The Celestial Wheel

Vedic Commentary

 

 

June 1 -- 30 , 2007

 

 

Doug Riemer

Certified Vedic Astrologer

Sedona, Arizona

email

VedicPredictiveAstrology.com

 

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Commentaries are posted on a single web page for each calender month.  Each new Commentary during that month is placed at the top.  This results in the Commentaries appearing in reverse order.

 

June 24

Why Aren't Things Getting Better?

     Last fall's elections taking Congress away from the Second Gilded Age Republicans, and scandals accelerating G.W. Bush's power slide would appear to open the way to addressing Second Gilded Age excesses and unfairness.

     So, why is Congress unable to make any headway redressing major Gilded Age issues: ending the Iraq War, health care, illegal immigration, energy independence, stagnant wages, the trade imbalance, government corruption, tax breaks for the rich and corporations, outsourcing, restoring New Orleans...?

     The obvious answer is that the U.S. chart continues its ten year Moon planetary cycle, that brought this Second Gilded Age, until November 28, 2008. 

     Secondarily, there are major transit issues.  [Recall the planetary cycles (Dasas) are the river of life, and transits are weather events on the river.]  The U.S. chart's planet of great abundance, Jupiter, is now transiting the twelfth house of loss, and restrictive Saturn is finishing a grueling transit through the eighth house of turmoil and catastrophe.  Then, in mid July, Saturn transits into the U.S. ninth house of fortune, where Ketu is also transiting.  (This destructive combination is discussed below on June 11 and 19.)  Thereby, Jupiter's abundance is lost and Saturn/Ketu cause constriction in the ninth house wealth.

     There's also a global karma, for looking at the World Transit Chart (the natural zodiac beginning with Aries), transit Jupiter is in the eighth house of catastrophe and transit Saturn/Ketu will be in the fifth house of investments, luck and government.

     The June 13 Commentary, below, ended with this practical suggestion how how to deal with these planetary karmas,

    The lesson here is that you have to fight back against the robber barons of this Second Gilded Age.  As the old saying goes, Take care of yourself, because nobody else will.   That they're out to finish squeezing the middle class and poor dry, is no longer a debatable point.

 

     A related observation was made in the June 10 Commentary, also below,

     Integral to the New Age movement, and Western spirituality in general, is the belief in consciousness rising.  (If you Google the term, you find there are nearly 1 1/2 million results.)  If anything, consciousness appears to be going down -- should we actually consider what's going on in the world.  Should any readers know where consciousness rising is, let me know. 

     In the meantime, it looks like we need to take off our saffron colored glasses, put down The Secret and resist gathering injustice by adhering to Hinduism's karma of personal responsibility -- just as Gandhi and Martin Luther King did in bringing freedom to the dispossessed.  Anything else is wishful thinking -- unless you know where consciousness rising is.

 

     Purposely implicit was asking readers to to understand their dedication to higher consciousness has not yet permeated enough of humanity to begin to elevate humanity.  Concomitantly, then, this belief in consciousness rising is unrealistic and thereby may only accelerate humanity's descent -- unless, of course, you use your higher consciousness to actually take action to improve humanity.   

     However, as challenging as the world is, there's still joy and beauty.  Here are links to a video you'll find uplifting:  A nice American (English) Idol http://www.influks.com/post1300.html 

 

G.W. Bush's Health

     The June 3 In-depth forecast, The Bush Presidency Update predicted G.W. Bush's health would suffer this month and next.  The June 19 Celestial Wheel Commentary, below, brought forward a confirming insight by Patricia Flores (www.mayanhealinghands.com) of a stroke. 

     On Friday, June 22, NPR's Morning Edition talked about Bush feeling unwell, his vice hoarse, while visiting Alabama.  I recall also hearing Bush hasn't felt well for the past few days.  I tried to track this information down on the NPR website and found only a summary.   Finally this morning, I located the information in a Denver Post article, Bush touts proposal to cut back on gas,

 

    At the Sessions event, and earlier at a nuclear power plant in Athens, Ala., the president's voice repeatedly cracked, and grew more hoarse as he spoke.

     In Athens, he had promised to keep his remarks short to prevent folks from passing out in the steamy room, and joked about how hard it was to haul his 60-year-old body up the stairs to the plant's control room.  In Mobile, Bush appeared close to not being able to go on at one point.

 

     If the world is going to get any better, the media need to start doing their jobs, instead of cavorting with Gilded Age their DC Gilded Age compatriots.  How can information that fit and athletic Bush's health and vitality are compromised not be valuable to all Americans?

 

Dick Cheney

     The Celestial Wheel has long predicted Dick Cheney will suffer either health problems or loss of reputation.  An example is the March 8, 2007 Commentary, in the section, The Old Broom Sweeps Clean.  There, transit Saturn's final months in Cancer was explained,

     Dick Cheney is obviously suffering from this old Saturn broom -- both physically (blood clot in the leg) and reputation -- the Libby trial results.      

