The Black Swan and Fear
I knew something was coming. The Astrology of Jupiter & Saturn told me so. But, I had no way of knowing it would be this….
In the Introductory remarks in my 2020 Financial Astrology Almanac ,I pointed out that 2020 would be the end of the current 20 year Gann Master Cycle and the beginning of a new cycle. I cautioned that 2020 would be a critical year for financial astrology. I hinted that 2020 could well mark the end of financial astrology as a tool if markets continued to power irrationally higher nurtured by a steady diet of low interest rate liquidity being injected into the system. What I did not know and could not know is that two Black Swan events would swamp the global economy starting in February 2020 – a crushing oil price war and the spread of a virulent flu strain that stands to re-shape leisure activity, social activity and indeed life as we know it. What we are all experiencing right now is the power of fear. Financial markets are a forward looking, discounting mechanism dominated by two emotions – fear and greed. When one of these emotions decidedly disappears completely and the other comes to dominate entirely, financial astrology as a tool breaks down.
How did we get to this position of fear?
I think what precipitated the entire calamity across markets was a breakdown of trust in the credit markets. I believe this breakdown may have started already in September 2019 when the overnight lending rate momentarily spiked, causing the Federal Reserve to start injecting massive liquidity into the banking system. The average investor scarcely took notice as all appeared well in the economy and across markets (at least according to Bloomberg, CNBC and others). It would appear that credit market matters did not improve, despite the liquidity injections. During October, November and December the amount of money injected into the system was staggering. In fact the injections were being dubbed ‘not-QE4’. Finally in February 2020 the strain on the credit system was too much and selling began in earnest by parties seeking to raise cash and reduce margin leverage. What should have been a 10-15% correction then suddenly spiraled out of control in Black Swan-like fashion. The Saudis and Russians could not agree on Oil output levels and a price war erupted, driving WTO Crude sharply lower. The spill-over effect drove equity markets lower, triggering more margin woes for over-leveraged players. Then the corona virus arrived on North American shores. Next thing you know, outright fear took over and a market selling frenzy resulted. Fear was now feeding on fear and investors were fleeing the markets.
There is only one cure for fear and that antidote is called optimism.
I remain optimistic that common sense will return to the situation real soon. I remain optimistic that this virus, like so many other virus organisms before it, will fade away as the weather changes now that Spring is here. In coming issues of the Astrology Letter, I will offer you some opinions on some large cap stocks that I feel have been overly beaten down. As the economy claws its way back to normalcy, these larger cap issues will hopefully lead the way. I will also offer some reviews of key financial astrology concepts so that as things return to some semblance of normal, your astrology skills remain robust. I remain optimistic that financial astrology will resume its place as a powerful tool for analysing markets.
Be well. stay safe.
The Slowing Economy
In my Jan 4th, 2019 Astrology Letter, I had the following to say:
Why is everyone in a state of panic? Markets will be down hard one day, and up sharply the next. Why all of a sudden are we hearing that a recession is imminent? The answer for this erratic human behavior could well rest with planetary positions. The answer could well revolve around powerful bankers manipulating markets in accordance with certain planetary aspects.
For long term subscribers, you are all well familiar now with the McWhirter Model. If you are a recent subscriber, please note that I elaborate on the McWhirter Model in the 2019 Almanac now available on Amazon.com. But, in brief – Louise McWhirter supposedly was an astrologer who existed in the 1920s through the 1940s. She wrote a book in 1937 summarizing her research. Personally, I think there was no McWhirter. The name is a cover for someone else and that someone could have been WD Gann or perhaps even a high ranking official from Cleveland Bank & Trust who dabbled in financial astrology. The premise of the Model says that when the North Node enters Cancer, the economy which has been doing well will start reverting back to normal. As the Node eventually approaches Aquarius, the economy is in rough shape and making a bottom. The entire economic cycle of the Node moving clockwise around the zodiac is 18.6 years. Australian author and economist Fred Harrison has studied this cycle going back to the Industrial Revolution in the 1700s Britain. There is no doubt in his mind that the cycle exists and that bankers who are in the know take advantage of it.
The following zodiac shows planetary positions as of January 4, 2019. Notice that the Node (which rotates clockwise through the zodiac) has now entered Cancer (it sits at 27 Cancer right now). Please note also that Uranus is 90 degrees square the Node. McWhirter’s Model cautions that such a square aspect can be a rough time and we are certainly seeing that right now. But, there is more…. come April, we will have Saturn 180 degrees to the Node and McWhirter warns that this also can be a rough period of time. So, get set for it – 2019 is going to be a volatile year.
