Long-term planetary cycles support recognition that populism is in favor worldwide. Learn more in this special report that looks ahead to 2020 and beyond.
Planets Support Populism
By Susan Abbott Gidel January 22, 2017 (c) Copyright 2017 SusanGSays LLC
(All times Eastern)
Dear Red Letter Trading Day Subscribers,
Populism—grass-roots democracy that sidesteps traditional party ideologies—is the new buzzword that gained traction at last week’s 47th annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Attendees included 3,000 global business and political leaders that can be considered the elite that are on the opposite end of the see-saw with populists.
Certainly two of the biggest headlines in 2016—the Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump—echoed the theme that the people have been ignored by the current system and want something different.
As an astrologer, I can say that these world leaders are correctly identifying the long-term and significant planetary energy that is in play now for what I see as a tipping point in the early 2020s. Take a listen to some of the Davos discussion in the sidebar below, and then read more about three big planetary energies in play through 2024.
Populism Buzz at Davos
Ray Dalio, CEO of the world’s largest hedge fund, says populism is now the #1 market concern in this CNBC interview. http://cnb.cx/2jxUXZf
Lawrence Summers, Harvard University and former U.S. Treasury Secretary, provides insight to Trump’s fiscal policies and potential overhang risk to the global economy in this CNBC interview. http://cnb.cx/2jnmE4T
There are two main astrological factors to keep top of mind as you consider what markets may be reacting to over the next few years. First is Pluto’s movement through the sign of Capricorn from 2008-2024. Second is the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius in 2020. Also important to understand is that the United States is in the crosshairs of these changes, which look to dominate the term of office for the President elected in November 2020.
1. Pluto’s Transformation of Business and Government by 2024
The overarching backdrop to populism is that Pluto is in the sign of Capricorn. Pluto tears down the present in order to build a new, better replacement. Capricorn is the sign that rules business, government, rules, regulations, structure and organization. Put the two together and you come up with “transformation of business and government.”
Pluto entered Capricorn in January 2008, the year of the financial crisis in the United States that ultimately engulfed the entire world. Pluto leaves Capricorn for good in November 2024. Last year was halftime, and the planetary coaches in the locker room decided we needed some shaking up in the second half. Enter Brexit and Trump.
Pluto says we have just seven more years to transform the status quo of business and government as it was in 2008 to something completely different by 2024. We needed Brexit and Trump to kick that transformation into high gear.
Is there any doubt that people of the world have been awakened by these developments, and are ready to participate in the discussion as never before? I don’t think so. I was one of 250,000 in Chicago, an estimated 2.9 million in the United States and perhaps millions more on the other six continents who rallied for women’s rights and the rights of all human beings on January 21, 2017, the day after Trump’s inauguration. The gauntlet was thrown in an impressive, global and unmistakable way.
Be assured, what we saw as standard operating procedure in businesses and governments worldwide in 2008 will be completely different by the time Pluto leaves Capricorn at year-end 2024. Personally, I am optimistic that the change will be for the better and will reflect the other significant planetary energy that is arriving in late 2020—the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction in Aquarius.
2. Jupiter/Saturn Paradigm Shift on December 21, 2020
Jupiter and Saturn meet every 20 years in the same degree of the same zodiac sign, which starts a new economic cycle that reflects the signature of the sign. In the markets, the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction can be a change in major trend.
The most recent conjunction was in May 2000 as the markets were heading toward an all-time high nine months later as the dot.com bubble burst. In late 1980-early 1981, the conjunction was at a time of market lows that ultimately supported the greatest bull market in history.
The next Jupiter/Saturn conjunction—at 0 degrees of Aquarius on December 21, 2020—is the most significant since 1842 because it marks the start to a period that will last the rest of our lifetimes in which economies of the world will value ideas (Aquarius), cooperation (Libra) and communication (Gemini).
Indeed, the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction of 2020 is in the Air sign of Aquarius, and ends a period of 178 years of conjunctions in Earth signs, indicating that economies since the mid-1800s have valued physical/material goods, including money. We are entering a period where the markets value “ideas,” not “things.”
There is always one exception in any of these cycles, however. The next-to-last conjunction of these long periods in a single element is in the element of the next signature in order to give us a preview of what is to come. Thus, the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction of 1980 was in the Air sign of Libra, and over the next 20 years, we witnessed development and acceptance of the internet that connected communities around the world, and of course, online trading. Remember, that was just the preview. We’re headed for more than 150 years of that starting in 2020.
But, the 2020 Jupiter/Saturn conjunction is especially significant for two reasons:
The conjunction is at 0 degrees of Aquarius. This emphasizes not only the paradigm shift into Air, but also that the next 20 years will be focused on Aquarian topics, including the internet, groups and community, and brilliant, new ideas.
