Mass Excitability during Solar Cycle 25 (2019–2030) | Alexander L. Chizhevsky

Solar Cycle 25, which spans from December 2019 to approximately late 2030, exemplifies Alexander L. Chizhevsky's (1897–1964) historiometric  framework. This model, laid out in his 1924 article "The Physical Factors of the Historical Process," links human psychological "excitability" to solar activity over the average 11-year solar cycle: 

"In each century, the universal cycle of historical events is repeated exactly 9 times. Throughout the world history of Mankind, beginning with 500 B.C. and until the present time, in each century I have discovered 9 clearly outlined concentrations of the initial moments of historical events. Thus, it can be considered that each cycle of the general historical, military or social activity of humanity is equal, on average, to 11 years." 

 

 Чижевский Александр Леонидович (1924) - Физические факторы исторического процессa.

 

  NOAA's latest Solar Cycle 25 Sunspot Number Progression Update, December 12, 2025.

 

 

"Figure 1: Percentage ratio of occurrences of historical events to years and periods

of the [11-year solar] cycle. Average output for 500 years (15th –20th centuries)."

Through analysis of over 2,000 major historical events from 500 BCE to 1922 CE across numerous countries, he determined that approximately 80% of significant upheavals—such as wars, revolutions, riots, migrations, and social unrest—occurred during periods of elevated solar activity, particularly the ascending phase and maximum of the sunspot cycle. In contrast, solar minima were associated with relative societal calm and passivity. According to Chizhevsky, each solar cycle divides into four phases: 

 

(I) Minimum Excitability (~3 years, 5% of "historical events" per Figure 1), 

(II) Growth Excitability (~2.5 years, 20% of events), 

(III) Maximum Excitability (~3 years, 60% of events), and 

(IV) Decline Excitability (~2.5 years, 15% of events). 

 

These are harmonized with NOAA's phases of the solar cycle (Minimum ~3 years, Rising ~4 years, Maximum ~3 years, Declining ~7 years) to fit the observed progression, with the smoothed peak at 160.9 sunspot numbers in October 2024. As of December 2025, the cycle is in the "Maximum Excitability" phase amid sustained high activity.

Phase I: Minimum Excitability (December 2019-November 2022): This phase aligns with NOAA's Solar Minimum in December 2019, featuring minimal sunspots and stable magnetic poles, comprising ~5% of "historical events" per Chizhevsky's Figure 1 (see above). It represents societal disunity and cultural focus:

 

"The characteristic features of this period are the following: disunity of human masses, indifference of the human masses to political and military issues, peace-loving mood of the human masses, compliance, tolerance, etc. The appearance of these psychological signs in the historically active human masses in the 1st period of the cycle is usually accompanied by the absence of any desire for any struggle for an idea or right, and therefore entails easy capitulation, surrender, throwing down of arms, flight from the battlefield, etc. 

 

» Absence of any desire for any struggle. «

[...] In the memoirs of contemporaries and in historical studies, this period is noted for its general peace-loving mood, unwillingness to enter into any disputes, the end of most military actions and the triumph of the principle of non-intervention in international and national military-political life. 

 

[...] Here the spiritual activity of Man begins, cultural values are created, pure art and science are placed in the corner of social life, replacing the stormy turmoil of recent days and devaluing with their achievements everything created hastily and precariously. In the period of minimum, humanity strives for calm, rests from the worries of previous years and gathers physical strength for the inevitably approaching new era of [social] unrest."

Phase II: Increasing Excitability (December 2022 – mid-2025): Corresponding to NOAA's Growth/Rising Phase, with escalating sunspots and initial pole shifts, this phase spans ~20% of "historical events" per Figure 1. It signals emerging ideologies and unity:

"Already the beginning of this period in historical studies is characterized by a significantly greater rise in the excitement of human masses than in the preceding period. There is still no unity of the masses of people; only little by little do the parties and groups that had fallen apart during the period of minimal excitability begin to reorganize, leaders are outlined, programs are defined. The power of suggestion manifests itself among the human masses: statesmen, military leaders, orators, the press are regaining their importance. 

