Are You a Fan of Astrology?? If Yes, Read This!!

To my Friends:

On August 6 and 7 this week we will have a configuration in deep space that astrologers call a Grand Cardinal Cross. Planets have been building up in cardinal signs lately to a very high degree. Cardinal signs are Aries, Libra, Cancer, and Capricorn. Within those signs all the elements are represented – air, fire, earth, and water. While we have seen cardinal crosses before, we have never seen one with such a large number of planets involved and in such tight mathematical degree. If you checked your August forecast on Astrology Zone, you already know this is coming up, for I discussed this at some length.

When I went on my pages on Twitter and Facebook this week, I noticed that many readers were apprehensive of the coming cardinal cross. In this letter to you, I want to assure you that the cardinal cross will be helpful. Hard aspects like the one the world is about to experience this week are meant to push us forward in a big way and help us see where we stand.

Truths will be illuminated, secrets will be exposed, and any injustices will be corrected. Under this type of configuration, we cannot deny, ignore, or hide from certain realities, but that’s good, for only then can we be energized to make things better. The cardinal cross – like eclipses – often pushes us to either end of the spectrum. That means you may find events to be either very difficult or very thrilling. Either way you will know where you stand and you will be able to plan with a greater sense of certainty.
I what to tell you what this means, and will in a minute, but first I want to let you know about a special service I have been creating for you as a gift this summer on Astrology Zone. I an not sure you know that each week I prepare a pre-recorded forecast for your week ahead to help you be your most productive. I started my audiotapes at the start of June and many of you have sent me such nice letters telling me you liked it. Thank you! It’s part of a Summer Series that Learning Annex and I cooked up as a surprise for you. My service ends on Labor Day weekend, September 6, so I hope you will try it before it ends and let me know what you think.

To try this out, just go to http://www.GetAstrology.com – the site run by our sponsor, Learning Annex. You will need to enter an email address, a password, and your birthday. Learning Annex has assured us that your information will be held strictly private. After you enter your information, you will come to your own sign’s forecast – just click and listen to my voice in a pre-recorded broadcast. I think you will be amazed at the quality of the sound – I was! You won’t need any wires and you won’t have to download any files. Just click and listen!

After you have heard your sign’s pre-recorded audio forecast for the coming week, you could listen to other sign’s forecasts, such as for your rising sign or a friend’s sign. You will hear my voice speaking for your sign, and each sign’s outlook lasts about 5 minutes. New tapes are loaded every Sunday for the week ahead. If you are at work when you listen, you may want to use your earphones so as not to disturb anyone working nearby.

I have been announcing this new audio service for the summer each month at the bottom of your sign’s forecast on Astrology Zone below your sign’s Summary and Dates to Note. I call that section my PS. Please read those announcements – there is good stuff in there!

Also, in the future, I am going to issue some spontaneous events and invitations on Twitter, too – such as, “Meet me tomorrow night at such and such a place in XYZ city at 6:30 PM for fun and conversation!” I want to inject a few surprises in my appearances and see what happens! Please follow me on Twitter @Astrologyzone and on Facebook to get your invitation. (Hint: One fun event is coming in September.)

Now, let’s go back to our discussion on the cardinal cross. This month’s cardinal cross will include Pluto, Uranus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Mars, Venus, and the transiting moon in Cancer. That’s eight heavenly bodies! The only ones not involved will be the Sun, Neptune, and Mercury. That is a large degree of participation!
Technically, in order to have a true cardinal cross, you need to have four squares and two oppositions. You would see a perfect square box with an X in the middle. That’s a grand cross. When the group of planets involved are all cardinal signs (Aries, Libra, Cancer, and Capricorn) you have a grand cardinal cross.
This month’s grand cardinal cross is extraordinary because it will have not four squares but ten, and not two oppositions but seven. Wow, as you see, this is a very intense cardinal cross. Looking ahead 500 years, I could not find another cardinal cross involving so many planets.

