Can astrology really predict the movement of o f the markets? Skeptics would answer that the only thing astrology can predict is a person's gullibility. While many believers of astrology do tend towards the naive "New ge" stereotype! an impartial review of the historical correlation between stock prices and planetary motion clearly suggests that prediction is possible! if only under certain conditions. ne of the difficulties difficulties in assessing the relationship between prices and the planets is the large number of variables involved. #ost astrologers work with at least $ planets! % aspects &i.e. the angular separation between two planets! () houses and () constellations! to say nothing of asteroids! fi*ed stars! nakshatras or whatever other supplementary parameters one chooses to mention. +aken +aken together! this produces a huge number of possible permutations that can be correlated with market trends. ,n the absence of strong transit contacts to the particular first trade chart of a stock e*change or company! it is very hard indeed to discern where the market will go. ,n those conditions! cond itions! astrology may fare no better than chance. -ut where close angular contacts are made between current planetary positions and those in the first trade chart! prices will follow set patterns as described by the established symbolism of the planet and angle involved. We will e*amine how this works in more detail below. b elow. +here are several basic strategies for using astrology with stock market investing. +he first! and most important is obtain the first trade data of a stock! +/! currency! currency! etc. and cast a horoscope for that time and place. ver time! this chart can then be analy0ed with respect to transits! progressions! and dashas in order to ascertain the likely price movements of the stock. ssentially! the basic rule of financial astrology is1 /avourable planetary alignments through transit contacts with benefics during the dasha periods of well2placed planets will tend to yield price increases! while bad aspects from bad planets 22 a s3uare &$4 degree aspect from Saturn for e*ample 22 will usually push the share price down. s already noted! situations where unambiguously good or bad planetary patterns predominate occur most of the time. +his is the main reason why many astrologers astrologers run into trouble. +hey e*trapolate too far on the basis of thin or ambiguous data. more prudent strategy is to refrain from making predictions predictions at times of conflicting data and only take firm positions when the variables are more clearly defined. /or e*ample! a situation may arise in which there are apparently offsetting influences of planetary transits from benefic 5upiter and malefic Saturn to key natal planets. ,n those instances! an astrological analysis is perhaps better off deferring 6udgement until other planetary influences come in to tip the balance. ,n this way! the best approach is for a selective application of astrological insights at critical turning points in the market. So while it may not be clear 6ust how a stock will move over a period of days! weeks or even months! the astrologer will be able to identify critical time windows that have a much greater likelihood of ups or downs. 7nowing 7n owing these times of probable market outcomes can come in very handy to the trader! even if they only occur sporadically. +he basic astrological elements for forecasting the stock market are no different from standard astrology. +he +he constant motion of the planets through the houses and 0odiac signs supply the framework for an astrological model. +he table below lists the relevant "variables" for our consideration.
Key Astrological Factors Planet
Sign
House
Sun
Leo
1st/10th Neutral
Moon
Cancer
4th
Neutral
Mercury
Gemini/Virgo
3rd
Neutral/Positive
Venus
aurus/Li!ra
"nd/#th Positive
Mars
$ries/Scor%io
&th
'u%iter
Sagittarius/Pisces
(th/11th Positive
Saturn
Ca%ricorn/$)uarius *th/1"th Negative
+ranus
,$)uarius-
n/a
Neutral
Ne%tune
,Pisces-
n/a
Neutral
Pluto
,Scor%io-
n/a
Neutral
.ahu,NNode- n/a
n/a
Neutral/Negative
etu,SNode-
n/a
Neutral/Negative
n/a
Price Bias
Negative
s we can see! the ma6ority of planets here are listed as "neutral". +hat doesn't mean! however! that they have no effect on the markets. ,t 6ust means that all things being e3ual! they do not have an intrinsic bias in regard to sentiment and prices. ll planets! even the more clearly positive or negative ones! can e*hibit a variety of price effects depending on the other planets and chart factors they are interacting with at any given time. lthough all planets and houses possess certain natural inclinations! how they will eventually effect the market is more dependent on their temporary condition. /or e*ample! a positive planet like 8enus if transiting over a malefic planet like 7etu in a malefic house like the 9th is more likely to coincide with a drop in the market. +hat's because the natural 'bullishness' of 8enus has been corrupted! so to speak! by its temporary negative situation. Conversely! although Saturn is the planet most closely associated with pessimism and bear markets! if it forms a favourable alignment with positive aspects &e.g. ()4 degrees involving benefic planets! it often marks an upswing in prices. +his is why it is crucial to take into account the whole chart rather than the motion of a single planet.
