Novak Reich
Novak Reich
Had it not been for the valuable secret W.D. Gann pledged to have clothed in veiled
language in his book, The Tunnel Thru the Air, it could have passed for just another
roaring 20s science-fiction novel. However, students have pored over the words, hoping to
unlock the philosophy behind Ganns techniques. Are they on a path to enlightenment or
merely chasing a white rabbit into Alices Wonderland?
Robert Gordon, Ganns fictional persona in The Tunnel, predicts the coming of World War
II, which he believes will be fought in the air. Gann was a particularly religious person, and he
based this belief on predictions attributed to the prophets Daniel and Ezekiel. The Tunnel is
replete with biblical citations pertaining to astrological time cycles that Gordon uses to predict
the future, including future commodity prices.
In Gordons world, this works, and as a professional futures and commodities trader, he
follows these time cycles to generate a fortune from trading cotton. The rest of the plot covers
Gordons plans to use his trading proceeds to build an invisible airship and air tunnel to
ensure America wins the war. The airship is to keep the movements of the American army out
of the enemys sight, while the air tunnel is to trap and disable the enemys aircraft. The
blueprints for the designs are based on a biblical command to the prophet Ezekiel to build a
chariot drawn by four creatures; beside each is a wheel within a wheel with tall and awesome
rims.
Gann writes that he considers the Bible a scientific text on some level, and he suggests that
his book borrows biblical concepts that will demonstrate the process by which man may
know all there is to know, including the stock market. At the same time, he reveals that his
market predictions are based on geometry and mathematics, just as an astronomer does,
based on immutable laws and reiterates that his calculations are based on the cycle theory
and on mathematical sequences. Its important to note, however, that scientific explanations
of these sequences do not appear in the book.
What the book does include, however, is Gordons meticulously dated and priced trading log.
The log spans pages 103-172, and is the only example of Ganns trading activity in the book.
Given that these pages contain numerical data, it is where the secret to Ganns elusive time
factor should be found.
However, The Tunnel is light on trading details. Surprisingly, Gann makes no reference to
the Square-of-9, geometric angles or charts, and even omits Dec. 1, 1926, the date cotton
prices bottomed, from Gordons trading log. While he laces the book with numerous
references to wheels within wheels, possibly a loose allusion to the clothed in veiled
language spiral of the Square-of-9, he discusses none of the tools required for cracking this
books secret.
Without an application of the Square, its angles and the eras cotton chart, it is impossible to
analyze Gordons trades. It appears that a great deal of the material Gann said is in the book is
missing. He does send this signal on page 78, where, in capital font, he boldly tells the reader
that it is not my aim to explain the cause of cycles. He then adds, rather patronizingly, that
the general public is not yet ready for it and probably would not understand or believe it if I
explained it.
To put the puzzle together, we must refer to Ganns Master Commodities Course, as well as
plot a chart of Gordons trades.
On page 331 of the Master Commodities Course, Gann vaguely refers to the Square, saying: It
is important because nine digits are used for measuring everything. If we divide 360 degrees
by nine, we get 40, which measures 40 degrees, 40 days, 40 weeks and 40 months, and shows
why bottoms often come out on angles measuring one-ninth of the circle.
In Chapters 5A and 5B of the course, Gann elaborates upon the strength of the 180- and 360-
degree angles, saying: the 360-degree angle is strong because it ends the circle and returns to
the beginning degree, and because it is opposite the 180-degree the angle that equals half
of the circle. As summer becomes hot and winter reaches frigid temperature extremes, 182
days later, so too does stock market action reach volatile extremes. This is as far as Gann had
ever gone to show the connection between the Square-of-9 and its 180- and 360-degree
angles.
He had most certainly extrapolated from stories in the Bible that the seven years of famine
followed by another seven years of plenty, and the 40 nights and 40 days of the Great Flood,
indicate a 360-degree revolution of time. Eager to find a calendar-calculator capable of
measuring time, and track the angular positions of spans, Gann turned to astrology where he
discovered the zodiacs cosmic clock his Squares prototype. It was humanitys first
instrument designed to track the movements of the sun, moon and the arrangement of planets
that ancient civilizations used for maritime navigation at night and in projecting a rivers ebb
and flow. Ganns version of the zodiac navigates the ups and downs of markets.
Albert Einstein once said that had the laws of the universe been complex, he would have had
no interest in them. Given that the major divisions of time, including the orbits of the inner
and outer planets (Earth and its moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, Neptune, Jupiter and
Uranus) are encoded onto the Squares cardinals and diagonals (see Time divisions, below),
intricate astrology masks the simplicity of its use and is, in fact, irrelevant to trading. If, for
example, a stock advances for 28 days, and then declines for the same amount of time,
knowing that the western cardinals numeral 28 denotes the length of one lunar month, does
not, in any way, enhance your trading.
Trading log and Diagramming success (below) capture Robert Gordons trading activity
from Dec. 1, 1926, though Oct. 6, 1927. However, from the amount of data Gann released, it
is difficult to establish which axis of the Square governs cottons swings.
Nonetheless, it can be seen in Square breakdown (below) that all but two swings (Aug. 9-
13, and Sept. 8-Oct. 6) terminated at an 180-degree angle. Given that the Sept. 8 peak, which
signaled the waves end, terminated upon the northern cardinal on day 281 of the run (Dec. 1,
1926, though Sept. 8, 1927), it is likely that cottons major up and down swings adhere to the
Squares northern axis.
It has long been suspected that Robert Gordons trading log contained the valuable secret
Gann said he embedded into The Tunnel Thru the Air. For many students of Ganns
techniques, The Tunnel is among the first Gann books theyve read, along with Ganns
Master Commodities Course.
These students, this author included, would be the first to grant Gann the credit he deserves
for discovering the time factor the mechanism that governs the behavior of markets. Gann
was one of Wall Streets supreme giants. However, in rereading The Tunnel knowing
exactly what to look for and expecting to find chunks of Ganns secret, its disappointing to
find such details absent, even in code.
However, Ganns time factor, the Square and simple instructions of its use, have survived.
And in spite of Ganns conviction that the general public is not yet ready for it and probably
would not understand or believe it if I explained it, many of those who once struggled with
Ganns obscure writings, and intricate astrological charts, have grasped it, and held on tightly.
Pauline Novak-Reich was the manager of research-foreign exchange at the Australian &
New Zealand Banking Corp.s dealing room from 1980 to 1993. Her duties involved
analysis and forecast of currencies, interest rates, equities and commodity markets trends,
as well as overseeing dealers intraday trading. In 2005 she authored The Bell Does Ring
(John Wiley, Australia). This article is based on elements of her upcoming book,
Mystifying Square, Divine Proportions Natures Black Box. She can be reached at
[email protected].
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