A Devaluation Crisis in China’s Future?

Astrologer identifies threats to Asian country’s financial system

The astrological conditions that signaled the breaking point of a build-up of debt and the resulting currency devaluations that spread across Asia in 1997-98 are occurring again, only this time in relation to China.

During the 1990’s, Asian countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea had loaded up on debt denominated in foreign currencies, mainly the dollar because of the favorable exchange rate. Their currencies were pegged to the dollar, yet most of them had limited reserves of foreign currency. Even those with large foreign currency reserves, such as Russia and Indonesia, burned through their reserves in order to maintain their dollar peg.

In February 1997 there was a cluster of planets in Aquarius, the sign astrologers identify with innovation and revolution. This configuration impacted the astrological charts for many of the countries that were forced to run through their foreign currency reserves and devalue their currencies later that same year and in 1998.

In addition, Neptune was in Capricorn, the sign of established government and the status quo. It was positioned in the zodiac so that it was affecting the position of Saturn for those countries’ charts. For the Asian countries that were most impacted by the debt/currency crisis, Neptune and/or Saturn were the area of the chart related to debt and foreign currency reserves.

Erosion of Currency Reserves

Neptune is associated with illusion, deception, error and erosion. Saturn is associated with restriction, contraction, established order and the government in power. In this case the Neptune -Saturn configurations indicated the erosion of foreign currency reserves and the resulting contraction of these economies.

Although China was also involved in the currency crisis of 1997, the country had the resources to shore up their currency and maintain their peg to the dollar. Also, Neptune was affecting the position of Jupiter (not Saturn) in China’s astrological chart, sheltering China at that time. Astrologers interpret Jupiter as expansive and beneficial whereas Saturn is seen to be destructive and malicious.

But China also was taking on debt to stimulate its economy and has continued to employ this tactic to this day. The country’s debt problem was exposed in the late 1990’s and has not been seriously addressed since then. This massive build-up of debt has raised concerns by investment analysts across the globe. Their main concern is China’s corporate debt, especially in the property market and the shadow banking system.

China’s situation is much like that of Indonesia in 1997 – corporations have taken on a lot of debt. Corporate debt has reached 171 percent of GDP. However, China seems to have taken at least one lesson from the 1997 crisis, for dollar-denominated debt is being repaid at a brisk clip. Loans from foreign banks have fallen by one-third since 2014.[i]

Indonesia’s astrological chart indicated an overload of corporate dollar-denominated debt in the 1990’s by configurations involving Venus and Jupiter. Venus pertains to currencies and a country’s banking system, while Jupiter pertains to big business and expansion.

China’s chart is now displaying a very similar configuration of Venus and Jupiter. However, because it occurs in the area of the chart related to hidden or secretive issues, this appears to indicate a massive build-up of debt in the shadow banking system. It also indicates the interweaving of the shadow banking system and the official financial system via wealth management products (WMPs).

These WMPs have been the investment of choice for many Chinese who were seeking better returns than those offered on regular bank deposits. WMPs invest money in stocks, derivatives, and corporate bonds (debt). They are sold by banks, but are not included on their balance sheets. And since 2013, these WMPs have increasingly invested in one another, risking a chain reaction of defaults if those companies whose bonds they hold should default on their bonds. [ii]

Explosion of Corporate Debt

This build-up of debt in the Chinese financial system occurs against the backdrop of an explosion in corporate debt in emerging countries that now exceeds $25 trillion, according to the annual report of the UN Conference on Trade and Development. [iii]

It is not until 2018 that China’s astrological chart shows cracks emerging in the debt edifice. Uranus, the planet associated with sudden reversals and revolutionary movements, moves into Taurus in May 2018. In the summer of 2018, Mars will make a stressful configuration with Uranus and the Venus-Jupiter position.

Taurus is associated with currencies and the banking system of a country, while Mars indicates impulse, disruption, violence and breakdowns. Uranus will be in the area of China’s chart associated with real estate but also in opposition to the ruling government. The extent of the non-performing loans in the Chinese banking system could be exposed at this time.

But the reliance on debt as stimulus looks to continue well into 2019. In late November 2019, multiple planetary configurations form in relation to China’s astrological chart that all impact the area of debt and foreign currency reserves, the main one being that Mars is in a confrontational position with Uranus. Everything points to an overheated property market, and the bubble may burst at this time. A chain reaction could result, in which losses in the property market lead to capital flight, which triggers a drain on foreign currency reserves, and which in turn could lead to a forced devaluation of the yuan.

In January 2020, a cluster of planets forms in Capricorn. This is an even more extensive cluster than the one that occurred in 1997. This cluster directly impacts the planet in China’s chart that is associated with the national currency, the financial system, and the Communist Party. As the cluster dissipates, the planets, each in turn, will conjoin the most sensitive point in any astrological chart, the Ascendant, which is based upon the time and location of inception of the chart.

From March 2019 to March 2021, Neptune at 16 to 20 degrees of Pisces will affect Saturn in China’s chart. The planetary cluster in Capricorn occurs within this time band. These were the two configurations in individual countries’ charts that triggered the currency devaluations and the breakdown in Asian markets in 1997-1998.

Saturn is in the portion of China’s chart associated with debt, while Neptune is in the area associated with the national currency. Both Neptune and Pisces have a disorganizing effect, draining the energy out of what they influence. Saturn is the principle of structure and order; in this case, it is the edifice of debt that has been supporting the economy.

This cluster of planets indicates a major upheaval in China, centered upon the Communist Party, and possibly triggered by currency devaluation. The struggle for control could be brutal, and there may be ruthless suppression of any uprisings or protests by the people.

There are two critical time periods in late 2019 and 2020 in which these two configurations, along with techniques involving eclipses, come together in relation to China’s chart: December 2019 through January 2020 and mid-March 2020 through April 2020.

These multiple configurations coming together in such a tight time band indicate overwhelming pressure on the solvency of China’s financial system and on the yuan, which will no doubt affect the global financial system as well..

The crisis in Asia of 1997-98 played out over the course of a year; two years when Russia’s devaluation is included. But this time, for China and global markets, it looks as if everything happens very suddenly and explosively.

[i] “China facing full-blown banking crisis, world’s top financial watchdog warns” Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in The Telegraph, Sept 19, 2016 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/09/18/bis-flashes-red-alert-for-a-banking-crisis-in-china/

[ii] “China Default Chain Reaction Threatens Products Worth 35% of GDP” Bloomberg News, May 29, 2016
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-29/china-default-chain-reaction-threatens-products-worth-35-of-gdp

[iii] “UN fears third leg of the global financial crisis – with prospect of epic debt defaults” Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in The Telegraph, Sept 22, 2016 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/09/21/un-fears-third-leg-of-the-global-financial-crisis-with-epic-debt/