Since 1994, the overt dominance of the South in U.S. politics has been unmistakable. I’ve had a chart for the Confederacy and have planned to discuss it here. But now the publication of Michael Lind’s book, Made In Texas, reviewed in this issue, gives it particular relevance.

Jefferson Davis became President of the Confederate States of America on February 9, 1861, at a Confederacy Provisional Congress in Montgomery, AL. This is the usual day given for the founding of the Confederacy. The time is unknown, but in those cases in mundane charts, we calculate a noon chart. This is just two months before the start of the Civil War.

This chart, with a full house in Aquarius, is very instructive as to the nature of Aquarius as a catalyst. Lincoln, who pursued the Civil War, was an Aquarian. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who brought new blood, new ways, and a new rebellion into the South, was an Aquarian, Ronald Reagan, who opened the door for the emergence of the dominance of the South, was also Aquarian. So is Dick Cheney, CEO of U.S. Inc.

Aquarius is a fixed air sign. This means that it is stable and stubborn, and that it is gripped by ideas, or ideology. It does not easily let go of its ideas. It is also a sign of independence, and much prefers to go its own way rather than be told what to do or what to think or what to say. In some sense, Aquarius works for a cause, but that cause can be the betterment of its own group rather than the benefit of humanity as a whole.

Uranus, a willful creature, is now considered to be the main planet associated with Aquarius. Uranus, too, shows where we are independent. However, before the discovery of Uranus, Saturn was the "ruler" of Aquarius. Those two planets act quite contrarily. Whereas Uranus is wild and unpredictable, Saturn is cautious and structured, slow and sure. I consider both planets to still be associated with Aquarius. In most Aquarians, one can observe one or the other dominant in their personality.

For the South, its independent, unusual, and reckless actions, with no concern for the opinion of others, demonstrates the Uranian facet of Aquarius. The Saturn side shows in its extreme conservatism, its affinity for hierarchy and the "boss," and the durability of the political and social structures which it has maintained over the decades. Both sides of Aquarius seem to me very strongly expressed in the South.

In the Confederacy chart, the Aquarius moon is just behind the Aquarius sun. This is the balsamic moon phase. This very old moon is full of experience, and ready to move into a new phase. The old body is now finished, used up, and must be replaced by a new one.

One way I can envision this ancient moon is that it carries the last of the old imperialism, represented by the deep South, an archaic remnant of the past. It is time now to destroy that way of life, which is now represented primarily by corporate rule with its slavery and exploitation.

We do, in fact, see the destruction of old systems happening on many fronts. The rest of the world leads the way, whereas the U.S., the core of the old imperialism, fights hardest against its destruction.

The Full Moon of last February 15 will be looked back on as the watershed time, when the world tipped towards peace and justice, as people throughout the world united in protests against the planned U.S. attack on Iraq. That Full Moon was exactly conjoined the U.S. Moon at 28 Aquarius. It was also exactly conjoined the Aquarian Chiron of the Confederacy chart, and within a degree of the Confederate Mercury in Aquarius! This is a spectacular conjunction.

In the carts of couples, I always find a strong Chiron connection, such as this one. Chiron is the Healer. It heals by throwing us willy-nilly into new dimensions or experiences, so that we are called on to use more of ourselves and thus become more whole, or healed. Sometimes those experiences are difficult.

The U.S. Moon in Aquarius, in the last, or Libra, decanate, no less, along with the U.S. mythology, promises a nation of freedom, equality, and opportunity. That promise has never been quite fulfilled. I suspect that the block to its fulfillment was the circumstance that the nation’s founders could not agree on, or hardly even talk about, the abolition of slavery. This has been America’s dirty, dark secret which has kept us in conflict and bondage ever since.

The South was where it was lived out, and festered, while the North was in denial. The South has been a major sacrificial lamb to the history of America’s integrity and wholeness. With its Chiron on the U.S. Moon, the South can heal that wound.

This very old balsamic moon phase of the Confederacy chart, is, in fact, sometimes called the "martyr" phase, because it does mean sacrificing the past. The fixed sign of Aquarius is not about to go easily. But we can see that the old ideas of exploitation and everything for profit no longer serve us. They block the new ideas of democracy and self-realization which people worldwide are now struggling to express.

The Bush Administration, in manifesting the old imperialism through its expression of the Old South, so publicly and so vehemently, is providing the service of mobilizing the emotions needed for change, and revitalizing our higher ideals.

In fact, support for the sacrificial nature of the Old South-Bush-U.S. connection is the circumstance that Bush’s Sun conjoins that of the U.S., thus showing a great deal of identification between the two. Furthermore, Bush’s Sun is the chart ruler of his Leo-rising chart, and it is in the twelfth house of sacrifice.

Remember that a few months ago I talked about the U.S. moving into a historic new 360-year progressed cycle? About February 1, 2002, the U.S. progressed Sun conjoined its natal Moon for the first time in history. We began then a 360-year Aquarian cycle.

I’ve been speculating about the meaning of that cycle. Will it emphasize the high tech weapons, mind control, genetic modification, and cloning which are all being developed and used now? These are Aquarian interests. Will it be a time of dictatorship, which is possible with Uranus? Or of clamping down on freedoms, possible with Saturn? Or will it be the Aquarian Golden Age, where we live together in respect, harmony, love, and intelligent friendship?

I think the answer to what will ultimately prevail lies in the fact of the peace movement getting a huge jumpstart just after that historic U.S. progression in Aquarius, and in this Confederacy Chart which may ultimately bring us into a higher Aquarian vibration.