 

» Impatience and nervousness of the masses. «

 

Questions, political and military, begin to appear from behind the horizon of public life and gradually become more acute. The tendency to perseverate homogeneous thoughts is noticeable everywhere, filling the mental activity of the human masses. In spite of the will of individuals, the concentration on the same military or political themes, in the presence of, of course, favorable factors, gradually increases; ideas circulating among the human masses begin to dominate. 

 

[...] At the end of the 2nd period, which can gradually assume a stormy character and reveal the impatience and nervousness of the masses of people, we notice one of the most important phenomena of the military-political life of communities, namely: the desire to unite the various nationalities that make up a given community for the purpose of defense or attack, and the merging of various political groups to counter other political groups. 

 

The significance of this period is that it lays the foundation for the further development of historical events during a given cycle in a given human community and, in part, even predetermines their course during the period of maximum excitability."

In October 2023 NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center released a revised prediction for solar activity during Solar

Cycle 25, and concluded that solar activity will increase more quickly and peak at a higher level than previously predicted.

  

Phase III: Maximum Excitability in Solar Cycle 25 (mid-2025 – mid-2028): As of December 2025, Solar Cycle 25 is firmly entrenched in Phase III, the period of Maximum Excitability, which spans mid-2025 to mid-2028. Encompassing NOAA's Solar Maximum, with peak sunspots, flares, and ejections, this phase accounts for ~60% of "historical events" per Figure 1. It drives transformative mass actions. This phase, as delineated by Chizhevsky, represents the apex of solar activity's influence on human behavior, characterized by heightened psychological tension and collective mobilization:

"This is the main stage of development of each cycle, resolving the world-historical problems of humanity and founding new historical epochs. It incites humanity to the greatest follies and the greatest benefactions: it embodies ideas in life by means of the shedding of blood and the clanking of iron. 

 

 » The entire vast area of human madness. «

 

[...] Never does the influence of leaders, military leaders, orators, the press, etc., reach such a tremendous force as during the period of maximum intensity of the sunspot-forming activity of the Sun. During this period, sometimes one well-timed word or one gesture is enough to move entire armies and the masses. 

 

[...] The period of maximum excitability may just be called the period of the emergence of the face of human masses and the sounding of the voice of the people. [...] The masses of people thirst for movement, the troops are restrained with difficulty, the soldiers are inclined to mutiny, and the people — to anarchy. In a word, the excitement increases unusually and the human organism seems to demand a discharge.

 

» The shedding of blood and the clanking of iron. « 

 

[...] The basis of the above is the unanimity of the masses of people, which is especially clearly outlined in this period when resolving any military or political issues. [...] This brings with it various phenomena characteristic of any struggle, and mass movements of people usually undergo abnormal deviations. Sometimes the height of the struggle reveals the entire vast area of human madness, instability and passion. 

 

[...] Thus, the ground is prepared for the solution of questions of a world-historical nature — the ground on which systems of human communities are erected."

 

Chizhevsky describes Phase III as "the main stage of development of each cycle, resolving the world-historical problems of humanity and founding new historical epochs. It incites humanity to the greatest follies and the greatest benefactions: it embodies ideas in life by means of the shedding of blood and the clanking of iron." 

 

He emphasizes that during Phase III, "the mass activity of humanity all over the surface of the Earth, given the presence in human societies of economical, political or military exciting factors, reaches the maximum tension, manifesting itself in psycomotoric pandemics: revolutions, insurrections, expeditions, migrations etc., creating new formations in the existence of separate states and new historical epochs in the life of humanity."
 

» Solution of questions of a world-historical nature. «

Plasma Tornado Erupts on the Sun. 

Russian Academy of Sciences Footage, December 11-12, 2025.

 

Central to Phase III is the amplification of leadership influence and mass unanimity. Chizhevsky notes, "Never does the influence of leaders, military leaders, orators, the press, etc., reach such a tremendous force as during the period of maximum intensity of the sunspot-forming activity of the Sun. During this period, sometimes one well-timed word or one gesture is enough to move entire armies and the masses." 

