The Stock Market Crash of October 2008 & Beyond
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R obert Gover (born November 2, 1929) grew up in an endowed orphanage (Girard College in Philadelphia), received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Pittsburgh, worked as a journalist, became a best-selling novelist at age 30, lived most of his life in California, and now lives in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. On the Run with Dick and Jane is his ninth novel. His previous book, Time and Money, explores economic and planetary cyclical correlations. His first novel, One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding, a satire on American racism, remains a cult classic that helped break down America's fear of four-letter words and sexually explicit scenes, as well as sensitizing Americans to sanctimonious hypocrisy. He can be contacted at
[email protected] or www.robertgover.com
n various articles and my book Time and Money: the Economy and the Planets, I predicted a great depression to begin in 2008 and last till at least 2018 and probably beyond. So I am not surprised that worldwide stock markets are crashing as I write this, in October 2008. The Dow ended the week Friday, October 10 down 40% from its top a year previous. Throughout the world’s financial community, panic reined. Members of the G‐7 nations gathered the weekend of October 11 and 12 in Washington to puzzle over how to arrest the downward plunge of stocks, reducing or wiping out the pensions of uncounted millions and constricting credit. The following Monday, October 13, 2008, the Dow leaped a record 936 points, the biggest one‐day point gain since 1933, and 11.6%, the steepest percentage rise since 1939. The behavior of stock markets so far in October was called a “Black Swan” event, comparable to winning the lottery twice in the same week. The public is learning such concepts as “credit default swaps” a ruse to avoid government insurance regulations, and the trickeries of accounting which has created a distorted system for decades. My specialty is economic astrology, so my interest is in comparing this current crash with previous like events. I have spent years finding planetary patterns that have 28
historically correlated with stock market crashes and economic depressions. If we become aware of these patterns, we can know when the next period of economic distress is due to hit. If we are aware that the Saturn‐Uranus opposition we’re now operating under demands we change established ideologies and procedures, we may avoid the worst. Since industrialization, there have been repeating cycles of booms and busts. In boom times, people feel optimistic and get busy producing and consuming, creating prosperity. Then, for no apparent reason, the boom time ends and we cycle into a period of pessimism. One of the first indicators of pessimism is a stock market crash. Some stock market crashes in the past p ast have heralded recessions, depressions depressions and great depressions, so the number 1 question hanging now is, will this super‐erratic October 2008 stock market lead us into another? Examining the three worst crashes of the 20th Century—1907, 1929 and 1987—only the one of 1929 led into a great depression. Why? There are endless explanations offered by a variety of experts, most of them quite logical. The explanation I offer here is astrological. Astrology is not considered “logical” by modern science, yet anyone who has studied astrology realizes that planetary influences affect us subtlely on an invisible level. For the sake of this discussion, let’s call it the level of subconscious mind.
1) 2)
My research has led me to two hypotheses: Every time the USA’s natal natal Mars‐Neptune square is afflicted by one one or more more of the outermost planets, we enter a time when a stock market crash becomes possible, likely or virtually certain. Every time the USA’s Sun‐Saturn square is hit by the the outermost planets in in the Cardinal Signs Signs of Caprico Capricorn rn and Aries—formin Ar ies—formingg a grand cross pattern wi with th the USA’s U SA’s natal Sun‐Saturn square—the nation has suffered a great depression, and there have been no exceptions to this “rule of thumb.”
It’s when afflictions to the US Mars‐Neptune square (causing crashes) have then evolved into afflictions to the USA’s Sun‐Saturn square that crashes have led into great depressions. It is this sequence of afflictions we are facing now. Let’s examine the worst stock market crashes to illustrate.
