Weekly column: Market volatility driven by the Aries vortex

Review

U.S. job growth continued to slow down in August, a sign that the labor market is deteriorating markedly.

The government also revised its numbers from earlier in the summer, and said that the economy lost a net 13,000 jobs in June. It was the first such decline since December 2020. The U.S. added 22,000 jobs in August, the Labor Department reported Friday, below the gain of 75,000 jobs economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected to see.

—Rachel Louis Ensign and Justin Lahart, “Hiring Stalled in August, With 22,000 New Jobs,” www.wsj.com, September 5, 2025.

 Mortgage rates fell to the lowest level since October 2024. Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, showed the average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 6.5% from last week’s reading of 6.56%.

—Matthew Kazin, Daniella Genovese, “Mortgage Rates Tumble,” www.foxbusiness.com, September 4, 2025.

It was an interesting week for global financial markets as we approach the end of the current TUMDI period, which began on August 22 and ends on Monday, September 8. TUMDI highlights strong, disruptive Uranus signatures, which we often observe correlate with surprising and unexpected remarks by President Trump that are followed by sharp price movements in financial markets. Or maybe the market turns were going to happen anyway, regardless of the president’s words and acts. Maybe there is no correlation. We will have to wait and see. The observations have only been in effect since he took office 8 months ago.

The current slew of Uranus signatures was most notable from August 22 to 25 and is now again from September 5 to 8. During this time, many global stock indices made new all-time or multi-year highs in the August 22-25 time band and then declined briefly but somewhat sharply into early last week, before beginning another rally to challenge or make a new round of highs by Friday. But following the US employment numbers, which were released Friday morning, US stocks once again started a sudden retreat southward.

Twists and turns were also observable in Bitcoin and Ethereum. Both fell hard to lows on August 29-September 2, following their all-time highs of August 14 in BTC and August 24 in Ethereum. However, the most exciting moves during this TUMDI time band transpired with Gold and Silver. On Friday, Gold exploded to another new All-Time High (ATH), with the spot market testing $3600, while Silver soared above $42.00 (December contract) for the first time in 14 years, probably headed for a new ATH shortly.

Short-term geocosmics and longer-term thoughts

Why does history matter? “History shows us how to behave,” Author David McCullough writes. “History teaches, reinforces what we believe in, what we stand for, and what we ought to be willing to stand up for.” It is not only the dry recording of facts, it has a moral quotient. “Indifference to history isn’t just ignorant, it’s rude.” Bluntly put, ignorance is a form of ingratitude. Peggy Noonan, “We Need to Know History, Especially Now,” www.wsj.com, September 5, 2025.

The short-term TUMDI period ends this weekend as Uranus turns retrograde at 1° Gemini. It follows the Sun/Uranus square of August 24, which was further highlighted by Jupiter at the midpoint of both the Sun and Uranus, forming a double semi-square. It was a volatile period for many markets. But it was unusual in the case of global stock markets, which were bullish at both the start and end of Uranus-highlighted times. The DJIA, for instance, made a new ATH on August 22, followed by a modest decline into a major cycle low on September 2. On Friday, both the DJIA and S&P made another new ATH (but not NASDAQ), only to suddenly reverse downwards again. Typical Uranus behavior, much like Mercury retrograde, the Trickster. Perhaps this is not surprising, given that Uranus is the higher octave of Mercury.

With Uranus, you usually get either breakouts to new highs or lows or sudden reversals of trend. In this case, stocks appear to have rallied to highs in each instance. The new highs suggest a breakout. But in each case, the breakout is soon followed by a pullback, so it ends up being more of a reversal, albeit only short-term until now. Will this Uranus zone be more of a reversal for the US stock market? If so, it could be a multi-week decline. A break below last week’s low would suggest it is, and this would fit the true reversal character of Uranus.

Market reversals are possible not only because powerful Uranus is changing directions, but also because there is a very tight-orb lunar eclipse on Sunday in mutable signs. Disruptive events or announcements could still strike financial markets by Monday if they didn’t just begin on Friday, September 5. It wouldn’t be surprising to astrologers, but the specific nature of the event or announcement would not be easily known. For instance, Uranus periods are vulnerable to natural calamities, like earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and electrical blackouts. They can also coincide with terrorist acts. These types of events may be heightened by the intense lunar eclipse unfolding in changeable, mutable signs on Sunday and Monday.

The next critical geocosmic reversal is not that far away. It takes place with the new moon of September 21, which is also an eclipse, but a rather wide solar eclipse in this case. But that is not what makes that period so important from a cosmic perspective. There are two other factors that stand out. The first is that Mars will enter Scorpio one day later, on September 22. The other is that the New Moon takes place within a degree of the Autumnal Equinox, at 29° 05’ Virgo, in opposition to the Saturn/Neptune conjunction.

Mars in Scorpio has a high correlation to bullish trends in commodity markets, especially Gold, which we will discuss in our September 14 micro-webinar. The 36-year conjunction of Saturn and Neptune is a long-term planetary-pair cycle, which has particular importance from spring 2025 through February 2026 because it takes place on the Vernal Equinox point of 0° Aries. Furthermore, the long-term Uranus/Pluto trine is also taking place, and its midpoint also activates  0° Aries. This creates a funnel in the solar system, or a vortex, with the Earth at the apex. Hence, this is the basis for the extraordinary celestial configuration we call the “Aries Vortex.” The last time Saturn and Neptune conjoined in early Aries was over 3000 years ago, and it probably didn’t involve the midpoint of Uranus and Pluto. A configuration this rare involving all four of the outermost planets is a harbinger of a radical change in the arc of civilization, which the world is visibly undergoing now.

Hence, as Peggy Noonan writes in her weekly column for the Wall Street Journal, this is a time in which it is worth knowing history. Knowledge and appreciation of history cannot and should not be ignored, except by those who may be ignorant and/or ungrateful. This is also why astrology is so valuable to society, because students and researchers of this study can observe these rare cosmic configurations, and look back on history and see what types of events, transformations, and new eras unfolded in the human experience. Similar themes and even events repeat under similar cosmic patterns. Astrology is one of the finest studies involving pattern-matching, and history provides the data for that research.

The Aries Vortex is already manifesting as a challenging and grueling period, for it represents a vastly new and different path for humanity. It is not easy to adjust to this magnitude of a new world order. But it is necessary, and it helps when one understands that these very rare cosmic periods also represent outstanding opportunities, particularly to those who can adjust quickly, as associated with Uranus in Gemini.

Yes, Saturn in Aries coincides with coercion and bullying, as written in last week’s column. But that’s only one of several expressions possible under this combination. Another is to recognize that any time Mars and Saturn, or the signs they rule, interact with one another (like Saturn in Aries, where Aries is the ruling sign of Mars), it is a time of building – building new structures, systems, rules, laws, and guidelines by which we interact with one another. Building new structures and systems is what Saturn does so well. But this activity works best—potentially achieves greatness—when all are on board, and not when it is demanded or forced onto the collective by one or just a few. When that happens, there is much resistance (Saturn) against the force (Aries). But when it is a team, or a “we” effort instead of a “me” effort, great things can be built that last for a very long time. This could be a time likened to the period in which the Great Pyramids were built. That type of herculean effort is a classic example of the constructive principles of Saturn and Aries working towards manifesting an enduring mutual goal with a view to the far-distant future. Our world leaders might try for something like that.