With the re-election of George W. Bush, it is an opportune time to take a look at some of the major evolutionary changes he has endured in his first term as president. For the sake of clarity, I will only expound upon some of the greater evolutionary currents in his biography without focusing on his astrological birth chart. By doing so, this will illuminate patterns that have been of particular importance in his past tenure as president. Although it is impossible for me to claim any sort of objectivity here, I will hope to get out of the way, so to speak, so that the astrological archetypes speak for themselves. If needed, a brief appendix has been included to explain the main astrological predictive techniques used for this article, namely, transits and progressions.

Transiting Neptune Opposite Bush’s natal Mercury (approximately 2001 through early 2002)

Given a relatively small orb of influence, Bush experienced transiting Neptune in opposition to his natal Mercury at the beginning of his first term as president. Neptune, symbolic of the imaginal, the transcendent, the poetic, and infinite can have an interesting effect upon the mental faculties that Mercury symbolizes. Arguably the most notable effect that occurs during a major transit from Neptune to natal Mercury is a blurring or distorting of the more analytical functions of the mind. There is a tendency to simply tune out or become absent-minded under this particular transiting influence. Normal daily experiences that demand our mental discrimination and discernment can become very difficult under this type of arrangement. Rather, Neptune directs the mind toward ambiguity, the imaginal, and the fantastic. It is often very difficult to retain linear concepts under this particular arrangement as the Neptune-Mercury influence is symbolic of the mind’s cyclic need to “wash out” what it has retained in the past few years. We might envision a Neptune-Mercury transit as being analogous to mental “spring cleaning” or a cleaning of the mind’s hard drive—where the brain flushes out unnecessary stored information so that it may begin its processes again in the future. During this flushing exercise, it can take an extra-added effort and conscious awareness to be able to do the necessary analytical tasks of the day. People around those experiencing a Neptune-Mercury transit may believe that these individuals are daydreaming, are in a sort of mental fog, confused, or just not altogether “there.”

The Neptune Mercury influence is also notoriously known for being a time when we are more immune to believing in or receiving false information. This is not to suggest that we become overly naïve, trusting, or lacking in any sort of judgment; however, because Neptune works on such a subtle, almost imperceptible, level, it can be a time when we are more predisposed to believing things which don’t hold up under second scrutiny or that don’t have basis in concrete, hard reality.

Transiting Jupiter Conjunct Bush’s natal Sun (approximately fall of 2001 through mid-2002)

Coinciding shortly after the September 11th attacks, Jupiter conjoined Bush’s Sun. Jupiter transits to the Sun can correlate with a short-lived sense of expansion, celebration, rejuvenation, and exaltation of one’s identity or ego. With this particular transit, it is probably most helpful to focus on the outer expression—what was going on with Bush’s outer, personal experience. Transits correlate with both one’s internal disposition as well as outer events and experiences, and, in this specific instance, we can see its manifestation most easily with Bush’s relationship with the public reception.

At this particular point in his first term, Bush enjoyed an almost unheard of popularity. With approval rankings nearing ninety percent in most polls, Bush received feedback from the great majority that he had handled the September 11th attacks with extraordinary capacity and leadership. During major Jupiter transits to the Sun, we can provisionally feel a sense of warm reception from our outer experience. Certainly, Bush’s transit represents an extreme example of this principle; however, the twelve-year cycle of Jupiter conjoining the Sun is undeniably uplifting and elevating for anyone.

Transiting Saturn Conjunct Bush’s natal Sun (Approximately August of 2003 through July of 2004)

For every expansion there is a contraction, for every rise there is a fall, and, in astrological terms, for every Jupiter transit there is a Saturn transit. For just under a year—spanning from late summer of 2003 through the summer of 2004—Bush experienced Saturn transiting his natal Sun. In almost a textbook version of this important twenty-nine year cycle, manifestations and expressions of Saturn transiting Bush’s Sun could be perceived in a variety of ways. One of the classic interpretations of Saturn is that it is the force of judgment, the critic that assesses our past actions and the consequences of those actions. Like the Egyptian god Anubis who weighs the heart of man against the feather of truth, Saturn transits make us accountable for our past actions. Our past karma comes back to us to be accounted for under Saturn transits.

By most accounts, this period was highly challenging and difficult for Bush. Although the number of trials that Bush faced at this time are too many to explore here, the most important hardships can be enumerated. At this time, Bush was receiving criticism—severe in some cases—about the justification for war in Iraq. Not simply the outcry of partisan rhetoric, critiques of Bush’s policies were coming from Democrats as well as Republicans, distant observers as well as close advisors. At this time, Bush was harshly rebuked by many conscious onlookers for the lack of evidence for weapons of mass destruction. Judgment from foreign nations was also particularly high at this time, as Bush’s international trips were often open to mass protest. This was also the period when the Abu Ghraib prison scandal erupted into mass consciousness.

As a result, Bush’s soaring popularity (correlated with the aforementioned Jupiter transit to the Sun) was deflated, as Bush’s approval ratings sank to below fifty percent—the lowest of his tenure as president so far. During Saturn transits to the Sun, we can experience a fall from grace, public rejection, alienation from previous success, and a need to reflect upon failure, ineffectiveness, and behaviors which no longer function. Saturn, beyond being just the critic and judge, is “he who frustrates”—no matter what we do or how hard we try, previous successful behaviors no longer bear the fruit we have nourished our ego upon for so long. Saturn purposefully turns our previous triumphs and successes into a barren, dry, and isolated desert so that we may re-fertilizing our life with a more effective strategy.

