Until the end of the 17th century, the Mars-Saturn conjunction was regularly examined for its mundane potential by just about all serious astrologers. Unfortunately, all the references are badly out of print. Among the primary works is:
Edlin, Richard. 1668. Observations Astrologicae, or an Astrological Discourse of the Effects of a Notable Conjunction of Saturn and Mars. Billingsly & Blagrave: London. I have made this available in an annotated edition through my Learning with Lee cd series.
Prior to the 20th century, the custom was to interpret the conjunction for its house location and rulerships in a particular place (especially a nation's capital), and using the Medieval convention of deciding which of the planets was stronger by essential dignity. In this case, being in Leo, Mars is stronger, but Saturn is nastier, being in its detriment. With the conjunction being in a fire sign, one expects hot and dry weather, and one expects the martian group of calamities: wars, fevers, violence. It is this very classification of troubles - whether those of Saturn or those of Mars - which was precisely why the conjunction was considered to be of importance.
In this case, for Washington DC, this conjunction occurred at 8 Leo 45 in the 5th house, with Mars, ruling the conjunction ruling the 1st house (Aries rising). This shows the United States as a principal instigator of war during the next couple of years. The Mars also rules the 8th hose of death, and this combination is not great news. With Saturn ruling the 10th house and in detriment, one expects that Bush's overall popularity will decline.
J. Lee Lehman, PhD, astrologer, author, and Practitioner
