Thoughts on the 2021 Chinese New Year

In the 1980s I had a friend who was very much into Chinese astrology.  He had detailed charts and calculations, and he linked Chinese astrology with the stock market.  This is a significant observation, and it is something that one can accept without believing in astrology. The Chinese New Year is  important in East Asia, and it can have an impact on the buying and selling of stocks and precicous metals. My friend advised me to be careful in the week or two leading up to the New Year, as investors are waiting for the year’s trends to clarify.

I do think that there is something in this.  We think of January 1 as the beginning of the year, but we often don’t know how things are going to pan out until the first New Moon in the sign of Aquarius.  So if we look back to the New Moon on January 24 2020, which started the Year of the Rat, we see a square between Mars in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces.  This is perhaps a signature of an emerging virus.  Also, the New Moon was conjunct the Mercury-Saturn and Mercury-Pluto midpoints.  A sure sign that depressive events are on the way.

Now let’s move forward a year, to the New Moon on February 11 2021, which kicked off the Year of the Ox. The chart for this New Moon is at the top of this article, and is set for Washington DC .

This chart may tell us something about the tone of the Year of the Ox.  Or it might just refer to the month ahead, finishing on March 13. And maybe I shouldn’t mix up Western and Chinese astrology. Still, it is interesting that at the time of the New Moon there was an exact conjunction between Venus and  Jupiter, the two benefics.  This is a favourable signature, and for some people things are going to be great.  But the conjunction is in Aquarius, and that’s harsh.  There are going to be winners and losers, especially as the Venus-Jupiter conjunction is aspecting the Mars-Saturn midpoint.  Mars and Saturn are the death pair, and we get the picture of making money out of other people’s misery.  Or another year where the inequalities in society get worse.

I also can’t help noticing that Hades, the hypothetical planet of garbage and death, is rising in Washington DC.  This may say something about the US, and the continued repercussions from the epidemic.  Matters aren’t helped by the fact that Hades is making an 135 degree aspect to the Aquarius New Moon.  Witte and Lefeldt, in their Rules for Planetary Pictures, wrote as follows about Hades aspecting the Sun-Moon midpoint: “Dealing with disagreeable matters on a daily basis”.  And in terms of Washington DC, the seat of the US government, the planet Neptune is on the midheaven.  Governmental confusion, a leadership that isn’t quite as confident as it thinks it is.

The chart also reminds us that Saturn and Uranus are getting closer and closer to a square – the aspect is exact on February 17. We are living in a time of huge pressure, when existing structures cannot be taken for granted.  And people will continue to be restless.  Not just now, but throughout the year.  The government wants to control, the people want to be free, and there really isn’t a compromise.

But what about the markets? Are they going to crash? They crashed last March, which was nearly a year ago.  The Jupiter-Saturn conjunction was in December, and the markets are still standing.  The Saturn-Uranus square might destabilize markets, but will it crash them? Not necessarily, remembering that the 1931 Saturn-Uranus square coincided with a big fall in the reserve currency.  Then the reserve currency was the British Pound, now it’s the US Dollar.  But don’t regard February 17 as the big day.  The Saturn-Uranus square dominates the whole year, and the last time the aspect will be exact is December 24 2021. Exciting times, with the crunch structures likely to be US Dollar, the European Union, and the global financial order.