Michel Camdessus: New IMF Head
Zip Dobyns
Thanks to Aline Kestenberg of Paris, we have the birth data for the new president of the International Monetary Fund. As readers know, I have been expecting a world-wide depression some time in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Charts for the United States Constitution and my version of the Declaration of Independence contributed to that judgment since their progressions looked so much like the secondary progressions in the years following 1929. The placement of three major planets in Capricorn also pointed to a time of anxiety and consequences for past action along with a need to be practical and hard working. But I was also impressed by the stress aspects in the personal charts of Paul Volcker (head of the U.S. Federal Reserve) and De Larosiere (head of the IMF). The horoscopes of world leaders can be helpful in judging the tension in the world, but there is always the possibility that the tension in the charts of leaders is partly or largely related to personal concerns rather than to the world situation. Volcker has now resigned from the FED, in part because of his wife’s serious arthritis though also because Reagan wanted someone more willing to increase the money supply and keep interest rates down in an election year. Greenspan replaced Volcker and has proceeded to keep the money tight and the interest rates up much of the time, though he eased briefly after the October 1989 stock market crash and has been “looser” lately. Unfortunately, we do not have a birth time for Greenspan. His birth date and place are March 6, 1926 in New York City. Larosiere also resigned (soon after an eclipse on his Sun), and was replaced by Camdessus, another French financier.
So instead of an IMF head with a very conflicted chart, we now have a man with a grand trine in earth backed up by several water-earth sextiles. The general picture fits a conservative approach but does not look like the collapse of the international financial structure which has been predicted by some “new age experts.” Camdessus was born in Bayonne, France on May 1, 1933 at 1 A.M. (0 hours UT). His close Sun-Venus conjunction in the money sign of Taurus is on the IC in the natal chart and on the Descendant in Washington, DC, the location of IMF headquarters. Sun-Venus form a grand trine to the natal Ascendant and Jupiter, with Neptune, the Moon’s south node, and Mars more widely connected from early Virgo.
The lunar nodes fall in the money houses (2-8) in Pisces-Virgo, with Pallas (so often involved in politics) on the north node and closely opposite Mars. The oppositions across the second-eighth houses certainly fit the lifelong involvement with finances. The south node placement in the eighth house indicates that Camdessus has something to learn and then something to give in the handling of joint resources. If Camdessus can help solve the overhanging world debts, especially those of the less developed countries which have been the primary concerns of the IMF in recent years, he will certainly have fulfilled the obligation of his south node. Of course we have yet to see whether he can make a difference in the situation.
Other supportive aspects include a Neptune sextile to the MC, Ceres in late Pisces sextile Chiron in late Taurus, and a Moon conjunction with Pluto in Cancer, all intensifying the water-earth emphasis in the chart that points to a cautious person seeking to preserve the status quo and security.
Though less emphasized, the chart has air and fire in mostly harmonious patterns including a grand trine in air signs in fire houses. But earth is also a component of this pattern since one corner of the trine includes the rising Saturn, our primary earth planet, conjunct the Antivertex, while another corner is Vesta, our primary earth asteroid. Intellectual competence is certainly suggested. The Antivertex in Aquarius and Juno in Libra are more closely trine Vesta with Saturn brought in by its conjunction to the Antivertex. Mercury and Uranus in Aries in the Gemini (3rd) house form sextiles to Saturn-Antivertex on one side and Vesta on the other side. Since discovering the prominence of Halley’s Comet in our presidential candidates, I have been adding it to all public figures. Camdessus has it in Leo in the seventh house, in a lifetime square to his natal MC and Sun. Halley’s position fits a life involving power with some inevitable power struggles, and Mars in the eighth house is another key to power issues. With a key to personal identity and power in a house of other people (the eighth), it is important to know when to compete and when to cooperate.
Current patterns for Camdessus include progressed (P) Mars quincunx Uranus and octile MC, trioctile Sun, fitting the major change in his personal action, career, and home. P Venus conjunct Pluto emphasizes the shift in associates and the focus on finances. P Vesta square Mercury and trioctile P north node of the Moon repeats the potential for a change in work, communications, and finances. P Jupiter in a long yod to natal Saturn and Mercury is another indication of a life marked by periodic changes of direction despite the earth-water tendency to maintain the status quo. P Moon entered the seventh house in the spring of 1987 and Camdessus had a progressed New Moon in 1986, marking the start of a new 30 year cycle, so his chart certainly fits the major changes which have been occurring in his life. Though there are several stress aspects in the chart, the harmony is surprisingly strong for a man involved in the challenges posed by the world’s financial situation. P Juno is holding exact trines to natal Antivertex and Vesta while P Sun is sextile-trine the nodes of the Moon. P Sun will continue into a sextile to Neptune, a trine to the MC, and a sextile to natal Sun-Venus in the years ahead.
I am left to wonder whether, just as part of Larosiere’s challenge aspects may have been personal, leading to his departure from the job as head of the IMF, Camdessus might be sufficiently at ease with himself and life to decide that he does not need a stressful job and to resign. Alternately, some of the changes suggested for the early 1990s may be indicative of the financial pressures anticipated for the world. The local (Washington, DC) P MC is moving into an opposition to Mercury and a trine to Saturn but since the natal angle opposed Saturn, the associated events in 1990-1 may be more like the nature of the opposition, marking another time of home and/or career changes. P Vesta is about to start a quincunx to Saturn so the local P MC will also square P Vesta by 1990. P local Ascendant gets to local Antivertex in 1990. It is currently opposite Vesta and quincunx Pluto for the recent change of job and associates. Since the majority of the stress aspects currently in effect or coming in the next two to three years are connected to the local Washington, DC angles, we can reason that most of Camdessus’ pressures are connected to his current job for the IMF. Let us hope again that his skills are adequate for the job, and that he provides wise guidance through the stormy waters.