Louise McWhirter (October 19, 1896 – November 1, 1957) was a financial astrologer who purported to use astrology to forecast the financial markets. In 1937, she published her only book, Astrology and Stock Market Forecasting. Some believe that âÂÂLouise McWhirterâ was only an alias of famous market forecaster W. D. Gann.
McWhirter's main theory was that the major of primary trend of business volume and finance is clearly pointed out by the 18.6-year cycle of the North Node as it passes through the twelve signs of the zodiac. During a long-term trend, the four crucial points of the stock market are reached when the Node enters the four fixed signs respectively:
It has been noted that the four crucial signs (the top, bottom and two break-even points) correspond to the four heads of the cherubim in the Book of Ezekiel.
McWhirter also lists several secondary factors which tend to raise or depress business, mostly related to aspects of major planets like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto:
McWhirter maintained that one should pay attention when a planet moves to 14ð Cancer (104ð) and 24ð Pisces (354ð), because these places are where the Ascendant and Midheaven were when the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) was initiated by an agreement on 17 May 1792, though only after rectifying the exact time to 7:52 am. Similarly, since the tenth house of the NYSE chart was in Pisces and Aries, which are ruled by Neptune and Mars respectively, she also thought that aspects to these two planets are important.
In a shorter timeframe, McWhirter uses the new moon for timing market turns. The key idea is that she would pay attention to planets which make an astrological aspect to the new moon, and watch them as the moon passes through them later.
M. G. Bucholtz suspects that âÂÂLouise McWhirterâ is not the author's real name. His reason is that he comes across no other books by McWhirter and finds no other sources mentioning this person. He believes that the real identity of Louise McWhirter was famous market forecaster W. D. Gann, whom Bucholtz believes used similar techniques in market predictions. According to Pythagorean numerology, the names âÂÂW. D. Gannâ and âÂÂLouise McWhirterâ share the same numerological root of âÂÂ9âÂÂ. It is possibly not a coincidence, since some people believe that Gann was an numerologist.
One of the biggest connection between McWhirter and Gann is that McWhirter's Nodal cycle theory is very similar to Gann's âÂÂfinancial timetableâÂÂ. It is timetable with alternating 18- and 19-year cycle, which mimics the Nodal cycle very closely. Like McWhirter's theory, Gann also found that the stock market follows a rhythm of 18âÂÂ19 years. Here is a modernised example of the table: