Dear Friend and Reader:
NEWS HAS been pretty glum this week. I spent most of the day Thursday sorting out the credit crisis that has Wall Street paralyzed. In theory, it’s complicated. In practice, it seems pretty simple — many banks, based on what can truly be termed greedy practices with their customers, made a lot of very bad decisions about who to sell mortgages to, and then home prices plummeted. The mortgages were worth more than the homes. As far as I understand it, this is the root of the issue.
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Then those bad mortgages were turned into a second product, residential mortgage backed securities or RMBS, and these completely contaminated the securities market. These RMBS products are purchased only by banks or other major investors, such as governments. Homeowners then defaulted; the securities were worthless; enormous insitutions such as Bear Stearns (whose assets consisted of 53% RMBS securities!) felt the floor cave in.
How did this happen? Well, it used to be that one’s home was the most precious investment. It was one of those American rites of passage — you earned being a homeowner. A mortgage was considered an extremely safe product for a bank to sell because, after all, it was connected to a deed for a piece of land and a building. It was the perfect collateral. There is a reason it’s called REAL estate — it’s REAL. But then, real estate became bullshit, based on one little factor: banks selling mortgages to people could not afford them, on overpriced homes.
Two clear-headed, competent Wall Street sources helped me put the pieces together, both taking time out of their busy schedules to answer my numerous questions. I am lucky this way — people have always taken the time to explain things to me, so that I can take the time to explain them to you.
What is particularly striking is how this crisis becoming major news, in the words of the New York Times, moving from Wall St. to Main St., coincides with several astrological factors: Saturn opposite Neptune, Pluto in Capricorn, the Aries ingress of the Sun and the Libra Full Moon. It is one of those moments where one realizes that astrology just works, even if we don’t know how. If you sign up for Planet Waves now, you’ll get instant access to full coverage by email and online. Today’s edition also includes a new article by Eris discoverer Mike Brown, as well as an essay by Judith Gayle and my weekly horoscope.
Looking at today’s minor planet aspect list, two of the most palpable inner planets — Venus and Mercury — form a square aspect to Pholus. That this happens during such a volatile Full Moon is meaningful; minor planet astrologers consider Pholus to be one of the more unpredictable planets, having fast action that can be triggered by nearly invisible forces.
Two Pisces planets square Pholus feels like the release of creative energy — a lot of it; for those not inclined to art or passion, the result could be histrionics. That’s a fancy word for spazzing out emotionally. You could panic, if you want, or if you want you can direct all that energy into something passionate, creative, inventive; something that you know will change you.
It’s funny, here in the States everyone is convinced there is a monetary crisis. The truth is that most of the best things in life are either free or you can have them for the cost of supplies and some friends coming over.
Planet Waves is nearly done for the week. I’ll be up as usual early Friday morning with the editing team, putting the final touches on the edition. Friday’s aspects follow, and then the daily oracle. The daily oracle is selected at random by a program on the Planet Waves site that chooses from about 8,000 daily, weekly and monthly horoscope entries. Unlimited use is free to all subscribers to Planet Waves Astrology News.
Here are today’s aspects, prepared from a list of the major planets, about 100 minor planets and the Uranian points. Thanks for tuning in.
Friday 21 March 2008
Atlantis (26+ Libra Rx) sextile Galactic Center (26+ Sagittarius)
Chiron (18+ Aquarius) sextile Quaoar (18+ Sagittarius Rx)
Mercury (8+ Pisces) quintile Galactic Center (26+ Sagittarius)
Venus (10+ Pisces) septile Jupiter (18+ Capricorn)
Venus (10+ Pisces) square Pholus (10+ Sagittarius Rx)
Venus (10+ Pisces) trine Chariklo (10+ Scorpio Rx)
Sun (1+ Aries) opposite M87 (1+ Libra)
Sun (1+ Aries) square Pluto (1+ Capricorn)
Sun (1+ Aries) quincunx Sisyphus (1+ Scorpio Rx)
Sisyphus (1+ Scorpio Rx) sesquiquadrate Vesta (16+ Pisces)
Mercury (9+ Pisces) quintile Juno (27+ Sagittarius)
Apollo (14+ Cancer) quincunx Great Attractor (14+ Sagittarius)
Eros (21+ Aries) conjunct 1992 QB1 (21+ Aries)
Sun (1+ Aries) opposite Moon (1+ Libra) – Full Moon
Sun (1+ Aries) sesquiquadrate Hidalgo (16+ Scorpio Rx)
Mercury (10+ Pisces) square Pholus (10+ Sagittarius Rx)
Sisyphus (1+ Scorpio Rx) sextile Pluto (1+ Capricorn)
Arachne (8+ Libra Rx) sesquiquadrate Neptune (23+ Aquarius)
Mercury (10+ Pisces) trine Chariklo (10+ Scorpio Rx)
Mercury (10+ Pisces) septile Jupiter (18+ Capricorn)
Dec 24, 1999 – TAURUS – Weekly
It would be difficult for either of us to predict the outcome of the encounters that now seem all but fated in your life. Whatever anyone else may say about the wisdom of your pursuits, I consider it a positive development that you have finally seen the value of taking on your role as aggressor rather than merely as one who attracts what you want. In the end, you may end up with the same thing, but in actively seeking fulfillment, you are learning to exert your will and influence on the world. More important, you are learning to take risks. But to better suit your purposes, it would be wise to pull off a bit of the divine hypocrisy of creating the illusion that what you want has really come to you.