REVIEW AND SHORT-TERM GEOCOSMICS
“So, I think the public health is the most important one,” he (Ben Bernanke) added. “If we can get that straight, then we know how to get the economy working again. Monetary and fiscal policy can do their thing and we won’t have anything like the extended downturn we saw even, I don’t think, in the Great Recession, much less the Great Depression of the ’30s.” – Jeff Cox, “Former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke Sees ‘Very Sharp’ Recession, Followed by ‘Fairly Quick’ Rebound,” www.cnbc.com, March 25, 2020.
“We may well be in a recession. But I would point to the difference between this and a normal recession. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with our economy. Quite the contrary. We are starting from a very strong position… When it comes to lending, we are not going to run out of ammunition. That just doesn’t happen.” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, in interview with Savannah Guthrie on NBC’s “Today Show,” March 26, 2020.
The reversal from the fear associated with the end of geocosmic cycles, to the hope represented by new planetary cycles and ingresses, was very evident in world stock markets last week. After suffering its largest one-week decline in history, when it fell over 4,000 points the week ending March 20, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell even further on Monday, March 23. But then a funny thing happened. The DJIA rallied 4,382 points (up 24%!) from the low of Monday, March 23 to a high on Thursday, March 26, for its biggest 3-day gain ever. The period of March 20-April 4 was identified in this column as one of the most important geocosmic time bands of the year because of the abundance of planetary conjunctions and ingresses that unfolded during this period, as discussed in our recent columns.
In the study of cycles, the end of a cycle is the most difficult and challenging time. But the beginning of a new cycle is one that gradually or suddenly begins to see the return of hope and new possibilities. It was a matter of applying this principle to the study of geocosmics and planetary cycles. Planets also exhibit cycles of endings and beginnings. As planets approach their conjunction to one another, they end that cycle. Then they begin new cycles once their conjunction passes, and a new “waxing phase” gets underway. This is why the study of cycles works so well with geocosmic studies, for the latter is also based upon cycles, specifically planetary cycles. The combination of these two studies is essentially the correlation of cycles in the cosmos with cycles in human activity. Financial markets move in rhythmic cycles, and thus represent one facet of human activity. It is a nice marriage between these studies. Even better is that together, they form arguably the most powerful, consistent, and accurate means of timing market highs and lows from which prices reverse. When one is able to apply technical and charting studies as well to these market timing tools, you have the basis for MMA’s Market Timing Methodology.
Re-capping last week, many world stock markets ended a 30-45% decline from their all-time or multi-year highs of February 2020, and then commenced a sharp 20-30% rally in less than one week. This extreme market behavior (and extreme social behavior) is consistent with the forthcoming Jupiter/Pluto conjunction on April 4, a potent planetary combination that was “triggered” by the transit of Mars over both planets on Friday, March 20 (Jupiter) and Monday, March 23 (Pluto). Many of the world’s equity indices bottomed on one of those two dates (+/- 1 day), and then started strong rallies. In Europe, the actual lows were one week earlier, on March 16, with a secondary bottom on March 20-23.
Commodity and currency markets were just as volatile as stock markets. Gold, for instance, made a double bottom low of 1450.90 and 1457.50 on March 16 and 20 respectively, as heliocentric Mercury entered Sagittarius on Friday, March 20. Then, as is the custom with heliocentric Mercury in Sagittarius, it exploded upwards to test 1700 again on March 25. Crude Oil bottomed at 19.46 on March 20 as Mars conjoined Jupiter. Jupiter is the co-ruler of Crude Oil. Three trading days later it was up to 25.24, a gain of over 20%. The Euro fell to a new 3-year low on Monday, March 12, as it dropped to 1.0638. But by Friday, it was back to 1.1146, which is a huge move for a currency market. Bitcoin also got in on the action. After making a multi-month low of 3,850 on March 13, it soared to a high of 6,989 last week, on March 25, a gain of over 80% in just 12 days.
