JUN 17 UPDATE As noted in my June 3 update – and in the errata to my June forecast – we just went through a shock window for "strong storms (high winds, heavy precipitation – sometimes followed by floods etc.), coastal tidal extremes, and moderate-to-severe seismic activity (Magnitude 5 and up quakes, plus newsworthy volcanic eruptions)." As specified, "critical dates in this category include June 7-17 (the north lunar declination peak on the 8th, melding into the new moon on the 12th and the Moon’s southward equatorial crossing on the 16th)."

While this particular geocosmic activity cycle pales in comparison to the biggest SuperMoon full moon of the year coming up on the 23rd, it has made its mark: three magnitude 6+ quakes on the 15th alone (Crete, the Kermadec Islands and just off the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua), a tropical storm (Andrea) hitting the Southeast US and up the Atlantic coast, and a line of derecho storms battering the Midwest and into the Mid-Atlantic states; not to mention eruptions of the Pavloff and Veniaminof volcanoes on the Alaska Peninsula, the Cristobal volcano in Nicaragua, and the Shiveluch volcano in Russia’s Far East.

This one’s winding down, but the main event opens up on the 20th as the aforementioned SuperMoon comes on strong. Meanwhile, the 2011-2016 Uranus-Pluto square story continues, in the wake of the latest (May 20) exact quadrature of these two planets: riots (like the ones in Istanbul), revolutions (like the one in Syria), spasms in the global financial system, and scientific and technological breakthroughs are headliners still; and with Mercury Max being underway since the 12th – well, if you read my forecast, you know what to expect. Stay alert, stay tuned, have your backup plans, workarounds and alternatives all lined up – they’ll come in handy! A new round of solar storms is brewing starting later this week, in association with both the Mercury Max that started on the 12th and the Mercury-Venus conjunction coming on the 21st.

See the full 2013 World Forecast Highlights and the free online June forecast for details, including more on how, where and when these things will manifest. Meanwhile, stay short the major equity indices and long the arms and munitions, kevlar and tear gas manufacturers; plus construction companies and their suppliers to clean up and rebuild the inevitable messes.

  JUN 10 UPDATE No content changes for today, just technical revisions to accommodate Internet Explorer 10. (More of those to come I'm sure, as I discover new ways that IE10 is incompatible with code written to IE9 and earlier specs.) Honestly, the high muckety-muck techno-weenies keep changing the "standards," forcing content providers to spend precious time doing things other than providing content. Being busy with forecasting, client consultations and report orders, who has time to jump through programmers' hoops? You'd think they could make their new stuff backward compatible with their old stuff, wouldn't you? No, that would be entirely too rational ...

  JUN 3 UPDATE I just realized that a paragraph got left behind on my laptop when I uploaded the June forecast last month. Regulars know that I never change a forecast once it’s published. (Why give pseudo-skeptics more excuses for their delusions?) But I have added the missing paragraph to the errata sheet. In brief, I left out the lesser geocosmic stress factors for the month: the new moon and the declination inflections. (The latter were already published back in 2009.) Here’s the missing paragraph, if you’re not familiar with the errata:

While the SuperMoon on the 23rd is by far the trump card in this month’s geophysical shock hierarchy, it’s not the one and only such factor to consider. There are other, lesser indicators of increased levels of strong storms (high winds, heavy precipitation – sometimes followed by floods etc.), coastal tidal extremes, and moderate-to-severe seismic activity (Magnitude 5 and up quakes, plus newsworthy volcanic eruptions). Critical dates in this category include June 1-2 (in and around the Moon’s northward crossing of the celestial equator on the 1st), 7-17 (the north lunar declination peak on the 8th, melding into the new moon on the 12th and the Moon’s southward equatorial crossing on the 16th); and June 27-29, bracketing the northward lunar equatorial crossing on the 28th. These are lesser indicators only in a relative sense: there’s nothing lesser about them if a storm, earthquake or volcano your lays your neighborhood to waste!