Gold, Manipulation(???) and the Planets
In my travels, I recently came across an old book in a used bookstore that was all about planetary declination. So, first off – what is declination?
The planets orbit the Sun each in their own pattern but they are confined to a plane of motion called the ecliptic plane. As the planets orbit the Sun, they move up and down slightly relative to the ecliptic. This is what we call declination. Let’s say Mars was 10 degrees above the ecliptic. We would say Mars was at +10 degrees of declination. Let’s say Neptune was 5 degrees below the ecliptic. we would say it was at -5 degrees of declination.
Now, let’s take a look at planet pairs. Let’s say that on a given day, Mars was at +10 degrees of declination and Pluto was also at +10 degrees of declination. We would say that at that time, these two planets were at “parallel”. Let’s say on a given day, Jupiter was at +20 degrees of declination and Mars was at -20 degrees. We would say that at that time, these two planets were at “contra-parallel”.
Now, here is where it gets weird.Take a commodity – Gold, Cotton, Oil etc… Take a look at the declinations of the planets at the day in history when that commodity first started trading (the first trade date). Make a note of which pairs of planets were at parallel and contra-parallel.
Now, fast forward to here and now. Using tables of declination data (or a suitable software program), look for times when these very same parallel and contra-parallel events occur. Now, look at the price chart for the commodity. What you might see will shock you. All too often, sharp pivotal trend changes can be seen to initiate at the start or sometime finish of these parallel and contra-parallel events.
Now ask yourself – is this the power of Nature? Or, is this men in dark suits at hedge funds and investment banks manipulating the markets? If it is the latter – how evil-genius, brilliant of them. Very few people on the street are aware of declination. It is almost like declination is a timing mechanism and if people are unaware of it, then the men in dark suits will be free to swing the markets around to their benefit. The mainstream media will backstop the situation with their usual inept storymaking. ( …and in other news, the price of Gold was down today after blah, blah, from the Federal Reserve said blah, blah in a speech….).
So far, I am seeing a correlation between declination events and Gold, Cotton and Crude Oil. In the coming weeks, I will systematically look at all the commodities that I currently review in my Astrology Almanac. I would not be shocked to see the correlations extend across all commodities that trade in Chicago and New York.
Jupiter and Pluto Declination
When it comes to financial astrology, there is more to the subject than just planets appearing in certain signs. One must also be cognizant of the concept of declination, where declination is the amount (above or below) that a planet deviates from the ecliptic plane during orbit of the Sun. Think of the planets as race cars going around a track. Think of the race cars periodically rising above the track. That would be positive (or northerly) declination. The opposite would be negative (or southerly) declination.
Declination then opens itself to the notion of parallel and contra-parallel. Suppose two planets on a given day were both exhibiting positive declination. Suppose that on that day they were both at the same number of degrees of declination. That would be a parallel event. Suppose that two planets on a given day were experiencing declination – one positive and the other planet at negative declination. Suppose that at a particular day, one planet was at 12 degrees positive declination and the other planet at -12 degrees declination. That would be a contra-parallel event.
Consider now, some events involving Pluto and Jupiter that had significant bearing on the financial markets.
February 9 through mid-March, 2009: Jupiter and Pluto approached each other in declination, were at exact parallel (same degree of declination) on February 23 and then slowly drifted apart in degrees of declination until they were more than 2 degrees apart by mid-March. Leading up to this event, Gold prices had chopped sideways for 8 trading sessions prior. But, at February 9, a rally started that took Gold from $892 to $1004. Oddly enough, at February 23 when Jupiter and Pluto were exactly at parallel (the same degree of declination), the price of Gold peaked at $1004 and proceeded to fall all the way to year end where it traded at $867.
Significant price peak in Gold price August-September 2011: In 2011, Gold exhibited a massive price rally. But this all came to a halt in late August / early September 2011. I remember this time well as I found myself intrigued by the sudden failure of this rally that many were forecasting would take Gold to much higher prices. So what happened? Jupiter recorded a maxima point in its declination path is what happened.
