  ASTRO-FINANCE FOR AUGUST 2023
 By Barry Rosen
We enter the month of August with optimism and pessimism. The Mars/Jupiter trine peaked on August 1  is often a key turning point and tends to support speculation and risk/taking and often marks key highs for many markets.   The Mercury/Saturn opposition tends to create a negative mindset. So is the glass half-full or half-empty? Today, Fitch downgraded US Treasury bonds and that has sparked a sell-off.
At publication, we see the stock market in need of correction. It may only be a few weeks with a low due into August 9th and the Venus square to Uranus which is often negative and then another low into the week of August 21st with the Sun and Neptune in a quincunx to Neptune and Pluto.
Jupiter goes retrograde on Sept 4th but there is an optimism cycle with Jupiter trining the Sun into Sept. 8th which should hold the market up until then. Seasonally, September is the weakest month of the year after March and we have another FOMC announcement on Sept. 20th. Given the energy inflation we are seeing, we do think they will raise rates again at that meeting but if crude oil is up at 91.50 by then and gasoline prices are back up, inflation is going to poke out its ugly head again.
We are open to the NQ 100 futures getting up to 17000 before it’s done but then we are in more trouble.
Venus went retrograde in early Leo and will cross back into the Gandanta (Cancer 27-30) around August 7-8th  which is an emotional knot and Venus has a lot to do with banking (Taurus/2nd sign) and money and all the crazy maneuvers that the banks have done to keep the system functioning may rear their heads this fall. We also had Venus retrograde in Leo/Cancer Gandanta in 2007 before the banking crisis.
STOCK MARKET:
We have noted in previous issues that the Jupiter/Uranus connection in late Aries will hold AI and tech up into early September. The Jupiter/Rahu conjunction continues to push the tech bubble and AI craze to the moon. We do not see it ending until early September with Jupiter approaching Uranus toward the end of Aries. The media is calling for a new bull market but the 20% figure has always been rather arbitrary.
We are skeptical that the S & P cash will take out 4650-4688 by the top with a small chance of 4800.  If the 4650 region continues to be difficult to take out by early September, it does open up a much larger fall into the 4th quarter.
With Jupiter’s proximity to Uranus peaking with the Jupiter station into Sept 4th, there will be some kind of high on the year for stocks into that window. We are starting to think that NQ 100 could get up to 16500-17000 with the AI craze and pull Tesla up to 330-350  by September. Still, Tesla could have a huge correction if we do get a massive fall in the stock market.
This darling stock is still in dreamland as dealers have too many unsold Teslas on the lot even after a 35% price drop. ELON is forcing its competitors to lose money also.  Yes, they are wonderful but no one realizes it still takes coal and natural gas to run the turbines that power the grid that charges your EVs. The illusion that EVs will save the world and global warming is another scam. The same is true of Solar Panels. 60-70% of the parts for solar panels come from China and they are using tons of coal and creating more pollution and more emissions than anyone in the world they are not likely to curb emissions just because John Kerry visited them.   Of course, we have to love alternate energy but it is an illusion that we can transition away from coal and oil very quickly.
With Jupiter going retrograde from Sept. 4th into the end of the year, we will get recessionary action happening. We do not expect the FOMC to ease rates until next year.   We have been looking for a difficult time for US stocks in September/October/November. This is also coinciding with the 12-year cycle of Jupiter in Aries when in Sept. 2011, stocks made a high and then fell into May 2012.
The problem for the fall is Jupiter will be opposing the debilitated Sun and Mars in Libra with Mercury in the fall of 2023 and that is similar to the oppositions we had between the bearish signs of Aries and Libra, two air signs, which caused more rapid stock market declines. In Oct. 1987, we had something very similar and hence there is more crash energy in the fall of this year.  The continued higher rates as well as oil inflation will hurt the market.
We also cannot look back to 1974 and the fall of Nixon and the impact on the perception of the US and the fall of the US economy into 1974. Will the Biden scandal and other political tension take our heads out of the clouds dreaming of not working and riding our electric cars?
The context for a major financial crisis continues to be there this fall as the house of cards of world debt, endless war expenditures are not going to come to a pretty and neat end. Still, the powers that be manage to do what they can to stay in power for the sake of the rest of us.
FALL PREVIEW: NODES ON THE EDGEÂ
 The nodes are going to get weird as we move into September. In the True Node system, they are at 1 degree to 29 degrees Sept 15-Dec. 13th. They will be moving through the Aries/Pisces Gandanta area Pisces 27-Aries 3. The last time we had the nodes in that Gandanta was Feb./March of  2005.