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hen the hit, the USA’s Neptune was opposition transiting Uranus in Pisces, and Pluto was conjunct the US Mars. The roughly 30‐year cycle of Saturn in Capricorn preceded this crash, and because none of the other outermost planets were in Aries, this crash was not followed by a great depression. When the hit in late October, Saturn was in Sagittarius opposite, and Jupiter in Gemini was conjunct the US Mars and square the US Neptune, and the New Moon was conjunct the US Neptune. As Saturn then moved into Capricorn to square Uranus in Aries, the Crash of ’29 led into the great depression of the 1930s. When the hit, the planetary culprits were Saturn and Uranus conjunct in Sagittarius, aided by Chiron in Gemini, conjunct the US Mars. What followed was a conjunction in Capricorn of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, but because these planets did not square another in Aries, no great depression. Pluto, was in Scorpio, forming a beneficent sextile to the trio in Capricorn. 29
When the turned down with grim determination under the Full Moon on Monday, September 15, the US Mars‐Neptune square was being hit by the Full Moon, a Saturn‐Uranus opposition, and if we expand the orb a bit, a grand cross formed by Pluto in Sagittarius opposite the US Mars in Gemini. By 2010, Uranus will have moved into Aries and Pluto into the mid range of Capricorn, forming the grand cross pattern to the USA’s natal Sun‐Saturn Sun‐Saturn square, to form the great depression grand cross. In 1929, the US Sun‐Saturn square was also being hit by Uranus in Aries while Pluto then was in Cancer, opposite Capricorn. The now‐forming Uranus‐Pluto square is due to hit with full force from 2012 through 2015, but we can expect the overall economy to be in deep trouble by 2010 when a T‐square will be formed by Saturn in Libra, Pluto in Capricorn and Uranus in Aries. These transit‐to‐natal aspects do not have to be exact to be effective. And it often happens that Pluto’s full effects aren’t felt till Pluto has moved on, releasing the exact square, opposition or conjunction. Pluto’s effects are often most powerful in its waning phase. rom an astrological perspective, the reason we are headed into a great depression lasting from 2008 to at least 2018 and (depending how we respond) perhaps beyond, is the upcoming square from Uranus in Aries to Pluto in Capricorn, creating another grand cross pattern with the US Sun‐Saturn square. There is another, longer planetary cycle we must factor into this forecast, and that is Pluto’s roughly 248 year orbit around the Sun. For Pluto is, as I write this, in the final degrees of Sagittarius, conjunct the Galactic Center. Its previous visit to this area of the heavens coincided with the years leading up to the American Revolution. Prior to that, in the early 1500s it coincided with a pandemic inadvertently brought by European explorers, which depopulated the Americas. Pluto’s movement through the last 3 degrees of Sagittarius has a history of bringing huge transformations. When we add the upcoming Uranus‐Pluto square and grand cross with the US Sun‐Saturn square, the coming decade appears to be another major turning point in human history, comparable to the early 1500s and 1760s. Hard angles by Uranus and Pluto—whenever and wherever they have formed— have a history of bringing revolution and fundamental change. And, because the present Saturn‐Uranus opposition will last well into 2010 and morph into a T‐square with Pluto, we can expect the current crash of stock prices and chaos to lead into another great depression, this one likely to be worse than any in memory, owing to Pluto’s lingering conjunct the Galactic Center. What we are living through is a convergence of planetary cycles: 1) the 45‐year Saturn‐Uranus opposition, 2) the 248‐year Pluto‐Galactic Center conjunction, and 3) the
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Uranus‐Pluto square and grand cross with US Sun‐Saturn square, which last coincided with the great depression of the 1930s. By 2013‐2015, Uranus will have completed its 84‐year‐cycle since 1929‐1933. Note that there has been one major change in the world economy since previous crashes: Today the biggest profits come from making money produce more money; previously, profits came from investing money in making goods and services. This new “money game” is a Ponzi Scheme. It’s cotton‐candy money that evaporates when stock markets crash. This makes the economy even more vulnerable to that famous wrecking crew, the Saturn‐Uranus opposition oppos ition.. Those who do not believe in the potency of planetary cycles call themselves rational. I have yet to meet a human being I can truly say is rational, but that’s another story. Rationalists point to cause‐effect events leading to stock market crashes and great depressions. From the astrological perspective, these cause‐effect events are manifestations of planetary aspects aspects acting on the invisible