...after Saturn turns forward April 20, it will bring more scandals, and some of these will be truly devastating.  By the time Saturn leaves Cancer July 16, the entire Bush administration should be completely discredited.

 

     For Cheney, Saturn has brought chronic cardiac problems, and its transit through Cancer is dangerous, for that is his twelfth house of loss and places of seclusion, including hospitals.  Reuters reports on June 8 , Cheney to have heart defibrillator replaced.  Of course, there's the big story on Friday, Cheney Defiant on Classified Material, and the next day, G.W. Bush both supported Cheney and joined him, Bush claims oversight exemption too.  Note too the Washington Post's current three part expose on Cheney, Angler -- The Cheney Vice Presidency.  This expose must stimulate further public and Congressional investigative wrath.

 

Technological Advance -- Convergence

     The June 29 launch of Apple Inc's iPhone could very well signal the beginning of the first major technological advance since the Internet was invented in 1990.  Industry Awaits 'Revolutionary' IPhone.  Beyond, and actually more important than the iPhone's wizardry, is that consumers will be changing their cell buying priority.  In the past, consumers selected the cell provider on price and service and then picked a phone from that provider's inventory.  Now, consumers will pick the phone they like best and then select the provider. 

     The February 11, 2007 Celestial Wheel Commentary predicted,

  ..integrating personal computers with TVs, called convergence, will be the first step in fully integrating digital communications in 2008.  The following three articles describe computer/TV convergence.  The fourth discusses a current movement to liberate the cell phones, which have evolved into personal computers in pocket form, from cell phone companies. 

     You would buy the cell phone you like and then sign up with your cell phone carrier of choice -- just like when you buy a computer and separately select your ISP (Internet Service Provider).  Then, cell phone manufacturers could integrate these super phones into the computer/TV combination.  The result would be comprehensive and seamless communication capability -- the cell phone as the portable computer, which would dock with the computer/TV -- the long delayed technological breakthrough. 

     Since my computer is three years old, my TV an old tube design and my cell phone contact ending later this year, I plan to wait until 2008 to replace these three separate machines with a single integrated computer/tv/cell phone.  This, then, is a prediction that may directly benefit you.

    

 

Copyright 1999-2007
Doug Riemer

 

June 19

Gilded Age Mischief

     Although even new subscribers may be feeling The Celestial Wheel has overdone reporting on Second Gilded Age excesses, some are so astounding they merit mention.  Yet, others are so subtle, they would pass unnoticed, but are more meaningful for revealing how Gilded Age amorality has permeated society.

     This today article, World's biggest airliner to serve as private jet, is in the former group. The new Airbus A380 superjumbo is 239 feet long, has 10,000 square feet of cabin space and can carry up to 840 passengers.  The base cost is $300,000,000 and customizing costs will run another 50 to 150 million.  Somehow this sounds excessive, even compared with private yachts.  The plane is more expensive than the $200 million The Rising Sun, though the yacht is longer at 450 feet (December 17, 2006 Celestial Wheel Commentary).  (They both get about the same fuel mileage, though.)  The article includes a couple more incredible facts.  First, there are already about 20 giant Boeing 747's in service as private jets, and it's expected 3 to 5 more Airbus A380s will be sold to other buyers. 

     Here's a Second Gilded Age subtlety.  Columnist Sally Squires's Lean Plate Club in the Washington Post would seem the most unlikely place for Gilded Age amorality to have creeped in.  After all, this is about healthy eating, not $500 per slice chocolate cake.  In today's column, Sally writes,

     Several members of Congress recently made news when they tried to see if they could subsist on $21 per week -- the average amount that food stamp recipients receive to supplement their income.

     Representatives Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.), co-sponsors of legislation to add $4 billion to the $33 billion food stamp program, challenged their colleagues to join them in trying to eat for just $1 per meal...

    No question: That's a tight budget. But with a few cooking skills and a little basic nutrition knowledge, it's doable.

 

     Lean Plate Club includes a blog at the bottom.  (Recall that my graduate work was at the Cornell Hotel School.  That two year program included food chemistry and other food courses.) Here's my blog posting.

    The risk with this type of diet is always whether there's adequate protein -- especially for children who need higher protein levels to support their growth.  Yes, salmon and eggs are high protein foods, and some beans have good protein levels, but is this enough for children, or even adults?  Another issue, dairy products are absent from this diet, and these provide important nutrients, especially for children.

     Since children are a primary reason for food stamps, this diet likely falls short.  In other words, the author missed the point of food stamps.

 

     If you didn't catch this subtlety, you're reading The Celestial Wheel by mistake, or you've been infected with the Second Gilded Age amorality virus yourself.  (The antidote is to volunteer at your local food bank until your conscience returns.)


