If you were expecting some kind of sun sign nonsense, forget about it. This is real astrology for the real world, not some mystical mumbo-jumbo psycho-babble word salad. 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, aka GMT). Location for all mundante charts is set for the Great Pyramid at Giza; the choice being strictly arbitrary in any case. 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.

PLEASE NOTE: This month’s forecast incorporates elements of (and refers to) my complete 2015 World Forecast Highlights (38 8-1/2 x 11” illustrated pages); focused, amplified and elaborated with details for the month as appropriate. The full version of my 2015 World Forecast Highlights is available in hard copy by mail ($75) or as a PDF document by email ($50). Orders may be phoned in (toll-free from anywhere in North America to 800-527-8761), and charged to any major credit card. PayPal orders may be placed direct from your own PayPal account page to rnolle@astropro.com – or by using the AstroPro PayPal order page.

Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.
-- Lyndon Johnson
 

I’m still very much overwhelmed with work from client consultation calls and report orders, a pattern that’s held for the whole year to date; to the point that once again I have to throttle back on this month’s forecast. There’s just no room in my schedule for more right now. (As of March 15, I stopped accepting orders for astrological reports until after April 15, just to try and get caught up.) Around here, things usually slow down in May . . . But never fear, you’ll find this month covered in the full version of my 2015 World Forecast Highlights.

The Skinny

That said, here’s the skinny on April. The Uranus-Pluto square that was exact last month remains very close and still quite significant in April; most especially around the time of the lunar eclipse on the 4th. As I’ve been saying and writing for years now – since Uranus entered within a few degrees of its waxing square (90° arc) to Pluto – this is instability, upheaval and revolution at the level of collective human experience and behavior: riots, revolutions, and civil as well as international war on the sociopolitical plane. Meaningful reform comes later, under the auspices of the 2015-2016 Jupiter-Saturn square preceding the 2020 Great Chronocrator (Jupiter-Saturn conjunction) . . but that’s a topic for a later time.

The Uranus-Pluto Quadrature Lingers

Scientific and technological breakthroughs and financial system shock wizardry are also part and parcel of the Uranus-Pluto square, which first came within a few degrees of exact in 2011, and carries on in that same neighborhood into 2016. If you’ve watched history in the making over this time period, you’ve seen it develop just as forecast: from the Arab Spring to the street protests scattered all over the world (e.g. the US, France, Spain, Germany, Ukraine, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, China, Thailand, etc.), and the civil and international wars that have grown out of some of these domestic uprisings.

A similar and related development has largely flown under the radar, because people don’t see it in context. Societies break down as Uranus squares Pluto, because the norms and standards that once held people together are destroyed; torn down and then rebuilt. The old center cannot hold, anarchy and nihilism rise in its stead. As the social contract is shattered, individuals become more and more sociopathic in their behavior. This manifests as individual criminality, from domestic violence to mass murder to riots, terrorism and revolutions.

Social instability fosters the kind of psychological distress that cultivates narcissism, sociopathy, nihilism and ultimately anarchy. It’s a feedback loop, and it’s been intensifying for several years now. Turbulence in social norms sets people free of social controls – particularly among the disadvantaged, who have little stake in the system to begin with. More than a few run amok in the cultural vacuum. It starts with a rise in personal crime, escalating from misdemeanors to felonies of increasing depravity: from assaults to murder/suicide to mass murder (often an individual killing his own family and then himself) – all the way to acts of terror. Authority figures turn into targets . . . William Butler Yeats, no mean astrologer himself, described it well in The Second Coming, which he wrote during the waning Saturn-Uranus opposition in the wake of World War I (the same major alignment that heralded the financial collapse of 2008):

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Fortunately, these extremes are exactly that: extremes, not reached by most people. But everyone notices and feels the alienation rising around them. More and more, this leads to a feeling of anxiety, unease and agitation, a sense of being vulnerable to social disintegration and random acts of violence. If this kind of edginess has been growing in you since 2011, you’re far from alone. Recognize it, and know that it’s cyclical. If people around you get erratic, steer them a wide berth. If your own nerves are jangled, take a pause for the cause – and a nice, deep breath. This too shall pass, as it did after the last Uranus-Pluto square in the 1930s.

Such developments have been the stuff of headlines for several years now, and will be for a good year to come before some measure of sanity and stability begins to reassert itself. To the extent that you can steer clear of such situations, do your absolute best. Remember that while this is part of a larger, longer trend, it will be especially acute around the 1st – 7th (bracketing the total lunar eclipse on the 4th). In particular, be on the alert if you were born with significant placements around the middle of the cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn): check your chart! Financial system paroxysms and geopolitical risks make for a witch’s brew at times like this, as well. A good time to go to cash and sit it out, and to look for new buying opportunities when equities and commodities take a dive.

On the other hand, this isn’t just a witch’s cauldron; i.e. it’s not all "double, double, toil and trouble". As I have forecast, this is also a time for scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs. So far, under the Uranus-Pluto square we’ve seen the emergence of the Higgs boson and lots of exobiology pointers: this is far from over. Speaking of discoveries, Jupiter remains within a degree of its April 8 direct station point all month long – within just a few degrees of a trine aspect (120° arc) to Uranus the whole time – especially around the 4th, 13th and 27th (give or take a few days in each case). Ah, the wonders of science!

