Shot in the Foot

 

February 17, 2006 (with chart and picture)

 

http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/feb17.html

 

Dear Readers, Far and Near:

 

An astonishing event on the American political scene has taken things from perversely odd to the acutely bizarre. As most of you have likely read or seen by now, Dick Cheney, the vice president of the United States, shot a man last weekend with a shotgun, seriously wounding him. This occurred during a potentially illegal day of quail hunting, as according to press reports the proper stamps were not obtained until after the incident.

 

Quail like Cheney was hunting Saturday

 

In a story that defies all credibility, we have been told that Mr. Cheney managed to hit a fellow hunter (who somehow came up behind him) with a shotgun blast at a distance of 30 yards in front of him, and in the process 'pepper' him with up to 200 bits of birdshot -- not even knowing the guy (who was, according to Cheney, dressed in bright orange hunting gear) was there. The Office of the Vice President then waited at least 18 hours before making any comment, which came first in the form of Cheney granting an interview with the police at 8 am the next morning. No actual official announcement was made until much later in the week. Cheney apologized for the incident five days later.

 

Clearly, this is not a case of poetic justice; if it were, Cheney would have shot himself in the foot. But if the astrology tells us anything, he did precisely that.

 

The immediate background of the event is worth mentioning here. Cheney is repeatedly described as the most powerful vice president in US history. Scooter Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, who was indicted in October as part of the Spygate scandal, said in court papers just the day before that his higher-ups in the White House (there were not many) authorized the smear campaign against a covert agent that led to the scandal. Then on Saturday, senators were calling for an investigation. That evening, he shot Whittington, who was first treated by medically trained Secret Service agents (who I presume are on call to assist in the event that the vice president has a heat attack of his own), then taken into intensive care.

 

The story goes, everyone was so worried about Harry they didn't have time to make any calls. The local police found out because they picked up the ambulance call on their scanner, and came on their own, but were turned away by private security at the ranch.

 

Trippy enough yet? Let's look at the chart and let our journey through the Twilight Zone continue.

 

From the standpoint of traditional astrology, using the so-called nine planets, we can see quite a lot. This will make an interesting study in how, whether you use the basic points or seek the details of the asteroids and minor planets, you get the same basic story -- but the asteroids add a bit of irony and some striking detail to this particular horoscope.

 

Two times for the incident were reported, which changed the chart significantly. The first time offered was 5:30 pm. The second time (the corrected one), later in the week, was 5:50 pm. This turns out to be a significant 20 minutes astrologically. When you make the first chart 20 minutes later, you wind up with Neptune in Aquarius exactly on the 7th house cusp, that is, exactly setting, to the degree. It is the most prominent planet in the chart. We will come back to that in a moment.

 

To sum up, this is a very big chart; it is an expression of the Parallel Worlds alignment that I have been ranting about for months; and for once in a long while, we finally have a situation where the wheels of government and justice seem to be turning in a healthy way. My strong sense is that there will be recognizable justice in this situation.

 

Leo is rising. This event was actually pretty dramatic on the inside, despite all the hushed tones coming out of the veep's office. The Sun is the ruler of Leo and we find the Sun angular, on the west side of the chart, opposite the ascendant, in the 7th house. In traditional astrology, both Leo and the Sun are the significators for the king. Most of us have accepted that Cheney is the real president, and that Bush is understood to be somewhere between a figurehead and a ventriloquist's dummy.

 

We have a situation where the ruler of the ascendant, who looks kingly or presidential, shows up in the 7th house, the house of 'the other'. This is what you might call a classic projection situation. In this sense, Cheney shot himself.

 

The Sun is making a square to Mars. It is angry, and because the square is still forming, about to get angrier.

 

And it's conjunct Neptune. Neptune was close to the 7th house cusp in the first time stated, but is exactly, precisely conjunct the 7th in the second time stated. Angular Neptune is a way of saying we only have a clue what really happened. Neptune often represents the cloud of denial and mystery, though equally often it is associated with some kind of divine intervention, presence or protection.

 

In addition, this rather complicated planet is associated with drugs and drink, which we can presume were a likely factor because of its rather strong presence. I think most any astrologer would agree.

 

Pisces is on the 8th house cusp -- the house of death and near-death experiences. This suggests that a Piscean factor was involved, reaffirming the theme of Neptune. A shotgun incident, with injury, qualifies as such. So Neptune, the ruler of the 8th house of death / near-death, both right there on the horizon, and involved as the ruler of the house involved. And, it pretty much has a grip on everything. Neptune, like water, always soaks its way into everything. Many are questioning this incident, and the cover story is extremely thin. It is too thin to maintain the ever-important appearance of propriety necessary when one is a severe hypocrite.

 

Jupiter co-rules the 8th house, as the original or traditional ruler of Pisces. Jupiter is both square and parallel Neptune, and square the horizontal axis of the chart (the ascendant/descendant axis). The two rulers of the house of near-death experiences are aligned in a tense aspect by both longitude and declination (this is the backbone of the highly unusual Parallel Worlds aspect), and both are in tight aspects the horizon.