  MAY 27 UPDATE In these waning days of the SuperMoon lunar eclipse shock window, it's clear that this Sun-Earth-Moon alignment has once again delivered as promised: "strong storms with high winds and heavy precipitation (big flood potential), plus a rash of moderate-to-severe earthquakes (Magnitude 5 and up), as well as volcanic eruptions . . . tidal extremes too." From tornadoes in Oklahoma and a flooding rainstorm in San Antonio to some two dozen notable quakes, among them some of the year’s biggest (including a Magnitude 8.3 off the coast of Kamchatka) to volcanic eruptions in Alaska, to extreme high tides at Brisbane Australia, Auckland New Zealand and Jacksonville FL, the first SuperMoon of 2013 has left its mark. It’s this kind of thing that has caught the world’s attention these past several years, to the point that even non-astrological media are recognizing the SuperMoon and acknowledging that an astrologer (namely yours truly) named, described and defined it over 30 years ago now. (See the May 24 article by Bruce McClure at EarthSky Science News online – and thank you, Bruce McClure.) Not to mention the Uranus-Pluto blood in the streets thing – which had nothing at all to do with quakes and storms and such, but certainly timed the riots in Sweden, the terror attacks in London and Paris, the ongoing carnage in Syria, etc. It was all there in the full version of my 2013 World Forecast Highlights (published last year), as well as in the free online May forecast. What’s next? See the May forecast, and watch for the June edition to appear soon.

  MAY 20 UPDATE This will be a big week in a big month, from the Uranus-Pluto square today through to the Mercury-Venus conjunction on the 24th and the SuperMoon lunar eclipse on the 25th. (Don't miss the triple conjunction of Mercury, Venus and Jupiter in the west at sunset as the SuperMoon rises in the east that day.) As for what to expect - well, see the free online copy of my May forecast, or the full version of my 2013 World Forecast Highlights.

  MAY 13 UPDATE Did you see the Moon-Jupiter-Venus alignment over the weekend? I hope so. (I gave a heads-up to all my Facebook followers last week.) If you missed it, take heart! There’s bigger and better toward the end of May, as Jupiter, Venus and Mercury draw together to form a tight triangle in the sky. It will be especially breath-taking on May 25, following the SuperMoon lunar eclipse – the first SuperMoon of the year, in fact.

Watch for the sky triangle in the west at sunset, and then turn around and look to the east to see that huge SuperMoon coming up over the horizon. Weather permitting, of course. And it won’t, in a lot of places: SuperMoon storms are notorious for spoiling sky parties like this; and we won’t even speak of the tidal floods, big quakes and volcanic eruptions that so often accompany SuperMoon alignments. Here’s wishing you fair skies! And the discernment to see through all the silver-tongued palaver that will fill the air then, as rhetoric triumphs over reason, flair over fundamentals, show over substance. Ah, but what a show! Or, as Taggart says in Blazing Saddles, "God darnit, Mr. Lamarr, you use your tongue prettier than a twenty dollar whore."

For more of what to expect around that time – solar outbursts and the kind of high geomagnetic energy that tends to play havoc with electrical and electronic infrastructure was well as with the human nervous system – see my May forecast. (Sky shot produced by Stellarium for Windows.)

  MAY 6 UPDATE The May forecast went online last week, in case you missed it. It's all properly linked tinto FUTURES menu and sitemap, as usual. And, again as usual for my forecasts, it comes with a prewired link into the headlines, as the news of the day continues to demonstrate – from the Boston Marathon bombing to the Texas fertilizer plant explosion last month, to the California wildfires, the Belgium train explosion and the death spiral in Syria in the past few days. Just look over the news, and there’s no escaping it.

Now look over an ephemeris (a table of planetary positions), and you’ll see that there’s been one major Mars alignment or another in effect since late March. It started with the Mars conjunction to Uranus, then morphed into the SunSun-Mars conjunction (the alignment that ushered in the Arab Spring back in 2011) all through April into early May, and shifted into the Mars-Saturn opposition from late April into May (exact on May 1, just now separating).

Mars alignments like this, as I’ve been writing for years – most recently in my May forecast - herald "fires, crashes, clashes and explosions." At the level of personal conflict, this ranges from arguments and fights all the way to homicide. At the social level, this manifests as collective violence – social and political, from riots to outright warfare. And somewhere in between is the outbreak of fires, crashes and explosion that happen due more to accident than to design.

