June 24, 2002
Saturn Tests Transportation Issues
Amtrak, the nation's sole operator of intercity passenger trains, is in
desperate need of $200 million over the coming week or it will begin shutting
down service immediately. The Bush Administration proposed a number of
reforms last Thursday designed to give states more responsibility for train
service, but none of them would rescue Amtrak from its current cash crunch.
Astrologically, the passage of Saturn is the key planetary indicator leading
to a crisis in the railroad industry. Saturn is nearly conjunct the U.S.
Mars, which is located in the transportation and communications sign of
Gemini. In the Scorpio Rising U.S. horoscope (2:21 pm; July 4, 1776), Mars is
in the eighth house of corporations, so Saturn is testing corporate
enterprises associated with transportation and communications.
In related news, U.S. Airways is trying to persuade its unions to agree to
cuts worth some $950 million in order to get a loan from the U.S. government.
The hold-up is the pilots union, but any agreement reached will have
far-reaching impact across the airline industry. Unions are ruled by the
sixth house of jobs, which in the U.S. horoscope is ruled by Mars.*
As Saturn approaches the U.S. Mars, the possibility of crippling strikes
increases. Already in New York City bus drivers are on strike, and on the
West Coast the dockworkers are threatening a slowdown which would have a
ripple effect across the economy. Watch around July 1 and 2 for the most
serious transportation talks and union arrangements as speedy Mercury joins
Saturn, and they simultaneously hit the U.S. Mars.
Neptune Confuses Bush's Middle East Policy
Last week President Bush was widely expected to propose moving toward the
creation of a Palestinian state, but suicide bombings forced him to postpone
his preferred solution to the Middle East situation. Meanwhile, Ariel
Sharon's government has decided to reoccupy the entire West Bank until the
violence stops.
From the U.S. perspective, transiting Saturn to the U.S. Mars refers to the
need for responsible use of military force. Historically, this 29-year cycle
has coincided with taking a serious look at what to do with military assets.
When Saturn was last conjunct the U.S. Mars in 1972-73, President Nixon was
winding down the Vietnam War by withdrawing troops and supplies. However, the
previous cycle, which took place in April 1944 witnessed the massing of the
largest military armada in history in preparation for D-Day.
We can expect that Bush, working in tandem with the Pentagon, is similarly
strategizing about the optimum use for U.S. military assets. Last week the
Washington Post revealed that the CIA was given the go-ahead to dethrone
Saddam Hussein using whatever means available (see NewsScope June 10, 2002).
Palestinian and other world leaders say that only U.S. troops in the Middle
East could control this crisis.
Bush's advisers are keenly divided over Middle East strategy. Bush just
doesn't know what to do here, an uncertainty reflected astrologically by
transiting Neptune opposed to his Mercury (the ruler of the 11th house of
advisers). Using the technique of AstroCartoGraphy, Bush's Mercury is
directly associated with his Middle East policy since his Mercury line goes
right through Jerusalem.
Vanna White Files for Divorce
Wheel of Fortune hostess Vanna White and her husband have reached a mutual
decision to end their marriage, a publicist for the show announced last week.
The couple have been married for 11 years, but separated last November
because of irreconcilable differences. One hundred million viewers watch
Vanna turn over letters every week.
Vanna White was born a cerebral Aquarius (February 18k, 1957; 2:35 pm; North
Myrtle Beach, SC) with her Moon in charming Libra. This Sun-Moon blend
delights in mental abstractions and is especially adept at working in
partnership, something co-host Pat Sajak obviously appreciates. Her Sun is
glamorously enhanced by a trine to otherworldly Neptune, and made the object
of intense fascination by an exact opposition to obsessive Pluto.
Venus, the Love Goddess, is found in free-spirited, independent Aquarius, and
is prominently placed by virtue of her many aspects, including an exact
conjunction with the asteroid Vesta. Venus-Vesta brings a devotion to beauty,
and helps explain why she holds the world's record for displaying the
greatest quantity of outfits on television, many of which she designed
herself.
Venus-Vesta combinations have a downside, and that is that the devotion to
work and being beautiful can displace intimacy. Over the last year transiting
Pluto activated her fateful Yod configuration formed with her Saturn,
Venus-Vesta** and her Cancer Ascendant, forcing her to realistically deal
with her disconnect from husband George Santo Pietro. The two separated and
filed for divorce as transiting Pluto has been conjunct her Saturn.
* Aries is on the cusp of the U.S. sixth house, and since Mars is associated
with Aries, Mars rules the sixth house.
** Note that progressed Chiron is forming an exact, to-the-minute conjunction
with this Venus-Vesta. Also her Venus-Vesta is exactly conjunct the U.S. IC,
explaining why she has become such an American icon for beauty.
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