Regulars who've been following the headlines lately already know that, as usual, most of that stuff appeared in my annual and monthly forecasts long before they gave you the scoop over at CNN Interactive or MSNBC - like the major global market crash accompanied by a dollar boom that started in January and then took off like a rocket in May right on schedule. It was quite a combination: the worst May decline in the Dow since 1940, gold hitting an all-time record high price in May, and the euro dropping against the dollar. All of which was just as predicted: "this will likely strengthen the dollar and depress US equity markets, as investors seek a safe haven. However the dollar’s strength will be relative to other major currencies, more than in relation to precious metals." Had you started shorting the euro when that forecast was published (on December 31, 2009, when it cost $1.4291 to buy one euro), you could have bought the ProShares UltraShort Euro EFT (NYSE symbol EUO) for $18.70 a share. After hitting fresh new four-year lows against the dollar almost daily for a week since late May, the euro closed at $1.1969 in early June, while the EUO closed at $26.21 a share. You do the math. I sent an email to all my clients back on June 5, warning that the euro/dollar short was "getting a bit long in the tooth." In case you hadn't noticed, the euro/dollar trade has gone long the couple months. I jumped out of the euro trade early in June and banked a nice profit, myself. And then I shorted the Dow from the 23rd through the 29th, and a couple more times in July, and banked some more nice profits. (Looks like the last opportunity to short the euro for a while happened last month, and only for a day or two; although I caught some good euro short action last week and am holding out for a bit more. There should still be room to short the Dow this month - probably before the 20th.)

On the geophysical front, the eruptions of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano caught the world by surprise in April and May - except for those who read my April and May forecasts, that is. (Anyone stranded in an airport obviously missed the passage where I wrote, "it behooves us all to make arrangements as best we can for disruptions that play havoc with airline schedules, highway traffic, shipping and infrastructure.") Before that, there was the 6.9-magnitude killer earthquake that struck Qinghai, China on April 13 (UT), a day before the new moon and well within one of the "seismic shock windows" mentioned in my April forecast as signaling "an up-tick in newsworthy storms and seismic activity (including magnitude 5+ earthquakes and volcanic eruptions)." This earthquake, incidentally, happened in one of the two special risk zones mentioned in my forecast, the "Sun-Moon horizon arc sweeping southeasterly through Alaska and the western US and Canada across central Mexico (almost directly through Mexico City), across the South Atlantic to turn northeasterly and across eastern India and western China." The other zone I specified was "the longitudinal meridian and anti-meridian Sun-Moon lines, running through western Europe and Africa and over the poles across Siberia and through the Pacific Ocean to cross New Zealand." Western Europe got its seismic share on the 11th, when a 6.3-magnitude temblor shook Spain – the same day that a magnitude 6.8 quake struck the Solomon Islands, not far off the Sun-Moon line that ran through New Zealand at the time of the new moon. Earlier that month - and again, right on schedule, came the April 4 6.9-magnitude quake that struck Baja California in western Mexico, felt in places like San Diego and Los Angeles in California and Yuma in Arizona on the US side of the border. No surprise, if you read my March forecast, which described "the 27th through April 5" as a time to expect "an upsurge in newsworthy storms and seismic activity (including magnitude 5+ earthquakes as well as volcanic eruptions)," and called out "the Pacific Northwest and California – including Vancouver, San Francisco and Los Angeles" as being among the "areas of special risk associated with this late March-into-early April risk window."

Before these latest storm and seismic indidents came the freakish combination of a monster megathrust 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile, a Pacific tsunami, the "snow hurricane" in the Northeastern US, and hurricane-force killer winds in France - all happening at once on February 27. No surprises there, if you read my 2010 World Forecast Highlights - published last year - which advised of a "newsworthy upsurge in moderate-to-severe seismic activity (including magnitude 5+ earthquakes and volcanic eruptions), plus strong storms with damaging winds and heavy precipitation; along with extreme high tides." I specified that the alignment would be "in effect from February 25 through March 3," and that it would be "global in scope by definition," but with "special risk zones"including "west-central South America".

Before that, my 2009 forecast also made mention of a strong storm and seismic potential for "December 28 into early January 2010," with a map showing a danger zone sweeping "northeasterly across southeastern Australia" – which is right where the Solomon Islands lies. Solar eclipses come with wider risk windows, which is why my 2010 World Forecast Highlights described the January 15 eclipse as having "an effective shock window that runs from the 8th through the 22nd, in terms of its connection with disturbances in the skies, seas and crust of our home planet. (Significant storms and seismic activity are likely.)" Of course, everyone now knows what happened. On January 4, the Solomon Islands shook to a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, and then got hit with a 3-meter tsunami, leaving thousands of islanders homeless. And then, just over a week later, as the solar eclipse shock window opened up, came the 7.0-magnitude quake that devastated Haiti on January 12.

