Predicting the stock market is iffy. Nevertheless it is possible to make educated guesses based on history. I'd like here to make an educated guess that markets will crash and probably cause panic in the last two weeks of February 2003.

I base my surmise on a planetary pattern that has always coincided with crashes and/or panics going back to 1857. I hasten to add that not every time this pattern has formed have markets crashed, but every time markets have crashed this pattern has been extant. So I view the pattern as a kind of economic hurricane warning.

The pattern I'm referring to is composed of conjunctions or oppositions to the United States' natal Mars-Neptune square. In a US natal chart for July 4, 1776—no matter what time of the day one chooses—Mars is found at 21 Gemini, square Neptune at 22 Virgo. Every time there has been a crash or panic, this Mars-Neptune square has been afflicted by transiting planets opposite or square in Sagittarius or Pisces, or conjunct the US Mars in Gemini or Neptune in Virgo.

There's now a new influence in the mix—Pluto slowly moving through Sagittarius. It takes Pluto an average of 248 years to circumnavigate the zodiac so it hasn't been where it will be in late February since before the Industrial Revolution. Therefore, we are learning as we go through this period what Pluto's effects are on modern stock markets.

So far, the evidence suggests that by the time Pluto's opposition to the US Mars ends in 2008, financial markets will have undergone the kind of major transformation Pluto is famous for. Already there have been a rash of corporate scandals, which the Bush Administration has managed to get downplayed in the news media by keeping public attention focused on the more urgent business of war.

Despite this nifty managing of information, the markets and the overall economy have gone into decline. The question is, will that decline reverse, the economy recover and stocks rally? Or does this decline foreshadow a protracted recession, depression, or even great depression?

In my book Time and Money I have predicted that stock markets and the overall economy will go down gradually during this decade and hit bottom in 2015, when a grand cross to the US Sun-Saturn square will be formed by transiting Pluto and Uranus. My reading is that there will be some major crashes along the way to this time of final reckoning, and I think the last two weeks in February will be the next.

Quick Review

Without going into detail, or including any of the myriad of other aspects, it has been these planets in the following signs that have afflicted the US Mars-square-Neptune coinciding with past crashes and panics:

By February 17, 2003, Pluto and Mars will be conjunct at 19 and 20 Sagittarius, and Saturn will be opposite, stationary direct at 22 Gemini. The next day, the Moon will add to this by moving into a conjunction with the US Neptune.

By February 24, the Moon will be at 19 Sagittarius, becoming part of the Mars-Pluto conjunction opposite Saturn, forming a t-square with the US Mars-square-Neptune.

Note that both Saturn and Mars have been the most frequent afflicters during past market crashes. Pluto and Neptune have afflicted during three of the worst: 1903, 1907 and 2001.

That's one reason I guesstimate that the last two weeks in February are going to be memorable. Another reason is that both the economy and the stock markets are going through a time when drastic, fundamental change is indicated, as witness the recent rash of corporate scandals and the inability or unwillingness of the Bush Administration to enact reforms. Instead, the Administration has worked hard to divert public attention from the worsening economy. Meanwhile, "events conspire," as an old saying has it; the trend begun after 2000 continues.

Given that the US Mars is so heavily afflicted in late February, this is also a time when the next war in Iraq may be dominating headlines, and the next major terrorist attack inside the US may occur, as it was the previous Saturn-Pluto opposition that coincided with 9/11/01.

The two biwheel charts included here enable a comparison between the Saturn-Pluto opposition of September 11, 2001 and the upcoming one on February 24, 2003. On September 11, 2001, Saturn and Pluto were at 14 and 12 degrees respectively; on February 24, 2003 they will be on the leeward side of the US Mars at 22 and 19 degrees respectively.

This will mark the last Saturn-Pluto opposition for about 33 years. In the past, it has often been the final "hit" made by such aspects that coincide with the most dramatic events.

Robert Gover's book Time and Money: the Economy and the Planets came out in late May, 2005. Euromoney Magazine reviewed it in late 2005. Robert has partnered with a fund manager in Florida, Mike Mansfield, to do a financial newsletter. Robert was the featured speaker at a conference of investors from around the world in Denver on September 24, 2005, He has a BA in economics and has studied astrology since 1965. By the mid-1970s, he had become interested in stock market astrology, and by the mid-1980s, with the advent of astrological software, his interest had expanded to the whole economy. Time and Money may be purchased from www.hopepubs.com, or amazon, B&N and other online vendors, as well as book stores. Robert is a memmber of the International Society of Astrological Research, the International Society of Business Astrologers, and the American Federation of Astrologers. He is also a novelist, and the latest edition of his most famous book One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding can be purchased at most online bookstores. His other novels may be obtained from used or rare book dealers. He has written one other nonfiction book: Voodoo Contra, about the conradictory meanings of that ominous word.