     On another Gilded Age topic, it's been a mystery as to why the stock market keeps going up, and up and up.  It's really pretty simple, if you consider that the rich in America have managed to transfer so much wealth from the lower and middle classes, they're literally awash in money.  (Visions of bonus heaven in Goldman Sachs profit.)  Subscriber M.M. emailed several months ago when the Goldman Sachs' bonuses of up to $50,000,000 were announced, that one trader jumped for joy on Wall Street, shouting, It's raining gold!  (He needs to volunteer at the local food bank for six months and skip lunch at The Plaza..)

     With this much optimism, that trader, and his ilk, naturally believe the stock market will go up forever.  This is the psychology of Gilded Age greed.  Yet, just as the real estate market peaked in July 2005 and is now crashing down, the stock must fall as well.  No tree grows to the sky.  There's a great irony here, for now the great New York investment banks themselves are being over-washed in the effects of the real estate tsunami - Subprime sector taxes Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs

    Mounting woes in the subprime mortgage business may not be hurting the stock market, but they're taking their toll on some of Wall Street's biggest banks.

     Quarterly earnings reports from Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns Thursday showed the once-lucrative business of dealing in loans for less-qualified home buyers is taxing the financial system and investment banks' bottom lines.

 

     This June 14 U.S.A. Today article was selected because it described well the pervasive impact of the burst real estate bubble -- and also because it missed the fundamental point, that the stock market will be hurt by this real estate debacle.  A real estate tsunami is not site specific -- it destroys comprehensively.

     Related to this, read, Housing Construction Down in May and GALLUP: 7 in 10 Americans Say Economy Is 'Getting Worse'  Of course, the wealthy investors who keep pumping up the stock market are in the other 3 in 10 Americans group.

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Bush Is In The Rapids

     The June 3 In-depth forecast, The Bush Presidency Update -- Part 1 June 3 to July 28, described this interval as being very harmful to G.W. Bush, stating, The most sensitive time is when Bush runs Saturn as a fourth level Dasa planet -- June 16 -- 28.  That forecast specifically predicted:

  Bush will lose further subordinates, primarily to scandals, for all three planets symbolizing them are harmed.  Groups will also disassociate themselves from him. 

     Bush's ability to think clearly and speak coherently is completely blocked, preventing him from effectively defending his positions and uttering inane, even nonsensical statements. 

     Bush's approval ratings will dive further, even below his previous low of 28%.

     Bush suffers further physical health issues relating to Mercury's skin.  He has a history of skin lesions since 2004, the most recent being removing moles this past February.   

     There is also the possibility Bush will suffer a nervous breakdown, or a stroke.  This prediction has been made several times in The Celestial Wheel, and the first time was in the April 10, 2007 Commentary,

    

     Two days ago I visited Patricia Flores (www.mayanhealinghands.com).  Patricia doesn't read The Celestial Wheel.  Nor does she follow the news.  I asked her simply, What about President Bush's health? Without a pause or a blink, she replied, Stroke.  I see him sitting, unable to talkThat's why I say 'stroke.'  (As you likely know, psychics see images, which they then interpret.)

   

 

More On The Saturn/Ketu Conjunction

     The upcoming Saturn/Ketu conjunction was discussed in the June 11 Celestial Wheel, below, in the context of gasoline prices.  Yesterday, I completed a fall 2007 travel analysis for a business client, stating,

     The very difficult Saturn/Ketu conjunction, begins August 16 and ends October 19.  I haven't yet done complete predictions for this tough two month period, excepting gasoline prices will rise, the economy will suffer and the Iraq war situation will reach a crises.  (I guess that's actually quite a lot!) 

     That there's a partial eclipse of the Sun on September 11, causes additional concern.  This eclipse will in the U.S. chart's 9th house of fortune, and its Dasas then will be Moon/Venus/Jupiter/Ketu.  (This is a Ketu eclipse -- so having Ketu in the Dasas adds karma, and Ketu is gas and oil.)  I haven't predicted a terrorist attack on the U.S. since 9-11 2001, but this would be the year.  I'm not publicizing this 9-11 concern yet and let you know in advance to help you plan ahead. 

     Naturally there would be further economic pressures (to an already weakening U.S. and global economy) should there by a major attack, and this could cause ripples around the globe.  Iran's chart looks terrible on 9-11, and that could very well be the violence focus. 

     I'm not exaggerating the importance of this Saturn/Ketu conjunction in Leo.  Here's an article by K.N. Rao, who is one of the few East Indian astrologers I can understand, THE DREADFUL YEAR 2007  http://www.journalofastrology.com/ARTICLES/dreadful_year_2007.htm  Rao is also very astute.  There are a few other references on the web about Saturn/Ketu, but much more will be published in the coming months.

 

     I queried empath Julie Hallee (judeehallee@hotmail.com) about this, just as I had done with Patricia Flores.  She hasn't paid attention to the news for 15 years, so I knew she had no context for Iran.  I asked, tell me what you see, Iran, 9-11.  Without a blink* Judee answered, I see it flattened.  Judee didn't need to interpret her vision.  We all know what it means.

