Certified Professional Astrologer
Richard Nolle's
OCTOBER 1997 FORECAST

If you were expecting some kind of sun sign nonsense, forget it. This is real astrology. See the section above. Please note: this forecast is expressed in terms of Universal Time (UT). Current UT date and time are at the end of this paragraph. (To update display, click on your browser's reload/refresh button.)     

October continues the trend of heightened cosmic energy that began in July and gathered momentum with each succeeding month. This time around we have three remarkable lunations, three planetary stations, and a half dozen notable planetary alignments - more celestial action than we’ve seen in months. This is bound to translate as an active October.

It all gets started with the first of a rare pair of new moons. When two full moons occur in one calendar month, the second is called a blue moon. Finding no designation for the first of such a pair, I have called it an anteblue moon. New blue moons being every bit as rare as full blue moons, I have christened the first in such a pair of lunations a new anteblue moon, and the second a new blue moon. (For tables of all 20th Century blue moons, see the astropro contents page.) October starts with a new anteblue moon at 9 Libra on the 1st, and ends with a new blue moon at 8 Scorpio on the 31st. Both new moons are in aspect to Jupiter (a trine and a square respectively), so expect heavy weather at the beginning and end of the month. And figure that world equity markets will be dominated by developments in the high tech sectors. High technology - particularly electronics and aerospace - is the theme for October in many ways . . . and revolution too. (Israel’s chart is strongly aspected by the October 31 new blue moon, as is Mr. Netanyahu’s: security issues could be of extreme concern around this time.)

Sandwiched between the rare new blue moon pair is an equally rare full moon; a SuperMoon alignment on October 16 at 23 Aries-Libra, with the sun conjunct Mercury in Libra even as the moon aligns with Saturn. While any lunation is generally accompanied - give or take three days - by an upsurge in seismic (Richter 5 or greater earthquakes and volcanic eruptions) and meteorological action (severe storms) as well as higher than usual tides, SuperMoons tend to coincide with especially heavy action of this sort. (A SuperMoon is a perigee-syzygy: a new or full moon that occurs when the moon is within 90% or more of its mean closest approach to earth.) Because the alignment is planetary in scale, the effects are felt worldwide - but the potential for damage is naturally stronger in regions prone to seismic, meteorological and hydrological extremes.

While we can certainly expect an increase in storms, flooding, seismic action and the like within plus or minus three days of October's two new moons (i.e. from September 28 to October 4 and October 28 to November 3), the most extreme developments along these lines will likely focus on the October 16 SuperMoon (in effect from the 13th through the 19th). Watch the news, and make sure your stock of emergency stuff is well replenished if you live or plan to be in a place subject to these particular expressions of nature’s fury. (See my free table of all 20th Century SuperMoons for more.)

Jupiter’s station on the 8th leads the triad of planets ending their retrogrades in October; followed later that same day by Neptune. Look for a turbulent time in high tech equities practically all month long, which could turn into a good buying opportunity once the dust settles. The Uranus station on the 14th is of similar import. Religious and political controversies are apt to go well beyond polite discourse at times like this. Expect technological wonders one right after the next this month . . . the unbelievable turns out to be not nearly so impossible as once thought.

October’s other aspects are an unusual lot. There’s the Mars-Pluto conjunction at 4 Sagittarius on the 3rd, which has jihad written all over it - from about September 29 to October 7, trouble is looking for a place to happen. The sun-Saturn opposition on the 10th - in effect three days before to three days after - looks like a hit on the stock market, and a time of potential trouble for people with strong mid-Libra or mid-Aries chart placements. Far more congenial is the Venus-Mars alignment at 20 Sagittarius on the 26th, which is within a degree or two of exact from about the 19th on into November. A lusty, hedonistic couple of weeks no doubt . . . and a Halloween to remember. The rest of October’s aspects include some Mercury and Venus alignments that pretty well get swallowed up by these three more potent configurations.

SPECIAL FEATURE: This month's birthdays of the famous and infamous (with astrological birth charts)