Fated to Fold? 2024’s Celestial Cycles are Shaping Shutdowns
This has been a year marked by an alarming trend of store closures across various industries, and we’re only halfway through. Major brands and chains have announced significant cutbacks, leading to widespread concern among consumers and business professionals alike. Notable closures include Red Lobster, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed 99 locations, and Walmart, which is shuttering nine stores due to financial underperformance despite plans to open new sites in 2024.
That’s just the start. A running list shows more than 3,000 stores were closed across the U.S. by early May. If the trend continues, more than 8,000 will be gone by the end of the year – a projected 40% increase in closures from 2023 Walgreens is closing 150 American stores as part of a cost-cutting strategy. Family Dollar announced 600 closures with more planned. Best Buy, CVS, Foot Locker Ride Aid, Express, Red Lobster… you get the idea.
These closures are certainly connected to broader trends affecting the retail and service industries. High inflation and rising wholesale costs have made it difficult for businesses to maintain profitability. The cost-of-living crisis has led many consumers to tighten their belts, favoring home-cooked meals and fewer discretionary purchases. Meanwhile, poor management decisions and the inability to adapt to changing market conditions have exacerbated these issues.
Many experts are offering explanations for the surge in store closures by connecting more black-and-white social and institutional factors at play. But if we look at this phenomenon through an astrological lens, we can see the deeper cyclical patterns that layer into the equation, which can offer more precision and color to the situation we find ourselves in.
Highlighting the influence of five key transits taking place in 2024, here’s how some of the year’s most prominent cosmic cycles mirror the current business climate:
Pluto in Aquarius and Capricorn
Transformative changes are afoot as Pluto – a generational planet – begins to brign a permanent paradigm shift to Aquarius, a sign closely associated with technology, innovation, social justice, and collective trends. Interestingly, Pluto will retrograde back to 29 degrees of Capricorn from September to November, revisiting the last 15 years it spent there and reminding us about the destructive impact (Pluto) that hierarchical structures and traditional institutions (Capricorn) can have on society. This transition signifies the dismantling of outdated business models and ruthless power structures, which can easily crumble toward closures and reorganization under Pluto’s purview. While small businesses are also struggling right now, many of these high-profile closures are happening with chain establishments – a hierarchical and aggressively capitalist business model that Pluto may be forcing society away from. Moreover, Pluto’s brief pit stop in Capricorn overlaps with the 2024 election, adding another layer of uncertainty and potential upheaval or restructuring that could affect businesses in irreversible ways, especially large chains or professions tied to political and governmental institutions.