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THE SOOTHESAYER INTERNET

 

May 2010

The Versus Society

This month’s oppositions continuing into June contain Jupiter conjunct Uranus opposition Saturn and Mars in Leo moving to oppose Neptune (exact on June 4^th.)

These configurations highlight the forces of the oppositional society we are currently experiencing. 

 The government’s hearings on the Goldman Sachs fraud scandal are finally focusing on the “banksters” and their casino economy which invested their clients’ money in one thing and then “bet” against it.  The talks have highlighted how they encouraged and even “financialized” subprime mortgages and then shorted them by means of the credit default swaps, with AIG as the counterparty.  We all know that the taxpayer had to bail out AIG when the mortgage market collapsed and that bailout money went to Goldman Sachs as they profited big time from all those people losing their homes.  This has been discussed at length on this site in past newsletters.  Washington is just catching up with us.  I am still skeptical about the financial reform bill as it is currently written.  Firstly, it does not bring back the Glass-Steagal Act which separated commercial from financial banking.  Secondly, it does nothing to regulate derivatives across borders.  Thirdly, it does not downsize banks “too big to fail” so that they can go into the already-in-place system for failed banks (shut down and assets distributed).

 This important attempt at reform is being politicized and therefore thrown into the current oppositional ideology of private sectors vs. the government.  Traditionally, the Republicans want the government out of everything except the military and the police force while the Democrats want government sponsored programs to “redistribute” wealth, paid for by tax payers.  In reality, all of these supposed positions have been compromised by the politicians for many years.  The large banks and corporations have “bought out” both political parties in the government, deregulated the economy, got people elected who refused to regulate anything even with laws in place, and brought the global economy to the brink of disaster.  And nobody is talking about the derivative contracts whose notional value is over $600 trillion and are still “out there”.

 The Democrats versus the Republicans are now engaging in hate mongering battles that have taken on a personal tone amplified by the media extremists and often stimulate the formation of militant revolutionaries.  The good part of this is that more people are becoming “independent” and maybe, just maybe, may be a force for positive change at the voting booth and within localized democracies within the states and communities.  However, the recent extreme legislation in Arizona with regard to undocumented aliens is a wake up call for real and meaningful immigration reform.  It should contain something targeting the corporations who brought these people into the country in the first place so they could have ultra cheap labor.  “Us” versus “Them” is a dominant force right now and history has taught us this leads to the blame game which further leads to racism, radicalism, and revolution.

The Economy:

 The stock market is an entity that is controlled by a relatively small number of huge financial institutions.  They are currently making decisions based less on the fundamental long term health of corporations, than on profit margins based on downsizing of the work force.   There is a trend developing, especially in technology, to lay off people and hire them back as contractors.  This exempts them from insuring them, educating them, and providing any sense of security whatsoever.  This also increases the number of jobs outsourced to India and China, amplifying the already established trend.  Since traders buy and sell, jumping in and out, all the time, you can keep a Bull Market going for quite a while based on unreality.  The old technique to keep people asleep was issuance of massive credit and debt which is now kaput.   As unemployment increases, as Henry Ford understood, nobody is around to buy the products or services that you sell.  Eventually, like Humpty Dumpty, it all falls down. 

 Currency crises abound this month as Venus reaches squares with Saturn, Jupiter and Uranus the week of the 17^th.  The talk is all about Greece, but Ireland, Portugal, Latvia, Spain, and other nations are on the brink of sovereign wealth collapse.  These instabilities have served to strengthen the dollar recently, as well as raise the price of gold.  Our massive sovereign debt crisis is growing as less tax revenue is coming in from unemployed people and the cost of our military engagements increases.  Currently, about 47% of our budget goes into these wars!  If Israel engages Iran in a military conflict, supported by the U.S.A. we are looking at financial disaster.  Gold is looking at a season ahead that is traditionally soft, but the lows are likely to be fairly high because of global economic instability.  It may be down this summer, but up again in September/October.  Then, when Mars goes into Sagittarius in Nov., it may fall to a low on Nov. 18^th, when the earlier retrograde Venus goes direct, signaling a currency high.  After that, going into December, I think gold will rise strongly again as we move into 2011.

 The chart of Goldman Sachs is hit hard this month and hit again in July.  They will take a beating publicly for a while but I am skeptical about anything significant making a difference.  The lawless financial world insured they would not go to jail because the rules were erased by our politicians in Washington.  Financial markets may have a downturn the week of May 17^th and again around the first week of June.

Chiron, Neptune and Oil:

 Chiron is in Pisces and will be joined by Neptune in Pisces April 4^th of 2011.  This signals skyrocketing prices in oil.  We will sadly become aware that we reached “peak oil” back in 2006 and have not felt it because of the current recessionary “demand destruction”.  Energy prices will put the oil companies in charge.  The recent disastrous oil spill in the Gulf reminds us of the terrible environmental cost of oil as our dominant source of energy.  The oil companies have been buying patents on alternative energies for years and are sitting on them.  The scarcity of energy will likely plunge us into poverty, hunger, and depression we have not seen since the 1930s.  But the CEOs of energy companies will be in very good shape.

The June 26^th Lunar Eclipse conjunct Pluto:

 In previous newsletters, I have predicted that this eclipse would signal environmental disasters, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.  The tremendous number of serious earthquakes, the Icelandic volcano, the mining collapses in Virginia and in China, and the massive oil spill off the coast of Louisiana are reminders that astrology is an effective predictor of probable events.  Many people who heard my interview on Coast to Coast Radio have emailed me about these predictions and many of my clients have asked me to elaborate on this.  A lunar eclipse, in my experience, has a range of 6 months before the eclipse to six months afterwards.  It started December of 2009 (when a volcano erupted in the Philippines) and will likely culminate December of 2010 when both retrograde Mercury and Mars conjunct Pluto at the degree of the eclipse.  In addition, there is another lunar eclipse December 21^st that is prominent in the chart of Iceland.  Therefore, I expect more volcanic activity there with significant consequences to the rest of the world.  I also anticipate tectonic activity in vulnerable areas, especially in the Pacific “ring of fire” areas that includes Indonesia and many island nations.

Mercury Retrograde:

 Mercury is retrograde until May 11^th.  Anything, including legislation, contracts, or new projects will likely be on hold or difficult to negotiate.  Postpone signing documents, etc. until after it goes direct.  When it does go direct, it will trine Pluto between the 11^th and the 19^th, which would bode well for financial reform.

Final Thoughts:                  

 We are living in a time of intense confrontations with truths we must face.  This is not a time to escape or deny our responsibilities for massive change in the world and in our civilizations highest aspirations.  Watching the funeral of 98 year- old Dorothy Height, I was struck by the fact that this humble lady was historically one of our country’s greatest leaders in the movements for civil rights and freedoms.  She founded the YWCA, backed Dr. Martin Luther King through the 60s, was a major force in the women’s movement in the 70s and the list goes on and on.  Yet, how many of us knew about this great lady in a media dominated by headlines about Tiger Wood’s sex life and which politician was “outed” last week.

How many other great human beings are the most courageous, the most intelligent, the most loving among us who are quietly working every day for what lies beyond our grasp and exists in the realms of the divine? 

I think many people are just beginning to come out of their coma and recognize that the greatest opportunity is often present when things seem to be the most impossible.  We must know that we know nothing.  At that point, we are at the threshold of everything.

Linda

 Linda

Linda Schurman

We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth... For my part, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst; and to provide for it.  .....Patrick Henry