In May 2018, Uranus will move from Aries into Taurus. Uranus entering Aries in March 2011 brought us the Arab Spring, popular uprisings, increased violence and personal wars. Violence is the negative side of Aries and standing up for your rights is the positive side. As with any war, it is fought with both energies in play.

To quote a friend, one person’s freedom fighter is another’s terrorist.

When Uranus moves into Taurus, the energy will shift from personal expression to material goods.

Why look at 2018 now?

The first reason is that this astrologer is extremely bored of news about the US presidential election, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. I’m sure sun/Uranus in Gemini Trump would be hurt to hear that he’s boring me, but he is. Your nasty has lost its charge, buddy. Clinton has been in the news for 24 years so there’s really nothing new which is why some recent behavior is receiving undue attention.

The second reason is that energy doesn’t turn on and off like a light. Tomorrow’s energies are in play today and while May 2018 might create some Uranus shocks, it doesn’t have to if we heed the energy of today.

March 2019

As just noted, Uranus creates shock waves and sudden awareness or sudden enlightenment. When Uranus moves into the super-material earth sign of Taurus, our material reality will experience shocks. With Taurus, expect changes to the earth itself, foundations, real property and the value of money.

Money is a lot of things although it doesn’t really have existence and isn’t technically Taurus (in a way, it represents Scorpio energy exchange, power and control). But the physical aspect – the bills and coins – and the value aspect are in the realm of Taurus. Much of that physical aspect of money is passing away.

While some might be excited about not having to carry notes and coins in the future, consider that there are these people called hackers and when you no longer have cash or coin but only bytes in a server, what do you do when those bytes disappear and reappear in on a computer a distant realm? Are you hacker enough to get your financial bytes returned?

The 2008 housing market collapse and global recession came just as another planet – Pluto – changed from Sagittarius to Capricorn. The shift in signs often does bring an immediate shift in the energy. But, again, the housing crisis had a long run up of bad financial behavior. Pluto simply opened the crack and let the mismanagement fall into the abyss. Pluto pulls the rug from under you.

When Uranus enters Taurus, Pluto will still be in Capricorn (21 degrees). Uranus will move back into Aries for a while (called retrograde) and in March 2019 will begin its seven-year journey in Taurus. May 2018 might provide tremors, but March 2019 will be the full Taurus-quake.

In March 2019, when retrograde Uranus moves from Aries (again) to Taurus, Pluto will be at 22 degrees of Capricorn. Saturn at that time will be in 18 degrees of Capricorn following close to Pluto. Assisting will be Venus in Capricorn and Mars in Taurus.

That is a lot of earth energy (Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn are the earth signs) and we will certainly be focused on the physical aspects of existence at that time. The sun and Neptune will be in Pisces – very watery combination. Water is crucial for daily life and in 2019 this will be a fact that must not be ignored by those with current easy access to water who tend to ignore some global water facts.

It’s difficult not to imagine some shake ups to property and property values, again, and a severe rift in the global economy. The energy of 2008 is still in play – it did not magically disappear. While your house value may look a lot like it did in 2007, we learned in 2008 that numbers can change quickly.

What other financial shenanigans may be revealed in 2019?

Accounting Scandals

In 2008, the average person not involved in high finance may have had to spend some time figuring out why their home lost value and they had no job. It wasn’t something on the ground you could see, feel, hear, smell or touch. Taurus rules the body so in 2019 what occurs may have a more sensory aspect.

Looking at the ways in which you can cook the books, you do wonder why everyone isn’t doing it. Or maybe they are. Here are some of the famous book-cooking from the Top 10 Accounting Scandals:

• Falsely increase depreciation time length
• Keep huge debts off the balance sheet
• Underreport line costs by capitalizing rather than expensing
• Siphon money through unapproved loans and fraudulent stock sales
• Make up numbers
• Misstate and understate earnings
• Book loans as revenue
• Steer customers to products/providers that provide fee income
• Sell toxic assets with the agreement they’ll be bought back at a later date
• Ponzi scheme – provide “returns” to investors from other investors’ investments

Will 2019 see more of the above? What types of financial webs will be unwound in 2019?

