For those of you interested in political astrology, this is a highly accurate chart for the new administration. This chart should be very useful in making sense of the astrological influences affecting the USA in the coming 4 years, whether by transits or progressions. I gave a preliminary overview of this chart in my transit pages for Jan 2001.
The Inauguration Ceremony took place at the US Capitol Building. According to the astrology package that I use (TCR's Io package), that would be latitude 38N53:24 and longitude 77W00:34. All the times for the event that are mentioned below were manually timed as I watched the TV news coverage. I use a clock that automatically sets itself to time signals from the Naval Observatory Master Clock, so all times should be accurate to within a second or two. This should be close enough for anybody's tastes...
The ceremony began at 11:46:15, Eastern Standard Time. (All times listed are EST; add 5 hours to get Greenwich Time.)
The oath for VP Dick Cheney lasted from 11:56:24 to 11:57:14, at which point he took over from Al Gore.
At 12:01:12, Pluto made an exact quincunx to the ascendent, just as Bush and Chief Justice Rehnquist were being introduced and approaching the podium -- a rather ominous influence to begin an undertaking like the presidency. The presidential oath started at 12:01:58, while the "So help me God" end came at 12:02:25, marking the birth moment of the Bush Administration. Note also that the Moon, at 19Sa03, is almost exactly opposite (and still closing) Bush's natal Uranus (19Gm09) and North Node (19Gm36), indicating some real fireworks for "Dubya" very shortly.
Bush's inaugural address was only 14-some minutes long. He started speaking at 12:04:13 and finished off at 12:18:38. Among the many goals he outlined, his tax cut plan may be one of the more controversial. I timed his mention of the tax cut at 12:11:28. Notice that Mars crossed the descendent around 12:06:45, about two and a half minutes into his speech. That hints his proposals may generate more conflict than compromise in Washington.
The ceremony concluded with the dying notes of the Star Spangled Banner at 12:23:56.
...we get to watch how this chart unfolds with time. In particular, Pluto contacts the ascendent by that quincunx on Feb 6, Apr 28 and Nov 30. These should be some interesting times to watch the news.