Greetings from Melbourne, Australia. Due to the fact that I have been lecturing all weekend, this week’s column will focus more on general astrological principle son force than specifically to the market behavior of last week.

Once again, I must confess to being greatly surprised at the difference between news reports – and hence collective perception of reality – in the United States versus that in virtually every other country in the world that I visit. And Australia is very trusted ally of the United States! Yet here too, unlike in the United States, the news is not directed towards the casualties or inequities suffered by the United States alone in the war against Terrorism in places like Iraq. The news is directed to casualties and inequities suffered by others too, and sometimes at the hands of the Untied States. Now, before anyone in the states accuses me of being anti-American, let me assure you that is not the case. I believe that I, like most Americans, simply want to be told what is happening. I believe that I, like most Americans, do not like not being told what is happening. For instance, I want to be told what is happening to Saddam Hussein. What is he saying? It seems that ever since he was captured, he has disappeared from the face of the Earth. And yet we know he is being interrogated, probably at great length, by U.S. interrogators. What is he saying? Why aren’t we being told? Why is information so vital to the world’s support in this war against Terrorism, being held from that world, the same world whose support was solicited so heavily in order to justify this ongoing war?

From an astrological point of view, such containment, control, or manipulation of news can be seen from the transit of Pluto in square aspect to the Neptune of the natal chart of the U.S.A. Pluto is the planet that governs such things as power, threats to safety, doing of things behind the scenes. Pluto can most definitely be manipulative on the one hand, or revealing and exposing on the other. Both Pluto and Neptune are planets involved in the capacity to keep things hidden, or secretive. Together, in a hard aspect like a square, they can represent the capacity to cover up, bury, or distort the truth or accuracy of events. For instance, he last time transiting Pluto was in a hard aspect (conjunction) to the U.S.A. Neptune was in 1966-1968, during the start of the U.S. involvement in Viet Nam. Getting accurate and truthful news about what was happening was difficult then too.

Why do I bring this up? Well, here is one example of many similar news reports from Wednesday, January 14, in one of Melbourne, Australia’s newspapers that highlights questionable activities and behavior on the part of the U.S. military in Iraq. The headline reads, “Reuters complains after staff ‘brutalised’ by troops.” It seems that U.S. troops fired at two Iraqi cameramen and driver who worked for Reuters, while they were filming the scene of a helicopter crash. Initially the U.S. military claimed they were “enemy personnel” who had opened fire upon U.S. troops. The journalists were all wearing bulletproof vests clearly marked “press,” and had no weapons on them. The US troops blindfolded the journalists for 72 hours with bags over their heads, made them stand with their arms raised, told them they would be sent to Guantanamo Bay, and whispered “Let’s have sex.” One source said “They were brutalized, terrified, and humiliated for three days. It makes you wonder what happens to ordinary Iraqis.” According to the news story, “The U.S. military has so far refused to apologize and has bluntly told Reuters to ‘drop’ its complaint.” Hmmmm, sounds like Pluto in square aspect to Neptune. And I wonder if this report ever made it in the United States newspapers?

Or how about another story on the same “World” page in the same newspaper on the same day, titled, “Americans ponder new plan for Iraq power handover”? In America, we hear often from the White House how the real reason for the removal of Saddam Hussein from power was so that Iraqis could establish a self-ruling democracy. And a good reason that is, now that the elimination of weapons of mass destruction is no longer an issue (was it ever?). Except that, according to this news report, the Iraqi authorities who will be members of the interim legislature that will set up the so-called democracy, will be hand-picked by the U.S. And U.S. Administration officials are resistant to a plan – submitted by Iraq’s foremost Shiite cleric - that requests that “any agreement for U.S. led forces to remain in Iraq be approved by directly elected representatives.” Now maybe I am naïve, but doesn’t that sound like a reasonable request based on the White House’s stated desire to see Iraq become a democracy? The article then states that “Such negotiations – in which the US military is expected to ask for wide latitude in its counter-insurgency efforts – could be much tougher if they have to be carried out with Iraqis who are democratically elected.” Duh! Then what is the purpose of establishing a democracy in Iraq if the U.S. – and not the Iraqis - is going to determine governmental and military policy in Iraq? Maybe I don’t understand what democracy means.

