South Sea Bubble Crash

Analyses of distinct mundane events, using the methods of Sidereal mundane astrology
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Jim Eshelman
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South Sea Bubble Crash

Post by Jim Eshelman »

Steve posted information on the South Sea Bubble crash (London, summer 1720) and invited analysis and opinions: He linked this discussion:
http://www.investopedia.com/features/cr ... ashes3.asp

A further discussion is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sea_Company

He quoted:
Eventually the management team of SSC took a step back and realized that the value of their personal shares in no way reflected the actual value of the company or its dismal earnings. So, they sold their stocks in the summer of 1720 and hoped no one would leak the failure of the company to the other shareholders. Like all bad news, however, the knowledge of the actions of SSC management spread, and the panic selling of worthless certificates ensued. The huge hole in the south sea bubble also punctured the Mississippi Company's unrealistic value and both came crashing down.
The South Sea Company was a public-private partnership involving a group of British merchants trading in the South Seas and America. Though granted a monopoly on South American trade, international conflict made trade with South America impossible. Its stock inflated significantly (e.g., a 10x increase in a single year) as the company expanded operations using public (government funds), and then, in the summer of 1720, caved in to roughly its original price.

This was the bursting of the "South Sea Bubble." It ruined numerous investors. Britain's national economy also took a hard blow. The collapse seems centered on August, a month when the 10x inflation of the price started reversing itself, the value dropping by year's end to about 10% of its top value. (The share price peaked in early August.) Other collapse-feeding things happened at about the same time. The effect was so powerful that it actually damaged King George I's credibility.

Let's look at this as best we can, given that there is no sharp, single date. Given the consequences and the government participation, the charts are for London.

Year: Capsolar
Though not a heavily active chart, it's main feature is certainly pro-deception and pro-panic.
Neptune sq. Asc (1°07')
Moon on Dsc (2°41')
Moon-Neptune square (2°16')

Quarter: Cansolar
Mercury sq. MC (0°11')
Saturn sq. Asc (2°20')
Moon-Mars sq. (0°22' in mundo)
-- Moon on IC (5°14')
-- Mars on Asc (5°36')


Bridge
By August, transiting Saturn squared Capsolar Sun. With Ascendant 28°04' Cancer, Saturn had retrograded to 27°47' Libra in late July. Overall, Saturn was in orb of this angle May 27 to September 15. The most intense time, though, was at Saturn's station in late July, a couple of weeks before the stock topped and began to tumble.

Then there was the ugly actions of progressed Capsolar Moon (CapQ Moon). CapQ Moon squared Capsolar or CapQ Saturn from July 11 to September 7, again centering on August. Transiting Neptune squared CapQ Moon for a longer time, February 16 to August 29. For a time, just as the stock topped and began to tumble, transiting Mars opposed CapQ Moon July 30 to August 2.

This narrows the window - with Saturn square Capsolar Ascendant, CapQ Moon square Saturn, and transiting Neptune square CapQ Moon - to July 11 to August 29. Add transiting Mars (i.e., Mars + Neptune) opposite CapQ Moon, and you have a super-crisis point exactly on August 1 - a Grand Square of Moon and three malefics in the second degree of each Hub constellation.

Lunar Ingresses
Lunar ingresses were equally bad. The July 19 Caplunar, for example, had Saturn square Ascendant 1°12', and Neptune on the other side squaring it 2°33'. The average of the Saturn-Neptune opposition was 0°40' from Caplunar MC. (Add Mars and Mercury rising for an all-hands malefic event. Add a Moon-Sun opposition, common for "phase swing" economic crises.)

The August 2 Canlunar was even worse - but only because major angles were involved. Saturn was < 3° from Asc, opposite a setting Neptune, all three squaring a culminating Mercury. And yeah, Mars is foreground, too.

Every layer was piling up and making things worse.

From then until the end of the year, things were not uniformly bad. For example, the August 15 Caplunar had Jupiter culminating, but the damage was done already. October 9 brought Saturn-Neptune back to the meridian.
Jim Eshelman
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Jim Eshelman
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Re: South Sea Bubble Crash

Post by Jim Eshelman »

Steve was particularly interested in the 1720 15° Taurus chart, which he has been investigating as affecting summer-spawned economic crises. The May 27, 1720 chart has the following:

Moon-Mercury sq. (0°06')
Moon-Venus sq. (2°48')
Pluto on Dsc (1°08', stationary)
Venus on Asc (1°57')
-- Venus-Pluto op. (0°49')
Saturn-Neptune op. (0°07')
Mercury-Neptune conj. (0°26' in mundo)
Mercury-Saturn op. ((1°14' in mundo)
-- Mercury on Asc (5°23')
-- Neptune on Asc (5°49')
-- Saturn on Dsc (6°37')
-- Uranus on Dsc (7°45')

Mercury-Venus conj. (2°54')

It certainly has its points. Primarily, it is marked by a tight Venus-Pluto opposition across the horizon, which has appeared not so much for financial crises as for ruined lives, hopes, and communities - compare the 1980's market collapse in this country. And then a more widely foreground 07' Saturn-Neptune opposition loops in Mercury for a series of aspects appropriate to a market collapse.

It's pretty good. Not great (e.g., the Saturn-Neptune, though close, is only loosely angular), but definitely good. I don't think it's as good a chart for market collapse as every other one we saw above, but one could say it spoke to the community and family impact more particularly.
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Re: South Sea Bubble Crash

Post by SteveS »

8-) As usual, excellent analysis Jim, and much appreciated. Anyone who has knowledge of the clear-cut fundamental market signs for a financial bubble would have been put on major alert with the knowledge SMA offers-- pertaining to angular Neptune related to financial panics.
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