The New York Stock Exchange
Zip Dobyns
I have been delaying an article on the stock market, hoping to get a clearer picture, but there is never enough time. So I will offer what I have, and hope to give more at a later date.
The New York Stock Exchange was officially born on May 17, 1792 on Wall St. in Manhattan. Informal meetings under a tree became a regularly scheduled weekday event. Unfortunately, no one seems to have the time for the first official meeting, and astrologers use charts ranging from 8:30 to 11 plus A.M. I have experimented across this span of time, but am not at all confident that I have the accurate time. I am currently working with the chart presented here, set for 9:56 A.M. EST, which would be about 10 A.M. local mean time. For many years, the Market has opened for trading at 10 A.M. so this time might “work” even if the original meeting was scheduled at a different time.
The Market re-opened for business after a reorganization at 10 A.M. EST on February 18, 1971, giving us a subsidiary chart. There were also earlier reorganizations, but I have not yet tracked down the data.
Both charts offer us a fascinating picture, including Saturn on an angle (if the time of the original chart is accurate) and an appropriate emphasis on the Fixed dilemma. As readers surely know by now (in light of earlier articles in The Mutable Dilemma), letter two (Venus, second house, Taurus to list its major forms) symbolizes our own money and material possessions that are movable (excluding land and homes that are anchored to the land which are ruled by letter four). I think the primary meaning of letter two is our capacity to enjoy the physical world, but for most people, money is the primary tool to buy pleasure, and possessions are a major source of pleasure.
Letter five (Sun, fifth house, Leo) represent our urge to do more; to pour out personal creative power, hoping for a return from the world. We may love and receive love. We may live for bigger and better orgasms. We may hope for recognition through our children or just prefer that form of love to a mate. We may choose to teach or sell or promote or have our impact on others from a stage. Or we may gamble, speculate, or invest, always hoping for that return back from the energy we put out into the world. Letter five wants some kind of feedback, whether in the form of love, admiration, applause, or a sense of power.
Letter eight (Pluto with Mars as co-ruler, eighth house, Scorpio) marks our return, if we are to get it. All forms of joint resources come here, whether as pleasures, or possessions, or money shared with partners, as something given to us by others (partner’s income or inheritance) or owed by us to others (debts including taxes), or as returns on previous efforts including royalties and income from investments. To be successful in speculation or investment, we should have harmonious aspects involving rulers of second, fifth, and eighth houses, of course including the natural rulers just listed.
Turning now to our market charts, we can see some highly interesting configurations. The original chart for 1792 has Leo rising with Uranus in Leo in the first house (highly appropriate for an entity whose main activity is investment or speculation), while Venus, Mercury, and Sun are all in Taurus in the tenth house, again highly appropriate for an entity making a career of dealing with money. To complete the fixed emphasis, Pluto is in the seventh house in Aquarius. Of course Uranus and Aquarius (and the eleventh house) are part of the full fixed dilemma, symbolizing the final step in our capacity to release our focus on the material world, sensuality, possessions, and power. Letter eight involves learning how to share the world with equal others. Theoretically, we learn to understand our own inner depths through the mirror of a mate, and to master our appetites through respect for the rights of the other, to know when is enough and when and how to let go. But the primary urge of letter eight is to hang in and hang on literally “to the death.” Letter eleven’s primary urge is to avoid any limits, to transcend all previous limits, so letting go of material concerns and deep emotions is natural and automatic. They are just encumbrances to a fully developed eleven.
But, of course, real horoscopes and life are not so simple. So here in the stock market chart, we see Uranus (eleven) in Leo (five); Pluto (eight) in Aquarius (eleven), with Pluto exactly square Mercury and closely square Sun (five) in Taurus (two). To further accentuate the issue, Uranus progressed to the opposition of Pluto and the square to Mercury and has maintained the T-square within a one degree orb for many years. The market (which actually means the people who run it and who invest in it) is clearly working on the fixed dilemma; learning when to insist on personal rights to money, possessions and pleasures (the tenth house Taurus which may seek to buy executive power); learning to use personal power with awareness of public rights to equality and freedom (the first house Uranus in Leo); learning how to share money, possessions, and power with others and when to let go (the seventh house Pluto in Aquarius).
Obviously, there are many other facets to the fixed dilemma including the struggle between security (earth) and risk (Uranus in the first house). We can also note that Mars, co-ruler of Scorpio, is in the second house quincunx the Moon in Aries in the ninth house. The combination can be read as another form of security vs. risk, with the same issue shown at both ends of the aspect. Mars, like all fire, can be over-confident and take chances, as can the ninth house Aries. The second house and the Moon want security-stability. As in all conflicts, a solution must include at least a little of both sides.
