Security Tight for Bush Inauguration

Faced with mass demonstrations and the risk of violent disruption, the Secret
Service will be fully deployed on January 20 when President-elect George W.
Bush is inaugurated. Opponents are gathering over a wide range of political
causes, including Bush's stand on the death penalty, corporate welfare, and
anti-abortion, and especially over his legitimate right to be president.

Traditionally, the swearing in ceremony is scheduled for 12:00 noon.
Political astrologers use the Inauguration horoscope to make forecasts on the
first term, and this one shows a general atmosphere of hostile conflict,
including the tension around the actual event itself. The dominant indicator
for this is Mars, which stands out by being angular, and from its difficult
aspects to Uranus and Saturn (see last week's NewsScope for more on these
Mars links).

Mars stands out for another reason, and that is its zodiacal location in the
middle of Scorpio. At this point Mars is exactly square the U.S. Midheaven
(using the Scorpio Rising U.S. horoscope). Whenever Mars makes a hard aspect
to the U.S. Midheaven, the day's news events tend to be exceptionally fierce
and confrontational. That this link-up is taking place as the foundation
moment for Bush's term indicates danger ahead.

Nixon's 1973 inauguration is the closest parallel. In that chart Mars and
Saturn were also opposite each other, and the inaugural ceremony featured
60,000 protestors against the Vietnam War. That moment projected trouble
across Nixon's term, ultimately resulting in his resignation. While we cannot
say that Bush will leave office early, the dynamic tension in his
inauguration does foreshadow widespread, tumultuous discord.

The Tianamen Papers

James Lilley, the U.S. Ambassador to China during the 1989 Tianamen Square
uprising, confirmed last week the validity of secret papers smuggled out of
China which describe the top level debate over declaring martial law. The Red
Army crackdown killed thousands of student protestors and resulted in a power
shift among the ruling communist party, ultimately leading to Jiang Zemin
becoming the new President.

China's horoscope (October 1, 1949; 3:15 pm; Beijing) reflects the 1989
events clearly, and further describes an ongoing power struggle between
hardliners and those seeking reform. At the moment China's Aquarius Ascendant
is being activated by hopeful, secretive Neptune. Mercury, the natural ruler
of documents, has joined the slower-moving Neptune just as the so-called
Tianamen Papers are being published in English.

China's horoscope was hit hard last June by the powerful
Jupiter-Saturn-Uranus configuration. Since then China scholar Andrew Nathan
received and translated smuggled documents revealing the inside story of the
democracy movement, including the claim that 100 million Chinese were
protesting in major cities throughout China by mid-May 1989. Last Tuesday
China officials denounced the Tianamen Papers as forgeries.

The complete Chinese version of the Tianamen Papers won't be published until
April, but the English translations translated back into Chinese are already
in circulation and being widely discussed. Revolutionary Uranus is now
squaring China's Venus, located in the ninth house of publishing.
Simultaneously, transiting Saturn, the planet bringing reality checks, has
stopped at the fourth house cusp, the foundation point of the communist
regime.

Calista Flockhart Adopts

Hollywood celebrities were gaga over Calista Flockhart's decision to adopt a
baby boy born on New Year's Eve. The Ally McBeal star doesn't have a man in
her life at the moment so decided to adopt, reported the National Enquirer.
"I'm completed enchanted and awestruck," she said.

Calista Flockhart was born a Pluto-ruled Scorpio (November 11, 1964; 9:06 am;
Freeport, IL) with her Sun conjunct dreamy, imaginative Neptune. With
free-spirited Sagittarius on her Ascendant, Flockhart finds being single a
natural state. Last week her image changed dramatically as Ceres, the
asteroid denoting motherhood, transited across her Ascendant. Ceres makes
this crossing every four years, and one may reasonably ask why she hasn't
become a mother during previous Ceres transits.

The urgency to take life-transforming action can be seen in the transit of
Pluto, now squaring her natal Pluto. Since Pluto's orbit is highly
elliptical, different generations experience Pluto's opening square to natal
Pluto at very different ages. Pluto is closest to the Sun now, and so those
born in the mid-1960s are the youngest generation to undergo a life-death
struggle to understand the soul's innermost calling.

Flockhart is experiencing a serious bout of loneliness* along with hearing
her biological clock. Then, transiting Uranus, the ultimate mover toward
taking independent action, is exactly squaring her natal Sun. The
synchronized combination of Ceres and Uranus is often motivation for being a
single mother.

* Progressed Venus in the twelfth house of isolation is desperately
misunderstood and traumatized by squaring her Saturn. Reader feedback is
welcome. Email: [email protected].