Saturn in Capricorn

If you’ve been reading this blog, you’ll remember that the financial collapse of 2008 coincided with the entry of Pluto, planet of destruction and regeneration, into the contracting sign of Capricorn after spending 13 expansive years in optimistic Sagittarius.

At the end of December 2017, Saturn (tests, challenges and the reality principle) moved into its own sign of Capricorn which tends to make people somewhat cautious and risk-averse.  The first big dip of the year took place between February 1st and 5th under a challenging aspect from Venus to Jupiter.  Venus and Jupiter are known as the two “benefic” planets, even when a challenging aspect between the two occurs, but in this case the overindulgence of Venus and Jupiter was countermanded by the cautious nature of Saturn in Capricorn, causing a pullback in the optimism that tends to cause stock prices to rise.

Stock prices were back up into positive territory between mid-February and mid-March but dropped back into the negative when Mars (action) entered Capricorn and Jupiter (expansion) turned retrograde in the middle of March.  Stock prices remained quite volatile but never really developed any upward traction until the 9th of July when we began to see steady improvement in the markets after Jupiter turned direct.

It’s difficult to make predictions where human nature is concerned, and the stock market is largely a reflection of human reactions to news.  When people are optimistic, they buy into markets (stock market, housing market – whatever market!) which increases prices, and when they are fearful they tend to sell.  Sometimes expansive periods of Jupiter are associated with greater optimism and higher prices, and sometimes we see a peak of prices and then profit-taking which results in lower prices.

At any rate, once Jupiter turned […]