Taurus Bankers

Possibly a couple Taurus bankers can give us clue as to how Taurus will operate in 2018-2019.

Bernie Maddoff

One of the schemes above – the Ponzi scheme – was developed by Charles Ponzi, a Pisces sun four planets in Taurus – Saturn, Neptune, Jupiter and Pluto. When he was born in 1882, there must have been lots of focus on material goods, probably from Saturn in Taurus lack.

The most recent Ponzi scheme was conducted by Bernard Maddoff who is currently in prison and has moon, sun, Uranus and Venus in Taurus. This is a man who loves things from the coaster on the coffee table to the car in the garage. The 2018-2019 Uranus in Taurus transit may see him a free man although Wikipedia projects his release in 2139. In 2018, Maddoff will be 80 so he may be released due to age, illness or simply that he’s passed out of body.

When Madoff was arrested in late 2008, Uranus was finishing its transit of Aquarius and conjunct Madoff’s natal Jupiter in Aquarius. Jupiter squares natal Venus and taking others’ assets was probably Madoff’s way to connecting to people. Aquarius is group activity and in 2008 the group disbanded in a fit of disillusionment and lost assets.

Madoff promised his Jupiter-in-Aquarius followers Taurus gains. Providing financial return seems so “real” that it’s easy to understand how people can be easily influenced to ignore how and why it occurred. As an analyst, I know that good times are rarely analyzed and bad times analyzed so much you make up stories to explain the unpredictability of human behavior.

Today the US economy is appearing to grow, albeit slightly. Is that for real? Will 2019 reveal something we don’t see today? Are we reluctant to analyze the good?

Agha Hasan Abedi

Another famous Taurus banker was Agha Hasan Abedi, the founder of the now defunct Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI). This bank was shut down in 1991 amidst charges of lending fraud and money laundering.

Abedi, born in a city in India which is now part of Pakistan, began his banking career in Pakistan then founded his own bank and sought oil money (very Taurus) and Washington DC influence (he acquired both).

Abedi had only sun in Taurus with moon in Sagittarius or Capricorn. Due to the boldness of his endeavors and great success in courting the rich and powerful, I’d guess moon in Sagittarius which would be conjunct Mars in Sagittarius. The man had guts.

In early 1991 when BCCI was investigated, Pluto was in Scorpio, opposite Abedi’s sun. While Pluto may rule the underworld, the over-world prevailed with Pluto directly opposite Abedi’s sun. Abedi’s Pluto friends clearly couldn’t override the opposing Pluto authorities.

One person’s loyal Pluto friend is another person’s worst Pluto enemy.

In the movie The Infiltrator which tells the true story of a US Customs agent who infiltrates the Medellin drug cartel to get to the bankers (i.e., BCCI), one of the higher ups in the cartel, Roberto Alcaino, makes a comment about the Federal Reserve having an “anonymous window” where deposits can be made with no questions asked.

I don’t know if that’s true, but in many of the recent financial scandals such as Enron, a lot of the players that looked the other way were fully regulated auditors and financial institutions.

One man’s money launderer is another man’s full-service bank.

As with Enron later, BCCI protected itself by creating numerous entities which appeared to have no relationship unless you spent a few minutes examining the individuals behind the entities.

But when oil money sent abroad appears to be returning, why dig too deep?

Will 2018-2019 reveal what we deem legal in the name of financial growth is actually a bit shady? Is all financial growth good? Who really benefits from the financial growth?

March 2019

March 2019 is happening right now, if you care to look. I’ve always likened astrologers to economists. Neither gets it right and neither is fired (although astrologers aren’t fired because no one hires us). But we’re both trying to figure out what today means for tomorrow.

While the 2008 financial crisis may have been confusing, whatever occurs in 2018-2019 will be more tangible as Taurus is the earth. You will feel it. You may not need astrologers and economics to explain the changes that occur.