REVIEW AND SHORT-TERM GEOCOSMICS
Federal and state officials need to start adjusting their anti-virus strategy now to avoid an economic recession that will dwarf the harm from 2008-2009.Treasury Secretary Mnuchin’s assertion on Fox Business Thursday that the economy will power through this is happy talk if it continues much longer… no society can safeguard public health for long at the cost of its overall economic health. America urgently needs a pandemic strategy that is more economically and socially sustainable than the current national lockdown. – “Rethinking the Virus Shutdown,” Opinion Page, Wall Street Journal, March 20, 2020.
The huge sell off in world equity markets continued last week as the panic associated with the applying conjunction of Jupiter/Pluto, April 4, is well underway. However, we are now entering our critical time band of geocosmic signatures. World equities have dropped so sharply in just one month, that one has to start asking if equities might not be near a good value now. After all, the idea of switching to cash was due to the belief that cash could be used to purchase assets at a greatly reduced price. It may be happening much sooner than we expected, at least in the short-term, as we enter this March 20-April 7 period that contains several historically consistent geocosmic reversal signatures. These include four major conjunctions.
In the study of astrology, there are two conditions that symbolize a shift in collective consciousness and direction in human activity. In Financial Astrology, one or both of these conditions are often present when financial markets reverse trends. One is when planets enter into a conjunction with each other (i.e. they appear close together in the heavens, as seen from earth, in their orbit around the Sun). Conjunctions represent the end and beginning of a cycle whose dynamics are related to the planets and signs involved. As two planets apply to their conjunction, it is known as the balsamic, or final, phase of that cycle. The cycle is ending, and the most challenging part of any cycle is its ending. Once the conjoining planets start to separate, it marks the beginning stages of a new cycle, or a new trend in human activity. This shift is more pronounced when the conjunction involves the outermost planets of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto to one another. As mentioned above, Jupiter is now applying to its first of three conjunctions to Pluto on April 4. The second and third passage will take place on June 30 and November 12.
However, right before Jupiter conjoins Pluto on April 4, Mars will trigger all three planets involved in the 2020 “Capricorn Stellium.” That is, on March 20, Mars will conjunct Jupiter, followed by its conjunction to Pluto on March 23 and Saturn on March 31. Mars acts like a “trigger.” It can activate the new cycle when it conjoins the outer planets slightly before or after they meet. In this case, Mars activates Jupiter, Pluto, and Saturn March 20-31. Thus, there is a geocosmic reason to think that the recent trends in human activity may be readying to reverse, at least in the near-term.
There are other reasons to support this view, too. The second astrological condition signifying a change in collective consciousness and human activity relates to planets changing signs, known as an “ingress.” This is more pronounced when the ingress involves an outer planet. On March 21, Saturn (an outer planet) will temporarily leave Capricorn for Aquarius. Mars, the “trigger” planet, does the same on March 30. And on March 31, these two planets will conjoin one another in zero degrees of Aquarius, which is the same degree that the even greater 20-year conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn will occur on the winter solstice, December 21, 2020. We will get a preview of that dynamic means in the next two weeks.
As if this is not enough geocosmic activity symbolizing the possibility of a change in attitude, awareness, and trends, the Sun has just entered Aries, the spring equinox, on March 19. Next week, on March 24, the new moon (a conjunction between the Sun and Moon) in Aries will occur. Aries and the new moon are also symbolic of a “new season” and in this case, a new “celestial year.” The old celestial year, and the balsamic phase of Mars to Jupiter, Pluto, and Saturn, is ending.
The bottom line, as I view it from my understanding of the correlation of planetary cycles with cycles in human activity, is that the world may start to view this pandemic and the economic threat it represents, quite differently. It may indicate there is more clarity, more of a mass adjustment to this new reality and what it really means, less hysteria and panic, and perhaps a realization that it is not quite so terrifying as it has seemed since Mars entered Capricorn on February 16. It is interesting that China reported no new cases of COVID-19 at the end of last week. Incidentally, February 16 also coincided with the peak of the hysteria in China over this outbreak, as well as the midpoint of the all-time highs in several world equity markets, including the U.S. The all-time high in the DJIA was on February 12. In the S&P and NASDAQ futures, it was on February 20. In this geocosmic view, it is possible that the “peak of panic” in the U.S. and Europe could be happening right now, as these four major conjunctions take place during the same period that Mars and Saturn leave Capricorn (sign of worry, fear, and sense of loss) and enter Aquarius (sign of new discoveries and approaches towards solving existing problems).
LONGER-TERM THOUGHTS
Let me take you down
‘Cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever
– The Beatles, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, 1967, EMI, London.
“Since my election, U.S. stock markets have soared 70%, adding more than $12 trillion to our nation’s wealth, transcending anything anyone believed was possible,” Trump said during his State of the Union address in February. The U.S. economy, he said, is “moving forward at a pace that was unimaginable just a short time ago, and we are never, ever going back.” – Christina Wilkie, “Three Pillars of Trump’s Case for Re-Election Are Collapsing All at Once,” www.cnbc.com, March 19, 2020.
