Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/64sMtT3OT1lCSsogsSljh1?si=a6e77b56297d44b4
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/E7no0oNXhNA
REVIEW AND PREVIEW
The right brain is more visual and intuitive. www.healthline.com.
Well, we know where we’re going
But we don’t know where we’ve been
- Talking Heads and David Byrne, “Road to Nowhere,” June 10, 1985.
It’s going to be a short column this week because I’m sick. It’s also going to be a column that’s not so much about financial markets this week because…. I’m sick.
Now you are probably wondering: why am I sick? Maybe you are not wondering, but I am going to answer as if you were right here and asking that question. But you probably wouldn’t be right here asking that question because… I’m sick.
But let’s imagine you are here and asking that question. Well, let me imagine that you are here asking that question because, after all, I have Neptune rising in my chart, and that can be very imaginative and intuitive. Now I’ve written before about my intuition, being that I am about as psychic as a potato. Potatoes make me sick – unless they are chips or gnocchi served in a fine-dining restaurant. But as I am in Germany -– a land where everything is made with potatoes – you may use your intuition and ability to connect the dots. You might begin to see why I am sick.
However, that’s not why I am sick. I didn’t eat any potatoes here. Err, wait a minute! I did take a helping of some delicious gnocchi the night before I got sick. Maybe the dots are beginning to connect. Life, like markets, is all about puzzle-solving. But it doesn’t matter. This week’s column is not about my astonishing Neptunian intuition. It’s a lot about my more-than-awesome Neptune-rising-in-Libra imagination (and maybe my puzzle-solving talents, too, when it comes to markets).
So, here I am in Europe, as I am every summer, imagining you are here wondering why I am sick, when in fact you are not here, but if you have been reading this blog so far, then by now you are wondering: why is he sick? How does someone like Ray Merriman get sick when he is such a health food nut and has been so for his past five lifetimes?
For the answer to this mystery, let’s delve into the highly esoteric, unconventional, and controversial subjects of cycle studies and astrology – which is probably why you read this column in the first place unless you are a creative writer with an active Neptune rising which every so often just has to express its imaginative side. It’s OK. It makes you somewhat human to get out of your left dead head and into the right side of your brain. Lord knows I spend way too much time on the left side of my brain (analytical), which is probably one of the reasons why I am sick this week. But it has served me well (except this week).
So, here I am in the land of the dreaded potato-worshippers, and the left side of my brain looked at my chart a few days ago, and it said to my awesome wife, Antonia: “Aha! Transiting Mars in my 12th house is going to square my natal ruling planet, Mercury, in Sagittarius! I better watch my health.” Now you probably think: “Wow! That’s psychic!” No, that is the application of analytics (i.e., left-brain magic) based on our increasing scientific knowledge of cycles – cosmic cycles in this case.
Then, just before we were to travel to the middle of Germany for Antonia’s family reunion, she said: “Oh no! My sister is sick. She caught COVID and can’t come.” So now I am concerned. The sister whom I adore (because I have Neptune rising in Libra and I love everything and everyone who is beautiful) has COVID. But she decides not to come, so that’s good (well, it’s not good, but it is wise, and in most cases, it is better to be wise than good). I should be safe if I am careful. With three planets in Capricorn, I am probably too careful too much of the time. But that has served me well too. Did I say I liked being served well? I have a very late Virgo rising, a sign of serving and enjoying being served. I liked being served almost anything except boiled potatoes and disrespectful critiques.
The story is not over yet. How can it be? I haven’t answered the question. Yes, I know that is typical Neptune with prolific Mercury in Sagittarius in the third house. Start a story and forget where you are before you end it. Where was I? (This is a typical Neptune quote, along with “Where am I?”) I know where I am going, but I don’t know where I’ve been. In the middle of the trip to the center of Germany, Antonia’s daughter calls to say she has arrived – but she is sick. And Mars is about to kick into its square to natal Mercury, my ruling planet, which my remarkable psycho-analytic talents had already determined could be my “death trap.” Why not? I have a strong natal Pluto and two planets in Scorpio. Death fascinates me. So does rebirth. And what, really, is a sickness to someone with Neptune rising?