I am expecting a diminution of the Mars factor this week – but a resurgence in July, as the Red Planet opposes first Jupiter and then Pluto. In the meantime, the Red Planet fading doesn’t portend an outbreak of peace and love in the geopolitical arena. With Uranus and Pluto staying within a few degrees of their exact square aspect all month – and indeed, into this fall – social upheaval won’t go away quietly. Riots, revolution and outright civil war are the hallmark of 2013, under the aegis of the Uranus-Pluto quadrature; the first one since the 1930s, another era of riots, revolutions and civil war. Everything old is new again . . .

  APR 29 UPDATE A client inquired by email last week about a self-described "world famous celebrity astrologer," asking if I knew anything about this person. I didn’t recognize the name, and ventured that anyone describing himself/herself as a "world famous celebrity" by definition isn’t – world famous or a celebrity, at least.

It reminded me of an incident back in the mid-1980s, when I walked into the local post office only to see Rob Hand already standing in line. I was a little surprised. After all, Rob lived in Massachusetts, and this was in Tempe, Arizona. But since Tempe is the headquarters of the American Federation of Astrologers, I thought maybe Rob was in town checking on the sales of his books.

As it happened, I ended up next in line after him, and when he turned to pick up a form I caught his eye and said "Hi, Rob!" The man looked at me, puzzled. And on closer inspection, I looked back at him and realized this wasn’t Rob Hand after all – pretty much a doppelganger, but not the real deal. "I’m sorry," I said, "I thought you were Rob Hand, the famous astrologer." His puzzlement grew, and he shot back, "Who?" And then it dawned on me: there’s no such thing as a famous astrologer.

That was then, this is now – a time when we’re still in the thick of major Mars alignments and the accompanying "fires, crashes, clashes and explosions." It kicked in mid-April, as the Sun and Mars drew closer in the sky and all hell broke loose in Boston. It continues now and past the May 10 solar eclipse, what with Mars opposing Saturn. Be careful out there, don’t go looking for trouble. There’s plenty to go around.

  APR 22 UPDATE My April forecast, published last month, continues to call the news of the day in advance. That means this is a big week. It starts with increasing tidal surges through Earth's atmosphere, seas and crust timed by "the Moon’s southward crossing of the celestial equator on the 22nd, effective from the 21st through the 23rd, melding into what looks like the big geocosmic event of the month, the lunar eclipse on the 25th, which combines with the Moon’s perigee on the 27th and south declination peak on the 28th to nail down a geophysical shock window stretching from all the way from the 21st through the 29th."

Remember, as I wrote in this month's forecast, "all these geophysical stress factors are astronomical in scale, and therefore potentially planet-wide in scope. The atmosphere is everywhere, after all, so storms can crop up anywhere. Coastal tidal flooding is more limited, by definition. Likewise earthquakes (remember, in the moderate-to-severe category, Magnitude 5 and up) and volcanic eruptions are localized to fairly well-recognized places – but there are plenty of those all over the world. All things considered, it’s good to have your emergency kit handy, fresh batteries in your weather radio, a well-stocked pantry with plenty of bottled water and dried or canned foods at the very least – no matter where you live. And if traveling, it’s a good idea to allow extra time for weather-related delays, just in case."

That said - again, as described in the forecast - there are specific zones of vulnerability pointed out by astro-locality mapping the April 25 lunar eclipse. These "include western North America, along a longitudinal zone extending from British Columbia down through Washington, Oregon and California into northwestern Mexico. This same zone emerges on the other side of the globe to pass from eastern Saudi Arabia northward through Turkey, the ‘Stans and Russia. Horizon arcs for this same alignment cross northern and eastern Russia, parts of China, Japan, Papua New Guinea, eastern Australia and southern New Zealand; curving northeasterly from there to graze the Brazilian coast, the UK and Scandinavia."

Paroxysms of nature aside, a "Mars-Saturn opposition is blended into the eclipse, with Saturn conjunct the Moon and Mars the Sun: watch for the Ringed Planet rising in the east with the Moon at sunset. This signifies a certain bellicosity in the air, high tensions and short tempers, a strong likelihood of confrontation at all levels of human experience, from the interpersonal to the international. Find someplace safe." Remember: this Mars stuff is the same "fires, crashes, clashes and explosions" signature that was in effect las week as well. Again, find someplace safe.