 

Πόλεμος πάντων μὲν πατήρ ἐστι, πάντων δὲ βασιλεύς, καὶ τοὺς μὲν θεοὺς 

ἔδειξε τοὺς δὲ ἀνθρώπους, τοὺς μὲν δούλους ἐποίησε τοὺς δὲ ἐλευθέρους.

» War is both father and king of all; some he has shown forth as gods 

and others as men, some he has made slaves and others free. «
Heraclitus, also known as "The Dark One" (ὁ Σκοτεινός); 

Fragment DK22B53, ca. 500 BCE.

This fosters "the unanimity of the masses of people, which is especially clearly outlined in this period when resolving any military or political issues," leading to rapid dissemination of movements: "the astonishing speed of the spread of popular uprisings and mass [social] movements in general." However, this surge can devolve into extremes, as "mass movements of people usually undergo abnormal deviations. Sometimes the height of the struggle reveals the entire vast area of human madness, instability and passion. Elemental violence, bitterness, frenzy, thirst for revenge, epidemics of murder, panic, pogroms, devastating raids, desperate battles, mass exterminations, bloodbaths, as well as uprisings, mutinies, coupled with the manifestation of fanaticism and heroism — reach their apogee."

 

Major revolutions align with Solar Maximums, e.g.: 1775–1783 American War of Independence (Cycle 2), 1789 French Revolution (Cycle 3), 1910 Mexican Revolution (Cycle 14), 1906 and 1917 Russian Revolutions (Cycles 14–15), 1959 Cuban Revolution (Cycle 19), 1979 Revolution in Iran and Nicaragua (Cycle 21), Soviet collapse in 1989–91 (Cycle 22), 1998-2001 Revolution in Venezuela (Cycle 23), Arab Spring 2011 (Cycle 24), 2024 MIGA-MAGA Revolution (Cycle 25).

Contemporary events in 2025, amid elevated sunspot activity, resonate with these dynamics. Geopolitically, persistent conflicts such as the NATO-Russia war in Ukraine, the wars in and around Palestine and Sudan exhibit intensified diplomatic pressures for ceasefires, reflecting Chizhevsky's notion of resolving "world-historical problems." The fall of Assad's regime in Syria has spurred migrations and regional realignments, akin to the "migrations etc., creating new formations in the existence of separate states." Escalations in nuclear proliferation, space security, and hybrid warfare underscore the phase's potential for "devastating raids" and "mass exterminations." 

 

Phase IV: Decreasing excitability (mid-2028 – December 2030): This phase matches NOAA's Declining/Falling Phase, with waning sunspots and field preparation for reversal, representing ~15% of events per Figure 1. It fosters resolution and fatigue:

"The period of decline in excitability is, as it were, an echo of the stormy period of struggle and unrest that preceded it, the highest degree of tension of which has already passed, and a general need for calm and peace is felt. If there is a war, its heat gradually dies down, sluggishness is observed in military actions, their tempo slows down. 

 

» The depressive state of the masses. «

 

[...] Leaders, commanders, orators lose those forces that in the preceding period fettered the masses and forced them to obedience. The masses are already subject to suggestion with difficulty. [...] This lack of unanimity in the 4th period of the historiometric cycle can be called a stumbling block on which any newly-begun uprising, any mass activity risks being wrecked, since concentrated action, due to the reduction and relaxation of the connecting forces, becomes impossible. 

 

[...] Finally, the general decline in excitability is replaced by a psycho-physical state that can be called enervation. Popular assemblies and representations are dispersed without protest, uprisings are easily suppressed, wars do not flare up, and also peace negotiations are mechanically caused by the depressive state of the masses of people, which is often facilitated by physical exhaustion and fatigue."

 

Regarding the economic and financial realm during the remainder of Solar Cycle 25 into around 2030, Helioeconomist Aleksander Valkov recently put forth the following forecast: Given that Solar Cycle 25 reached a stronger-than-expected maximum around 2024–2025, his HELI index indicates that the current global economic expansion has already peaked or is in its final stage. The model forecasts an accelerating contraction phase leading into a major multicycle trough centered on the early 2030s—precisely the period when the next solar minimum is expected. Leonty Miroshnichenko's findings support Valkov's correlation:  "On average, the difference between the peaks and troughs of solar activity and economic cycles does not exceed six months." Furthermore, historical analysis shows that 88% of recessions since the 1800s and 100% of major financial crises occurred during the downturn of sunspot cycles.