Another remarkable feature of this cardinal cross is that each planet will be within five degrees of each another, and many will be in even tighter configuration, within a degree or so! Cardinal signs are VERY energetic and when they are found in very early degrees of zero to 1.5 degrees, like many of these planets will be, they epitomize the very life force. This is very powerful!
Furthermore – another point that astounded me – is that Mars will be at a very sensitive degree on August 6 and 7, unlocking the message of the June 26 lunar eclipse, or bringing more news to a situation that arose at that time.

Squares are known to present obstacles, but they also help you move forward and even turn a corner. They are a necessary part of life, for they uproot us from our complacency and shake us into awareness. You may experience a big breakthrough or the final ending of a long and debilitating circumstance.
If, for example, you have been hoping against hope that you would 1) get a generous raise even though your company is failing, or 2) see your sweetheart end his or her wild ways and suddenly show a desire to commit, or 3) get your landlord to agree to lower your rent, you will likely see the truth of the situation now and see the other’s true colors. You may finally realize you may need to make other arrangements. On the other hand, if you were accused of something unfairly, the truth will come out, and you will be vindicated. View the cardinal cross as a harbinger of clarity and the purveyor of justice.

If you are a cardinal sign – Aries, Libra, Cancer, and Capricorn – you will feel this cross the most, but only if you were born at the end of March, June, September, or December. These reader birthdays will correspond to the early degrees of this group of planets.

Even if you are not born at the end of the months listed, you might still feel this cross quite strongly if you have a rising sign or a planet in of one of the cardinal signs listed, and if you have those planets or rising sign in early degrees of the sign (between 0 and 5 degrees). Still, for example, a Pisces or a Virgo – two mutable signs – could be feeling general financial tensions, for example, even if they have no planets in the qualifying degrees.
Remember, however, that when planets set up “birth pangs” like these, you get results, and sometimes the results feel like a great relief. Other times, things don’t quite go your way, but even so, you can find a way to fix things if you like. A lot will depend on actions and decisions you made earlier. Now that those events are maturing, they are reaching a certain critical or fruition stage. While I cannot see all in your chart, I can see your Sun and rising sign, so check my August forecast on Astrology Zone to know more about how things might play out for you.

Two particularly important planets to watch will be Saturn and Uranus, still standing approximately 180 degrees apart. Even though they had their last opposition on July 21, they are still very close. Saturn rules all that is traditional and conservative, and Uranus represents all that is new and revolutionary. As you see, these two planets are very different.

These two began confronting each other on November 4, 2008. Since then, they have been engaging in combat, separating and retreating, engaging and now finally separating. They have not have had direct confrontation since 1965-1967, a time when society moved out of the roles and mood of the 1950′s into a much more modern time. In the USA the changes focused on the changing role of women and African Americans in our society. Often when we are participating in big change we are too busy to notice how massive things are shifting, but in hindsight it becomes clear.

Certainly Saturn and Uranus have been keeping up the pressure to force us to decide what is valuable and to be preserved, and what is new and revolutionary and should be embraced to replace all that is outworn. As creatures of habit we tend to cling to what we know rather than try something new. The universe knows this and is currently giving us a big nudge. Saturn is about to do a similar dance with Pluto – and I will describe that situation in more detail in a subsequent newsletter to you.

While it is true, as I said earlier, that squares help us turn a corner by presenting an obstacle, you still have to keep alert, for you will be expected to show resourcefulness to steer your ship correctly out of any choppy waters that you may encounter and into smoother, warmer seas. Oppositions are just as they sound – two planets battling it out for dominance – although in all oppositions there is an equal and counteracting opportunity for cooperation and balance.

Which way things go is ultimately up to each of us, and will most often have to be viewed in the light of what has come before. No one is born “new” into a month, for we bring along all our dreams and goals, disappointments, and victories with us into each month as we go along. You are the sum total of all the decisions you have made so far in life, both little ones and big ones. This grand cardinal cross will pertain to what has come before, and of those decisions and actions, which ones demand correction in the light of changes in the world and in your life.
Everyone will likely notice some tension in the air this week in world events. In the news, we will likely see the global financial market gyrate a bit, a mirror of people’s shifting emotions and reactions to what is reported in the news. You may see some wild weather patterns, too.