The presence of fixed signs and planets in cardinal houses shows a strong tendency toward power struggles in the life of the entity. Obviously, the market is an arena of intense competition. When the power struggles are healthy, they retain a “game-playing” quality. We win some and lose some but are not trying to destroy the other side. Both should sharpen their wits and increase their confidence through the rivalry. The Aries-Libra nodes of the Moon reinforce the competitive nature of the situation. We are trying to learn to defend our own rights but also to be conscious of the rights of the equal others in our lives.
The mutable dilemma is also present in the market chart. The south node of the Moon and Saturn in the ninth house point to faith and ethical issues as major areas for growth or lessons. Aries in the ninth house might indicate a lesson in personal will; the danger of turning personal desires into an absolute: “I am God and can do what I please.” An alternate form is “There is no God and I can only trust myself.” Still another alternative would be “God has left it up to me to make sure the right thing is done. If I don’t insist on what I think is right, I’ll be guilty.” Saturn symbolizes the Law, both natural and cultural, the people who enforce it, and our conscience and guilt on the inside. The lesson in any of the above variations would be to recognize the limits of our own will, knowledge, and personal power; to know when to take personal action and when to turn it over to God. Often, we don’t have final answers. We have to try, see what happens, and perhaps do it differently next time. Saturn gives us feedback through consequences.
The issue of faith is also in high focus if this time is accurate, since it puts Neptune and Jupiter on the IC opposite Saturn-MC and square the East Point-West Point axis, giving a cardinal square in mutable houses including the two mutable planets of faith. Presumably, no one invests unless they believe that their judgment of the market’s future behavior might prove accurate. (Or they may put their trust in an advisor’s judgment, or directly in God.) The strong conflict aspects in the market chart fit the dramatic ups and downs which have marked the history of the institution. Reality consequences (Saturn-MC) have sometimes conflicted with faith or hope based on faith, and with personal action (the East Point).
Many other aspects might be mentioned, but I will just comment on the new asteroids which were calculated by Mark Pottenger, our editor. An earlier issue discussed Dembowska as a potential equivalent of Saturn. If this theory is accurate, Dembowska’s position in the tenth house is a reinforcement of the power position of the market in the world, where its leaders have used the power of money to shape the government of the U.S. and the government in turn has periodically enacted new regulations, hoping to stabilize the economic cycles of boom and bust, and maybe to offer some protection to small investors.
Two of the new asteroids included in the market chart, Dudu and Pittsburghia, seem to carry Pluto overtones, which would connect them to the ability to share resources, or to attain a return on previous investments. If the horoscope of the Federal Reserve is accurate on time, Pittsburghia is especially important as a key to joint resources, since it made a station on the Ascendant and remains there in the progressed chart for many years. This chart was presented in an earlier issue of The Mutable Dilemma. Letter eight (theoretically including Dudu and Pittsburghia) is often involved in power struggles over money, possessions, sensuality, etc. as we seek to learn to handle joint resources. If healthy competition is involved (winning some and losing some with a game-playing attitude), the action is an appropriate way to learn to handle letter eight. The stock market and business in general are good outlets for this type of competition, if the game is fair (no monopoly or secret deals). In the market chart, Dudu is conjunct the Moon while Pittsburghia is conjunct Vesta which in turn is conjunct the Ascendant (assuming the time is accurate). Both positions would be considered prominent, supporting the possible relevance of the two asteroids for financial affairs and competition, though much more work is needed to confirm or deny these tentative meanings.
Shifting to the chart for the stock market reorganization, we note that Saturn is rising in Taurus, exactly on the Ascendant when the market opened for business, with Dudu conjunct it. I use the word “exactly” for a one degree orb aspect. Saturn-Ascendant are also exactly square the tenth house Mercury in Aquarius, and they are quincunx Mars in Sagittarius in the eighth house. The eleventh house Sun in Aquarius is exactly square first house Juno in Taurus and quincunx Pluto, while it is just over the one degree orb in its square to the Moon and a trioctile to Uranus. The nodes of the Moon in Leo-Aquarius repeat the fixed emphasis. Sun, Pluto, and Uranus are fixed planets; Taurus, Leo, and Aquarius are involved; the fifth, eighth, and eleventh houses are included in the patterns, as well as Mercury and the Moon which rule the second house. Even the new asteroids support the same issues. Dudu has been mentioned. Pittsburghia is conjunct the south node in Leo. Dembowska is in Saturn’s position in the original market chart, conjunct the MC just inside the ninth house, calling for attention to power and moral principles.
