"Americans can always be counted on to do the right
thing... after they have exhausted all other possibilities."
Sir Winston Churchill

WHENEVER POSSIBLE, I encourage Americans to travel abroad. Not just abroad to Mexico because it is so warm and cheap there, or to Canada, because Canadians are kindly folk and mostly talk the same language, but abroad to other continents and cultures. Presently, the only real ambassadors America has are its extraordinary military, who are on constant alert to fight (and who are apparently becoming less and less popular at their bases in Korea, Japan, Germany and in over 100 other countries), and America's mostly politically motivated press, who are looking for a way to get themselves a sensational story. Apart from this, a vast majority of Americans have had no exposure to people, places and cultures of the world that have been civilized for millennia. This, I consider to be a great misfortune for everyone.

America seems determined to set herself apart from the rest of the world, which is remarkable since the whole population of America is descended, at one time or another, from other world cultures. Times have changed since the mass immigration into America of people fleeing tyranny, poverty and being brought over as slaves. The world has arrived at an urgent pass where other nations need to meet real Americans and Americans need to embrace their cousins in the world. Americans must come to terms with an unconscious concern that they are related to outcasts from Europe, Africa and Asia, and realize that there can be no true global consciousness until the world’s citizens meet and learn to appreciate each other as neighbors.

The world is fascinated with America but rarely gets to meet America except through TV dramas and movies, which do not necessarily translate well into other cultures. Americans, as individuals, can make a huge impression on their world cousins as clear examples of people coming from a culture that is rooted in a Constitution that declares Freedom as its highest precept. When Americans are able to experience the amazing quality of an inbuilt sense of Freedom that their Founding Fathers and their Nation have given them in relation to the ways in which other world cultures have become constrained and fixed, they will finally understand how priceless this freedom is. They will see how this freedom must be nurtured to ensure that America can continue to lead the way in the positive expansion of creative, intelligent freedom throughout the world.

In this article, we examine the Design chart for the Constitution of the United States of America and look at key areas of the chart in relation to how America can continue to grow creatively and positively. We also look at the Design charts of John Kerry and G.W. Bush, the two presidential candidates, and the Design charts for the American Election 2004, perhaps the decisive point for a positive or negative, creative or destructive, turn in the direction that America is choosing for herself and the world.

The American Constitution was signed on July 4, 1776 in Philadelphia as a Declaration of Independence and a bold statement to encourage the growth of humanity away from petty tyrannies and remote controls. The Constitution commences:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness... That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed... That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness...”

America was born into the Incarnation of “Individuality.” The Constitution is single-minded in its expression of Liberty as an individual’s inalienable right, a right that is not to be determined by any governmental decision. The Individuated Being is the essence of the Constitution and the clear aim of all conscious and spiritual people on Earth. The Incarnation of Individuality has within it the potential to be deceived by circumstances that may cause one to be blinded by “spin,” with the corollary that eventually such deceptions can be found out. Also inherent in the Incarnation is the ability to grow quickly and ably from experiences related to previous deceptions and deal with new deceptions and their perpetrators appropriately.

An Overview of The Constitution Design chart
America’s Constitution has the Design of a (split) Projector. A projector Design is one that must await recognition to find inclusion. That is to say that the inherent nature of America is to sit on the sidelines of the world’s dramas until there is a clear invitation to be take part. It is best for Projectors to arrange their affairs, set them in motion, accomplish them, and then stand aside again ready for a new round. In simple terms, projectors are the “helms people” steering the course for those providing the labor. America imported thousands of slaves and cheap laborers from Africa, China, Ireland and other places to help build the country. Slowly, this labor has been incorporated into American society, but for a long time has endured a “second class” status ruled by the "owners" and, more currently, politicians and the oil and military interests. Projector Individuals, in the end, will find such vested overseers intolerable, but individuals must first stand as individuals in their own right to appreciate this. Their key to standing in their own right is written into the precepts of the American Constitution.

