Dollar, Pound, Euro, Yen, Gold, Oil

Summer Solstice

James ( student) has the charts for currencies listed below neatly lined up and not exactly sure what to think about the summer solstice, Jupiter changing signs into Taurus, the Gemini and Cancer eclipses. It definitely looks like a problem. But how will the problem manifest?

Past chart testing has shown us that the summer solstice will reverse a currency trend and usually during the week before the Sun enters Cancer. Will a natural disaster change the trend? Will a reserve currency lose its credibility? Will oil or gold reverse their rising price? The idea is to take the charts of the dollar, pound, yen, gold and oil and see if the summer solstice chart has an effect after we mark in the eclipse points.

The solstice has a grand cardinal square (mid-point 7.5 degrees) with Mercury making the final aspect of a square to Saturn. The next almost exact aspect ( zero Pisces/Gemini) is Mars square Neptune. The Moon just finished a trine to Mercury (10 Pisces/Cancer)and at the end of the day the Sun will trine Neptune (Zero Pisces/Cancer). There will be a very definite and loud change in monetary policy.

We do know that the Federal Reserve will complete its program of monetary easing. We do not know how the change will effect reserve currency. Gold will maintain its power to influence currency world wide until November 2013 while transiting Pluto makes a series of conjunctions to its Sun.

Thinking Opposite is the trick to currency.

Using the gold, yen, dollar combination in a triple wheel chart we find gold's Sun conjunct Yen's Saturn and semi-sextile dollar's Venus therefore suggesting Yen will sell treasuries and use its funds to buy gold or pay bills. Therefore expect its trend to be: It will take fewer yen to buy a dollar.

Euro (1/1/1999) has Moon conjunct the South Node of the Bank of England (7/27/1694, can't find a useful pound chart) and the North Node of the Pound is conjunct the Mars of the dollar at 2 Capricorn. This means they will trade together with this powerful conjunction that holds them together making a conjunction/opposition to the Solstice Sun. Trading them one against the other would not be profitable.

The dollar's problem is Mars at zero degrees setting off a lot of action in its valuation. The Fed seems scheduled to act with the June eclipse conjunct the Fed's Saturn this would cause them to be slightly unhappy and raise interest rates. It might also explain to Congress that an intelligent move would be to allow corporate American to bring overseas cash to the US. It is going to take a great deal of intense discussion to accomplish the task. An eclipse to Saturn means that changes are slow an deliberate.

Oil

Transiting Jupiter trines the natal Jupiter of OPEC (9/14/1960)and promises an increase in the supply of oil therefore a lower price and in a few weeks Jupiter will trine the Virgo planets in OPEC's chart promising even more abundant supplies of oil. Oil has another problem with the July eclipse on the Moon of OPEC and problems with taxes, insurance as well as fewer members in the organization.

New technology will also bring down price near the summer solstice. Uranus in the Titusville chart ( 8/27/1859) is fairly close to the June eclipse at 11 Gemini suggesting new technology will effect price. Also an aspect from the asteroid Vesta ( goddess of the hearth) to the North Node could indicate folks just stay home and boycott the price.

In The Textbook for Financial Astrology you will be able to find the charts for all of the above. You might also scroll through previous blogs on these topics where I have posted the charts. Maybe you can find something in the Textbooks that are a bit more optimistic. The next few months will be extremely interesting and following the price of gas will be an intellectual challenge. $20 for 5 gallons of gas is a wallet challenge.

Oil prices? Drill? Substitute? Conserve?

Follow up on January 4, 2011 Blog:

Barrel of Oil $100+?

February 18, 2011 and the price of crude begins to jump. By March 25, 2011 it is up 25% at $105 for light sweet crude. Protests in the Middle east are given credit for the price increase. Consumers of oil are trying to devise ways to avoid paying the price.

What are the options?

Drill?