  APR 15 UPDATE The news of the day keeps following the script outlined in advance in my April forecast, published last month. The Korean flap - but no war; moderate-to-severe quakes in the South Pacific (Philippines, New Guinea, Bougainville etc.) and Japan, strong storms breaking out here and there in the last few days . . . Meanwhile, other than an update to the 2013 FDIC story (see below), I'm busy with paperwork from all the client consultations and report orders, not to mention tax records and such. More next week.

  APR 8 UPDATE Although I uploaded the April forecast and updated FUTURES menu last month, I just today got around to adding the April forecast into the sitemap.

Meanwhile, the news of the world keeps unfolding along the outlines of my April forecast. Take, for example, the Korea flap, which is peaking as we come into the period "within plus or minus 3-4 days of the April 7 Venus-Mars conjunction in Aries: primal. Primal’s good in intimate places, not so good when people face off with the feeling that right is on their side. Alas, there will be some of the latter then too, with Pluto’s retrograde station so close on the 12th." The media are doing their usual job: whipping the public into a frenzy of fear, the better to keep eyes glued on the cable news and sell ads hand over fist. This isn’t the real deal, it’s just a flap. Or, as I wrote in the forecast, "A global melt-down? Hardly. But some blazing hot spots break out, for sure."

And then there are the geophysical events, happening on a scale so far beyond us that we’re just bits of foam on the space-time waves of Planet Earth. These are the celestial signals of "an unusual level of severe storm activity (damaging winds and heavy precipitation) and news-making seismic disturbances (volcanic eruptions and M5+ earthquakes)" – like the new moon "shock window running from the 7th through the 16th (extended by the north lunar declination peak on the 15th." (Western Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, and the coasts of Korea, China and far east Russia are among the hot zones this time around; along with East Arica, the Middle East and Alaska.) Watch the news; keep an eye on the sky, have your emergency kit ready to hand, just in case. And remember: the big turbulence in any case comes late in the month, associated with the April 25 lunar eclipse . . .

  APR 1 UPDATE My April forecast is up and running, as of yesterday.

  MAR 25 UPDATE Working on the April forecast, it strikes me that there’s acceleration in the flow of time and events starting this month. Partly, it’s due to extremes in the local system – the Earth, Moon and Sun. We’ve got a train of eclipses starting next month, and a train of SuperMoons starting the month after. This will certainly be seen in terms of geophysical turbulence: an upsurge in larger earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, higher than usual coastal tides, and a concentration of strong storms with high winds and heavy precipitation.

These are far from the only storms on the calendar: we humans too will be running hotter and colder than usual. And then there are the socioeconomic storms on the geopolitical plane, with Uranus and Pluto holding within a few degrees of their May 20 square even now (and drawing closer by the day), spasms in the global financial system will continue to be much in the news – and you’ll see strong reactions from Wall Street to the streets of major world cities, where the dispossessed angrily protest their lowered circumstances. Watch the period around April 16-28 in particular, as far as this goes: from the Sun-Mars conjunction on April 18 to the lunar eclipse (conjunct Saturn) on the 25th. There's lots more where that came from . . .

  MAR 18 UPDATE Thanks for all the kind and comforting words about the loss of my father. He breathed his last around midnight on the 15th under a Jupiter trine to his natal Sun, with Jupiter in the seventh house at the time and Saturn rising in the east. A good end is the ultimate blessing, and I do believe he had one. I’m grateful that we were all able to hold his hands, kiss his cheeks and talk to him in his last days. Some of the old books I read decades ago as a beginning astrology student observed how Jupiter transits can signal a fortunate passing, and I’ve seen it happen more than once. Death sure screws up our plans, but "man plans, God laughs." Death is natural and inevitable, to be welcomed in its time. Only ego makes us fear it – the soul welcomes release and return. And return is eternal, make no mistake about it! (See the "Indian Life" chapter in Hesse’s Glass Bead Game.)

There are other signs in the sky now, and corresponding surges in our home planet’s geomagnetic system – in which we live and move and have our being, bio-electric creatures that we are. In the sky as far south as Colorado, auroras have been seen as the latest Coronal Mass Ejection plows into Earth and through us all. This is far from the Extinction Level Event that so many Chicken Little types in the blogs and other media love to trumpet. But it’s happening on schedule and as described in my forecast, published last month: The current Mercury Max – see the table in the forecast – is in effect February 16-March 31, with key dates coming within a few days of 4th, 17th and 31st this month. As noted in the forecast, the Mercury Max cycle as a whole (and these dates in particular) are "typically a signal of increased solar activity – X-ray flares, Coronal Mass Ejections (CME), etc. All those extra Gigawatts of solar energy dumped into our home planet contribute to rumblings and roilings in Earth’s crust and atmosphere – turning up the heat tends to bring the pot to a boil, in other words. Nice for aurora-gazers, but not so good for electrical infrastructure and devices (including the human nervous system). Keep your backups current and your batteries charged, people!"

