(28 September 2022)
The Ukraine crisis has taken a dangerous, new turn this week after the
apparent sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines that carries Russian
gas to Europe. At this point, is it unclear who is responsible for the
damage to the underwater pipeline which prompted more early week
selling in the stock market and another swift rise in energy prices.
The pipeline attack follows an eventful week in which Russian President
Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of 300,000 additional
soldiers to bolster his flagging war efforts in the Ukraine, while
referendums were held in the disputed provinces in eastern Ukraine
which would facilitate a formal union with Russia.
While most Western media seems convinced that Putin is in trouble
following the recent retreat from Kharkiv, the astrological picture
suggests otherwise. If the Ukraine horoscope is correct (Aug 24
1991, 5.31 pm, Kyiv), the planets look difficult for Ukraine in the
weeks ahead. The transit of the Sun and Venus through Leo in September
has generally been favourable to Ukraine’s war effort. This is not
unexpected since Leo is in the 9th house of good fortune along with
Jupiter, Mercury, Venus and the Sun. It was a excellent transit set up
for promising outcomes. In addition, Mercury stationed retrograde on
Sep 9 at 14 Virgo — exactly conjunct the equal 10th house cusp and thus
aligned with the natal Ascendant. This was even more likely to
coincide with positive events related to government since Mercury is
strong in its own sign of Virgo.
But those faster-moving transits have since passed out of the picture
and the fighting continues across a wide front with little new
movement. As I see it, the bigger problems for Ukraine’s efforts is
that Saturn will station direct on Oct 23 at 24 Capricorn in an exact
square with Pluto (24 Cancer). This Saturn-Pluto alignment is symbolic
of intense and brutal power struggles often entail damage and
hardship,particularly when they occur when one of the planets is
stationary.
In addition, Ketu (South Lunar Node) is conjunct the Midheaven (unequal
10th house cusp) throughout the month of October. This increases the
risk of sudden events that could force government (10th house) to react
quickly and perhaps irrationally.
More immediately, Mercury is due to station direct at 0 Virgo on Oct 2
— just one degree from a conjunction with natal Mars. This combination
suggests frustration and anger, especially related to leaders, and the
station tends to have a more negative connotation. Therefore, we could
see some important developments in the first days of October that
ratchet up the tension even further. While this Mercury-Mars
conjunction isn’t always a “bad” influence, it does tend to reflect
difficult situations which may or may not have favourable outcomes.
The bigger problem is that Mars is due to station retrograde on Oct 30
at 1 Gemini while in a close square aspect with natal Mars at 1 Virgo.
This is invariably a negative influence in matters related to
government and leaders, perhaps directly concerned with the military.
There are rumours now that the additional Russian reserves could well
be moved to the front lines at that time and that these reinforcements
could pose a threat to existing Ukrainian positions. More ominously,
the Mars station at 1 Gemini will almost exactly conjoin the natal Mars
in the USA horoscope at 0 degrees of sidereal Gemini. This is an
indication that the US could get more directly involved as the conflict
escalates further. All scenarios are on the table here given the
volatile and violent Mars-Uranus conjunction in the Biden 2021
inauguration horoscope.
Weekly Market Forecast
Stocks rebounded today after falling further on Monday and Tuesday. The
blue chip indexes slipped a bit below their June lows before
recovering sharply today after the Bank of England abruptly restarted
its QE bond buying program in response to the controversial
Truss-Kwarteng Budget. Markets took it as a sign that other central
banks may follow suit soon enough as economic and military storm clouds
are gathering. Despite the recent spate of interest rate hikes, it
seems increasingly likely that the ECB will also be forced to ease its
monetary policy if the economic outlook deteriorates. Eventually, even
the Fed could also be forced to pivot as higher rates will make large
numbers of the home owners insolvent amid falling house prices.
Today’s gain could be seen in terms of both less negative influence and
more positive influence. The Mars-Saturn-Uranus alignment was near
exact early this week just as stocks slumped towards their June lows.
By Wednesday, however, Mars had moved a bit past its alignment with
Saturn and thus could signal a diminution of bearish influence. At the
same time, Jupiter (9 Pisces) is nicely placed in an approaching Grand
Trine alignment (i.e. each factor separated by 120 degrees) with the
natal Moon (7 Cancer) and the natal Jupiter-Neptune conjunction at 9-10
Scorpio. Since Jupiter is moving quite slowly, I would not be
surprised if this positive influence lasted a bit longer.
And yet with retrograde Saturn (24 Cap) parked in a conjunction with the
natal Sun (25 Cap) within just one degree, it’s hard to get too
bullish about the Nasdaq and about stocks in general in the near term.
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