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). Also please be aware that, while I never change a forecast once it's published, I do post errata to acknowledge typographical errors and the like.
We have seen the future, and the future is ours.
-- Cesar Chavez
 

November looms large in so many ways. Of course there’s the Saturn-Uranus opposition on the 4th (Election Day in the US), the first in a quintuple series of this historic alignment. There’s also the first SuperMoon in four months, which is itself the opener in a triplet of full moon SuperMoon alignments (including the closest one of the year, coming up next month). A couple of outer planet stations mark November as well, although because the planets involved move so slowly in our sky, each has been within a degree of its station point for weeks already – and will remain so into the new year. And then there are the jokers in the deck, like the Taurid meteor shower (which peaks on the 3rd but remains active all month), and the Leonids as well (peaking on the 17th, but active throughout the second half of the month).

I’ve already spent quite some time describing the historic meaning of this month’s Saturn-Uranus opposition; how it points to first a gradual prolonged (but occasionally erratic) collapse of the global financial system, followed by the creation of a successor system. Of course there’s more to this than just economics: there’s social unrest and a political restructuring involved as well. Having covered so much of this in my 2008 forecast, and working on the rest of the story for my 2009 edition, I won’t go into detail here; except to say that what looms ahead is a multi-year economic doldrums, with interludes of relief.

Pundits have argued over whether we’re looking at a V-shaped recession, or a U-shaped downturn . . . more like a W (or double-W), as best I can tell. Clients have asked where the markets will end the year, when the next opportunity to sell gold is due, how the currency markets will work out, etc. I'm no financial advisor, only an astrologer. That said, I think there’s still an excellent chance the Dow will hit 10,000 by year end . . . and revisit 8,000 before and after as well. The dollar’s strength is only temporary, but probably won’t undergo a significant reversal this month or next. And gold will top $1,000 in 2009 – maybe sooner, maybe just before year’s end, around the time of the December 28 Mars-Pluto alignment. Will any of this happen in November? Probably not – though I can’t totally rule out the Dow touching both 8,000 and 10,000 this month. Seriously, between the stations of Neptune and Uranus opening and ending the month respectively, and the Saturn-Uranus opposition on the 4th, I figure this is one more month of lurching from one crisis to the next, with interludes of temporary optimism (especially late in the month, most likely, as Venus and Jupiter close in on their December 1 alignment). If you read my 2008 forecast, you already know what to do.

As for the US election, I went out on a limb last year on that subject, in my 2008 World Forecast Highlights. At a time when Senators McCain and Obama were both long shots, before the first primaries and caucuses, I declared that "Barack Obama is clearly a man of destiny," and described the Election Day Saturn-Uranus opposition "as the dominant celestial feature of the 2008 election. And there's no way to read that as a Republican winning the election, as far as I can see: a Democrat, most likely, or maybe a third party or even bipartisan surprise, that's where the US gets its next President. As to who it will be in particular, I really don't have enough information to be sure this time: no candidate for certain, and no published birth time for two of the three top Democratic contenders. I figure a Democrat is more likely than a third party is more likely than a Republican, in that order. The strongest (or least disadvantaged) potential candidates, judging from less than sufficient data, look like John Edwards, Barack Obama, John McCain and Michael Bloomberg (in no particular order). But that's the best I can do with the incomplete data I have on hand."

If I saw it right last year, then the winner will be the Democrat; and since Barack Obama is the Democrat, if he’s not the next President, then I messed up last year. In the months since writing my 2008 forecast, I see nothing astrological to warrant recanting it. I wouldn’t be surprised if this election ends up being fairly close in the over-all popular vote (within a percent or two), but decisive in the electoral tally (a margin of, say, 40 or more). But that’s going beyond the astrological factors that simply say the Democrat wins this one.

Electoral, financial and economic drama will largely dominate the news for November, but a strong geophysical factor is indicated by the full moon SuperMoon alignment on the 13th. It’s part of a geocosmic stress window that opens up on the 8th (just ahead of the Moon’s southward crossing of the celestial equator on the 9th), and lasts through the 16th (just a day past the lunar north declination extreme on the 15th). Regulars know what to look for: an elevated risk of powerful storms with heavy precipitation and high wind, as well as increased significant seismic activity (including magnitude 5+ earthquakes and volcanic eruptions).

The November 13 SuperMoon is one of the more potent than usual variety, judging from its close proximity to the lunar perigee on the 14th and peak lunar declination on the 15th, as well as its near-alignment with Mars (not to mention a T-square to Neptune). Any lunar extreme is planetary in scale, and therefore planet-wide in scope. While this means, practically speaking, that no place on Earth is beyond the reach of tidal extremes in the Earth’s crust, atmosphere and oceans at times like this, there may be special vulnerabilities indicated by the relevant astro-map. For the November 13 SuperMoon, there are a number of such high risk zones. Central America, Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico, the Plains States, the Mississippi River Valley and central Canada fall in a longitudinal elevated risk zone for this alignment; the same zone emerges on the other side of the planet to cut through India, Bangladesh, Nepal, China, Mongolia and Russia. The horizon arcs for this alignment are mostly over open ocean in the New World, but they do cut across west Africa and eastern Europe, curving across Russia (near Moscow) to emerge over northern Japan.

There are a few other geocosmic risk windows this month, including a brief one from the 1st through the 3rd (associated with the southward lunar declination extreme on the 1st). Another one extends from the 20th through the 22nd (centered on the Moon’s southward equatorial crossing on the 21st). And then there’s the new moon closer, from late on the 24th through the end of the month. This interval includes Mercury’s superior conjunction with the Sun on the 27th, so a special infrastructure impact will likely figure into the scenario late in November: strong storms creating travel delays and shipping disruptions, power outages, etc.

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