How Bad Will it Get?

Gravity of financial situation cannot be overstated, astrologer warns

Editor’s note: New York Astrologer Mitchell Scot Lewis successfully predicted the 2008 stock market crash more than a year in advance, and had been warning for months before the recent crash that stocks were poised for another tumble. He shares his insights on past and current stock market debacles in this exclusive article for ANS.

As the markets continue to plummet, and we watch as trillions of dollars of collective wealth are erased, the question on most people’s minds is: When will this turn around and how bad will it get?

Those who follow my work know that I predicted the crash of 2008 within weeks of its occurrence, more than a year in advance. I told anyone who would listen, in writing, in lectures at the Princeton Club in New York City, and on air at Coast to Coast AM radio to sell their stocks and wait out the crash.  For the past two years I have been adamantly warning that we were heading towards a massive collapse in the financial markets that would lead to a long, deep debt-fueled recession.

I have never strayed from my belief that this longest bull market in our history was a stock bubble that would burst and bring down the economy of the US and the world. My timing was the following: In 2020 we would see the markets become very volatile with wild point swings of 1,000 points a day up and down. That would be followed by a powerful recession that will last at least until 2022.

I did not know that a pandemic would be the trigger that would set this off. I wasn’t looking for it, but I did know that for whatever reason, we were about to see a total collapse and recession. Every stock crash, panic and recession has its own causes, based on the period in history when it occurred. The events that created the atmosphere that allowed each crash to begin may not have been obvious at the time. But in each case the astrology was clear and prescient. And once again my research indicated we were heading into a massive stock crash and a deep-rooted panic that will last for some time.

Astrology and the financial markets have a long and intricate relationship. There are recurring patterns in society that coincide with similarly cyclical patterns in astrology. This doesn’t mean that every time an astrological aspect occurs it will have the same results as it had in the past. That would be just too easy. But the repeated transits and the similar patterns are so obvious and constant they are impossible to ignore.

A Familiar Pattern

Here is a simplification of the astrology. Saturn is the planet associated with stability and structure. We give it rulership over banks, housing and the underlying foundation of our society. It is called the planet of karma, and it’s where we get the name Satan, because of its well-known reputation for creating limitations and underlying problems. The outer planets beyond Saturn’s orbit – Uranus, Neptune and Pluto – are called the collective or generational planets. Whenever there is a serious collapse in the world’s economic situation Saturn is in a hard aspect (conjunct, square or opposition) to one or more of these planets. A conjunction occurs when the planets share the same zodiacal degree in the heavens; the square is a stressful 90 degree aspect, and the opposition  finds planets facing off 180 degrees apart in opposite astrological signs.

Uranus is known as the planet that brings sudden unexpected events and radical change. The most frequent combination for stock market crashes and panics is when Saturn and Uranus are in conflict. That’s when we often find a period of unbalance or instability.

There have always been bubbles and crashes.  In the Tulip Bulb Bubble of 1637, the price of a single tulip bulb in Holland had exploded to a cost comparable with several years’ income for the common worker. In 1637, Saturn squared Uranus and the bubble popped, causing a collapse of the Dutch economy that spilled across all of Europe.

In 1711 the English government needed money to finance its wars and expansion. In January of that year Saturn was in square to Neptune, indicating an illusion or misunderstanding of the events. This began the South Sea Bubble that lasted about nine years. During this time many English working-class people invested in the stock of the South Sea Company, creating wealth the likes of which had never been seen before. During this period a large number of people became the equivalent of millionaires. But as with all bubbles, it finally popped in 1720 when the company became insolvent and the price of the stock plummeted to almost nothing. That year Saturn opposed Neptune revealing the underlying falsehood and exposing the company’s misinformation. The resulting crash was so bad that the English government passed the “Bubble Act” prohibiting the issuance of stock without a royal charter.

The stock market crash of 1819 was an interesting moment in American history. The War of 1812-14 was an exorbitant endeavor for our young nation. The cost was very high and it put a strain on the banking system and the government’s ability to raise revenue sufficient to pay off the debts accrued. By 1818 America was in a serious financial crisis and unable to borrow from foreign sources. We were on the gold and silver standard at that time and much of our money was greenbacks, paper secured by our precious metal reserves, or actual coins minted from gold and silver. At that point there was a shortage of these two metals which created a lack of confidence in our money and set up the crash of 1819, a severe and deep recession. It would be 39 years before gold was discovered in California, setting off the Gold Rush and reestablishing the secure gold standard. In 1819 a massive aspect of the outer planets was created when Saturn conjoined Pluto and both planets squared Uranus and Neptune.

The Panic of 1873

The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that led to what was then called the Great Depression in Europe and North America, which lasted from 1873-1877. It was set off by a number of issues. After the Civil War there was a boom in railroad construction financed by land grants and government subsidies which created a bubble as speculators poured money into the industry resulting in an overbuilding of docks, factories and other facilities, most of which offered no immediate returns on the investments. Events such as the Panic of 1869, the opening of the Suez Canal the Chicago fire of 1871, an outbreak of equine influenza in 1872 and the demonetization of silver in 1873 – which depressed the silver prices – all added to the breakdown of the economies of the US and Europe.

The market crash of 1929 & 1931: While most people know of the market crash in October 1929, it was the second crash of 1931 that resulted in the stock markets dropping more than three times as far that led to what we today call “The Great Depression” that lasted until the Second World War.

So, throughout history we have had bubbles and crashes, and the interesting thing about them is that while they were each a reaction to different causes, and each prone to the times they occurred in, astrologically there were very similar aspects that occurred in most cases.

In 2008 a number of issues created a bubble in the housing market. The banks were offering mortgages to unqualified home buyers and then repackaging the loans and selling them as securities.  At this time Saturn was in opposition to Uranus in the sky. In 2008 this aspect landed exactly on the NYSE Mars. My research had taught me that the most common aspect was between Saturn (stability) and Uranus (radical and unexpected explosive change). I warned that a crash was imminent and advised that the only logical course of action was to liquidate the equities and wait out the storm.

Following that crash we began an intense bull market that eventually turned into a “melt-up” pushing the markets far past any realistic levels. In February 2021 Saturn will square Uranus, setting up a test for the actions we took in 2008-10 while the opposition was in play. Had we dealt with the underlying problems in our economy with some common sense we might have been able to secure our economy and the equity markets. But we have an administration that has ignored all calls for stability and chose to follow a path of quick, easy, cheap money. By passing a massive tax cut that overwhelmingly favored corporations and the wealthy, and then lowering interest rates to zero in an attempt to continue to puff up a frivolous stock market, we stripped the economy of its foundation, which has left us with few tools to address the coming recession.

Disastrous Second Phase?

Saturn entered Aquarius on March 22, forming a square to Uranus.  This is the same aspect that occurred during many past stock crashes, but it will not become exact until early next year. This July Saturn will return to Capricorn and will stay in the sign until December, when it once again enters Aquarius and remains for the next two-and-a-half years. In February 2021 Saturn completes its first square to Uranus, which begins the second phase of the financial disaster.

The gravity of where we are cannot be overstated. While the pandemic is the trigger of this current financial situation, how it is handled, and what policies are put in place, will decide how bad a catastrophe we face in the months to come. By lowering the interest rates to zero there is no place to turn as the markets continue to slip and we enter into a deep debt-fueled recession. As the pandemic grows and panic expands we look towards our leaders to establish a foundation upon which we can find security and faith.