So as of mid-day EST time, the stocks are mainly down. While I was/am expecting the overall down trend to continue, with some splash upward on Oct 3-4, and then some optimism from mid to end of Oct likely resulting in the move up towards Oct 28, I wasn’t particularly expecting a sharp decline at the opening on Sep 22, 2011.

Even though there are a few exact planetary alignments happening on Sep 22 (e.g., Mars trine Uranus = good for doing things the new way, esp. in the area of military, any technical improvements, machinery, computers, airplanes, electric wiring, etc.), there are no “hard” aspects (in geocentric view) among transiting planets, which are typically associated with sharp moves.

Certainly, there are tons of other astro data one can peruse to analyze what may have caused the drop on Sep 22 (e.g., looking at heliocentric charts, progressions, midpoints, transits to charts of leaders, countries & organizations, etc.—this reminds me, Mars [war] will be transiting over Pluto [death] in UN chart in early Oct, arnd 6-10… hmm…), but this is rather time-consuming. One quick idea that comes to mind is the possible effect of eclipses.

Specifically, on Sep 22, transiting Venus squared the degree of the latest Solar eclipse (09 Cancer) that occurred on July 1, 2011; while transiting Mercury squared the degree of the latest Lunar eclipse (24 Sag) that occurred on June 15, 2011.

• Looking back, when Mars transited over that same solar eclipse degree (09 Cancer) on Aug 17, 2011, there was a sharp down move the following day (in DJI).
• Looking forward, Sun will be squaring that same degree on Oct 2, 2011 (Sunday). Considering other aspects going on Sep 27-29 & then Oct 3-4, there may very well be a direction change or some event(s) over the weekend that will make for a mood shift from Fr to Mon.

Btw, Venus also formed a quincunx with Jupiter on Sep 22. A quincunx is typically interpreted as having a disharmonious influence, but I normally don’t look at it as a trigger of any major market moves. If quincunx does play a greater role, however, it may further corroborate an expectation of a down movement of the market next week, as Mars will be forming a quincunx with Pluto on Sep 26-27.