(22 March 2023) Investors hit the sell button today after Fed Chair Jerome Powell delivered hawkish comments in his FOMC press conference after raising interest rates another 25 basis points. Despite lingering uncertainty from recent bank failures, Powell remained committed to fighting inflation and ruled out any rate cuts in 2023. Powell’s bucket of cold water came a surprise to some as markets had been pricing in at least two rate cuts in the second half of 2023 in the wake of the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank.
The decline coincided with a exact 45-degree alignment of Jupiter and Saturn. Although the 45-degree alignment is not a traditional Vedic aspect, Jupiter and Saturn were closely conjunct in the D-8 Ashthamsa chart, which corresponds to the 8th harmonic chart. The blending of the energies of Jupiter and Saturn tends to be bearish as the slower speed of Saturn usually gets the final word in against Jupiter’s preference for optimism. The other potential bearish influence here is the approaching alignment of Mars (4 Gemini), Ketu (10 Libra) and Saturn (7 Aquarius). Each planet is separated by about 120 degrees in this Grand Trine pattern and thus creates a resonance where the energies of the planets are amplified. Since all three planets are natural malefics, it is not unexpected that stocks fell with the approach of this pattern.
We can also see how today’s decline might have manifested in the 13-day progressed cycle chart. This 13-day cycle is another way to describing the minor progressed chart where the arrangement of the planets one lunar month after birth is symbolically equivalent to one full year of life. The resulting 1:13 time compression can provide insights into future trends that are sometimes not apparent in the standard transit chart.
Looking at the NASDAQ horoscope (Feb 8 1971, 10.00 a.m.), we can see that this week’s planets feature some difficult alignments. Progressed Mars (22 Scorpio) aligns with both progressed Saturn (22 Gemini) and natal Saturn (22 Aries). While neither of these alignments are full-strength aspects, their precise geometry is nonetheless important. Since Mars and Saturn are both malefic planets, their alignments are more likely to coincide with negative sentiment and stock market declines.
But compared with transits, progressed planets move much more slowly. For example, transiting Mars moves about 35-40 minutes of arc per day. Minor progressed Mars moves just 3 arc minutes per day, while this progressed retrograde Saturn moves just 3 arc seconds per day. This means that the Mars-Saturn-Saturn alignment will be within range for much longer than a simple Mars transit. This suggests that today’s negative sentiment could last for a while longer.
While this is a difficult chart, we should be careful not to place too much emphasis on it as it is only one cycle out of many possible cycles. It is possible it could be offset by transits, or the 27-day progressed cycle for the NASDAQ chart, or indeed the cumulative influences from the other relevant natal charts such as the NYSE chart (as noted in last week’s update) or the S&P 500 chart, among others.
Other possible caveats here is the upcoming Sun-Jupiter alignment in this minor progressed chart. This is a more bullish influence that is likely to bring some upside over the next several weeks when the alignment tightens. Using its exact alignment as its theoretical maximum influence, the bullish influence from this 13-day cycle chart is likely to peak sometime in the second half of April. Significantly, by that time Mars will have moved two full degrees past both progressed Saturn and natal Saturn. This suggests that the negative energy in this particular chart is more likely to have waned while the positive energy will be on the rise.
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