A more fragmented international monetary system may emerge from the unprecedented financial sanctions imposed on Russia after the Ukraine invasion which threatens to dilute the dominance of the US dollar, according to an IMF official. The dollar’s share of international reserves had fallen from 70 per cent to 60 per cent over the past two decades and may fall further.
Mark Annand writes: “Unable to access the Visa payment system, Russian banks have already switched to the Chinese equivalent UnionPay, Saudi Arabia has commenced a parallel oil market benchmarked in Chinese Yuan, India the world’s second largest petroleum importer is dealing direct with Moscow and Iran on semi-opaque hybrid currency trade barter terms.
Macro-economics is not my area and currency astrology charts are difficult to source, more so to analyze. But it will be one part of the global jigsaw as the tectonic plates shift in 2023 to 2026, with all four outer planets moving sign. Nothing will happen overnight and the dollar is likely to remain the dominant currency for years ahead, though weakened. But it will effectively end an era that has been in place for more than half a century. Part of the astrological narrative will also be connected to the USA Pluto Return.
The other factor is the end of the globalisation that has been in place for three decades. Suddenly companies are wakening up to supply chain problems and dangers if, for example, China were to invade Taiwan, which supplies 53 per cent of the global semi-conductors and 92 per cent for advanced chips. Entire industries would grind to a halt if Taiwan collapsed. Suddenly alternatives to all manner of basics such as lithium, nickel and cobalt are being sought, never mind oil and gas, and wheat/fertilisers.
The US Federal Reserve Bank chart will be a partial guide to the US dollar though having plotted previous dollar highs (Feb 1985, March 2002) and lows (Aug 78, May 95, and May 2011) there wasn’t much that was illuminating – though these were standard currency fluctuations not global trends.
The Fed Res opened for business on 16 November 1914 9am Washington, DC, and was certainly stressed after the 2008 crash when tr Pluto moved into Capricorn and opposed the Fed Res Saturn Pluto conjunction in Cancer. As tr Pluto moves into Aquarius it will oppose the 8th house Neptune in 2023/24 which will induce major panics and havoc – much as is flagged up on other central bank charts elsewhere. See previous post 10 September 2021: Pluto in Aquarius sending shock waves through central banks.
This year the Fed Res chart is beset by tr Saturn square the Scorpio Sun, having moved over the downbeat conjunction to Jupiter. The Eclipses will impact the Sun, Moon, Mercury in Scorpio which will tug on the 8th house Neptune – so it will be on a bumpy road, heading into more challenges over the next several years.
I must say when I researched and wrote the previous September 2021 post on shock waves through central banks it wasn’t too clear what black swan event would paddle in to cause it – but the jigsaw is beginning to fall into place, sadly providing a none-too-cheerful a picture in the short term.
One of the financial cable channels interviewed a forensic economist who intimated that Putin probably invented crypto currency to exact his revenge by deconstructing western economies. Uranus in Taurus is a tricky lot.
Neptune conjunctions with Jupiter in mutable signs seem to be a signature of major crisis in the global currency system. There were three of them in Sagittarius in February, May and September 1971 during the crisis in the post war Bretton Woods system which saw the US quit the post war gold standard on 15 August 1971. Roll back the clock to the 1930s and Neptune conjoined Jupiter in Virgo in September 1932 at the height of the US banking system which ended when FDR took the US off the gold standard in 1933. The upcoming Jupiter Neptune conjunction at 23 Pisces on 12 April 2022 seems to be a signal for more turmoil.
Sorry, I meant to put The Philippines in.
During Theresa May’s tenure, Liam Fox, who was trade secretary at the time tried to get a trade deal because of their vast deposits of Lithium.
After the last world war we the older generation had nothing and now we have everything! But sadly the
younger generation who have had everything and will have nothing, natures rebalancing.
I remember reading in 2021 Ceres sandwiched between Saturn the grim reaper and Pluto looming food
devastation, we can see it happening before our eyes, when will our Government wake to reality, instead
of planning ‘The Great Reset’
Well, *some* have everything, not all the younger generation do. 2.5 million children are living in food poverty in the UK alone, right now. In the 1980’s, most children I knew didn’t get everything they asked for, but none went to food banks. So we’re coming into this with a pretty low bar and it doesn’t bear thinking about.
The difference between the 70s and 80s, Tara, isn’t it, was that we still had a functioning welfare safety net which has been/ is being slowly and callously dismantled since 2010.
