Review

“Houthi militants seized a strategic island in the Bab al-Mandeb strait and a town along its mainland coast on Friday, taking effective control of one of the world’s most important shipping chokepoints after a rapid offensive.”

—Summer Said, Georgi Kantchev and Saleh al-Batati, “Iran-Backed Houthis Take Effective Control of Key Red Sea Chokepoint,” The Wall Street Journal, September 11, 2026.

The dominant story of the week is once again the Middle East conflict, which drove the price of WTI over $100. The key difference from the spring rally is that global bond markets are now selling off as the U.S. 10-year yield approaches 5%. The markets are pricing in the probability of higher interest rates. However, the weakness in Gold is telling, as investors appear to be treating the conflict as an inflation-and-rates shock rather than a flight to safety.

We are in an important September 11 Critical Reversal Date, which includes Uranus stationing retrograde on September 10. Uranus is the planet of sudden disruptions and shocking events. When it is activated, we tend to see rather sharp reversals, as seen with Crude Oil, Copper, and Soybeans, or breakouts from support or resistance zones, as seen in Ethereum, which rallied to 2663.40. I am still undecided on Treasury notes, as either scenario could be unfolding.

Equity markets were relatively benign this week, continuing to consolidate without a clear move in either direction. It was a similar picture for precious metals. Copper stood out, rallying to a new all-time high (ATH) before selling off sharply after reports suggested that U.S. tariffs may be delayed, suggesting stockpiling and trade positioning had become more important than immediate industrial demand. Essentially, the market is trying to price in potential new tariffs as the U.S. continues to pursue its protectionist ideology.

Short-term geocosmics

Over the coming week, we continue in the orb of the September 11 CRD with the Venus–Pluto square forming on September 15. This signature is indicative of a struggle over who controls money, resources, and valuations, leading to an intense repricing or reversal.

Venus represents money, value, currencies, trade, diplomacy, and agreements. Pluto represents concentrated power, coercion, intervention, destruction and regeneration, secrecy, debt, taxes, insurance, monopolies, sanctions and control of strategic resources. This coincides with the Bank of England interest-rate decision on September 17 and the Bank of Japan decision on September 18. A Bank of Japan hike would likely strengthen the Yen and disrupt the carry trade.

Longer-term thoughts and opinion

“Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned this week, saying his former employer and its rival OpenAI are racing to build technologies that ‘could kill us all by the end of the decade.’”

—Sam Schechner, “How Would AI Actually Kill Us All? What to Know About the AI Doomsday Debate” The Wall Street Journal, September 11, 2026.

On the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, one of the darker moments in recent human history, I found myself reflecting upon the threats facing humanity and the dilemma at the heart of our pursuit of progress. Are we genuinely evolving, or merely placing ever greater power into the hands of those who have not sufficiently evolved to control it?

Over recent weeks, I have been reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Written around two thousand years ago, the poem begins with the creation of the universe and travels through mythology and history to the assassination and deification of Julius Caesar.

Its central theme is transformation. Nothing remains permanently what it was. Modern physics offers an interesting parallel: energy is neither created nor destroyed, but transferred or transformed. Change is constant, but the more difficult question is whether change necessarily constitutes progress.

This feels particularly relevant because, within roughly the past two years, all outer planets from Jupiter to Pluto have crossed into new signs. A comparable concentration has not occurred for approximately three centuries. Astrologically, this should result in a significant shift in human society. But where is that change taking us? Are we moving toward a more elevated society, or are we acquiring more sophisticated means of destroying ourselves?

Ovid offers a hopeful and heartwarming image of the universe moving from chaos toward a refined and beautiful world. His creation story begins in primordial chaos. Order gradually imposes itself on the elements, the heavens, the earth, and finally human society. His description of the creation of man by the gods has a striking resemblance to the creation of AI. “So Man came into the world. Maybe the great artificer made him of seed divine in a plan for a better universe…. Prometheus, the son of Iapetus, sprinkled [earth] with raindrops and molded [man] into the likeness of the gods who govern the universe…man was given a towering head and commanded to stand erect, with his face uplifted to gaze on the stars of heaven.”

Ovid’s gods quickly discover that creation brings danger. They had to intervene with the first generation of giants as they aspired to reach the throne of heaven by building a path to the stars. Were they attempting space travel? Not much detail is given, other than the fact that the gods felt threatened by this and resorted to destroying the giants. Later, when humanity becomes violent and corrupt, the gods once again erase almost the entire race through the Great Flood.

In Book II, we get a glimpse of how the universe was put into danger when Phaethon (man) demanded the right to drive the divine chariot of the Sun. He possesses the ambition to command divine power, but not the wisdom to control it.

Yet Ovid’s poem also shows that the danger does not come from humanity alone. When the gods descend into human society, we discover that although they possess far greater power, they remain vulnerable to jealousy, desire, pride, and error. Greater intelligence and greater power do not automatically produce greater virtue. In essence, the gods appear to have found themselves where we find ourselves in relation to AI.

Yet the poem gives me hope. As it moves through time, human society becomes more organized and self-conscious. Cities, laws, religious institutions, art, and philosophy emerge. Human agency increases, and simultaneously, the gods gradually recede from direct intervention and interaction.

But Ovid presents a paradox. During the Golden Age, humanity required no laws because justice existed naturally within the human heart. Laws became necessary only after that harmony had been lost. Their appearance is therefore a mark of both civilization and evidence of moral decline. Society becomes more regulated, but not necessarily more virtuous.

The events of 9/11 confront us with precisely this distinction. Technical advancement has increased human capability without eliminating hatred or fanaticism. This is also the central dilemma of artificial intelligence. Superintelligence itself may not be the greatest danger. The greater danger is likely superintelligence interacting with human beings who still struggle with their own moral evolution.

So, as our lawmakers struggle to devise laws and regulations governing the development of AI and space travel, this raises another interesting dilemma. Such regulation is necessary, but rules can only restrain behavior. They do not elevate character. The Golden Age is not a world in which laws have simply been removed. It is one in which humanity no longer requires external compulsion because order has been established within. Is this what we are seeing with the acts of protest by individuals such as Jacob Coxon? Is the Age of Aquarius the Golden Age?

This brings me back to the current astrological picture. The Uranus–Pluto trine in air signs is suggestive of an accelerated circulation of knowledge, technology, and ideas. Neptune at the midpoint on the world axis adds vision and metamorphosis. Perhaps this is the defining question of the new era: Will the general momentum of Ovid’s poem prevail?