Geocosmics rule!

For the past couple of weeks I have discussed the conflict between our technical, cyclical, and geocosmics indicators. The technical picture was looking very positive as we ended the prior week. But the geocosmics lineup was suggesting a very dangerous economic and/or political time about to begin. Well, after this past week, we can safely say that the geocosmic studies proved to be the more accurate again (which is why they are “leading indicators”). All the positive technical studies of the prior week have been negated as we start the next week, and now they are in alignment with the geocosmics picture. All point to a dangerous time frame ahead. And on top of all that, Mercury is about to begins its three week retrograde motion, lasting August 9 through September 2, which means technical studies may be even less reliable than witnessed last week..

The past week started with a foreboding terrorist threat, causing the Homeland Security in the U.S.A. to raise its color-coded terrorist alert level. This is a typical Jupiter-Pluto theme, as discussed last week. And a day or two later, it was determined that the data uncovered by U.S. Intelligence on this terrorist threat may have been “old” information. It may not be pertinent today. By the end of the week, everybody was saying that nobody knew whether the information was relevant or not. And that type of misinformation, or disinformation, is typical of the Sun in opposition to Neptune. Nobody knows for certain, and everybody has a conflicting opinion, and the result is confusion and uncertainty. Well, let me add my two cents worth to the discussion. Jupiter is in a waning square to Pluto August 6, Mars is in opposition to Uranus August 18, Pluto does turn stationary direct on August 30, and the Sun and Mars conjunct one another and both form a square to Pluto September 10-15. This entire period is “dangerous” in a very real, physical sense. All of these signatures have the potential for terrorism, or danger to human lives, whether through natural or man-induced activities. Sure, it can mean other things too, like the discovery of something that has been hidden from view. It can be a realization of deep importance to the understanding of truth. It can mean the end of an old cycle and the beginning of a new one. It can be the crux of a major transformation and even “healing” for humanity. But usually all of these positive expressions are the result of something that was stressful for humanity. My sense is that it is something like an intensely driven effort to find - and bring out into the open - the leaders of these terrorist cells, like Bin Laden. In this effort, there might be a lot of human lives lost. But in the end, the effort to find these terrorists may succeed – just in time for the election and the huge “Libra Ingress” that takes place in late September.

The discovery of Bin Laden and other top terrorists might be the only hope that George Bush now has of winning the U.S. Presidential election. Last week all the major U.S. indices fell below the “Pre-Presidential Election Year” cycle trough of May. We have referred to this cycle, and its correspondence to the U.S.A. Presidential race on many occasions. Basically it goes like this: Between October and May preceding the U.S. election, there is a 50-week or greater cycle trough (low in price). The market then rallies into the presidential election. If the rally makes a new high – goes higher than the high that preceded the “Pre-Presidential Election Year” trough – this favors the incumbent party being re-elected. If the market does not make a new low – does not take out the low of the PPEY cycle trough – that too favors the incumbent party winning again. But, if the U.S. stock market makes a lower low – takes out the PPEY cycle trough – before the election, that favors the challenging party. And if the market also fails to make a new yearly high between then and the election, that too favors the opposing party.

Well, on Friday, August 6, Jupiter formed its square to Pluto and the Sun formed its opposition to Neptune, and the Employment data came out showing the U.S. economy is not nearly so strong as everyone thought. Experts (????) predicted the job market would show an increase of over 200,000 jobs. The numbers fell about 90% short of their prediction, and with that the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell below the double bottom lows of 9852 and 9862 recorded on May 12 and 17 respectively. Readers will remember that was the time when Venus turned retrograde. It was also the PPEY cycle trough. So by taking it out on Friday, August 6, the “odds” have suddenly shifted away from a George Bush victory, and more in favor of a John Kerry victory.

But note that the key word here is “odds.” This correspondence is not perfect. In fact, there is one instance in the past 50 years when it did not hold, and that was in 1984 when Republican President Ronald Reagan ran for re-election. In that year, the DJIA made its PPEY (“Pre-Presidential Election Year”) cycle trough on February 23 at 1114. After a modest rally that failed to make a new high, the DJIA fell even lower 5 months later, to 1079, on July 25. Within the next 1-2 months, the DJIA was back up to over 1250, an increase of over 15%. Reagan easily defeated challenger Walter Mondale in one of the most lopsided results of the 20th century.