Here is an important point that I would like you to keep in mind. Any cross pattern isn’t just operative for a day, but much, much longer into the future. Some astrologers view a cross as a mid-point, so therefore the outcome might not fully manifest for several months.

It may be helpful to look back on the last time we had a grand cross. That one was not cardinal but in fixed signs on August 17-18, 1999. Fixed signs include Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius. Those signs felt the changes in a powerful way in 1999, especially those readers born at the very end of their signs, in the third week of February, May, August, and November.
So in the coming week, if anything is weak and ready to break, it will. It will be obvious that the center will not hold – something has to change. Actually, that’s the good news, for extreme planetary energies like the one we are about to experience will soon display any defective parts in a relationship, project, certain investment deal, or other endeavor or part of life. Those outworn or faulty elements will either spin off quickly and be discarded, or demand fixing or advice very soon. If you were deprived of reward on any level, it may come to you now.

Cardinal energy is not patient, so when the news its, it will demand you attend to it quickly with a sense of urgency. We all will have no choice but to act under such strong gale force winds, but let’s not forget that forceful, difficult aspects illuminate and clarify situations like none other. The universe will now take a strong hand in things to show us what we could not see for ourselves. Yet, as I have been saying, if you are with the wrong boss, the wrong sweetheart, the wrong investor, or in the wrong living situation (you name it – there are many possibilities), the cardinal cross may suddenly end that situation and help you get into a new one quickly.
With the planets going through such massive birth pangs, as a society, they will move us to a new and more enlightened social order. The cardinal signs born early in their signs will be at the center of all news and will see the most radical shifts – that is, if you were born at the end of March, June, September, and December, this configuration will speak to you.

We all have cardinal signs somewhere in our horoscopes, so that means everyone will feel some changes. I have written extensively in your August forecast about how you might experience the cardinal cross of August 6-7, 2010.
Best of luck, dear reader. Let me know on Facebook or Twitter how events play out for you, or by writing to me on Astrology Zone. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Susan Miller

The U.S. Middle Class is Shrinking

The article says the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. I definitely see this happening where I live in Calfornia. Here’s the link to the article…

Yahoo Finance

The Authors of The Constitution Knew What They Were Doing!

My latest reading adventure is the book Gold, The Once and Future Money by Nathan Lewis. I’ve been recording so many great quotes from the book that I’m wearing out my laptop keyboard! Here are a few paragraphs that I just have to share with you. It’s about our founding fathers’ view of fiat currencies.

“Chastened by the colonies’ long and unhappy experience with unredeemable fiat currencies, the franers of the Constitution in 1789, led by the first Treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton (who studied Adam Smith closely), established that gold and silver (emphasis added) would be the only money in the new United States. The intent was to outlaw the issuance of fiat currencies, explicitly by the states and implicitly by the Federal Government. Article 1, Section 10 of the Constitution reads: “No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.”

“Congress was given the power “to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures.” At the time, the dollar was simply considered a measure of gold or silver, just as the British pound had originally meant simply a pound of silver in any form.”

If you want to study more about the historical importance of gold and silver as money, be sure to check out Lewis’ book. The quote in this post is on page 155.

A 2010 Bridge to U.S. Financial Recovery

A few weeks ago I was told about a currency investment that’s hot right now called the Iraqi Dinar. Because Iraq is in the final stages of seating their new government, they are also about to re-inflate their currency so the people of that brutalized country can get back to the business of exporting their very precious oil and bringing back business and infrastructure.

The Problem

While I was getting this great news about Iraq, I was doing research for an article about the failing American economy. According to Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad’s Prophecy, by 2015 the U.S. economy will be completely in the tank. We’ve already experienced bank and other financial institution bailouts, phase one of the mortgage crisis, with phases two and three (ARM & commercial) just around the corner. Banks have stopped lending and money has virtually stopped moving, thereby creating a credit crisis. And the stock market is about to bust because first wave of retired baby boomers will begin to withdrawal money from their 401ks and IRAs. While all of this is happening, the government will have to come clean about the bankrupt Social Security and Medicare programs–just when these programs are needed by the largest amount of people. It’s even more sad because this is the generation that has paid into the programs their entire working lives.

