#45
The Amoral Trio 
March 24, 2004

Dear Subscribers,
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Preface

     This Forecast, about Moon/Mercury chart similarities for Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney, was planned for publication last summer.  I put it aside to broaden the scope of forecast work.
     However, with the rising tide of criticism, primarily now about terrorism and the Iraq war, but also truly imminent concerning domestic policies, it is useful to examine how these three key players operate.  Learning how Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney think and act will be helpful in understanding of the continuing unfolding of this truly historic period.

The Moon with Mercury

     Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney all have the Moon in full connection with Mercury in their charts.  This section describes these planets and how they relate in combination.
      The Moon is the perceptional mind, how we perceive an interact with the world.  It is a intrinsically  worldly influence in describing the benefits in life a person may achieve and giving public awareness.  The Moon is also extremely variable, as reflected in its waxing and waning and fast passage through the constellations (signs).
     Mercury is the intellect, how we analyze information.  Mercury is also variable but in a different way than the Moon.  Mercury is mutable, like its metal which flows, and it takes on the influence of planets   with which it associates.  Mercury has no ethical underpinning to guide its judgments and goals.
     Below are three ways to view the Moon/Mercury combination: 
     First, the Moon and Mercury have a mixed or troubled relationship in Vedic Astrology.  As concerns whether the Moon and Mercury are friends or enemies (whether they support or harm each other), the Moon is a friend to Mercury, but Mercury is an enemy to the Moon.  The Moon can support Mercury with perception, but Mercury distorts lunar perception.
     Another way to view these two planets is through the Lunar Nakshatra (one of the Moon's 27 houses) of Mrigrashira.  (Note: the Moon is generally a female symbol but in ancient scriptures, it is sometimes a male symbol.)

     Implicit here is the immorality resulting from the Moon's desiring and seducing Tara.  This myth also establishes the linkage between the Moon and Mercury, one which is both highly personal and intense, since the Moon is the father to Mercury.
     The third approach is to understand, by means of their significations, how the Moon and Mercury influence each other.  The Moon is perception and also worldly benefits, as stated above.  Mercury is the analyst, the mind's calculator.  When these planets signifying the two parts of the mind combine, a concentrated intellect naturally results.  The Moon's awareness of worldly information incites Mercury to distinguish opportunities and imagine gains.  Mercury therefore constantly and ceaselessly plots and schemes to gain the Moon's worldly benefits.  In turn, the Moon's earthly pleasures and public discernment are colored by Mercury to manipulative desire.  The unified Mercury/Moon mind is focused for personal material gain.  It is a difficult combination, not just for the excessive mental intensity but also because it distracts from personal growth. 
     Another group of mental planetary and house influences comes into play here: 2nd house of truth, 4th house emotions, 5th house morality, 9th house of higher knowledge, Jupiter's wisdom and Venus's compassion.  Moon/Mercury overrides these other mental significators and also takes them over for personal gain.  Still, if these other mental significators are relatively intact in the chart, the Moon/Mercury person may achieve a great deal personally and still make a positive contribution to society.  However, if these other mental areas of the chart are weak or afflicted, Moon/Mercury will incorporate the resulting mental aberrations in a selfish or dysfunctional agenda -- like Cheney's being driven to paranoia by hatred of foreigners and greed.    
     In my experience with clients' charts, whenever I see Moon/Mercury, I suggest the people always be inmersed in mental pursuits to productively use their tremendous Moon/Mercury mental focus.  For young people with this combination, I encourage them to complete college and graduate school work as a productive use of mental resources (and where they may learn about ethics), for their rapacious minds would otherwise propel them into disreputable activities.  

Bush, Rumsfeld & Cheney

     George Bush's core allies and strategists are Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney.  All three men share the Moon and Mercury in full connection.  This term means that the planets are either conjunct (Cheney) or exchange signs (Bush and Rumsfeld).  The former means the planets sit in one house, and the latter describes the Moon sitting in a sign owned by Mercury, and Mercury sitting in Cancer, owned by the Moon.  Although full connection is self defining, it is worthwhile explaining that this means the two planets are so intricately entwined that their significations are fused, like alloys in a metal.
     For each man, the life consists of mental gymnastics for gain, and this takes the form of plotting and scheming, as stated above.  Conniving and conspiring are other useful terms here, for in each chart, the other mental significators are badly harmed.  Although planetary relationships among their charts must draw them together, simply having the Moon/Mercury in combination gives an underlying affinity, 
     The chart for each man and his attendant planetary cycles are shown below, along with summary observations:

(*Rahu is an eclipse point in Vedic Astrology an in mythology is the head of a serpent signifying worldly cravings and desires.) 

The Amoral Trio

     These three men share a Moon/Mercury egocentric mental focus, and both Rumsfeld and Cheney have major influence over Bush, who, after all, came to the Presidency with little background and benefits from powerful friends. 
     Notable is that each chart has a powerfully destructive Saturn, and all three men were running Saturn in their cycles during the the formative period of Bush's administration, when the invasion of Iraq was estab- lished as the priority.
     Also significant, although not discussed in the abbreviated comments by each chart, is that for all three charts, the 2nd house of speech is injured, bringing dishonesty, and that the 8th house of secrets is powerful.  Combining these significations with the Moon/Mercury plotting and scheming for gain, they have come together like a band of thieves to sell an plan based on lies and to protect a secret agenda.