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.
When all else is lost, the future still remains.
-- Christian Nestell Bovee
 

Markets churning and turning, people turning on one another, and genius always outs: that’s a good part of what November is all about . . . not to mention the rocking and rolling of Earth’s crust and seas, turbulence (and danger) in the skies and wonders out in space. Some of it’s normal, some of it isn’t. What’s key is not so much the what, as the when. Genius always outing and wonders out in space will be more or less continuous themes all month long, what with Jupiter and Uranus lined up just a few degrees apart throughout November and on into the New Year. Apart from that one near-constant theme, the rest comes and goes on its own rhythm.

November is the first month since summer when there’s no SuperMoon alignment in the sky. After three of them in as many months, there won’t be another until February. Given the long historical association between SuperMoons and headline-making storms, tides and seismic activity (including magnitude 5+ earthquakes and the occasional tsunami plus of course volcanic eruption), you might think an absence of SuperMoons means that November would be all quiet on the geophysical front. Not so fast!

You may have read or seen or heard about - or felt - some of the tides surging through Earth's atmosphere (and crust, and seas) last month, during the geophysical shock windows specified in my October forecast (published the month before). Some of those storm and seismic surges, in fact, came under the aegis of the October 7 SuperMoon alignment, right on the schedule called out in my 2010 World Forecast Highlights - published last year.

For example, the October 4-10 SuperMoon shock window was accompanied by "extremes on the tidal, storm and seismic fronts." Lo and behold, a strong storm system (including a half-dozen tornadoes) tore up Arizona on the 5th and 6th, leaving many hundreds of homes damaged (and a few dozen destroyed), trains and semi-trucks overturned and my broadband out of commission for several days, thank you very much; but, fortunately, no one killed or seriously injured. At the same time, deadly storms killed scores of people in Asia, from Bangladesh to Vietnam down to Indonesia; Hurricane Otto formed in the Atlantic; and a series of powerful earthquakes (magnitude 5.9-6.4) struck from Indonesia - see map, a screen shot from the QuakeZones iPhone app - to the Ryukyu and Aleutian Islands across to Costa Rica.

But it doesn’t take a SuperMoon per se to signal storm and seismic upsurges, as I’ve always said. The SuperMoon alignment – a new or full moon at or very near (within 90% of) the Moon’s closest approach to Earth – is one of several classes of extreme lunar phenomena. There are eclipses, for example. A solar eclipse is a new moon in which the alignment of Earth, Moon and Sun is so precise in time and space that the Moon actually passes so directly between Earth and Sun that the lunar disc obscures the face of the Sun, casting the Moon’s shadow across the Earth. A lunar eclipse reverses the line-up. It’s a full moon in which the Moon is on the side of Earth away from the Sun, lined up so precisely that Earth’s shadow sweeps across the face of the Moon. There are no eclipses in November either; none until the winter solstice, actually. (That’s December 21st, for you artificial lighting types.)

There’s yet another type of extreme lunar factor; and it’s especially relevant to November, because it’s the only lunar extreme operative this month. I’m referring to lunar declination, and specifically to the Moon’s peaks north and south of the celestial equator (Earth’s equator, projected out into space), as well as the lunar crossings of the equator. In their own right, and particularly in combination with a new or full moon, these declination factors combine to indicate heightened tides sweeping through Earth’s atmosphere, seas and crust – and a corresponding increased potential for damaging storms with high winds and heavy precipitation (with a subsequent risk of floods and mudslides); as well as moderate to severe seismic activity, including magnitude 5+ earthquakes (and, where applicable, tsunami) and volcanic eruptions.

Take, for example, the October 18-26 storm and seismic risk window called out in my October forecast (published the previous month), "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)." Typhoon Megi tore into the Philippines with winds in excess of 150 mph on the 18th, leaving dozens dead. Baja California was rumbling with a series of earthquakes starting on the 19th, when three 5.5+ temblors hit (the biggest a 5.8-magnitude); a 6.7-magnitude quake rocked the Gulf of California on the 21st – the day before Typhoon Megi had moved on to hit Taiwan with 45 inches of rain and 90 mph winds, causing killer landslides and widespread power outages. Hurricane Richard plowed into Belize on the 25th. Later that day Indonesia was hit hardest of all, by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake and tsunami (hundreds killed, hundreds more swept out to sea), and the eruption of the Merapi volcano. The storm system that erupted in Texas that same day continued for days afterward, sweeping north and east with the lowest barometric pressure ever recorded in a US non-coastal storm. The media dubbed it "The Weather Bomb" superstorm system. When it's real astrology, the forecast turns into the news . . .

