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Astrology
by Hand Week 36
More
on George W.
Last
week,
we talked about our new president and his Twelfth House Sun. We asked
the question, “How could he become president when he has something in
his chart which is so unpresidential, namely, the Twelfth House Sun?”
There are
two possible answers. The first is one that most modern astrologers would
give. Most of us believe that with wisdom, patience and understanding,
one can overcome the negative effects of almost any astrological indication
and live out only its best and highest possible manifestations. People
do this all the time. But a Twelfth House Sun usually indicates a “behind
the scenes” kind of person. There is nothing wrong with that. There is
really nothing to be “overcome.” But we are still left with the question
of why someone with George
W. Bush's chart would even want to be in the limelight.
This leads
to the second possibility. Could there be something in the chart that
suggests that Bush might want to be out in the public eye even if there
are Twelfth House qualities that he might still exhibit? I believe that
there is. But to show you how this might be the case, we are going to
have to get into a somewhat more complicated level of astrology than we
did last week.
 Last
week, we talked about a single factor, the Twelfth House Sun. As everyone
who studies astrology knows, astrology doesn’t work because of single
factors any more than a sentence in language contains meaning because
of only one word. It is the relationship among the words that makes a
sentence, and it is the relationships among astrological factors that
make statements about the person.
What makes
Bush’s chart interesting is something called “reception.” And this in
turn is based on another idea, “rulership.” We need to take up rulership
first.
The
Signs and the Planets, the Connection
Each sign
is associated with planets that are said to “rule” that sign. It is actually
more accurate to say that such a planet “takes care” of whatever may be
associated with that sign than that the planet “rules” the sign. If you
have studied any astrology you know that Mars rules Aries, Venus rules
Taurus, etc. This is what those of us who study traditional astrology
call “domicile rulership.”
Some of you
may also know that planets are exalted in signs. This is another kind
of rulership. The sign in which a planet is exalted is one where the planet
can best express its energy—even better than it does in the sign it rules.
The Sun is exalted in Aries, the Moon in Taurus, etc. The exaltation of
a planet in a sign gives that planet exaltation rulership over that sign.
Just to complete things, here is a table of the domicile and exaltation
rulers of the signs.
Okay, that’s
it for the technical stuff. Let’s get on with Bush’s chart.
Bush’s
Sun Is “Received”
Let’s look
at Bush’s Sun. It is in the sign Cancer. Consulting our table, we see
that the rulers of Cancer are the Moon and Jupiter. Now let’s look at
the chart. If we look at the Moon, we find that it is at 16 degrees of
Libra. Jupiter is at 18 degrees of Libra, and the Sun is at 13 degrees
of Cancer. Notice that the degree values of the positions are nearly the
same, 13 to 16 to 18 for a total spread of about 5 degrees.
Now Cancer
and Libra are a quarter of a circle apart. This is called a “square” for
those not versed in astrology. This is a very significant angle or aspect.
It is normally supposed to indicate conflict and struggle. Most modern
astrologers would agree that this is not an especially “bad” square. But
medieval astrology says that it is actually a “good,” i.e., a very powerful
square, and readily productive of good results. Why? Because the Cancer
Sun is square to Cancer’s two rulers, and any aspect or significant angle
between a planet and its rulers is productive. This is called “reception.”
Where modern astrology says this is not so bad, traditional astrology
says this is actually good!
Also, if
we look at the movement of the Moon, we can see that it is going from
the position of squaring the Sun at 13 degrees of Libra (I refer to the
position of the square of the Sun, not the Sun itself) to coming together
(conjunction) with Jupiter at 18 Libra. The older astrologers regarded
the Moon here as pushing the power of the Sun onto Jupiter. This is an
extremely strong combination. So we now know that Bush’s Sun is actually
quite powerful once we see the presence of the receptions.
Next week
we will take this one step further and we will see how all of this makes
Bush’s being president even more plausible, even though most of us would
agree that it is not a “classic” presidential chart, whatever that may
be!
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