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.

Do not dwell in the past
Do not dream of the future
Concentrate the mind on the present moment.
-- Buddha
 

The Skinny

Geophysical as well as geopolitical tides surge through the headlines again this month – but not quite as forcefully as last month. Mercury Max remains intact through the 24th, and that typically means a comedy of errors in all things mercurial: commerce, transport and communication for example. It takes a keen mind and a sharp eye to stay on track at times like this. Venus Maxstarts up on the 6th, signaling an improvement in animal spirits that continues well into October – love, lust and greed are amplified during Venus Max. (It’s typically good for the economy and the markets as well.) There are a few rough spots, to be sure; centered around the full moon on the 2nd, the Mercury station on the 11th, the new moon/Sun-Mars conjunction on the 16th, and Mercury’s maximum elongation west of the Sun on the 24th. Those are the highlights, here are the details . . .

The Uranus-Pluto Quadrature Lingers

The Uranus-Pluto square that was exact on March 17 remains close and still quite significant right on through the June 15 Sun-Mars conjunction - which is the same alignment present with the Uranus-Pluto square at the outset of the Arab Spring. The apparent motions of Mars and the Sun are very nearly the same when Mars is at apogee, as it is when these two are conjunct in the sky. This means that their conjunction remains within a few degrees of its exact alignment for weeks at a time. This time around, that’s from the 1st through the 24th.

What to expect? Another rash of "fires, crashes, clashes and explosions" – one of the most intense of the year, in fact. And because this takes place in the midst of the Uranus-Pluto square, there’s a social and political context to much of it. It’s not just personal clashes, in other words – it’s demonstrations, riots, terrorism, revolution and war that breaks out at times like this. The Arab Spring is a prime example.

What to do? Mitigate or avoid conflict as best you can, for starters. And if that’s not possible, be prepared to use overwhelming force – whatever that means to you. Be safety-conscious, stay focused on what you’re doing while you’re doing it, and watch out for “the other guy". And if there are fire or storm warnings, don’t hesitate to head for safety. May 30-June 5 and June 13-19 comprise the highest risk periods during this cycle.

On the other hand, as I’ve said from the start, 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. There are a couple intervals in June that look promising on the Eureka! front, especially around the 11th and 20th (give or take a few days).

Solar Storm Warnings

Last month’s geocosmic shock windows – the solar and lunar periods of extra vulnerability to strong storms with high winds and heavy precipitation, as well as moderate to severe earthquakes (magnitude 5 and up) and volcanic eruptions – were amplified by solar storm signals. These periods are associated with strong solar flares (M and X-class), Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), and the resultant surges in geomagnetic activity (Kp 5 and up). What’s the solar activity connection with storms and seismic surges here on our home planet? Dump Gigawatts of extra solar energy into Earth’s atmosphere and magnetosphere, and you bring an already dynamic system into a state of high activation.

Those May solar storm signals were Mercury-related, associated with three of the five key points in the Mercury Max cycle. First was the May 7 start of Mercury Max, which occurs when the little planet attains its maximum elongation east of the Sun. Next came Mercury’s retrograde station on May 19, when the little planet’s apparent motion stops and then begins to reverse in our skies. May 30 came next, the day of Mercury’s inferior conjunction with the Sun. In each case, during the customary three days either way window, solar storms broke out as predicted: solar flares (M and X-class) and geomagnetic storms here on Earth (Kp 5 and up).

Key points during the tail end of the year’s second Mercury Max cycle come this month, on June 11 (Mercury’s direct station at the end of its retrograde) and June 24 (the end of Mercury Max, signaled by the little planet reaching maximum elongation west of the Sun). (For a more complete backgrounder on the Mercury Max cycle, see the full version of my 2015 World Forecast Highlights, or my free online article on the subject.)

Remember, each of these key points is effective over a period of three days before and after the exact event. So the solar storm warnings this time around are May 27-June 2, June 8-14, and June 21-27. These are the periods when there’s an extra risk of strong storms with high winds and heavy precipitation; as well as an uptick in moderate to severe seismic activity, including M5+ earthquakes and sizable volcanic eruptions.

These are also times when electrical and electronic devices and infrastructure are vulnerable to erratic behavior and outages. This applies not only to satellite systems, computers and networks and power grids; but also to bioelectric systems like the human body. Have your backups and backup plans ready!