The news for November is likely to include a little less in the way of geophysical drama, compared to October. But it’s still far from placid in the sky, and therefore down here on Earth. There’s a turbulent patch from the 1st (as the Moon makes a southward crossing of the celestial equator on the 2nd) through the lunar perigee on the 3rd (the night the Taurids meteor shower peaks) and the new moon on the 6th, wrapping up with the southward lunar declination peak on the 8th. This particular geocosmic shock window finally closes on the 9th, after which things should recede to what passes for normal.

Regulars know I’m not one of the Chicken Little scream-and-duck crowd. (It’s fun to scare and be scared, I suppose. But if that’s what you want, look elsewhere: this is real astrology.) There won’t be an apocalypse this month or next. There will however be some news-making strong storms and moderate to severe seismic action (including Richter 5+ quakes, possibly a tsunami and/or a volcanic eruption) during the November 1-9 period. For most of us, this will consist of headlines we read or see or hear. For some, it will be more serious. Just in case, it’s a good idea to be as prepared as possible. Now’s a good time to review your emergency preparations and supplies, just in case. Maybe especially if you’ll be in a seismically active area during the shock window mentioned above; or if you’ll be in one of the astro-locality elevated risk zones for the November new moon that anchors this whole trend.

These include a Sun-Moon meridian line running due north through the Indian Ocean, across Indonesia and Malaysia (right through Kuala Lumpur), up through the Indochina Peninsula (near Bangkok) and north through Central China, Mongolia and Russia; across the pole and down through Eastern Canada and the US Atlantic seaboard (along a line from about Ottawa through Washington DE and Miami), crossing Eastern Cuba on its way to Central America and Western South America. There’s also a suspicious looking Sun-Moon horizon line running northeasterly across Africa (from Gabon and Congo on the Atlantic side through Libya and Egypt on the Mediterranean side) and across Turkey, Greece and Eastern Europe into Russia; passing over Moscow before arcing across Northern Russia to come down across Kamchatka and out into the Pacific. (Also suspicious: the Saturn meridian line from the Pacific coast of Mexico through the Great Plains and over the pole down through Russia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Western India.) I can guarantee that these will not be the only places under the gun during this particular geocosmic shock window. It is, after all, planetary in scale and planet-wide in scope. Still, as Plautus put it, dictum sapienti sat est ("a word to the wise is sufficient").

Except for a brief window from the 14th through the 16th (surrounding the November 15 lunar north declination peak), I’m expecting the next and more intense storm and seismic upsurge to run from the 18th (in advance of the full moon at 29° 17’ Taurus on the 21st) through the 24th (following the lunar north declination extreme on the 23rd). This looks like quite possibly the key time phase for the month as a whole on so many levels, because so much happens at the same time during the full moon shock window: Venus and Jupiter both go direct on the 18th, ending their long retrogrades; and Mercury aligns with Mars on the 20th.

Watch for the customary surge in storm and seismic activity during the November 18-24 geocosmic shock window: a series of strong storms with damaging winds and heavy precipitation, and an unusual batch of moderate to severe seismic activity, ranging from magnitude 5+ quakes (and possible tsunami follow-up in coastal regions) to volcanic eruptions. Some of these storms show signs of being dry thunderstorms: lots of wind and lightning, the worst case scenario in an arid climate or during a regional wildfire season.

As always, alignments like this are planetary in scale and therefore planet-wide in potential scope. Therefore it’s better to have your emergency or evacuation kit prepared than not, no matter where you’ll be during this particular geocosmic shock window . . . but maybe especially if you’ll be in one of the elevated risk zones, such as the Sun-Moon meridian line that runs up from the Pacific Ocean through Central America and across the Gulf of Mexico and northward through the Florida Panhandle and Alabama, through Michigan’s Lower Peninsula and Ontario, over the pole and down through Russia, Mongolia, China, Burma, and across the Bay of Bengal to graze the west coast of Indonesia. Also worth careful consideration is the Sun-Moon horizon arc sweeping up through the South Pacific to cross parts of Alaska, British Columbia and the Yukon Territory; and then skimming the southern tip of Greenland, the northwest quadrant of Africa as well as the southeastern coastline (right through Capetown).

