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.) 

While September is another month without SuperMoons or eclipses, there are plenty of other notable celestial phenomena churning up the heavens. Jupiter's opposition to Pluto, which has been within a degree of being exact since late August, attains precise alignment on September 4 at 10 Gemini-Sagittarius. Owing to Jupiter going retrograde later this month (the 29th), this is the first in a 'three-peat' series in the opposition of these two planets, which will not conclude until 2001. In combination with Saturn's retrograde station the day before the full moon of the 13th, these amount to a troika of celestial signals pointing out the potential for another sizable market correction beginning this month or by October 16 at the latest. (The 12th, the day Saturn turns retrograde, is the midpoint of this downward trigger. If it isn't squeezed off exactly on that date, it won't be far off it.)

As I've said many times before - and as market developments have since confirmed - the most vulnerable equity sector is the e-commerce bubble, the dot-com delirium. While much of the wholesale Internet economy - its infrastructure builders - will remain fundamentally sound, much of the retail sector is a disaster waiting to happen. Any opportunity you have to get out of the bubble before it pops is a godsend, because the few hints of this we've seen so far pale in comparison to those ahead. Survey the wreckage a few months from now and then choose new horses to ride at a discount. Focus on solid stocks, energy and communications and financials . . . and commodities. And ponder what happens to the paper wealth that is destroyed when market bubbles are burst.

The aforementioned Jupiter-Pluto opposition - T-Squaring the Sun - of the 4th is peculiar, not at all the signal of an ordinarily sleepy Labor Day holiday. This one comes at a time when the Moon opposes Saturn and Mars opposes Uranus. An international incident, a hostage-taking, a problem affecting energy supplies . . .

Markets aside, the month opens up on a note of weather worries, with a touch of seismic instability thrown in for good measure. But this is just a leftover from the August 29 new moon and Luna's southward crossing of the celestial equator on the 31st. By September 2nd, turbulence of this sort should fade off into normal background levels until 30 hours before and after the Moon hits maximum south declination on the 8th. That short but sharp burst in seismic and meteorological stirrings - including strong storms, Richter 5 or greater quakes, even volcanic eruptions - is followed by a similar but longer barrage associated with the full moon on the 13th. Watch the headlines for this sort of thing from the 10th through the 16th, and especially around the 13th and 15th (the latter being the day the Moon crosses the celestial equator northward).

Mars squares Saturn on the 18th, an aspect within a degree of exact from the 16th through the 19th. Irritability and impatience are abundant, everybody's in a hurry to get things done and some don't care who they have to run over to do it. Keep your head down, your eyes open . . . stay close to your center of balance so you can get out of harm's way in an instant if you have to. Meanwhile keep an eye out for accidents, mechanical breakdowns and the like - the better to be at a safe distance when they happen. This comes just a few days before the Moon attains highest northern declination on the 22nd, ushering in a period of atmospheric and tectonic instability that lasts from late on the 20th to early on the 24th - the day Luna makes its perigee (closest approach to Earth). Be prepared for storms, transportation delays due to labor actions, and possible moderate to severe seismic activity (including Richter 5 or higher quakes and volcanic eruptions).

This period of meteorological and seismic instability extends and in fact intensifies through the end of the month, thanks to a combination of factors. For one thing, there's the new moon at 5 Libra on the 27th - the day before Luna crosses the celestial equator southward on the 28th. This points to a period of turbulence lasting from the 24th through the end of the month - albeit most likely strongest on the 24th, 27th and 28th.

Last but not least is Jupiter's retrograde station on the 29th, the counterpart to the Saturn retrograde that began on the 12th. These are signals of a time to settle accounts, and hedge fund managers who aren't on their toes could lose everything.

  

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