How much bad news can a person handle at one time?!

I am an optimist and believe that smart people making smart decisions can get us out of any crisis. I am also a believer that the government should be run by successful business people and not lifetime politicians, but that’s a story for another article.

In 1971, the United States currency was taken off the Gold Standard by President Nixon. Since that time, the government simply needed to write an IOU Treasury Bill and money could be printed and pumped into the economy. In my opinion, this move greatly hurt the U.S. people as our money became just paper, or fiat currency and its worth was greatly diminished. Unfortunately, the rest of the world followed suit and all countries went to a fiat currency system.

In his book, Stories From The Desk of a Bullion Banker, Philip Judge explains that every fiat currency eventually goes to its inherent worth: nothing. This cycle has been going on for 5,000 years and great empires were buried because they fell into this trap. Philip explains that there are six stages in the cycle, the sixth being the total debasement of the currency. The first stage is right around the corner where the people barter their goods in public marketplaces with no monetary system in place. I would speculate that the U.S. is currently in the early days of the sixth phase of debasement. For more information about the six phases, see my earlier post on The Life Cycle of Money.

The Solution

If I were asked for my opinion on how the U.S. can save itself from the devastation of ‘The New and Greater Depression’ that’s headed our way, I would recommend that the U.S. Treasury purchase one trillion Iraqi Dinars today, before the revaluation (RV) occurs. I have heard different target numbers for the Dinar RV, but many of them are in the 1:3 range, meaning that one pre-RV Dinar will be worth three Dinar after the revaluation.

The U.S. Government should take their newly-made three trillion Dinars and move them into physical gold and silver, at least as much as they can attain. Because other governments and sovereign entities have been purchasing gold and silver for years now, there may not be enough available for the U.S. This being the case, they should consider purchasing other precious metals such as platinum, rhodium, and palladium. The bottom line is that they should move much of the money to precious metals or perhaps take the remainder and pay down some of the national debt.

With the U.S. making such a large move into the precious metals sector, the market prices will naturally rise enormously, making this investment even more lucrative for the U.S. Suddenly, our 13 trillion national debt doesn’t seem so large.

Then, I would recommend that the U.S. begin to issue Gold and Silver ‘Unit’ Certificates as a currency option for its citizens. These paper Certificates would be guaranteed to be redeemable for one ounce of gold or silver, respectively, at their current natural market value. Private citizens would move their fiat currency over to these certificates systematically, and the U.S. currency would be on its way back to a Gold (or a Precious Metals) Standard. As these new Certificates are purchased, the U.S. Treasury would destroy its equal amount of fiat currency monthly, thereby ensuring the move toward the Gold Standard and away from the threat of hyperinflation or depression.

Since world currencies are interconnected, all other currencies would be wise to peg themselves back to gold and silver at the same time. This pegging to precious metals is key to keeping worldwide currency ratios consistent for import and export purposes.

Because there is only so much gold and silver in the world, the commodity pricing of both would skyrocket. Mike Maloney, Robert Kiyosaki’s precious metals expert says that gold has to hit $15,000 per ounce to clear the market of today’s U.S. monetary volume (alone) due to the massive currency printing cycle that the U.S. has been in for the past few years. Since silver is naturally 1/16th the price of gold, silver would go to approximately $937.50 per ounce to clear its market value. I would say that this plan would place such a high demand on the precious metals that they are sure to hit these prices, or higher.

Using this system to pump real money back into the U.S. government and into the U.S. economy would go far to start moving the U.S. back in the correct direction financially. Then, should any politician, Fed or Treasury official suggest that the United States be put back into a fiat currency system, shoot him (or her) at high noon!

Why Silver will Always Beat Gold from Wealth Daily

Why Silver will Always Beat Gold
By Luke Burgess | Friday, July 9th, 2010

If you’re like most Americans today, you’ve grown tired of hearing words like “inflation”, “national debt”, and “credit crisis”.