(*Psychics who don't pause or blink at the best.)

 

Paris Hilton & Israel

     Paris Hilton and Israel obviously exist in different universes.  Paris likely believes Orthodox is a shoe for handicapped people, and any Israeli worth his pillar of salt would ask if the Hilton in Paris is in the market for linens.

     Only a Vedic Astrologer would know the one thing Paris Hilton and Israel share -- they are both experiencing Sadi Sati.   This occurs when Saturn, the planet of restriction and loss, and also the planet of reality ( wisdom experienced), crosses the three houses around the all-important Moon.  Saturn's deity is Lord Shiva, the destroyer and the creator.  He destroys that which is no longer necessary to make room for the new.

     Both charts have the Moon in Cancer, and Saturn is transit is now exacting its worst, or from Saturn's viewpoint, it's best -- as it finishes its transit through Cancer.  Paris Hilton was jailed and now claims she has found God, EXCLUSIVE: Hilton Calls Barbara Walters from Jail -- 'God Has Released Me'.

       Israel is similarly confronted with Saturn's brutal reality, which cannot be resisted -- to let go of a bad past and embrace a better future.  Where Failure's Just the Ticket details the dismal situation in Israel  (by Aluf Benn is the diplomatic editor of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz).  The June 30, 2004 In-depth forecast, The Timeless Mideast Bottleneck -- Part 3  -- Israel, describes this Sadi Sati.  It also references Israel's previous Sadi Sati, when Golda Meier was Prime Minster, and suggests, there is a potent influence for a another female prime minister, who would be older, humble and oriented to peace. 

     The issue is that Israel's chart is just as paranoid militaristic as the U.S. chart -- witness Senator Joe Lierberman, Lieberman Repeats Calls For Military Action In Iran, who's thankfully not an Israel's government.  At least in the U.S., his Jewish American reflex to violence no longer convinces.

 

Spread The Word

     If you enjoy The Celestial Wheel and find the information useful, please tell your family, friends and acquaintances.  The reason for the request is that this astrologer is running a planetary cycle that makes him invisible.  Insights and predictive accuracy are simply not seen by the larger public.  Government agencies do frequently check, though I don't know what ATF thinks they'll find here.  Website traffic to The Celestial Wheel is easily tracked, and the visitor volume is growing but still low.

     The Celestial Wheel's goal is to inform the public of upcoming events and circumstances impacting their lives -- so that they can take action to protect themselves.  Vedic Astrology isn't just knowing the life, it's planning the life.

 

 

 

Copyright 1999-2005
Doug Riemer

 

June 13

Real Estate In The Second Gilded Age

     Real estate is naturally cyclical, but market movements are slow to manifest. The product is illiquid -- it takes time to renovate, build and sell.  A growing economy is needed for confidence and increased income to accumulate savings.  Price appreciation is gradual early-on and only accelerates to a frenzy as previous sales at higher prices are recorded.  Low interest rates are always a key ingredient, and in this boom rates have been historically low because of financial globalization. 

     There have also been the added financial incentives of creative mortgage instruments (sub prime mortgages, variable rates and 100% financing) and the securitization of mortgages (bundling montages into marketable securities) that opened the market to just about anyone who could breathe (Being literate wasn't even required.  A simple X sufficed for a signature.)   Mortgage sales also earned huge profits for banks and other mortgage companies, stock investors, stock underwriters and brokers.

      Mortgage brokers have been cheerleaders in this current cycle.  They've been the financial gunslingers of this Second Gilded Age, like the junk bond dealers of the seventies and eighties.  Remember Michael Milken, the junk bond king who went to prison in 1989?  (See Note below)  With limitless money at low rates and easy terms, mortgage brokers became the front line deal makers for the real estate brokers, and prices skyrocketed -- though everyone forgot that skyrockets do blow up and then succumb gravity and crash.  They also ignored the ancient saying, No tree grows to the sky.  Second Gilded Age greed is like wearing draft horse blinders -- eventually you get blindsided.

     Demand dries up, as it must, when prices become unaffordably high, too many owners are investors trying to sell to each other and mortgage financiers tighten up to reduce defaults.  However, after the market peaks, sellers and real estate agents are slow to see the downturn and reduce prices.  Part of this resistance to price drops is greed for those who bought at low prices, and the remainder is owners who bought near the peak and don't want to lose money.  This second illiquid quality of real estate exacerbates the problem, and the market tips over -- like Humpty Dumpty.  (Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men Couldn't put Humpty together again.)

     The real estate market peaked out in July 2005 (See April 2, 2005 A Not So Far Horizon  and the June 5, 2005 Mars' Summer & Fall Of Discontent).  Although few, including some astute Vedic Astrologers, agreed then, results have proven this prediction to be uncannily correct. 