Projectors can have good vision at to how things can be most expediently carried out. So the projector model of America can be of enormous value when it comes to helping the world to grow consciously and abundantly into the 21st Century... but only if America (as a gathering of American individuals) adheres to the principles of America's own constitution.

Built into the Design chart is the channel 41 - 30, the Recognition of what experiences merit applied focus. When America finds a dream she considers worth chasing, it is very hard to get her to stop! Winning the West, stopping Hitler, landing on the Moon are some of the great dreams America has chased. Vietnam seemed at the outset like such a bold quest for freedom and truth in the world, and turned out to be a disaster for all when the focus was finally broken. When America turns her attention towards her enormous creative potential, we get incredible leaps in technology and science, expressions of courage and great humanity. When America gets caught up again and again in war, she and everyone else suffers enormously.

In the Design chart, Mars sits in Gate 45 in line 5. 45, called “Gathering together,” is the literal top end of the food chain, and the place of natural rulership with the interest of all people at heart. On the one hand, it represents receiving all the goods and materials that the earth can provide to dispense them for the common good, and Mars sits in the 5th line of Leadership, giving America the ability to lead everyone in appreciation and appropriate use of the material world. On the other hand, Gate 45 has everything to do with good education, and so one asks oneself, if you had the choice to get a good education anywhere in the world, where would you go? Oxford and Cambridge Universities and LSE in England are wholesome, the IIIT,B in India is outstanding, but how about Harvard, MIT, Stanford, UCLA and the scores of truly amazing educational facilities in the USA? Mars’ energy can run between two ends of a spectrum, in the higher form from marvelous creative accomplishment and achievements as an everyday way of life, and in the lower form to war, violence and destruction as an everyday way of life. Chinese and Japanese cultures, among others, discovered millennia ago that Martial energy can be turned into an amazing art form in which there is great honor. America is still learning this. The right to bear arms is inherent in the rights of the American Constitution, but a citizen’s need for assault war-weapons seems to be a huge stretch. The apparent need to subject Muslim countries to Christian invasion/crusade is a little outdated and has absolutely nothing to do with the American Constitution. Whatever happened to statesmanship and the brilliant thinkers, speakers, scientists and writers that America has produced who could provide altogether a more noble way to engage with those who disagree with America? Sometimes a small peek at America’s potent brilliance can turn around even the most obdurate foe to make a win-win situation out of an apparent argument.

By Design, America has a well defined Spleen Center, the Center that relates to physical health and well-being through an attunement to the senses of Taste and Intuition. Splenic definition indicates a fear-oriented makeup through concerns that are associated to physical survival. Inevitably, one recognizes in America a huge discussion around health, health “plans,” health “givers,” and medical genius. Fear can be good in terms of motivating us to take care of our health in a right way, but it can become totally overblown in terms of people panicking that “the British/Russians/Osama-bin-Ladens” are coming! America has a defined “fear” Center, but it also has a defined “Spirit,” Emotional Center on the other side of her chart, and at the end of the day, after our very basic health concerns are met (after all, we, as humans do die one day), the journey of America is towards “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” three of the qualities inherent in the “Spirit,” Emotional Center.

By Design, America's destiny, seen in the chart as the North nodal position, is to lead the world through the channel 7 - 31, the channel of the "Alpha, leadership, for good or bad." This definition is not to be taken lightly, since someone who had this channel as a part of their makeup was Adolph Hitler. America cannot help but take the lead for the planet, but the way in which she does so must be through creative alignment and not through blunt use of her military might.

The "combatants" in the upcoming American election.