In my effort to rectify the original market chart, I dug through a variety of historical material, and found references to seven dates on which a market panic occurred, with a major drop in stock prices. The computer ran both progressions and transits for those dates, and I used the progressions to try to determine the accurate time (but did not feel at all sure about results) while I looked at the transits to see if there were any obvious similarities between the charts. The panic dates were May 10, 1837; Sept. 24, 1869; Sept. 19, 1873; May 5, 1892; (June 27, 1892 was also a drastic day); May 9, 1901; March 13, 1907; and Oct. 24, 1929. If any of our readers have any additional dates of panics, I would appreciate receiving the information.
There are always some commonalities between charts, and certainly the panic transits repeated the fixed emphasis. Sun or Venus was in a fixed sign in all seven charts; sometimes both. Mars and Uranus and Pluto also appeared in fixed signs some of the time. Of course, we have no houses or angles for an event that was on-going through a large part of a day. The lack of angles is one of the major weaknesses in transits and one of the reasons I depend on progressions for rectification. But I did find one consistent focus on fixed signs; with the nodes of the Moon. Twice, the nodes were in Leo-Aquarius, and an individual tried to corner the market, stirred up a panic, but it was fairly quickly restored to normality. The other five occasions had the nodes in Taurus-Scorpio, and the panic was the prelude to a serious depression.
Naturally, the next action is to see when the nodes return to the Taurus-Scorpio axis. They will occupy those signs from October 1984 to April 1986. However, we should not conclude from this that a panic is inevitable or even likely. Market regulations have been greatly modified since the last (1929) panic, so margin buying is much restrained. Also, the prices of stocks would have to be inflated before they would be likely to drop sharply, and the current position of institutions in the market (pension funds, insurance companies, etc.) is a modern complication which was not present in our earlier busts.
Even though I do not feel at all certain of the proper time for the original market chart, I still have much more faith in secondary progressions than I do in transits in our effort to look ahead. I was particularly fascinated to note that the 1929 crash came with progressed Moon conjunct progressed Saturn in zero degrees of Taurus in the tenth house. The time I am currently using (with reservations) put the progressed Ascendant opposite the natal Sun, quincunx natal Saturn and Juno to form a yod. Progressed MC was just coming to a trioctile to natal Saturn, octile progressed Venus and natal East Point. Progressed Venus had been conjunct Jupiter, sextile progressed Uranus and trine natal and progressed Pluto during the inflationary period prior to the crash. During the deflationary period, lasting into the middle of the 1930s, Venus moved through the opposition to Saturn and the MC and the conjunction to natal and progressed Neptune: very appropriate aspects for bubble bursting.
The Sun had been progressing through the octile or trioctile to the fixed T-square of Mercury-Uranus-Pluto, and was still in orb of Mercury when the roof fell in. Progressed Mercury was also in aspect to the configuration, in a quincunx to progressed Pluto. Jupiter in early Scorpio had been progressing opposite natal Venus and was near the end of the long inflationary aspect when the bubble burst. Mars in early Sagittarius was just ending another long inflationary aspect, sextile-trine the nodes of the Moon. For the asteroid buffs, progressed East Point was square progressed Ceres and quincunx progressed Dudu in the tenth house; progressed Pittsburghia was just ahead of Mercury, quincunx Pluto; progressed Dembowska was soon to leave a long conjunction with natal Antivertex and Juno, so participating in the quincunx to the progressed Ascendant. One final note, if this time is accurate, Neptune was opposite the MC for every crash, but it is now past that position though still quincunx the natal mean node of the Moon in the ninth house. Faith is still the key. Crashes come with loss of faith in the system.
Can we hazard any guesses on the future? We have managed to function without panics in the twelve years since the reorganization chart became operational, and I have not had time to look back at the less drastic ups and downs during its short life. But I did run a chart for the date on which the market started its spectacular rise in August 1982. I was startled to note that the rise began with progressed Moon conjunct natal Saturn-Ascendant. You will recall that the 1929 crash had a Moon on Saturn in the original market chart.
Other progressed aspects in the reorganized chart for August 1982 were progressed Venus about to leave a conjunction with the MC and Mercury just ending a square to the Sagittarius group in the seventh house. Note the interesting fact that both charts have Jupiter conjunct Neptune; a high focus on faith, hope, optimism, as a key ingredient in action. Since the MC is the same principle as Saturn, both the Venus and Mercury aspects could indicate the challenge to faith which was ending in the summer of 1982 as interest rates were lowered and business began to move again.