 

 Reference:

 Alexander L. Chizhevsky (1924) - The Physical Factors of the Historical Process.

(Чижевский Александр Леонидович (1924) - Физические факторы исторического процессa.)

Suitbert Ertel (1996) - Space Weather and Revolutions - Chizhevsky's Heliobiological Claim Scrutinized.  

Kemalhan Gerçeker et al. (November 26, 2025) - Simplex Projection Predictions of the Remainder of Solar Cycle 25. 

 NOAA (2025) - Solar Cycle Sunspot Number Progression.

Preventing Empire Collapse | Alexander Mercouris and Alex Christoforou

The new 33-page US National Security Strategy, strongly shaped by Elbridge Colby and personally prefaced by President Trump, represents a partial yet still incomplete departure from three decades of neoconservative pursuit of hegemony. Officially released on December 4, it explicitly renounces any further quest for global domination, acknowledges that post-1991 globalism hollowed out American industry while delivering few benefits to ordinary citizens, and ultimately weakened the United States itself. It faults an over-reliance on allies and proxies that Washington could not fully control—pointedly implying Israel and European-driven adventures in Ukraine—for repeatedly pulling America into conflicts that did not serve its core interests.

 

» The unipolar era is over. « 

 

In place of hegemony, the document calls for aggressive domestic reindustrialization, technological supremacy, and a return to traditional spheres-of-influence politics. It resurrects an explicitly imperial interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine, insisting that no external great power may have any presence whatsoever in the Western Hemisphere and that the United States must maintain absolute predominance there. At the same time, it insists that America must remain the world’s foremost military and economic power and must permanently prevent any rival from ever attaining the degree of primacy the United States itself enjoyed in recent decades.

» Extraordinarily harsh toward European leadership and the EU. «

 

China continues to be treated as the sole peer competitor capable of achieving parity or even supremacy; opposition to Taiwan’s reunification with the mainland remains a clear priority, revealing no substantive softening despite changed rhetoric. Russia, by contrast, is now a power with which the United States must seek accommodation and continental stability. The document is extraordinarily harsh toward European leadership and the European Union, accusing Brussels of delusional thinking on Russia and Ukraine, economic self-destruction, creeping authoritarianism, and the erosion of European civilization itself. Stabilizing Europe, it argues, requires ending the Ukraine war in partnership with the continent’s other great power—Russia.

 

The new operating model abandons the image of America as a "weary Titan" bearing the world’s burdens alone. Instead, Washington will concentrate on its own hemispheric backyard while outsourcing or franchising security responsibilities elsewhere: Europe is expected to provide for its own defense, Asia will be handled by regional proxies, Africa reduced to transactional resource partnerships, and the Middle East treated as a complicated but no longer central theater. These partners will still answer to the United States and pay their dues, yet day-to-day management becomes their problem.

Historically, this precise pattern—admitting overextension, rejecting free-trade globalism, demanding allied burden-sharing while assuming continued overall control, and invoking the "weary Titan" metaphor—appeared during the terminal phases of both the British Empire under Joseph Chamberlain in the 1890s–1900s and the Spanish Empire under Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares in the 17th century. In both cases the reforms were offered as salvation but in reality signaled irreversible imperial decline.

» Explicitly imperial interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine. «

 

The strategy is riddled with contradictions. While calling for stabilization with Russia, Pentagon sources simultaneously press Europe to be combat-ready against Moscow by 2027; Europeans counter that 2030 is more realistic, and Viktor Orbán openly states that the official EU position is preparation for war with Russia by that later date. The unspoken American ultimatum to Europe is therefore: achieve full military self-sufficiency on Washington’s timeline or the United States will negotiate directly with Moscow over Europe’s head and end the Ukraine conflict on Russia’s terms. Given Europe’s incapacity to meet that deadline, the second path becomes the default—yet powerful entrenched forces in Washington, Brussels, and the broader transatlantic apparatus remain committed to perpetual confrontation with Russia and containment of Russia.

