Dow Jones Industrial Average swelled to a record high of 381.17

REVIEW

On Sept. 3, 1929, the Dow Jones Industrial Average swelled to a record high of 381.17, reaching the end of an eight-year growth period during which its value ballooned by a factor of six. That was before the bubble began to burst in a series of “days”: Black Thursday, October 24, when the market dropped by 11 percent, followed four days later by Black Monday, when it fell another 13 percent; and the next day, Black Tuesday, when it lost 12 percent more. Jennifer Latson, “The Worst Stock Tip in History,” www.time.com, September 3, 2014.

Why do I start this week’s column off with the above quote? Because the last time the Republicans controlled the House, Senate, and White House was in 1929-1933. Herbert Hoover was a successful businessman, not well-liked by his own party, elected to office in November 1928. The general consensus was that he would be good for financial markets because he was a successful businessman. In his first year of office, U.S. stock prices exploded to new all-time highs – until that fateful date of September 3, 1929. Then everything changed as Hoover’s popularity began to sink, and one stock market crash after another unfolded in the autumn of his first year. Now, I am not predicting a stock market crash on the basis of one (maybe two) historical correlation(s). But I am just saying… Actually, if there is to be stock market crash/economic crisis, I would be more concerned about 2020-2021, which is the next time Saturn will make hard aspects to Uranus and Pluto. That – more than the decennial cycle with years ending in ‘7’ – is more significant in my studies, and will be the focus of the Forecast 2018 Book, because every stock market crash is preceded by an all-time high slightly before a crisis, and Saturn/Uranus combined with Saturn/Pluto hard aspects near to one another are financial crises signatures.

Now, back to the present – after all, this section of the column is titled REVIEW. So, this is what the midpoint of Mercury retrograde (August 24) feels like, during the week of the total solar eclipse blacking out the USA from coast to coast, (August 21), and within a day of Saturn turning stationary direct (August 25), on President Donald Trump’s natal Moon and in opposition to his Sun, and in opposition to the USA natal Mars, square its Neptune. Whew! That’s a lot of cosmic convergence. But if you understand geocosmic studies and their symbolism, it explains a lot of what is happening today.

For instance, everyone in the USA government now seems to be searching their conscience regarding their support for their president. This may also be true in France and other nations of the world. But here in the USA, many have recently quit serving in Trump’s administration, or he has fired them. Some, like top White House economic adviser Gary Cohn, stayed on due to a strong sense of duty, but admitted last week that he was on the brink of resigning following Trump’s response to the Charlottesville protest and deadly violence. Others demonstrated their anger (solar eclipse conjunct Mars) by tearing down historical statues that they claim are symbols of past transgressions, and which they believe this president also curries. They want him to quit or be impeached (Saturn/Neptune). According to well-known Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, “… many of those tearing down Confederate and other statues are trying to take America down with them” (Fox Business News, August 22).

Did I also say that this is the period when Venus is making a cardinal T-square with Jupiter, Pluto, and Uranus (August 15-25)? It is not just cosmic convergence. It is cosmic and political overload translated into collective weariness. People don’t know what to do. Markets don’t know what to do. Did I mention that Mercury in Virgo began its retrograde motion on August 12 in opposition to Neptune? No one knows what to do, what to think, as a cloud of confusion about the future of the nation, the president and even the world hovers over… everything.

Thus, during the last three days of last week, world stock markets did basically… nothing. The Dow Jones Industrial Average made a new cycle low on Monday’s eclipse (and MMA’s three-star critical reversal date), rallied 196 points on Tuesday, and then spent the last three days trading between Tuesday’s low and high.

Gold and Silver were a little more exciting – at least on Friday, when Gold made its weekly high and low (1301.40-1281.30) in a 25-minute span of time. Silver did the same, jumping up to 17.18 at 9:20 AM then falling nearly 50 cents to 16.71 by 9:45 AM, only to return back to the 17.00 area by the close. The stock market did just the opposite, with the S&P futures topping out at 2453.50 at 9:05 AM and then making the low of the day at 2441 at 10:35 AM. That was the time that Fed Chair Janet Yellen gave her speech at Jackson Hole that said basically – nothing new.

I don’t know if it was mainly the middle of Mercury retrograde, or the station of Saturn turning direct, but…it feels like the world is rather stuck right now. There is a saying in America that when things have gone wrong and more could happen, that “We are waiting for the other shoe to drop.” But it feels like we are running out of shoes to drop.

SHORT-TERM GEOCOSMICS AND LONGER-TERM THOUGHTS

Janet Yellen will be giving what could be her last speech Friday as Fed chair at the annual gathering in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, closing out a remarkable decade in central banking history. Whether Yellen gets reappointed in February is an open question. President Donald Trump has expressed disdain and respect for her and has not committed to the future. – Jeff Cox, “Fed Chair Yellen Set to Deliver What Could Be Historic Speech in Jackson Hole,” www.cnbc.com, August 24, 2017.

One of the dramas currently underway related to last week’s super solar eclipse at 28° Leo that blacked out the central portion of the United States is that it made a direct hit to the natal charts of Donald Trump and Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen. For Trump, the eclipse fell on his natal Mars and Ascendant, which put him in a feisty mood. But it also falls close to Janet Yellen’s natal Sun in late Leo, and opposite her natal Moon in late Aquarius. Strange how they were both born under a full moon, and both are affected by this solar eclipse. Nevertheless, pundits are speculating that Trump will (or will not) re-appoint her when her terms ends in February. That came to the surface this week, coinciding with the solar eclipse, whose “effect” can last up to 18 months afterwards.

For this week, the cosmic fireworks may recede, but only temporarily. In support of the break with the planetary fireworks, the Labor Holiday next Monday in the USA may be a very welcomed break. I suspect many people laboring in the USA will leave work early this week, and the volume of trading activity will slow down, in both the absence of planetary aspects and the forthcoming national holiday. But right after the holiday, on September 5 and 6, Mercury turns direct on the same degree of last week’s eclipse and the full moon happens on Neptune. In fact, even over that weekend (September 3), Mars will cross the eclipse point, on Trump’s natal Mars and Ascendant, so it’s not like he is taking a break from expressing his outrage over …. everything and anybody who tries to obstruct his path. We are right back to where we left off this past week – confusion, uncertainty, deep reflection on “what am I doing/what are you doing?”. Concerns on the impending debt ceiling limit could be a catalyst for another sell-off if President Trump continues his threat to “shut down the government” if Congress doesn’t also vote to fund his Mexican border wall that the majority of Americans don’t want. It does start to get better, though, by the end of that week and into the new moon of September 20, according to my understanding of the geocosmic studies… which is why I have chosen September 20 to move from Michigan to Arizona. It is a new moon on my own natal Ascendant (27° Virgo). It doesn’t get much better than that for a new beginning in life.

I think a lot of people will be starting a new phase of their life around the new moon in September this year, especially if they work for the U.S. government. After all, it is the middle of the zodiac, and the seasons – like “the times – they are a changin.’”