Now, I realize I have to be extra cautious. The pieces of the puzzle are all coming together, and fortunately, I am of the belief that one can control these “signs” by using free will and knowledge to make wise choices. Such faith! So in another typical Neptune behavior, I avoid… everyone. I wall myself up in the Airbnb and see no one except to visit the family for dinner, and then I avoid closeness with Antonia’s lovely daughter, Marilen.
I don’t go out of the house. I work all day on my left brain tasks… I am going to avoid this illness by being smart. And I did all the right things. But in the end, I still got COVID! No one else present had COVID – not even Marilen. She had a cold. The sister with COVID did not attend.
There is a lesson in here somewhere. Or maybe the lesson is “out there.” You can run, but you cannot hide. “It” will find you, even if – in your arrogant smartness and faith – you think you have control.
Now, you probably think the story is over. Or maybe you wish it was over. But it’s not. There is a cyclical matter here too. The last time I got really sick in Europe was in August 2015. I got pneumonia then, the sickest I have ever been in this lifetime. That was eight years ago. You know what happened eight years ago, in August 2015? Yep. That was the last time Venus went retrograde in Leo. It happens every eight years. So, in 8 years, I won’t be spending the summer in Europe as I always do. I will probably spend it in Phoenix and take my chances. At least I won’t have to eat potatoes.
Markets: I am not going to analyze markets in this week’s column because it takes energy, and I need to conserve my energy for the weekly reports tomorrow and the monthly reports Monday and Tuesday. Besides, it is Venus retrograde, and the markets are complicated. It will take a lot of energy to explain them to you. But I do have some general thoughts to share.
I talked about puzzles earlier in this week’s column. Markets are often like jigsaw puzzles. Some are more complicated than others. You look at the pattern, consider the cycles and geocosmics on the horizon, and try to ascertain which direction this pattern will take next. Will it even break the pattern (trend) that has been established? With an abundance of Uranus aspects involved and Mercury about to turn retrograde on August 23 (on top of Venus already retrograde), the challenge is … well, very challenging. Each of these can be pattern-breakers for at least a few weeks.
The issues with Uranus and Mercury are that support and resistance zones can be broken when normally they would hold, and the market would reverse. With Mercury, it is even more complicated because breakouts may be fake outs. I know that no one who is not a market analyst or market timer understands or wants to hear this. You want the puzzle solvers to …. solve the puzzles. But in many cases, we can’t until we see how and where the next piece fits. It does help, though, to have a picture in your mind as to how the puzzle will look when it is completed. So we keep our focus on the bigger picture as described in our monthly and yearly reports, which are for investors. It’s the shorter-term outlook for traders that gets complicated, like in the month of August, when Uranus is overly active, and Mercury goes retrograde (August 23).
So I am going to sit out the usual analysis for this week’s weekly column and hope that I at least entertained you – made you smile – with my sickness saga. We need some lightness now. It’s been a very challenging week for many people suffering from natural calamities like the wildfires in Hawaii, and my heart and prayers for safety go out to all of our friends and others who are caught in that (and other) natural disaster(s). This, too, is part of the cycle of life.
So let me close with a Neptune blessing. May you be safe and healthy. May you be happy and find inner peace. May you experience the outpouring of tears of joy and love that come from the overflowing of compassion towards all living beings, especially those who suffer. This is the ultimate wish of a Neptune rising or Neptune prominently placed in any chart.
I will return next week with my left brain firmly back in charge.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
NOTE 1: THE AUGUST ISSUE OF THE MMA Monthly Cycles Report will be released this Monday, August 14. This is the middle of the Venus Retrograde cycle, July 22-September 3, and Mercury’s retrograde cycle is about to begin as well (August 23-September 15), all setting up for the major moves in equity and precious metals this fall. Each Cycles Report covers the outlook in the U.S. Stock Market, Gold, Silver, Copper, Treasuries, Euro Currency, Crude Oil, and Soybeans. The MMA Monthly Cycles Report reviews MMA’s original geocosmic critical reversal dates (CRDs) and Solar/Lunar reversal dates over the next several weeks with trading strategies for position and aggressive traders during the next month. If you would like to try out one month of the MMA Monthly Cycles Report, you can sign up for the August Report for only $35! And if you become a subscriber before September 15th, you will receive a code to save $13 on Forecast 2024.
