India Post News Service

NEW YORK: The subprime mortgage financial crisis currently sweeping the American housing market is headed for a major blowout in the summer of 2008. This telling projection is not courtesy Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, or a financial geek, but a dead-on prediction by New York-based astrologer Ashok Motiani. Motiani, it may be noted, had predicted the impending US housing market crash, in an interview three years ago.

And his studied estimates put the housing market losses at One Trillion dollars. As a financial astrologer who has consistently been right on the money, Motiani recently decided to take his knowledge of the fickle markets to help investors risk less and gain more by following his predictions on his website -- Indianmarketastrologer.com (Indian Market Astrologer.Com).

The website makes monthly and weekly predictions on the vagaries of the Indian stock market besides giving a long term outlook for investors. Soon, he will be launching his other website – Americanmarketastrologer.com – which will predict the vacillations of the US market. In Dec 2005, in a TV interview in India, Motiani predicted that by the middle of 2006 when certain conjunctions take place with Mars in Mangal’s neech raashi Kark -- a phenomenon occurring after 29 years -- the stock market would decline sharply, Indeed, the market dropped by almost 4000 points in June ‘06. However, on June 18, he had told some of his clients who had consulted him to buy because the market would go high again.

“Those who called me had benefited immensely by my predictions and I strongly wished then that I had a website whereby I could inform everybody,” he said. Thus the idea of creating a website took birth and last year, Motiani finally launched Indianmarketastrologer.com. An indication of how much financial astrology has caught on with the modern world is the tremendous response he received from the mainstream media in India when he went to launch his website there in December last year. “I think everyone is awakening to astrology,” Motiani observes.

“Astrology has been prevalent for more than 5000 years, then came the ‘60s to ‘80s era when educated people thought it was nonsense. But suddenly when the West started believing in it, the young generation in the East too has started taking to it.” Combining his given gift for astrology with his understanding of economics, analytical skills and a passion for the financial markets, Motiani has come to specialize in stock market predictions for over a decade now. While he is humble enough to admit to a 20 percent margin of error, most of his major predictions about the Indian as well as American stock markets have been accurate.

The raging mortgage crisis, Motiani had told a newspaper in December, is the biggest financial disaster cover up in the history of financial institutions. Confirming the recessionary trends in the US economy, Motiani said, “The cosmetic efforts of marginally lowering interest rates are of no use, because the people facing foreclosure cannot afford to pay any mortgage anyway.” The showdown will begin May onwards and through September, people will really feel the pinch, he foresees.

 “There are astrological reasons for it -- Guru (Jupiter) is transiting in dhanu (Sagittarius) raashi right now and it will be retrograde in its own house from May 9 onwards, where it will become neech. Jupiter being the planet of financial liquidity, right now the government is providing the liquidity by cutting down the interest rates and doling out checks to taxpayers, but for how long can they do it? Only, as long as Jupiter is in direct position in Sagittarius; but when it becomes retrograde in May, Jupiter will suck away all the liquidity from the financial world. Hence, will be a major decline in stock market.” Incidentally, in a television interview, Motiani had predicted that interest rates would be cut in January, which has come true.

Background

Looking back, Motiani’s tryst with astrology began when he was still in college in Mumbai, India. But it was the 1992 collapse of the Indian stock market in the wake of the Harshad Mehta scandal that got him hooked to financial astrology.

“There was an extraordinary stock market boom in India in 1991 and my friend Vijay Anand (the late Bollywood filmmaker), who himself was an astrologer, would keep asking me where the market was heading. By Feb ’92, I had concluded that the market will decline on April 28.” And the market had indeed crashed on that day. “I had applied the fundamentals of astrology to India’s birth chart, determining August 15, 1947 as the birth date of the country. With the accurate date and time of the birth of a new nation, it was not difficult to apply the rules of astrology,” he explains.

It was a bold prediction. And the thrill of that experience got him hooked to stock market predictions. Moving to New York in 1995 brought Motiani in close proximity to Wall Street and deepened his interest in the financial markets. Thanks to the advent of the Internet, he studied the market patterns and soon started predicting both Indian and American stock markets, and stepping on milestone after milestone, he established himself as an astrologer of great repute.

On May 15, 1999, as an invitee at the American and European Astrologers’ Meet in New York City, Motiani predicted that the American stock market will decline heavily in April 2000. He had also predicted that Microsoft would lead the way to destruction. Sure enough, the planetary conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Mercury and Ketu led to the market collapse.

Hollywood Connection

Around that time, adding a glamorous aside to his grim financial predictions, Hollywood came knocking and soon he had a roster of at least 20 major Hollywood stars consulting him on a regular basis for their personal readings. “It started with one leading Hollywood star coming to see me in New York, which made it to the tabloid gossip columns the next day. That gave me the boost,” he says self-effacingly. Although Motiani wouldn’t drop names, his association with stars like Goldie Hawn, Uma Thurman, Anthony Hopkins and Cindy Crawford has been widely reported.

Trends in astrology

Simply put, Motiani explains that everything that’s born on earth is ruled by the nine planets – Navagrahas – the Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Ketu and Venus. Hence, based on the planetary influences, everything from an individual’s life to storms, earthquakes, wars to stock markets can be predicted. “Of course, the astrologer has to be knowledgeable in that particular field,” he cautions. “Astrology is a huge field. Apart from personal predictions and those of natural calamities, this science is now being used for medical treatments and corporate recruitment also.” Motiani himself does consultations for an Indian company in the hospitality business to advise them on the suitability of particular candidates to certain positions in the company.

Major predictions

Two months ago, Motiani predicted that there would be a major decline in the markets all over the world, especially in the US and India from May 2008 onwards. Though the market has seen a little correction last month, (which he had predicted on his website) by Feb-March-April, the market will recover. However, May onwards the market is going to decline once again.

Gold

Way back in Dec 2005, he had predicted in India that gold, which was selling at $500 an ounce would cross $700. And it did. In Dec 2007, again when he was in India, he predicted a bullish trend in gold. As of January end, it crossed $900/ounce. “Gold is still positive, but this is not the right time to put new money into gold; it is worth holding onto,” Motiani says. “However if gold pulls back in the summer of 2008 it will bring new opportunity of investing new money.”

Oil

In Dec 2005, he had predicted that Oil prices would reach an all time high because of certain stars in the Kark raashi. From $40 per barrel then, oil prices went up to $79 per barrel in July 2006. Currently however, Motiani is “bullish on gold and bearish on oil.” “Oil should go down to $70 in the next two years,” he says.

India / US

“I am very bullish on India for the next 23 years,” says Motiani emphatically. “Because of certain powerful dashas, India will become a force to reckon with.” As for the US, he says sooner or later some leadership will emerge in America which will bring back the economy. Economy wise, Motiani says both India and the US are very exciting and wonderful in the coming years. “So you can make your home wherever your heart is.”