  MAR 11 UPDATE I have just a couple things by way of an update for you today. First, I’ll be out of the office from Monday until late Wednesday (March 11-13) – by late, I mean after 4 PM my time. I’ll be with family at my father’s bedside, hoping and praying for the best.

Second, speaking of time, please remember that although your time may have changed (viz., in observance of Daylight Saving Time), mine has not. That’s because Arizona (except for the Navajo Nation) doesn’t go along with that Daylight Time silliness. When you live with 120F/49C daytime highs in the Sonoran Desert summer, the last thing you want is an "extra" hour of daylight. So – except for the above-mentioned personal leave - I’ll be in the office as usual, 10 AM-8 PM, Monday through Saturday. Now that most of the US is on Daylight Time, that’s 1-9 PM Eastern, 12-8 Central, 11 AM to 7 PM Mountain, 10 AM to 6 PM Pacific, etc.

  MAR 4 UPDATE In case you missed it last week, my March forecast is up and running, and all properly linked into the FUTURES menu and sitemap. As described in the March forecast, we’re coming into some notable tidal surge, storm and seismic signals this week: "The Moon’s simultaneous March 5 perigee (closest approach to Earth) and south declination peak ushers in the first tide, storm and seismic window of the month, in effect from the 4th through the 7th at least (extended by the Mercury-Venus conjunction that day)." There’s also the March geocosmic shock window associated with "the simultaneous new moon and northward lunar equatorial crossing on the 11th (in effect from the 8th through the 14th)." Regulars know what to expect: in addition to newsworthy tidal surges, there will be strong storms with high winds and heavy precipitation, and an upsurge in moderate-to-severe seismic activity (Magnitude 5 and up earthquakes and volcanic eruptions).

With the current Mercury Max going on, these events will likely have extra newsworthiness on account of their impact on transportation, communication and power infrastructure: power and computer network outages, weather-related travel delays and the like are par for the course with this particular combination in effect. While the whole of Planet Earth is in the target zone for this kind of thing, as noted in my March forecast, there are some obvious places to look for the greatest impact: seismically active zones and the costal interface, for example; as well as some of the astro-locality hot spots shown on the accompanying astro-map for the new moon: "a longitudinal (north-south) swath from Mexico City west to Los Angeles ;in North America, and its mirror image on the other side of the world, from central India and western China west to the Iran-Afghanistan-Pakistan border; as well as some horizon arcs from western Australia and New Zealand through the Pacific across New Guinea up to Kamchatka; emerging on the other side of the world to cross the Atlantic and touch west Africa, Iceland and Greenland as well as Spain and the UK."

Also as noted in my forecast, there’s a growing solar component to the week ahead as well, associated with the March 4 Sun-Mercury inferior conjunction: expect a growing solar turbulence (CMEs etc.), with all the attendant disturbances to satellite networks, power grids and other electrical systems – including the human nervous system, PCs, smart phones and the like. Well, at least we can look for some pretty auroral displays. (Bear in mind, I’m not looking for anything apocalyptic here – although it can feel like the crack of doom if it’s your iPhone or Galaxy that gets fritzed, or your brain that gets scrambled.)

  FEB 25 UPDATE The first Mercury Max cycle of 2013 is underway, and continues right through until March 31. Mercury’s retrograde is contained within this cycle, having begun February 23 and continuing until March 17. If you’re not up to speed on the meaning of Mercury Max, please do see my latest on this, in the February forecast. (Or consult your copy of my full 2013 World Forecast Highlights.) Also already underway is the February full moon geocosmic shock window, which remains open through the end of the month. Watch this to manifest as headline storms with heavy precipation and damaging winds, as well as unusual tidal surges and moderate-to-severe seismic activity (M5+ earthquakes and volcanic eruptions). Being astronomical in scale, this is a woldside risk period - maybe most especially along the US Pacific coast, the Middle East and Pakistan.

