Dear Fellow Star-gazers,

Happy Full Moon!

Whilst understandably many eyes may be on tonight’s lunar eclipse – a blood Moon, as great a focus should be given to solar activity. Solar minimum may be arriving earlier than expected.

The forecast had been for this to be reached in 2019 or 2020. There have now been 116 sunspot-less days in 2018: 56%. As it can be shown that minimum often coincides with market downturn, we may not be many weeks away from a serious decline in stock value.

As explained in my last letter, there are similarities between 2018 and 1934 when Uranus’ arrival in Taurus was followed by a similar to 2018 series of eclipses. The period between now and the next solar eclipse (August 11^th) could prove volatile – especially after the Last Quarter Moon on August 4^th and Venus’ Libra ingress on August 7^th.  In the last decade, on 9 out of 10 occasions, this ingress has coincided with a downturn in the Dow Jones Index.  Traders should perhaps mark August 8^th as a potential red-letter day.

That said, and again as suggested several times this year, the aspect between Saturn and Uranus does not separate until September. It’s then – and especially after Venus turns retrograde on October 5^th or when that planet returns to Libra on November 1^st that a downturn will likely be apparent across all markets. This may be as a result of political turmoil in the USA.

Aberration in solar cycles has been noted for some time now. Whatever the cause – and it may be that the Sun’s position within the Milky Way (remember that this is ever changing) is key, the Sun’s magnetic power has increased by over 230% since the 1970s. It is perhaps no coincidence that observers have noted physical changes in the planets themselves. For example, the ice caps on Mars are known to be melting whilst it appears that the Moon is growing an atmosphere whilst Saturn is emitting x-rays.

In short, our cosmic habitat is changing and seems super-charged with fresh energy.  We perhaps need to invest more – far more – as to what this might mean for life on planet Earth.

PROPERTY PRICES

Last month’s solar eclipse (opposing Pluto) coincided with the expected headlines about decline in property values. Obviously the extent will vary from city to city. That the downturn was mentioned in so many papers across the world suggests that this is part of a major cycle. As many of you will know, I expect this cycle to reach a marked low in 2026-7 with recovery coming in in the early years of the next decade (2030s).

TODAY’S LUNAR ECLIPSE coincides with Mercury’s retrograde station – and Mars’ ‘close encounter’. It was always likely that this would be a day of high news drama. Overnight we learnt of the fall in Facebook share value contrasting with encouraging news from Amazon.  These contrasting stories are par for the mixed-message course of this planetary picture.

It is perhaps not the best of days for Prime Minister May to be travelling to Brussels in the hope of moving the Brexit negotiations along! My reading of the chart for  Britain’s exit from the European Union shows a clear ‘hard exit’ - though, of course, I could be wrong.

Meanwhile, overnight in the USA, it seems that President Trump has a different battle to fight. It was always likely that this would be a difficult few weeks for him. It is still entirely possible that he will not stay in position and that Mike Pence will take over in late October.

TRADE WARS

It’s been fascinating to look back at the chart for the Trump Administration in light of recent declarations of intent.  My reading of this is that the Trade War Show is set to run and run. A major key date may be January 31^st 2019 (also the anniversary of this year’s lunar eclipse on that date which marked decline across all major markets). In the immediate future, I have concerns about the period around next month’s Full Moon (August 26^th) when the car industry could be at odds even with itself. Share prices in this sector may be all over the place.

POSITIVE NEWS

On a brighter and extremely positive note, breakthroughs in treatments for dementia and Alzheimers could be announced before the end of August. The key planetary player here is Neptune. A series of promising planetary pictures involving this planet suggests that work that that has been going on in the background in the last five years will reach exciting development.

Similar planetary pictures have coincided with relaxation in laws regarding the use of cannabis. Since the pictures involved hold over several months, this too could prove one of the bigger stories of 2018.

All this alerts us to the potential for pharmaceutical stocks to increase in value – bucking other trends.

FINANCE AND BUSINESS COURSE

Preparations for the finance and business course at the Faculty of Astrological Studies Oxford Summer School (August 17^th-19^th) are in progress. It is now 21 years since I last taught this subject there. I hope that the experiences gained in 21 years will be of value to my new students. I am not sure if there are places still available, but details are on their website www.astrology.org.uk

ASTRO-ANCESTRY AND CANADA.

You may know that I have only been back from Canada for a few days. The first workshop astro-ancestry course went better than any of us could have hoped (aided by the beautiful setting on one of the Lake Kawartha lakes). Technology enabled us to beam in a spectacular webinar from Joan Bennell, an awesome genealogist. Suffice it to say that another retreat is planned for September 2018. If you are interested in this subject, please email me. It may be possible to arrange a webinar in October.

The Toronto weekend event: my 7^th visit to the event held in the lovely University of Toronto was very well attended with the Friday night finance event attracting several non-astrologer but every open-minded investors and traders. This will certainly be repeated in 2019.

With thanks again to all who made this visit so memorable.

NATURE

I can’t finish this letter without returning to the awesome power of nature. Though the last thing I want is to be guilty of doom-mongering, it would also be wrong not to point out the danger of volcanic activity between tonight’s super-moon and the forthcoming August eclipse. Transport may well be disrupted.

Wherever you are, be prepared, take care and be well.

Yours from the stars

Christeen

The Beginner’s Guide to Financial Astrology (February 2017) is now available through Amazon as is ‘Exploring the Financial Universe’ (October 2016)