NewsScope for November 18, 2003

Planets Eclipse Iraq Strategy

Last Tuesday, Paul Bremer, the U.S. point man in Iraq, was summoned to Washington for an emergency briefing with senior White House officials. By Thursday the Bush administration announced a complete departure from the previous plan of creating a constitution before having elections. The new plan calls for a rapid transfer of power to a streamlined Iraqi Governing Council.

The turning point came in exact harmony with the planets. Uranus turned direct on November 8, the same day as the lunar eclipse. Uranus is the planet of sudden crisis, and lunar eclipses often accompany spectacular developments. These simultaneous astro-events coincided with a shocking CIA report* landing on the desk of senior White House officials last Monday that precipitated the urgent meeting with Bremer.

The lunar eclipse formed an exact square to the U.S. Midheaven in the Scorpio Rising U.S. horoscope, emphasizing the dramatic shift in America's direction and goals. The Uranus station took place right on the U.S. Sun-Saturn midpoint, showing a sudden urgency and breaking away (Uranus) from Bush's efforts (Sun) to prudently build a secure government structure (Saturn).

In Iraq's horoscope (August 23, 1921; 6:00 pm; Baghdad), Uranus is now edging toward its third and final opposition to the natal Sun. The first opposition took place last March when Saddam Hussein went into hiding, and the second took place in late August when Iraq's most prominent Islamic leader, Bakr Al-Hakim, was assassinated by a car bomb explosion. The Iraqi Governing Council is widely seen by Iraqis as a puppet government led by outsiders, and with this ongoing, volatile Uranus transit we can expect significant problems in finding legitimate leaders.

Revolution in Piscean Religions

Militant, provocative Mars has been in the faith-oriented sign of Pisces ever since June, and is now heading for a powerful square to Pluto in Sagittarius, which will be exact on November 26. As Mars gets closer to this square, we can expect an increasing number of violent, religious-based acts, like the horrific car bomb explosions in an Istanbul synagogue over the weekend.

Aside from the international terror, Mars in Pisces has also led to significant dialectic challenges circulated by the more Aquarian-styled global news media. All three of the Piscean religions—the geographically insulated Christian, Islamic, and Jewish faiths, have had to contend with new cultural ideas that challenge long-held traditions.

The six-month passage of Mars in Pisces sets the stage for the more revolutionary, seven-year transit of Uranus in Pisces. During the last six months we have seen the election of gay minister Gene Robinson (b. May 29, 1947) to the Episcopal Church, the upgrading of Mary Magdalene from prostitute to the wife of Jesus (in the bestseller The Da Vinci Code), and the controversial, exalted role of James, the brother of Jesus, based on the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Uranus, sometimes referred to as "The Awakener", enters Pisces on December 30, and will spend the next seven years in the sign representing the tail end of the last great age, the Age of Pisces. Uranus here will challenge the patriarchal religious order as an equal-partner Mary gets integrated into the collective conscious. Uranus is the planet representing the Age of Aquarius, and it's shaking up the old order.

Paris Hilton, The Poor Billionaire

Jet setter Paris Hilton, heir to the Hilton hotel fortune, was slammed with a $10 million lawsuit last week only a few weeks before her debut in Fox TV's new reality show The Simple Life. Her ex-boyfriend Rick Solomon filed a slander suit against her in a dispute over a three-year old sex video that shows the two in an intimate encounter.

Paris Hilton was born with a diamond-studded silver spoon in her mouth when the Sun was in the last degree of Aquarius (February 17, 1981; NYC; time unknown). With her Moon in royal Leo, Paris Hilton thrives on being the center of attention, and has previously made headline news with her rude and snotty antics. As she now knows, when transiting Uranus arrives on your Sun, everything seems to happen at once.

Her Venus in Aquarius is supported by favorable trines to three planets in Libra, giving her natural beauty and grace, and a viable career as a model and actress. All these Aquarius and Libra planets create an active social life. However, her Venus also forms a close square to Chiron, and this combo tends to be unlucky in love.

Venus square Chiron often feels deficient as an attractive, sexual partner, and inspires compensation by going overboard in flaunting her feminine charms. She may even feel like a victim in her social life, like an outsider. She expressed this in a recent interview when she said about herself and her younger sister, "I wish people would just treat us like the simple, down-to-earth, multibillionaire heiresses we are."

*See article from The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Personal readings are available from Michael WolfStar.