  FEB 18 UPDATE I've had a couple inquiries wondering why there's no specific mention of the North Korean nuclear test, the Pope's abdication, or the Russian meteor strike in my February forecast, while the storm and seismic stuff was so explicit. I write about things that interest me. The Pope and a minor nuclear test do not, oer se. However, in fairness it must be conceded that my February forecast did mention "military provocations, chemical or even nuclear messes" as a prominent theme through the 18th. Also, apropos of the strongest solar outfurst of the year to date (the M1.9-class flare on the 17th), note where I forecast "the entire Mercury Max period tends toward enhanced solar activity" and be mindful that the first Mercury Max cycle of the year just got underway on the 16th. As for papal transitions and fire from the sky . . . well, I'll give them some thought if I get a free moment or two.

  FEB 11 UPDATE The monster blizzard in the US Northeast and the string of big earthquakes in the Solomons and Colombia (including a couple Magnitude 7 temblors) are in the news lately, but they were in my February forecast last month, with a heads-up about "newsworthy earthquakes (magnitude 5 and up), volcanic eruptions and strong storms with high winds and heavy precipitation February 7-13." Too busy with client consultations, reports and other writing projects to add more now - but check the February forecast to see what's next.

  FEB 4 UPDATE Thanks to the Big Game - it's a family thing - today's update is short: the February forecast has been coded into the FUTURES menu and sitemap. Now it's back to work on client reports and other writing projects.

  JAN 31 UPDATEThe February forecast went online late yesterday. May it serve you well!

  JAN 28 UPDATEThe January full moon geophysical shock window – "the 22nd through the 30th," as prescribed in my forecast – is living up to the promise of “storms, moderate-to-severe earthquakes (Magnitude 5 and up), and volcanic eruptions” quite handily. With still a few days to go, we’ve already seen major summer storms in Australia and killer snowstorms in US Midwest and Northeast plus eastern Canada (not to mention record-breaking rainfall here in the normally parched Sonoran Desert of Arizona). Meanwhile, the Tavurvur volcano is erupting in Papua New Guinea, and there have already been two dozen M5+ earthquakes since the full moon shock window opened. There are still a few days yet to run in this particular cycle, so keep your eyes open and your emergency kit handy, just in case.

I’m wrapping up the February forecast, and it looks like a real turnaround kind of month – politically, economically, and most especially in terms of major equities. More on that in the forecast. Until then, here’s a peek at the Mercury Max cycles of 2013, which get underway in February.

2013 MERCURY MAX

Max-E	S-Rx	CNJ SU	S-D	Max-W
FEB 16	FEB 23	MAR 4	MAR 17	MAR 31
JUN 12	JUN 26	JUL 9	JUL 20	JUL 30
OCT 9	OCT 21	NOV 1	NOV 10	NOV 18

In closing, for now, a Danish interviewer asked me last week why scientists "categorize astrology as belief and hocus-pocus?" Ignorance is the answer, fundamentally. Anyone who can’t keep signs and constellations straight is obviously unqualified to critique astrology – which, as practiced in the western world for over 2,000 years now, has referred not to constellations at all, but to signs. For more on this, see my article on the subject. And for an example of a scientist hoist on his own petard on this topic, see Carl Sagan wax ignorant on this count, describing astrology as based on "which constellations the planets were in at the moment of your birth." Is it not irrational to criticize something you don’t understand – let alone to do it in the guise of being a rational sceptic? This isn’t genuine rationality or scepticism, but pseudo-scepticism. It’s unworthy of real science, and smacks of an ideological Inquisition.

Ignorance, as I’ve said, is the answer . . . not only for the reasons stated above, but also because the question presupposes that scientists are unanimous in their dismissal of astrology. In fact, there are some scientists who have open minds . . . but that’s a topic for another time.