» Franchising security responsibilities elsewhere. «

 

The document is ultimately a fragile compromise between a small restraint-oriented faction and the far larger interventionist bureaucracy. History suggests the bureaucracy will prevail, just as it defeated Chamberlain and Olivares. Moscow and Beijing instantly recognize the contradiction of a United States that urges its vassals to keep fighting while posing as the reasonable party seeking stability; they will not be deceived. Russia, in particular, reads the American declaration that peace in Ukraine and stabilized relations with Moscow are now core US interests as confirmation that time is on its side, that it can stand firm on all demands, and that Washington will eventually concede because it is the United States, not Russia, that now needs the war to end.

Thus, while the 2025 National Security Strategy marks the intellectual arrival of restraint-oriented thinking inside parts of the American national-security establishment and constitutes an official admission that the unipolar era is over, its internal contradictions and the entrenched power of the old order make it unlikely to survive in anything like its present form. Like its British and Spanish predecessors, it may ultimately be remembered less as the blueprint for managed retrenchment than as one of the first formal acknowledgments that American hegemony has irrevocably ended.

 

Reference:

Alexander Mercouris and Alex Christoforou (December 8, 2025) - Preventing Empire Collapse. (video)

  

Professor Shen Yi, Director of the Center for BRICS Studies and Professor at the School of 

International Relations and Public Affairs at Fudan University, evaluating the 2025 US NSS.

 

See also:

 Serge Bernard (2016) - From Conquest to Affluence to Collapse: The 250 Year Empire Life Cycle.

William Strauss and Neil Howe (1997) - The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy.  

Lieutenant-General Sir John Bagot Glubb (1978)  - The Age of Decadence.

2026 in W.D. Gann’s "Financial Time Table"

W.D. Gann’s Financial Time Table from 1784 to 2008 is based on the 18.612958-year lunar nodal cycle (6,798.383 days, the time for the Moon's north node, also referred to as the True Node, to complete one orbit relative to the ecliptic). Compiling his Financial Time Table in 1909, however, Gann approximated the lunar node's period without an ephemeris by simply alternating 18- and 19-year intervals to achieve an average of 18.5 years—an error of 47.33 days per cycle, meaning Gann's cycle is lagging behind the node's true position.

 

» Gann himself was quoted as saying that this was his greatest market discovery. « 

 

Fast-forward to late 2025, Gann's error sums up to 300 days. Hence, the exact criteria and starting date to which he anchored his cycle, including his annotation: "Dec. 25, 1989 revises to Mar. 13, 1934," remain unclear and subjects of debate. The table’s basic conceptual congruence with Louise McWhirter's 1937 "Theory of Stock Market Forecasting" led analysts to suspect "Louise McWhirter" was merely a Gann alias used to correct the flawed astronomy of his 1909 Time Table and provide an elaborated astrological theory of the lunar node's 18.6-year cycle and its impact on the US business cycle and stock market.

 

US GNP vs North Node: A Projection into 2025, Graham Bates, 1994.

 

 » "W. D. Gann" and "Louise McWhirter" share the same numerological root of “9”. « 

Regardless, even though the extended version of the original table into 2121 did not correct Gann's error, it forecasted a market panic in 2020 (accurate), and high stock prices in 2022–2023 (accurate?). For 2024, 2025, and 2026, Gann's table warns about a "major panic CRASH! 4 years of falling prices, business stagnated, breadlines, soup kitchens, despair, unemployment." Correct? For 2027 to 2031, the table announces "extreme low stock prices, strikes, repression, [and] despair" to be followed by the "beginning of [a] new business generation of 18.6 years. 4 years of rising stock prices and improving business. Markets bare of goods. Young men becoming prominent." Time will tell.

 

Gann claimed his time table accurately forecasted over a century of significant events, including the 1907 Panic, the 1929 Crash, and the post-World War II boom. This framework has shown continued relevance in modern validations, such as the 2020 COVID-19 market panic, which aligned with a projected low year in the table. Furthermore, the 2022–2023 stock highs preceded an anticipated downturn, also fitting the established pattern. 