Geologists have been busy mapping possible locations and the corporate bean counters have been estimating cost. Governments around the world have been inundated with requests for drilling permits. For this analysis we will use the chart for the First Oil Well August 27, 1859 Noon Titusville Pa. (Print this blog and add to Financial Astrology Textbook 4)

For drilling companies the hopeful aspect is Pluto trine Pluto from March 30-April 19, 2011. However the aspect does not become exact, thus further delays until exact February 4, 2012. In the meantime Pluto will trine Mercury July 4,2011, Jupiter will conjunct Pluto July 27, October 23, 2011 and March 8, 2012 promising the drilling companies a plethora of finds and plenty of options as to where to drill first.

You will notice a string of Jupiter aspects starting April 14, 2011 continuing through March 8, 2012 promising an increase supply of available crude to sell. Will Jupiter bring down the price of crude as supplies increase? In February when Pluto made a trine to Mercury news concerning the availability of surplus supplies of crude did not influence the oil traders. They continued to push up the price on futures contracts. The same aspect returns July 4, and Nov 24 with the possibility of a return to higher futures contracts on the spot oil market.

Substitute?

The Titutsville chart shows an eclipse at 11 Gemini rather close to its 7 Gemini Uranus on June 2, 2011. Optimistically the sudden change will appear and competing energy sources will come on line to diminish the demand for oil.

OPEC's chart has the Moon at 7 degrees Cancer. The July 1, 2011 eclipse is at 9 degrees Cancer. An eclipse to the Moon means that the public is not pleased and optimistically(again) is looking for alternatives to the groups supply policies. Since January 30, 2011 OPEC has experienced Pluto opposed the Moon therefore the public has not favored oil exploration by the organization. In fact the populace of the OPEC countries has been very angry with the management of oil drilling and exploration. Their attitude will continue until May 2, 2011 with Saturn square Saturn and the discussions with their leaders concerning the distribution of oil revenues. The problem concerning the public's perception of OPEC policies will continue the Oct 26, 2012 with the continuing opposition of Pluto to the OPEC Moon. Uranus opposes OPEC's Mercury May 20, 2011 Aug 31, 2011 and March 7, 2012. Strange news and unusual events confuses the organization therefore their policies are inconsistent and traders find the market very volatile. This will encourage inventors of alternative energy sources to invest and promote their products.

Conserve? Mercury is retrograde for the next 3 weeks (March 30-April 23) therefore write a list and combine your trips. Keep your cellphone in your pocket to double check appointments and phone home. Pay cash at the pump is another technique. Do not fill the tank is another. Coast to the 4 way stop sign and avoid getting behind a school bus. For home heating change from oil to natural gas. That is your individual contribution to the conservation of energy.

Governments and corporations can install solar and wind generators to lighten their consumption of electrical power. Power companies can switch from oil to natural gas to generate power. When oil is $100+ it makes economic sense to change. Jupiter and Uranus in Aries will allow the change to happen quickly and probably unannounced.

Conclusion: Oil prices will remain over $100 until June when demand destruction becomes apparent. The June 2nd and July 1st eclipses will change the landscape of world markets and the price of oil will reverse direction.

aside: I'm hoping I'm correct since I'm scheduled to lecture in June for the South Suburban Chicago NCGR and the Milwaukee NCGR. I plan to drive so I will have the freedom to cruise around.

Barrel of Oil $100+ ?

Gasoline: $5 a gallon

A favored headline scare tactic of financial news reporters. The article reads that if the price of a barrel of oil continues to increase at the current rate, in only a few weeks the price at the pump will be 5 bucks. Surely the current price trend will continue with speculators adding a dollar or two per day to the price of a barrel on the NY Comex spot market. They continue that if the rate of price increase continues, it means you will pay $3 then $4 then $5 per gallon. And of course this could spark a double dip recession, higher unemployment, and thin new car sales.

Their story is true

Every current driver remembers every detail of the story. They experienced the problem in July 2008 with $145 per barrel the high for oil on the spot market. They remember how to consolidate shopping trips, minimized vacation miles, car pool and refused the temptation of mini-mart snacks. In October 2008 a surplus of supply sent the price down to $77 per barrel, but in the mean time speculation on the oil markets and mortgage market initiated a great recession.

