Another One Bit the Dust

Recent resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus, a four-star general who led U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and was, in some circles, thought to be a potential candidate for president, came as quite a surprise. An extra-marital affair with his biographer brought the toppling of this, the latest in a long line of power-merchants who, while wielding power over lives and deaths of The Great Unwashed of the world, seem unable to wield power over their own desires. These individuals may have dubiously valuable talents and skills the rest of us lack, but they are also prey to the same weaknesses. However weak in one department the General has been, I'd have expected him to have exerted a wee bit of restraint when it came to conducting e-mail correspondence with his lover. Ye gods! He was in charge of the CIA - didn't he realise how dangerous leaving an e-mail trail might prove to be? Even if we abandon all hope of these power-hungry bozos possessing some level of integrity, we might still reasonably expect them to possess the power of good judgment. Petraeus earns nothing better than a D minus in this regard!

Most bloggers and commentary on line indicate suspicion of "something else" going on here. It's easy to think up several theories to match circumstances and timing of his resignation - but whatever else is or might be involved here - it wouldn't have been able to happen had he not been conducting an extra-marital affair.

I wrote about Gen. Petraeus in May: USA's Man on Horseback ? In that post, from his natal chart (set for 12 noon as no time of birth is known) I deduced this - was I mistaken?

A quick note about the man himself: well-integrated, nicely balanced personality; as far as I can tell he's no megalomaniac, though Scorpio Sun indicates a passionate and determined individual. There are several planetary configurations, one standing out clearly for me is known by astrologers as a Mystic Rectangle (though not mystic, just evidence of fine integration). This links Sun/Mars/Jupiter/Uranus in a configuration involving harmonious trines and sextiles together with 2 balancing oppositions. Planets involved relate to self(Sun), energy/dynamism/war (Mars), philosophy/expansion/excess (Jupiter), and rebellion/revolt/change (Uranus).

If I now had to identify a possible astrological culprit in light of the current situation - the element in this chart capable of leading such a man off the straight and narrow, I'd point to Scorpio Sun opposite Jupiter in Taurus. I Googled the name of the female said to have been involved, his biographer Paula Broadwell - Wikipedia has her birth date as 9 November 1972. Hmmmm....2 Sun Scorpio characters, he with Jupiter opposing his Sun from Taurus. Recipe for a rumble? I'll abstain from delving into her chart because she's really not (yet) a public figure.

Jupiter planet of excess was in Taurus natally for Petraeus, the sign is ruled by Venus, planet of love. Jupiter is usually thought the most benign of planets. I've questioned this before. From my 2009 post Jupiter the Jovial Juggernaut:

No doubt Jupiter's huge size, when compared with sizes of the innermost planets, seemed to signify excess, generosity, exaggeration, and all manner of things springing therefrom, such as travel far & wide, and publication - sending out information to the masses.

Some regularity has been discerned in the distances between planets in our solar system. Bode's Law is a rule devised centuries ago by astronomers to demonstrate the regularity, it's a rough rule but an interesting one. If Mercury is 4 units of distance from the Sun, the Venus is 4+3, the Earth 4+6, Mars 4+12. Then there's a gap - Jupiter is 4+48, and Saturn more roughly 4+96. That huge gap between Mars and Jupiter, breaking a pattern, and leaving a gap where otherwise another planet might have been expected to form, is thought to have remained empty because Jupiter's gravity prevented another planet from forming in that area. Another theory is that several smaller planets were formed and they collided with one another; or that a single planet was formed but was then destroyed by Jupiter's greater gravitational field.

Bearing these theories in mind, it's odd that Jupiter hasn't gathered a rather more negative reputation in astrology. Astrologers were quick to attribute eccentricity and the unexpected to Uranus because of its eccentric orbit, so why not attribute something like ruthlessness, eradication, a tendency to bully, and/or destruction to that juggernaut of a planet: Jupiter? I know there's no answer to that, but thought I'd ask anyway.

Any other thoughts?