  

 » Major crash in 2024–2026 with prolonged economic stagnation, and a recovery by 2028–2030. «

W.D. Gann's original "Financial Time Table" adjusted and extended into 2121.

 

While appealing, the table’s predictions should be approached cautiously, considering external factors and the debated accuracy of Gann’s methods. 

 

» Maybe Gann’s table should be shifted for a few months in view of 18.5M approximation vs 18.6M desired value. « 

Branimir Vojcic, 2025.

 

Branimir Vojcic is right: For higher degrees of conviction, diehard Gann aficionados may want to re-anchor the exact lunar nodal period to a specific date (e.g., sign ingress, natal chart, crash low), and derive further clues from "Louise McWhirter."

 

 S&P 500 vs Lunar North Node moving through the Zodiac, 1950-2028.

» We shall find out soon enough. « 

2026 in J.M. Funk’s "56-Year Cycle of Prosperity and Depression"

J.M. Funk’s theory, first articulated in his 1932 pamphlet "The 56-Year Cycle in American Business Activity", posits a recurring 56-year rhythm in US economic and business conditions, driven by a chain of cause-and-effect events influenced by human behavioral traits—such as aspiration, greed, and intemperance—and modulated by external rhythmic forces akin to solar cycles.

 

The cycle transcends intervening factors like wars, technological advancements, or monetary policy changes, manifesting as three major panic periods within each 56-year span, spaced at intervals of approximately 20, 20, and 16 years. The cycle's structure is visually represented in a circular chart, originally drafted by Funk and redrawn by financial astrologer David Williams in 1959 and 1982, which delineates key phases: "Accumulating Surplus" (thrift and investment buildup), "Absorbing Surplus Production" (rising prices and sales), "Panic and Dumping" (market collapse and liquidation), "Industrial Stagnation" (depression and low activity), and "Uncontrolled Production" (overexpansion leading to renewed prosperity).

Funk's chart illustrates historical alignments across centuries, with years marked along concentric rings and "needles" connecting equivalent points in successive cycles. For instance, sequences such as 1801–1857–1913–1969 and 1817–1873–1929–1985 highlight recurring panic epochs, while subcycles (e.g., 9-year intervals) link shorter-term fluctuations. Prosperity emerges from post-panic thrift, fostering confidence and investment; however, extended booms breed overproduction, fictitious credit, and speculation, culminating in collapse. The depth of ensuing depressions mirrors the prior expansion's scale, with stock market drawdowns historically ranging from 25% to 40% during panic phases.

According to the cycle's alignment, late 2025 corresponds to the "Panic. Dumping." phase, characterized by high prices giving way to forced selling, bank strains, and commodity price collapses—echoing historical precedents like the Panics of 1857 (30% NYSE decline amid railroad overextension) and 1913–1914 (40% drop triggered by European liquidations). The chart's central long needle explicitly ties 2025 to this vortex, projecting a major bear market. An outer-ring marker at 2024 signals "High Prices. Sell Save," aligning with the S&P 500's peak on November 29, 1968, and suggesting a comparable crest in late 2024. This transitions into 2026, marked on the inner ring as "Low Prices. Buy," corresponding to troughs in January and May 1970 and indicating the onset of recovery.

Observed drawdowns during prior "Panic and Dumping" epochs:
■ The Panic of 1857, corresponding to the 1857 position on the chart, saw the New York Stock Exchange decline by approximately 30%, driven by bank failures, railroad overextension, and commodity price collapses.
■ The 1913–1914 crisis, linked to the 1913 marker, resulted in a roughly 40% drop in stock prices by August 1914, precipitated by European liquidations and heightened geopolitical tensions.
■ The 1968–1970 bear market, directly analogous to the 2025–2026 projection via the cycle's 56-year rhythm, featured a 37% decline in the S&P 500 from its peak on November 29, 1968, to its trough on May 25, 1970.

Quantitative projections draw from the 1968–1970 parallel, shifted by precisely 20,454 days (equivalent to 56 solar years): The S&P 500 declined 37% from its November 1968 high to its May 1970 low. Despite the panic designation, the decennial pattern of US stocks introduces nuance: 2025, as the fifth year in a decade, historically yields positive returns (breaking a rare negative streak seen in 2005), potentially mitigating the downturn's severity. 