The question then becomes, will it happen again? Will price move in a straight line up to $145. Will OPEC quickly add to the supply of oil and prevent another skyrocketing increase at the pump? We do know for sure that OPEC does not favor selling fewer barrels of oil.

I thought I would take a look at the chart for the date OPEC's first official meeting, Sept. 14,1960 9:00 am GMT in Bagdad.

In July 2008 OPEC had T. Uranus opposed its Sun and Saturn conjunct its Pluto but in October T. Jupiter made a square to Venus then a trine to its Sun. Jupiter sees to increase the supply of oil. These aspects will not repeat.

The January 4, 2011 eclipse falls on OPEC's second house Saturn. It means they will negotiate every deal and allow the buyer only a minimum profit. They will systematically account for all of their assets and try to be thrifty with the distribution of oil. An eclipse is in effect for at least 6 months and during this time T. Saturn will make a conjunction twice to OPEC's Venus. On Nov. 27 during Saturn's 1st conjunction to Venus prices moved from $83-$87. Then Jupiter took over with a square to itself and prices moved from $87-$91. This will happen again March 30 and Aug 22.

Conclusion

It seems Saturn slows the pace of increased prices for OPEC. Jupiter increases supplies of oil suggesting that the price per gallon will move up slowly during the next six months. Ingenuity is required if we are to avoid spending extra income on transportation.

Consider these next few months an opportunity to reorganize how you spend your travel time and hopefully natural gas or electricity will become your fuel of choice. T. Pluto opposed OPEC's Moon (Jan. 30-May 5, Dec 3- Jan 30, 2012 and May 11-Oct 25) will probably inspire everyone to make the changes required.

Neptune/USA Moon and the Saturn Return

Neptune conjunct USA Moon

The USA is in major "going no where funk". Since August 18 when transiting Neptune made a conjunction to the natal Moon, the American public has been inundated with news concerning dishonest folks in their town, state and nation. Reporters can't keep up with the revelations at the local or national level. Most folks like a good scandal once in a while but there are so many they don't know which one to follow. Example: Massive quantities of salmonella tainted eggs and the producers failure to guard the health of their chickens.

The astrology of the situation is Neptune was conjunct the USA Moon March 14, 2010, then August 18 and January 15 will see the final conjunction of Neptune to the Moon. USA citizens have four more months of being deceived and discovering the deception. Like the eggs and the oil spill the problem is that everyone is involved in one way or another in the challenges brought by the deceptions. Will it be over in 2011? No. Lawsuits will proliferate. Folks don't take kindly to being hoodwinked.

Saturn Return

Worse the whole country is feeling the pressure of a Saturn square the Sun and then the Saturn return. They can feel the promise of a lot of very hard work on the horizon. Just as it marks a turning point in the life of an individual, it does the same for countries. Previous Saturn returns have seen the entire economy adapting to a new industry. In 1922 it was the automobile, in 1952 it was TV, in 1981 it was the personal computer and 2010 the smart phone. We are looking at a plethora of candidates changing the way we do business. Historically each of these inventions moved quickly into everyday life and changed the whole process of doing business. Just by using your cell phone, how many gallons of gas or hours waiting have you saved in the past month?

Addition Effects of Saturn in Libra at 14 °

Simultaneously Saturn is conjunct the Uranus in the Nasdaq's chart (Textbook for Financial Astrology Book 2) insisting the institution of new rules concerning the listing of stocks as well as delisting. These changes will affect the value of the QQQQ's pushing prices higher.

Stocks and people born in 1971- 1976 will find the changes in rules or just the changes in customer's attitude will require a total make over and a clean up.

Markets around the world are waiting for OPEC to make up its mind about the price of oil. OPEC has Venus a 14 degrees of Libra. Therefore Saturn will restrict the price because members need to compete for sales with Russia.