So the question is: can George W. Bush do the same thing as Ronald Reagan? Can George W. Bush buck this historical probability? Can the U.S. stock market commence a huge rally between now and the election? It can if the U.S. (or anyone) can find Bin Laden. And that possibility exists, according to my understanding of these geocosmics signatures coming up. The obsession to find Bin Laden is on, as indicated by the heavy dose of Pluto signatures between now and mid-September. The possibility of the world becoming a safer place – a place where the world feels there is a chance for peace – is denoted by the ingress of Sun, Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter September 22-28. Libra is the sign of peace. Neptune is the planet of peace, and all of these planets will begin heading for a trine (favorable) to Neptune (in Aquarius) shortly after entering Libra. So it is all possible. Of course, the cause for joy and happiness signified by all the planets moving into Libra may also pertain to the realization that George Bush will no longer be President, and if John Kerry is right, that ought to make all of the rest of the world very pleased.

But on the basis of my understanding of astrology, I wouldn’t write George Bush or the U.S. stock market off just yet. Yes, I know that I wrote that the period around June 30, when Venus turned direct, might represent that last decent rally at these levels before the decade-long bear market in equities resumes. And as we look back, we can see that June 24 and June 30 was a double top with the DJIA near 10,500. Indeed that was a very accurate call for a significant crest. The market has not looked back since, as it is now testing 9800. But this is a critical reversal period, according to the methods I wrote about in The Ultimate Book on Stock Market Timing Volume 3: Geocosmics Correlations to Trading Cycles. August 6-18 is a three-star (strongest) critical reversal period. There are at least three signatures (Jupiter-Pluto square, Sun-Neptune opposition, and Mars-Uranus opposition) that have a very strong correlation to primary or greater cycles forming. And the market is obviously coming down. This implies there is a bottom close at hand. And once the primary cycle bottoms, a new cycle commences. And the beginning of every cycle is bullish. Makes you wonder if they already know where Bin Laden is, and they are just waiting until after the Republican National Convention to make the move. You know there is going to a bounce up in Bush’s popularity (and hence the stock market too) going into, or right, after that convention. They’ll need one more cause for boosting the President’s popularity between then and the election. Late September through early October is just about the right time, if I am reading the writing in the heavens, and in the minds of politicians, correctly.

For those who are interested, there are still a few copies left of the second printing of the Forecasts for 2004 book available. They have now been discounted by $10.00, to $30.00, as of this month, while the last box of supplies last. The year is half over, but there are still many critical reversal dates left, which are described in this book. Those given so far have been highly accurate, as they are every year. For more information, please go to our website at www.mmacycles.com.

Disclaimer and statement of purpose: The purpose of this column is not to predict the future movement of various financial markets. However, that is the purpose of the MMA (Merriman Market Analyst) subscription services. This column is not a subscription service. It is a free service, except in those cases where a fee may be assessed to cover the cost of translating this column from English into a non-English language. This weekly report is written with the intent to educate the reader on the relationship between astrological factors and collective human activities as they are happening. In this regard, this report will oftentimes report what happened in various stock and financial markets throughout the world in the past week, and discuss that movement in light of the geocosmic signatures that were in effect. It will then identify the geocosmic factors that will be in effect in the next week, or even month, or even years, and the author’s understanding of how these signatures will likely affect human activity in the times to come. The author (Merriman) will do this from a perspective of a cycle’s analyst looking at the military, political, economic, and even financial markets of the world. It is possible that some forecasts will be made based on these factors. However, the primary goal is to both educate and alert the reader as to the psychological climate we are in, from an astrological perspective. The hope is that it will help the reader understand these psychological dynamics that underlie (or coincide with) the news events and hence financial markets of the day.

No guarantee as to the accuracy of this report is being made here. Any decisions in financial markets are solely the responsibility of the reader, and neither the author nor the publishers assume any responsibility at all for those individual decisions. Reader should understand that futures and options trading are considered high risk.