By Haddon Libby
In the last week, the Coachella Valley said its goodbyes to one of its most progressive and effective councilpersons in Mayor Greg Pettis of Cathedral City. We have also experienced four days of rain, a destructive standoff between Nancy Pelosi and Donald Trump that puts politics over people, the seemingly impossible third consecutive Super Bowl appearance by Tom Brady, Bill Bellichek and the New England Patriots, the near reversal of December losses in the stock market and whatever unique thing might have happened in your life.
What is going on?
My guess is that the Earth is out of alignment. It is not that everything is good or bad – it is just that a whole lot of oddness is happening.
To figure out the cause of these events, one needs to look no further than the moon.
Last Sunday we didn’t experience just any old Blood Red Wolf Moon but we had a Super Blood Red Wolf Moon! That’s big, right?
For those who watched the AFC Championship football game, it could help explain how the Edelman did not touch a muffed punt return or how Gronkowski’s missed catch and resultant interception was overruled by a penalty on the Chiefs.
For those who watched the referee-decided Rams/Saints Championship, was it divine intervention by the ghost of Caroll Rosenbloom that allowed for the improbable non-call or something like the power of the moon?
Super Blood Red Wolf Moons are rare. For one to occur, it has to happen in January as the wolf part of the name is a Native American reference to the first full or new moon of the year. Next, we need a total lunar eclipse. For those of us who are a little rusty on our astronomy, a lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth is directly between our Sun and our Moon. The Blood Red part refers to the color that the Moon glows when in our shadow which I would think is part of any lunar eclipse. What makes this Blood Red Wolf Moon super has nothing to do with Super Bowl Sunday as that now occurs on the first Sunday of February. What makes a moon super is when it is in its closest orbit to Earth for the year.
As a Super Blood Red Wolf Moon seems pretty rare, it must signify something to someone somewhere, right?
The supermoon affects the tides across the world so one can make the intellectual leap that our moon affects us as we are largely made of water. Following this line of thought, yogi and spiritual astrologist Kate Rose says that this special type of Super Blood Red Wolf Moon represents both an ending and a powerful beginning. Think of it like a spiritual New Year’s Eve where you clear out your excess baggage in order to make room for new beginnings and opportunities.
When we think about the stock markets wild ride in 2018, if we ended 2018 three weeks later on the date of the Super Blood Red Moon, the S&P 500 index would have been down only 2%. Over the last two years that means that the S&P 500 produced an 11.7% annual return.
In a coincidence of the calendar, the Chinese New Year occurs on February 5th, two days after the Super Bowl 53. At that time, the Chinese calendar will move from the Year of the Dog to the Year of the Pig. In Chinese astrology, our tasty porcine buddies serve as a symbol of wealth. Pigs are also said to be amongst the more stable of astrological influences – something that we can all hope is on the menu in China and Washington DC for 2019.
Haddon Libby is the Founder and Managing Partner of Winslow Drake Investment Management, a fee-only, fiduciary advisory practice. For more information, please visit www.WinslowDrake.com or email HLibby@WinslowDrake.com.
