George Bush has the Sun in Cancer, closely conjunct the USA's Sun in Cancer. But he's not exactly known for his sensitive side. It's very much there though: his attachment to his family, his homeland, his ranch, his sensitivity to being criticised, and so on.

Bob Geldof's interview of George talks about this side of George, picking up his Sun's conjunction with the USA's Sun very well:

"George W Bush, I think, is an emotional man. But sometimes he’s a sentimentalist and that’s different. He is in love with America. Not the idea of America but rather an inchoate notion of a space. A glorious metaphysical entity. America the Good, the Just and the Fair. The shining city on the hill."

and

"...in public and with me he spoke fluently and often in wonderful aphorisms. Of course he has several verbal ticks; but here in Africa, where he is liked and viewed as a friend, perhaps he was more relaxed. Less guarded [Crab's carapace protects the softer inner nature].

Here are some examples. None is from speeches or prepared texts...

“Human suffering should preempt commercial interests.”

“Stop coming to Africa feeling guilty. Come with love and feeling confident for its future.”

“I like courage and compassion. We are a nation of courageous and compassionate people.”

“When we see hunger we feed them. Not to spread our influence, but because they’re hungry.”

“Evil does exist and in such brutal forms.”

“Outside forces tend to divide people.” “US solutions should not be imposed on African leaders.”"

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article3510768.ece

OK, so back to the USA election. In this entry I want to draw attention to the area of the Zodiac at 10-14 degrees of Leo.

Barack Obama: Sun at 12 Leo
Hillary Clinton: Mars-Pluto conjunction at 14 Leo

No wonder those two are in a fight to the death......... and yet they're in the same political party: the (so-called) Democrats.

John McCain, the Republican candidate: Mars at 12 Leo.

So whichever one gets elected, there's something the same about them, and let's not mince words, Leo is not a Sign of democracy, particularly when these planets symbolising the will are placed there.

George Bush, the current president: Mercury-Pluto conjunction at 10 Leo

Bill Clinton, the former president: Pluto at 12 Leo - he actually has a Mercury-Pluto conjunction just like Bush.

The president before that, the other George Bush, doesn't have anything here in these degrees. The closest he has is Neptune at 18 Leo. And checking before him, Reagan and Carter don't have anything here or close by either - you have to go back to Gerald Ford who was president from 1974-1977 before you get anything close - Mercury at 16 Leo, but before him Nixon didn't have anything here at all.

So there's a continuation of 'aggressive' planets in this small degree area running from January 1993 and into the future for at least another 4 years.

And no matter whether a Democrat or a Republican is elected, the pattern holds over a 19 year period - that's a generation.

Looking at the USA's chart there are no planets in these degrees or even opposite or square to them. There are some interesting midpoints:

• Mars/MC
• Saturn/Uranus
• Venus/Neptune
• Jupiter/Neptune

Plenty to ponder here, about why this recurring theme is there and where it's coming from..... and where it's heading to.

In the UK (and northern hemisphere) spring will, errrm, spring, later this month. Thursday 20th March at 5:48am, to be precise. Here's the chart, followed by a very basic outline of the weather possibilities:-

Regular readers of this blog might recall the entries from last year about autumn and winter. The winter entry talked a lot about wind and stormy weather, and so it proved. So what might be the general weather pattern for spring? The theory is that the chart shown above can give us an indication; it's something that I'm recording here not as a prediction, but as a learning tool, to see what happens.

The first thing to note is that last season's multiple indicators of strong winds etc - the Sun, Mercury, Jupiter, Pluto, Mars configuration - is not present in the chart for spring. The Mars-Pluto opposition is within orb and aspecting the Sun so it will probably still have relevance to this coming season, but it has moved apart and in terms of geography it runs through Germany and the countries north and south of Germany, not through or near to the UK as it was in the chart for winter.

Uranus is on the Ascendant for part of the UK though, with a sextile to Jupiter. The areas involved are the East Anglia area and down past London to the south coast. The type of weather associated with Jupiter sextile Uranus is cool, breezy, dry, and fair.

The rest of the country has links with other planets for this season, and it's quite a mixed bag. The Mercury-Venus conjunction in this chart, which is opposite Saturn, connects with Scotland, Cumbria, Wales, and Cornwall/Devon, meanwhile Northern Ireland is sandwiched between Neptune and Saturn.

Mercury-Venus on its own suggests gentle breezes, a tendency to be warmer than average, and partially cloudy skies, however the opposition with Saturn increases the tendency towards being overcast, with cooler than average temperatures and heavy precipitation. Whether these result in changeability, or else cancel each other out, remains to be seen. The Mercury-Venus conjunction is also trine Mars, indicating warmer and windier weather in these parts of the country.

Scotland and the eastern parts of Northern Ireland also have the Jupiter-Saturn sesquiquadrate running through it, suggesting cloudy stormier weather.

In Northern Ireland the Saturn and Neptune aspects suggest cloudiness and precipitation. Saturn is trine Pluto, and Pluto also connects with this area of the UK for this season. Saturn in trine to Pluto indicates cloudy, windy weather. Jupiter and Uranus make aspects through this area too, so the breezy weather may well put in a significant appearance here too.

Neptune makes an aspect down through mainland UK, from the east coast of Scotland to the west of England near the border with Wales, however Neptune doesn't make any aspects to other planets so I'm uncertain whether or not it will symbolise anything weather-wise - I'll be observing and learning.

Some of the indicators suggest fog/mist in various parts of the UK, even for Spring, so that'll be interesting to watch and see what happens too.

Finally, the Moon runs through much of the UK for this season, and it's opposite the Mercury-Venus conjunction, not far from Saturn but out of orb of a conjunction. The Moon would therefore highlight the Mercury-Venus combination, picking out its breeziness and humidity, and tendency to be partially cloudy.