#61

Kama & Kendra -- Desire & Power

February  21, 2005

      This Forecast takes a look ahead to April 12, 2005.  It updates the January 4, 2005 in-depth Forecast,  #59 Winter/Spring Shifts Of The Major Planets,

      These are the planetary karmas continuing to drive current events.  I discussed them with regard to your personal charts in the February 12 Celestial Wheel.  There certainly has been a upsurge in weird and unexpected events this past week -- most apparent in toxic Rahu leaving Aries, ruled by Mars (machines and infections), that has brought breakdowns in cars and communications equipment and inexplicable illnesses.  As in that Celestial Wheel, I've highlighted in yellow the planetary changes which have already occurred and used pink to highlight upcoming shifts. 

     This Forecast examines how these planetary changes impact world events during the next several weeks, until Mercury returns to forward motion April 12.  To give you an overview of these planetary karmas, the February 12 Celestial Wheel can be summarized by stating that, the retrograde motion of Jupiter and Saturn turns their projective energies into latent ones, and Rahu/Ketu (the Moon's Nodes) sign change signifies instability.  This celestial situation results in the four most definitive planets in sort of unstable eddy  -- drifting without Jupiter/Saturn power and direction and prey to Rahu/Ketu's sudden shifting currents. 

     As in the January 5, 2005 In-depth Forecast, #59 Winter/Spring Shifts Of The Major Planets, I've selected charts from my growing library of public figures and nations charts to best predict karmic currents during the next several weeks:  World Transits, United States, G.W. Bush and Iraq Independence. 

     [Two explanatory notes are appropriate.  First, keep in mind that Rahu and Ketu move backwards (counterclockwise) through the signs.  Second, the World Transits chart uses the natural zodiac beginning with Aries to set the house positions and measures only the planets in transit.  There are no planetary cycles (Dasas) for this chart because there can be no birth information for the world.  Also, because the World Transits chart is global, it is a master chart, to which all other charts are subject.]

     Expect slowing of global economic progress during the next few months.  Specific areas of concern are government debts, currency fluctuations and jobs.

     I'm concerned too about a trio of destructive Mars events during March.  First, Mars and Saturn will be in direct opposition March 5.  This is a high energy combination for international violence.  Second, a week later, on March 10, Mars will aspect Rahu, stimulating violence again, this unexpected and very destructive.  Mars, throws its third punch on March 13, when it enters Capricorn, its exalted sign to release energy.   From March 5 through the 13th, expect political unrest, violence (especially terrorism) spikes in economic turbulence, earth-crust events and continued severe weather.

     To further complicate matters, on March 1, Mercury will transit into Pisces, its fallen (weak) sign in preparation for its three week retrograde starting March 20.  The planet of communication's weakness will limit and reduce the effectiveness of diplomacy for mitigating Mars-inspired harms.

     These planetary significations are obviously difficult, but keep in mind they operate globally and thereby include harming Bush's neoconservative agenda during this pivot-point launching of his second term agendas.

     As Mars and Rahu are the planets of desire, and Saturn and Jupiter indicate power, the title of this Forecast, Kama & Kendra -- Desire & Power, begins to come into play. 

     Mars' three-punch combination March 5, 10 and 13 will be augmented in the U.S. chart by Mars transiting across Ketu April 3.  A terrorist event impacting wealth is indicated.

     The U.S. planetary cycles of Moon/Mercury/Venus confirm the above-described turmoil and continuation of this second Gilded Age.  The purity crusade, government corruption, business deregulation and efforts to dismantle the New Deal are continuing.  However, domestic economic problems and challenges abroad can derail further and significant neoconservative gains

.

     Bush's power vacuum ensues from several planetary dispositions.  First, expansive Jupiter being retrograde February 2 to June 5, has taken the wind out of his sails -- just as he launches his domestic and international agendas.  He still feels expansive Jupiter's luck and optimism, but retrograde takes Jupiter's expansive power away.  If you watch the news, you've seen more bluster and bluff from Bush than actual achievement.  

     Second, dissolving Ketu's transit into Bush's third house February 22 must further reduce power.  There may be an odd twist here, for Ketu's spirituality will heighten Bush's evangelicalism, amplifying his belief in

being an instrument of God's will.  In turn, Rahu transiting into Bush's ninth house of religion will also inflame his God-given mandate, this by adding a bizarre quality to his beliefs. 

     Third, Saturn's retrograde is for the third time blanketing his Gemini Sun -- the significator of power, prestige, government and speech.  Saturn on the Sun stifles Bush's power, as it did twice previously -- in the summer and fall of 2003 and the late spring of 2004.  Then, Bush's popularity nose-dived, his disapproval ratings increased and he was often tongue-tied.  Watch too for further aging in his face and posture.

