Financial Woes of 2007
08/20/2007
A few weeks ago we saw the housing market bubble burst here in America when two large Bear Stearns hedge funds failed. It was a subprime mortgage debacle which resulted in the apparent loss of virtually all the investors' equity. Jimmy Cayne, the head of Bear Stearns, has called the episode "a body blow of massive proportions".
I pointed out then that what was unfolding was reflected in the US chart I follow; the suggested chart of deceased astrologer David Solte. It is for the signing of the Articles of Confederation which took place on November 15, 1777 at 12:46 PM in York Pennsylvania .
In it the progressed Sun is at 11 Cancer 26 (homes) in the 5th house of speculation and the stock market. It conjoins the natal north node there at 11 Cancer 11, which of course opposes the south node at that degree in Capricorn (business) in the 11th house of long term goals. The south node goes on to conjoin US natal Mars (action) at 12 Capricorn 23. This aspect ties into the bursting of the housing bubble and the situation continues to unravel. Since my last article, the latest mortgage company in crisis is Countrywide Financial which, so far, had to be bailed out by Bank One. This affected the stock market which took another nosedive before it finally stabilized.
As financial institutions are quickly reacting to trouble, this month almost 28,000 people in the mortgage industry have been let go. Furthermore, due to subprime mortgage debacle, the number of foreclosure filings reported in the U.S. last month jumped 93 percent from July of 2006 and rose 9 percent from June.
This is the latest sign that homeowners are having trouble making mortgage payments and/or finding buyers during this downturn. The whole building industry has slowed down, and as the progressed Sun moves up in the next year to oppose the US Mars exactly, the slowdown will probably continue. The fear is that this will spill into other areas of the economy and lead to a recession. Could be! And besides that, on the next birthday of this chart, November 15th, transiting Mars retrogrades at 12 Cancer 27. I am sure that a look at a Solar return chart will give us more alarming information about this worrisome situation.
On another level, it is also interesting to see what else has transpired as the transiting Sun, Mercury and Venus retrograde traveled through Leo, (children, entertainment, sports and gambling) and squared natal US Saturn, Mercury and Sun, as well as the progressed US Moon now in early Scorpio (all or nothing, life and death); with transiting Saturn in the later degrees of Leo, as well.
At approximately 11:05 PM on August 4th, transiting Mercury (young people) just after entering Leo and coming to 0 Leo 48, formed a fixed grand cross to progressed US Pluto at 1 Aquarius 05 in the US 12th house of sorrow, the transiting Moon at 2 Taurus 16 in the US 2nd house of values, which opposed the US progressed Moon at 2 Scorpio 16 in the ominous 8th house.
At that time, the horrendous execution style murders of three young college students took place as they hung out across from a school in Newark New Jersey . On August 20, when Venus (women-money) retrograded back to 23 Leo to square the US natal Sun at 23 Scorpio, (death and taxes), well known New York hotel owner Leona Helmsley died. She had a fortune of $5 billion and went to prison in the 1990�s for tax fraud. Known as the Queen of Mean, in her arrogance, she once said to a housekeeper �We don't pay taxes, only the little people do.�
Some of the sports stories in the news during this cycle were the death of wrestler Bryan �Crush� Adams and Phil Rizzuto. Phil was popular as a player and beloved as a broadcaster. He was a New York Yankees shortstop during their dynasty years of the 1940s and 1950s. His speed and spunk made him a Hall of Famer. "Holy cow!" made Phil Rizzuto famous.
And Barry Bonds hit his 756 home run on August 7th as Saturn in Leo trined Pluto in Sagittarius. He finally surpassed Hank Aaron�s record, and now is the Home Run King. However, his alleged use of steroids taints his record.
In the area of children�s affairs, Mattel recalled more than 9 million possibly unsafe toys and Fisher-Price recalled 1 million of them.
In the area of sports and gambling, Tim Donaghy, a leading basketball referee pleaded guilty to passing betting tips to professional gamblers, and said he was in treatment for his own gambling addiction.
Then there was the whole sordid story of football player, Michael Vick and the dog fighting and gambling scandal.
When the Sun was in the last throes of Leo, and conjoining Saturn, the NFL suspended him indefinitely. In the entertainment business, Brittany Spears is in nasty legal battle with ex husband in a custody fight over their two sons.
The most outrageous idea of this period by some frightened parents was that children should wear bullet proof backpacks to keep them safer in school. This makes me wonder what this country is coming to!
So these were some of the dramatic Leo events that happened while the transiting and afflicted Sun went through Leo, along with Venus and Mercury, as they bumped heads with the US Scorpio planets.
Now that the Sun has moved on into Virgo, it will come up to conjoin the US Neptune at 28 Virgo 43, as well as progressed Neptune at 26 Virgo 42 in the US 7th house of enemies. This will reinforce Neptune �s ongoing square to transiting Pluto at 26 Sagittarius 22 in the US 10th house of the government.
Besides this, Mars gets into the act as it forms a T-square to these placements the third week in September. We certainly will have some fireworks then, but again, how it plays out will undoubtedly lead to another whole article!