NOTE 2: The “Annual MMA Forecast 2024 Pre-Publication Sale” has now started!!! The sale will run through October 31 and will include our once-a-year sale discounts on both the annual Forecast Book and MMA Subscription Reports. You may pre-order Forecast 2024 Print at the discounted rate of $55, or the eBook at $45. And the best deal on MMA Subscription Reports is also offered at this time! Save 10% off any subscription ($275+) with purchase of Forecast 2024.
After the pre-order event ends on November 1st, the retail price of Forecast 2024 Print increases to $66, and the eBook increases to $55.Want to save even more on Forecast 2024? Sign up for any subscription report between now and September 15th to be upgraded to our Active Subscriber Club. Club members receive a discount code to pre-order Forecast 2024 eBook for only $35 and print edition for $42!
MMA will also offer a special “bundle” discount rate for those who wish to order both the eBook and printed editions of Forecast 2024. The eBook usually comes out 1-2 weeks before the print edition and avoids delays caused by the postal system, especially if overseas. Yet many readers prefer the print edition, so ordering both via The Forecast 2024 Bundle makes sense. You will receive the eBook on December 15th, and your Print copy will be mailed in mid-December.
Special Offer this season!!! MMA’s newest monthly report, “MMA Monthly Grains Report” by Grains Analyst Wyatt Fellows. The cost of this subscription is normally $325, but on sale now for only $300 for a 1-Year subscription. If ordered together with the Forecast 2024 Book, there will be two further 10% discounts making the cost of the report only $270 for a 1-Year Subscription! This is an exceptional report by a top MMTA graduate who is also the owner of a large family farm operation. Wyatt knows the farming business and grain markets from both a cyclical and fundamental point of view. This report is an in-depth look at long-and short-term cycles in Corn, Wheat, and Soybeans. The MMA Monthly Grain Report just started in January 2023 and has been extremely accurate. If you trade grains or are in the farming business and need accurate timing and understanding of when to hedge your crop, this report is not to be missed! To order, click here.
MMA offers discounts to our Forecast Fan Club Members and our Active Subscriber Club members. Check out our page on Forecast Club Levels to learn more about these discounts.
This year’s printed and eBook versions will also be available in these languages:
German: www.mma-europe.ch/ or email at info@mma-europe.ch
Japanese: https://www.toushinippou.co.jp/
Chinese: www.nodoor.com/
We created an updated list of our most common Forecast FAQs to help this Forecast season.
The Forecast 2023 Scorecard of the Forecast 2023 Book can now be viewed by clicking here.
NOTE 3: Two more weeks! August 26, 2023 – October 7, 2023: “Solar/Lunar Correlations For Short-Term Trading.” This course will begin in 2 weeks, with a break for Labor Day weekend (Sept 2), then resume Sept 9-October 7. This is a six-week course on how to determine, measure, and use solar-lunar combinations in financial markets for optimal short trading (even day trading). This six-week course is based on studies of Ray Merriman as presented in Volume 4 of The Ultimate Book on Stock Market Timing; The Sun, The Moon and Silver Market: Secrets of a Silver Trader; and Solar/Lunar Correlations to Short-Term Trading in Gold. The course explains the studies identifying Sun-Moon combinations that have the highest correlation to isolated highs or lows in stock indices, Gold, and Silver from which tradeable reversals are likely over the following 1-4 trading days. The setup that activates the trade in these time bands is shared, and supporting market signals that will help in determining the price target with the “lowest risk to optimal reward” possibilities via these studies. In addition, we will also share our latest results on the lunar cycles correlating with sharp, short-term reversals in Bitcoin and the Euro and, if ready, Crude Oil studies. This six-week course will be part of the MMTA (Merriman Market Timing Academy), Course 4. Those who complete this class will receive credit for that course. The cost is $2500, which includes six Zoom classes of about 2.5 hours each, plus recordings of each class and a workbook. Classes will take place each Saturday, beginning at noon EDT, from August 26 through October 14, with the exception of September 2, which will be a break due to the Labor Day holiday in the U.S. Instructors will be Raymond Merriman (CTA) and Gianni Di Poce (CTA), with one or two special guests to be announced soon. Registration is limited, so sign up now by clicking here.