     The below January 16, 2005 Bush Approval Ratings graph from the Washington Post demonstrates this approval loss and disapproval increase during these two previous intervals when transit Saturn was on his Sun.  I've highlighted these in blue bands.  Bush's prestige has similarly slid since January 13, 2005, when Saturn retrograded back into Gemini.  When Saturn reaches its maximum retrograde on March 22, it will be at 26:27 Gemini, within six degrees of his 20:40 Gemini Sun, close enough to impact.

     This graph follows the graphing analysis in the April 5, 2004 In-depth Forecast, #47 President Bush Approval/Disapproval.  That Forecast demonstrated Bush steadily loses support and gains detractors except for, ..three (upward) spikes stimulated by violent events impacting national security:  9-11, the March/April 2003 Iraq invasion and the December 2003 capture of Saddam Hussein.  That is, Bush only gains public support through fear-based misrepresentations.  

     Given the current imbalance between Bush's desire and power, plus fear being his only effective technique, Bush's European trip this week will be a bellwether for his being stymied in all endeavors.

     I've long predicted that Iraq is Bush's great misadventure.  What happens in Iraq must determine both his international success (hinging on his vision of democratizing the Mideast) and Bush's ability to push through the neoconservative agenda -- to dismantle the New Deal and subsequent progressive gains in equality, fairness and business regulation.  We can look at Bush's key people in the foreign arena to further evaluate.

     Bush's foreign agenda is spearheaded by Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.  While their charts are not displayed here for conciseness, retrograde transit Saturn also restricts them, as do their planetary cycles.  For Rice, Saturn is approaching her 25:31 Gemini Moon, constricting her ability to improve relationships with allies, especially to garner foreign support for the Iraq occupation.  She will also fail in reaching agreements with enemies -- North Korea and Iran.  For Rumsfeld, Saturn is approaching his 24"34 Gemini Sun, blanketing his power to beat the Iraqi insurgency.  Again, we see an imbalance between desire and power indicating failure.

     Look for Mars' three-punch combination March 5, 10 and 13 to stimulate reversals for Bush coming primarily from Iraq, but also from enemies at home.  Since Bush is increasingly pumped up with his God-given mandate, these setbacks will infuriate him.  His increasingly inarticulate responses will be viewed by many as excessive and unbalanced, which resistance will inflame his frustration further.

A Karmic Pit stop

     So far, we've looked at charts of ever-decreasing scope in world affairs to learn how the the next several weeks to April 12 will unfold.  Charts for the World Transit, the United States and G.W. Bush consistently demonstrate a building karmic clash pointing towards economic and political reversals hobbling Bush's achievement.  The general Kama & Kendra -- Desire & Power theme runs through these charts, and it is worthwhile noting that this concept was first discussed in the April 29, 2004 In-depth Forecast, #51 The Presidential Campaign.  There, comparison was made between the candidates' desire nature, between Bush's excessively attached third house of desire and Kerry's remarkably detached third house.  I compared Bush with a tiger,

     I then discussed Kerry's detachment, comparing him with the elephant,

     Because desire by definition is selfish attachment, lacking the long term and enduring values of selfless detachment, I concluded that election Forecast by stating, ...Bush will begin the final campaign drive this summer already falling behind Kerry, and unless Kerry fails to remedy his communications issues, he will win easily November 2.  It's eerie how these predicted karmas actualized.  In mid October, Kerry was at the Grand Canyon rim on a blustery day.  Mishearing a reporter's question on whether he would still have voted for invading Iraq if he knew then what he knew now (in October 2004), Kerry responded, Yes.  Bush seized on this mistake to hammer Kerry again on being a flip-flopper.  The rest is history.

     However, my Vedic astrology inspired philosophy that selfish desire loses to selfless detachment remains valid.  The timing for the ascendancy of the latter was wrong, but in the final result, the tiger loses to the elephant.  Desire can only achieve short term success and long term failure, especially if desire motivates through fear-based lies.  Bush is, after all, the consumate boy who cried wolf.  The final chart to be examined is Iraq's, where the fatal consequences of Bush's selfish agenda rest.

     Watch for tide-turning violence and rejection of U.S. power during Mars' three-punch combination March 5, 10 and 13.     

     The prediction here is for the impending U.S. failures in Iraq will sufficiently harm Bush's reputation that he will be unable to advance his international democracy crusade and fail in forcing Congress to pass his neo-conservative agenda.  The resistance Bush is already experiencing in his major agenda items -- the 2006 budget, Social Security privatization and guest worker program for illegal aliens -- will only grow as he, Rice and Rumsfeld fail in Iraq.  Thus, Bush will be effectively hobbled and thereby less capable of harm. However, he may become more dangerous for impetuous and foolish use of his presidential power.