George Walker Bush (born 6 July 1946, New Haven, Connecticut) is the 43rd president of the United States, serving from 2001 to 2009, and previously governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000. His chart has Leo rising, with the Sun in Cancer, the Moon in Libra, and both Mercury and Venus in Leo close to the Ascendant.
Leo rising with Mercury and Venus in the first house gives Bush a warm, outgoing style and a strong need to be seen and heard. In early life this showed as the “party animal” reputation, heavy drinking, and a string of social and business adventures before he turned forty. Later, after his 1986 decision to quit drinking and embrace an openly Christian identity, this same Leo Venus helped him project an easy charm and “regular guy” appeal that played well in Texas and national politics.
Venus also rules his Moon and Jupiter in Libra in the third house, tying his popularity to message and media. His presidency is remembered for simple, memorable phrases that framed the post-9/11 “war on terror” and helped rally support at key moments, especially in the early years of the Iraq War. In Doctor H’s Victor-of-the-Chart work, Venus in Leo rising emerges as the chart’s “Victor,” and in traditional timing methods (firdaria) Venus periods line up with major turning points such as his DUI exposure, born-again conversion, run for governor of Texas, and the opening phase of the Iraq War initiated as “Operation Iraqi Freedom”.
Mars in Virgo in the second house marks a difficult relationship with money, risk, and material security. It fits his early record of shaky oil ventures — Arbusto Energy, Spectrum 7, and their eventual absorption into Harken Energy, followed by an SEC insider-trading inquiry that closed without charges but left questions in the public record. In a whole-sign layout the Midheaven falls in Aries in the ninth house of foreign affairs, ruled by this same Mars in Virgo in the second. That links his public role to aggressive foreign policy and heavy spending: the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the long occupation that followed, and the large military outlays for the wider “Global War on Terror,” all of which strained U.S. finances and credibility as the Iraq intelligence later proved faulty.
Saturn in Cancer in detriment in the twelfth house points to hidden burdens, fear, and suffering behind the scenes, especially involving confinement and vulnerability in prisons and secret spaces. During Bush’s presidency the U.S. opened the detention center at Guantanamo Bay for terrorism suspects classified as “enemy combatants,” kept for years without normal trial protections. Under his administration, CIA “black sites” and “enhanced interrogation techniques” — including waterboarding and exposure to extreme cold — were authorized, practices widely described as torture and later condemned in official reports and by human rights groups. This Saturn placement captures the shadow side of his legacy: the cost in human suffering and moral authority that came with the security policies pursued in the name of national protection after 9/11.
More on George W Bush
AI Note: This article was written with help from ChatGPT.