May 19, 2012 through July 12, 2012: During this time span, Jupiter and Pluto were contra-parallel to each other. The price of Gold had reached $1800 in late February, 2012 before running out of steam. By mid-May, Gold price was back in the mid-$1500 range. On May 16, price recorded an inflection low point at $1526. What happened to trigger this? The answer is, on May 19 Jupiter and Pluto officially came into a contra-parallel declination setup. This contra-parallel event lasted until mid-July with Gold price thrashing about wildly. Price stayed firm and by the early days of October was setting up to test $1800 again. But, the price rally failed. Why? The answer is – Jupiter recorded another of its declination maxima levels.
January 1 through early April 2013: During this time span, Gold prices were trending lower and had been since Jupiter made its maxima declination in October 2012. Jupiter and Pluto were contra-parallel in the opening part of 2013. This situation ended in early April when their declinations moved more than 1.5 degrees apart. Just as contra-parallel was ending, Gold price exhibited a severe plunge from $1590 to $1321.
Late October 2013: Jupiter and Pluto briefly made another contra-parallel event in late October. Gold price was at $1361 at the date of contra-parallel, but could not hold. By year end (Dec 31 is the McWhirter first trade date for Gold), Gold prices had made an inflection low point of $1202.
June 17-July 20, 2014: Jupiter and Pluto were contra-parallel in declination. Two trading sessions ahead of the date when contra-parallel ended, Gold prices hit $1346. After this, prices steadily fell into November eventually hitting $1132.
June 17-July 20, 2014: Jupiter and Pluto were contra-parallel in declination. The 10 Year Treasury market drifted sideways to higher during this time. At the very day the contra-parallel ended, the 10 Year Treasury market recorded a peak and promptly proceeded to fall from 127.00 to 123.50.
And such is the power of declination. Whether the declination in and of itself is influencing mankind’s emotions or whether these parallel and contra-parallel events are being used to manipulate markets remains a hot topic for discussion. I am tending towards the latter idea…
There are software programs out there that will assist you in generating declination plots. In the absence of a software program, consider the data at the following link:
Northern Dynasty – price drops as Astrology predicts
In a previous post on this site, I wrote about Northern Dynasty Mining and how its natal horoscope has a very positive KITE formation evident in it. I said in that blog post that the astrology was suggesting a price trend change in late February.
Well…say no more…have a look at the chart in this post and see for yourself what happened. I still believe in the story of Northern Dynasty and yes it will take time and money to make this mining project real. I shall be very alert to any coming astro events involving planets passing by the critical corners of the natal KITE pattern.
Roll me a Big Fatty…..
Move over Colorado. Make room for Canada. This week the Canadian Parliament introduced framework legislation that (if all goes well) will see marijuana legalized in Canada come Summer 2018. As of here and now, weed for medical use is legal and a small handful of companies are licensed to grow the stuff and distribute to people medically authorized to buy. One of these companies is Canopy Growth, ticker symbol WEED. This is a young company and as such I do not have a good handle on how various astrology events affect its share price. But, what I have done is apply Pluto Quantum Lines to the WEED stock chart as follows:
I am quite pleased how these Quantum Lines are acting as support and resistance. I do hope you can utilize these lines in your trading strategy. Recall that a Quantum Line is calculated as {[heliocentric Planetary position * 1/N] + [360/N]} * (x) ; where N=1,2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256 etc… Pick a value of N so that the Quantum Lines fall within the trading range of the stock being analyzed. In the above equation x=1.000, 1.125, 1.25, etc…to create a whole family of Quantum Lines.
Venus Retrograde 2017
Approximately every 1.5 years or so, Earth and Venus pass one another on their respective journeys around the Sun. As this passing occurs, to we mere observers on Earth, Venus appears to move into the Zodiac sign previous. For example, in early March 2017 Venus was mid-way through the sign of Aries. In early April 2017 Venus (now Retrograde) appeared to be in the sign previous – Pisces.
All too often these Venus Retrograde events align to a trend change on equity markets and 2017 was no exception. In fact, 2017 was a bit peculiar in that the Dow Jones hit a record high of over 21,000 points the trading day immediately prior to the onset of Venus Retrograde.
The trend on the Dow quickly flipped to negative and as at today, April 14 remains negative. This Retrograde event has seen the Dow lose 700 points.
Venus as at today has finished its Retrograde motion, but now we have Mercury Retrograde and that tends to be a similar story of losses and sharp volatility on equity markets. The good news is – once a declining market regains its “mojo” and the trend turns positive, some good money making opportunities arise.
