Astrology by Hand Week 36

More on George W.

Last week, we talked about our new president and his Twelfth House Sun. We asked the question, “How could he become president when he has something in his chart which is so unpresidential, namely, the Twelfth House Sun?”

There are two possible answers. The first is one that most modern astrologers would give. Most of us believe that with wisdom, patience and understanding, one can overcome the negative effects of almost any astrological indication and live out only its best and highest possible manifestations. People do this all the time. But a Twelfth House Sun usually indicates a “behind the scenes” kind of person. There is nothing wrong with that. There is really nothing to be “overcome.” But we are still left with the question of why someone with George W. Bush's chart would even want to be in the limelight.

This leads to the second possibility. Could there be something in the chart that suggests that Bush might want to be out in the public eye even if there are Twelfth House qualities that he might still exhibit? I believe that there is. But to show you how this might be the case, we are going to have to get into a somewhat more complicated level of astrology than we did last week.

Last week, we talked about a single factor, the Twelfth House Sun. As everyone who studies astrology knows, astrology doesn’t work because of single factors any more than a sentence in language contains meaning because of only one word. It is the relationship among the words that makes a sentence, and it is the relationships among astrological factors that make statements about the person.

What makes Bush’s chart interesting is something called “reception.” And this in turn is based on another idea, “rulership.” We need to take up rulership first.

The Signs and the Planets, the Connection

Each sign is associated with planets that are said to “rule” that sign. It is actually more accurate to say that such a planet “takes care” of whatever may be associated with that sign than that the planet “rules” the sign. If you have studied any astrology you know that Mars rules Aries, Venus rules Taurus, etc. This is what those of us who study traditional astrology call “domicile rulership.”

Some of you may also know that planets are exalted in signs. This is another kind of rulership. The sign in which a planet is exalted is one where the planet can best express its energy—even better than it does in the sign it rules. The Sun is exalted in Aries, the Moon in Taurus, etc. The exaltation of a planet in a sign gives that planet exaltation rulership over that sign. Just to complete things, here is a table of the domicile and exaltation rulers of the signs.

Okay, that’s it for the technical stuff. Let’s get on with Bush’s chart.

Bush’s Sun Is “Received”

Let’s look at Bush’s Sun. It is in the sign Cancer. Consulting our table, we see that the rulers of Cancer are the Moon and Jupiter. Now let’s look at the chart. If we look at the Moon, we find that it is at 16 degrees of Libra. Jupiter is at 18 degrees of Libra, and the Sun is at 13 degrees of Cancer. Notice that the degree values of the positions are nearly the same, 13 to 16 to 18 for a total spread of about 5 degrees.

Now Cancer and Libra are a quarter of a circle apart. This is called a “square” for those not versed in astrology. This is a very significant angle or aspect. It is normally supposed to indicate conflict and struggle. Most modern astrologers would agree that this is not an especially “bad” square. But medieval astrology says that it is actually a “good,” i.e., a very powerful square, and readily productive of good results. Why? Because the Cancer Sun is square to Cancer’s two rulers, and any aspect or significant angle between a planet and its rulers is productive. This is called “reception.” Where modern astrology says this is not so bad, traditional astrology says this is actually good!

Also, if we look at the movement of the Moon, we can see that it is going from the position of squaring the Sun at 13 degrees of Libra (I refer to the position of the square of the Sun, not the Sun itself) to coming together (conjunction) with Jupiter at 18 Libra. The older astrologers regarded the Moon here as pushing the power of the Sun onto Jupiter. This is an extremely strong combination. So we now know that Bush’s Sun is actually quite powerful once we see the presence of the receptions.

Next week we will take this one step further and we will see how all of this makes Bush’s being president even more plausible, even though most of us would agree that it is not a “classic” presidential chart, whatever that may be!