For years now, it’s been hammered into your brain — the fact that your government has been writing checks it can’t cash, and in the process, diluting every cent you’ve managed to store away in your savings account.

And for almost as long, you’ve probably been hearing financial advisors and so-called economic gurus telling you about how certain investments can protect you during these times of uncertainty.

Without a doubt, recent historical rises in gold prices have gotten your attention; made you think.

Maybe you’ve even started to view the jewelry in your house more as currency than personal possessions.

Perhaps you’ve even thought about buying some gold yourself… Turn some of those depreciating dollars into stable wealth by locking in at a good price.

Well, let me stop you right there.

Although gold is historically the most prominent method of storing and transferring wealth, there’s a reason why men like George Soros, Warren Buffett, and Bill Gates have invested heavily in its slightly less glamorous cousin…

I’m talking about silver.

Actually, there’re a couple reasons why right now — more than ever before — silver is not just the superior hedge against inflation…

But a serious profit vehicle in its own right. And today I’m going to tell you why.

The Magic Ratio

If you average out the price ratio between gold and silver throughout history, you land on a single magical proportion: 16 to 1.

And even experts who do not subscribe to fixed pricing relationships generally agree that a price ratio of around 20 to 1 should be considered normal. What is not normal is the current ratio of — wait for it — 66 to 1!

To investors, this means one of 3 things:

1.) That gold is overvalued;

2.) That silver is undervalued; or

3.) A combination of the two.

Any way you look at it, silver’s price cannot be predicted to drop in any of these scenarios.

And since these same experts are continuing to predict gold’s rise towards $2,000, a realistic target price for silver should be between $100-$125/ ounce.

Already, that’s over a 500% gain over today’s price of $18…

Silver’s Two Faces

Silver isn’t just a precious metal; it is also one of our main industrial metals. One of the most conductive substances known to man, it’s used in everything from photography, to compact discs, to semi-conductors, to medical equipment. Basically, if something is high-tech, it contains silver.

The metal’s so heavily used, in fact, that for the last several decades, the world’s total silver supply has barely been able to keep up with demand — even though the 20th century saw historic production increases.

Demand ramped up in the last quarter of the 20th century to the point where, for almost two decades (between 1998 and 2007), silver was in a fully-fledged global deficit.

It wasn’t until the worst economic disaster in three generations that supply finally dropped to below production levels.

However, with photography alone consuming 128 million ounces of silver annually as of 2007 (that’s more than 3 times the US’s total Silver reserve), and other industrial processes accounting for another 312 million ounces, the world’s total available silver (both produced and hypothetical) is steadily — and irretrievably — decreasing.

So while gold is constantly being transferred based on price fluctuations and demand alone… silver, as an element, is actually vanishing.

The Broadest Options

With China and India buying up silver at unheard-of rates (Chinese silver demand tripled between 2004 and 2007), the industry has had no choice but to create new ways to own the metal.

There’s never been so much variety in the way you can own silver as there is today.

For those looking for that wealth-saving hedge, there are a number of silver bullion producers that are minting high-quality, high-purity coins for minimal premiums. A perfect example of this is the 1 ounce Mexican Libertad.

However, for those interested in riding silver’s imminent rise will look for something less tangible, like silver ETFs, or, the most aggressive option: silver mining stocks.

And it’s that last option that I wanted to talk to you the most about.

Because with so many people piling into gold exploration companies for all of the reasons mentioned above, the case for silver is just that much stronger.

With the magic ratio currently at such a disparity — 66 to 1 vs. 16 to 1 — those moving into silver exploration today stand to make about four times what their counterparts can expect to cash in investing similarly in gold.

Sounds nice, I know… And the fact is that investing in silver mining right now may not just be the most profitable angle to take with this most consumed of precious metals — but also the easiest.

Good investing,

Luke Burgess

Editor, Wealth Daily
Investment Director, Hard Money Millionaire

Bernanke vs. The World

Ben Bernanke has a big job.

