Saturn, not bankers, killed Lehman, says astrofinance specialist

October 16, 2008 Edition 1

Sapa-AFP

From his base in India's financial capital, Mumbai, Raj Kumar Sharma has been tracking the turbulence in the world stock markets and has come to one firm conclusion: it was written in the stars.

As an astrofinance specialist, he has made a career predicting whether the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq, the Dow Jones industrial average or the FTSE 100 will go up or down, by studying favourable or unfavourable planetary alignments.

Where many blame banks overstretching themselves, or inadequate financial controls and policy, Sharma sees a clash between fiery Saturn and its archenemy Leo as a key factor in the recent financial turmoil.

"Leo is the sign of the sun and the sun is the father in Indian astrology," says Sharma. "But the son (Saturn) and his father (the sun) don't get along, so whenever they are sitting in the same house, they always fight, and create ill will and danger in the market."

Saturn was in Leo at the end of August and into last month, when the financial storm claimed its highest-profile victim. "That's why Lehman Brothers fell," Sharma said of the US investment bank.

"We Indian astrologers believe that everybody is influenced by the cosmic energy of these stars," said Sharma, who has been drawing up stock market horoscopes for the past 16 years.