Saturn in the US Second House

After a long period of retrograde, (apparent backward motion as seen from Earth) Saturn is moving forward again. That means that it will soon be entering the Second House of the Sibly USA chart. (Click here to see the chart.) The Second House is associated with money and resources and the movement of restrictive, “let-get-real” Saturn into that sector has a lot of astrologers worried.

This concern is exacerbated by the fact that Saturn is in Capricorn, the sign it rules, giving it extra authority, and adding to its restrictive tendencies. To make matters worse, Pluto is already in the Sibly Second. Having two malefic planets is the same house is never a good thing and having them in the sector that rules you pocketbook is particularly nerve-wracking.

Mixing astrology with economic matters is tricky because the forces at work in both areas are complex and multi-faceted. The important transits that astrologer typically associate with major events don’t always work so well with economic booms and busts. That’s because it takes time for the decisions that lead to those events to have an impact. Also, those decisions often take place under the radar, in the form of boring legislation or agreements made by stuffy business types.

For example, the stock market crash of 1929 was initially seen as a necessary correction to an overvalued market. Experts had been expecting for some time. What turned it into the Great Depression was the passage of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act the next year (when transiting Saturn in Capricorn opposed the Sibly Venus and Jupiter.) This tariff shut down foreign trade and made a bad economy much worse.

Of course, earlier this year, when Saturn once again opposed the Sibly Venus and Jupiter, we saw a renewed interest in tariffs. Ignoring the advice of just about every economist living or dead, President Trump began imposing tariffs on China and other countries. Now these experts and many business people around the world are fearful that we on the verge of a trade war that will wreck the world economy.

So far the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration have been mostly about posturing and acting tough. These are First House matters, matters of identity and appearances. Now that Saturn is getting ready to exit the First and enter the Second, the economic impact of these tariffs is going to take center stage. While certain industies like steel areis sure to prosper, several other areas of the economy, ranging from beer to technology, will suffer.

In January, shortly after it crosses into the Second, Saturn will oppose the Sibly Sun and square the Sibly Saturn. This is also when the new Congress will be installed in Washington. If the current projections are correct, at least one of those two bodies will be controlled by Democrats. Some people see this as hopeful, however, no matter which party controls the House or the Senate, the economic problems they will face will be daunting. Along with Trump’s trade war, they will have to deal with the enormous deficient that last years tax cuts are sure to create.

Saturn will remain in the Sibly Second house through 2021. It will repeat the square to the US natal Saturn in Aug 2019 and oppose the Sibly Mercury in 2020. However, I think the entire period will be filled with economic blow-ups. Eventually, we won’t have to read the legalize of trade agreements and laws before congress to know what’s going on. We’ll see it in what’s in our wallet or our bank account, and in the bills that we aren’t going to be able to pay.