I just finished reading David Wessel’s book In Fed We Trust. It’s hard to not finish those 320 pages without a greater respect for the job of the Federal Reserve Chairman, the Federal Reserve Banks, the U.S. Treasury, and everyone else charged with keeping the world financial markets afloat.

Although it’s a tough read, I definitely got a lot out of it–and plan to read it again because I’m sure that there is much that I’m sure went right over my head in the first read. I found the book to be very detail-oriented and full of facts that are simply astounding, if not disturbing.

Bernanke’s mantra of ‘whatever it takes’ is interesting. Although the Fed watchers have been somewhat confused by Ben’s seemingly ‘shoot from the hip’ activity regarding which financial institutions to save and which laws to redefine, there is a method to Bernanke’s madness. He is driven by his desire to keep the U.S. from re-experiencing the deflationary effects that led to The Great Depression.

In his resolve, he doesn’t appear to feel that any amount of money, put into the right place in the economy, is a bad thing. Bernanke fears deflation, but doesn’t seem to spend much time or energy thinking about the opposite, the problem of inflation, or hyperinflation, that is sure to be the result of all of the bailouts.

Decisions based upon banks and other financial organizations being ‘too big to fail’ have been Bernanke’s legacy thus far in his tenure. But, is he fighting a losing battle?

According to Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Prophecy, anything that is too big will indeed fail. Kiyosaki said “…When things get too big, they are less manueverable and often think they are unsinkable.” He goes on to say, “One way for you to see the future is by watching things getting too big. Then watch for something small or invisible to replace it.” Although Kiyosaki was referring to mutual funds, I think the analogy is easily transferrable to big banks, investment firms, insurance companies, etc. This, again, begs the question, is Ben fighting a losing battle?

As you know if you’ve been reading my blogs, I do indeed think that Bernanke and the team are fighting a losing battle. While I commend them on their tireless work to keep the economy afloat, there is a larger problem and it is one that they didn’t create, but they do need to deal with.

In 1971, then President Nixon took the U.S. off of the Gold Standard. This meant that our dollar was no longer backed by anything but air, air or ‘the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government’. During that time, the full faith and credit meant something. Today, it translates only to trillions of dollars of debt, the government’s inability to pay its creditors, and loss of its status of a superpower nation. Compounding interest of our national debt has taken hold and we are far beyond the tipping point, the point of no return.

According to history, this happens with every currency that has ever been debased. The good news is that, in time, our economy will recover. But the process is sure to be ugly for those that aren’t educated, informed, and prepared.

The up side is that The Greatest Wealth Transfer in History is taking place, due to this crisis. If you know what to do, you will come out of the period an extremely wealthy individual. However, the safe haven(s) is tiny and there is only room for the early entrants. The safe havens that I am referring to are physical gold and silver. The more you own, the safer you and your family, for future generations, will be.

The Wizard of Oz and Monetary Politics … The Same Story Today With Different Actors

I love the analogy of The Wizard of Oz to monetary politics. Here’s a great written version…
“Indeed, L. Frank Baum’s enduring The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900, has been read as an elaborate allegory for the monetary politics of the era. Dorothy stands for the American people at their best. Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, the struggling farmers; the cyclone, the financial storms and political unrest of the 1890s. Slippers of silver (not the ruby ones of the movie version) tread the path of gold (the Yellow Brick Road) that leads to the Emerald City of power (Washington). There are the unemployed urban factor worker (the rusting Tin Man), the farmer (Scarecrow), and in some interpretations, pacifist William Jennings Bryan himself (the Cowardly Lion with a frightening roar). The wizard, in allegorical readings, is a political charlatan, in some versions Mark Hanna, the strategist widely seen as manipulating William McKinley. (If only the book had been written later, literary economists could have painted the wizard as chairman of the Federal Reserve. Alan Greenspan, after all, was likened to the Wizard of Oz, the man whose aura of mystery and power exaggerated his wisdom and capacity to control events.)”
Excerpt from In Fed We Trust by David Wessell