<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">Âåðíóòüñÿ íà www.financialastrology.ru
Ôèíàíñîâàÿ àñòðîëîãèÿ. Ýêîíîìè÷åñêàÿ àñòðîëîãèÿ.
Áèçíåñ-àñòðîëîãèÿ. Êàðòû ïåðâûõ ñäåëîê.
Interview with Bill Meridian
By Larry Jacobs
Question: Where do you work and what is your position?
Answer: I am a fund manager for an institution in the
managing the technology stocks in the portfolio. I
also sit on the currency hedging committee
and am the technical analyst for the
Question: How long have you been studying the markets?
Answer: I became interested in the market in 1966.
Explain how successful you have been in the markets?
Answer: Funds under management have outperformed the
S&P in 5 of the last 6 years. I
can either be long stocks or in cash. No leverage can
be used.
Question: What methods do you use to analyze the
markets?
Answer: First, I must say that the single most
important matter is to ask myself what this
graph is trying to tell me about fundamentals in the
future. All charts, whether technical bar
charts or horoscopes, are a reection of something real Years ago, the price of
cobalt rose
without any news. Most cobalt comes from copper mined
in
mining
the disination
stocks made big bases and started to rise, signaling the end of the ination era.
No one saw it then, Whether smart money makes these
moves, or whether some entity from
the X-Files causes this, I cannot say. I always
remember P.Q. Wall’s statement that the market
is a 600-pound gorilla that does whatever it pleases.
Question: You are extremely knowledgeable using
Astrology for trading. Explain how
you use it?
Answer: I’ll use whatever works. Pattern recognition
was the rst method that I was exposed
to. There were not many books in 1966. One of the few
was the Edwards and Magee bible of
technical analysis. I was a young kid, and thought
that this was the way that all Wall Street
looked at the markets. Fundamental analysis came along
later. Momentum indicators and
sentiment have also been very useful. Today’s index
options on industries are very useful. I
keep one based upon the option trading on the
semiconductor index, or the SOX. It gave overly
optimistic reading in the summer of 1995, so this was
a signal to lighten up on the semi stocks.
That indicator then fell 90% into the summer of 1996,
an indication of extreme pessimism. After
the June-July decline, it looked as through the stocks
had made a 3-wave decline. All momentum
oscillators were oversold. I bought Micron at 23.
Thus, the pattern, momentum, and the sentiment
all conrmed.
And, all the major Wall Street houses were bearish.
Seasonal tendencies as rst
researched by Arthur Merrill are very valuable. This is the type
of analysis that started my on the road to cycles
work. I noted that there was an annual cycle, an
election year cycle, and a decennial pattern. Now the
annual cycle is based upon a year, which
is based upon the relationship of the Earth and the
Sun. So why not research a 1.8 year cycle
determined by the orbit of Mars? In addition, I noted
that some of the stock market cycles as
described by Ed Dewey were the same length as those of
planetary periods such as 9.3 and 18.6
year cycles that are half and whole multiples of the
orbit of the Moon’s Node.
I use Gann’s day counts and time ratios as Bob Miner
does. This yields a series of
potential turning points. I then go to my planetary
indicators and project those for the month
ahead. I have found that those dates that are tagged
by both methods tend to have a higher
probability of being a turning point that in those
dates that are indicated by any of the individual
methods used alone.
Once this is done, I attempt to conrm the turning point with the standard technical
tools:
overbought/oversold oscillators, wave pattern, etc. By
this approach, the standard technical
indicators assume the role that I always felt they
should have. They describe the past and current
condition of the market. After all, they are all based
upon yesterday’s data. The planetary and
Gann-derived dates are based upon future data.
Technicians and traders who do not utilize this
approach are at a disadvantage. It is like trying to
eat soup with a fork.
Question: How is it possible that planetary movement
can affect a stock or commodity
movement?
Answer: I use 2 approaches, First, I analyze past
turning points and see if there are similar
planetary patterns at the time of the highs and the
lows. Second, select a phenomena such
as eclipse and see how the market reacted at the time
of the eclipse. There can be 2 results.
The event has no effect on the market under study, or
, it will have an effect. In this case, the
phenomena may be associated with highs, low, or both
highs and lows. The last case produces
what I call tofu indicators; they have no avor of their own. They tend to take on the avor
of the other indictors that occur at the same time.