During that period, three major events in the world should be impacted by the Rahu return. In March 2005, China ratified an anti-secession law, aimed at preventing Taiwan from declaring independence. On Feb. 10, 2005, North Korea announces that it possesses nuclear weapons as a protection against the hostility it says it perceives from the United States. Will the Chinese/Taiwan conflict come to a head.? North Korea keeps getting closer to China and Russia as they unite against the West. Let’s hope that it does not get too tense. Any of these events could upset the global markets.
When the nodes are on the edge, they can peer into an alternate universe. Psychology gets eerie and weird and distorted.   Rahu when afflicted by being sandhi or on the edge can be more anxious or paranoid, feels constrained by forces beyond his control, victimized by overpowering forces, may have more nightmares or difficult dreams, or be a bit manic-depressive. If you have your Sun or Moon 29-1 degree of the water signs/air sign juncture in your natal chart or if you are Aquarius rising which is co-ruled by Rahu or if you are in a Rahu period or a Dasha period where Rahu is the nakshatra lord. It could also lead to emptiness leading toward addictive patterns, frustration, sorrow, dejection, psychological intensity, and mental anguish.
Ketu on the edge 1.30Â degree Scorpio to 28.30Â can have a strong desire to change directions in life, wants to give up material attachment, feels disillusioned, has difficult emotional knots to unravel, feels unsettled and his emotional distortions may tend toward self-isolation. may feel stuck in the past with regrets. This one may start to be felt by Sept. 1st and last into late December.
GOLD
Gold is due for another setback into the middle of August but the Sun going into Leo on August 16th often saves it and cycles look better overall into late October and November for Gold and into next year.
Larger cycle highs for gold are due in Sept. as it is gold like the Sun in Leo and Jupiter will be trining it and we have another cycle high in early November with Venus trining Pluto into Nov. 6th as I find Venus/Pluto aspects are often connected to gold highs. Â Gold is due for a setback for a few weeks but will finally be a key buy-in mid-August and it can be played with ETFs like GLD and GDX (Gold Miners) and we cover them in our newsletter.
We have seen banks trash gold by selling futures for years and are not sure they will stop. It is not out of the question as the banks continue to manipulate. We do think gold will have its day from the fall of 2023 into the spring of 2024.
We have a gold cycle higher into 2024 for now. Gold could accelerate in a crisis to 2245 and then 2450 into the year 2024. Â Stay on top of our daily forecasts with Fortucast.com newsletters.
CRYPTOS:  Bitcoin has a strong Mercury component and the Mercury/ Saturn opposition in Leo is not going to help it until it gets into Virgo after Oct 1st. Still, it should respond to an economic crisis in the US although the SEC continues to want to destroy Cryptos.
In terms of the bigger picture, Bitcoin finally gave a technical breakout in June and projects at least 35000 short-term and could get back to 50000-54000 into next year.   The fall financial crisis will help. Jupiter is trining the natal Jupiter in the natal chart (10/31/2008 11:10 am, Van Nuys, CA) at 22 Sagittarius) into Jupiter station in early September at 21 degrees.  We do see a reason to be in Bitcoin again in mid-August.
We think long timer they will be vulnerable still as the SEC tries to regulate cryptos out of existence as indicated by the SEC filings against COIN and other players. Still, Bitcoin is in a Jupiter/Rahu period from August 2023 into 2026 using the correct dasha of (Adhana Vimshottari Dasha) and it is likely to weather the storm for a bit.
Remember to work with your broker. Trading and investing have to be done both technically and astrology can help but should not be the only factor in making a decision. Â You have to buy low and sell high.
As always, this is my snapshot thought for  August 1, 2023. New information comes in daily. If you are a trader or investor, consider my Fortucast newsletters which are published daily at www.fortucast.com. A trial subscription is 97.00/month. If you want to learn financial astrology visit my website at www.appliedvedicastrology.com and click on the Financial Astrology link.
ABOUT BARRY ROSEN: Barry Rosen has been teaching classes in Investment Astrology since 1990 and began teaching the other aspects of Vedic astrology specialized courses online in 2017, including Dashas, Transits, Personal Finance, Health, Longevity, and Death, Nakshatras, The Spiritual Dimensions of Vedic Astrology, Secrets of the Houses, Relationships and many more. In his consultations, he focuses more on the emotional and mental patterns in the chart and their impact on consciousness which can create waves of illusion blocking you. A good consultation should help you witness the play of karma so that you are not gripped by it; you can transcend it and realize your Divinity, becoming the commander of the planets and not the victim. Barry Rosen also operates a blog on Facebook under Barry Rosen and also Astro-Yoga and his professional astrological website is www.appliedvedicastrology.com. He can be reached at support@appliedvedicastrology.com.
