Review and Preview

    It started off rather peaceful and orderly. Stock markets around the world were rising modestly, along with Gold, Silver, and Crude Oil. Many stock indices were testing their highs of late October, our last three-star critical reversal zone (October 28). The Dow Jones Industrial Average, for example, had peaked at 12,284 on October 27. After falling to 11,231 right on our two-star critical reversal date of November 25, it then soared to a secondary high of 12,257 last Wednesday, December 7, right on the next three-star critical reversal date of December 7-8, just enough for position traders of our daily program who were advised to “exit all longs at 12,250 or higher.”

    Bu then he spoke. No, it wasn’t Barack Obama or Ben Bernanke, who are usually the ones whose comments move stock markets around the world. It was the new European economic king maker – Mario Draghi – the new head of the European Central Bank. And all he did was to speak the truth, thereby dispelling the fantasy of the ECB’s role-to-be in diffusing the debt crisis of the euro zone. He wasn’t going to follow the same path of quantitative easing as the USA Fed had done, as investors had hoped. No, investors went further than “hoped,” They took the optimism of Sagittarius one step further. They had “assumed” he would copy Bernanke and the USA monetary chieftains. But unlike our fire sign theatre duo of Obama and Bernanke (they are Leo and Sagittarius respectively, two fire signs), Draghi is from the more practical and earthbound world of Virgo, where things only work when you follow the rules – precisely and exactly.

    So what did Draghi do that was so practical and yet so disappointing to those who wanted him to be Santa Clause? He lowered interest rates to avert a recession. But he didn’t agree to have the ECB buy the bonds of struggling nations, ala QE1 and 2 (quantitative easing) and Operation Twist so many assumed he would do. According to the Wall Street Journal, he “… also poured cold water on proposals to allow Europe’s national central banks to channel money to governments via third parties such as the International Monetary Fund or Europe’s bailout funds. He stresses that the ECB abides by the ‘spirit’ of its founding charter that prohibits the central bank from financing governments.” Holy cow! Where did this voice of reason come from?

    Well, immediately after he spoke, stocks and precious metals sold off sharply. That’s what you get for telling the truth, for acting with a sense of reason and respect for the founding fathers. The stock markets of the world, which had been up a healthy amount just prior to his comments – just before markets opened – turned south. The DJIA closed down almost 200 points. But, typical of Mercury retrograde and Uranus about to change directions, these markets flipped-flopped the very next day (Friday), and the DJIA was back up over 200 points intraday. Gold, which was up to 1760 near the time of Draghi’s ECB clarification of intent, plummeted to 1707 shortly after. Unlike stocks, though, Gold didn’t recover so much the next day. Well after all, he is a central banker, not a gold bug. His domain is paper currency, and his mission is to save the euro currency, and a strong Gold market is not the beneficiary of that approach – if successful. Draghi, as a man of power and influence, may be a drag on Gold.

    Was that the unexpected surprise we were looking for to rock the market? Or is there more to come? By Monday, we will know.

Short-Term Geocosmics

    There are two planets that end their retrograde motions this week, and each pertain to sudden gyrations in financial markets. The first is Mercury, which has been retrograde in the expansive and hopeful sign of Sagittarius, November 24 through December 13. The second is Uranus, which ends its multi-month retrograde motion on Saturday, December 10, the same day that high-energy but slightly schizoid lunar eclipse in Gemini-Sagittarius takes place. It is also the day of the highly anticipated summit between euro zone leaders. Thus the period of December 10, +/- three trading days could be very wild.

    In astrology jargon, this will highlight the principles of Mercury, Uranus and the full moon. Mercury is the trader. He gets in quickly and takes his profit quickly and looks to the next opportunity. He is more of a scalper than a position trader, but a trader nonetheless. His strength is his quickness is spotting a short-term opportunity, and capturing it. Uranus is a little like Mercury on steroids as the main character in an Xbox video game. Or maybe he is just the player with his hands on the joy stick that can’t stay still. He is nervous. He is quick and clever, as he spots something more substantial than a slight disconnect in market prices. He spots (or creates) the start of an earthquake, a tsunami, a situation where everything falls apart or comes together suddenly and coincides with huge price moves. And of course a full moon – especially one that is also a mutable sign lunar eclipse – is simply high energy combined with a little chaos and a lot of contradiction. Put it all together and you get what you have today as the summit begins: a lot of noise, catchy sound bites and exaggerated warnings¸ and a mess of contradictions.

    As far as markets are concerned, this could be a powerful reversal. But it could also be a huge breakout of support or resistance instead. With Uranus, the only thing you know for sure is that you don’t know anything for sure, and that almost anything can and will happen – especially that which you do not expect. How do you trade it? Wait for the big pop, the big bang, and then try to pick the top or bottom of that move, for just as certain as it will explode in one direction or another, it could then reverse and go the opposite way. That is what Mercury says. It’s what he does best. It’s all a trick, and if you want a reward, you have to know that it is a trick, or seems like a trick, but don’t get tricked out. Mercury is the trickster, and he’s retrograde which is, well, very tricky anyway. Uranus and the lunar eclipse just means the game and the reward have greater stakes than usual, unless it really is an earthquake or terrorist act.

