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.) 

The squares Mars makes to Neptune as the month opens and to Uranus as it closes, and in between the SuperMoon lunar eclipse on the 9th and the new moon on the 24th together with the retrograde stations of Jupiter and Saturn in the last week of January . . . it's a busy month, with more than its share of drama and treachery and heroism and the best of intentions overwhelmed by forces beyond the power of reason and good will.

The Mars squares at the beginning and end of January point to criminality, terror and murder making headlines at these times. People have hair-trigger tempers, peacemakers are in short supply. Be calm, steer clear of places where trouble is likely to strike, don't act without due regard for consequences. Above all, these are times when having a defensive outlook helps fend off trouble. On the scale of geopolitics, we're talking uprisings, border intrusions, assassinations and the like . . . while at the personal level the situation ranges from minor testiness to extreme irritability all the way to desperate measures and uncontrollable rage. Know what you're getting into.

The two strong Mars cycles that open and close January coincide with lunar declination extremes at these same times. This suggests that stormy weather and seismic activity at the beginning and end of the month will cause costly accidents and more than a few injuries. Weather-related transportation mishaps are sure to be in abundance.

The lunar eclipse on the 9th occurs within a day of the Moon's perigee (closest approach to Earth) on the 10th, as well as on the very day of the moon's maximum northern declination. This makes for a period of intensified potential for severe storms and moderate to severe seismic activity (including Richter 5 or greater quakes and volcanic eruptions) during the applicable risk window: January 6-12, to be specific. One of the strongest geocosmic stress periods in a long time, this one is planetary in scale and therefore worldwide in potential effect. That said, a look at the astro-locality map for the January 9 SuperMoon total lunar eclipse suggests that the areas most at risk during the January 6-12 interval include an arc that runs along the Pacific coast of the US and Canada; also the Great Lakes and Ohio River basin, central Mexico (along a northwest to southeast arc that runs very near the capital); as well as central India and western China plus the south China coast and southern New Zealand.

Another but briefer and less severe period of storm and seismic vulnerability runs from the 14th through the 16th, 30 hours either way of the Moon's celestial equator crossing on the 15th. Take precautions, allow for weather-related travel delays . . . meteorological and geological turmoil eases for a week or so, but picks up again from the 21st through the 27th as the new moon kicks in. As always, being planetary in scale, alignments of this sort point to heightened storm and seismic potential all over Planet Earth. However the astro-locality map of this alignment makes the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys, Atlantic seaboard and Great Lakes region look vulnerable in the US. Elsewhere, southern Mexico, New Zealand and Kamchatka look vulnerable, along with western India and eastern Russia.

Major equity markets are apt to show some improvement early in the month, particularly the high-tech wunderkinds that went bust last year. But the closer we get to February and the heliocentric Jupiter-Pluto opposition, the closer the high-techs come to another comeuppance. You know the drill: it's blue chips or nothing. (High tech blue chips the likes of Intel and Cisco are okay for long term investors.) The Jupiter and Saturn stations on the 24th and 25th should mark a time of strong major market gains in the face of this overall trend.

  

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