Review and Preview
It was a wild week astrologically, and financial markets reflected this.
In the geopolitical world, Russia shocked the world by sending troops into Georgia under the premise that it was protecting the lives and interests of Russians. Consistent with the misinformation or intentionally deceptive principles of Neptune, which is part of the lunar eclipse taking place, many cease fire agreements were violated. The "overkill" and assault itself is consistent with the principles of Mars in square aspect to Pluto, which is also happening at this time, and represents a "Have no mercy" tact when dealing ruthlessly with one's opponents.
Yet in spite of new hostilities hoisted upon the world community, crude oil and precious metals continued to plunge all week. Crude Oil fell as low as 111.34 on Friday, down nearly $36.00/barrel from its high of just one month ago. Gold fell below $800 and Silver down to $12.20 on Friday. These represent multi-month lows after peaking above $1000 and $20.00 respectively just a couple months ago. Yet both the precious metals and energy sectors are entering time bands when their 18- and 26-month cycle lows will soon be due.
Most of the stock markets of the world achieved their highest levels of this new primary cycle early last week, and then pulled back into Thursday-Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, for example, touched 11,867 on Monday, a 1200+ increase form the 10,827 low of July 15. Similar peaks were completed in the European indices as well early last week, where the picture was more mixed in the Far East and Pacific Rim countries. Australia's All Ordinaries index, for example, made a new yearly low on August 5, and did not rally that strongly last week. The same was true with Hong Kong's Hang Seng index, which tested its July 16 low again on Friday. Yet the Nifty index of India rallied smartly in August 12 before pulling back into Friday.
Short-Term Geocosmics
As wild as last week was, the study of Financial Astrology suggests more fireworks through the end of September. For this coming week, we note that Mars will enter the cardinal sign of Libra on Tuesday, August 19. Since the Federal Reserve Board was "born" at the start of another cardinal sign (Capricorn, December 23, 1913), we can anticipate a change in trend in interest rate related markets, like Treasuries (which have been rising) and foreign currencies (which have been falling against the US Dollar).
However, all of this is leading into the first two weeks of September, which some of the most powerful geocosmic signatures of the year will unfold. As stated in last week's column, "That is when Jupiter will make its second earth-sign trine to Saturn of this year. The first was on January 21, one day prior to the previous yearly low on of 11,634 in the DJIA on January 22. But within 1-2 days of this important geocosmic signature in early September, both Jupiter and Pluto will change their motion from retrograde to direct. These represent powerful correlates to changes in investor psychology. Perhaps the "good times" that started this week will end around then."
Longer-Term Thoughts
Welcome back to the future. This past week the United States was rudely awakened from a massive self-delusion, wherein existed a sense of peace and world dominion. The Cold War was supposed to have ended when Uranus and Neptune formed a long-term cyclical conjunction with Saturn in 1988-1989. But now, 20 years later and approaching the opposition of Saturn to Uranus (following last year's opposition of Saturn and Neptune), the Cold War is back on as Russia marched into Georgia under questionable reasoning, and then ignored warnings from Western governments and violated several agreements to a cease-fire.
What is it about Saturn-Uranus conjunctions and oppositions that operate like a well-timed theatrical drama between the United States and Russia? You can go back in time and look at this 45-year cycle and its half-cycle of 22.5-years each, and see these patterns of change from "friend to foe" with such regularity that it nearly defies coincidence. It was approximately 90 years ago when the Russian Revolution took place as these two planets came into opposition. Czar Nicholas was forcefully removed in favor of the Communist Bolsheviks, paving the way for the repressive Stalin era that led to major fractures between the United States and Russia. Then as these two planets came together in 1942, so did these two superpowers in the mutual effort to put down the Nazi empire-building of Adolph Hitler in World War II. But over the course of the next 22 years, the Cold War resumed and reached its peak as Saturn and Uranus once again came into opposition in the mid-1960's. Then on their conjunction in 1988-89, Russia freed its communist satellites, paving the way for a new era of partnering between the Big Bear and the USA.
