You have to keep moving and you have to keep the faith

Review and preview 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 980 points or 2.8%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.7% and 2.5%, respectively. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, on Thursday, said the policymakers would likely move faster than previously stated to tackle high inflation.– “Dow Falls 980 Points, S&P and NASDAQ Crater 2% on Rate Hike Fears.” 

Friday’s action followed a dramatic reversal Thursday after a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell dented market sentiment. Powell said during an International Monetary Fund panel that taming inflation is “absolutely essential” and a 50 basis point hike is on the table for May. –Tanya Macheel and Yun Li, “Dow Plunges More Than 900 Points for its Worst Day Since 2020.”

When it is not euphoria and irrational exuberance, transits involving Jupiter and Neptune may instead manifest as hysteria and panic. That is what happened on Friday as Venus is approaching its conjunction to Jupiter and Neptune next week, April 27-30, following the 14-year conjunction of Jupiter and Neptune in Pisces the previous week on April 12.

At first, it looked like the Venus-Jupiter-Neptune stellium of next week might manifest as a grand rally. The DJIA and other equity markets surged into Thursday morning, April 21, to their highest level since the Russian invasion in Ukraine on February 24. But then the selloff began, with the DJIA falling 700 points off that high on Thursday into the close, followed by a 981-point plunge on Friday, April 22.

The optimism of early Thursday quickly turned to panic as Fed Chairman Powell deemed the fight against inflation to be more important at the moment than the risk of an economic contraction. Maybe he believes the fight against inflation will actually spare the nation from recession, which is like saying that I will stop spending so much money in order to overcome the depression of my debts.

Gold and Silver exhibited a similar pattern to the U.S. stock market. After briefly surpassing the $2000 mark last Monday, April 18, for the first time since March 11, Gold sold off during the rest of the week and closed at 1932. Silver was not much better. After rallying to 26.50 on April 18, its highest price in over a month, it then fell to test 24.00 on Friday. Gold and Silver are supposed to be hedges against this type of financial uncertainty. But the study of long-term cycles paints a more somber outlook for precious metals. Like the U.S. stock market, Bitcoin also started to fall after a weekly high on Thursday, but not nearly so drastically.

Short-term geocosmics  

Surely all of us working in finance realize by now that something is likely to snap in the financial system and probably quite soon. The rapidity of current market moves and the polarization of the now extreme Fed (hawkish) and BoJ (dovish) policies almost guarantees that outcome. Albert Edwards, “The Biggest Story No One is Talking About.” 

There is no doubt that the weaponization of the US dollar is an extremely powerful tool for the US to employ. Still, it has to be wondered about the longer term ramifications of this latest move (against Russia), and how other countries with large foreign exchange reserves will view the matter if, one day, they are suddenly deemed to be out of favor in Washington. There is, consequently, a growing possibility that foreign exchange reserves denominated in dollars may be making a long-term peak as countries question the value of accumulating such “assets,” which at the end of the day are a claim on someone whereas ownership of gold bullion, or indeed Bitcoin, is an IOU on nothing. Christopher Wood, “Is the Chinese Renminbi About to Become the World’s New Reserve Currency?”

Something is not right in the world of financial markets today. As the Fed continues to loudly wave the flag of its commitment to fight inflation by raising rates aggressively (while at the same time reducing liquidity by ending its quantitative easing programs), thereby risking an economic downturn, other nations like Japan and soon China are taking the opposite tack. That is, they want to prevent an economic contraction (recession) and are willing to risk more inflation to do so. Of course, they can do that because their rate of inflation is so much lower. The result is that the U.S. Dollar is soaring while the Japanese Yen is collapsing to its most extreme spread in 20 years. It is like the teapot boiling over, whistling it’s getting too hot, and no one is paying attention as the noise grows louder.

As a financial astrologer, one would think Venus applying to a conjunction to Jupiter and Neptune April 27-30 would be a time of celebration and optimism. But this past week did not end well for most financial markets. Why? How does financial astrology explain this?

