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.) 

October brings a reprise of September's Jupiter-Pluto opposition, which due to Jupiter's retrograde forms again on the 13th. Retrogrades are a major part of the celestial story this month, what with Neptune's retrograde ending on the 15th, Mercury's starting on the 18th, and Uranus ending its retrograde on the 26th. Eclipses and SuperMoons are nowhere to be found of course, but this month's full and new moon look pretty exciting nonetheless. The full moon falls on the 13th, the same day Jupiter opposes Pluto again. And the new moon forms on the 27th, with Venus joining the Jupiter-Pluto polarity.

All things considered, some of the very same themes that energized September will be quite prominent in October as well. Market mania, for example, is quite appropriate with Jupiter opposing Pluto. And with some strong Mars alignments in effect early in the month - squares to Pluto and Jupiter respectively on the 3rd and 4th - we're also bound to see a carry-over surplus of horrendous accidents and violent conflicts from September as well. If anything, the saving grace this time around is that last month prepared us for so much of what October brings - more of the same. The one wild card is that this time - from the 18th onward at any rate - Mercury is retrograde. Which means people's responses will be second-guessed to the point of being so watered-down and tentative as to be ineffectual. Let's appoint a committee to study the problem . . .

September's forecast gave you fair warning of "the potential for another sizable market correction beginning this month" - and it's well underway on into October, as I read things. Things either show signs of improvement toward the end of the month (say, around the 27th), or else they're looking very dark indeed on into next year. If you sold out before the bubble burst last month as recommended, you're now well positioned to pick up good stocks at a discount starting in October. Again, as I've said many times, focus on solid stocks in the energy, communications and financial sectors - and avoid the dot-com disasters like the minefield they are. (Internet and computer infrastructure builders are okay, if you're selective.)

Those Mars aspects early in the month - the squares to Pluto on the 3rd and Jupiter on the 4th - up the ante for terrible accidents as well as deliberate criminality and violence throughout the whole first week of October. Blessed are the peacemakers, so few and far between: steer clear of crowds, trouble and the bad side of town. As with last month's major Mars action - which brought "transportation delays due to labor actions" as predicted - don't expect the gears of transport and commerce to hum along nicely at times like this. Strikes and other strife can tangle things up, and weather delays don't help.

Luna reaches maximum southern declination early on the 5th, and that's a fair indication that things will be rougher than usual where storms and seismic activity are concerned. Between the 4th and the 6th, keep an eye on the sky, the emergency pantry stocked just in case.

Crossing the celestial equator northward on the 12th just hours before the full moon of the 13th, Luna signals one of the month's stronger geophysical shock windows will be in effect from the 10th through the 16th. During this period, and most especially from the 12th through the 13th in particular, be on the lookout for strong storms and moderate to severe seismic activity (including Richter 5 or greater earthquakes as well as volcanic eruptions).

Weather and seismic action should drop back to more or less normal levels after the full moon uproar dies down, but not for too long. It picks up again on the 18th, what with the Moon reaching maximum northern lunar declination as well as perigee (closest approach to Earth) the following day. By late on the 20th this rough patch is behind us, but a look back will reveal a pretty shaky couple of days. All things considered, I suspect that the greatest risk of weather and seismic catastrophe falls within the 10th to 16th and 18th to 20th periods. (These intervals contain planetary alignments that hint at expensive losses, what with Jupiter opposing Pluto in the first case and Venus opposing Saturn in the second.)

Mercury's retrograde cycle starts on the 18th, ushering in the usual period of introspection and such until November 8 at least. Broadly speaking, the cycle is noticeable all the way from September 28 (when Mercury reached the point at which it would later go direct) through November 24 (when the little planet once again reaches the point at which it went retrograde the previous month). Be ready for the usual Murphy's Law comedy of errors, have your backup plans (and tapes) ready and current, be prepared to follow-up everything because little goes right from the outset at times like this.

Another cycle of relative calm lasts until the 24th, a day before the Moon crosses the celestial equator southward on the 25th. This is also the start of the new moon period, in effect from the 24th through the 31st - the last seismic and meteorological risk phase of the month, and one in which the odds for strong storms and quakes grow larger the closer we get to November 1st.

  

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