My experience has been that planets which are conjunct in a natal chart tend to carry the “flavor” of each other even when they are separated in current patterns. So the Moon in this chart in Sagittarius conjunct Jupiter and Neptune is a basically an optimistic Moon, while the original chart has the Moon in Aries widely conjunct Saturn, hence subject to strong swings between the faith of the fire sign and house and the anxiety usually associated with Saturnian reality and limits.
However, we could also conclude that the rise was over-optimistic and would end in a fall. The progressed Ascendant was just starting an opposition to Neptune which will be followed by the opposition to Jupiter, the aspects finally ending near the end of 1986, a period mentioned again in the article on Canada. Ascendant to Neptune and Jupiter can be inflationary, though the ultimate loss of faith (if it has been over confident), need not wait until the end of the aspect.
We will have a chance to test the reliability of the charts (or the accuracy of our interpretations) in the early part of 1984. The reorganization chart will have progressed Moon ending an opposition to the Sagittarius grouping, finally moving out of orb to progressed Jupiter in late February, l984. The aspect would normally be considered inflationary and over-optimistic, but bubbles can burst before the end of an aspect. The chart shows the issues and the timing, but not the details. During the same general period, from late January to March 1984, the progressed Moon in the original chart will come back to the conjunction with Saturn, repeating the 1929 aspect though of course the rest of the chart is different.
Other aspects in the reorganized chart include progressed Sun quincunx Uranus; just starting as this article is being written in June 1983. By January 1984, Mars will be just leaving the inflationary sextile-trine to the nodes of the Moon (an interesting repetition of the 1929 picture in the original chart). Progressed Sun will still be in the one degree orb of an octile to the MC while Mercury is rapidly approaching an octile to natal Dembowska. Progressed Dembowska holds a long square to the East Point axis. Progressed Pittsburghia stays on the south node for years, squaring (along with the nodes) progressed Dudu, a fixed T-square with all of them octile or trioctile progressed Chiron (faith again). In spite of these aspects, I do not expect a real crash, though a “correction” as it is euphemistically called, is certainly likely.
In the 1792 chart, progressed Sun is just reaching the octile to natal Moon in mid-January 1984. Progressed MC is just reaching the opposition to natal Venus if my time is right, as well as just coming to conjunct progressed Vesta and still in an octile to natal Mars. Also, depending on accuracy in time, progressed Ascendant is quincunx natal Ascendant. Progressed Venus has ended its sextile to progressed Neptune, an aspect of optimism which has been in effect along with a trioctile to natal Uranus, and a quincunx to natal Pittsburghia and progressed Chiron. Venus still holds the squares to the natal true nodes of the Moon. Progressed Mercury has ended a quincunx to natal Chiron and a trine to natal Uranus, and will not reach the square to natal Mars until the fall of 1984. Mercury leaves an octile to progressed Neptune about the end of March 1984. Mars reaches the quincunx to natal Uranus in early 1985.
Judgments are clearly subjective, and there is certainly a potential for some kind of downer in early 1984. As most readers will know, transiting Jupiter and Neptune enter Capricorn on January 18-19, 1984, in the western hemisphere: one day later in Europe and Asia. It should be an interesting time when the planets of faith confront the sign of realism and rules and consequences.
Ever since noting the intense aspects in the U.S. chart for the Declaration of Independence for late 1986, spring 1987 and on into 1988, I have made a point of running charts for that general time period. The two stock market charts offer interesting aspects. In the original chart, progressed Mercury is entering aspects to the fixed T-square. It sextiles progressed Pluto by the latter part of 1986, and during 1987 or 1988 it will sextile natal Jupiter, trine progressed Uranus, and be quincunx its own position as well as octile progressed Vesta-MC and then trioctile natal Ascendant. The current aspects to Pluto, Uranus, and Jupiter, are harmonious, but we have to remember that natally Mercury squared the first two and was quincunx Jupiter. In many cases, the quality of the natal aspect comes through while the progressed aspects show the timing of the events. If this chart time is accurate, progressed MC is on progressed Vesta; progressed Antivertex is on Pluto; progressed Ascendant will quincunx Uranus by 1988; progressed East Point is trioctile natal Mars and will oppose natal Vesta by 1988.
Other aspects include progressed Sun octile natal Jupiter and progressed Venus octile progressed Pluto, moving into the octile-trioctile to the whole fixed cross. Then, to pinpoint the spring of 1987 as a key time, progressed Moon at that time reaches the opposition to progressed Sun at the same time that it forms a yod (double quincunx) to progressed MC-Vesta-Venus, and a trioctile to natal Jupiter. By late summer 1987, the Moon reaches the octile to Saturn, and in the fall, to the MC. Mustn’t forget the new asteroids. Progressed Dudu has retrograded to the square to natal Pittsburghia and the opposition to progressed Neptune. Progressed Pittsburghia has been squared by progressed Mars (still well in orb) and is about to start an opposition to natal Dudu. It should be an interesting year.