My 2009 World Forecast Highlights spoke of the connection between "criminality, terrorism, (and) military conflict" and the current Mars Maximum cycle – in effect from late 2009 into spring 2010 – and recommended that we "be aware of the heightened potential for violence, irritability, haste and conflict, and act accordingly. Since this cycle began, there’s been a whole rash of such things, from the November 5 Fort Hood massacre to the Christmas Day suicide bomber attack on a Northwest airliner coming into Detroit – which, fortunately, failed. The "fires, clashes, crashes and explosions that are par for the course under this sort of Mars close pass", as described in my forecast, have also been much in the news - including the biggest offensive of the Afghanistan war and the biggest terrorist attack in India since the Mumbai massacre. Afghanistan and India sound familiar? Maybe you read the passage in my 2010 World Forecast Highlights - again, published last year - "India, Pakistan and Afghanistan fall right under the Mars meridian line for this alignment." There's been plenty more evidence of this Mars Max theme in the news this year - including the airliner crash that more or less decaptitated the entire Polish government, the bloody coups in Thailand and Kyrgyzstan, and the Korean naval conflict.

The examples cited above barely scratch the surface of the 2010 Mars Maximum cycle. Consider the case of Amy Bishop, the professor who shot dead three of her colleagues at the University of Alabama Huntsville on February 12 (wounding three others). This mass murder was happening at the same time as the major offensive in Afghanistan - both occuring under the Mars Max, and both exactly the kind of thing I had predicted. Here's the hidden twist: Professor Bishop not only shot her colleagues dead under a Mars Max, she was born under one too. And then there was kamikaze pilot Joseph Stack, who crashed his Piper Cherokee plane into an IRS office in Austin, Texas on February 18 – yet another example of the "fires, clashes and explosions" mentioned in my forecast for this Mars Maximum. Mr. Stack too was born under a Mars Max (on August 31, 1956 in Hershey PA) - the same Mars Max that heralded the start of the Suez War. Mr. Stack's aerial suicide bombing was the most shocking mass murder in Austin since the 1966 Texas Tower shootings – committed by Charles Whitman, who was also born under a Mars Max. And then there was the South Korean ship sunk in disputed waters by a or torpedo during the 2010 Mars Max cycle - an echo of the Korean War, itself begun under a Mars Max. You just can’t make this stuff up . . .

Earlier last year, the (bear) market rally in world equity markets that began in March was clearly spelled out in my forecast for that month - published in February 2009. The 2008 economic upheaval and the outcome of the US Presidential Election are a couple more cases in point. A notable prior example came when the Moon attained its cyclic peak declination just as Hurricane Katrina, one of the most powerful storms on record, tore into the US Gulf States in 2005: a combination that came as no surprise to anyone who read my August forecast for that year. And no one will forget the monster Richter 9.0 quake off the coast of Sumatra (December 26, 2004), which set killer tsunamis radiating out across the Indian Ocean - snuffing out 300,000 or more lives all around coastal South Asia to as far away as East Africa. My December forecast that year warned a month in advance that a major geocosmic stress window (with a heightened "risk of storms, flooding and seismic upheaval") would be in effect "from the 23rd through the 29th, associated with the full moon at 5 Cancer on the 26th (the same day the Moon reaches its maximum north declination)." That wasn't just a freak coincidence, as illustrated by the onset of the 2003 Gulf War II "a few days either way of the March 3 new moon or March 23 Pluto station," as predicted. What's next? Get an overview of 2010 as a whole with a look at my 2010 World Forecast Highlights. For a close-up of September, see my forecast for the month. And while you're here, contemplate the mystery exposed by the latest Website Of the Week.

For lots more websites devoted to the real cosmic craft, check out the Astrology Section of the recently revised (last week) Astropro NetSelect Directory - a sun sign-free zone, like Astropro itself. (Well, I do make allowances for sites that treat sun signs in humorous fashion - but that's appropriate.)

Want the latest on astrological conferences and conventions, plus astrology newsgroups, mailing lists and email newsletters on the Net? There's no better source than Astropro's Cosmic Connections, the Tees Reitsma compendium. Although she was a bit of a tease in her day, her name is pronounced "Tace" - rhymes with grace, the state she had to be in to keep on top of all this information. Tees generously agreed to let Astropro host her own website, which after Tees' death was maintained for years by Janneke Maat, and then for some time by Sandra Van Loveren. By mid-2008, it fell on me to keep it going. It's a resource I'm delighted to make available with the assistance of this succession of wonderful women because . . . well, because it's as current, complete and comprehensive a guide as I've found anywhere online.

You'll find lots of additonal free astrology features too, including Signs and Constellations and Precession, the Movie as well as other articles on selected astrological topics and a fair number of astrological reference tables: two hundred years worth of SuperMoons, thousands of years of major planetary cycles, a guide to astrological symbols, and much more.

