If you were expecting some kind of sun sign nonsense, forget about it. This is real astrology for the real world. If it's real astrology for yourself that you want, you can get it by phone or in print. And if you need help deciphering the astrological glyphs in the graphics accompanying this article, see Astroglyphs: Astrological Symbols Guide. Please note: this forecast is expressed in terms of Universal Time (UT). Also please be aware that, while I never change a forecast once it's published, I do post errata to acknowledge typographical errors and the like.
And now the stars appear
and as they do
all heaven they unfold
-- Rickie Lee Jones
 

Another month, another SuperMoon, another Venus-Mars conjunction . . . and a few odds and ends too, e.g. the storm and seismicity upsurges on the 1st (following the September 29 north lunar declination peak), 11th-13th (surrounding the south lunar declination maximum on the 12th) and 18th-26th (under the aegis of the lunar equatorial crossing on the 19th, full moon on the 23rd and the Moon’s peak declination north of the celestial equator on the 26th).

The October 7 SuperMoon at 14° 24' Libra brings up the rear in a trio of these extreme new moons. They’ve been lining up in the heavens since early August, raising extra powerful tides in Earth’s atmosphere, seas and crust. The result? The usual: an upsurge in headline-making destructive storms with high winds and heavy precipitation; along with extreme tidal surges and moderate to severe seismic activity including magnitude 5+ earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Like, for example, Hurricane Igor, which formed on the exact day of last month’s SuperMoon and grew to become the strongest storm of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season (a Category 4, with winds at one point in excess of 150 mph). At more than 550 miles across, the storm was so large that astronauts aboard the International Space Station dubbed it "Igor the Terrible". Seismic activity spiked in the wake of this SuperMoon as well, with magnitude 6+ events on the 7th (Fiji), 8th (Vanuatu) and 9th (offshore Bio-Bio, Chile – in a risk zone specified in my forecast for the date) and an eruption of the Shiveluch Volcano in Kamchatka on the 7th.

October's SuperMoon is the last such alignment until the full moon on February 18, 2011. During the October 4-10 geocosmic shock window, expect the usual extremes on the tidal, storm and seismic fronts. All these alignments are planetary in scale, and planet-wide in scope. So look for events of this sort to make more than the usual number of headlines worldwide. A look at the astro-locality of this alignment may suggest a few areas of particular vulnerability. These include a longitudinal swath running through west central North America, over the poles and down through India-Pakistan. There’s also a horizon arc sweeping from northwest to southeast Greenland across westernmost Africa to pass between Australia and New Zealand, heading northeasterly from there across the South Pacific and up to Kamchatka. Let me emphatically state that these will not be the only target zones. Do not be complacent if you won’t be in one of these areas during this month’s SuperMoon window. The sky is everywhere, and that’s exactly where SuperMoon storms can strike. Having your emergency kit and procedures ready to hand is good practice at times like this.

Geophysical tides are far from the whole SuperMoon story, and that’s especially true this month. There’s a whole complex of planetary configurations at work coincident with the October SuperMoon, which already features an Earth-Moon-Sun alignment, with the Moon within a day of both its exact perigee (closest approach to our home planet) as well as its southward equatorial crossing. What with Mercury conjunct Saturn, Mars conjunct Venus, Pluto on the lunar north node, Chiron conjunct Neptune and Jupiter conjunct Uranus during this new moon, this is more than a geophysical story. It’s geopolitical, it’s psychological both individual and collective, it’s markets and politics, it’s science and technology, it’s the whole human constellation of wants and needs and motives and behaviors.

The Venus-Mars tie-in with the October 7 SuperMoon, as noted in my 2010 World Forecast Highlights "speaks of strong passions – great for a runaway romance or a lusty liaison, not so great in the case of runaway jealousy, hate or avarice . . . sometimes lust turns to bloodlust, which is why Mars and Venus both represent warriors in one culture or another." So it’s probably not a bad idea to keep your guard up during the October 4-10 SuperMoon shock window: when feelings run high and blood runs hot, it’s no time to be complacent. What’s the worst that could happen? Remember that, like all astrological functions, the Venus-Mars-SuperMoon tie-in works on the collective level, as well as the individual. Border clashes, terrorist attacks, hijackings and military confrontations triggered by posturing and propaganda that gets out of control . . . there’s been a lot of that this year anyway under the Mars Max, and a resurgence under the Venus-Mars conjunction since back in August. One last burst under the aegis of the October SuperMoon wouldn’t be out of character.