 

Supplementary analyses from related frameworks, such as Hurst cycles and seasonality (not part of Funk's original model), suggest the most probable initiation of a sustained contraction in late 2025, extending into Q1 2026—specifically January—with potential acceleration from seasonal weaknesses before stabilization. Magnitude remains speculative but could mirror the 37% 1968–1970 precedent, moderated by contemporary factors like Federal Reserve policy. 

See also: 

 TPR (2024) - 2025 in J.M. Funk’s "56-Year Cycle of Prosperity and Depression".

TPR (2015) - 2015 in J.M. Funk’s "56-Year Cycle of Prosperity and Depression". 

"Cosmic Cycles of Global Conjuncture" & Outlook into 2035 | Vladimir A. Belkin

Vladimir Belkin's 2014 study "Cosmic Cycles of Global Conjuncture" (КОСМИЧЕСКИЕ ЦИКЛЫ МИРОВОЙ КОНЪЮНКТУРЫ) synthesized the interconnections between solar activity cycles and global economic fluctuations. Belkin posited a robust inverse relationship between peaks in solar activity—measured via Wolf sunspot numbers—and subsequent declines in world output and US GDP growth, drawing on the fields of Heliobiology and Helioeconomics. Employing correlation and lagged regression analyses over extended historical periods, he demonstrated cyclical alignments with Juglar (7–11 years) and Kitchin (3–5 years) business cycles to forecast economic deterioration in 2014–2015.

Chart 1 above ("Kitchin and Juglar cycles of world output as a function of solar activity, 1961–2013.") illustrates Kitchin and Juglar cycles in world output (1961–2013) against lagged solar activity. Dual axes show Wolf numbers (left, solid line) peaking inversely to output growth (right, dashed line, one-year lag), with visual mirroring and R² ≈ 0.99 in segments, confirming short-term solar-driven volatility.

Extending this, chart 2 ("Kitchin and Juglar cycles in US GDP as a function of solar activity, 1798–2013.") applies the same to US GDP (1798–2013), demonstrating remarkable persistence over two centuries. The inverse pattern—solar peaks followed by GDP troughs—spans industrial revolutions and institutional changes, with a correlation of –0.88, underscoring the robustness of heliobiological influences on economic history.

Chart 3 ("Strong inverse relationship between cycles of world output and cycles of solar activity.") depicts the strong inverse between normalized world output cycles and solar activity (1961–2013 extended), with Wolf numbers (solid) and lagged growth index (dashed) as near-mirror images. A correlation of –0.87 highlights how solar rises precipitate growth falls, validating Belkin's claim of solar activity as a primary cycle determinant.

Focusing on extrema, chart 4 ("Strong inverse relationship between monthly extremes in Wolf numbers and annual world-output growth with a one-year lag.") presents a scatter plot of monthly Wolf peaks (x-axis) against annual world growth one year later (y-axis, 1964–2009), with a downward-sloping regression (R² = 0.7597). Higher solar maxima predict deeper slowdowns, offering a precise metric for crisis intensity.

Chart 5 ("Strong inverse relationship between the long cycle of world output and the long cycle of monthly solar-activity maxima.") addresses long cycles, plotting world output growth around solar maxima years (1968–2000, black line) against average Wolf numbers. A stepwise decline in growth per successive maximum (correlation –0.85) reveals secular trends, where weakening solar cycles since 1968 coincide with diminishing global expansions.

Complementing the above charts, Table 1 quantifies post-maxima declines: for solar peaks in 1968, 1979, 1989, and 2000, world growth fell by –2.90%, –2.01%, –2.42%, and –2.19% within two years, respectively. Belkin projected –2.38% for 2013 (delayed Cycle 24), forecasting a 2014–2015 downturn to ~2.0% growth, aligning with emerging-market vulnerabilities.