The Design chart for G.W. Bush indicates the makeup of someone who can readily fall into belief systems and get stuck trying to hold things still while everything naturally changes by itself, and who has a potential proclivity for addictions of all sorts, through the defined unconscious channel 36 - 35. . It shows the Design of someone who may be incapable of having an original thought, through the channel 11 - 56, unconscious and conscious. It also shows the chart of someone who can become completely lost in the agendas of everyone else except himself and also the potential makeup of someone who is permanently acting out what he presumes to be "life," according to the ideals of others, through an open "Self Center." With wrong counsel and people around him who hold poor and self-motivated ideals, G.W. Bush is almost bound for catastrophe, especially with his Mars in an undefined Willpower Center in Gate 40, line 4, in which he is prone to indulge associations and cronyism long after such relationships cease to be healthy ones.

The undefined Spleen Center indicates a potential for paranoia and the makeup of someone who, on a physical level, just cannot "get it right" if he tries, and who is terrified of changes and of being told he is wrong. It is interesting to note that his handlers never allow him to read newspaper commentary or see signs of those in opposition to him. Although he has trouble expressing himself sometimes in speech, he is a storyteller with great memory for facts and details (Gates 33, 11 & 26.) With his unconsciously defined Emotional Center, Open Self Center, undefined Sacral, Spleen, Ego and Root Centers, he probably has real difficulty interacting comfortably with women who are deeply aware of their femininity and comfortable with their sexuality.

The whole expression of being "a conservative" in times when there is a radical shift in human communication and consciousness is a serious balancing act. One either moves with the times or one attempts to stifle any changes with draconian measures. The patriot act is the single most limiting piece of disgraceful legislature to ever have been proposed, let alone signed into law as a part of the history of the United States of America. It was passed unread by most of those who voted for it and appeared for voting so quickly that one wonders if it had not been prepared in advance of the tragedy of September 11, 2001. It is inconceivable to me to imagine someone sitting vacant and immobilized for seven minutes after they had heard that their country was subject to a devastating act of hostility... let alone to imagine our president doing this!

John Kerry (and interestingly John Edwards, Kerry's partner, too) is born into the Incarnation of Rulership, in which he takes charge of situations through a combination of careful interactions and self reflections into past instances before acting.

In Design terms, he is a “Manifestor” who has access to enormous reserves of “Generator” energy. In other words, he is someone who, when he finds a right course and direction for an action, can apply unlimited resources to carrying it through. He has a defined Spleen Center with the channel 18 - 58 giving him the ability to judge situations in an instant, but with a potential to be hard on himself as well! He can recognize fear for what it is without becoming paranoid. By Design, John Kerry is an Individual with great depth of feeling, through the channel 12 - 22, of "openness to limitless possibilities of expression," although like G.W. Bush, he can have difficulty in recognizing what these feelings really indicate for himself. I have never met John Kerry, but I could surmise from his Design that he would be open to anything one might suggest to him as a potential project or solution, however novel or impractical it might sound, and that he would go away and ponder on what he had heard to see if it could be shaped into something practical. That he is a war hero is undeniable as the channel 12 - 22 gives him the ability to meet the most challenging situations with full presence. I feel I can clearly say that his greatest acts of heroism he keeps very quietly to himself!

Unlike G.W. Bush, John Kerry has a strongly defined sense of "Self," and has within his makeup the defined channel 13 - 33 of leadership through experience, and the 46 - 29 of committing to essentials with totality and dedication. John Kerry’s nature is to avoid conflict and contention if statesmanship and discussion can prevail. His Mars, both conscious and unconscious, is in Gate 16 of skills and enthusiasm, in the 6th line of objective evaluation in which he must balance all considerations completely before making an assessment.

With his Chiron return in the early 90’s, and his marriage to Teresa Heinz Kerry, John became more and more aware of the potentials for America and for humanity as a whole, if only... If only, America can start using her Martial energies for things other than war.

The US Election 2004
The world renowned Astrologer, Alan Oken, has mentioned that in looking at the events of the day of the US Election, November 2, 2004, it would require a study of all planetary movements across the whole of the USA starting on the East Coast at 6 am... and that the election would not be over until the polling booths in Hawaii closed at 6 pm Hawaii time. Here is an interesting story for the day:

US elections normally take place during the Incarnation phase called the “Sphinx,” indicating that a sure and defining course is to be set from the election. In 2004, the Incarnation phase for the election day is that called the “Four Directions,” meaning that the election could go any way... For good or ill! The election will be decided on the flavor of the day itself.