  JAN 21 UPDATE The new moon earlier this month made its mark on the storm and seismic front, as per my January forecast: 32 M5+ earthquakes, powerful winter storms in the Middle East and the US Southeast, and a volcanic eruption in Kamchatka, for example. We’re now coming into the late January full moon geocosmic shock window; namely "the 22nd through the 30th (Moon at peak northern declination on the 23rd, plus the full moon on the 27th)." This particular full moon opposes Mercury, in a T-Square configuration with Saturn, with Jupiter simultaneously squaring Neptune from its direct station point. Alaska, Hawaii, west-central South America and the western Atlantic are among the many higher risk zones during this period, along with Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Japan and China. But these are hardly the only vulnerable regions: the sky covers all of our home planet, and atmospheric disturbances can happen just about anywhere. Meanwhile, as I wrap up the February forecast, it’s looking like a month when keeping alert and focused gets all the more important the harder it gets – particularly starting around the 16th, when the first Mercury Max cycle of 2013 gets underway . . .

  JAN 14 UPDATE No big update for today, because I've been WAY too busy with client orders for my 2013 World Forecast Highlights and personal reports, as well as a great many phone consultations. I just got caught up late yesterday, so I should be able to resume a more normal schedule going forward. Speaking of looking ahead, we’re already well into the January 11 new moon storm and seismic stress window. As described in my free online January forecast, it started on the 8th, and continues into the 17th – and it shows. For example, there have already been 33 Magnitude 5 and up earthquakes, including a 6.0 in Myanmar on the 9th. On the weather front, the fiercest winter storm in years dumped a foot of snow in parts of the Middle East on the 8th and 9th. (Here in Arizona, we’re having the coldest front come through in 34 years.) This has only just begun, so keep a sharp weather eye on the sky for the rest of this week.

  JAN 7 UPDATE First and foremost, I must start with a thanks to all the clients old and new who have kept me so very busy these last couple of weeks, with orders for my 2013 World Forecast Highlights and personal reports, as well as a great many phone consultations. Being very saturnine by nature in many ways – born under a Capricorn Moon and ascendant, with Saturn opposite the Sun and trine the Moon – I prefer staying busy and productive. (Fortunately for me, I’ve got enough countervailing elements that a smile is never far from breaking through.)

I must say that I have been so nose-to-the-grindstone lately, that it has put me behind schedule on getting up the free online January forecast. (What can I say; paying orders have to come first!) But I did get it uploaded a couple days ago. There’s also a brief, free excerpt of my 2013 World Forecast Highlights, which went up earlier last week. (The full copy has been distributed to all who have ordered it, whether by mail or email delivery.)

As mentioned in the January forecast, the main celestial factors I’m looking at for this month are the new and full moon storm and seismic signals (as amplified by declination factors), and the Jupiter station. The first of these is already in effect: "periods of elevated (but not extreme) risk for storms, moderate-to-severe earthquakes (Magnitude 5 and up), and volcanic eruptions this month" begin with the January 2-4 geocosmic shock window "(the Moon’s southward crossing of the equator)" and "the 8th through the 17th (the Moon’s southern declination extreme, the new moon and the northward lunar equatorial crossing) . . ."

If you look at the chart for the new moon, the anchor point for the January 8-17 shock period, you’ll notice that it features a stellium (grouping) in Capricorn that includes Mercury, Venus and Pluto in addition to the Sun and Moon. Plotting the astro-locality lines for the rise/set and culmination/anti-culmination of this stellium shows horizon arcs sweeping northeasterly across Australia, Papua New Guinea and eastern Indonesia, across the Pacific through Alaska and northern Canada, before bending southward to cross eastern Canada and New England, out into the Atlantic Ocean, clipping the east coast of Brazil; as well as two longitudinal (north-south) swathes, through the Middle East and western Russia on the one hand, and through the western US and Canada as well as Mexico’s Baja Peninsula on the other.

 As I’ve always said, these Sun-Moon alignments with our home planet are astronomical in scale, and therefore planet-wide in potential scope down here on Earth. (This stuff is up there in the sky after all, and the sky covers the whole planet, so no place is beyond the reach of storms at the very least.) That said, I’ll be surprised if the above-indicated zones don’t figure into the storm and seismic headlines in the January 8-17 risk window. Keep an eye on the sky starting this week, and stay tuned to the news: I think you’ll see what I mean.

