Dear Fellow Star-Gazers

Happy New Year and Happy Spectacular Full Moon! This Full Moon is a Super Moon (where the Moon is closest to Earth). It also aligns with the Fixed star, Sirius. That’s quite a start to 2018!

The ancients suggested that those born with Sirius prominent in their chart were destined for big things and often, highly fortunate. The movement of the planets suggest that 2018 will indeed be one heck of a year given that two of the slower moving heavenly bodies move from one sign to another: Chiron into Aries and Uranus’ into Taurus (Sign of the Bull).

We must anticipate economic, political and social shift. Priorities will change and upheaval in each of these areas is more likely than not:

ECONOMIC

I anticipate a bull market in 2018 – at least until Saturn completes its trine to Uranus in September. That said, this is unlikely to be a straightforward trajectory and there will be losses along the way. These though offer buying opportunities.

Noting that both Mars and Venus have retrograde periods in 2018, and that the Saturn-Uranus trine separates in the fourth quarter, my first forecast is that October to late November will see marked weakness before a strong rally from December 7th.

I have though been wrong before! I expected markets to fall to coincide with Saturn’s crossing of the Galactic Centre and Pluto’s arrival at 19 Capricorn (the degree of its South Node and shown, throughout the 20^th Century) to be a key degree for market panic). That indices have stayed so high must surely be due to Uranus (planet of the unpredictable after all).

You may remember that Mercury retrograded over the Galactic centre degree. It returns here on Monday January 8^th and could yet trigger strong reactions. Of interest to traders are those periods when several aspects occur within a short space of time. In this respect, January looks to be a busy month! Between 2^nd and 16^th corporate news, mergers etc will surely dominate headlines. Though I have some concern about the week beginning January 8^th, 16^th should see another high.

January 2018 is exceptional in that following Uranus' station on 2nd, all planets are in forward motion. This bodes well for new businesses. I will be watching with interest for those which launch during the week begining Jan 7th.

ECLIPSES

Two weeks later we have a so-called blue Moon – (also a lunar eclipse) two weeks ahead of a solar eclipse. The formation of the planets at eclipse points is a fascinating study which I will share with those attending the UAC conference in Chicago in May. Suffice it to say that I anticipate considerable volatility around Wednesday 31^st January.

PRECIOUS METALS

This may well impact gold and silver prices. I did quite well with gold in 2017, catching the peak dates in mid-April, June and early September. Gold is again on the rise and should do well before the end of the year: especially after Uranus enters Taurus in May.

POLITICS

In my January 2017 I suggested that Donald Trump’s presidency might not last the year. I thought that he would hate living in the White House, loathe the restrictions placed on him and, before the end of 2017 want to be shot of the whole exercise. Whether or not that’s how he feels, he is still in position. I wonder though how he will cope with pressures of Saturn’s transits to his Neptune and Mercury in 2018. Pushing through legislation against this backdrop won’t be easy. Ahead of that, the February solar eclipse also makes direct hit on his natal chart. Might he be eclipsed? Certainly it seems he will have an awesome fight on his hands in early March – more on that in the next bulletin.

BREXIT AND THERESA MAY

On this side of the pond, the issue of Brexit looms large. Just as forecast, this is not going according to plan. Many business leaders feel that more should be in place and agreed than is the case. Our Prime Minister could find the last few days of January particularly stressful. In September 2017 I wondered if she would stay in power. That she has managed to do so was perhaps due to the curious planetary formations at the end of 2017. Her stooped stance though has become more pronounced in recent times. With Saturn stationing at right angles to her natal Sun position through the summer months one has to wonder if the load she now bears will be too much for her. (I will be exploring these charts at a one day event in Oxford, UK, in April).

CRYPTOCURRENCIES

I am grateful to so many of you for furnishing me with data, and discussing the rise of Bitcoin and the possible potential for other crypto currencies. In recent years, and in various talks, I have commented on the link between the planetary line-up in 2020 and that of the late 13^th century. Many new currencies then came into being. If history does indeed repeat, then, though Bitcoin has led the way, these ‘new’ forms of money are here to stay.

Whilst the risk factor of investing in these is too much for me, I do understand that they need enormous reserves of electricity to operate. Energy stocks do interest me – as does solar activity.

To be clear, one Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) hitting Earth could knock out power lines. What then for the cryptos? How are they protected? That said, they are here and here to stay. I plan to talk about this more in Florida next week as part of a one-day workshop: Navigating Your Financial Universe where I will be looking closely at the coming decade.

2017 was a sad year for me. It wasn’t possible to maintain my usual work schedule. Hopefully that can be restored in 2018. 

For now, wishing you and yours a healthy, happy and prosperous 2018.

Yours from the stars

Christeen