What’s the solar storm connection with Mercury Max? Basically, the idea is that this is a critical phase in the Earth-Sun-Mercury cycle, one that coincides with amplified solar disturbances. You know all about this, if you read the full version of my2015 World Forecast Highlights, or the free online May forecast. So far, it’s played out right on schedule – including the solar outbursts adding fuel to the storm and seismic outbursts that have come through as forecast. Lots more of those M and X-class solar flares and geomagnetic storms (Kp 5 and up) are coming our way, just like the ones that hit on schedule last month (on the `19th, the very day of Mercury’s retrograde station).

Forget all the Mercury retrograde, storm and shadow silliness you’ve read. (Sounds like the "bubble, bubble, toil and trouble” incantations of Macbeth’s witches to me.) Mercury Max is what’s really happening now: a phase in the Sun-Earth-Mercury relationship in which the little Sun-grazer catches up on our home planet, and then passes us on the “inside track,” as it were. For more on this – and what it means for us all, each and every one - see pp. 9-15 in the full version of my 2015 World Forecast Highlights, or my free online Mercury Max article.

Terrestrial Storm Warnings

Once again the full and new moons this month meld right into the solar storm signals associated with key points in the Mercury Max cycle: the May 30 Sun-Mercury inferior conjunction overlaps into the full moon on the 2nd, and the little planet’s direct station on the 11th (overlapping into the June 16 new moon shock window). I’m figuring that the most intense storms and seismic outbursts (including substantial earthquakes and volcanic eruptions) are due May 30-June 5 and June 11-17. These alignments are astronomical in scale, and therefore planet-wide in potential. Be on the safe side wherever you’ll be on the indicated dates, just to be sure.

That said, areas of special vulnerability during the May 27-June 5 extended shock window include one longitudinal swath touching Alaska and Hawaii, and another covering central Siberia, Mongolia, China and Indochina, plus Indonesia and western Australia. These same zones arc over the poles to touch the eastern US and Canada, eastern Central America, and the northern and western coasts of South America; with another longitudinal zone from Scandinavia down through Central Europe and the center of Africa. And then there are the horizon arcs from the Philippines through the eastern US and Canada and central South America on the one hand, and from eastern Siberia and Kamchatka across central Africa into Eastern Europe, the Middle East and western Russia.

Areas of special vulnerability during the June 8-19 extended shock window include one a longitudinal (north-south) band from eastern Siberia down through the western Pacific, just off the east coast of Japan and down through Papua New Guinea and eastern Australia, emerging on the other side of the world to cross from Greenland to just off the east coast of Brazil. Corresponding horizon arcs go through Madagascar, eastern India, China, Mongolia and most of Siberia; crossing the Bering Strait to touch the Aleutians and Alaska, on through the eastern Pacific Ocean to the southern tip of South America.

Venus Max: Gather Ye Rosebuds . . .

Venus Max begins this month on the 6th, when "evening star" Venus Hesperus (aka Venus Vesper) reaches its maximum eastward separation from the Sun. This is the phase in the Earth-Sun-Venus cycle when Venus, on its faster inner orbit, catches up from behind and then passes Earth. All Max cycles are akin to a SuperMoon, in that during its Max cycle a planet is making its closest approach to Earth – its perigee, in other words.

Even now, you can see Venus big and bright in the evening sky after sunset. It gets bigger and brighter with each passing night as the Venus Max cycle gets underway. That’s a good thing, by and large, in that it typically coincides with economic expansion and a bull market – all else being equal. All else is not equal this time around. The keynote of any Venus Max is the inferior Sun-Venus conjunction that anchors the cycle. The anchor point this time around occurs on August 15, with Venus and the Sun caught up within a few degrees of the Jupiter-Saturn square that was exact back on August 3.

This time around, I’m expecting Venus Max to usher in a renewed bull market in US equities, by and large, until sometime in October. (This is definitely not one of those “sell in May and go away” years.) However this isn’t to say that it’s an express ride to the top the whole time. Jupiter remaining within a few degrees of squaring Saturn from late July into mid-August, we can be sure there will be geopolitical spanners tossed into the works – probably in August. And a US Fed rate hike is coming, which is bound to choke off the equity bubble. When? Current smart money speculation focuses on September, but Venus Max isn’t over until October – so I suspect that the rate hike won’t come until afterwards. I plan to stay in choice equities for now – and then take some profits and go to cash as Venus Max winds down.

There’s more to Venus Max than macroeconomics, of course. Talk about a summer of love! In the midst of all the world’s banalities, cruelties and atrocities, there are outbreaks of fun, frivolity and happiness as Venus waxes big and bright in the skies of Planet Earth. "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may!" The last week in June and the first week of July are especially blessed, as you’ll see from the Venus-Jupiter conjunction in effect then (exact on July 1).

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