     It's been nearly two years since this peak, and prices are finally sliding down.  U.S. News & World Report, Spring Fever -- Just how sick is the housing market?  It's time to find out, tells a grim tale of a Boulder, Colorado couple stuck with a house they couldn't sell for $850,000, even after dropping the price $140,000.  And to dispel any remaining doubts that Humpty has fallen, CNBC reports today, Housing Foreclosures Jumped 90% in May From Year Ago

     The U.S. News article includes an interesting fact, his decision to pull the house from the market and rent it out for a while.  Renters have been shunned in the real estate boom for not becoming owners, and they have been increasingly stressed by increasing rental rates, though the boost has been moderate compared with real estate price gains.

     In Sedona, which only a few years ago was discovered at a premier destination, prices rocketed up over 50% in the first half of 2005.  Rental rates also increased, driving many workers in this tourist town -- jeep tour drivers, clerks, artists, metaphysical folks... -- to nearby blue-collar Cottonwood, where prices are much lower.  By 2005, rental rates for Sedona's typical 3 bedroom homes had increased 25% --  from a base of $1200 to $1500, unaffordable to local workers, even though most of us share houses.  Also, businesses have lured so many illegal aliens to Sedona to decrease labor costs, wages for citizens haven't kept pace with inflation.  Even though I've completed 8 years of full time Vedic Astrology practice to build a reputation and clientele, this month I'm offering my first discount -- 25% -- to enable local clients who simply can't afford Vedic Astrology's high-end price.

     What are rental rates now?  Now again, for $1200, you can again rent a 3 bedroom home in Sedona (Sedona Red Rock News).  I visited Sedona Rentals & Property Management, this morning, asking if the local paper's rental ads truly represented the market?  Yes, I was told.  Did this reflect residents out-priced by rate increases moving to Cottonwood?  Not so much, they said.  The rental rate drop is due to so many new homes coming into the rental market because they didn't sell.

     Why did I make this inquiry?  My landlady, who previously was happy to make repairs, told me a month ago she was broke and couldn't afford to fix the plumbing.  And, when I recently asked her for help with a fungus that is destroying the back lawn, she ignored me.  Here's the lawn, which is actually her loss.

     She's Realtor who, with her boyfriend, a former cowboy stunt man, ran the real estate market up and then all the way down.  The real estate downturn is making victims of many who rode this unbridled bull.. I'll be moving soon -- to save 25% on my rental rate and have full maintenance -- and a nice croquet lawn too!

 

Interruption By More Chicanery

     This is all for today because Wells Fargo Financial has distracted me again with their incessant calls about my credit card account.  Theirs is truly a criminal enterprise, for I caught them at trying to levy a $35 late payment fee on a payment due Monday January 2, 2006, which was New Years Day.  Then, in April of this year, they tried another con by disabling the pay function on their website one business day before my next payment was due. 

     While Wells Fargo Financial credited both these fees, and apologized too for the website malfunction, I'm holding them to the fire and reporting these criminal acts to Senator Carl Levin, who has submitted a bill reigning in credit card company's greed.  This is the bank that played the fraudulent cruise ship financing game with Jack Abramson.  And their parent, Wells Fargo Bank, recently halted their big sub-prime mortgage business because of too many foreclosures.  Wells Fargo Financial gets no more money from me.  (Note: over the last four years, I fought similar battles with Household Bank, Providian and Bank of America.  I won them all, for confronted with evidence of their malfeasances, they never contacted me again.  Hmm.... maybe defeating credit card companies could be my third career?)

     The lesson here is that you have to fight back against the robber barons of this Second Gilded Age.  As the old saying goes, Take care of yourself, because nobody else will.   That they're out to finish squeezing the middle class and poor dry, is no longer a debatable point.

Note:

     To add irony to the current situation, Michael Milken resurrected himself after prison.  Per Wikepedia, "He launched a public relations campaign to highlight his role as a financial innovator, particularly with regard to popularizing higher-risk alternative investments. He also devoted much time and money to charity over the past three decades. With an estimated net worth of around $2.1 billion as of 2007..."

     What is truly incredible however, is Milken's Vedic Astrology.  Milken's birth data of July 4, 1946 at 7:31 AM is almost exactly two days earlier than G.W. Bush's July 6, 1946 at 7:26 AM.  This results in a nearly identical charts, excepting the Dasas (planetary cycles) are different because their Moons, which set the Dasa sequence, are at different degrees.  Joni Patry wrote an incisive interpretation of Milken's chart, showing his ups and downs.  Won't Milken again be caught up in his own web of deceit, as his astrology brother, G.W. is experiencing now?

 

 

Copyright 1999-2005
Doug Riemer

 

June 11

Past Gasoline Price Peaks

     The Celestial Wheel has long been concerned about rising oil and gas prices, which naturally relates to the Mideast -- where the oil is.  The initial discussions began a year before gasoline first peaked above $3.00 in September 2005.  The June 17, 2004 Celestial Wheel Commentary stated, Gas prices will be pushed upward, SUV sales must plummet and higher energy prices will put a brake on the economic recovery.