And here we are today, 45 years after the peak of the Cold War and under yet another Saturn-Uranus opposition, and Friday's Wall Street Journal headlines blare out: "U.S.-Russia Relations Turn Cold Over Fate of Georgia, Provinces." Even Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stated in an article by the Associated Press on Friday, "The United States spent 45 years working very hard to avoid a military confrontation with Russia. I see no reason to change that approach today." Really? Don't be surprised if this new era of coldness escalates, because in the past week, Mars has opposed Uranus and squared Pluto. This is a "translation" of the very serious Uranus-Pluto square that will take place 2012-2015. This is a preview of what might lie ahead for the next seven years. It doesn't have to be "Cold War." It can very hot and tense during this period.
This new threat -- and realization that the U.S. has been in a state of delusion -- is outlined in quite startling fashion by former Russian Chess Champion Garry Kasparov in an editorial piece in Friday's Wall Street Journal, titled, " How the West Fueled Putin's Sense of Impunity." In it, he states, "Russia's invasion (of Georgia) was the direct result of nearly a decade of Western helplessness and delusion." He backs up this statement with specific incidents.
How do these events -- and reactions -- show up in the field of Mundane Astrology? A look at the birth chart of the United States will reveal Neptune -- planet of delusion, confusion, and illusion -- is posited at 22 Virgo. Guess where transiting Uranus, planet of awakening and sudden events, is right now? In opposition at 22 Pisces. And guess where transiting Saturn, planet of reality and serious decisions to be made -- will be shortly? You got it -- at 22 Virgo, right on that Neptune. But that's not the most worrisome concern. The USA Mars -- planet of war and conflict -- is at 20 Gemini. This not only forms a square (hard aspect) to the natal Neptune, but will be part of massive T-square with the 45-year Saturn-Uranus opposition over the next year.
The war drums are beating once again between Russia and the USA, just as they seem to do every 45 years. Except this time it could be even more complicated because the USA is spread so thin militarily. Where do the resources and personnel come from to balance or contain this new aggression on the part of Russia? Do you think it comes from the announcement that Poland will now accept 10 American missile-defense interceptors? Will that back Russia down? Which begs the question once again to both of the Presidential candidates, especially with Pluto moving into Capricorn for the next 15 years: What are your views on returning the USA to a military draft?
Disclaimer and statement of purpose: The purpose of this column is not to predict the future movement of various financial markets. However, that is the purpose of the MMA (Merriman Market Analyst) subscription services. This column is not a subscription service. It is a free service, except in those cases where a fee may be assessed to cover the cost of translating this column from English into a non-English language. This weekly report is written with the intent to educate the reader on the relationship between astrological factors and collective human activities as they are happening. In this regard, this report will oftentimes report what happened in various stock and financial markets throughout the world in the past week, and discuss that movement in light of the geocosmic signatures that were in effect. It will then identify the geocosmic factors that will be in effect in the next week, or even month, or even years, and the authorís understanding of how these signatures will likely affect human activity in the times to come. The author (Merriman) will do this from a perspective of a cycleís analyst looking at the military, political, economic, and even financial markets of the world. It is possible that some forecasts will be made based on these factors. However, the primary goal is to both educate and alert the reader as to the psychological climate we are in, from an astrological perspective. The hope is that it will help the reader understand these psychological dynamics that underlie (or coincide with) the news events and hence financial markets of the day.
No guarantee as to the accuracy of this report is being made here. Any decisions in financial markets are solely the responsibility of the reader, and neither the author nor the publishers assume any responsibility at all for those individual decisions. Reader should understand that futures and options trading are considered high risk.
About the Author
Raymond Merriman is a professional astrologer and President of The Merriman Market Analyst, Inc., an investment advisory firm specializing in market timing products and services. He is the editor of The MMA Cycles Report, an advisory newsletter used by banks, financial institutions, investors and traders. He is the author of numerous astrology books, and developed two financial astrological software systems: The FAR (Financial Astrological Research) program, and the SOS (Stock Optimizing Selector) Program, which enable traders to identify potential turning points in various stocks and/or financial futures markets. He can be reached by email, or visit his website.
