Weekly column: Strait of Hormuz and the symbolism of Jupiter in global shipping

Review

“President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that France plans to send troops to Saudi Arabia to help protect a refinery and crude oil pipeline in the Red Sea port of Yanbu, ramping up France’s military efforts to contain the impact of the Iran war.”

—By Noemie Bisserbe and Matthew Dalton, “France to Deploy Forces to Protect Saudi Red Sea Oil Port,” The Wall Street Journal, September 24, 2026.

As the conflict expands and more countries get dragged in, this is starting to look more like a world war. The bond markets are signaling monetary stress, whilst the technology stocks remain optimistic at the autumn ingress. As global leaders meet at the United Nations, there is once again a sense of hope as the Sun forms an optimistic kite pattern in the heavens with the grand air trine of the Sun, Uranus, and Pluto, and with the Sun also in opposition to Neptune. This has led to a retreat in Crude Oil prices (Neptune rules Crude Oil), and a rally in the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 to new all-time highs. This is not surprising, as the Sun/Neptune opposition is one of the most powerful geocosmics according to our research methods. However, a worrying bearish intermarket divergence is emerging with the Dow, which fell to a new low, with early signs of the soon-to-come retrograde cycles of both Venus and Mercury…

Global equity markets from Europe to Asia, the Pacific, and Latin America remain below their respective highs from earlier in the year. The U.S. Dollar index has been one of the week’s clearest winners, rallying above 100 earlier in the week, supported by rising Treasury yields and expectations of additional Fed tightening. This continues to place pressure on precious metals, which continue to consolidate.

Bitcoin managed to break an important resistance zone, taking out the May high, despite negative news concerning regulatory uncertainty after the U.S. Senate failed to advance comprehensive crypto legislation and news of another hack, in which $350 million was stolen from the Bitget crypto exchange. Momentum has shifted, and we could see further big moves next week as inflation data is released (September 30) and U.S. payroll (October 2). These reports may act as triggers, as they are happening in the orb of the September 29-30 and the October 2-5 critical reversal dates (CRD).

Longer-term thoughts and opinion

As we crossed the threshold into autumn this week, I was drawn back to what I had written about the coming quarter in the seasonal ingress section of Forecast 2026 based on the Washington, D.C., autumnal ingress chart (Figure 23, p. 200):

“It signals a quarter of reckoning, confrontation, and exposure following a year of illusions and spectacle. The chart has Aries on the ascendant, suggesting a volatile, martial, and assertive national temperament. The collective mood is combative, impatient, and ready for confrontation.

With the ascendant near the end of the sign (26° Aries), we are approaching the culmination of an Aries cycle, suggestive of crisis or consequences from actions taken earlier in the year. The late degree further hints at exhaustion or battle weariness, as the nation enters the quarter already embroiled in issues that can no longer be deferred. This is an active ingress, so events are likely to erupt rather than unfold gradually.

Mars, as ruler of the chart, is positioned in its fall at 26° Cancer, in exact square aspect to the ascendant from the fourth house. This depleted Mars is emotional, defensive, reactionary, and unstable. In its fall, its strength is compromised; it becomes reactive and erratic. The nation is suffering from some type of injury or attack and is responding—and likely overreacting—with emotion (anger) rather than decisive strategy. This placement could signify the misuse of power or retaliatory actions by leadership.”

With transiting Chiron sitting directly on the ascendant, I also warned of the possibility of a wound, perhaps even a self-inflicted one, arising from “Errors of judgment, past aggressive policies, or mismanagement now come home to roost.” In retrospect, that symbolism appears particularly striking following the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran in February and the subsequent disruption of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

There is an interesting astrological synchronicity hidden within the name itself. The name Hormuz derives from Hormozd, the ancient Persian name for Jupiter—making the Strait of Hormuz, symbolically, the Strait of Jupiter. It is difficult to imagine a more appropriate name for one of the most important commercial passageways on Earth, as Jupiter governs international trade and commerce and is the co-ruler of Crude Oil and shipping.

Autumn itself, however, does not begin beneath an obviously dark sky. Quite the opposite. The Sun moves into a grand trine with Uranus and Pluto, while Neptune at the apex transforms the configuration into a kite. It is an unusually harmonious signature between planets associated with power, technology, transformation, vision, and collective ideals. Such a configuration may initially coincide with optimism in financial markets and perhaps even a temporary thaw in geopolitics. It may also prove significant for the technology sector, where Uranus’s symbolism is particularly resonant, and could correlate with an important crest formation.

When a similar kite formed last year, President Trump was attempting to promote negotiations between European leaders and Putin. Could the heavens be describing another opening for diplomacy? Another attempt to suspend conflict?

Perhaps. But there is something deceptive about the serenity of the opening days of this quarter. Whatever progress is made beneath the grand trine may prove to be remarkably fragile. Mars, the ancient planet of warfare and conflict, quickly enters the picture and opposes Pluto, Lord of the Underworld, on October 3. On precisely the same day, Venus, ruler of peace, diplomacy, value and the markets, stations retrograde. The symbolism is difficult to ignore. Just as Venus appears to stop in the heavens and turn backward, Mars confronts Pluto. What appeared to be moving towards agreement is likely to reverse. Alliances may be reconsidered. Negotiations may unravel. Market confidence may falter. Matters thought to have been settled could suddenly return from beneath the surface. In that sense, the harmonious geometry at the beginning of autumn may not describe the resolution of the story at all. It may describe the calm before the storm. Given that this also coincides with the solar return of China, which has Mars/Pluto conjunct in its modern-day chart of October 1, 1949, and the fact that the Mars/Pluto opposition falls very close to China’s natal Moon in early Aquarius, a spotlight on confrontation, conflict, and threat (Mars/Pluto) may involve the sensitive status of Taiwan’s independence.

This makes the critical reversal dates spanning the end of September and beginning of October especially important. If markets, diplomacy, or geopolitical developments reach an apparent moment of optimism during this period, we should be alert to the possibility that the visible narrative is not yet the real one.

One piece of the autumn ingress continues to elude me. The astrocartography of the ingress repeatedly draws the eye towards Europe, and particularly towards London. The symbolism suggests that this region may become unusually important to whatever story unfolds during the quarter. Whether that manifests through financial markets, diplomacy, political developments, conflict, or something altogether less obvious remains uncertain. Perhaps it has to do with Russian submarines and surface vessels actively probing and mapping critical undersea infrastructure around the United Kingdom. These types of activities can clearly relate to the bold and aggressive themes of transiting Mars in Leo in opposition to the stealth and “submerged” nature of Pluto. Transparency is needed to make informed decisions, but as a voluntary choice, such an offer may be in short supply.