It is really not that hard. First, Venus is now a morning star, and not an evening star. Venus as a morning star is more akin to an aggressive warrior psychology than diplomat and peace-maker. Venus will not return to its position as an evening star until she enters Scorpio, along with the Sun, on October 23. In the meantime, international tensions may continue to boil and someone needs to pay attention and realize the burner is getting too hot. Jupiter moving into the fire sign of Aries on May 10 isn’t likely to correct this problem. In fact, it may produce a new problem of too many cooks in the kitchen. Or, if more fortunate, it may create an understanding that one of the cooks is actually an arsonist trying to burn down the planet and he must be removed from the kitchen, otherwise known as the Security Council.

Another plausible cosmic explanation is that Saturn at 23° Aquarius is now at the “bends” with the lunar nodes in Taurus (money) and Scorpio (debt). This is an important degree because the New York Stock Exchange founding chart (May 17, 1792) has Mercury at 23° Taurus and square to Pluto at 23° Aquarius. In other words, Saturn is on the NYSE Pluto, and the Nodes are in Taurus-Scorpio forming a T-square to Saturn and the NYSE Mercury/Pluto. Instead of the joy and fun usually associated with Venus conjoining Jupiter and Neptune, we are getting the heaviness and anxiety of Saturn in square to the lunar nodes in signs of money and debt. On top of all that, there is a solar eclipse this week, April 30, in Taurus.

Longer-term thoughts

But wait a minute. This is not all bad or all good. It is extremes in both directions. Yes, Saturn and the fixed sign nodes reflect the dilemma of the Fed and other central banks and world governments in dealing with the financial stresses of the day, including disruption of critical materials and supplies and the after- effects (addiction and withdrawal) of too much monetary and fiscal stimulation over the past 14 years. But Jupiter and Neptune are also alive and well, and in the dualistic sign of Pisces. So, while we may soon have no money to spend on yachts and designer potato chips, we have more freedom to move about, travel, and still express our strong beliefs.

Typical of the mercy of Pisces, we are still able to find reasons to be grateful and critical. The thing we have to keep in mind  during these aspects is that Jupiter will tend to exaggerate everything, especially in its co-ruling sign of Pisces. It will over-exaggerate the pride and the bluster, as well as fear and anxiety. It is not as good as some say nor as bad as others say. But with Saturn, we also have an opportunity to take a sobering look at the world and get a gauge on reality and re-align our collective, global priorities.

We can change our directions and tendency to stand still and watch while the world burns, especially with Jupiter about to ingress out of Pisces (inertia) and into Aries (action). It is especially worth noting that NATO has four planets in Aries, including its Sun. If there are any organizations that are now called upon to actually do something they were created to do, it is NATO and the United Nations. And with Jupiter in Aries, there is hope that they will see a light, a path forward with which to act for the safety and well-being of all their members, of all the world. Of course, with Jupiter in Aries, there is also a danger they may act too aggressively and carelessly. This is where Saturn square the Nodes may come in handy and provide an awareness of developing a constructive, well-thought out plan of action, and one that is better organized than the fiasco that took place with the evacuation of Afghanistan recently.

Everything is about to change. Uranus in Gemini (2025-2033) augurs a new era of electric vehicles overtaking those running on fossil fuels. Where does that leave counties whose economies depend on the production and sale of crude oil, especially after Saturn (reduction) conjoins Neptune (Crude Oil) in 2026? That 36-year aspect has had a remarkable correlation to the implosion of Russian leadership. But until then, we have a more urgent existential threat to humanity to deal with.

As the Doors and Jim Morrison once sang, “There’s a killer on the road… Take him by the hand, Make him understand, The World on you depends, Our life will never end…” (Riders on the Storm”). You have to keep moving and you have to keep the faith. For without faith (Neptune and Pisces, and Jupiter), there is nothing.

With the majority of planets now finally in their waxing phase with one another, there is a cosmic reason to keep the faith that all this melodrama is actually bringing us together in a common purpose, which is the realization of our Unity with one another and shared drive as human beings to survive, grow, and create. We did not come into this incarnation to destroy and harm one another. But with Pluto transiting the last degrees of Capricorn, we are witnessing the last desperate grasps for power and control over others, which includes acts of violence and destruction, before Pluto enters Aquarius in 2023-2043 and trines Uranus entering Gemini.

Yes, there is hope via the messages written in the starry lit nights of the cosmos. We are waxing.