05-Beware Late Aug 2009
05-Beware Late Aug 2009
2009
By
Robert Gover, USA
Although the stock markets in most
countries around the world are quiet as I
write this in late May 2009, watch out for a
crash in late August of this year. It could
begin in the middle of August, or it could be
delayed till the second week of September,
but around this time, a stock market crash—
especially in the USA—is very likely.
Historically, we often find instances when stock market crashes coincided with patterns
such as this, when not all the transiting planets were within the 7-degree orb most
astrologers deem effective, yet the “hit” to the USA’s Mars-Neptune square brought down
stocks suddenly and dramatically. During most of 2008, the Saturn-Uranus opposition was
tightening, with these planets flirting with being conjunct and opposite the USA’s Neptune,
square the USA’s Mars, and stock markets were tumbling.
Given that these planets were moving slowly into position for most of 2008, why did stocks
take their biggest hit on this date, September 29? Well, that day was a Monday and it
followed a Lunation the day before, and that New Moon touched the USA’s natal Saturn. It
also marked the point when transiting Saturn came within a 7 degree orb of its conjunction
with the USA’s Neptune.
On this day, too, the House of Representatives surprised investors by rejecting the Treasury
Department’s proposed $700 billion bailout for banks. The bill passed later. Congressional
delay, however, did not immediately stop the downward slide of stock markets, as Saturn
and Uranus continued to tighten their opposition and harass the USA’s Mars-Neptune
square. This opposition challenged the thinking of both those who were in favor of holding
the status quo, and those who were for breaking new ground according to Uranus’ urging.
Governments around the world have done a bit of both: they have come to the rescue of
errant financiers instead of allowing their institutions to collapse, and they have transferred
unprecedented amounts of taxpayer money to the bankers. They have justified the
unprecedented by saying these institutions are “too big to fail,” that if they failed, they
would bring down the world financial system.
The bailout for financial institutions was supposed to go hand-in-hand with an economic
stimulus package for the working classes, but much of this stimulus seems to be bogged
down in red tape, causing widespread cynicism among the American population. It is hard
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to refute the popular perception that the government is now “of, for and by the super
wealthy and big corporations” to an unprecedented degree.
There are some commentators who say that the politicians, by favoring their most generous
campaign contributors, have only postponed the inevitable. I have written that the core of
the existing, rocky banking system is the Federal Reserve, and that transiting Pluto’s
position now threatens the Fed. (See “Pluto and the Fed” at www.stariq.com, written
12/7/2007.)
The planetary pattern upcoming in late August of this year is similar to the one we find in
September of last year, with one big difference: this time, transiting Mars will join Saturn,
Uranus and Pluto to harry the USA’s Mars-Neptune square. The position of Mars in
Gemini suggests that this upcoming period could see stocks plunge even more frighteningly
than they did last September.
On the material level of our shared reality, there is no shortage of reasons why we can look
for another big stock slide later this year. Primary among those reasons is that the Credit
Default Swap game that seeded the crash of 2008 continues. Attempts have been, and
continue to be made to control this form of unregulated insurance of securities based on
various forms of debt “bundled” and sold to investors, with big financial institutions buying
the lion’s share. In retrospect, it’s said that CDS’s were a market catastrophe waiting to
happen. Since it has not been fixed, it now appears that another is waiting in the wings.
What governments around the world did following the crash of 2008 was take steps to save
the existing financial system. But what the history of Saturn-Uranus oppositions tells us is
that change is inevitable. Add the square to Pluto and what we can expect to unfold is the
unexpected and definitely revolutionary.
Einstein’s famous definition of insanity---doing the same thing again and again and
expecting different results—applies here. Stock markets are well known to be irrational.
The irony is that the big players, who are often able to move “normal” markets up or down,
also get surprised by crashes brought on by “mysterious forces beyond human
understanding,” i.e., planetary cycles and angles.
For most of the financial world, another crash like the one in 2008 would be horrible, wiping
out the hope that we have, in 2009, put the worst behind us. For those called Contrarians or
Crisis Investors, a crash in late 2009 offers another opportunity, for such investors make
more money faster during dramatic drops.
For astrologers such as myself who ponder the simultaneities of certain planetary and
economic events, these coincidences are endlessly fascinating. We must keep in mind,
however, that it’s a game that can never be won, only played. For while we can see our solar
system as one gigantic celestial clock with 12 hands, we must not forget that no moment in
celestial time repeats. As above, so below—it is wisely said that history repeats but does not
rhyme.
So even as we check out the similarities between Chart #1 for the crash of 2008, and Chart #2
for the possibility of a repeat in 2009, we must keep in mind that Uranus is famous for
surprises. Yet, with Pluto’s square to both Saturn
72 and Uranus tightening its orb and due to
become exact in 2010, I guesstimate that chances are better than 90% we’ll see another
crash in late summer of 2009.
Please understand that I will be delighted if this prediction turns out to be wrong.
Chart #1
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Chart #2
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