It is sad, in a way, to see how very different the world is perceived in the eyes of someone who lives in the United States, versus how it is seen by virtually everyone else outside of the United States. And as Americans living inside the United States, we don’t have a clue unless we travel. We are brought up to believe that we live in the greatest country in the world, and everyone else wants to be like us. Nothing could be further from the truth today. Oh, America is still a great country, and Americans are still very much great people. But it is changing, and it is an illusion to think that the rest of the world wants to be like us. Like most of the world, Americans too just want to be told what is happening, and to be told truthfully and honestly. The difference is that in America, most people think that what they read in the newspaper and what they see and hear on television, is the truth, and is the way the rest of the world sees and hears news. But it’s not. The rest of the world isn’t going through a transit of Pluto in square aspect to their country’s Neptune. And what can this mean in a presidential election year? It isn’t going to get any better. The gulf between reality and a controlled perception of reality is going to grow wider and wider, as more vital information to our personal decision-making about government is going to be withheld or distorted.

I am not certain that the ideas I share this week will have any direct relationship to the future of world equity markets. I have not found that transiting Pluto to the U.S.A. chart has any correlation to its stock markets. I do think that the transit of Uranus in a trine to the U.S.A. Venus and Jupiter bodes well for the economy and the U.S. stock market for much of this year. And I think that Jupiter in Virgo suggests that employment grows throughout the world, and not just in America this year. More people working means more monies will be spent on goods, and this is a positive fundamental supporting a stronger world economy, and probably rising stock markets. Still, there are plenty of geocosmic signatures coming up in the next couple of months to indicate the possibility of a good-size market correction. But as I see it, such a correction is merely a prelude to another good buying opportunity that will last a few more months afterwards. It is 2005-2008 that has me more concerned.

It will be another 2 weeks before I return to the U.S.A. and this column returns to its normal analysis of the past week’s market behavior. In the meantime, know that there is a new moon in the fist day of Aquarius coming up this Tuesday, and we are just coming off a Venus conjunction to Uranus. Uranus rules Aquarius. Therefore sudden price swings in the market are very possible this week, much like we saw with Gold and Silver last week, which fell rather hard. But the Sun in Aquarius (January 20-February 19) is a season when Gold prices tend to make more 4% reversals than any other Sun sign period.

Disclaimer and statement of purpose: The purpose of this column is not to predict the future movement of various financial markets. However, that is the purpose of the MMA (Merriman Market Analyst) subscription services. This column is not a subscription service. It is a free service, except in those cases where a fee may be assessed to cover the cost of translating this column from English into a non-English language. This weekly report is written with the intent to educate the reader on the relationship between astrological factors and collective human activities as they are happening. In this regard, this report will oftentimes report what happened in various stock and financial markets throughout the world in the past week, and discuss that movement in light of the geocosmic signatures that were in effect. It will then identify the geocosmic factors that will be in effect in the next week, or even month, or even years, and the author’s understanding of how these signatures will likely affect human activity in the times to come. The author (Merriman) will do this from a perspective of a cycle’s analyst looking at the military, political, economic, and even financial markets of the world. It is possible that some forecasts will be made based on these factors. However, the primary goal is to both educate and alert the reader as to the psychological climate we are in, from an astrological perspective. The hope is that it will help the reader understand these psychological dynamics that underlie (or coincide with) the news events and hence financial markets of the day.

No guarantee as to the accuracy of this report is being made here. Any decisions in financial markets are solely the responsibility of the reader, and neither the author nor the publishers assume any responsibility at all for those individual decisions. Reader should understand that futures and options trading are considered high risk.