     Additionally, the June 18, 2004 In-depth forecast, Part I  The Timeless Mideast Bottleneck -- Ancient Karmas*, stated, The Mideast conflict reclaims humanity's history -- eclipse point Ketu's past draws us there again. Ketu is also gas and oil -- fiery, even explosive, energy from the past.

(*Google Search on The Celestial Wheel page located these previous predictions in a flash.  Try it for topics of interest to you.)

     The Celestial Wheel did not predict the first $3.00 gas in September 2005.  The information simply wasn't seen.  Also, the focus that summer was on the July 7 London subway bombing and the ending of the real estate boom (See the June 5, 2005 In-depth forecast, #63  Mars' Summer & Fall Of Discontent).

     However, the April, 2006 peak gas was predicted, in the January 12, 2006,  #65a Planetary Karmas For The First Half Of 2006 - Part 1 World Transit Chart, February 6 to April 3... Energy supply/price problemsMay 25 to July 12...   Energy crisis

     This past spring's oil peak was similarly accurately forecasted.  The March 28, 2007 Celestial Wheel Commentary stated, Another manifestation of this Mars energy is its aspect (glance) upon Ketu, which symbolizes gas and oil.  This caused oil prices to continue to escalate past $62 per barrel.  Doubtless, you've noticed gas prices at the pump moving upward...  And, the April 12, 2007 A Springtime Tempest Part 2, predicted, Oil and gas prices rise.

     While it's interesting to verify past predictive accuracy, that gas prices remain above $3.00 per gallon make this an ongoing and most serious concern.  Continued high gas prices are an increasingly onerous burden upon everyone, and another upward price movement would torpedo an already frail economy.  (See, First-quarter growth was pathetic, but what next?). 

 

An Upcoming Gas Peak

     Regarding future gas prices, the May 3, 2007 Celestial Wheel Commentary identified a bad conjunction for Ketu, the indicator of gas and oil, but which conjunction also signals other challenges.

 

Next Fall's Celestial Battle

     Beginning in late August, Saturn and Ketu (the mystical tail-of-the-dragon eclipse point) will be coming into conjunction.  This will continue through mid October and will likely signal major reversals.  Certainly the Iraq war will come to a head then, and too, both gas prices and the economy will suffer.  Details on timing and likely effects will be covered in future Celestial Wheels.  At this juncture, it's best to be conservative financially -- avoid new expenses, pay off debts and set aside cash.  The world is changing.

 

     It's difficult to puzzle out what the planetary karmas most likely will bring.  The best way is to start at the beginning and consider each karmic piece.  Saturn and Ketu are both malefics, which means they harm each other and the constellation (sign) in which they are placed.  And because their energies are also absolutely dissonant, they don't rub against each other but rather clash.  Following are some characteristics of each planet -- to give you a feeling for this upcoming conjunction.

    Saturn is reality, and thereby the ultimate realist.  It is things under the earth, iron, coal, organization, form, structure, death, the ascetic, poverty, loss, separation, disease, inertia, suffering, and selflessness.  Saturn's primary deity, Lord Shiva, is the destroyer and the creator -- clearing away that which is no longer necessary to make room for the new.  Saturn is hard, cold and slow.

    Ketu is diametrically opposed in his being the immaterial tail-of-the-dragon eclipse point.  He has no boundaries, nor limits.  Ketu is smoke.  He is otherworldly and thereby negates the material world.  He symbolizes mysticism.  Ketu is an indicator for enlightenment, for detachment from earthly karmas is a prerequisite here.  He's the nightmare, mental derangement and weird diseases.  Ketu is hot and fast and explosive, which fits with his being gas and oil.

     Saturn is the ordinary; Ketu the unusual. Saturn sits; Ketu seethes. Saturn is certainty; Ketu doubt. Saturn is reality; Ketu unreality.  Saturn is the expected; Ketu the unexpected.  Saturn destroys inevitably and slowly; Ketu vaporizes with the unexpected flash.  Saturn is the glacier that crushes; Ketu the unseen exploding comet.  Saturn gradually moves forward; Ketu mores erratically backward.

     Saturn and Ketu combine in the constellation (sign) of Leo, ruled the the Sun.  Leo is the fifth house of the natural zodiac*, symbolizing government and investments.  The Sun is also the body.  This, then, is the domain of action for Saturn/Ketu.  Combining these complex symbols -- gas, government, the economy and stocks must suffer.  Less explicit is the Iraq war coming to a head.  Consider these areas of concern all relate to oil.  Too, there is a potent karma for disease (See, The Risk Of A Bird Flu Pandemic and Mild Bird Flu Could Cause Pandemic Too). 

