JANUARY 2006   

Following George Bush’s admission in December that he had ordered the National Security Agency (NSA) to secretly spy on the American people (How many and who? Nobody knows, probably not even the NSA), there have been outcries from Congress for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. Rep. John Conyers (Democrat-Michigan) has introduced a series of resolutions laying the groundwork for possible impeachment of Bush.

Charges include “manipulation of pre-war intelligence, encouraging and countenancing torture, retaliating against critics, and thwarting congressional oversight” of the President’s conduct in misleading the nation into the war in Iraq.

The movement for impeachment is surging. Both progressive groups and progressive legislators are now active in promoting it. Town Hall meetings are being organized across the nation.

Can George Bush and Dick Cheney be impeached? Practically, it is only possible if enough Democrats are elected to Congress in the 2006 elections. This will be difficult because Republicans have tied up so much of the electoral process. (For anyone who wants this impeachment to happen, it is worth working hard to elect Democratic legislators, regardless of your political ideology and party affiliations. The impeachment could be, and would be, only a beginning towards democratic reform in the U.S.)

Dick Cheney’s birthday is coming soon. Let us look at his Solar Return for 2006. The Solar Return is a transit chart constructed each year for the moment the Sun returns to its birth degree. It gives a picture of the dominant features of the coming year.

Cheney was born at 7:30 p.m. on January 30, 1941 in Lincoln, Nebraska. His natal chart shows Sun in Aquarius, and Moon in Pisces, with Virgo rising. He is a servant of the collective. With Juno on his Ascendant, he may be a person with many fears (paranoid perhaps?). Juno does open him to a victim role—which may make defense paramount in his psyche.

Cheney’s Solar Return for January 30, 2006 shows him to be extraordinarily connected to the U.S. this year. How? Well, because his Solar Return (SR) Aquarius Moon conjoins that of the U.S. Moon in Aquarius, he can be on the same wavelength as the American people. With his SR Ascendant conjoined the U.S. Cancer Sun, he is energized by the nation’s defense and security needs. His Saturn conjoins the U.S. North Node in the royal sign of Leo, putting him firmly in charge of the nation’s direction. His SR midheaven conjoins his natal Moon in Pisces, giving him a broad connection with the public. He will be more on public view than is his custom.

For months I have been talking about the fixed T-square, a tension-pressure configuration, as being the major aspect of late 2005, and into the autumn of 2006. The planets involved are Saturn and Jupiter, the pair which relate to careers and all of the mundane workings of society, along with Neptune, the dreamer and visionary. A fourth planet, action-oriented Mars, has given us the complete fixed grand square in which we have been participating these last few months, and which continues through January. Difficult stresses, and changes, have been prominent during these months.

Fixed sign changes make for huge power shifts.

So is Cheney’s natal chart caught in this vise? Indeed. He was born with six of the ten major planets in fixed signs, along with a fixed sign midheaven, which speaks to his place in the world. This shows major changes for him.

In his SR, these instrumental fixed sign transiting planets are in Cheney’s fixed houses, adding to their change impact. These are also houses both of resources and of endings. The 8th house in particular is the house of birth and death, of crises, and of transformation. In his SR, Cheney’s Sun is in the 8th house, showing deep changes in his identity and his pathway. This also shows that his creativity and vitality will be focused on working on joint resources with others, e.g., the financial system, Social Security “reform,” and energy matters. It is opposed by Saturn in his second house, showing that difficulties with money and resources could be problems for him. Perhaps the Republican scandals now emerging will touch him.

This same fixed sign square is transiting Cheney’s natal chart in the 4 “behind-the-scenes” houses. These are houses of re-alignment and preparation. They are more oriented towards planning than towards doing—which is Cheney’s forte anyway.

By itself, Sun in the 8th house is a harbinger of major transformation, of death, and of change. The 8th house is powerful Pluto’s domain. And Pluto itself is powerful now in Cheney’s chart.

1. SR Pluto squares (challenges) SR midheaven, emphasizing Cheney’s major change in direction, but also most likely adding to his power in the world—although Pluto always has the power to destroy. At any rate, the midheaven is where we find our destinies, and Cheney’s destiny will be shaken to its foundations and forever changed this year.

2. SR Chiron, the Wounded Healer, opposes Cheney’s natal Pluto, his power. Chiron basically realigns our energies, but first it disrupts them. Cheney’s power is in a wounding-healing process.

3. Cheney’s progressed Pluto conjoins his progressed midheaven, another show of worldly power. He feels he is the boss, and must remain in control. Cheney’s progressed Mars opposes the progressed Pluto and conjoins his progressed nadir, adding a great deal of energy to this process of power transformation.

4. Progressed Pluto is super-powerful because it is nearly stationary, preparing to turn direct. This doubles the impact of all Plutonian energies for Cheney for the next decade.

5. Cheney’s progressed Moon is at 28 Cancer, opposing U.S. Pluto, thus absorbing the nation’s power. The progressed Moon moves relatively quickly, and this progressed Moon, filled with power, will enter the sign of Leo in two months. Then it will quickly conjoin his progressed Pluto, oppose his progressed Mars, conjoin his progressed midheaven, and conjoin his natal Pluto. This is an absolutely enormous gathering of transformative action which will be seen by all. July and August will be critical months.

This is the tip of the iceberg of major transformation occurring with Dick Cheney this year. There are many options, of course, for transformation. But all in all, it appears to me that most likely is a greater assumption of power by Cheney.

Cheney has the capacity to be a true healer of the national power. Could this deep a transformation occur in him?

I don’t know the outcome of Cheney’s year. But it will be visible to all of us.