Bearing the Mercury-Mars factor in mind, the meridian line for these two skims the west coast of Austria due north to Hong Kong and up over the pole and down through eastern Canada and west-central South America . . . plus there are a few other astro-locality odds and ends, potential vulnerabilities including the northern Iberian Peninsula, North and Central Africa and out into the Indian Ocean.

The final surge of extreme tides stirring through the atmosphere, crust and oceans of our home planet sets in on the 28th, and carries through to December 1. It opens up under the aegis of the Moon’s southward crossing of the celestial equator on the 29th, and continues to just past the lunar perigee on the 30th. You know what to expect: a rash of strong storms with heavy precipitation and high winds, along with moderate to severe (magnitude 5+) earthquakes (with tsunami chasers where appropriate) and volcanic eruptions. Be ready just in case.

Storms aside, there’s more than meteorological tension in the air during the last couple weeks of November, what with the Mercury-Mars alignment being exact on the 20th but within a few degrees from the 17th through the end of the month, by the time you figure in the subsequent shared quadratures (270° arcs) from Mercury and Mars to Jupiter and Uranus. It’s a time of exacerbated ideological tension, of people in conflict over matters of principle – not calm, not peaceful, but strident and loud and coming out swinging. High-tech weaponry and ingenious schemes are par for the course in the conflicts and attacks that will make news under this string of celestial configurations. Long distance mass transit probably figures into this in some fashion. Belligerent or otherwise intimidating messages are made public. This is more threat and posturing than substance – but brinksmanship can easily slip over the edge, and probably will due to miscalculation during this string of Mars aspects.

It’s edgy, this Mars sequence; but it’s not Armageddon. Sharp words and even sharp conflict will be part of this timeline; but also sharp thinking. Applied genius, well-coordinated action, being alert and coming up with an inspired plan of action: these things are on tap as well. People born under significant planetary placements in the late mutable signs – the same ones already in the spotlight under the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in late Pisces – are center stage during the late November Mercury-Mars sequence. (Check your chart!)

In closing, I should mention that the Venus Max cycle which began on August 20 continues throughout November – and into January, as previously noted. I’ve already covered this topic in some detail. Suffice it to say that a major thrust for this cycle is relative improvement in financial and economic conditions generally – such as we’ve already seen since August, as forecast. (Major equity indices, e.g. the Dow Jones Industrials, have since late August blasted through the pattern of lower highs and lower lows that had held sway after the peak in May.) Allowing for the occasional profit-taking pullback – like the ones called out in my October forecast, which came through on schedule - it’s a relatively positive trend that remains in effect for November as a whole. Pullbacks – not a correction, not a crash – are likely around the 5th, 8th, and 18th. (Watch for the Moon’s alignments with Saturn, Venus, Mercury and Mars as celestial signposts for these early November pullbacks – also the Leonids meteor shower peak on the 17th, and the stations of Venus and Jupiter the following day.) These are the times this month when I’ll be looking for opportunities to catch up and buy into good stock shares and precious metals at a relative discount.

Remember, as I’ve always said: do not make a fetish of exact dates. There’s enough quantum flux in the universe to allow a few days either way for celestial alignments to be reflected down here on Planet Earth. Also remember: I’m not making any recommendations here; I’m simply telling you what I’ll be doing. See my Secuutus Caveo Facebook note for more on this. (That said, think about this: what’s the ratio between an ounce of gold and a share of Apple?)

Of course there’s more to Venus Max than the economy and the markets. It’s all about mass psychology, which builds on individual psychology. Heightened animal spirits, a lust to have and to hold: that’s what Venus Max means. If you find yourself and the people in your life driven by that very theme, don’t be surprised – most especially if you happened to be born under significant planetary placements in late cardinal to early mutable signs; corresponding to the late Libra to early Sagittarius segment of the ecliptic, where the 2010-2011 Venus Max holds court. (Again, check your chart.)

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