Void Moon Doesn’t Bode Well For Investments

For the youthful owners of Box Inc., recognition and awards came rolling in.

In 2009, the company was awarded the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal’s Emerging Tech award for the cloud computing category, and co-founders Aaron Levie and Dylan Smith were among the top five finalists in Business Week’s “Best Entrepreneurs under 25” rankings. Among other things, the company was listed as one of the “Hottest Silicon Valley Companies” by Lead 411.

In January 2014, the company’s owners filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange and, in March of that year, released financial data as part of that process. However, market fluctuations were cited as the reason why the IPO was delayed until January 23, 2015.

A Costly Mistake

This proved to be a costly mistake as the timing chosen by the entrepreneurial pair was not auspicious.

Western financial astrologers consider the pros and cons of all the angles, but there are three specific timing events that will invariably cause them to advise against either incorporating a company or offering shares to the public.   Just before a major solar eclipse is one such time, and periods when Mercury is retrograde (apparently traveling backwards in the heavens) is another.

Astrologer Judith Aurora Ryan says we have the late and brilliant astrologer Al H. Morrison to thank for definitive research on what astrologers call a void of course Moon, which is the other celestial event that can give financial astrologers pause. This void period begins when the transiting Moon makes the last major exact aspect it will make before it changes from one sign of the astrological Zodiac to the next. It ends when the moon enters the next sign.

According to Morrison, major astrological aspects are the 60-degree sextile, 90-degree square, 120-degree trine, 180-degree opposition and the conjunction, which is formed when two planets share the same degree in the same zodiacal sign. The Moon is void if it is not forming any of these aspects with either the Sun or another planet before it leaves one sign for the next.

There is this exception: the Moon is not void if its declination is the same, or parallels, the declination of another planet. Measured in degrees, declination is the vertical distance the orbiting Sun, Moon and planets are either above or below the ecliptic (the apparent path of the Sun as seen from earth).

It’s complicated

Financial astrologer Grace K. Morris, MA, says the Moon spends 2 ½-days in each of the 12 astrological signs. Depending upon where in the solar system the other planets are longitudinally positioned, the void period may last only a few seconds. Or it may last more than two days and nights.

Unlike solar eclipses or Mercury retrograde periods, which are usually well documented, the media routinely fails to let us know when the Moon, symbolically linked as it is with emotions and feelings, is ready for some quiet time, she said.

According to Morrison, the brief void periods are better suited for doing something passive or introspective. Material pursuits, like starting a company or going public for the first time, should be placed on hold.

Box Takes a Hit

Apparently, it never occurred to the Box Inc. millionaires that such a precaution might be prudent. When the business went public on January 23 the moon was void all day. The company’s stock opened at $23 per share and moved slightly higher before confronting reality. After two months the value of Box shares was down about 33 percent and investor expectations no longer were residing on Cloud Nine.

Morris is editor of The Right Time and the Astro Economics Stock Market Newsletter. She says there are no companies on the New York Stock Exchange that have a void of course moon in their incorporation chart; those that made this fatal error didn’t make it to the finish line.

IPOs launched during a void of course Moon don’t necessarily bring a corporation to its knees if the astrological chart for incorporation was well timed (by luck or design). However Morris, an active trader for more than 30 years, says the overwhelming evidence she’s observed shows the stocks of these companies in the under-achiever category.

Generally speaking, astrologers say it’s a bad idea to sign a contract, make plans, close a deal, or start a project when the Moon is void of course. And it’s an especially bad time to announce your political ambitions, or to find yourself nominated for the highest office in the land.

Presidential Sweep

Astrologer Debbie Kempton Smith reports that in every presidential election in the U.S. between 1900 and 1972 one of the two major party candidates was nominated when the Moon was void of course. Incredibly, in every instance, the candidate with this distinction lost.

Both political parties managed to avoid nominating a candidate with this impediment in 1976. However, when Jimmy Carter ran for a second term in 1980, the moon was void of course at the time of his nomination. And the same was true for Democratic losers Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004.

Curiously, in 112 years of U.S. political history, Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are the only two-term Presidents to win consecutive elections without facing an opponent whose moon was void of course at the time they were nominated. However, arguably, it was Ronald Reagan who was far in front of all Presidential office holders when it came to understanding the significance of this particular astrological event.

What Does Joan Say?

In her book, What Did Joan Say?, astrologer Joan Quigley described how she came to add President Reagan as a client and the elaborate arrangements made with First Lady Nancy Reagan to help the President time everything from routine press announcements to the start-up dates for the GOP national convention – even flight plans for the take-offs and landings of Airforce One. During the President’s second term it was not unusual for the astrologer to be on the line with the White House or Camp David several times a day.

Reportedly, the President repeatedly asked wife Nancy the What Does Joan Say question.

Quigley devised a unique strategy for dealing with pesky void Moons.  If the President anticipated he would be asked to answer hard questions about controversial issues during a nationally televised press conference, the astrologer would pick a time for the event when the Moon was void of course. This way, on the day after, the media would tend to lose focus and a potentially nasty, controversial issue would be dropped, forgotten or, more likely, glossed over.

Even in August 1988, when Nancy Reagan admitted at the Republican national convention on live TV with Dan Rather that the Reagans used astrology, the admission was made during a void Moon and fell on deaf ears. The story had no staying power until it was resuscitated by White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan in a tell- all book that published in 1988 after the President left office.

It was a different story when President Reagan had something he wanted the American people to notice and remember. On these occasions the astrologer made certain the Moon would not be void of course.

“There are reasons why we remember Mr. Reagan as the Teflon President,” Morris said.