This is, they are indications of a reversal,
depending upon whether the market is rising or falling
before the phenomena. I have all the
planetary indications posted a year in advance. Then I
do new studies during the year that
add to my tool box. For example, I only recently found
that heliocentric Mercury 150 degrees
to Pluto tends to fall near short-term tops. This is a
light weight indicator which needs
much conrmation.
All of the above methods yield high-probability
turning points. In between, I add planetary
cycles to the 3 cycles mentioned above. The Mars cycle
was already mentioned. This cycle
tends to peak out when Mars enters Libra. If it does
so during the late summer when the annual
or solar cycle also peaks, then there is an increased
probability of a lower market in the second
half. In the bond market, Venus cycles are much more
important. I have a 5-cycle composite for
bonds that turned down in late 1993. At the same time,
the horoscope set for the rst T-bond
trade in
sell signals. Bonds fell for about 9 months. Now that
is an example in which all the pieces
t
together. It is not always so clear.
Planetary movement affects everything. If one is
looking for a physical connection, I can
offer one that I came across in 1973. We know from the
work of John Nelson that the positions
of the planets affect solar activity. Changes on the
Sun affect the Earth’s magnetic eld.
There
is a substance call serotonin which is the stuff that
sensitized the brain of a homing pigeon
to the magnetic eld
and enables the bird to “home in.” This same substance exists in the
human brain. Serotonin levels can increase and
decrease stress levels. Taking a long jet ight
increases serotonin levels and stress. By the way,
taking a sauna after a ight will relieve what
is known as jet lag. That is the only casual link that
I can suggest.
In the end, I recall what John Nelson said at a
lecture in N.Y. A fellow asked him why the
planets affected the Earth. He replied, “I don’t know.
And when you go to the early gates, you ask
the grand high muckety-much. And he probably don’t
know either.”
Question: Do you think that W.D. Gann used astrology
to trade with and if so how
did he use it?
Answer: I think that Gann did use astrology. My
teacher was Charles Jayne, a practicing
astrologer for 53 years. He worked with Ken Brown of
Edward Johndro of
to conduct research. Johndro was way ahead of his
time. In fact, we became frustrated with his
contemporaries, and kept most of his work to himself.
He asked Brown to burn all of his work
when he died, which Ken did. He left no published
work. But in Brown’s eulogy to Johndro, he
said that Johndro had developed a method of
forecasting commodity prices based upon the
horoscopes of eclipses. He did not reveal the method.
I do not know how Gann used the planets. What he did
say was not helpful. Most of
the translations of Gann’s planetary work that I have
seen have turned out to be basic
astrology. Gann said that a planet changing signs was
important, but he did not say which
planets, signs, or markets. That’s why we need to do
research, and this led me to develop
software for that purpose.
Question: Are there a lot of mutual funds on the
street that secretly use astrology buy
won’t tell the public?
Answer: I do not know if a lot of Wall Street houses
utilize astrology. Some do. I sold my
software to them. Over the next decade, it will become
more acceptable. I recall a fellow at
the Bank Credit Analyst who said that he found
astrological work amongst the old notes of
said that an employee had studied what they termed
‘solar radiations’, but with not usable
results. So there is interest.
The Street is remarkable in one respect. They care
more about whether the methodology
is acceptable and logical than they do about the
results. They prefer to use the same worn
out techniques over and over again rather than try
something new. This is the reason that the
majority of the funds cannot even keep up with
averages.
Question: How long does it take a person to fully
understand and start to use astrology
in their trading?
Answer: This is a tough question. If one learns
horoscope construction, the signs, the
aspects, and transits, he can be doing some good work
in 6 months to a year. I lucked-out.
When I was a student in N.Y., all the old masters and
hard-core fanatics were around. For
instance, Dr. Edgar Wagner received his certicate of astrology in the year 1911. To absorb all
that I learned in those days might take 5 years or
more.
Question: What king of books or software done one need
to trade with astrology?
Answer: There are not many good books on the subject.
I suspect that we will see more in
the next few years. The difculty has been that the market folks do not know
enough astro to be
effective, or the astrologers do not have enough
experience with the markets. Matlock’s old book,
Man and cosmos, is probably the best. Ray Merriman
wrote a book about gold indicators that is
god. I have read almost all of them. The older authors
were simply handicapped by the enormity
of the task. Without PCs, the number crunching is too
formidable.
