An excerpt from the 2025 Global Outlook Live Review on March 30, 2025.
Transcript edited for print.
Now, Trump’s return, I’m going to argue, marks a strategic pivot. We’re having these alignments happening on the World Point, and these types of alignments are very rare. We have the Fourth Turning crisis combined with the U.S. Pluto return, combined with the U.S. Uranus return. We have Saturn-Neptune on the World Point, all converging simultaneously.
The last time we saw this type of convergence, or these kinds of ingresses into these signs and cycles, goes all the way back to 1773 through the 1790s. That was the period of revolution in the American colonies. It was the emergence of the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment. We also saw the French Revolution and the beginning of the end of royalty. The oldest kings of Europe weren’t the British kings, they were the French kings, and we saw the beginning of the end of that old system. It took a while to fully play out, really until World War I, but that’s when it began. Then we saw the rise of Napoleon and the rise of George Washington—very significant figures.
Now we have this recapitulating, and it just so happens it’s occurring during Trump’s re-election. So Trump’s re-election in 2024 and the beginning of his administration in 2025 signal the formal end of the unipolar world. His administration is going to shift U.S. foreign policy from idealism—the neoliberal idealism fully played out by the Obama and Biden administrations—to a more hard-nosed realism.
From Global Idealism to Hard-Nosed Realism
This shift includes prioritizing national interest over global consensus, recognizing multipolarity as inevitable—meaning India, China, Russia, and Europe all have a say—redefining alliances through transactional diplomacy, and deterring war, but no longer subordinating national interests to a globalist vision shaped by institutions like the World Economic Forum.
Under the Biden administration, policy often aligned with frameworks emerging from World Economic Forum meetings under Klaus Schwab, supported by transnational entities whose ideas filtered into foreign policy, banking policy, and central bank strategy. That structure is now collapsing.
When I look at the Sun at zero degrees Aquarius right on Pluto, that signifies the death of the old world order and marks a strategic pivot in America’s place in the world. America becomes a transformational agent, moving away from a postmodern centralized system in which U.S. national interests were subordinated to a broader global vision shaped by European elites, the Bank of International Settlements, and aligned institutions, along with deep state networks across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. There’s now an aggressive pushback against that global doctrine.
The U.S. Chart and the Scorpio Rising Case
When we look at the U.S. chart, I use the Scorpio rising chart. For those committed to the Sibley Sagittarius rising chart, there is documentation from John Hancock, president of the Second Continental Congress. In a letter cited in his biography, he stated that the great white paper was ratified before being sent to the printer at around 2 p.m. He didn’t give an exact time, but he said around 2 p.m., so I use that time—though it was likely slightly earlier.
Also, the eagle is the symbol of the United States, not the turkey. Sagittarius would correlate more with a turkey, but the eagle aligns more closely with Scorpio symbolism.
What we see now is a triple alignment. The Uranus-Pluto midpoint is activated. Transiting Pluto is still very close to the U.S. natal Pluto and applying to the U.S. South Node. At the same time, Uranus transitions into Gemini, coming within seven degrees of the U.S. Uranus return. So we have both a Pluto return and a Uranus return unfolding.
The midpoint of these two returning planets falls within this triple conjunction on the World Point, squaring the U.S. Venus-Jupiter conjunction in the eighth house of debt.
The Debt Crisis and the Eighth House Trigger
What’s the major issue facing the United States right now? The debt crisis and $1.8 trillion in deficit spending. We have rising core inflation, record physical gold buying, trade war uncertainty, elevated geopolitical tensions, increasing market volatility, and growing uncertainty overall.
The Congressional Budget Office has warned that the U.S. could risk default as soon as August 2025. The eighth house represents the credit line. The United States can issue credit, print money, and package it into Treasury bonds, but it’s still debt—debt owed domestically and to foreign creditors.
That’s why gold has rarely had a stronger macro backdrop. This is not just about global geopolitics. It’s also about domestic financial pressures.
Recession Probabilities and Market Signals
I also track Polymarket, which has roughly a 90% accuracy rate. It serves as a probability gauge. Since January 8th, the probability of a U.S. recession in 2025 has risen from about 20% to around 38–40%. The risk is clearly increasing.
At this moment, we don’t have confirmation that we’re technically in a recession. The environment looks more like accelerated stagflation with higher volatility. However, August could bring triggers—especially if default risk probabilities rise—that increase recession odds for the second half of the year.
I also examined the astrological black box, which integrates over 720 transiting factors and maps supportive versus challenging periods. Overall, the U.S. chart is holding up relatively well.
If a recession occurs, it would likely be brief. It could resemble the post-dot-com period. When the dot-com bubble burst between 2000 and 2002, a recession followed, but it wasn’t deeply felt by most people. Business slowed, but widespread layoffs didn’t immediately follow. If we see employment stress, it’s more likely to intensify in 2026.
It may remain debatable whether we’re officially in a recession until the second half of the year. The astrological setup is mixed. If a recession happens, it’s more likely to be intense but short-lived, with markets correcting sharply and then rebounding.
Liquidity, Rate Cuts, and Crisis Management
Liquidity will be critical. With Saturn-Neptune squaring Venus-Jupiter in the eighth house, the likely response—alongside aggressive rate cuts—would be opening the liquidity spigots. Significant capital would be injected into the system.
Since 2008, the U.S. has effectively turned debt into an asset and the dollar into the liability, refinancing debt every four years, typically in the year after a new administration begins. That pattern suggests we’ll likely see pressure to lower interest rates again.
If a near-default crisis emerges in August, as the CBO suggests is possible, it could create significant market swings and rapidly increase recession probabilities. However, if those probabilities continue rising, it’s likely the Treasury, the Fed, and the Trump administration would pull out all the stops to prevent a full-blown recession.
For nearly four decades, William Stickevers has empowered business leaders, independent thinkers, and visionaries to navigate global shifts and critical turning points with clarity and confidence. His unique blend of astrological techniques, macroeconomic insights, and strategic forecasting equips clients to stay ahead of the curve and thrive in uncertain times. Discover how William’s in-depth forecasts, programs, and astrological consultations can help you make more confident, well-timed decisions, and recognize opportunities others overlook. Visit williamstickevers.com for your strategic advantage in business, finances, and life.
A trends forecaster, William’s annual global forecasts are backed by a deep study of economies, geopolitics, archetypal cosmology, and modern astrological forecasting techniques. William’s predictions for the outcome of the U.S. Midterm and Presidential Elections are well documented on his blog.
William Stickevers is a strategic astrological advisor, advising clients from 28 countries for nearly four decades with strategy and cosmic insight and foresight to gain an asymmetrical advantage in their investing, business planning and decisions, and to live a more fulfilled life according to their soul’s code and calling.
William has been a regular guest on Coast to Coast AM with George Noory and The Jerry Wills Show, and featured on The Unexplained with Howard Hughes, Beyond Reality Radio with Jason Hawes and JV Johnson, We Don’t Die Radio with Sandra Champlain, Supernatural Girlz, Paranormal Podcast, and Alan Steinfeld’s New Realities. An international speaker, William has lectured at the New York Open Center, Edgar Cayce’s Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.), two Funai Media events in Tokyo, Japan, the United Astrology Conference (2018), for the National Council for Geocosmic Research (NYC, Long Island, New Jersey, San Francisco chapters), American Federation of Astrologers (Los Angeles), the Astrological Society of Connecticut, the San Francisco Astrological Society, and in Europe (Munich and Bucharest) and Japan (Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama).
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