NOTE 4: SUBSCRIBE TO MMA’S WEEKLY YouTube show, Geocosmic Week in Review and Look Ahead, with Gianni Di Poce. Each 5-15 minute FREE episode reviews the market activity of the past week and offers a preview of the geocosmic signatures in effect for the next week and beyond. There will be a slew of special guests coming up in the next month, so stay tuned for announcements via our Twitter feed. You may subscribe to MMA’s YouTube Channel today at no cost and get alerted when a new weekly episode is released!
NOTE 5: MMA’S FREE WEEKLY COLUMN IS ON APPLE AND SPOTIFY PODCAST! Now you can listen to a new podcast of this weekly column by Thomas Miller. The Free Weekly Forecast Podcast is available on Saturday. Just follow Merriman Market Analyst on Spotify or Apple to listen to all our episodes. New Podcast episodes will be released every weekend. This is a FREE service and is available to everyone. Checkout out our Podcasts on Apple, Spotify, MMA- Merriman Market Analyst Podcast, and on YouTube, Merriman Market Analyst. It makes for great listening!
EVENTS
Ray Merriman will be the guest on the YouTube station of highly followed social media personality and Crypto analyst, “Crypto Damus.” Here is the link to his station. Click here. It should be an interesting 45-minute discussion about the stock market, metals, and Bitcoin-related to astrological cycles.
August 20, 2023: MMA Mid-Year Update on Chinese markets, 7 PM, Beijing Time, 1:00 PM CEDT. Last week’s scheduled presentation had to be cancelled due to Ray getting COVID. This 3-hour Zoom presentation will be presented by Raymond Merriman in English, with translation into Chinese by the staff of NoDoor School. Markets to be covered include: Shanghai Stock Composite (SSE), Renminbi (RMD – Dollar/Yuan), Crude Oil, Gold, and Bitcoin, plus Q&A. For further information and enrollment, please click here (and use Google translation into English).
August 26, 2023 – October 7, 2023: “Solar/Lunar Correlations For Short-Term Trading.” For details see announcement above. Registration is limited, so sign up now by clicking here.
Disclaimer and statement of purpose: The purpose of this column is not to forecast the future movement of various financial markets. However, that is the purpose of the MMA (Merriman Market Analyst) subscription services. This column is not a subscription service. It is a free service, except in those cases where a fee may be assessed to cover the cost of translating this column from English into a non-English language. This weekly report is written with the intent to educate the reader on the relationship between astrological factors and collective human activities as they are happening. In this regard, this report will often cite what happened in various stock and financial markets throughout the world in the past week and discuss that movement in light of the geocosmic signatures that were in effect. It will then identify the geocosmic factors that will be in effect in the next week, or even month, or even years, and the author’s understanding of how these signatures may affect human activity in the times to come. The author (Merriman) will do this from the perspective of a cycles’ analyst looking at the military, political, economic, and even financial markets of the world. It is possible that some forecasts will be made based on these factors. However, the primary goal is to both educate and alert the reader as to the psychological climate we are in from an astrological perspective. The hope is that it will help the reader understand the psychological dynamics that underlie (or coincide with) the news events and their potential effect on financial markets.
No guarantee as to the accuracy of this report is being made here. Any decisions in financial markets are solely the responsibility of the reader, and neither the author nor the publishers of this column assume any responsibility whatsoever for anyone’s trading or investment decisions. Readers of this report should understand that commodity futures and options trading are considered high risk.