causal plane or subconscious subco nscious realm. “As above, so below,” as one ancient stargazer put it. Now that modern rational science is venturing into the subatomic realm, we may live to see the day when science will make a discovery: that what happens up there in the sky correlates with what happens in the subatomic realm. This would be a rediscovery of “As above, so below.” Meanwhile, you can bet the farm that by the mid‐2000‐teens, much of the world will be struggling through another great depression, and a time of massive transformation with the high possibility of another world war. The bigger the balloon of optimism preceding busts, the bigger and more long‐lasting the succeeding bust is. The good news is, humanity has survived great depressions since records have been kept, and found ways to improve economic conditions coming out of such hard times. Meanwhile, millions of hard working, play‐by‐the‐rules citizens of the USA, Europe and elsewhere will probably lose all or part of their pensions in the present ongoing financial collapse. This means the rules of the money game and/or the monetary system will have change if we we are to avoid the wors worst. t. . Best possible scenario, the powers that be will make the changes necessary to avoid massive massive starvation and homelessness. In fact, this process appears to have already begun. The US government, after decades of promoting so‐called “free‐market capitalism,” has suddenly su ddenly done an ideological ideological about‐face by socializing the debt incurred by big corporations. This is being done to “save the capitalist system.” In fact it revolutionizes the system by “sovietizing” it. What scared 20 th Century capitalists about communism was the old Soviet Union’s ownership of banks and big industry. If transplanted to the USA, they feared, it would mean spreading the wealth horizontally. Well, now it is being transplanted to the G7 capitalist nations. What is underway as I write this is an attempt to socialize the debt of these free‐ market ideologues without socializing their profits too. They want to keep big corporate profits private while distributing debts to the public. The logical next step is for government authorities to come out of their ideological Trickle‐down trance and realize they can’t save their most generous campaign contributors (the big bankers) without saving the people who make the big bankers rich, the vast majority of workers and consumers. The vast majority needs to be saved in order to continue supporting the wealthy few. 31
There is another problem with the present bailout of banks and big corporations. No amount of such bailouts will overcome the reluctance of the majority of people to buy money and consume products at any interest rate, especially if inflation and unemployment continue to rise. And there will be more astounding surprises in store for the whole economy as this series of Saturn‐Uranus oppositions make direct “hits”—in 2008 on Election Day November 4, in 2009 on February 5 and September 15, and in 2010 on April 25 and July 26. As Uranus’s square with Pluto continues to tighten, we can look for revolutionary thinking to arise and prevail. Together, Uranus and Pluto will terminate what no longer works and initiate the new and improved. The sensible thing for us humans to do is cooperate with this process of economic transformation. The old ideology has clearly led us to a funny‐money economy (the rich minority and the increasingly poor majority). Every past great depression in US history has been preceded by a record disparity between the rich few and the majority. What is needed is systemic change that will distribute wealth more horizontally. Uranus looks out for the downtrodden.
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he biwheel chart below shows the USA’s birth on the inner wheel and Monday September 15, 2008 Full Moon chart on the outer wheel. It was this Lunation that triggered a more forceful plunge in already erratic stock markets. Notice that the Lunation hit the Saturn‐Uranus opposition, which in turn was conjunct the USA’s natal Neptune, square the USA’s natal Mars.
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The second biw bi wheel chart is for the Crash Crash of 1987. Again it was was Saturn and Uranus afflicting the US Mars‐Neptune square, this time with help from Chrion in Gemini.
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For the Crash of 1929, Saturn in Sagittarius opposite Jupiter in Gemini afflicted the US Mars‐Neptune Mars‐N eptune square. The crash this day was was triggered by the Moon conjunct the US Neptune. Why did this this one lead lead into a great depression? depression? Note Uranus in Aries opposite the US Saturn and square square the US Sun, the signature signature of great depressions. depressions. Also notice that Pluto was conjunct the US Sun, while Mercury and Venue were conjunct the US Saturn.
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