturn's discriminating devices.

It probably wouldn't surprise you to hear President Bush is also currently suffering the back-to-reality deflation of ego associated with Saturn in Leo, as it retrogrades back over his 1st-house Mercury/Pluto conjunction and heads for his Leo Ascendent.

This sobering transit, which began to affect Bush in earnest around Aug 05, is undeniably connected to the president's current all-time-lowest approval rating numbers… since, after all, it's his 1st-house/Leo stuff that makes him so darned likable to so many. Mercury and Pluto, conjoined close to his Leo rising, bestow on Bush a powerfully persuasive and confident communication style—so magnetic that audiences often connect with how he says something, rather than what he says (or, as his critics might contend, doesn't say).

But with Saturn sitting there, now through mid-'06, Bush's charisma will not be enough to satisfy the people he supposes to speak for. They want substantive content beyond the smilingly down-home one-liners and glib good-versus-evil simplifications.

While much was made of transiting Saturn's previous conjunctions to Bush's Cancer Sun and natal Saturn (i.e., his second Saturn return) around the time of the 2004 election, I suspected that we public observers would hardly be privy to whatever personal challenges might or might not have gone on behind the scenes. See, Bush's Sun and Saturn are hidden away in his 12th, where what you see is barely a sliver of all you don't see.

As opposed to the zillion pundits who mistakenly think they understand the guy that is George W. Bush, I firmly believe his individual karma is a sealed-shut deal between him and the universe. Trust me, the real Bush only comes out in private.

How seriously Bush takes Saturn's challenge to steady and subdue his Leo-rising bravado, between now and Aug 06, will say a lot about how the remainder of his presidency proves to unfold… as Saturn moves more fully into opposition with Neptune, the noteworthy astro-aspect of 2006 and 2007, and reveals where strong individual leaders and 'the spirit of the people' have diverged.

By the middle of next year, the Saturn-Neptune opposition will become exact across Bush's 1st/7th axis, highlighting for him that most basic polarity of unimpeded self (1st) and compromising relationship with other (7th). The Saturn-in-the-1st side is, as I've said, all about trimming the excess attention-grabbing expression… sticking to only what's most necessary to convey an authentic sense of self. On the other hand, Neptune in the 7th—especially in the sign of Aquarius—encourages greater sympathy and compassion for all people, through the dissolution of boundaries that separate us from each other. Neptune placed in the house of one-on-one relationships signifies a tendency to sacrifice one's own ego comforts on behalf of somebody else.

Thus, for Bush to successfully weather the Saturn-Neptune storm, he'll need to balance (1) restraint in how he asserts his drive for recognition and affection with (2) a knowing faith that capitulation to whatever broader forces bring folks together in their true human diversity will generate enough interpersonal goodwill to carry him.

Alas, an alternate interpretation of Saturn in Leo/1st opposed to Neptune in Aquarius/7th goes something like this: Bush's unwillingness to see the reality in one-on-one relationships (with key advisers, perhaps?) perpetuates an illusory understanding of who 'the people' are and what 'they' want, stemming from over-intellectualization and a certain emotional chilliness—but the karmic axe falls squarely on him as an individual, as he discovers he's become alienated from his own innate warmth, due to sacrificial reliance on others.

Just something to ponder… especially considering how other Bush administration members are also feeling the grand-cross pinch of Saturn, Neptune and company.