The day starts in Maine,with a triple-split definition (projector chart). The Channel 13 -33, the evaluator and relator of past experiences, provides an underlying unconscious theme throughout the day, and consequently, voters will have some historical reference concerning the candidates’ leadership abilities under consideration.

Also present on November 2, 2004, is the channel 44 - 26, defined by a long-present Pluto transit which has been raking over the treasure house of our material needs for the past two years (do we really have what we want yet?). And with the Sun in Gate 44, line 3, which brings a deep, instinctual sense of uneasiness and hesitancy in whatever decision one makes as being the “right” one.

The third definition present in the chart is the channel 39 - 55, of emotional moodiness, activated by Uranus in Gate 55, in the 3rd line of doing one’s personal best in trying circumstances, and 6th line, qualified by the Moon’s presence in Gate 39, of feeling the paradoxical stress of selfishness and selflessness along with a sense of wanting to satisfy a responsibility that goes beyond one’s own needs.

At around 7:50am Eastern time, the Sun moves from Gate 44 with the 3rd line into Gate 44 and the 4th line and remains there for the rest of the day. The sense of hesitancy that greeted the early morning voters gives way to a deep sense of honesty, and everyone sincerely will be voting in what they instinctually hold to be the right way, come what may!

Throughout the day, in the Root Center at the bottom of the chart, Gate 53 is activated unconsciously by Saturn conveying an underlying concern that an election naturally means a new start but is my vote going to really serve the best interests for my own growth?

At around 1:30pm Pacific time, 4:30pm Eastern time, the Moon shifts from Gate 39 and moves into Gate 53, the Gate of new beginnings and cycles of experiences. The channel 39 - 55 that was defined earlier drops out, and the emotional fervor and moodiness of the day dissipates and can give way to anxiety. Evaluation of the candidates’ leadership qualities is still an underlying theme (13 - 33 unconscious), but the flavor of the day moves towards a silent transmission for peace and planetary unification (44 - 26 ) and a request that “we can do better if we make a really fresh start!” as the Moon moves into and through Gate 53.

As the polls close in Hawaii, America will have decided through her choice of leaders that she intends to reshape her communications and intentions to the world. At the close of the day, there also surfaces an underlying urgency that America exerts fiscal responsibility and takes control of her outrageous deficits (Gate 21).

In conclusion
I have titled this article, “America, a nation at war with herself,” because I feel that there currently exist huge misunderstandings within this amazing country. Rarely has a country been so clearly divided among her own people and so unwittingly spread this division into the whole world. Most people in the world, when asked what they would like to see happen in America’s elections, clearly stated that they would like to see a regime change as they feel personally threatened by America’s present stance.

If the world was a democracy, then there would most likely be a regime change. But the world is not a democracy. And even though America declares herself to be a democracy, and goes through the motions of democracy, she is still a nation of emerging Individuals!

A time of great testing has come for America. Will she stand behind her founding precepts, or will she trade the true principles of freedom for a license to be the biggest bully on the block?

Empires of the world have come and gone a thousand times. Great leaders and despots are two-a-penny in the history of the world, but the ages of true growth towards the enlightenment of Individuals are rare times indeed. We are on the edge of such a time but must realize that this edge also borders on the potential of the baser forms of expression : war, violence, poverty, fixidity, greed and stupidity.

At any time when the light of awareness and consciousness increases, there is an increase in the polarity of those who are ready to transform, and those who fearfully align themselves to get stuck in the old.

America has the opportunity to launch herself, and the world along with her, into an age of unlimited growth through her positive and creative abilities, and at the same time to move away from the regrettable past of misused powers and potentials. I trust in Americans, as Sir Winston Churchill so eloquently said, “...to do the right thing!...” I just hope it is sooner rather than later!