‘One day I eat, one day I don’t’:
Bolton grapples with cost of living crisis
Salma’s previously comfortable life was upended when her husband, a chef, had a stroke four years ago. Now they rely on universal credit and disability benefits. British Gas is threatening to refer her to a debt collection agency and install a pre-payment meter due to an unpaid £395 bill. Her husband is diabetic and could become seriously ill if they cannot afford to refrigerate his insulin.”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/01/britain-cost-of-living-crisis-bolton-citizens-advice
It’s life threatening and frightening for some.
“One day I eat, one day i don’t”
The irony of modern Britain where there’s whole groups of people choosing intermittent fasting as a way to avoid obesity.
Thanks Marjorie, and everyone for their thought-provoking comments. This situation now is shocking. But I believe it’s been creeping up on us all for a very long time, and in recent times the poverty and desperation of many during the 1970’s and 80’s, for example, has been more or less forgotten here in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.
Out of curiosity, I looked at 1851 when Henry Mayhew’s London Labour and the London Poor was first published in collected form, from a series of articles written in the 1840’s. Obviously, there was no Welfare State then, but various philanthropic ventures and charities trying to help. Mayhew’s work explored in great depth the lives of people caught up in the Industrial Revolution, and how they managed to survive, or not in many instances.
It may be significant that Neptune in 1851 was in the first decan of Pisces. And there was a remarkable line-up of Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto in Taurus – all of them newly arrived in that sign of food, farming, and money.
The first European food bank, in Paris in 1984, had Pluto and Saturn in financial sign Scorpio.
The first UK food bank, in 2000, had Saturn in Taurus and Uranus and Neptune in Aquarius.
So here we are with Neptune in Pisces again, and an emphasis on Taurus and Scorpio in the eclipses, and with Uranus in Taurus, Saturn in ‘humanitarian’ Aquarius……There’s an opportunity to do things differently. We can always hope.
The more we plunder and pilfer the earth’s resources nature will turn on us.
There soon won’t be enough chips ,lithium etc for phones electric cars and other things
let alone wheat and grain for food.
About 25 years ago I encountered somone who said that money would disappear within the next 50 years and that the super rich would come to be viewed as pariahs. If they didn’t use their money for the benefit of all they would be hounded from their bolt holes and stripped of their wealth. According to him, we put these people on a pedestal and assume that because of their wealth they must somehow have special talents. He claimed that none of them are especially bright or capable, just lucky, but we enable them! When I heard this it was around the time that EPOS was just becoming a thing so I thought he meant that notes and coins would disappear and everything would go electronically.
When the ‘crash’ came in 2008-2009 I thought that was the start with all the ‘virtual’ money disappearing from the system. It has since returned and with inflation of 12% announced here in NL today, indeed I start to wonder what’s around the corner this time. Many people bet on German marks at the start of WWII (including a family member) and ended up with nothing. But they survived and the world was rebuilt.
Uranus in Taurus would be key to understanding major changes in money such as cryptocurrency and he decline of the US dollar as an international standard. I believe the UK left the gold standard in the 1930s, the first major Western power to do so, under the last Uranus in Taurus. Also, this transit would bring economic difficulties through agriculture (the Dust Bowl in the Thirties, the loss of Ukrainian wheat and fertilizer this time).
For Uranus in Taurus previous occasions see post May 13 2018
As an aside …. it’s interesting to see the BBC are publishing articles titled “5 reasons why prices are going up”. It highlights how good the UK has had it for the past 30 years and there is a whole generation (or more) who’ve got no idea about inflation or high interest rates.
I’d say the last time was Black Wednesday (16 Sep 1992) when Major’s government pulled out of the ERM. Interesting it happened with Sun-Jupiter conjunct at 24 Virgo and Saturn in Aquarius. Jupiter-Neptune are now about to be conjunct in Pisces opposing that point. Not sure where it plays in the UK chart – if at all.
Thanks GD, very interesting indeed. The founding date for the Bank of England is 27th July, 1694 (Book of World Horoscopes). In the GC ephemeris for that date there’s Neptune at 24 Pisces, opposing Mars at 24 Virgo. Neptune is at 23-4 Pisces from mid April that year, and on into August.
Boom! Great find – Jane. We really have been very lucky in general (obviously there are some who haven’t). I can remember tougher times in the 70s/80s but my parents were PLuto in Cancer generation so always very cautious about spending and we always had what we needed but not necessarily what we wanted!
Apparently Bolivia has the highest reserves of lithium known so far. So there are plans to mine it out of that country soon. In the same breadth, Samsung is planning to make the biggest investment in Texas history, according to the Governor, with a new semiconductor factory. Samsung(a Korean company) also closed their phone making factory in China.
Are there any signs of a U.S recession in 2023/24 Marjorie?