Fear and greed are the hallmark of Mars-Venus alignments: the desire to possess and the fear of loss are part and parcel of lust at all levels – including the level of mass psychology and its expression in economic activity. The Venus Max cycle which began on August 20 – coincidentally, the same day as the year’s first Venus-Mars conjunction - has so far delivered as promised in my 2010 forecast (published last year): "a period of relative ease and prosperity, all else being equal." Major equity markets worldwide are mostly up since the Venus Max began with Venus conjunct Mars. In the US, the Dow Industrials and the S&P 500 have had their best September in over 70 years. Which comes as no surprise, if you read my September forecast.

Venus Max cycles are no flash in the pan. This one continues until January 8, 2011. All else being equal, economic conditions, outlook and activity tend to get better (or less bad at least) under a Venus Max. That’s not to say that this one is a one-way rocket ride to the top. For one thing, all else isn’t equal, as pointed out in my August forecast. And besides, there’s always a pullback here, some profit-taking there. (Perhaps around the SuperMoon on the 7th and the Venus retrograde station on the 8th or the Venus-Sun conjunction on the 29th, for example.) Still, I’d rather be in quality shares than bonds under the aegis of a Venus Max. It’s a strategy that has paid off handsomely so far.

Take a look, for example, at the S&P 500 Index since the August 20 start of the Venus Max cycle, as illustrated by a one-year plot of the S&P ending September 28 (from a screenshot of the Bloomberg iPhone app). Notice how the first higher low in months followed the onset of Venus Max - prior to that, it had been lower lows since the beginning of the year, and lower highs since May. Stuck in a trading range since early July, the S&P 500 and other indices seem to have done a turnaround now that Venus Max is underway This isn’t some metaphysical mumbo-jumbo word salad: this is real astrology, and it works with real money (and real earthquakes, real hurricanes, etc.). Everything is temporary, but temporarily good beats temporarily bad every time – and Venus Max is more good than bad, on the economic and financial front. (For more on this, see my Venus Max Facebook Note, published September 9.)

Please be aware that I am advising no particular course of action here. See my Secuutus Caveo Facebook note for more on this.

CUSTOMARY REMINDER: Never make a fetish of exact dates. There’s enough quantum flux in the Universe, and enough silliness and vanity in the human ego, to make exact anything a fiction. Decades of practical experience has taught me to allow three days either way of a full moon or a regular new moon, to see its manifestation. (Likewise, a degree or two at least coming into and leaving a major planetary alignment – which can be a day or two with faster-moving planets like Mercury and Venus, to as much as a month with slower moving planets like Neptune and Pluto.) That’s not to say that these things can’t be precise. For example, the US Government announced on September 19 that BP had succeeded in permanently killing the Macondo oil well that blew out in the Gulf of Mexico last April 20. Sound familiar? Maybe that's because you read it several months ago, in my Monster in the Gulf Facebook note published back in early June; where I wrote about "the relief well being the final solution, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes until the September Jupiter-Uranus retrograde alignment for that to happen." That alignment was exact on September 19; the very day that National Incident Commander Thad Allen pronounced the Macondo well dead. I always tell my readers and clients not to make a fetish about forecast events corresponding to exact aspect dates, but it does happen. (This issue was also addressed in my September forecast.)

There’s more to this Jupiter-Uranus alignment than the relief well, and it’s not over yet. As noted in my 2010 World Forecast Highlights, this alignments points to "scientific and technological breakthroughs that will be important in shaping the new industries of the air sign Chronocrator century . . . precursors, not full-blown commercial developments – much like the telephone or light bulb in the 1870s, or the transistor in the 1940s.)" Moreover, as specifically mentioned in my September forecast, "Discoveries in physics, astronomy and astrophysics look to be especially important this month as well." If you’ve followed the news of September at all, you’ve seen reports about quantum computers and astronomers having discovered an earth-like planet in another solar system some 20 light years away. (Not to mention rumors - since denied - that the UN has appointed an "alien ambassador" to handle extraterrestrial contacts.) Jupiter and Uranus remain within a few degrees of alignment for most of October, and repeat their conjunction in January, so this story isn’t over yet.

In closing, I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind you that the Venus-Mars alignment that’s been within a few degrees of exact pretty much throughout September remains so until nearly mid-October, following its exact alignment on the 3rd. Passion is the keynote of Venus-Mars lining up in the sky. That’s all well and good for romance, affairs, parties, orgies and such – so this is no time to sit around contemplating your navel when you could be slurping shots from someone else’s. Animal spirits can get really animated at times like this, from the local meet market to the financial markets. Again, a reminder: crimes of passion tend to get up a head of steam when Venus aligns with Mars, too. We saw plenty of those in September, and the string continues as the aspect continues. (The first two weekends of the month would be especially good times to mind your p’s and q’s.)

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