Leading Economic Indicators Bear Out January’s Mercury-Venus Conjunction

Leading Economic Index (LEI) Peaked in March: The LEI is published monthly. Historically its year-over-year percentage change has been one of the best recession forecasting tools available. Whenever it fell below the zero line for three months in a row, a recession followed. And it has never missed calling a recession since the 1960s.
The chart below shows you the history of this indicator. It looks like the LEI saw the high for the current business cycle in March 2010 when the year-over-year change shot up to 11.6 percent. In April it declined to 10.4 percent. And then last Thursday the May figure was released — a drop to 9.2 percent.

Your Milky Way Horoscope June 27-July 3, 2010

Mercury opposes Pluto at 3:15 am Sunday, at 3 degrees Cancer-Capricorn. It is far too easy to become angry, and explode, when others do your share your strongly-held beliefs. It may be not only wise but necessary to avoid controversial topics at meetings and parties. By the same token it is a very poor day to launch any campaign of ideas, whether that means advertising, proselytizing, canvassing, or propagandizing. It may favor amusing yourself with mental puzzles, delving into your own motivations, getting to the heart of a problem, or doing research, since your concentration is good. The news may be dominated by the passing of a major public figure, since Pluto rules passages from one level of existence to another.
The Sun is conjunct a direct Mercury Monday at 8:07 am, at 5 degrees Cancer. This conjunction offers a key indicator of stock market turns up or down. Sales can be brisk on this conjunction, by the way, with buyers and sellers agreeing on a price – usually a good one for the seller.
Mercury at 12 degrees Cancer sextiles Mars at 12 degrees Virgo at 8:19 am Thursday. Words carry an extra emotional punch today, a much better day for making sales calls or doing political canvassing than Sunday, that’s for sure. By the same token, you can use this time to re-program yourself with a new affirmation, destroy negative self-talk, even intone a chant, blessing or ritual in order to shift your fortunes. Incidentally, Mercury is also conjunct Juno, and Mars is conjunct Vesta! This adds a double serving of asteroid or goddess energy to these planets. Vesta asks where is the sense of the sacred (Vesta) in what you do (Mars), and Juno would like to see equal partnerships. You might try casting a love spell, not a controlling spell but one where both parties can express (Mercury) themselves freely and safely with each other. A third layer of energy is in the Mercury conjunction to the South Node at 11 degrees Cancer. You may meet or deal with a person from a past life, over issues that are important to your spiritual development.

Your Milky Way Horoscope June 6-12, 2010

Some weeks seem to belong to Venus, but this week belongs to Mercury.
Mercury at 27 degrees Taurus trines Saturn in Virgo at 7:14 pm on Tuesday. People with contacts to this aspect will be able to reason, concentrate, organize, and control themselves. You respect experience and can benefit from seeking advice from someone older or respected in a given field. On the other hand, Mercury is so close to Algol; don’t talk yourself into jumping off a cliff with all the other lemmings.
Mercury in Taurus squares Neptune in Aquarius early Wednesday at 6:39 am. This is Mercury’s last aspect before entering Gemini. Mercury is lost here, with fuzzy Neptune making him unsure of his facts, and unable to read his map. On the other hand, your sensitivity and intuition may be keen. If you feel a bit spacey, try a spritz of rosemary or peppermint to clear your head. Artists should by all means concentrate on their muse; the rest of us may have to scribble into our journals all the amazing thoughts that drift thru our heads
Mercury enters its home sign of Gemini on Thursday at 1:41 am. Mercury here is much, much faster than in Taurus. Where before you may have had bosses hem and haw over what to do, while they consider the data, now they will snap out decisions in rapid-fire fashion. The downside of Mercury here is that there can be a whole lot of talking without any real communication, often getting bogged down in collecting trivia and rumor. But when a Gemini is able to focus, he/she can communicate with a great variety of people, and do so clearly and logically. They can also direct people to sources of information.
Jupiter enters Aries Sunday at 2:28 am. Have faith in your own path, and your leadership abilities will emerge. I once knew a first-degree Aries who rounded up neighbors for a block rummage every year; this was just one of her projects. Do you have anything in Aries that will be contacted by the Jupiter transit? If so, be prepared to get your ideas off the ground.
Mars enters Virgo Monday at 2:11 am. The downside of Mars in this sign is that Virgo always wants to be right all the time, and acknowledged as such. Virgo may also be too quick to criticize and judge; focus less on errors than on shaping students or staff to a desired quality level. The upside of Mars here is that Virgo is so good at assisting others to straighten out their lives, whether by showing them how to balance a checkbook, or resolving credit card addictions, or creating a schedule for personal progress. You’d have to check your intolerance of imperfection at the door, however.
A New Moon at 21 degrees, 24 minutes of Gemini arrives at 7:15 am Saturday. Start a newsletter, blog, or journal to capture every insight and factoid that crosses your mind. Resolve to improve personal communications with less talk and more of a personal connection.

Your Milky Way Horoscope July 12-18, 2009

The Sun in Cancer is conjunct Mercury at 10:16 am Monday morning, July 13. Cancer’s ruler, the moon, squares this conjunction by sign, so it is not favorable for communications. Oh, you may give a great speech or presentation, but the audience is not buying you. The conjunction later receives a square from the Moon in Aries on Wed. morning; people are in too much of a hurry to listen so make an appt. for Friday night or midday next Wed.
Mercury sextiles Uranus in Pisces early Thursday; this sounds like wordplay, jokes, riddles, etc. will strike your funny bone. Listen to the radio on your morning commute and see if something funny transpires. This is also a fine time to buy mechanical or electronic items, everything from a car to a clock.
The Sun is trine Uranus on Saturday evening; break out of your routine, try an open mike night, look at the funny side.

Getting graphic helps financial astrologers see the larger economic patterns

While I do not specialize in financial astrology, I do like to look at the overall big picture indicators of an up or down market. I finally pulled out the graphic charts I had made for 2007 and 2008, and was excited to see that some major celestial events correlated to a downturn in the economy. I was more surprised to see that the recession may have started as far back as September 2007.
We could talk all day about technical analysis and the fine points of all these sector indicators. But the main point of this article is that the turns in the market were being signaled by the patterns in the sky made by the transiting trading planets – Sun, Venus, Mercury, (plus Mars). These patterns are what financial astrologer Barbara Koval called “the Serpent in the Sky” — the graph of the above planets as they travel through the signs.