NewsScope for September 23, 2008

A New World Order on Wall Street
 
In the greatest government intervention in the financial markets since the Great Depression, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke began a series of government rescue operations designed to restore confidence in the credit markets. The Fed's bailout of AIG and the SEC's banning of short sales were the first steps preceding an historic $700 billion comprehensive federal proposal.
 
Astrologically, the parallels to the Great Depression are sound. In the early 1930s, Saturn, Uranus and Pluto were forming a T-square in the cardinal signs, which provided the celestial pressure to undermine a mismanaged financial system. Some analysts have decried the current monetary crisis as the "greatest regulatory failure in history", as we are once again heading into a T-square involving Saturn, Uranus and Pluto in cardinal signs.
 
Three outer planets forming hard aspects to each other tends to correspond to historic, seismic shifts in the socio-economic-political realm. In 2010, Uranus enters Aries while making its fifth and final opposition to Saturn, as the two form a square to Pluto in Capricorn. This T-square is shaping up now: Pluto is heading into Capricorn, and the first Saturn-Uranus opposition becomes exact in six weeks.
 
When comparing this developing T-square to the U.S. Scorpio Rising horoscope, the nation's Venus is in the cross-hairs. Venus is found in the home-mortgage sign of Cancer, and in the Eighth House of Credit. Since the nation's founding, Pluto has never been in this position (in the Second House, opposite Venus). We are in uncharted territory, and one can only hope that the government takeover of the financial system serves the public good, and is not just a bailout for wealthy investors.
 
Pluto in Capricorn – The End of the Free Market System?
 
President Reagan famously said, "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Last week, the Bush administration gave Congress a three-page proposal that would give the Treasury Department unfettered authority to buy and sell mortgage debt, essentially nationalizing the financial investment industry. One Republican senator commented, "The free market for all intents and purposes is dead in America."
 
When Pluto enters Capricorn in two months, the Treasury Department will have a mandate locked in place that gives unprecedented government control over the world's financial markets. Pluto is all about absolute power and control, while Capricorn in geopolitical terms is associated with government, institutions, and large corporations. With Pluto's path in line with the U.S. Venus, empowerment comes through financial manipulation.
 
Last week, Russian stocks were falling so fast that Putin's government shut down the entire stock market for four days. Russia's modern horoscope (June 12, 1990; 1:45 pm; Moscow) features an exact opposition between Venus and Pluto, which reflects the government's occasional heavy-handed manipulation of corporate assets, especially oil and gas. The crisis arrived as the transiting Sun-Uranus opposition squared Russia's Sun.
 
In traditional political astrology, Uranus is associated with the free market system, while Neptune is associated with socialism. Next year, transiting Neptune will be conjunct the U.S. Moon (in the Fourth House of Real Estate), when American taxpayers, consumers, and voters will be inclined to favor government bailouts of faulty mortgages. If it works out, can nationalization of the health care and energy sectors be far behind?
 
Venus-Pluto in Action
 
Venus-Pluto aspects are often found in the charts of people who deal with large sums of money. In the individual horoscope—and especially when connected with the Second or Eighth Houses—Venus-Pluto aspects can be associated with greed, the fear of poverty, or simply the accumulation of vast wealth. Although we don't have an accurate birth time for Warren Buffett (one of the world's wealthiest investors), we do know that he was born with a Venus-Pluto square (August 30, 1930; Omaha, Nebraska), as was his philanthropic partner Bill Gates. 
 
In a woman's chart, Venus-Pluto aspects can bring wealth through marriage. For example, in Arianna Huffington's case (see NewsScope September 8, 2008), she divorced her wealthy husband as her progressed Venus and Pluto were conjunct, bringing her a settlement that financed her popular website.
 
Marilyn Monroe (June 1, 1926; 9:30 am; Los Angeles) epitomized the gold digger lifestyle in 1953 when she filmed Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire. At the time, Marilyn's natal Venus-Neptune trine was being activated by transiting Pluto. In one scene, when the tycoon asked if she loved his son or was marrying him for his money, she explained: "Don't you know that a man being rich is like a girl being pretty? You might not marry a girl just because she's pretty, but my goodness, doesn't it help?"
 
Chelsea Clinton (February 27, 1980; 11:24 pm; Little Rock, AK) was born with an exact Venus-Pluto opposition, and has learned through first-hand experience how money and power go together. She currently works for hedge fund investor Avenue Capital, and her fiancée, Goldman-Sachs banker Marc Mezvinsky, recently closed the deal on a $3 million condo in New York City. 

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