Boolean Analysis and the Financial Markets
#any astrologers like to characteri0e their method of reading a horoscope as "holistic"! in an effort to escape criticisms from mechanistically2oriented skeptics. , prefer to think of chart analysis in terms of -oolean logic! where multiple factors must be present for a particular situation to occur. /or e*ample! we cannot e*pect stocks to inevitably rise
when benefic 5upiter con6oins the natal Sun of the chart we are working with. Such a favourable pattern may be thought of as a necessary! but not sufficient condition for price increases. +here must also be an absence of negative factors hitting the key chart points. +hese would include few close aspects from malefic planets! no planets transiting malefic houses &:th! 9th! ()th and so on. ;iven the large number of variables every chart contains! there will be several significant operating planetary con tacts and influences at any given time. +hese must all be evaluated for their relative effects of prices according to the principles of -oolean analysis. ,f we are trying to assess if the conditions are in place for a bull market! for e*ample! we could construct a table that more clearly reflects this logical process.
Essential Conditions for Bull and Bear Markets Favourable
Unfavourable
Chart Factor
Comments (bullish)
asha lords
(bearish)
Strong2 associated ith 7ea62 lin6ed to !eneics5 no lin6 to natural houses &2*21" or or tem%orary maleics maleic %lanets
ransits to dasha 'u%iter2 .ahu or trine lords as%ects rom 9uters
Saturn2 etu5 hard as%ects rom 9uters
$scendant/Moon/Sun tr $ tight Saturn ransits to non: 'u%iter and ree o aliction s)uare/o%% to dasha lords !y Saturn and etu $sc/Moon/Sun ransits o rines are the only 9uters :: +ranus %otentially avoura!le Ne%tune2 Pluto as%ect
8eneics in sot as%ect to dasha lord are !est5 Maleics in hard as%ect to dasha lords are orst Slo:moving %lanets are more inluential !ecause Less im%ortant than dasha lords2 !ut still 6ey2 es% i stationing
S)uare and Con;unctions can go o%%osition as%ects either ay !ut ill linger or months and intensiy other years e
Progressed conigurations
Secondaries e
Solar2 Lunar .eturn charts
S)uare or o%%osition Con;unction or trine !eteen Saturn2 etu 9verlay ith natal involving 'u%iter or Venus or 9uters and any chart or !oth sets o and at least one other other %lanet on an angles %lanet on an angle,$sc/MCangle ,$sc/MC-
,f most or all of the favourable conditions are in place! then a bull market is more probable. Where a more mi*ed situation obtains! the market will only deliver mi*ed results. ,n addition to the above factors! , use a variety of techni3ues including current transit patterns such as planetary ingresses! the phases of the #oo n! and mundane aspects. ll can be used as signals to help discern the prevailing market direction. Since none of these are reliable indicators on their own! , typically use up to )4 different measurements to compile a sort of moving astrological inde* that reflects changing investor sentiment. ,n addition! , make use of the first trade charts of key stocks! stock indices! and stock e*changes.
