Abnormally good or abnormally bad conditions do not last forever – Graham and Dodd
TRENDS
As a society, we are obsessed with trends.
Trends in fashion, politics and the economy. It can be difficult to separate the current trend with what may be coming around the corner—people often act as if the current trend will continue forever even though they know it won’t.
CHANGE POINTS
Financial astrology is unique in that it is a tool not only to help understand past trends, but also to identify future points of potential change. Unlike most predictive methods, which project the future based on the past, astrology projects the opportunity or potential for change based on objective measures of growth. The transits from the outer planets (Saturn to Pluto) to a natal chart are commonly used by astrologers to identify catalyst for longer term change for people, as well as entities made up of people, e.g. companies, organizations and countries.
THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH
The planet Saturn represents the structures we build. If you have ever heard of the ‘seven year itch’ then you might have an intuitive understanding of Saturn.
At regular intervals, our projects, relationships and the direction of our lives come up for review. Do we continue on the previous path or turn a corner?
It takes Saturn about 29 years to complete its orbit around the sun. Each seven years represents important milestones in development that may or may not be easy. Moving counter-clockwise, seven years is about ¼ of the 29 year cycle or 90 degrees from its starting point. At fourteen or fifteen and at the Saturn opposition (180 degrees), a child is a full-fledged teenager (I have one). Finally, at around or just before 30, a person experiences their Saturn return, and heads into their 30’s and settles into life as an adult.
BACK TO THE MARKETS
Not only can we measure the cycle of Saturn against its relationship to itself, but also against its relationship with other points on the chart.
Below is the IPO (date of first trade) for Netflix Inc., NFLX. The planets on the outer edges represent the transiting planets during March of 2009. In the bubbles, I have highlighted the location of the NFLX’s IPO Saturn and IPO Pluto. With respect to our study, Saturn represents structures we build and Pluto represents the breakdown of structures.
An astrologer might look at this chart with Saturn and Pluto in almost an exact opposition (180 degrees) as a chart with a strong potential to “breakdown and rebuild.” Potentials can be triggered by important transits. In this case, we see that in March of 2009, transiting Saturn highlighted on the outer edges is now square (90 degrees) both its IPO Saturn and IPO Pluto. In short, the Saturn transit represents a time when NFLX reached a crossroads in its growth cycle.
Looking back the prior seven years, we can see from the price chart that a high was set in 2004. In early 2008, the high was tested, however, despite the fact that NFLX by this time had been reporting strong earnings and sales growth, 2008 simply was not the right time as the overall market would head into a major bear market that October. The Saturn transit provided a clue that the IPO (trade chart) had arrived at an important test and crossroads.
YHOO
In the next study we will look at YHOO from the perspectives of price technical analysis and its IPO chart. The price chart picture (taken September 2012) depicts a decade long pennant whose formation was complete. After the Dot.com bubble and for much of the decade, YHOO underperformed or simply consolidated, waiting for a catalyst.
The catalyst came in 2008 from activist investor Carl Icahn and transiting Pluto into Capricorn. Transiting Pluto entered Capricorn and squared (90 degrees) natal Saturn in Aries (highlighted in the brown bubble). As seen with NFLX, Saturn and Pluto together can represent a potential for “breakdown and rebuild.”
However, that bit of excitement was not long lasting as Icahn would leave the board by 2009. YHOO’s price action was unimpressive in subsequent years. The next catalyst would come in the form of a new leader, represented by a Saturn transit and station opposite (180 degrees) IPO sun during the summer of 2012. YHOO will meet more challenges along the way, including this spring/summer’s transit of Uranus to IPO mars. The next important Saturn catalyst or test will be when Saturn conjuncts (0 degree) IPO Pluto (see brown arc) in the next couple of years.
You can read my original article for YHOO last September here.
Astrology students often view Saturn transits with concern—growth cycles are painful for both individuals and for companies. However, Saturn provides a test and signals the potential for longer term growth or change, and adds another perspective to more traditional fundamental and/or technical analysis.
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Reference
Charts from Astro.com
Stock charts from FreeStockCharts.com and Think or Swim
IPO dates and Earnings and Sales referenced from Investors.com database.
Recommended Readings for Saturn
Cunningham, Donna. “Saturn’s Cycles – The Seven-Year Itch and the Saturn Return” June 19, 2013
Rudhyar, Dane. “Cycles of Saturn”
