Enron and a Fall from Grace
— Venus and Hubris —
by Michael Munkasey
Our guest astrologer this month is Michael Munkasey, a professional astrologer living in California. Michael has earned many astrological credentials, including the NCGR Level IV, has written three books, and has had many publications in several book anthologies and many magazines. His interests and areas of expertise include business consulting, compatibility, and natal astrological consultations. His compatibility website can be seen at www.compatti.com.
Enron Corporation, headquartered in Houston, TX, and (formerly) a darling of Wall Street, is one of the world’s leading energy, commodities and services companies. Highly touted as a premier growth company, Enron markets wholesale electricity and natural gas, delivers energy and other
physical commodities, and provides financial and risk management services to customers worldwide.
What Enron introduced was a “new” concept for doing business — under an old cloak. The “new” was wholesaling commercial products (electricity, gas, telecommunications) and associated services. The “old” was the use of
connections and bravado to bull through the market place. What was unusual here is the rapid bailout of “friends” when some financial accounting information started to look unsubstantiated. As recently as November, 2001, reputable Wall Street analysts were loudly touting “buys” for Enron.
On December 2, 2001, after some weeks of rumor, Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York state. This event and what led to it is now referred to as “the Enron debacle”. Enron’s stock price had risen
to a high of about $90 a share in late August, 2000, but had fallen to about sixty cents by the end of December, 2001. Billions of dollars of stockholder equity evaporated. The stock market is volatile, and stock
prices do rise and fall, sometimes dramatically, but for a highly touted and much respected company to lose share value so quickly is dramatic.
This episode may be one of the most dramatic examples of a company’s fall from grace in American history. This is a major embarrassment. How did this happen? Where does the blame lie? Which companies or people are affected?
DATA
According to official state records, Enron was most recently incorporated in Salem, Oregon, on July 19, 1996, with the time of incorporation given as 4:24 PM PDT. Enron had a prior incorporation in Delaware on April 25, 1930. It is my practice to use a company’s most recent data, as a reincorporation starts a new business entity. Enron
Corporation trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol of ENE.
The first trade of the ticker symbol, ENE was made on June 16, 1947, according to official exchange records. The exchange opened at 10:00 AM on that date, but the time for the first trade of the stock symbol ENE is not available.
RUMORS
Rumors like these have been flying: corporate officers who hid highly questionable, if not fraudulent, accounting practices; supposedly reputable accounting firms who signed off on these misrepresentations; the arrogance of corporate officers; what is now being called “a rats nest of dubious
business practices”; etc. All is just about lost now. It is up to the courts to decide the who, what, when, how, and where. Some corporate officers wrote nice “golden parachutes” for themselves. They walk off happily. It is the company’s employees, the ones who had their pension
plan funds invested in the company’s stock, and the shareholders who are the financially hardest hit.
This headline appeared in the Washington Post newspaper on December 13, 2001: Arthur Andersen CEO Also Says His Firm Made Judgment Error. The article begins: “Enron Corp.’s outside auditor said yesterday that ‘illegal
acts’ may have been committed at the energy-trading company before it sought bankruptcy protection last week. The chief executive of Arthur Andersen, the big accounting firm that approved years of financial statements that overstated Enron’s profits and understated its debts, also said Andersen made ‘an error in judgment’ that accounted for $103 million in overstated profits.”
ANALYSIS
Overstated profits? Promises in the wind which were presented as facts by reputable companies? Enron’s natal incorporation chart has its Sun at 27 CAN 32 in the 8th house, its Moon at 14 VIR 28 exactly conjunct the MC
at 14 VIR 47; and Pluto rising at 0 SAG 27 Rx against an ASC of 27 SCO 27. Natal Jupiter is at 10 CAP 49 Rx, trine to the Moon showing the inflated (Jupiter) expectations of the people, investors (the Moon). Enron’s natal
Venus at 17 GEM 02 in the 7th house is square to the Moon, suggesting lack of fiscal concern for the people investors); i.e., an overindulgenceamong Enron management (10th House). This is a very important point of focus because of the Moon’s extraordinary Midheaven position, with the Venus aspect echoed through Jupiter trine the Midheaven while square the Nodal axis.
Natal Neptune at 26 CAP 20 Rx is in opposition to the natal Sun at 27 CAN 32. This opposition lies at a an exact aspect within the quindecile family, based on 15-degree intervals (75 degrees here) to the Moon’s true Nodal axis across 10 LIB – ARI 40. The quindecile aspect works like a
non-stop accordion’s bellows: there is a relentless in and out, back and
forth energy which is delivered. Coupled with the Sun opposition Neptune, this aspect combination quite clearly shows the unrelenting corporate over-promises (Neptune) and hubris (Sun quindecile Jupiter, opposed by Uranus) which are now being exposed.
Enron’s natal Saturn at 7 ARI 23 Rx is conjunct the Nodal axis at 10 ARI 40. Natal Saturn at 7 ARI 23 Rx is exactly trine Enron’s natal Mercury at 7 Leo 12. Mercury deals with lies and untruths. The trine aspect between
Saturn and Mercury shows these lies coming easily, as the trine will serve to lessen Saturn’s impact to “check” the Leo Mercury’s misrepresentations.
The planetary interplay in the natal chart depicts what is being borne out in the news. I have been saying for some time that companies need to consult with astrologers about their choice of incorporation dates and times. Enron’s chart is a good example of how to pick a wrong date and time. Or, was that corporate date and time consciously chosen for the initial inflationary explosion with the public (note Pluto quindecile Venus, ruler of the 7th in the 7th) and possibly already-planned
deceptions? A corporate astrologer could have given Enron a better date and time, but a corporate astrologer could not have changed attitudes already set in motion.
About the time of the Chapter 11 filing in December 2001, transiting Venus, as destroyer of the corporate hubris, was at 0 SAG 26, conjunct the natal and rising
Pluto at 0 SAG 27 in the 1st house, and transiting Pluto was exactly square the corporate beacon of Moon-Midheaven, with transiting Neptune opposed Mercury, ruler of the Midheaven! –Venus natally and in transit was the signal of “too much” and the resultant destroyer of fortunes, not Saturn as time lord.
And as a final note, the natal configuration of Uranus opposed Sun becomes exact by Solar Arc January 30, 2002, i.e., just 5 minutes of arc from completion during the December debacle.