SHORT-TERM GEOCOSMICS AND LONGER-TERM THOUGHTS
A record 3.28 million workers applied for unemployment benefits last week… The number of Americans filing for claims was nearly five times the previous record. Until March, U.S. employers added jobs for a record 113 straight months… and then, in a matter of days, it stopped. – Eric Morath, Jon Hilsenrath, and Sarah Chaney, “U.S. Cases, Jobless Claims Soar,” Wall Street Journal, March 27, 2020.
His (economist Arnold Kling) analysis is that the U.S. has a personal and business liquidity problem, not a typical business-cycle recession that requires fiscal or monetary stimulus. The immediate problem is that people and businesses are being forced into an unnatural cash crunch and loss of income to do the right thing for society. – Tom Giovanetti, “Less Stimulus, More Overdraft Protection,” Wall Street Journal, March 27, 2020.
The other brother of Jupiter was a sad, pale-faced being, whose kingdom was underneath the earth, where the Sun never shown, and where there was darkness, weeping, and sorrow all the time. His name was Pluto. And his country was called “the Land of Shadows,” or “Hades.” Men said that whenever anyone died, Pluto would send his messenger, or “shadow leader,” to carry that one down into his cheerless kingdom. And for that reason, they never spoke well of him, and thought of him only as the enemy of life. – James Baldwin, narrator Alan Sklar, “Jupiter and His Mighty Company,” www.calm.com.
We are living in the days – the year – when Pluto reigns. On January 12, Saturn met up with Pluto to form their 32-27 year conjunction cycle. That same week, the U.S. conducted an assassination of Iranian General Quasem Soleimani, who allegedly was plotting a campaign to kill Americans, sending a deep chill of fear throughout the world.
This foreboding Saturn/Pluto conjunction would be soon followed by Jupiter and Mars entering the same relationship with Pluto. In fact, they are convening right now. And once again, an ominous cloud of apprehension is surrounding this planet. We cannot escape Pluto. No one can. No one gets out of Pluto’s grasp unscathed.
Pluto demands a surrender before he allows his equally powerful healing force – the force of rebirth and renewal – to be released. Until then, Pluto’s process of “endings” and “plunges into the deepest, darkest, areas of the human psyche, where fear reigns and logic is absent,” must complete its course Pluto demands that one recognize and give up that which is no longer relevant before its incredible healing power can be experienced. With Saturn (restriction) and Jupiter (extremes) both conversing with Pluto in Capricorn (fear of the unknown) in 2020, we are collectively going through humanity’s “dark night of the soul.” But the promise of Pluto is that it will end just as soon as we transform, or collectively we experience a rebirth. With Pluto, these episodes do not usually end quickly. That is, people do not change their ways, their routines, their behaviors towards one another, quickly. Thus, it is not likely that this pandemic, combined with this threat to our collective or individual financial security, ends immediately. However, the passage of these conjunctions of March 20-April 4 represents a period when a change can begin to manifest, at least on some level, such as consciousness.
The most frequent question I am asked these days is: “When will this end? When will we get back to normal?” My most frequent response is: “I don’t know.” But in the back of mind, I am thinking, “Just as soon as we change, transform, and start to respect, love, and care for another.”
And this may be slowly starting to happen, perhaps because of the current “Plutonian” condition we are undergoing. The positive thing occurring right now is witnessing how many people are stepping up, sacrificing, and acting the role of healer to so many who are suffering. But is there enough of that sacrifice, that surrender of ego and a “me first” attitude yet? Do we see it in our leaders, or those who belong to groups whose primary objective is to terrorize and destroy? With Pluto, it takes time. He cannot – will not – be rushed, and the more one tries to rush Pluto’s process without surrender and sacrifice, the more one is likely to suffer because – symbolically – Pluto has the power, and we do not. The process is to first recognize that 1) something is wrong, 2) surrender to that realization that it won’t stop just because we wish or demand it to stop (i.e. we don’t have that power – yet), and then 3) start the process of renewal. That’s just the nature – the process – of Pluto. And resistance to accept the need to reform and renew is just the nature of man.