Prediction is Fun

The Textbooks are filled with charts. Take a pencil to the charts and mark the planets in early Libra. The Saturn transit is going to make life difficult for these companies and commodities.

Examples: Disney, Cypress, Corn, Copper and T-Bonds. Write your guess as to price motion on the page and date it. You can even share your opinion on comments or the bulletin board.

Prediction Hints

When Saturn makes a conjunction to any planet it enforces the rules concerning that planet. We will consider the business meaning of the planet.

Saturn to Sun forces a business to take a good hard look at their product and ethics

Saturn to Moon forces a business to pay attention to the attitude of their customers

Saturn to Mercury forces rebuilding of communications network

Saturn to Venus forces acknowledgement of how the company collects its income

Saturn to Mars insists the company review their labor force

Saturn to Jupiter forces the CEO and upper management to do the job correctly

Saturn to Saturn forces the CFO to explain to everyone what is needed to make a profit.

Saturn to Uranus means change everything IT and be sure to patent research

Saturn to Neptune means advertising and marketing is not working

Saturn to Pluto means divest the business of everything superfluous.

EURO is Stressed Out

Wow the Euro is under pressure.  Financial Astrologers use the chart above as an indication of what is happening with the Euro. At first glance it appears to be a slow infusion of printing press generated inflation of the currency. 

First challenge to the Euro is transiting Saturn conjunct the ascendant until August 21, 2010 with transiting Jupiter opposed on the descendant.  The following stress aspect is Saturn square the Sun.  The best thing about tough Saturn aspects is that they tend to send the accountants to work and insist that the accountants finish the job.

Currently Jupiter square the Euro's Pluto is telling the European bankers to be very accurate in their assessment of the valuation of the currency.  Fortunately Jupiter is sextile the Euro's Sun. Therefore they could actually sit down and determine how many barrels of oil or ounces of gold a Euro should buy. The hope will be that the Saturn trine Neptune will help them tell the truth and explain exactly how they intend to solve the problem of failing state treasuries without diminishing the value of the currency.  There is hope that carefully executed plans will take advantage of this opportunity to assure creditors the Greeks etc. will not default. However, the sextile suggests that the plan is a bandaid and Far East creditors will be unhappy when they translate the provisions of the plan.  

April 22, 2010 has Jupiter conjunct Jupiter says the printing presses could be the immediate solution and inflation of the currency is advertised as a one time solution (Jupiter square Mercury). Basically the public decides to accept the solution after a few weeks of adamant discussions.  

Pluto on the IC during the entire summer forces the Euro to clean house. Paying energy bills with Euro's will be a major topic of discussion. Divesting the various governments of their padded payrolls will probably be a long task that is finalized in September 2011. (Saturn conjunct Mars)  Divesting the Euro banks of their directors and management (Saturn square Sun) will make headlines. It is easier to fire management and most will be scheduled to leave their offices by mid-October 2010.

The Euro's chart begins to improve with Jupiter trine the Sun in August 2011 and hopefully the final trine (March 2012) will find the administrators of the Euro will have worked to maintain the currency.  It will be difficult but they will have conquered the biggest problem of public confidence with Saturn trine the Moon and a public ready to allow the Euro to grow up during its first Saturn opposition.

On the bulletin board I discussed the current perils of the Dow.  My Textbooks for Financial Astrology contain charts that are relevant to our current financial crisis. A scary project is wandering through all of them circling planets at 9-10 Cardinal.

Previous discussions of the Euro and the Dollar can be found on this blog.  You can use the search box to make finding them a fairly easy task.

OPEC: Oil UP Oil down

The chart for OPEC The Organizations of Petroleum Exporting States is from Nicholas Campion's Book of World Horoscopes.  

It has proven to be a fairly accurate chart for predicting the price of oil. You can watch the transiting planets as they move in cycles around the zodiac or you can pick an event chart such as the one above for OPEC.

Here my procedure. 

