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Astrology
by Hand Week 43
The
Chart of Richard Cheney
This week
we explore the chart of Dick
Cheney, a vice president who seems to be doing most of the
real work of the Bush
presidency. His birth data has become available from Lois Rodden’s Astrodatabank.
Cheney was
born January 30, 1941, at 7:30 pm in Lincoln, Nebraska. His Sun (self)
is in airy, electric Aquarius, his Moon (emotions) is in sensitive
Pisces and his Ascendant (his public face) is in detail-oriented Virgo. The first
thing that I noticed when I looked at his chart is that Cheney’s birthday
is the same day (different year of course) as Franklin Delano Roosevelt
(born January 30, 1882, at 8:45 pm LMT in Hyde Park, New York).
 Cheney’s
and Roosevelt’s Suns are within one degree of each other. Cheney’s Sun
is 10 Aquarius 48 minutes and FDR’s was 11 degrees and 8 minutes. Although
they have different degrees on their Ascendants, the rising signs are
the same, Virgo. The similarities do not stop there. Both of them were
born within a year of a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in Taurus, both charts
have Jupiter and Saturn still in Taurus and the Saturns are about two
degrees away from each other. This means that both of them have the Sun
square (a harsh 90-degree angle) restrictive Saturn. Both men have
their Moons in water signs, FDR in Cancer and Cheney in Pisces, and both
have rebellious Uranus very near an angle, FDR just above the rising degree
and Cheney’s just past the Midheaven, or culminating degree, the point
of career.
With all
of this one would expect some degree of similarity between them. Well,
obviously there is. Both have spent long periods of time in public service,
and one became president and the other a vice president. Also, FDR was
under secretary of the navy, and Cheney was secretary of defense under
the previous Bush administration.
Obviously
there is also a major difference. FDR was a liberal; Cheney is a conservative.
How can we see this difference? FDR’s Uranus is near his Ascendant, which
would make him personally something of a Uranian, i.e., rebel, non-traditional,
etc. Cheney’s is near the Midheaven, which would not make him personally
Uranian, but would give that quality to his career. A Uranian career could
be an unconventional one, which is not especially the case with Cheney,
or it could signify a career in which Uranian (sudden, unexpected, disruptive)
events occur. (Whether this latter is true remains to be seen, but see
the chart
of the Bush inauguration given a couple of weeks ago.) Also,
Cheney’s Midheaven is in Taurus, an earth sign that is usually a bit more
conservative than Gemini, the sign on the Midheaven in FDR’s chart.
Will
the Real President of the United States Please Stand Up
Like FDR,
Cheney is obviously a workaholic, and it is very clear that Cheney is
shouldering far more of the work of being president than any other vice
president in history, to the extent that it is not at all clear who is
really in charge. As I have indicated before in these columns, Bush looks
like a front man for a group of people running the country, and Cheney
is the most important man in that group, at least as far as the actual
work done is concerned.
These qualities
are found in Cheney’s chart through the following placements:
1) The Sun
in the Sixth House square Saturn. The Sixth House is the house of work
and service.
2) The square
to Saturn makes the Sun even more work-oriented and also indicates a high-degree
of perfectionism. The Sun is also square Jupiter, which is conjunct Saturn.
Jupiter and Saturn combined are generally representative of big business,
and Cheney does have strong connections with the business community.
3) The Ascendant
in Virgo can also make one an avid worker and often confers a self-effacing
quality that makes one content to be a worker behind the scenes or in
a supporting role.
4) And finally,
this is also all supported by the fact that Mercury, the ruler of his
rising degree in Virgo, is also in the Sixth House of work and service.
Now, all
of this is true about FDR’s chart as well, except for the close conjunction
of Jupiter and Saturn and FDR's Sun is in the Fifth House rather than the Sixth. But FDR would not have been content to be second
in command. What made FDR so different from Cheney? FDR had action-oriented
Mars conjunct the Midheaven, which made him too independent to be a second
in command, and also made him a brilliant war leader.
The
Problem of Cheney’s Health
None of this
would be a problem if it were not for the fact that Cheney’s health does
not appear to be up to the burden laid upon him. It is not just a matter
of his having a heart condition. Cheney had his first heart attack at
the age of 37, has had quadruple bypass surgery and has had two heart
“incidents” since the beginning of the presidential campaign. One was
last fall, and the other happened a few weeks ago. These recent heart
episodes along with his past history show a chronic heart condition, not
mere isolated incidents. No one has any way of knowing whether he will
be well or fall ill at any time.
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