In closing, I’ve had enough clients ask about past life indicators in the chart that a recent discussion on the 007 Facebook astrology group lately seems germane. As I wrote there, statements that cannot be verified (i.e. falsified) are for entertainment only – or at best, speculation. I won’t argue for or against past lives, precisely because they’re not verifiable. Mixing them up with astrology trivializes astrology, as far as I’m concerned. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had my own experiences with what some call past lives. I’m sure we all have. But to me these are intensely personal, as are the experiences others relate to me. My own understanding is that time is simultaneous, not sequential. In that sense, past, present and future lives are all happening at once anyway . . . but that too is unverifiable, so I’d never try to convince anyone . . . As for the notion that a particular factor in the natal horoscope could be a past life tell tale, I think this is simplistic. It takes a whole chart to address the present life, so how could anything less than the whole chart be significant of the life "before" this one?

As mentioned in the January forecast, the main celestial factors I’m looking at for this month are the new and full moon storm and seismic signals (as amplified by declination factors), and the Jupiter station. The first of these is already in effect: "periods of elevated (but not extreme) risk for storms, moderate-to-severe earthquakes (Magnitude 5 and up), and volcanic eruptions this month" begin with the January 2-4 geocosmic shock window "(the Moon’s southward crossing of the equator)" and "the 8th through the 17th (the Moon’s southern declination extreme, the new moon and the northward lunar equatorial crossing) . . ."

Federal bank regulators let the latest "Freaky Friday" pass uneventfully, leaving the total number of US banks seized by the FDIC in 2013 standing pat at 16. (To play along at home, see the FDIC website.) All of which comes as no surprise, if you've been following my forecasts. I've been saying since 2010 to expect an easing of the bank failings for a time, and likewise a moderation in the unemployment rate here in the States - again, for a time. Speaking of which, the latest stats have the official US unemployment rate ticking up a notch this time to 7.6% - the next-lowest it's been in four years, but still higher than the long term average of 5.81%. (The official 21st Century US unemployment rate bottomed out at 4.5% in September 2006, and climbed fairly steadily from then on until the peak at 10.1% in October 2009.) The last round of Quantitative Easing (QE2), begun under the last Venus Max cycle, eased the pressure on banks. They can still borrow funds at roughly 0% from the Fed, and loan it to you and me at a higher interest rate. Good work if you can get it. This same factor tends to push stock shares up, which helps stimulate (simulate?) economic growth - including employment growth, for a time. Last year's Venus Max cycle having started in late March and keeping on until mid-August, and this year's not getting underway until November, I figure the global economy is pretty much running on fumes (borrowed fiat money) until late this year, as described in the complete version of my 2013 World Forecast Highlights. At 31 8-1/2 X 11" pages, illustrated, it's available by mail ($75) or by email in standard Adobe PDF format ($50). All the pre-paid copies went out to my clients last year, but you're welcome to get your own copy now. Orders may be phoned in (toll-free from anywhere in North America to 800-5-ASTRO-1 (800-527-8761) and charged to any major credit card. PayPal orders may be placed direct from your own PayPal account page to rnolle@astropro.com – or by using the AstroPro PayPal order page.

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, a friend of a friend, or 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. (Invitations of this ilk come along at least once a week, so pardon my bemused skepticism.)

Incidentally, if you're already a Facebook friend, please let me know if you're interested in joining a Facebook Group I started a few years ago. It's called NolleAstro, and it's a free forum for astrological observations and discussions. It's also the first place I'll post my own astrological observations, including astrologically-based trades I'm making in real time. You don't have to join the group to get such info, because you'll see it if you're a Facebook friend - provided you're online often enough. The thing is, Facebook posts rapidly scroll off the screen, so you'll typically see only the last few dozen posts. If you're a member of the group however, you'll receive email notices about new posts to the NolleAstro Group; and in any event, checking in there makes it much easier to see what's new. (Incidentally, it's easy to turn off the automatic email feature or even leave the group altogether at any time if you wish: you're in control.)

Want more? You'll find lots of free astrology features at astropro, 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. Plus lots of forecasts, of course. (And surprise - unlike the metaphysical mumbo-jumbo word salad and Sun Sign silliness that so often passes for astrology, this is the real thing; which is to say, first you see it here, then it shows up on CNN.

Collect notable charts and/or data? Then please do see the January 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 February 1st.) Want more? Check out the February collection, where the free chart links remain active until March 1 . For still more, see the FEATURES menu, with a complete listing of all these monthly celebrity data pages: no chart freebies for the other months, but hundreds of data for the famous and infamous you can use to calculate your own charts.

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Richard Nolle, Certified Professional Astrologer consultations/orders (AmEx/Discover/MasterCard/Visa) 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