'Death of a President' and the Saturn-Jupiter cycle

As Jupiter in Scorpio approaches an exact square to Saturn in Leo, 'Death of a President' -- a docu-drama about an assassination upon George W. Bush -- has premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. This film explores the question of how the nation would respond to such an event, using a combination of real footage, staged demonstrations and fake interviews (for example, footage of Cheney is manipulated to make it look like he is presiding over Bush's funeral). Collaborate with Fate goes into length concerning how the current cycle of Saturn and Jupiter is mirrored by GWB's current progressions (since he has a natal Saturn-Jupiter square).

This cycle has also long been known by Astrologers as the 'Presidential Death Cycle' as since 1840, every U.S. President, (bar two and an assassination attempt), who has come to power in the year of a Jupiter/Saturn conjunction has died in office.

Notable in the current Saturn-Jupiter square is the involvement of Neptune, which opposes Saturn and squares Jupiter. Neptune rules film, deception and fantasy. Todd McCarthy, in his review of the film for Variety, makes the following cultural commentary. I have inserted the planets in brackets to show how this T-square relates to the larger themes this film evokes.

The film [Neptune] also raises provocative questions as to the ethics [Jupiter] of doctoring [Neptune] real footage [Saturn] to fictional [Neptune] or ideological [Jupiter] ends, as well as to the responsibility [Saturn] of even presenting such heinous potential crimes [Jupiter in Scorpio?] in the context of would-be popular entertainment [Neptune] and thus possibly putting ideas [Jupiter] into the heads of the easily suggestible [Neptune].

For those who are curious, I have included a chart for the exact Saturn-Jupiter square on October 25, 2006 at 1:26 pm EST in Washington, DC (Placidus). Saturn rules the chart, with Capricorn rising. Mercury is just separating from Jupiter in the 10th house. Scorpio is on the midheaven, and its traditional ruler Mars is closely conjunct Venus in Scorpio in the 9th. The Moon at 11 Sag in the 11th house is just separating from Uranus at 11 Pisces in the 2nd house.

Thanks to April for the heads up!

Tags: death of a president - astrology - jupiter - saturn - movies