In the reorganization chart, the progressed Moon in late 1986 is opposite natal Venus, square Uranus, and quincunx the progressed MC. By late winter to early spring 1987, the Moon forms a yod (double quincunx) to natal Mercury and Mars along with a sextile to Saturn-Ascendant. In early 1987, the Moon trines progressed Sun-Mercury. Other aspects include the end of the Ascendant opposition to Jupiter though it is still sextile Chiron. Progressed East Point remains in a conjunction to progressed Saturn to mid-December 1987. Progressed Venus is still square progressed Antivertex. Besides the MC-Moon aspect in late 1986, progressed MC is trine Uranus and trioctile Pluto. Progressed Pittsburghia is still conjunct the south node in Leo while progressed Dudu still squares the nodes. At the risk of further confusion, I did add more asteroids. Those calculated by Al Morrison and Lee Lehman are only available for this century. I was fascinated to note that Hidalgo (which I consider to be mainly another Saturn though with some Jupiter or Uranus overtones) was on progressed Mars, while the progressed Ascendant was just reaching natal Psyche.
So what can we make of all this? As our readers know, I have no great confidence in my ability to predict details. I think astrology is fantastic as a tool for timing and issues, but that the details depend on what humans choose to do; how we manifest the principles that are in high focus at any given time. I think that these years immediately ahead are highly important, marking a need for humanity to learn to handle the fixed dilemma; to learn to share the resources of the planet and to live together in peace with shared pleasures and possessions. As Pluto moves into its own sign in November 1983 and Jupiter and Neptune move into Capricorn in January 1984 with Saturn and Uranus joining the latter in February 1988, we are clearly facing a time of testing and feedback on our handling of power and shared resources. I am basically an optimist, and there are enough positive aspects in these mundane charts we have been running since our Pisces 1982 issue, that we might get by with “only” a pressure period as we seek to find jobs for out-of-work steel and auto workers. We are moving into an information age of computers and robots, (those major planets do get to Aquarius after they struggle through Capricorn), and the world will be a very different place in the next century. We are just starting to see some of the potentials. It could be a world of brotherhood and equality; democracy and tolerance. Or it could be a world with an information elite and masses of people just surviving if that. It is up to us, the humans who inhabit this planet.
The worst-case scenario would be a long power struggle between the haves and the have-nots, a grinding depression for many while a few accumulated vast wealth, a probable default by the countries currently borrowing to pay the interest on past loans, and as the ultimate insanity, an atomic war to try to settle the power issue and get the economy rolling again. I hope we are not that insane and greedy. If we are going to have an escalation of the current small wars, it is not likely to occur until the early 1990s, which is not much consolation.
I still have no sense of the stock market doing a panic number, though it is likely to have some major dips such as early 1984, and spring 1987. But rather than a total drop, it seems very possible that movement will continue to be very selective. In the long run, the high technology companies that are soundly managed will probably do well. People still have to eat and wear clothes. They still need energy, though I would certainly avoid any utility company that is too involved with nuclear energy. As this is being written, the nuclear fiasco in the state of Washington is being played out to a resounding crash of bankruptcy and loss of faith in the bond market. In the end, the important issue is not the face value of stocks (except for the quick buck speculators) but the capacity of the issuing company to remain solvent and to continue to pay dividends.
Of course, if we do have a massive default of several countries (as WHOOPS is in process of defaulting in Washington now), and if the U.S. continues to add 200 billion or more a year to its own debt, there will be some hard decisions to make in this period that seems to come to a head the end of 1986 and spring of 1987. Would the U.S. government take on the bank’s debts in case of default, on top of our already staggering load? Would they call a bank moratorium to avoid widespread bank failures, promising to pay eventually? Would they print new money to replace the old and just give up on the past as Germany did between the two world wars? Would they just print more money and let inflation rage to make it easier to pay off the debts? Will they institute strict electronic money; no more cash? That would fit a Capricorn period. Big brother is watching you; no more income tax evasion thanks to cash and no records. It has been estimated that enough income tax escapes the IRS to pay off the national debt. There are undoubtedly other scenarios that I have not thought of. So, back to the drawing board and a continued collection of relevant charts. I have some dates now for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, institutions that are working to keep the system glued together. Unfortunately, so far I have no times on these potential charts, but will run them eventually; probably for 10 A.M. since that is a traditional bank hour as well as stock market opening time. In the meantime, have fun with the enclosed charts.