Turning Points in the Sky

Jupiter turns direct with its station at 12° Leo on the 8th, and remains within a degree of that point into early May. Similarly, Saturn remains with a degree of its 5° Sagittarius retrograde station on March 14 into mid-April. These two gas giants are thereby hugely emphasized in the skies of our home planet, making them especially important in the human experience this month. It’s a huge tension of opposites, this Jupiter (expansion) and Saturn (contraction) stand-off. International stand-offs go with it. Breakthroughs? No, impasse is more like it. Kick the can down the road. Negotiate? Postpone the breakdown, more likely.

With political logjams comes market volatility, which has been much in evidence since Saturn came within a degree of its March station back in February. Wait for the dust to settle a bit before buying in, unless you have a longer range investment horizon. And watch for this Jupiter station, which has been within a degree of exact since mid-March, to continue positive over-all for the precious metals throughout April. The lunar eclipse on the 4th as well as the April combination of Mars squaring Jupiter and Venus opposing Saturn, look like peak panic points, give or take a few days either way in both cases.

People are asking me if there’s another World War on the horizon. You mean, like the one that followed in the wake of the last Uranus-Pluto square (in the 1930s), leading into the Great Chronocrator (Jupiter-Saturn conjunction) of the 1940s - like the one coming up in 2020? There’s your answer. Just think different: this will be a very different kind of war.

Geophysical Storm Signals

The total lunar eclipse on the 4th is April’s major geocosmic stress window. It’s in effect from the 1st through the 7th. Of course, you can count on the usual storm and seismic potential associated with this eclipse: a surge in severe storms with damaging winds and heavy precipitation; as well as moderate to severe earthquakes (Magnitude 5 and up) and newsworthy volcanic eruptions. Plan ahead for such eventualities, if you’ll be in areas of special risk. Keep tuned to the weather – especially if you’re traveling or otherwise at the mercy of the elements.

Given this full moon eclipse in April, I have to figure that there will be again an especially strong spring tornado season in the US Midwest – one of the areas targeted by both horizon arcs and meridian lines in the astro-locality map for this lunar eclipse. Other risk zones include the Gulf of Mexico; as well as southern and eastern Mexico and Central America. Additional target zones include New Zealand, Western Europe and West Africa, plus central China and Mongolia. (Look along these same lines for some of the socio-political and economic flashpoints of the day, as well.)

Given this full moon eclipse in April, I have to figure that there will be again an especially strong spring tornado season in the US Midwest – one of the areas targeted by both horizon arcs and meridian lines in the astro-locality map for this lunar eclipse. Other risk zones include the Gulf of Mexico; as well as southern and eastern Mexico and Central America. Additional target zones include New Zealand, Western Europe and West Africa, plus central China and Mongolia. (Look along these same lines for some of the socio-political and economic flashpoints of the day, as well.)

Typically, the April 18 new moon wouldn’t be in the same class as the lunar eclipse on the 4th – and neither would approach a SuperMoon in intensity, as a rule. But this particular new moon still represents an enhanced tide rippling through the seas, crust and atmosphere of our home planet. This points to a newsworthy batch of strong storms (high winds and heavy precipitation), moderate to severe seismic activity (M5+ quakes and sizable volcanic eruptions), and higher than usual tidal surges. The geophysical risk window for this lunation runs from the 15th through the 23rd – extended a couple extra days due to the Moon reaching peak declination north of the celestial equator on the 22nd. This is one of the three lunar factors during the April new moon shock window that ups the ante on storms and such this time around; the other two being the Moon’s northward crossing of the celestial equator on the 16th and the lunar perigee on the 17th. That’s not all!

There’s also an enhanced risk of solar storms (e.g. M and X-class solar flares), and resultant geomagnetic activity (Kp 5 and higher). These add to the storm and seismic risk potential, as well as an elevated risk of disturbances affecting satellite systems, electrical and electronic equipment and infrastructure, etc. – including bioelectrical systems like human beings. The solar storm trigger in this case is the Sun-Mercury superior (far side) conjunction on the 10th, which generally ends up some two weeks later (give or take a few days) pointing a solar storm in our direction; i.e. from about the 21st through the 27th, in this case. Watch the news, see the pretty aurora pictures . . .

Acknowledgments

All mundane astrological charts as well as eclipse and astro-locality maps are set for the Universal Time (UT) of the event, and calculated and produced using Esoteric Technologies’ Solar Fire Gold Version 7.0.8. Unless sotherwise noted, sky map images are screen captures from the Pocket Universe app for iPhone, or produced by Starry Night for Windows; storm tracks are screen captures from The Weather Channel app for iPhone; and earthquake maps are screen captures from the Earthquake Alerts and/or QuakeWatch apps for iPhone.

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

Richard Nolle, Certified Professional Astrologer consultations/orders (AmEx/Discover/MasterCard/Visa) 800-527-8761 data/fax 480-753-6261 - email rnolle@astropro.com Box 26599 - Tempe, AZ 85285-6599 - USA www.astropro.com