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.) 

There are no eclipses and no SuperMoons this month - no more SuperMoons the rest of this century, for that matter. So you might think things would be bordering on dull for August. You'd be quite wrong. For one thing, there's some unusual Mars activation this month - and that's never dull. It ups the ante for conflict, violence, fires, accidents and the like. What's more, some major planetary events that don't culminate until September come within a degree of being exact in August, and so are very much in effect this month. Add 'em all up and you get some strong seismic and storm potential around mid-month and again around the end of August. Plus some increasing financial instability and uncertainty that feels like market-makers running for cover the closer we get to September.

Leftovers from last month's eclipses are served up piping hot throughout early August. For example, the July 31 solar eclipse at 8 Leo remains in force until the 7th. As far as that goes, there's even a last hurrah from the July 16 lunar eclipse on August 3rd, as Mercury passes over the Sun's position back when the Moon was eclipsed. This comes just a day before the Moon crosses the celestial equator southward on the 4th. All things considered, this looks like a period of greater than usual risk of strong storms and seismic activity (including Richter 5 or greater quakes as well as volcanic eruptions) all the way through the 7th, but especially from the 1st through the 5th.

As I always say, these being planetary patterns their correlates are quite naturally planetary in scale. Which means no place on Earth is out of bounds when it comes to a heightened potential for storms and seismic activity during the indicated period. Still, as noted in my Year 2000 Forecast Highlights, the western US lies in the can manifest far and wide 'round Planet Earth. Still, glancing at an target zone for this one, as well as most of Europe, East Africa and the Middle East. (The eclipse was visible from northern Scandinavia, eastern Russia, Alaska, western Canada and the northwestern US.) A pair of north-south swatches round out the risk sectors associated with this SuperMoon eclipse: one runs from Greenland down through eastern South America, and the other from Japan down through eastern Australia.

After a few days of relative quiet, the storm and seismic picture starts rebounding within plus or minus 30 hours of the Moon attaining maximum southern declination on the 11th. This stormy period continues through the 13th, when Mars crosses over the degree of the July 31 solar eclipse. And it intensifies even more as the full moon at 23 Aquarius takes place on the 15th. Between the 12th and 18th in particular, watch for news of seismic disturbances (including volcanic activity) and severe storm damage. This same period, since it includes the Mars transit over the last eclipse degree, is also one of danger due to criminal violence as well as accidental mishaps (including some that are weather-related). A time of conflict both personal and sociopolitical: keep your head down, steer clear of trouble as much as possible. Not until a day after Luna's northward crossing of the celestial equator on the 19th will the risk window narrow down to normal levels again, remaining there until the 24th. Relative peace and quiet, a comparatively calm seismic and meteorological interlude.

Peace and quiet is the last thing to expect in major financial markets this month. Although the really precise turning points are both in September - Saturn's station station and the Jupiter-Pluto opposition - both are within a degree of being exact in August. And the Pluto station station on the 20th can trigger a major market turn. One way or another we seem to be coming to a peak just before a blow-off - whether it comes around the 20th of this month or sometime next month remains to be seen.

Storm signals crop up again as the Moon comes to maximum declination north of the equator on the 25th, just before reaching perigee (closest approach to Earth) on the 27th - well within the plus or minus three days window of vulnerability associated with the new moon at 6 Virgo on the 29th. While likely not as strong over-all as the two earlier periods this month, the storm and seismic risks at the end of August are not trivial and they do extend all the way into early September (through the 1st, to be specific). Luna closes out the month crossing the celestial equator southward again on the 31st, which adds a little extra punch (and tidal surge) to the new moon at month's end.

  

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