(*This is the same chart as ones used in this forecasting entitled World Transit Chart)

     This Saturn/Ketu conjunction is complicated by other planetary dispositions.  This forecast, then, only begins the process of unraveling the braided rope -- to separate and reveal the strands of karma.  A gas peak and related concerns, however, are clearly called for.

     The conjunction begins when Saturn transits into Leo mid July (the upper chart).  Because Saturn is such a slow planet, he doesn't do much by himself initially.  Too, Ketu will be at a distant fourteen degrees then.  Saturn and Ketu don't come into close conjunction until October 19. 

     However, the Sun transits into Leo August 16.  This means that Saturn/Ketu will afflict both the fifth house itself and its ruler, the Sun.  This animates Saturn/Ketu harms over two months early -- and for over two long months.  

     Further complexity results because Venus transits into Leo on July 4 -- but then begins a six week retrograde that takes it out of Leo on August 29.  Too, Mercury quickly transits through Leo August 16 to September 1.

     These planets serve to create a stellium (group of four or more planets), which stimulates both tremendous intensity and exposes benefics Venus and Mercury to the Saturn/Ketu sledgehammer.  The lower chart for August 24 shows the stellium, and Venus having already backed out of Leo.

     This lower chart also shows Mars in Taurus, from which position it will aspect Leo -- and all the stellium planets placed there.  Mars' influence upon just Ketu stimulates a gas crises.

     Finally, there will be a total eclipse of the Moon August 28 and  partial eclipse of the Sun September 11.  These will disrupt further.

World Transits July 19, 2007


World Transits August 24, 2007

 

How High Will Gasoline Go?

     There have been many articles predicting gas rising to $4.00 a gallon this summer, or even higher.  Yet, these are not referenced here, for there's a much more more persuasive barometer -- the public.  In chatting with acquaintances and strangers, nearly everyone is expecting gas to move up again in August or September.  Is it because they've trained us to expect rising gas prices or that Sedona folks tune in to otherworldly media? 

     Another quality of public opinion is that people are defending their cars, even the gas guzzlers.  And, I admit to being in that camp.  After all, I get over 25 MPG on my old 1990 Lincoln, but then I don't mention this is highway mileage, and that number is cut in half around town. 

     So, we have a curious dichotomy  -- people expecting more expensive gas but deluding themselves about its impact by making lifestyle changes.  This relates to the U.S. having had over a half century of prosperity since WWII, Second Gilded Age belief in endless prosperity, the government assuring us that all is well (when it's not) and the typical American optimism.

    

 

 

Copyright 1999-2005
Doug Riemer

 

June 10

G.W.'s Leaking Canoe

     The June 3, 2007 In-depth Celstial Wheel, The Bush Presidency Upate - Part 1, made specific predictions for the period June 3 ending July 28 about: losing subordinates to scandals, inability to defend his positions and health issues. 

     These are already actualizing, which is quite amazing, even to me!.  Scooter Libby was given a 30 month prison term June 4, and on June 8 Senator Charles Schumer announced debate beginning this Monday on a no-confidence resolution against Alberto Gonzales.  The immigration bill died June 8, and Bush is powerless to revive it, since there's staunch Republication resistance.  Early yesterday Bush fell ill with a stomach virus and had to skip a morning G8 Summit meeting.  These are all consequential events and should not be considered as just pin the tale on the karmic donkey by matching news clips with predictions.

     The immediacy and seriousness of these predictions coming true suggests the remainder of this interval will be truly devastating for Bush.

    Golly, there's hardly anyone left in Bush's corner to give him some duct tape to stop the leaks in his karmic canoe.  It's actually okay, for Dick Cheney has a bunker full of the stuff in a un-disclosed location, though he acquired it to tape critics' mouth's shut.

 

More On The Second Gilded Age

     The current New York Times Magazine addresses the issue of income inequality in Inside The Income Gap.  Take a look.  There are about 8 articles giving a comprehensive view.  If you haven't already, sign up for a free subscription to the N. Y. Times.  It's worthwhile taking the minute or two this process requires.  The N. Y. Times only keeps these articles available free to the public for about a week -- so don't delay.

     The Celestial Wheel, in identifying the decade beginning late in 1998 as The Second Gilded Age , predicted this growing economic inequality -- actually a lowering of living standards for the average American.  Robber barons, government corruption and a purity crusade are other elements basic to the Gilded Age phenomenon. (Part II  The United States Through It's Planetary Cycles  (12/2/04).

     One of the articles, Should We Globalize Labor Too?, speaks to the issue on a global basis.  The headline is, These days, capital and goods cross borders with ease.  Lant Pritchett says that if the developing world’s workers could do the same, everyone would benefit.  That argument certainly is compelling, for why should the benefits of globalization be the exclusive domain of the riche - bankers, investors and industrialists?  This article supports the May 26, 2004 In-depth Celestial Wheel, The Jupiter/Saturn Conjunction  -- A New Twenty Year Era (5/26/04), which, Describes a gradual but irresistible disassembling of nation states, as signaled and empowered by labor without borders, for the twenty year era ending in 2020.  It does not, however, address the breakdown of nation states, which will likely occur as multinational corporations continue to gain power.