The Horoscope of the New York tock E!change
4 am chart to be the most accurate. , have rectified to (4.> am in order to make better use of the smaller chart varga divisions in 5yotish. +his is 3uite a powerful chart! although one needs to stand outside of the 8edic tradition to fully appreciate it. @ranus! the planet of unbounded energy and sudden change! rises within one degree of the ascendant while 8enus! the planet of money and lu*ury! culminates very near the #idheaven. 8enus and @ranus together spell "fast or accelerated money" better than 6ust about any other planetary combinations , can think of and therein perfectly describe the rapid movement of money on the trading floor. Aowever appropriate that symbolism! it is more important that the chart ade3uately reflect ma6or price movements over its long history. ,t does this well indeed regardless if one uses Western or 8edic techni3ues! as , do. +his ability to see the dynamic of both bull and bear markets regardless of one's operating paradigm is a sign of the robustness of this chart.
+o see how this chart works in practice! let's look at how we might have made sense of the planetary influences that were operating at the time of the ctober ($9% stock market crash. +he N=S chart was running 5upiter2#ercury dasha. lthough both of these planets are natural benefics and therefore biased towards price rises! a planet's temporary condition in the chart at hand is a more important determinant of its promise. 5upiter's dasha lasts (: years to it is only a background influence. #ore significant is #ercury. lthough fairly well2placed in the ((th house of gains in +aurus! it rules the ()th of loss and the neutral >rd and is also closely combusted. So far! this is a fairly mediocre #ercury. Aowever! what tips the scales towards the negative is that it forms a tight s3uare with #ercury &trading con6oined <> Saturn &loss. n the basis of 6ust these small handful of factors! it was clear that the /all of ($9% would be a bearish time for the market! with the high probability of a significant sell2off.
The "ulnera#ility of Mercury $eriods
ne of the interesting features of the N=S horoscope is the afflicted nature of #ercury. +his is ironic in a way since #ercury is the planet of trading. Nonetheless! one compelling way to 6udge the effects of this troubled #ercury is to assess its effect on market performance over the years. Since the antardasha &aka subperiod! or bhukti period is shorter! we can find several instances over the past (44 years or so and thereby correlate stock prices during the time it was subperiod lord. Dasha Period
Dates in Effect
Dow ones! Dow "et Sim#le annual Begin ones! End Effect rate of return
Mercury
=/"3/1*(&: =/"4/1(13
41>
=4
?3"@
?1(@
etu:Mercury
=/"*/1( : =/"4/"0
10(
("
:1&@
:1&@
Venus:Mercury
=/"4/3& :
1==
140
:10@
:34@
3/"=/3( Sun:Mercury
3/1"/44 : 1/1&/4=
140
1=4
?10@
?1"@
Moon:Mercury
3/"4/=" : */"3/=3
"&*
"#"
?1@
?1@
Mars:Mercury
11/"3/=( : 11/1(/&0
&#=
& 10
:10@
:10@
.ahu:Mercury
=/(/#1 : 11/"=/#3
(3"
*=4
:*4@
:33@
'u%iter:Mercury
1/"=/*& : =/"/**
1=3#
"043
33@
?143@
Saturn:Mercury
=/30/00 : "/#/03
102="#
#*&4
:"=@
:(3@
Mercury
=/"3/"01&: =/"4/"033
A
A
A
A
$verage (inc %&th centur' data)
*+,
$verage (e- %&th centur' data)
!%*.,
t its inception on #ay ):! (9$:! the Dow was computed differently and was comprised of only () companies. +his makes its early d ata less reliable for historical comparisons. We can see that #ercury dashas do not generally correlate with higher prices and fall well below the E:FGyear historical norm for stocks. +he best performing period occurred during 5upiter2#ercury but even there! #ercury revealed its bearish tendencies since it marked the biggest crash in history. +he overall positive price effect from ($9H2($99 was largely the result of 5upiter's overriding influence. ,t is perhaps no coincidence that the greatest bull market in history occurred during the 5upiter dasha from ($9( to ($$%. +he only other strongly positive period occurred during the Sun dasha. Aere we can see the combined effect of two ((th house planets &gainsI fending off whatever bearish influences they encountered. Jooking ahead to #ercury's ne*t ma6or dasha period which begins in )4(:! it's hard to be optimistic about the stock market's performance.
