If you were expecting some kind of sun sign nonsense, forget about it. This is real astrology for the real world. If it's real astrology for yourself that you want, you can get it by phone or in print. And if you need help deciphering the astrological glyphs in the graphics accompanying this article, see Astroglyphs: Astrological Symbols Guide. Please note: this forecast is expressed in terms of Universal Time (UT).
The future ain't what it used to be.
-- Yogi Berra
 

If March lit the fire - and who will say otherwise? - then April fans the flame. Red Planet activation of the sort that was so prominent in March continues into April, portending a continuation of the usual Mars stuff; namely a rash of fires, accidents, crashes, explosions, criminal violence, military clashes and the like. From civil war in Somalia, Sri Lanka and of course Iraq to hostage-taking in Palestine and off the Iraqi coast, Mars got the ball rolling last month. April will take it farther afield. The whole month is littered with hazardous potential, especially around the 12th, 25th and 29th (Mars passing over the August 28, 2007 and September 7, 2006 lunar eclipse points and conjoining Uranus respectively). This will be a time to be safety-conscious and extra cautious, to keep your guard up. Failing that, it's so easy to become a statistic - and many people will. You'll see it in the news of the day, the "if it bleeds, it leads" stuff. This Mars cycle abates for a time once April is behind us - although it comes on even stronger later in the year, when the potential for military misadventure reaches a truly critical level. For now, be careful out there.

Danger from human misadventure and malevolence isn't the only carry-over from March. Mother Nature's messes kicked it up a notch last month, under the aegis of a pair of eclipses (one of them a SuperMoon). SuperMoon, I am still obliged to explain after all these years, is a term I coined in a 1979 article for Dell Publishing Company's HOROSCOPE magazine, describing what is technically called a perigee-syzygy; a new or full moon (syzygy)] which occurs with the Moon at or near (within 90% of) its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit (perigee). From some of the strongest seismic action of the year to a string of killer storms, April reprises the same theme as March. After all, we get another SuperMoon this month, and the Moon remains very near the peak of its extreme declination for the year. Torrential winds and rains and powerful seismic action (Richter 5+ earthquakes and volcanic eruptions) make headlines from the first day of the month, and don't let up much until the 5th, what with the full moon setting things up on the 2nd. There's another upsurge of geophysical mayhem around the 8th (the Moon reaching maximum declination south of the celestial equator that day).

The next and probably biggest round of meteorological and seismic disturbances of the month will likely come in the April 14-21 time frame, under the aegis of the year's second SuperMoon, namely the new moon on the 17th (occurring less than six hours from lunar perigee) and the Moon's extreme declination north of the celestial equator on the 21st. As always, these alignments are planetary in scale and scope, which means no place on Earth is beyond the reach of storm and/or seismic danger during the indicated period. Still, the April 17 SuperMoon astro-map shows some indications of focusing on the Aleutian Islands, and along an arc that sweeps down from Canada through the US Plains States and Midwest, bracketing Dallas and New Orleans and then arcing across southern Mexico and the tip of South America. That same arc comes up on the other side of the world to pass through Indochina, central China and Mongolia, on its way out across Siberia. There's also a longitudinal band from the east coast of Norway down through France and west central Africa in this particular astro-map.

April ends on a turbulent note as well, with a series of geocosmic stress indicators cranking up the storm and seismic risk from late on the 27th on into the May 2 full moon. I'm not recommending that you build an ark or a bomb shelter on the occasion of this month's various geocosmic stress cycles. I'm just suggesting it wouldn't be such a bad idea to have your emergency kit handy just in case, along with your bottled water, fresh batteries, weather radio and the like. And if you or someone you know must travel during these periods, do be prepared for weather-related delays.

Less outwardly dramatic perhaps, but no less significant than crime and military clashes and Mother Nature on the rampage, are the shocks to the world financial system which come in April. This is part of a major theme for the year as a whole, and a further development of the greater and lesser meltdowns that have already reared their ugly heads this year. Jupiter makes its retrograde station on the 6th (beginning its apparent backwards arc through the sky), remaining within a degree of that point all month long - and within a few degrees of its square to Uranus, reprising that arc from January and foreshadowing its recurrence in May. Similarly, Saturn makes a direct station on the 19th, ending the retrograde it began in December 2006. The Ringed Planet lingers within a degree of its station point all month, as well as within a few degrees of its opposition to Neptune.

I've already pointed to these two major planet configurations - the Jupiter-Uranus square and the Saturn-Neptune opposition - as key points in an ongoing celestial cycle that unfolds throughout 2007 and for some years to come. These are phases in a cycle that points to a time when people, both individually and collectively, are experiencing a crisis of confidence. What was once apparently so solid and real that you could build a life, a financial system, a global trade network, even a civilization on it: that's just what has been dissolving under the aegis of Saturn's opposition to Neptune in combination with the T-square from Jupiter. This month, with these key configurations emphasized by the Jupiter and Saturn stations - not to mention Pluto (which remains within a degree of its station at Galactic Center last month) and Uranus (lingering within a few degrees of its alignment with the Moon's north node, also exact last month) - I figure there's still more in the way of currency, equity and financial gyrations. If it's volatility you like, you'll like April. And you'll get the volatility whether you like it or not, so get ready.

Having detailed the economic history of such alignments in my 2006 and 2007 World Forecast Highlights, I'll do no more for now than to point out the obvious. The shakedown is already underway, what with the Shanghai slide, the February Dow drop and ongoing US housing and mortgage meltdown. With what's lining up in the heavens for April, there's plenty of panic to go around this month as well. And once again it reaches far beyond the US, even though the US economy is the linchpin that slips and precipitates the slide. (It's not the weak link in the chain: it is the chain.) Again, let me emphasize that I'm not forecasting a sudden and total crash. This is the settling of the soufflé, it happens in stages - it's not a bubble that pops all at once. April brings a lot of settling, and then a kind of temporary equilibrium. As I've said for some time now, this will be played out over a period of years.

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