America's Declaration of Independence and The Patriot Act

by Francis Donald Grabau

The legislation known as the "Patriot Act" locates its Pluto-Saturn form of absolute authority directly across the bow of America's Ship of State.
- Don Grabau

The above bi-wheel shows the USA Natal Chart (inside) and the chart for the "Patriot Act" (outside). There are clear indications as to how this hideous piece of legislation (which has been signed into law) can radically undermine freedom of speech in America.

At America's founding, the core Identity of America (Sun in Cancer) is in very tight, waning square aspect to the Nation's Authority Figures (Saturn in Libra). Traditional astrology holds that a waning square aspect indicates a need for "surrender," and that the faster moving planet (in this case the USA Sun in Cancer) must yield or surrender something to the slower moving planet (in this case the USA Saturn in Libra). Cancer, therefore, must yield something of its preference for comfort, protective isolation, and general feel-good urge to Libra's call for balance and harmony through Law & Order.

The irony is that the USA Saturn in Libra is in its 10th House, signifying the Executive Branch of the Federal Government and, specifically, the office of the President—which is a function and not a personal position. This waning square from the USA Sun to the USA Saturn clearly suggests an inclination or propensity for the Nation's very Solar identity to be inclined to yield to the Authority of the Office of the President. This means that we, as a People with a Collective Solar Identity, are inclined to surrender something of our personal, Cancerian feeling in order to achieve the Libran requirement of harmony and balance through objective adherence to the Laws (Saturn) of the Land. We are very respectful of the Authority of our Presidents and we are inclined to give up our personal feelings for the larger needs of our Nation. This is a collectively shared American value.

Can respect decay into subservience? Is there such a thing as too much yielding or surrender? Indeed, are we to cringe before the Person of any President and are we to be blindly obedient to any Law? Henry David Thoreau thought not, and the American patriot, Patrick Henry, famously insisted, "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!"

Obviously the Law is not always coincident with Truth, nor with honesty, or Liberty. Our "Founding Fathers" broke the Laws of the British Parliament, rebelled, and declared themselves free from unjust taxes and the "Divine Right of Kings." They broke the Law. Following their example, we must do so too.

Notice in America's founding chart, both the Mercury and Venus functions of the "Patriot Act" are conjoined in the sign Libra, and each falls one degree on either side of the Saturn in Libra position of the Law and the Office of the President. Consider the propensity of speech (Mercury) when aligned with charm (Venus) to sound pleasant and charming. The "Patriot Act" surrounds the Office of the President with charming, affable tones, and the President who presided over the enactment of the "Patriot Act" was the charmingly affable George W. Bush.

Surely, we're all familiar with his even-tempered twang, his "cheerleader" approach to speaking, and his pronounced massacre of our language. He can utter the most obvious of lies, the most hateful of directives, and still sound as if he's being perfectly reasonable. Following his lead, Congress and the national media cover their speech in unctuous tones of reasonableness and innumerable layers of respect for the Law & Order code embodied in the "Patriot Act." This charming sound (Mercury & Venus in Libra) masks a rigid and thoroughly uncharming message of absolute rigid Power conceded to Authority (Saturn).

We see this absolute authoritative power when we look at the Pluto function of the "Patriot Act" as it directly contacts America's Sagittarian Ascendant, while opposing the Saturn function of this same Act on America's Gemini Descendant. Pluto is astrology's greatest symbol of Power, and Saturn is its greatest symbol of Authority. America's Sagittarian Ascendant and her Gemini Descendant are similarly the most powerfully authoritative symbols of communication, whether spoken, written or simply thought. The undermining legislation known as the "Patriot Act" locates its Pluto-Saturn form of absolute authority directly across the bow of America's Ship of State. It grips America in its Iron Fist. It controls our language and our thoughts. It has given us "free speech zones."

Blended with the charming unctuousness of the Mercury & Venus alignment in harmoniously equalizing (and notoriously equivocating) Libra, the Saturn & Pluto opposition of the "Patriot Act" imposes its Absolute Authority over every aspect of Public Speech (Sagittarius & Gemini). It controls the Nation's speech through its deceptive mask of reasonableness and equanimity. It's the perfect set of astrological configurations needed to create that dulling mediocrity known as "political correctness" that currently dominates America's public discourse. By way of the fair-sounding speech of political correctness, Americans hide from themselves their Nation's founding position of argumentative and war-like Mars in Gemini, just as Fox News proclaims its "balanced" reporting while relentlessly pushing America's ultra-patriotic "War on Terror."

Beware, the excessively ingratiating tongue!