Collect notable charts and/or data? Then please do see the August Horoscopes of the Famous & Infamous, with dozens of historic and celebrity natal charts free for the downloading. (But don't dawdle, because the complimentary chart links there expire September 1st.) You'll find more free charts and data in the September collection, where the complimentary links expire on October 1. Want more? Check out the FEATURES menu for a listing of all these monthly celebrity data pages: no chart freebies for the other months, but hundreds of celebrity data you can use to calculate your own.

If I've forgotten anything here, or if you haven't visited in a while, be sure to scan the updated contents page for a complete outline of everything on-site, or try the even more detailed site map. And if you're completely lost, try finding your way via the FAQ, or check in at the Help Center.

  
AUG 30 UPDATE My September forecast is almost done, and should be online later today. Until then, here's a sneak preview: September brings another SuperMoon, the second in a trio of new moon perigee-syzygies that began last month. The September alignment falls on the 8th - the 110th anniversary of the Galveston hurricane, which struck on the very day of a SuperMoon and remains the deadliest natural disaster in US history. There’s a very long history connecting SuperMoons to newsworthy and even historic severe storms, extreme tidal surges and moderate to severe seismic activity, including both earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. (The SuperMoon section of my 2010 World Forecast Highlights defines this alignment and provides a selection of its historical manifestations.) A case in point that I haven’t mentioned before is the one that gave rise to what Japan calls the kamikaze, the divine wind. The term first arose in connection with a storm that wrecked a Mongol invasion fleet on the night of November 20, 1274 – within the geocosmic stress window of the SuperMoon alignment on the 15th, which was extended through the 20th due to the peak lunar north declination on the 19th. The Mongols tried to invade Japan again in 1281, but that fleet too was destroyed by a storm, another kamikaze – on August 12, within three days of a total solar eclipse. Extreme lunar alignments – whether SuperMoons or eclipses – bear watching.

The latest Website Of the Week poses any number of mysteries, from the mighty Sun to Earth's atmosphere to the ups and downs of human activity en masse. Meanwhile, for the first time this month, we've had a "Freaky Friday" come and go without one single addition to the FDIC's failed bank list. (Eight banks went down the week before, it should be noted.) This leaves the total at 118 banks seized by federal regulators so far this year – still on pace to exceed last year's total of 140, which in turn was the most since the 1992 Savings & Loan crisis. (For details, see the FDIC website.) This comes as no surprise, if you've been following my forecasts. The January-February scare came right on schedule, and the next major settling of the soufflé hit in May, per my forecast. Likewise, I've been saying all along that hundreds of banks will fail before it's done, despite all the best intentions and massive financial infusions from federal authorities. "Official" US unemployment statistics caught up months ago to my forecast - published in 2008 - of a "double-digit unemployment rate that awaits many of the G-20 nations (including the US) in 2009-2010." You can always get a handle on where things are headed with a look at my 2010 World Forecast Highlights. You're welcome to order your own personal copy of the 2010 World Forecast Highlights if you like, either the print version for USPS delivery ($40) or a PDF version for email delivery ($20). (Both editions include material that isn't in the free online version.) You're welcome to order by mail or phone as always, using check or money order or major credit cards. (See contact details below.) Or use the PayPal option, if you're a PayPal account holder.

In closing, here's an invitation to get immediate updates (usually at least daily) on my Facebook and Twitter pages. Regulars know that Astropro gets updated at least weekly, and sometimes several times a week. Sending updates to Facebook and Twitter takes a lot less of my time - no HTML coding to worry about - so I can do it far more frequently there. If you'd like a quick take on what's happening - including what I'm doing in the markets - and it doesn't require a personal consultation, you can always find out what's on my mind (astrological and otherwise) via those two social networks. (If you missed the action and the profits on my Dow and euro shorts, share purchases etc., it's because you're not following me on Facebook and Twitter.) Please do let me know you're responding to this invitation, should you send a Facebook friend request. Thanks! I ask because I've had a few spam or phish-type requests. If you mention my website or this invitation, you qualify for a presumption of virtue. Otherwise, unless you're already a friend, client or colleague, please don't be offended if I ask for something to put your request in context. (It's really precious to have the odd bubble-headed bleach blonde offer to send pix of herself in her new undies if I friend her, but I really don't have time to go phish.)

  
AUG 30 UPDATE As promised, my September forecast is online and ready, and all properly linked into the FUTURES menu and site map. I hope you'll find it illuminating.

Richard Nolle, Certified Professional Astrologer consultations/orders (MasterCard/Visa only) 1-800-527-8761 data/fax 480-753-6261 - email rnolle@astropro.com Box 26599 - Tempe, AZ 85285-6599 - USA on the World Wide Web at www.astropro.com