Venus will again be Retrograde in October 2018 – so circle that time frame on your calendars and be ready…
Astrology and the Chicago Board of Trade
It is one of my deeply held beliefs that the foundations of the American financial system are anchored in Astrology. In my annual Almanac publication I show how the Moon passing one of 4 key points in the 1792 natal birth horoscope of the NYSE all too often aligns to short, sharp inflection points on the Dow Jones Average and the S&P 500.
My readings have lately uncovered something else that supports my belief about Astrology being the anchor of the system.
It is reported that W.D.Gann followed the Jan 2, 1977 first trade natal horoscope for Wheat and Corn that trade on the CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade – which is part of the CME Group today). It is also generally understood that he followed horoscope charts from 1848 and 1859. As it turns out, the CBOT was founded April 3, 1848 and on Feb 18, 1859 the Exchange received permission to self-regulate itself.
Here is the 1877 horoscope for Wheat and Corn. Note that the Ascendant and Mid-Heaven are in Cardinal Signs, namely Capricorn and Libra. Specifically, Sun is 12 Capricorn and MC is 15 Libra.
The above chart is the 1848 horoscope for the founding of the CBOT. Note that Sun and Moon are conjunct (New Moon), note that the New Moon is at 13 Aries which is 90 degrees to the Ascendant point in the wheat/Corn 1877 chart and note that Jupiter in the 1848 horoscope is at 12 Cancer which marks the Descendant point in the 1877 Wheat/Corn horoscope.
The above chart is the 1859 horoscope for the date when CBOT was granted self-regulatory status. Note Mars is at 13 Aries, which is the same point as the New Moon in the 1848 horoscope. Venus at 12 Capricorn is at the same location as the Ascendant in the 1877 Wheat/Corn horoscope. In both the 1848 and 1859 horoscopes, note further that Node is at 29 degrees of its sign.
Is all this purely accidental? Not a chance, I say.
It is peculiar occurrences like this between horoscope wheels that embolden my view that Astrology in past played a significant role in price movements on commodities. People like Gann and McWhirter were intuitive enough to figure this out and profited handsomely from their acumen. Fast forward to today and I still think the big boys like Goldman Sachs very quietly manipulate markets at key astrological events. Sadly, today very few people lend credence to Astrology which means the wizards that are using it have few barriers to success.
This is why I continue to author books on the subject of Financial Astrology. We must ensure this valuable correlation to the markets is not lost forever.
Venus Retrograde (part 2)
Over the years, there have been a small group of stocks (perhaps by accident, perhaps by design) that have made their IPO debuts on the market during Venus Retrograde. The odd thing is, these stocks seemingly have a memory and on subsequent Venus Retrograde events have displayed increased volatility. A classic case is that of Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) which IPO’d in May 2012 during a Venus Retrograde.
The following chart (generated in Market Analyst software) shows Facebook price action overlaid with Venus Retrograde events.
I will be watching Facebook closely during the coming Retrograde event. This could be a good buying opportunity. Keep your eye too on the coming IPO for tech concern SNAP ( a.k.a. Snapchat). It is setting up to IPO and its first trade date will be perhaps right at the start of Retrograde.
Venus Retrograde (part 1)
Starting on March 4th and continuing for 40 days Venus will be Retrograde. As I explain in my 2017 Financial Astrology Almanac, Retrograde does not mean the planet suddenly starts moving backwards in the sky. Rather, it is passing Earth (think of 2 race cars around a circuit) because Venus travels around the Sun quicker (225 days) than Earth travels around the Sun (365 days). As it passes us, we see it appearing in various zodiac signs/constellations and to us it appears successively in signs that are in reverse (backwards) order on the zodiac. To the ancients, this must have been quite a sight and to the divine seers Retrogrades were highly esteemed events in the heavens.
There is a link between Retrograde events and financial markets. I still struggle with this. Do these events somehow affect our inner psyches? Or, do the wizards on Wall Street deliberately move the markets at Retrograde events to engineer more profitable trading opportunities?
The following chart (generated in Market Analyst software) shows that in 2007, the US equity markets hit a peak at Venus Retrograde and the 2009 lows came at a Venus Retrograde. Co-incidence? You tell me….
Since 2009, there have been other Venus Retrograde events too as the following chart shows (again created in Market Analyst software). Each time, the US equity markets have responded notably.
My eyes will be glued to the e-mini Dow futures for possible trading opportunities at the coming 40 day Retrograde event. If Wall Street wants to manipulate the market for 40 days starting on March 4, I can play that game too….