No Growth in U.S. Economy

Ben Bernanke has now made a statement that he doesn't see any growth for the U.S. Economy in the near future. I decided to take a look at some things which represent Growth in the U.S. Chart. I use the Sagittarius Rising Chart. This one has 13 degree on the Ascendant, I think that's Sibley.

First off I looked at the Planets. Jupiter. Doi. Jupiter expands. The Moon rules Fertility. The Sun creates. Venus impels toward growth or destruction. Then I looked at the Progressions to see what kinds of stunted Retrogrades might be jamming the works.

The United States has Sun, Venus, and Jupiter in Cancer. That's a growth oriented situation.

Right now the Progressed Sun for the U.S. is at 4 Pisces trining the natal Venus and Jupiter at 4 and 6 Cancer respectively. Transiting Jupiter is in Capricorn opposing the United States Sun. And Progressed Jupiter has been Retrograde in Cancer since around 1905-6. If the U.S. has a Sagittarius Rising this is very important to look at because Jupiter is then the Chart Ruler. The timing of the Retrograde coincides with the 1907 Crash. Although there were many before it, that was the Crash that was the reason for the creation of the Federal Reserve Board as I was reminded yesterday by reading Monica's blog "Astrology Mundo." So this looks indicates heavy duty growth aspects. Of course, disease enjoys Growth as well.

So, then I thought what rules productivity because in my opinion the problem is not Growth but Productivity. We have turned into a Nation of Sheep. Not that there's anything wrong with Sheep, I just tried to make a dishcloth that had a sheep on it (didn't turn out) but they tend to follow along and graze all day. So I looked at Mars and Saturn. The U.S. has a conjunction of these two planets. The only thing these two might like is productivity. The conjunction is at the beginning of Virgo so the Country just had a Saturn Return. That can be a time of deep reckoning and being faced with big decisions.

Progressed Mars also moved into Retrograde around 2005-6 in Libra. Right now it is at 19 Libra Retrograde. That will eventually lead to great creativity but also heightened violence. On a current level this means that it's been hanging out on the Ascendant of the Opening Bell Chart for the NYSE. It has also been conjunct the Mercury-Venus-Mars conjunction in Libra. I was wondering how such a potentially nice aspect could have turned so much to its worst side. Maybe this is a reason, especially as its all been on the Ascendant of the Opening Bell Charts for the last couple of weeks.

The Progressions for the U.S. are actually pretty intense. The only planets that aren't Retrograde are Venus and Uranus. And Progressed Venus is conjunct (within 3 degrees) to Chiron in Aries at 18 Aries. That's opposing Progressed Mars Rx plus the Mercury-Venus-Mars conjunction.

The U.S. is born with a Mercury Retrograde and is now going through another Mercury Rx by Progression. This started sometime around 1993-94. Progressed Mercury is at 24 Aquarius. The extended trip through Aquarius was certainly good for becoming the center of the Technology Boom. Now prog. Mercury is being hit by the Neptune-Chiron-NN conjunction and is in the 4th House (Real Estate, Security, Mortgage) at Opening Bell.

So, here's the clinker, unrelated to what I've said so far. The natal U.S. Chart has a Mercury-Pluto opposition. Both planets are Retrograde. Mercury is at 25 Cancer Rx. Pluto is at 28 Capricorn Rx. Retrogrades make you really look deeply into whatever sign they're in. Cancer rules Real Estate and Capricorn rules Government. Mercury - Pluto is pretty sharp but also pretty paranoid and crisis oriented. And...

The Progressed Nodal Axis is now right on top of this opposition with 27 Cancer North Node. This means that Pluto is conjunct the South Node. Destiny come calling. Time of Trouble. Pluto represents crisis. But it also prunes and strips away dead weight so that all may prosper in the future. In gardening that's a good thing. In Economics I don't know why it can't be seen as a good thing. Tightening our big fat Sun-Venus-Jupiter in Cancer belts. At any rate transiting Jupiter will hit the Pluto-SN combination soon. As a Jupiter-Pluto conjunction (by transit) was involved in Cancer during the Great Depression this could certainly echo that energy.

If the Sagittarius Rising Chart were to be used one could see that the Progressed Moon and Progressed Ascendant are both at 1 Virgo. Virgo is another pruner. Don't get me going about how awful the transition is from Leo to Virgo in Progressions. I'm spending a lifetime finding this out. Leo just loves. Leo wants to create. All is well and simple. Then suddenly Leo realizes that his audience is snoring. That's when you know something's progressed into Virgo. And the lessons, although healthy, totally suck for the first 10 degrees.