     Obviously, this Second Gilded Age is harmful to all but the richest in America.  Since Bush took office, we've witnessed the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of humanity -- from the middle class and poor to the wealthy.  Participative Democracy and economic opportunity are sacrificed to an economic and political elite, creating a class system, complete with an imperial presidency.  On the other hand, labor globalization promises to even the economic playing field for people around the globe.  On it's face, that's a good thing. 

     How do we reconcile these opposing views that labor globalization harms the U.S. but improve the lot of all of humanity?  This could be the great question of the new millennium.  Further, if you think about it, globalization is the defining issue in the Mideast.  There people are rejecting Western oil colonization to eject Westerners and our culture so that they can regain their own.  This insularity, the desire to cut off from global influences, is the antithesis of globalization  This is a great irony, of course, for it is Mideast oil that fuels the world and enables industrial globalization.  (See, the February 28, 2007 In-depth Celestial Wheel, Culmination In The Mideast (2/28/07) ,which Predicts a reshaping of the Mideast beginning in March, 2007.)

     To further confuse the issues of globalization and The Gilded Age, here's a truly amazing news item, The 60-Storey House for just one family.  Which American tycoon is responsible for this unabashed and disgusting display of wealth?  Trump, Gates or perhaps a Texas oilman? 

     No, it's a name you've never heard, Mukesh Ambani, an oilman to be sure, but he's from India, where some 900 million live in abject poverty, three times the entire population of the U.S. 

     How can he justify this palace in this ocean of human suffering?  Maybe this is India's Gilded Age?  The reason for this obscene excess, however, seems to be that India has for thousands of years been a stratified society.   First colonial rulers, and now India's rich, keep their heels on the backs of the poor to enrich themselves. 

     What is absolutely confounding is how this selfishness, and lack of regard for the suffering of ones own people, exist in the cradle of Hinduism.  After all, this is the spiritually elevated philosophy of karma and reincarnation that demands selflessness, detachment, charity and the responsibility to ones fellow man.  Isn't that what the Krishna explained to Arjuna in The Bhagavad Gita, the Indians bible?   Too, it is that philosophy which forms the underpinnings of Vedic Astrology.

from dailymail.co.uk

     The Celstial Wheel doesn't have the answer.  It can only predict the karmic currents that are, and will be, shaping the world.  One final observation, with an accompany question is pertinent. 

     Integral to the New Age movement, and Western spirituality in general, is the belief in consciousness rising.  (If you Google the term, you find there are nearly 1 1/2 million results.)  If anything, consciousness appears to be going down -- should we actually consider what's going on in the world.  Should any readers know where consciousness rising is, let me know.  In the meantime, it looks like we need to take off our saffron colored glasses, put down The Secret and resist gathering injustice by adhering to Hinduism's karma of personal responsibility -- just as Gandhi and Martin Luther King did in bringing freedom to the dispossessed.  Anything else is wishful thinking -- unless you know where consciousness rising is.   (Note: You could ask Mukesh Ambani about this, but the 400 servants needed to run his palace doubtless protect him from such inconvenient questions.)

 

India Nuclear Deal

     The June 2, Talks End over U.S.-India Nuclear Deal describes how this treaty for the U.S. to share nuclear know-how and fuel was blocked.  The March 6, 2006Celestial Wheel Commentary discussed this topic,

    I was amazed G.W. Bush traveled to India earlier this week, right at the beginning of Mercury retrograde.  At first I thought, how could the Indians be so dumb to invite Bush right at the worst time to finalize the nuclear energy agreement?

     On Friday, just as Mercury retrograde was beginning, I saw the most amazing article in the Washington Post,  Did Bush Blink?  The article stated,

...to close the deal during his visit, Bush directed his negotiators to give in to India's demands that it be allowed to produce unlimited quantities of fissile material and amass as many nuclear weapons as it wants.

...Critics have long denounced such an agreement, saying it would reward India for its rogue nuclear-weapons program and could encourage other nations to do likewise.

     Clearly, the Indians involved were well aware of the Mercury retrograde communications harms, and they took advantage of this to push through their demand.  Further, they have Bush's Vedic chart, thereby knowing G.W. Bush doesn't know the truth and can be deceived.

 

    This issue is tremendously important, for India still refuses to sign the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the U.S. now supporting India's nuclear programs threatens recent gains of reducing and confining nuclear weapons.  Both countries are acting irresponsibly, bent to the lure of private gain, for this deal is profitable to companies in both countries -- and that Mukesh Ambani has a piece of the action.

     As Mr. Spock would say, fascinating.  Yes, it's all indeed fascinating.  Maybe he knows where to find consciousness rising?

     

 

Copyright 1999-2005
Doug Riemer