Here's Ray Merriman's take:
MMA COMMENTS FOR THE WEEK
BEGINNING SEPTEMBER 16, 2002
Last week was significant, as geocosmic signatures suggested they would be. The major stock indices of the world rallied rather strongly into the Jupiter-Neptune opposition of mid-week, and then sold off sharply into Friday’s close. Gold was strong on Monday, reaching a new 7-week high, whereas Silver continued rallying into Friday, when it formed an intermarket bearish divergence pattern to Gold. Most of the foreign currencies were strong against the dollar into Thursday, then sold off sharply into Friday’s close, even as the U.S. stock market was weak. And interest rate vehicles in the U.S.A., such as bonds and notes, continued strong right into Friday’s "Sagittarius Factor" setup, suggesting a reversal may be at hand.
But now we start the unpredictable Mercury retrograde phenomenon, lasting September 14-October 6. Most financial markets act erratically under this signature, as investor sentiment vacillates back and forth between bullish and bearish, in rather short time intervals. Added to this, technical levels of support and resistance are oftentimes violated, but just momentarily. Or, they fail to be reached, and position traders become frustrated as profits turn quickly to losses due to their hesitancy to take a smaller than expected profit. So our motto under Mercury retrograde is always: take profits quickly, no matter how small they may be. In fact, we consider position trading under Mercury retrograde to be a temptation to higher than normal anxiety, akin to masochism. It’s not that some markets won’t appear to be in a trend. But the ones that do are usually the ones you wouldn’t expect to be in that type of trend. And most won’t last more than 8 days into the retrograde before a sudden turn, usually due to an unexpected fundamental occurrence (UFO).
As mentioned last week, this particular Mercury retrograde, on the heals of the first of three passes between Jupiter and Neptune in opposition, is not suggestive of being a time for well-thought out decisions. Exaggerated and even delusional thinking is more the order of the day, and oftentimes decisions made under this influence have to be retracted or modified later. If not, then they are often viewed as regrettable. We saw an instance of this mid week when the Canadian Prime Minister made a speech in the USA that was interpreted (by some) as blaming the USA for the September 11 terrorist attacks in America.
But by far the biggest event of the past week was President George Bush’s speech to the United Nations. In his address, Bush challenged the U.N. to enforce its resolutions on Iraq, or else the U.S. will act on its own if necessary to stop the "grave and gathering danger" posed by Saddam Hussein.
We have written about this type of danger before in this column. I will review it again and again in the future, for no matter how important we think the next week is in the financial markets, it means nothing if we do not have the freedom to trade these markets. And that freedom is at risk by the end of this decade, as I see it, based upon my understanding of 1) present day events and 2) geocosmic signatures. The dominant geocosmic theme all decade will be the Uranus-in-Pisces and Neptune-in-Aquarius mutual reception, versus the interplay between Saturn and Pluto. The former set up represents the forces for world peace, and the end to all violence and the threat of violence. It becomes increasingly strong throughout the decade, particularly 2003-2010 as the mutual reception is actually entered into. This is the ultimate test to the "Peace Generation" of the 1960’s, the baby-boomers who are now grown and in a position of power to determine the real nature of their collective destiny. Can they achieve world peace? Or will the negative forces of Saturn and Pluto prevail in a war to end all wars?
We got a glimpse of the negative potential of Saturn and Pluto while they were in opposition between August 2001-May 2002. But that is only the halfway point of the cycle. They reach a climax later this decade (and early into the next) when they form a waning square to one another. The principles of these signatures are highlighted even more as Pluto enters Capricorn – Saturn’s ruling sign – starting in January 2008. The whole Saturn-Pluto spectrum comes full force into play then. The themes of 2001-2002 may be replayed, but with more intensity. And added to that, Uranus enters the picture by forming a T-square with both Saturn and Pluto, given a few degrees orb, by 2010, as it leaves Pisces and enters Aries. If Pluto represents the potential for tearing down and destruction, either through nature or man-induced events like terrorist activity, and Saturn represents the principle of loss, then the advent of Uranus adds yet another new element. Uranus is like lightening and thunder. It is explosive and drastic. It can be an awakening, or a shock, or both.
I think you can see the picture. To me, it means either the forces of peace and the end to the threat of nuclear violence, as represented by the mutual reception of Uranus and Neptune, or the forces that foster destruction and violence, are going to carry into the end of this decade and beyond. I don’t know which will end up winning in the end. But I do believe that if weapons of mass destruction – or the threat of their implementation - are not eliminated soon, then those who wish terrorism and destruction will have the power to unleash them by the end of this decade. And whatever I think of the future direction of the financial markets will then be meaningless.
Whether the world agrees with George Bush’s position or not, it is in many ways consistent with this theme of Uranus in Pisces, Neptune in Aquarius. He may or may not be correct in his focus on Saddam Hussein as a threat in this world drama, which I have just described from an astrological basis. But I think he is correct in his assessment of the real danger right now to all people who value freedom. Those threats to this freedom cannot be taken lightly, as Uranus (freedom) comes into opposition from Saturn (restriction or denial) later this decade, and both square Pluto (a course of action that will likely change things forever). Those same astrological principles were in effect from 1930-1942. Let’s hope we have learned a lesson from that period, and don’t repeat the mistake of taking these threats to our safety and freedoms too lightly. It really is a classical symbol of good versus evil, life versus death, for our planet and those who inhabit it, as played out by the gods in the heavens. |