Using this commodities site I find the date the price was at a high and then the date it was at a low.  I place the planets Jupiter-Pluto around the chart and their direction during the year. If they make a conjunction, square or an opposition during the year I note the date it happens and then find the price on that date.   

Example using the OPEC chart to follow the price of oil. 

Oil was at its all time high $141 per barrel the month following Jupiter trine the OPEC Sun July 11, 2008. The next aspect to follow was Saturn conjunct Pluto when the price begins to fall. Saturn then makes two conjunctions to OPEC's Sun (Dec 15, 2008 and Jan. 16, 2009).  The price of oil fell to $32 on Dec 19, 2008.  It remained on its low for about two months and then began an upward climb doubling  by June 15, 2009 to $68.  During those six months Jupiter made favorable aspects to Mercury, Venus, Mars and itself.  Aug 20, 2009 Saturn returned to a conjunction with the OPEC Sun then squared Jupiter and Mars to find a price range of $60-70. Then Jupiter opposed Uranus made a sextile to itself and made a trine to Mars pushing the price up t0 $80.  

Follow the progress of transiting Jupiter through the next few months as it moves to an opposition with Pluto, trines Neptune and the Moon and makes a sextile to Saturn.  After the date each aspect is exact then look at the one that follows and you should be able to anticipate whether the price will go up or down.

The Textbook for Financial Astrology contains a number of charts for stocks and commodities. I think it is really a fun way to watch the oil market knowing the price of gasoline will follow. The dollar is also a factor in the price of oil.  Scroll down for the Dollar's chart.

The price of gas has become something of a sport for me.  

I know that about two weeks after the spot price for oil drops a few dollars then the price of gas at the pump will be down a few cents. In early 2008 when gasoline moved past$3 per gallon I learned to carefully consolidate my trips. I know my exact route when I go into town (80 miles round trip). I track the price of oil to have an idea of whether to fill up at the pump or just spend $20.  My Virgo rising is very self-critical especially if I miss a lower price of even two cents a week later.

  

Traders watch Dollar

Fighting to Save the Dollar as a Reserve Currency

The ups and downs of the dollar have been the focus of attention of market traders.

If the chart I use for the dollar is correct, then the next few weeks for the Dollar could be a roller coaster ride.  tPluto is just leaving the conjunction to Mars and tMars is hanging pretty close to the Moon and tNeptune is conjunct the Dollar's Pluto.  Mars is a warrior and when up against the wall of gold he could just bring the fighting spirit and creativity of the public into the fore and win the battle for dominance of the world.  Possible?

Discipline Required

However valuations for the dollar could improve with a little bit of discipline that the square tSaturn will give the Dollar's Jupiter on its Birthday.  This transit is followed by tSaturn trine Saturn on Oct 17, 2009. The Federal Reserve could actually find a way to make the Legal Tender valuable.  Whatever their idea is it has to be outrageous and something no one ever considered ever.  tPluto makes an exact trine to Uranus on Nov. 23, 2009.  

USA Public Rejects Oil? 

January and February 2010 the South Node is closing in on the Moon. Headlines concerning the value of the dollar could upset the public enough that they will cut back further on their use of oil.  They will insist that their local governments use fuel other than gasoline. Weaning from oil must be absolute and abrupt, just as a mare weans her foal. 

Throughout January the crisis will make headlines and the dollar must reposition itself to maintain the status of world reserve currency. It will be a battle with very unusual battlefield tactics.

My guess as to how the battle ends.

Maybe the Federal Reserve will haul out their ancient engraving plates and start stamping out $20 silver pieces.  Whatever their fiat currency which is considered Legal Tender could transform.  Hopefully the transformation doesn't mean legal 'tinder' December has Jupiter trine the Dollars Sun and conjunct its Pluto.

The Textbook for Financial Astrology contains charts for the dollar, oil,  and gold. In this article I have only mentioned the transits of the outer planets. The transits of the Sun and Mars are equally important.  These charts are invaluable for tracing the next few months of transits as we go through the crisis.