In September, I was looking at a giant blow-up of George W. Bush's world ACG map on display on our booth at the New Living Expo in Fort Lauderdale. No matter how closely GWB's life follows his map, it came as a shock to see that his Neptune IC line falls right on the city of New Orleans. Neptune (or Poseidon to the Greeks) was the god of the sea and placed on the zone of the home (IC), we can expect an encounter between water and homes. In most charts, it's a good energy for living near water, though it can also manifest as undiagnosable rising damp or a flood.

Well this last potential became a reality for the citizens of New Orleans, one day after category 4 Hurricane Katrina made landfall. The resultant storm surge broke the levees and soon 80% of the city was flooded.

"Real estate and home matters usually don't go too well, and you begin to become dependent on others for sustenance, ..."

"Community living may be best, .. so that the past can be left behind here." [The Louisiana Superdome provided shelter for 9,000 refugees].

"Whatever is built has foundations of sand, ... and it too is subject to self deception and illusions. Isolation and non-attachment make feeling rooted here impossible, except where you depend on others."

It is interesting how many major disasters have occurred on US soil during GWB's presidency. With Pluto rising in Leo, GWB is likely to be quite prone to spectacular crises in his personal life. However, because his chart is close to the US chart (he was born 6 July two days after Independence Day), he takes anything that occurs to the USA extremely personally.

George W Bush has always been, to use his own words, - misunderestimated. His Cancer Sun is challenged [squared] by the Moon and Jupiter. Here in his home state of Texas he has had to face the challenge of his father's shadow in business, the courage to put planetary needs over compliance with the all powerful energy/oil lobby, and how to interpret and handle the symbolic crash of the space shuttle Columbia above his home turf.

GWB's Sun line ominously runs through the Texas zone where most of the debris from the space shuttle, Columbia crashed down on Feb 1^st at 9am. The whole event is redolent with symbolism [see right hand column].

As the tragedy is so tied up with GWB's chart like 9/11, this is an event he takes very personally. His response to 9/11 was widely considered effective and appropriate. Perhaps this tragedy is a subtle reminder that he doesn't have to go to war again or bow down to the pressure from oil barons to be a hero and to be re-elected in 2004. He just has to be himself. Most people outside the USA (especially in continental Europe) see GWB's constant aggressive posturing as an indication of a man with something to prove or a stereotypical wimp masquerading as a macho man.

Evidently, he can be tough when it is needed. But deep down he can also be a compassionate man [Sun in Cancer in 12^th house - Neptune conjunct Moon and Jupiter] and he needs to follow his heart more to go down in history as an heroic leader and to be true to the potential of his chart.

Here in Texas, the Sun was rising when he was born. This is where GWB grew-up in the '50s, returned to attempt to make his pile in the late '70s, met his wife, Laura and was elected Governor (winning his 2^nd term with an overwhelming majority). Here, he enjoys an image as an heroic figure. And if you were, (like GWB) in the oil business you cannot see him any other way. In the first few months of office, it's been 'Christmas, Thanksgiving and Birthday' rolled into one, because this President has*...

• Pulled out of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol agreement on global warming, ultimately signed by 178 countries.
• Cut funding into renewable energy resources by 50%.
• Cut funding for research into cleaner, more efficient cars and trucks by 28%.
• Cut half a billion dollars from the Environmental Protection Agency's budget.
• Abandoned his campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, a major contributor to global warming.
• The former head of Enron, Kenneth Lay, gave the White House a list of his personal recommendations for key federal energy posts and two of the people on his list were appointed. [The Guardian Feb, 2, 2002]
• Appointed global warming skeptic and an opponent of stricter standards of air pollution, as Undersecretary of the Interior. [Global warming skeptics are becoming rarer beasts like those who argue that smoking is not bad for your health, the world is flat and was created in 4004 BC].

But if you are not a Texan, don't make your living in an eco-unfriendly industry and you love this planet, you may see GWB as a weak figure in Texas, a puppet following the self-serving mood of the popular majority. Now this is one interpretation of the negative potential of the Sun in Cancer in 12^th house.