We are quickly coming up on the first Jupiter/Pluto conjunction on April 4. Jupiter and Pluto is a combination relegated to its own chapter in Forecast 2020 Book titled, “Extreme Measures.” I think we are experiencing “Extreme Measures.” Yet, this period of March 20-April 4 will end the first period of so many conjunctions between planets, as Mars has also conjoined first Jupiter (March 20), then Pluto (March 23) and finally Saturn (March 31), setting up the hoist itself, which is Jupiter conjunct Pluto. Thus, we are starting new planetary cycles between all four of these planets, March 20-April 4. There is something symbolically hopeful about the fact that we are starting so many new cycles, since so many planets are forming conjunctions in this current time frame..
But this is actually only the first of three passages of the Jupiter/Pluto conjunction, for Jupiter will turn retrograde on May 14, after which it will move back to conjoin Pluto a second time on June 30, and then a third time on November 12, right after the U.S. presidential election.
The May 14 and June 30 periods are also very important, perhaps as important as this current one unfolding March 20-April 4. Jupiter turning retrograde on May 14 is very close to Saturn and Venus also turning retrograde on May 10 and 13. Venus retrograde is historically an important time correlating with major trend reversals in financial markets, like equities. The second passage of the Jupiter/Pluto conjunction on June 30 is also important because it is just five days after Venus turns direct, another historical correlation with major reversals in financial markets. It is also important because it is in the middle of three passages between Jupiter and Pluto. We may not see the signs that COVID-19 is starting to recede before then. We may not see signs of a real change taking place in the behavior of our world leaders, let alone our behavior towards one another and willingness to adapt to the changes required to enact a lasting collective transformation and healing, until then.
So, if you ask me “how long will this last?” I don’t really know. But I doubt it is ending right here. A first phase could be ending now. The rate of acceleration of this pandemic could be peaking right here, and I think the hysteria may be ending as we slowly begin to accept that we have to change how we conduct our lives and behavior towards one another. Yet, we can do this, and many of us are doing this. The more we do this, the sooner this trend will change too. Otherwise, I don’t see the “end game” until 2021-2023. In other words, this is a “bear.” And with “bears” there can be many traps when you think he has been subdued, but he hasn’t until we learn to build a better bear trap. The same applies to mice and men.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
NOTE 1: We are going to conduct a special webinar on Financial markets: Where we are now in the long-term cycles of financial markets. This special webinar will take place on Sunday May 17, 2020 at 5:00 PM EST (that’s 2:00 PM PDT and 10:00 PM GMT). This broadcast will address updates on the U.S. stock market, Gold and Silver, by Raymond Merriman, Crude Oil with Gianni Di Poce, and the Euro currency with Ulric Aspegren. We may cover other markets too depending on time and questions from attendees. Cost is $55.00, and includes the slides of the presentation, plus a video recording of the event. The timing of this presentation is chosen to coincide with our May 15-18 three-star CRD, which involves Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn turning retrograde, which we have marked as one of the most important turning points of the year 2020. If unable to attend live, you can still sign up and receive the video recording on the next day following the live event. If you plan to attend, and want certain questions or areas to be discussed, please send us an email before Tuesday, May 12. We will address as many of your concerns as possible during the final 30 minutes of this webinar, after the first part of the presentation is completed.
NOTE 2: Our second MMA Market Timing Methods Class took place last week. It was another success! We focused mostly on the U.S. Stock Market and Gold, showing how cycles and geocosmics related to this turn exhibited this past week, and what it might mean for the next 7-10 weeks. If you are interested in this current outlook, consider getting the three-part series. The third and final part will take place on Wednesday, April 1. 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 ICR (International Cycles Reports) were released last week. 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 Report 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, which came out last week!
EVENTS
March 11, 25, and April 1: LEARN ABOUT FUTURES TRADING USING MMA METHODS! See Announcement above.
May 17: MMA Webinar: Update on Financial markets! 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.
Wednesday, September 9, 2020: Raymond 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.
Saturday, 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 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.