The conjunction occurs on the winter solstice. The same day as this important economic conjunction occurs, the Sun moves into the sign of Capricorn. The four season changes by the Sun are the most important days on the astrological calendar. That this economic conjunction occurs at the winter solstice, emphasizes that the darkness is ending and that a new dawn is beginning, aligned with the Sun beginning its ascent after reaching its furthest, coldest point (in the northern hemisphere).
Note that the Jupiter/Saturn paradigm shift occurs just six weeks after the next U.S. presidential election. And, it culminates a year in which both Jupiter and Saturn make exact conjunctions with Pluto in the sign of Capricorn, which means the entire year of 2020 is about examining what we need to transform into a sustainable society. I am hopeful that the person we elect as U.S. president in 2020 is one who is aligned with the technological and cooperative goals that Aquarius favors.
3. United States in the Crosshairs 2020-2024
The 2020 U.S. election is perhaps the most important in its history because the new president’s term of office from start to finish likely will be dominated by Pluto’s final touches on its transformation of business and government worldwide, including examination of the very basis of the United States of America’s form of government.
On February 20, 2022, Pluto will be in exactly the same place in the sky as it was when the United States was first formed in 1776. In astrological lingo, this is called a “Pluto return.” Let that sink in for a moment. In 1776, the United States was formed byrevolutionaries to transform the way it had been governed by England. We will be experiencing the height of that same energy again in just five years.
Thus, I think it is within the realm of possibility that, as Americans, we will be seriously examining in 2020 whether this 246-year-old form of government should continue to exist in the state in which it does today. Because Pluto is within two degrees of the exact Pluto return from January 26, 2021 (six days after the next inauguration) until November 19, 2024 (two weeks after another presidential election and the last day Pluto is in Capricorn), I expect this discussion to dominate the next two U.S. presidential election cycles.
UK Pluto Returns Since 1066
This being the United States’ first Pluto return, we can get a taste of what it might bring by looking across the pond to England and the United Kingdom.
Starting with the coronation of William I as King of England in 1066 (the favored event that astrologers use to mark the start of Norman rule), the country has had three Pluto returns. The first included five exact returns from April 1310-December 1311. The second, also with five exact returns, was from April 1555-December 1556, a period of rebellions during Queen Mary I’s reign that pitted Catholics vs. Protestants.
The UK’s most significant Pluto return was its third, from April 1800-December 1801, when “The Act of Union” that joined Great Britain with Ireland came into effect on January 1, 1801, in the middle of the five exact Pluto returns. This is the horoscope chart widely regarded by astrologers as the birth of the current United Kingdom. The fourth Pluto return (first since The Act of Union) has three passes, from April 2045-March 2046.
My Big-Picture Outlook
First, with the Brexit vote and election of Donald Trump, I believe we have stepped up the pace to transform the current state of business and government in order to transform into something new—and better—within the next seven years while Pluto remains in Capricorn. In the United States, it appears that Trump’s election served as a wake-up call for more widespread, grassroots participation in our government, which I believe can only be a good thing.
Second, I’m hopeful that we will elect a president in 2020 who is aligned with the ideals of Aquarius—technology, ideas, community—that will be valued by economies worldwide after Jupiter and Saturn conjoin in Air signs for the first time for the rest of our lives on December 21, 2020. This is the person who will lead America through its first Pluto return in 2022, a return of the revolutionary energy that founded the country in 1776.
Third, I am looking for a significant top in the stock market this year as Saturn and Uranus make their final trine (120-degree aspect) in their 45-year cycle that began in 1988. (And, certainly, the DJIA’s current all-time high at 19,999 qualifies as a candidate.)
Supporting this time frame is that the North Node is in the sign of Leo from May 10, 2017-September 6, 2018. According to 1930s economist Louise McWhirter, the U.S. business cycle tends to peak during this astrological period. The current economic expansion, which began in June 2009, is fourth-longest on record, at 91 months. (It will be third-longest in two more months.) The longest is 120 months, from March 1991-March 2001.
Fourth, I suspect both the economy and the markets will have a pretty rough time of it in 2020, and a bear market will dominate in that presidential election year. It starts on January 12, when Saturn and Pluto meet in the same degree of Capricorn. Saturn is the ruler of Capricorn, and this combination says nothing if not “clamp down and make sure it’s right.” Jupiter conjoins Pluto in Capricorn three times in 2020 as well, but the planet’s ability to expand is weak in Capricorn.
Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto are moving together in the sky all year long in 2020, a very difficult signature for economic issues, which I suspect will lead to change in the political party that is elected to the White House in November (and perhaps to a third-party candidate, or at the very least, someone unconventional).
However, I look for the worst to be over and the bottom in around the time of the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction in Aquarius on the winter solstice of December 21, 2020. Truly, the dawning of a new age.