I hope Trump is right, but… this doesn’t look good. Then again, very little has gone as expected in the last month, so maybe there is a rabbit to pull out of this hat yet. If so, it would be more amazing than Joe Biden’s dramatic comeback against Bernie Sanders, who – less than one month ago – was all but certain to win the Democrat’s nomination. This 2020 “Capricorn Stellium” is a strange brew of reality and surrealism. It really makes you wonder if we are living in a parallel universe. I would think that President Trump (who is actually acting presidential) is wondering the same, with transiting Neptune (“Nothing is Real”) in Pisces, now making a hard T-square aspect to his natal Sun/Moon opposition. This is a lot like the Beatles’s song “Strawberry Fields Forever.” If there is a parallel universe, it would be on Neptune.
Nevertheless…. this is serious “Capricorn Stellium” business and we are living in a serious moment that will have historical importance just because it is so strange, so bizarre, so surreal – and so threatening to everything as we knew it to be – or maybe only imagined it to be – and the consequence of our hubris.
There are so many long-term planetary cycles underway in 2020 that it can be overwhelming to ascertain just how matters of collective importance will work out. It is a challenge to assess how financial markets will work out as well, when you have a rare cosmic arrangement involving conjunctions between three of the five outer planets of Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto in one year (to which we can now add Mars, March 20-April 4). This is the year of the “Capricorn Stellium.” Capricorn, by the way, rules the seniors, the elderly, in our societies, who are at greatest risk. It’s been at least 130 years since we have seen such an alignment involving three outer planet conjunctions in a single sign in a single year.
As planets move towards their conjunction, it represents the end of a cycle involving these dynamics, as described earlier. Once the conjunctions pass, it represents the beginning of new cycles, or in the case of three outer planets, a new “era.” We’ve talked about this before, how the final part of this stellium – the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction on the winter solstice of December 21, 2020 – is the end and beginning of 20-, 200-, and 800-year cycles. Not only does the “Great Chronocrator” (Jupiter and Saturn) end and begin each of these cycles just mentioned, but it does so as both enter the sign of Aquarius, December 17-19, 2020. It’s not only a conjunction (end and beginning of cycle), but an ingress as well (leaving one sign, entering a new one), which also represents a major shift of the collective’s consciousness, awareness, and activity.
The abundant number of long-term planetary cycle endings and beginnings involved in 2020 have different correlations to historical market cycles. If it was just one planetary cycle that we had to address, it would be relatively easy to forecast that a long-term cycle bottom or long-term cycle crest was culminating. But there are three at once: Jupiter/Saturn, Jupiter/Pluto, and Saturn/Pluto. And each has a strong correlation to different long-term market cycles. Which one will be dominant is hard to say. We could see both types of long-term cycles culminate – a long-term crest (already in) and a long-term cycle bottom. So, let me share with you one of the more optimistic possibilities, for we are now well-immersed into the chaos and fear part of the “Capricorn Stellium.” One of the emotions associated with Capricorn and its ruler Saturn is fear, and with Jupiter and Mars also involved now, another is chaos or hysteria.
In studies published in The Ultimate Book on Stock Market Timing, Volume 2: Geocosmic Correlations to Investment Cycles, it was illustrated how the bottom of the longest cycles in British and U.S. stock markets occurred during the times Saturn and Pluto were in cardinal signs, and Uranus was posited between 22º Pisces and 23º Aries. These studies also showed that a secondary bottom occurred a few years later, usually 6-15 years later, when Uranus moved into Taurus. The long-term Great Depression/Recession cycle lows of 1842, 1932, and 2009-2010 had many of these characteristics. For instance, the Great Depression saw the stock market suffer a huge 90% sell off in U.S. stocks starting in 1929, that bottomed in July 1932, after Saturn had just entered Aquarius, following it passage through Capricorn the prior 2-½ years, during the same time Pluto was in Cancer and Uranus was in Aries. Secondary lows happened in 1938 and 1942, after Uranus had ingressed into its next sign of Taurus. The Great Recession stock market low of March 2009 occurred shortly after Pluto’s entrance into Capricorn, and while Saturn was in opposition to Uranus in late Virgo/Pisces, just before each ingressed into cardinal signs (Uranus was in its usual sector of 22º Pisces and 23º Aries, but Saturn was not yet into cardinal Libra until later that year).
Now for the optimistic view on where world stock markets might be. Saturn and Pluto are once again in cardinal signs, this time with both in Capricorn. Uranus has now moved fully into Taurus. These are the historical placements for a secondary bottom to the long-term stock market cycle. The “crash” associated with Saturn and Pluto in cardinal signs is now underway. But, as in July 1932, could they end when Saturn enters early Aquarius? Could it be a secondary low as it was in 1938 and 1942 when Uranus was in Taurus? If so, this panic could end soon. Saturn will ingress briefly into Aquarius starting this weekend, March 21-July 1, 2020, just as it did February 24-August 13, 1932. The current case will also see Saturn returning for a short journey back into Capricorn, July 1-December 17, 2020 (just as it did in 1932), all during the time that Pluto is still in Capricorn and Uranus in Taurus. The parallels between the 1929 and 1942 have many common features to the planetary positions and relationships to one another today. If it is to be like 1932, the absolute bottom to this stock market collapse could be over by July, as Saturn has its brief preview of “life in Aquarius.” If it is more like 1942 (secondary bottom), it could extend into December 2020-March 2023 when Saturn returns to Aquarius with Uranus still in Taurus, and especially December 2020-March 2021, when Saturn is in the first decanate of Aquarius.
