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).

September is a busy month out in space, and it foreshadows an even busier month to come: it's about to hit the fan, people. With the first of three consecutive SuperMoon alignments happening on the 7th, Jupiter's opposition to Neptune becoming exact on the 11th, and Mercury's retrograde getting underway on the 14th - to name just a few of the most prominent celestial features for September - you can expect this to be a month of high drama at so many levels. From geophysical upheaval to equity and commodity markets going psycho, to the US teetering on the brink of war with Iraq, September looks to have more than its share of heart-stopping moments. Not to be alarmist, mind you: no end of the world type scenario is even remotely possible. But adrenaline junkies will get a bit of stimulation before the month is out, that's for sure.

Just about the whole month of September is under the sway of the Jupiter-Neptune opposition at 9 Leo-Aquarius on the 11th. It's within a few degrees of exact all the way from August 29 through September 26. Evocative of financial, legal and political skullduggery, I see this alignment as suggestive of a bear market rally, "engineered by people who massage not only individual markets, but the world financial system as well . . . funny money, testing the faith of the religious, messages with double meaning, conspiracy theories and the like".

Don't look for the rally bear to take off like a rocket. Pluto's 15 Sagittarius-Gemini opposition to the lunar north node, while exact last month (on the 2nd) has been within just a few degrees of exact since the end of March this year, and will remain so until September 19. As I explained last month, "this alignment tends to fall fairly near historic economic cycle troughs - and the attendant financial readjustments, including bear market bottoms, peaks in bankruptcy, mortgage and other credit defaults, etc." With this in mind, the rally (such as it is) will probably be quick and short, peaking around mid-month. And it's not likely to get far. I'll stand by my earlier statement that "the current bear market will probably be trading within a ten to fifteen percent range of that (July 26) bottom until sometime this fall." When this fall? Probably around October 7, give or take a few days, when there's an air strike on Iraq or some other dramatic military confrontation: that's the likely final test of the bottom, preparatory to reaching a break-even point around year's end. (For example, recovering 10,000 on the Dow.)

Don't overlook the Mercury retrograde starting on the 14th! These interludes happen several times a year for three weeks at a stretch, and they're the stuff of astrological legend. If it sounds too simplistic to warn that the September 14 - October 6 retrograde cycle is a time when Murphy's Law reigns supreme, and everything that can go wrong does, well, just remember this: cliches get to be cliches because there's a grain of truth in 'em. Strikes and other snafus disrupting the transportation and communication industries are to be expected. (This includes weather delays, governmental red tape and ordinary garden-variety stupidity.) Allow extra time if you're traveling or sending things, or waiting for stuff or people to arrive. Don't trust anything to go down right without extra time and effort - double-check everything. On the plus side, stuff you thought was long-lost can turn out to be just misplaced. And this is a good cycle for reviewing, fine-tuning or amending contracts, etc.

The only other interplanetary development of note I see this month is the 15 Virgo-Sagittarius Mars-Pluto square on the 22nd (within a few degrees of being exact from the 18th through the 27th). On one level this points to public health concerns (including bacteriological weapons, epidemics, surgical errors and other mistakes of the medical industry). Of course it also increases the prospects for crimes of violence during this period: schools, hospitals, courts and the like are some of the riskiest environments in this regard. And of course there's an increased potential for military conflict between nations (such as India-Pakistan, Israel-Palestine, US-Iraq, etc.). I expect no major outbreak of hostilities, just more of the same gnawing around the edges: a terrorist attack here, a retaliatory bombing there, lots of attempts to shoot down enemy aircraft. But rather than outright full-blown war, this is a time of preparation for same, of establishing pretext, preparatory propaganda, etc. Of course, people will be looking for new atrocities to mark the anniversary of last year's September 11 terror attacks. Feeble attempts may be made, but I don't see anything on that scale this year.

On the more overt end of the macrocosmic scale, a slight up-tick in storms and quakes is likely as the month gets underway, from the 1st through the 3rd: at least, that's to be expected with the Moon reaching maximum declination north of the celestial equator on the 2nd. But this is nothing in comparison to the strongest cycle of heightened storm and seismic risk in months. It sets in starting on the 4th, thanks to the beginning of the September 7 SuperMoon alignment; that is, a new or full moon (in this case, new) occurring at or near lunar perigee (closest approach to Earth). Watch for strong storms and attendant flooding, as well as moderate to severe seismic activity (including Richter 5+ earthquakes and volcanic eruptions), from the 4th through the 10th. Regardless of where you live or plan to travel during this period, it's a good idea to have your emergency kit handy. The whole of Planet Earth is vulnerable at times like this, due to the cosmic scale of the alignment. But if there are areas of particular vulnerability, they're likely to be found in the Pacific Northwest, eastern Brazil, eastern Europe down through the Mediterranean Sea into east Africa; and along a northerly line from western Australia up through the Korean Peninsula on into eastern China.

The next storm and seismic risk window centers begins, coincidentally, on the day Mercury's retrograde starts - the 14th. It's centered around the September 15 lunar maximum southern declination, and is over by the 17th. This one is short and a relative lightweight, but it's followed immediately by the onset of the September 21 full moon. In effect from the 18th through the 24th, and amplified by the Moon's northward equatorial crossing on the 22nd, this one should rank just behind the SuperMoon as the top storm and seismic signal of the month. Again, watch for headline storms and flooding as well as seismic activity. Be prepared, if you live in (or plan to be in) an area subject to such. And be sure to allow time for weather-related delays if traveling during these few days. After all this, the lunar declination maximum geophysical stress window that starts on the 29th and carries over into October is another relative lightweight - intense, but short.

  

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