Collectively, this substantiates high statistical significance, with lags explaining physiological delays (e.g., geomagnetic storms reducing blood flow by 32–40%, fostering pessimism). Methodologically, Belkin employed:

• Lagged correlation analysis: Economic growth is regressed against solar activity with a one-year lag, reflecting delayed physiological impacts (e.g., solar maxima precede growth troughs). 
• Cycle decomposition: Juglar and Kitchin cycles are isolated via smoothing and differencing, then overlaid on solar series to visualize inversions.
• Regression modeling: Scatter plots with fitted lines quantify relationships, reporting R² and correlation coefficients (e.g., –0.87 to –0.88 overall).
• Forecasting via extrapolation: Historical patterns inform projections, adjusted for NASA solar forecasts (e.g., delayed Cycle 24 peak in 2013–2014).

Applying Belkin’s methodology to current solar forecasts yields the following calibrated projections for 2025–2035:

• 2025–2026: Cycle 25’s prolonged maximum (SSN peak 160.8 in Oct 2024, extending to mid-2025) signals imminent slowdown via the lagged inverse correlation (r ≈ –0.87; chart 3); expect global GDP deceleration of 2.0–2.5% from 2024 levels to 1.5–2.0%, mirroring Table 1’s –2.38% post-peak drop, with initial geomagnetic volatility worsening emerging-market risks (as in Belkin’s 2013–2014 forecast).
• 2027–2030: Cycle 25 minimum (2029–2030) reverses the trend, producing upswings similar to post-minimum recoveries (charts 1 and 2); secular weakening (chart 5) moderates amplitude, but growth should accelerate to 3.5–4.5% by 2029, driven by solar quiescence and reduced crisis propensity.
• 2031–2035: Cycle 26 onset (2029–2032 start, moderate SSN max ~131–160 ca. 2040–2043) brings rising solar activity that erodes gains per the inverse linkage (chart 4, R² = 0.76), yielding 1–2% cumulative drag by 2035 and possible mild recession if the cycle exceeds forecasts; overall 2025–2035 average growth 2.5–3.0% (chart 5 declining envelope), contingent on astrophysical accuracy.

Solar-timing uncertainties (e.g., exact Cycle 26 start) require integration with endogenous models, and post-2025 validation will refine accuracy.

Reference:
Vladimir A. Belkin (2014) - Cosmic Cycles of Global Conjuncture.
(КОСМИЧЕСКИЕ ЦИКЛЫ МИРОВОЙ КОНЪЮНКТУРЫ).

Vladimir A. Belkin holds a Doctorate in Economic Sciences and is a leading research scientist at the Chelyabinsk Institute of Economics, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Professor of Economics, Finance, and Accounting at the Chelyabinsk Branch of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Renowned for pioneering helioeconomics, his extensive publications—over 90 since 2008—explore inverse correlations between solar activity cycles and global economic fluctuations, with recent works (up to 2025) analyzing GDP growth, US federal fund rates, and commodity prices.

See also:

Vladimir A. Belkin (2024)  - Economic Crises and Solar Activity Extrema: Calculation of the Fall in the World GDP Growth in 2025. 

Vladimir A. Belkin (2024) - Strong Inverse Correlation between Ap Index and Gold Price. 

Vladimir A. Belkin (2024) - 2025-2027 Oil Price Decline Linked to Solar Cycle Activity.   

Aleksander Valkov (2025) - Helioeconomics: Solar Cycles as the Hidden Pacemaker of Global Economic Fluctuations.

Leonty Miroshnichenko (2023) - Kondratiev Waves Aligned with Solar Cycles.  

Tatiana Alexandrovna Zenchenko & Tamara Konstantinovna Breus (2021) - The Possible Effect of Space Weather Factors on Various Physiological Systems of the Human Organism.

A 2020 first-light video from the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope captures solar granulation at unprecedented 30 km resolution in 705 nm light, revealing convection cells approximately the size of Texas, where hot plasma rises in bright centers and sinks along dark intergranular lanes, driving surface heat transfer while tiny magnetic bright points channel energy to the million-degree corona. Amid Solar Cycle 25's heightened activity—having peaked in late 2024 with elevated sunspot numbers exceeding initial forecasts—such high-resolution observations continue to refine models of solar flares and space weather impacts.