Here’s to Saturn in Aquarius, square Uranus in Taurus. May it coincide with a breakthrough discovery in science and the end to this secondary low in world stock markets, as well as a return to semblance of normalcy in societies throughout the world shortly thereafter.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
NOTE 1: The ICR (International Cycles Reports) will be released this week, March 24-25. The ICR Financials includes analysis on ASX (Australian Stock Index), RUT (Russell 2000), SSE (Chinese Shanghai Stock Composite), HSI (Hang Seng Index), AUD (Australian Dollar), DXY (US Dollar), and GBP (British Pound). The ICR Commodities includes analysis on LC (Live Cattle), MJ (Cannabis), XAU (Gold and Silver), KT (Coffee), KA (Sugar), C (Corn), and W (Wheat). These reports are written by MMA Analyst and editor Mark Shyterman (metals, stock indices, and soft commodities), MMA President Raymond Merriman (China’s Shanghai Composite Index), MMA Analysts Ken Liao (Hang Seng) Ulric Aspegren (Currencies), Isabella Suleymanov (Grains), and Gianni Di Poce (Australian ASX and Dollar, and Live Cattle). Order now to make sure you get this month’s report, coming out Tuesday-Wednesday!
NOTE 2: Our MMA Market Timing Methods Course started this month. Our first Wednesday night class was a success! We presented for over two hours on both the current market conditions, as well as how to use futures, options, and ETFs to trade right now. We focused mostly on the U.S. stock market. The objective of this three-part course is to instruct attendees about trading futures, or ETFs that reflect futures’ prices, as given in each MMA subscription report. The class is structured with the first hour of introduction and then an overview of the current markets and trading opportunities that are setting up, especially during the important March 20-April 7 critical reversal zone.
Our live class has sold out. You may still sign up for this three-part course to be granted access to the recorded classes, which will be available one day following each live class. We are also making the individual classes available for sale, at $125 each. If you wish to learn more about this course and what to expect, please read our interview with Raymond Merriman where he discusses in great detail what he will teach and who this class will benefit. If you are interested in either the full three-part course, or an individual class, please visit our Education page to sign up.
NOTE 3: The MMA Monthly Cycles Report for March was released last week. This issue provided our view of the “best-case, worst-case, and most probable” scenarios for the U.S. stock market. Every issue provides MMA’s outlook for the U.S. stock market, Gold and Silver, Treasuries, Euro Currency, Crude Oil and Soybeans. Each issue also contains MMA’s original geocosmic critical reversal dates (CRDs) and Solar/Lunar reversal dates over the next several weeks for DJIA, Gold, and Silver, complete with trading strategies for position traders during the next month. If you are not a subscriber to the monthly MMA Cycles Report and wish a copy of our outlook for financial markets, consider a one-month one-time-payment report for only $35.
NOTE 4: My office is in beautiful, warm (sometimes hot) Scottsdale, Arizona. This month I was the featured guest in Voyage Phoenix, as one of “Phoenix’s Most Inspiring Stories.” If you are interested, you can read the article on their website.
EVENTS
March 11, 25, and April 1: LEARN ABOUT FUTURES TRADING USING MMA METHODS! See Announcement above.
September 9-14, 2020: The ISAR 2020 Conference in Colorado on “Reimagining the Future.” The largest and most exciting international astrological conference taking place in 2020. With a faculty of over 100 of the world’s top astrologers from 25 different countries, and very dynamic tracks on Financial Astrology, Mundane and Political Astrology, and other topics, this is an event you will not want to miss.
September 9, 2020: Ray Merriman will be conducting a 4-hour workshop on “Astrology and the Art of Financial Market Timing: How to Forecast Market Trends and Market Reversals.” This course will provide research studies showing the correlation of astrological factors to short- and longer-term financial market timing in stock markets, precious metals, and Bitcoin. It is the only workshop Ray plans to conduct in 2020.
September 12, 2020: Raymond Merriman will be presenting a lecture on “The Times, They Are a Changin’ – The Political, Economic, and Monetary Revolution.” It’s not just the convergence of the 20-, 200-, and 800-year long-term Jupiter/Saturn cycles. It is also Saturn in Aquarius, squaring its ruler, Uranus, in Taurus. The convergence of the Jupiter/Saturn cycle in air sign Aquarius symbolizes the dawn of a new socio-economic-political era; the waning Saturn/Uranus square, the demise of an older order. What does this bode for financial markets of the world, and what can you do? We will discuss that in this lecture.
Sign up by April 19 and receive a pre-registration special discount price for the Main ISAR 2020 Conference. A discount for pre- and post-conference workshops is also in effect until April 19. To register or see more information on this spectacular event, go to go to https://isar2020.org and be prepared to be amazed!
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 a 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 hence potentially affect 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.