    Uranus rules computers and Mercury rules communications, and with the lunar eclipse this can coincide with a cyber-attack and plenty of disruptions in your digital world of communications. It is also a period in which brilliant and innovative ideas may be on display – and then immediately shot down by forces who allege they are too radical, which means they are good, but threatening to someone’s position and power. That which had so much hope may suddenly collapse in a grandiose display of refusal to go along with the plan. There is no agreement, and hence there is no plan that will be acted upon for the moment – at least not until some egos come back to earth and practice some degree of selfless sensibility and concern for the whole planet instead of their own individual universe in which they – and they alone – are the center. It will be interesting to see who plays the role of this trickster on the world stage this week. But as last week s made clear, and in the words of The Who, “Don’t get fooled again.”    

Long-Term Thoughts and Transit Tales

Last week I spoke about “The real transference of power however involves the individual.” I would like to elaborate a little on this idea this week.

In 1965-66, Uranus formed its 112-142 year conjunction. In 2012-2015 it will come to its first quarter cycle phase, the waxing square. The seeds that were planted in 1965-66, +/- 3 years, are coming to fruition within three years of 2012-2015. More specifically, those who were born in that era of the 1960’s are coming into their personal power, and together, that generation is coming into its collective power. It is now their time of empowerment, and now it will be this generation that will tip the scale as to what is about to transpire politically and economically. The power of this 60s generation will transform and heal the great rift that now exists in the world, or they will utilize this power in a destructive manner. They will determine the election results of 2012 in the USA, and how they react to that election will determine whether this country heals or escalates conflict. Their collective intention is more powerful than most people realize at this moment, because most people don’t understand the cycles of astrology, and in particular the fact that the Uranus-Pluto cycle – started in the 1960’s – is now entering its critical first quarter [phase known as a waxing square. This will be one of the most crucial transformation periods of a generation, and it is likely to reshape the world we live in for several years, even decades. So what will they chose collectively? Destruction, or transformation and healing? I don’t know. But this is Sagittarius season, so you know what I hope.

But then again, I have Neptune rising, and even though I am double Capricorn, I am always hopeful and idealistic when it comes to humanity and our destiny. But let me share with you a personal transit tale, since the best way to learn astrology is experientially – stepping outside of yourself and seeing what is happening in your life as you travel through various transiting and progressed aspects to your natal chart. I wrote at great length last summer about being under a transiting Uranus square, and how life suddenly changes in ways you simply cannot expect.

The prior week, the day immediately after I finished writing Forecast 2012, I lost a great chunk of vision. Just like that, I couldn’t see “normally” any more. I saw two of everything, and the one image began widening its distance from the first as I tried to focus. “Oh oh. This would not be good for driving,” I said to myself as I followed the car in front of me who was veering to the left. Except he wasn’t. “Damn! What is happening to me?” I asked. Everything was shape shifting, which was interesting because I was working on that very concept to describe the Uranus – Pluto waxing square coming up, and how it would affect world leaders and the world economy, especially currencies. But for me, it was really happening. Or was it?

I couldn’t drive. I couldn’t read, except at a computer screen distance. I was locked into the world of the computer screen. Double vision began to give way to 3-D depth images. Well, this is interesting I thought. I can only see a computer screen, and it was that very computer screen that I had been locked into the past 40 days for 6-12 hours per day, writing this year’s book. I damaged the nerve in my left eye. And now that was the only world I could see in. I am living the very images I wrote about

So, that’s another Uranus story. After writing this book for 36 years, I never expected this. I did expect my reality to change. I expected my life style to change. But not like this. So, I am grateful for astrology for preparing me for the unexpected. And here is the good news, also consistent with Uranus and Sagittarius. My vision will come back in about 90 days. How fascinating is that! Why? Because whenever I see someone entering into a new and exciting relationship under a Uranus transit, my advice to them is always: better wait 90 days before you get too intimate. Under Uranus, nothing new lasts more than 90 days, unless you nurture it properly. If you rush and react to the “chemistry,” it will be extraordinary at first, but then it fizzles out and you say to yourself, “What the hell did I just do?” Pick up the shattered pieces and record the lesson to memory for the future. It will happen again.

If you have written me and I haven’t responded, please understand why. I try to save my eyes to work on the computer now only when I have a report to write. I will be absent from emails a lot for the next 3 months. I will take off from all work efforts December 21-January 1, for only rest will help restore the strain I heaped onto my eyes in order to complete Forecast 20912 on time (well, in the words of one of our Italian translators, it is “a masterpiece…. but not worth your eye sight!” I hope he is right). As inevitably the case under a hard Uranus aspect, I am kicking myself saying, “What a fool I am for not listening to my inner voice.” But as an optimist, I am also saying, “You know what? I am grateful for the opportunity to develop my inner sight to go along with that inner voice that I don’t listen to. I “know” where I am even if I can’t see where I am going.

And I still know which way the wind blows.