Bush’s Second Saturn Return (approximately summer 2004 through summer of 2005)

Shortly after experiencing his Saturn transit to the Sun, Bush underwent (and is still enduring) his second Saturn Return. A generational transit that occurs approximately at the age of fifty eight, the second Saturn Return represents an amplification of qualities associated with Saturn—a “double dose” of positive and problematic potentials of Saturn: aging, mortality, obligations, achievements and agenda-setting, and focus on the pragmatic side of life. As all planetary symbols are dual-sided, Saturn can be both the limiting, world-weariness of life as it can also be the effective, efficient, and pragmatic means by which one actualizes potentials. The Saturn Return (both the first and second Saturn Return) is both a heightening of the constricting, binding qualities of life and the response to that feeling of limitation and contraction. In other words, when we feel a resistance against our being (as Saturn and the Saturn Return is to symbolize), more often than not, we push against the resistance with a force equal to the intensity of weight against us. This process and struggle often grants positive results for the long-term.

One striking correlation with Bush’s second Saturn Return was the much-lampooned repetition of the phrase “hard work” in his first debate with John Kerry. As transiting Saturn was on Bush’s natal Saturn to the degree, a weary-eyed and fatigued Bush stated with great frequency (eleven times by some accounts), “it’s hard work.” Not only do we get the sense that Bush was feeling the ominous gravity associated with Saturn, but we get the impression that the archetype itself was speaking in and through Bush. That is, the force correlated with Saturn was making itself present to an extent that Bush was merely a conduit to its archetypal expression.

In another bizarre synchronicity, Bush’s recent interview with Charlie Gibson curiously reflected many of the qualities of the Saturn Return. Often during a major transiting influence, external experiences mirror the process of the quality of the planetary symbolism involved. Specifically in this instance, we can see Gibson reflecting the qualities of the Saturn Return back on Bush. Concerning Bush’s presidency, Gibson asked Bush: "Does it wear you down? Does it depress you? Does it feel burdensome?"—without question, Gibson’s question reflect the process of the Saturn Return. Similarly, in the same interview, Gibson held up a side-by-side comparison composed of pictures of Bush early in the first term and a more recent photo. The second Saturn Return forcibly makes us more conscious of the aging process; during the transit, we become more attuned to the fact that we are advancing well into years and that the last third of our life awaits us. Gibson, for Bush, was merely an external referent of this process.

However, the most positive quality of the Saturn Return for Bush was the ability to motivate and organize for the last push in his bid for a second term. The constrictive force of Saturn allows us to efficiently utilize our time in an attempt toward outer achievement. Although Bush has been chastised for being the president to take more vacation than any other president, he did hit the campaign trail for his re-election with a significant amount of “hard work.” Even on election day itself, Bush was touring the United States in a last minute effort for votes—something no incumbent has ever been willing to do.

Bush’s Progressed Sun conjoined his natal Mars (fall of 2002 through fall of 2005)

In what might be the most striking astrological correlation for the president, Bush’s progressed Sun conjoined his natal Mars—a once-in-a-lifetime astrological event. Given a relatively arbitrary orb of influence of 1.5 degrees on either side of exactitude, Bush’s progressed Sun will be conjoined to his natal Mars for approximately three years, from the fall of 2002 through the fall of 2005. Progressions are often more indicative of our internal and subjective factors. Transits are often more striking in their outer manifestations, as they attract certain experiences, events, and individuals into our lives. However, progressions are often noted for their ability to coincide with internal shifts of mood, perception, motivations, and directives.

With Bush’s progressed Sun conjunct his natal Mars, we have a striking parallel to the president’s reputation of being a war-mongering, aggressive, and belligerent leader who has taken the United States into war without just provocation. When the Sun—the center of identity and egoic concerns—fuses with the archetypal connotations of Mars—our inner warrior, fighter, and ‘action hero’—we are more sensitive (which is an ironic choice of words for the whole Mars gestalt) to the complex and connotations of Mars. A relatively unintegrated or low functioning Mars can be personified as the person that is constantly looking for fights, that is aggressive in demeanor for the sheer physical excitation of that state, and plays by the “eye for an eye”-type of mentality as expressed in Hammurabi’s code. A higher functioning Mars is assertive, bold, and is able to take action for the ego’s concerns and desires. This level of expression of Mars displays courageous leadership, a lack of hesitation in decision-making, and a willingness to take calculated risks.

The correlations with Bush’s progressed Sun conjoined his natal Mars is quite transparent and to illustrate this point risks delving into the painfully obvious. Needless to say, we can see its manifestation in the Bush that provokes enemy forces with phrases like “Bring ‘em on”; that arrived on the U.S.S. Lincoln in a naval fighter jet; that has thoroughly antagonized many former U.S. allies; and who campaigned heavily on his ability to take bold, assertive action without wavering.

*****

Transits occur when planets make specific angular relationships to the positions of the planets in your birth chart. Transits are not isolated incidents but are happening all the time and correlate with the minor to life-changing incidents, maturation periods, psychological shifts, and transformations in our lives. When planets transit important factors in your birth chart, they “light up,” ignite, catalyze or emphasize the energy and psychological factors associated with the factor being transited.

Progressions, or more precisely secondary progressions, is a technique whereby the planetary positions for each day after birth represent a year after birth. So, planetary positions at 45 days after your birth in relationship to the birth chart will reflect, partly, your psychological experience and state of affairs at 45 years of age. Generally speaking, progressions are subtler and do not have as much of an impact as transits; their patterns are a little less discernable.