I wrote Planetary Stock Trading, which explains how I
utilize rst-trade horoscopes to select
individual stocks. It also includes 1,000 charts which
are otherwise very difcult to obtain unless
you are a member rm
and are willing to phone the exchanges a couple times a week over 10 or
20 years. I am working on a book about overall market
forecasting now.
We released the rst
astro market software in 1988, the AstroAnalyst. Actually, I wrote
the basic algorithm that is the heart of the program
in 1983. It is still a very useful program.
Unfortunately, the programmer did not want to develop
it any further and I did. So, in 1989, I
began working with Alphee Lavoie at AIR Software on
the Financial Trader series. It was rst
specically designed to sort through horoscopes set
for the high and low days in any market
and tells the user what planetary effects are common
to the turning points. We also added the
Bradley model, leaving it open-ended so that the user
can alter the variables. This is known
as the Black Box. I also cooked up Bradley models for
gold, bonds and currencies. Bersion
2 has Super Search which will nd days upon which multiple planetary events occur,
like
nd
all the days upon which Mercury is retrograde and the Sun is in Cancer, or Mars
in
Leo. The Efficiency Tester will compute the ‘Batting
Average” of a planetary event, i.e..
how many times a market rose or fell before and after
an aspect, eclipse, etc. Their third
version is being moved into Windows now. An a junior
version that only deals with rst-trade
charts is on the way, too.
I also use Bob Miner’s Dynamic Trader for all my
Fann-Fibonacci projections. It save
enormous amounts of time.
Question: Can you explain and illustrate with perhaps
a good chart an example of how
astrology works with a real example that has happened
in the last 6 months?
Answer: Yes, I recently bought Micron, MU on the NYSE.
It was brought to my attention by
a run that I did with the Financial Trader program.
Jupiter went stationary direct on Uranus in
the rst trade horoscope of the stock. This a chart
erected for the time and date that the stock
began trading. I had an eye on the technical picture:
buy signals daily, weekly, and monthly. The
shares were bought at 23 3/4 and hit
same technical picture as Micron, such as Electronic
Arts, ERTS on the NASDAQ. But ERTS
did not have as bullish a horoscope as that of MU.
Question: Have you got any forecast or predictions for
stocks based on your astrology?
Answer: Next year will likely see the biggest drop
that we have seen since 1990. First, years
ending in “
the downside. Some, like 1987, have not closed lower,
but did have a big correction. 1997 will
also be the year after an election, the weakest in the
4-year election cycle. The average percent
gain in such years has been in both the centennial and
the election year cycles, so I was long
all year. In addition, Jupiter will pass into
Aquarius, the weakest of all the signs in its 12-year
cycle. More than half of such transits have resulted
in lower prices, well below the median. Late
in the 4th quarter, I shall review the technicals to
see if they conrm the studies. Then I will
have to take the appropriate precautions.
I always ask myself what the fundamental causes might
be. In 1997, I think that rising
commodity pries will force an interest rate to
increase. With valuations already stretched to the
outer limits, a rate rise will make these inated prices look even higher.
of Capricorn has depressed prices since it entered that
sign in the early 1980’s. It usually has
this effect in earn signs. But it is leaving that sign
next year. More importantly, Jupiter will be
conjunct
Nixon took us off the gold standard.
Technically, the commodities have made big bases and
have broken 13-to-16 year
downtrend lines. I was pounding the table about this
in the summer of 1995. Using contrary
opinion, all the straight Wall Streeters have been
bearish. They remain bearish based upon
fundamental, a conrmation
that prices will rise further. Looking at the smart money, I wrote in
my old newsletter that the Rockefellers were selling
that this told us that they were bearish on real
estate prices. Well, now they have bought it back.
In addition, the Treasury has announced the sale of ination-indexed bonds. At the same time,
they will alter their calculation of the CPI, which
will effectively lower it by 0.2%. What does this
tell us? Already, between April of 1995 and April of
1996, there has been an excessive increase
in M2. This can only add fuel to the re.
