George W. Bush And Religion

by Steffan Vanel 09/09/04

Here is the next installment in my on-going interpretation of the Astrological Karma of George W. Bush. See my April Column, May Column, June Column, July Column, and August Column for the first five installments of this series.

Dear Friends,

Here is the final installment of my chapter on George W. Bush. Next month I will begin to present the chapter on John F. Kerry.

For those who can’t wait for next month I am happy to say that the new edition of my book: The Astrological Karma of the USA is now available. You can order it from your local bookstore (tell them it is distributed by New Leaf) or you can order it for $23.95 postpaid from: Spiritual Company Press, PO Box 476, Curlew, WA. 99118. Or by phone with Visa/MC at (206) 903-9538.

My website: www.spiritualcompany.com should have the Table of Contents and the Foreword to the book online soon.

The Astrological Karma of George W. Bush - Final Installment:

In mentioning the religious powers, one has to look at the power and effect of religion in George W.’s experience of himself. Writers have described the Bush administration as a theocracy, pointing out the heavy reliance upon religious faith and terminology in Bush’s political statements. One can surmise that such statements may prove to be no more than political posturing to appease Bush’s political base within the Christian Right. Personally, I think that George W.’s faith is deeper and more sincere than that — and more alarming than that.

George W. realized during his conversion experience with the Reverend Billy Graham that he had turned to alcohol instead of God to deal with his problems. Bush’s reliance on God to deal with his problems, choices, and decisions can be a similar kind of ‘chemical dependence.’ It is no accident that Neptune relates to both mystical, spiritual union and to drugs and alcohol. All of these experiences create a dissolving, a surrendering, a freedom from the harsh concrete realities of life. All of these experiences require a strong grounding in concrete reality as it is, for a necessary balance. The positive balance of faith and concrete action will produce someone like Gandhi. A negative imbalance, where religious faith is really a narcissistic ego-inflation or a compensation for insecurity, will produce something along the lines of the Inquisition. It is this kind of danger which scares me when I look at George W. Bush and many of the people behind him.

In the book, Plan of Attack, by Bob Woodward, Bush was asked if he had consulted his father before going to war and his reply was: “You know, he’s the wrong father to appeal to in terms of strength. There is a higher father that I appeal to.”

Now, myself, I also pray to God for clarity and strength in my life. However, for George W. to deflect a question regarding his appreciation and reliance upon his own human father, who had himself served as a president at war with Saddam Hussein, to an assertion of his reliance on God the Father for strength is somehow suspect. This is especially the case when I think of George W’s complex relationship with his father and when I look at George W’s Astrological aspects. In particular, the aspects involving Neptune, Moon and Jupiter in the Third House of mental thinking and communication, in tension with the Sun (representing father principle). The Jupiter/Neptune component calls to mind something Astrologer Liz Greene said about an aspect involving Jupiter and Neptune. She said that such an aspect will create a situation in which “a sense of absolute moral rightness renders self-questioning superfluous.”²⁶ This statement, in turn, brings to mind some campaign advice given by Bush’s right hand man and mentor, Dick Cheney, to associates when he was White House chief of staff in 1976: “Principle is okay up to a certain point, but principle doesn’t do any good if you lose.”²⁷

In relating to George W.’s reliance on God for strength I find my sense of being caught in the crossfire of the current ‘culture wars’ taking place in this country at this time being stimulated. On the one hand I, along with the Christian Right, am appalled at the torrent of secular obsession with consumerism, sex, and fame, which has created a moral vacuum in much of our affairs. At the same time, I am appalled at the Christian Right’s abduction of the moral high ground on these issues, with the attendant obsessive allegiance to a narrow platform of fundamentalist ideology. What is ominous is that people can and often do the most abhorrent things when they think that God is on their side. I believe many liberal, and moderate minded people in this country share this same frustration between these two extremes.

It is George W. Bush’s Astrological Karma which has brought him to this position where he must experience the results of his actions. It is the collective karma of the United States of America to have him as our president and to experience the results of his actions.

In the month of the election, November 2004, George W. Bush will have Saturn conjuncting his Twelfth House Saturn by transit. This is the same Saturn which was being aspected at the time of the death of his sister Robin. I am certainly not predicting or hoping that this current transit will result in such a tragic personal loss for George W. It does seem, however, that the time of the election will be a difficult one for him. He will be feeling the heaviness he carries in his own unconscious. In 2005 Saturn will go over his Leo Ascendant and his Mercury in Leo. At that time I predict that he will be deeply humbled, in some manner. His Leonine flair for arrogance and self-absorption will be brought under the heavy leaden hand of Saturn. I personally hope that this will be due to his having lost the 2004 election and then reflecting on the effects of his regime moving into the mists of history. Otherwise, if Bush has been re-elected, I fear what other forces may cause this humbling of our President. On election day, the choice will be ours.

Footnotes

1. Astrology Plus, p. 26.
2. Ibid, p. 40
3. George and Laura: Portrait of an American Marriage, Christopher Anderson, p. 193
4. Ibid, p. 38.
5. Astrology Plus, p. 18.
6. Barbara Bush:A Memoir, p. 49.
7. Interview with Jeb Bush with Bill Minutaglio, found in First Son: George W. Bush and the Bush Family Dynasty, Bill Minutaglio, p. 23.
8. Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President, J.H.Hatfield, p. 23.
9. Astrology Plus, 6.
10. Ibid, p. 148.
11. Found in: W: Revenge of the Bush Dynasty,
    Elizabeth Mitchell, p. 35.
12. Astrology Plus, p. 59.
13. George and Laura, p. 48.
14. Ibid, p. 45.
15. Fortunate Son, J.H.Hatfield, p. 25.
16. George and Laura, p. 45.
17. First Son, p. 36.
18. W: Revenge of the Bush Dynasty, p. 197.
19. George and Laura, p. 109.
20. Ambling into History, Frank Bruni, p. 139.
21. The New Pentagon Papers, Karen Kwiatkowski, www.salon.com, March 10, 2004.
22. Astrology Plus, p. 136.
23. The Price of Loyalty, Ron Suskind, p. 126.
24. Ibid. p. 293
25. Ibid. p. 130.
26. The Astrological Neptune, Liz Greene, p. 286.
27. Found on p. 178 in Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush, by John W. Dean.

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