May 3, 2004

Saturn Tests the Hearts and Minds

Last week photographs of American soldiers torturing and humiliating Iraqi prisoners aired on "60 Minutes II" and were soon flashed across the world. Meanwhile, one of Saddam's former generals was given control in the turbulent city of Fallujah as American troops withdrew, and polls indicated that 70 percent of Iraqi citizens see Americans as an unwanted occupational force rather than a liberating army.

Astrologically, Saturn is the main anxiety-producing transit of the moment. As transiting Saturn heads for Bush's Sun (exact on June 14), it also conjoins the U.S. Sun (exact on June 10). For better or worse, the Bush agenda is shaping America's image across the global village. Saturn to the Sun tests one's direction in life, and whether current progress can be judged a success or failure.

Transiting Saturn's conjunction with the U.S. Sun, located in the ninth house of foreign affairs, has corresponded historically to the sitting President's efforts to work with foreign countries. The last three presidents to experience this 29-year cycle all followed this path, which led to epochal changes: President Woodrow Wilson and the League of Nations, President Truman and the United Nations, President Nixon and the conferences with the Soviet Union and the opening of China.

From this perspective, the path to success should be obvious. Bush has already turned over the process of creating an interim Iraqi government to U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, which is in keeping with Saturn's message. However, the U.S. may keep tight political and military control, making international participation a sham. Saturn is now testing Bush's resolve to go it alone, or work with others.

Picasso's Rose Period

Sotheby's annual spring auction features an extraordinary painting by Pablo Picasso titled "Garcon a la Pipe" (Boy with a Pipe), and is expected to fetch $70 million or more. Art enthusiasts around the world are chattering about the prospects for a new record, with talk of a $100 million selling price.

Pablo Picasso was born during an unusual planetary alignment in Taurus (October 25, 1881; 11:15 pm; Malaga, Spain) which is located in his tenth house of vocational and professional interests. The five Taurus planets here promise a prosperous career, but with the taskmaster Saturn the lead planet and opposed to his Sun, he would have to work hard for it.

Picasso has Mars in Cancer, a placement generally considered by astrologers to be weak, but for an artist, it sensitizes him to moods and vibrations which shape his work. Picasso's so-called Blue Period between 1901 and 1904 featured bleak scenes painted in dismal shades of blue and gray. Transiting Saturn was passing through his seventh house then, and he wasn't happy with the company he was keeping.

In 1904 when his progressed Venus was conjunct his Sun, Picasso fell in love. Suddenly his paintings took on a rose tint, giving birth to a new phase called the Rose Period. "Garcon a la Pipe" is from this Rose Period, and on May 5 when this painting comes up, transiting Jupiter turns direct while opposing Uranus. This exciting Jupiter-Uranus combination creates buzz, and also occurred on May 15, 1990 when Van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" set the current record of $82.5 million.

Jennifer Aniston Tops The Most Beautiful People