But the price rises will not be as big as those of the
1970s. First,
inationary re
sign and there were 3 Jupiter-Neptune conjunctions. Now there will only be one,
and
is an indication of a different fundamental
environment. For instance, the gold price had been
held articially
low prior to the 1970’s, and it is not now. This time, there will be a
snap-back
closer to the average price for most commodities. This
will be important for equity portfolio
managers. Major shifts in industry group leaders
usually take place during market corrections,
and if 1997 is a downer, leadership will swing away
from the consumer and interest sensitive
stocks, and toward natural resource and capital goods
shares. These will be the leaders after
1997. Technology will be get hit, but it will recover
and also be leader. The technology boom
will likely run to 2003. The planets that rule
networking and the ability to miniaturize remain in
good combination, so these will be leaders in that
sector. PCs will become voice-activated. The
miniaturization methods being developed will open up
the next big frontier, nanotechnology. This
is the science of making very small parts and,
eventually, mechanisms.
I do not foresee a depression. There will be a
recession, probably beginning in 1999 and
bottoming in 2000. There have been periods where the
national debt has been enormous, but
the new energy sources were discovered. The resultant
boon to business sent prots soaring. I
know that these 2 materials are not energy sources,
but what do silicon and ber optics cost in
relationship to the benet to
the economy? I see tough times out in 2003-2004.
Oil has a special interest to me here in the
summer of 1995. Nobody here believed me. In fact, the
Arab countries started to cut back on
spending, right at the low in oil. I took this as conrmation on the low. When asked what I thought
the driver would be, my reply was politics and
eventually military action. We live across the
Gulf from Iran. There people are Persians, not Arabs,
and they have a militaristic and imperial
history. They consider the opposite side of the gulf
to be theirs, and radio
on a daily basis.
These islands sit at the mouth of the Straits of
Hormuz, through which 40% to 50% of the
world’s oil flows. The Iranians aim to control this
vital waterway. I now that little of this
appears in the Western press, which, using contrary
opinion, is a conrmation. The smart
money here is the Journal of Foreign Affairs,
published by the Council of Foreign Relations.
There have been 5 mentions of
going on, then no one does.
Now let us use the planets for some timing. The
eclipse series next year is related to
that of 1979 when the Shah fell from power. But the
eclipse of the summer of 1999 is even
more potent, and I have already projected a war
stretching from
what is holding the price of energy up.
Looking at the whole picture, it looks a lot like the
Carter years. We will have a southern
president (who will not likely complete his term),
rising commodity prices, and conflict
with
Question: Is it possible through astrology to know if
a person is a natural for trading?
Answer: Yes, this is not difcult. It is the same as looking for musical or
artistic ability. A
formation of planets represents interest in a subject.
If such a formation does not exist, then
the person has no interest in trading. My chart shows
little ability to play golf, and I simple do
not have a great desire to play the game.
This ability usually involves Venus, Jupiter, and the
2nd, 5th or 8th houses. The asteroid
Vesta is elated to paper securities. The late Frankie
Joe was a master trader. He had Vesta trine
Jupiter with an orb of only 1 minute of arc. That is a
very favorable and powerful combination.
Those who have Jupiter-Neptune aspects do very well
during inationary periods, especially with
futures. They tend to be overly optimistic and tale
large long positions. They do poorly during
deationary periods. Saturn-Neptune types do
better in these times.
Question: Are there good times and bad times to trade
based on astrology for an
individual?
Answer: Yes again. Once the natal or birth pattern
that represents trading is located, stressful
or benecial
effects can be detected. I have had some success by altering my trading
strategy to
t the
planetary effects that are operative at the time. Saturn usually requires a
more conservative
strategy and closer stops. But there are times when
one should simple cool it. I had very stressful
aspects last year, and my personal trading suffered.
There are disturbances in my personal life
that distracted me from the market. Either do not let
these maters buy you or stop trading. But his
is tough when one must make investment decisions on a
daily basis.
Bill Meridian will be giving a 2-day seminar at the
London Kensington Hilton on Feb. 15-16,
1997. Contact Andy Pancholi by phone or fax at 1737-
in the
the horoscope of the rst
trade, complete with 1,000 charts of US stocks. Bill was a VP in Paine
Webber’s technical analysis department during the
1980’s bull market. He can be reached at
Cycles Research, 666 5th Ave., New York City, N.Y.
10103.