 

These events will have lasting impact. There is also a real question, indicated by the square aspect, of whether Whittington will make it. Surely, this is running through Mr. Cheney's mind. If the man dies, he's been involved in a homicide. I am sure Mr. Cheney doesn't want to end a long career of killing people with homicide charges, or anything that looks like them. But long before we get there, this is one of those events that's just too damned weird even for the American political community to tolerate for long, particularly when you couple it with the lack of contact with the authorities for 18 hours, and the long delay making announcement.

 

With Mercury walking up onto Uranus in the 8th house, we have a clear indicator in this chart that something else pretty big happens, and because Uranus is involved, it happens suddenly.

 

As for the Moon. In examining any chart, it's important to look at exactly what the Moon is doing. The Moon can basically symbolize any aspect of the situation, including the question itself, and part of how you figure out what it represents is to look at what images and shapes it makes with other planets. In this chart, it's doing about four different things that stand out.

 

One, it's located in the 12th house -- one of those super mysterious places where you don't know what's going on, shrouded in secrecy. The 12th is the house of missing information. Second, it's just finished making a conjunction to Saturn, also located in the house of 'God knows what'. Something heavy was going on right before this happened, and something we can assume was secret. Third, it's making an exact quincunx to Uranus in the 8th house -- some sudden (Uranus) situation involving death or a close-to-death (8th house) experience (obviously), and possibly with a lot of money or the truth about some secret at stake.

 

Last, at the time of this incident, it's a short time before the Full Moon -- about one day. Something is about to come to a head, or come to fruition; something is about to emerge, and a deadlock is about to be broken. When you see a Full Moon approaching, you can always safely ask: what is the loggerhead or jammed up situation that's about to break free?

 

Let's add some minor planets. Neptune has two planets exactly conjunct it. One is the asteroid Photographica. As literal as it sounds, this is an asteroid that really does show up where photographs and images are concerned (for example, it's been prominent in the whole 'cartoon protest' situation). Second, it's conjunct Damocles (of 'sword of Damocles' fame, the sword hanging over the head of the king). There are probably pictures from that day, and there is a real possibility that they will emerge. Pictures of what? Pictures of something important. Neptune is there. Maybe pictures of a big party earlier in the day. Maybe in a high-tech drinking game, they were playing with a Breathalyzer machine.

 

There are also three minor planets gathered around the North Node. The Node is in Aries, at five degrees, in the 8th house of death / near-death experiences. It's difficult to define the 'meaning' of the North Node as a general rule, but suffice it to say that it's a sensitive and important point in just about any chart. The North Node is the calling. It often points to the true intent or what is happening now. The planets are:

 

Asbolus - 4 Aries 47'24" (the survivor)

Diana - 5 Aries 21'41" (the goddess of the hunt)

Bacchus - 5 Aries 39'31" (the god of wine and revelry)

 

So let's add these up. Diana, the goddess of the hunt, is an appropriate point to make an appearance in the chart; this was a hunt, as lame it is for grownups to be spending their weekend shooting pretty little birds. Diana is conjunct Bacchus we have the suggestion that alcohol was potentially involved in the incident. In the United States, anyway, hunting and drinking are frequently found in the same place and time, despite both laws, ethics and common sense. But they appear in this chart together.

 

Asbolus, a Centaur planet, is a point that shows up in the charts of survivors. The word means 'carbon dust' and anyone who makes it on Planet Earth has two things in common: we are carbon-based life, and we survive. For people with prominent Asbolus, life was difficult -- but they made it. Harry Whittington made it, but barely, and so far. When you're 78, it's not a good idea to get hit in the chest and face with 150 to 200 bits of birdshot, be thrust into the national limelight, and then get blamed for what happened to you.

 

We have not heard the end of this one. Indeed, it will be this kind of 'small stuff' that tips the scales in favor of truth and justice. Based on this chart, and the vice president's own natal and progressed charts, and what I am calling the 3/29 cluster of events culminating with the total eclipse March 29, I can offer a few predictions.

 

One is that the veep will not be in office much longer. One way or another, by hook or by crook or by medical excuse, he's likely to be out some time between March 21 and May 11.

 

Because Cheney has been the leadership (if you can call it that) in this administration, that power vacuum is going to create real problems; the White House will be left without an ideology. There will emerge a big split in the already extremely tense factions that will make life much easier for people like Patrick Figtzgerald, who is already investigating Cheney's office for illegally outing a spy, and for other events surrounding the fraudulent march to war that has benefited Halliburton so brilliantly.

Here are a few other resources for you to explore:

 

Cheney's Natal Chart

Cheney's Current Progressed Chart

Cheney, Progressed to May 11

 

[Note: At press time, CNN.com has released an interview with Dick Cheney in which he denies that anyone in the hunting party was drunk, and states that they were hunting wild quail, which is linked here.]

 

Here are few of your comments and questions for the week. Astrology Secrets Revealed will resume publishing each Friday. Please keep those questions coming in, and check out the daily updates, blogs and photos over at Planet Waves. And remember, the Astrology Secrets Revealed project is sponsored by your subscriptions to Planet Waves Weekly.

 

-- Eric Francis

 

Additional research and interpretations by Tracy Delaney