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 appear at the top of this page. (To update display, use your browser's reload/refresh button.) 

With its single new moon – and no full moons on deck – you might think February would be nice and quiet, rather short in the cosmic energy department. You would be wrong. For one thing, the month starts out very much under the aegis of the January 31 Blue Moon lunar eclipse at 12 Leo. That particular eclipse remains very strong through February 3rd, which means we can expect strong storms and seismic action at the beginning of the month. Expect more of the same at mid-month as well, what with the 27 Aquarius solar eclipse on the 16th (in effect from the 13th through the 19th). And then there's the March 2 AnteBlue Moon, which will start whipping things up on the meteorological and seismic fronts by February 27. Not to mention a couple of major planetary alignments this month, one a real celestial thing of beauty. No, this won't be a forgettable February.

I've already covered the increased potential for strong storms, flooding and moderate to severe seismic activity (including volcanic eruptions) associated with the January 31 Blue Moon eclipse at 11 Leo-Aquarius, which remains in effect through February 3rd. (For more on Blue Moons, see my table covering all of them in the 20th Century.) But I should add that the Mars-Neptune square (exact on February 1) is very much in effect throughout this whole period from January 28 through February 3. Add it all up, and it means batten down the hatches: we're in for even more than the usual meteorological and seismic extremes this time around. This is also an indication of an increased edginess, a kind of general restless irritability and belligerence. Individually and collectively, a lot of people are spoiling for a fight at times like this. (The Red Planet is still within only about five degrees of its January 19 opposition to Saturn as it squares Neptune during the eclipse.) Diplomacy and safety-consciousness are valuable assets in short supply: confrontation, criminality, military conflict, terrorist atrocities, explosions and accidents are bound to be much in the headlines. Stay alert and steer clear of trouble would be good watchwords as February gets underway.

While the above mentioned watchwords will stand us all in good stead, they're particularly appropriate for people whose natal horoscopes have prominent features around 2 and 11 degrees of the fixed signs – especially around 2 and 11 Leo-Aquarius. I've already mentioned Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, Saddam Hussein, Pope John Paul II and Boris Yeltsin as among the notable world leaders whose charts are singled out in this respect. Fidel Castro's chart is likewise in the spotlight, what with his natal Mercury-Mars square being activated. (Mars and Saturn draw a bead on Cuba at the time of the eclipse, as you can see in the Astro*Carto*Graphy map for this alignment.) Risk and controversy abound at times like this for such people, great care is needed to steer a safe path through dangers and pitfalls aplenty.

The Mercury-Sun conjunction at 15 Aquarius on the 4th signals the beginning of a winding-down phase for all the conflict and turbulence that ushers in February. It comes in the middle of a bunch of strong alignments, including the Sun-Uranus conjunction on the 2nd, the Mercury-Uranus conjunction on the 3rd, and the Venus-Pluto square on the 5th. Critical negotiations are in the air: some political, some economic, some legal. Scientific and technical breakthroughs are announced – aerospace, electronics and communications are a likely focus for this, unusual messages come through somehow. It's as if people's attention shifts from conflict to common danger, and the need to overcome differences in order to reduce shared risk becomes evident. Yet another shake-up in the world financial system is a possibility around this time, but the biggest shocks in that department won't begin until around March 1 and thereafter during the year.

A new period of heightened risk for seismic and meteorological turbulence begins on February 13, as Jupiter enters Aries and the three days either way window opens on the February 16 solar eclipse at 27 Aquarius. Destructive storms, flooding, moderate to severe (Richter 5 or greater) earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are apt to be much in the news between the 13th and 19th. Solar eclipses are global in terms of their geophysical attributes, so no place is safe from this kind of potential at a time like this. But a look at the map with an eye toward the zones of greatest planetary emphasis – i.e., where the planets are rising, setting, directly above or below – at the time of the eclipse offers a few hints as to the regions of greatest risk. These include northern California and the Pacific Northwest, the Rocky Mountain states, eastern Texas and the western Mississippi River Valley in the US. Elsewhere around the world, vulnerable zones include eastern Greenland, west Africa, central Europe and northernmost Scandinavia (a most peculiar focus there), the eastern part of India and western China, and far eastern Australia and Papua New Guinea. (See for yourself: take a look at the Astro*Carto*Graphy map for this alignment.)

Excitement is in the air toward the end of February, under the aegis of the Venus-Jupiter conjunction at 2 Aries that graces the evening skies on the 23rd. Such an alignment ushers in a sexy, flirtatious and romantic cycle – a feeling of festival and sensual excess. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread at times like this. We're not talking mere rose-colored spectacles here, but downright manic unreality. It's like Mardi Gras on a cosmic scale. The entertainment industry and other escapist vehicles should fare well as these two planets draw together in the evening sky at dusk – especially between the 21st and 24th. This has every appearance of being the year's last mindless big party before Saturn's Taurus ingress on March 1st smacks the world in the face with a sobering dose of reality. So let's enjoy it while we can, shall we? (And if you have an opportunity to sell equities at a profit around this time, do it while you can and then retreat to safety on the sidelines for a while!) One last caution on this alignment: some ancient astrologies regarded strong Venus alignments as very warlike. I don't see confirming signs of this sort this month, but by early March there are some disturbing signals appearing in the heavens: no global catastrophes mind you, but some local disturbances.

The last major cosmic factor this month really happens in March, although it's in effect from February 27th onward. I'm referring to the Anteblue Moon on March 2, at 11 Virgo. This is the first on the pair of full moons in March. (For more on this, see my online 20th Century tables of AnteBlue and Blue Blue Moons.) While this particular Sun-Moon alignment isn't in the same class as a SuperMoon or eclipse, it nonetheless ups the ante for strong storms, flooding and moderate to severe seismic activity (Richter 5 or greater quakes as well as volcanic eruptions) between February 27 and March 5.

  

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