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A STORMY ANTEBLUE MOON

My December forecast predicted that the January 2nd full moon "in effect from December 30th to the end of the full moon window, which closes on January 5th" would be a period of "strong storms (including high winds, heavy rain or snowfall and/or flooding)". That's exactly what we got, starting on New Year's Day, when the first major storm of winter tore into the US Midwest. More than a foot of snow and near-blizzard conditions plagued the nation's midsection. As far south as Arkansas, heavy rain and freezing temperatures downed power lines in Little Rock, leaving 60,000 households without electricity in the state's capital city. By Tuesday the 5th, the death toll from the storm had reached 91, as the eastern two-thirds of the nation struggled with deep-freeze conditions. Chicago got more than its share of the mess, recording its heaviest snowfall in more than 30 years.

Tornadoes popped up over the holiday weekend too. At least four of them touched down in the Panama City, FL area on the 2nd, damaging a couple dozen homes and sending a half dozen people to hospital. Another one ripped through Tours, France that same day: a school was destroyed, cars and homes were damaged, and several people were injured. Meanwhile in Malaysia that weekend, more than 1500 people were driven from their homes as heavy rains flooded out their homes. At least one person was missing and feared dead in the deluge.

I mentioned "moderate to severe seismic activity (Richter 5 or greater quakes, volcanic eruptions)" as on tap with this particular full moon, and the headlines validated that prediction. On the seismic front, the USGS National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) recorded a total of nine Richter 5 or greater quakes during this period. However it appears the NEIC either missed or underrated a few: such as the 5.7 and 5.2 temblors that jolted New Zealand on December 30th and January 3rd respectively; the 5.9 that rocked eastern Indonesia on the 2nd; and the 5.0 quake that struck Yunnan, China on the 3rd.

TAKING THE NEW MOON'S MEASURE

I predicted "an elevated risk for strong storms, flooding and moderate to severe seismic activity (including Richter 5 or greater quakes and/or volcanic eruptions)" for the three days before and after the new moon on the 17th, so the destructive winter storms that tore into the eastern US starting on the 15th should have come as no surprise. From Michigan down to Virginia and up to Maine, nearly a million people were left powerless under the storm's onslaught. At least eight people lost their lives in the mess, and Michigan's Governor Engler declared a state of emergency for Detroit. (The city was buried under nearly two feet of snow.) In Washington DC, the federal government declared an "unscheduled leave day" so people could stay home, and public schools were closed. It got worse on the evening of the 17th in Tennessee, when killer tornadoes slammed the central and western parts of the state. Eight people were killed in the Volunteer State storms, and more than 100 were injured (some of them critically). Almost exactly on the other side of the globe on the 14th, a cyclone whirled to life in the Coral Sea. Although not expected to reach land, the storm was a threat to shipping lanes in the region.

On the seismic front, 19 Richter 5 or greater quakes were recorded by the USGS National Earthquake Information Center during the indicated period. Strongest of the lot was a 6.4 temblor in the New Ireland region of Papua New Guinea on the 19th. Indonesia's Mt. Batur Volcano got into the act as well, spewing sulfurous fumes and steam from its central crater on the 14th.

RED PLANET, RINGED PLANET

Noting its near simultaneity with the January 17 lunation ("in effect from the 14th through the 20th," as I said), I predicted that the Mars-Saturn opposition on the 19th would be "very much in effect as the new moon forms in the heavens." With the Red Planet and Ringed Planet remaining within a single degree of exact opposition "from the 16th into the 22nd," I described that interval as "the peak period for the alignment, a time when conflict and tension run high" – although I added that "this stress potential isn't entirely past until about the 4th of February." A glance at the headlines from 'round the world since the 14th reveals even more than the usual accounts of the kind of murder and mayhem I said to expect during this alignment: "heinous crimes of violence, terrorist atrocities, and military conflict . . . fires, explosions, accidents etc." And a lot of that mayhem continues even as January draws to a close, just as I predicted.

I guess the ugliness started with the Serbian massacre of 45 ethnic Albanians in southern Kosovo on the 15th. Men, women, children – all shot en masse execution style, according to reporters and international observers. By Monday the 18th, the Serbian Gestapo had expanded its assault to more villages, and NATO was waving the usual empty threat of air strikes. Maybe not so empty, this time. Remember, the Mars-Saturn opposition doesn't really cool off until February 4th, as I indicated. Not that it will do the dead any good to be avenged at this point. If you thought that Hitler taught the world community not to abide genocide, you have only to consider butchers like Slobodan Milosevic, Saddam Hussein, etc., etc.

There was another massacre just outside Johannesburg, South Africa on Monday the 18th, when unknown gunmen stormed a house and shot seven people dead. Meanwhile in Romania, thousands of striking miners were marching on the capital of Bucharest: rocks and Molotov cocktails were thrown, tear gas filled the air, and more than 100 people were injured by the 22nd, when President Constantinescu threatened to impose a national state of emergency. Bedlam was in the air in Indonesia too, in rioting that began there on the 19th as Mars aligned exactly opposite Saturn. At least two dozen people have been confirmed killed in clashes between Christians and Moslems in the island nation, and more than 100 were seriously injured. Over 100 homes and shops and at least a half-dozen churches and mosques were burned to the ground. Meanwhile on the 21st in Greece, student protests turned violent in the streets of Athens. Gasoline bombs and tear gas filled the air as thousands of students marched through the capital. About 500 of the country's 3000+ state high schools were occupied by striking students and teachers, protesting stricter university entrance exams. I could go on and on – there's plenty more in my files – but it's getting quite nauseous enough. (Without even mentioning the aerial cat and mouse games going on in the 'no fly' zones over Iraq since this Mars-Saturn alignment heated up.)

And then there were the accidents, the fires and explosions which came through on schedule . . . like the bus crash on I-80 near Princeton IA that sent 46 people to the hospital on the 17th . . . the 22 people injured when a Continental Airlines flight encountered clear air turbulence over the Pacific on the 20th, the same day that three people died when a single-engine airplane lost a wing and crashed on the outskirts of Albuquerque NM . . . or the natural gas explosion that killed three people and critically injured four more in Bridgeport AL on the 22nd.

BLUE MOON ECLIPSE

The "severe storms, flooding and moderate to severe seismic activity (Richter 5 or greater quakes and volcanic eruptions)" I predicted for the January 28 to February 4 Blue Moon eclipse window materialized right on schedule. The USGS National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) recorded a total of 18 Richter 5 or greater quakes during this period. Strongest of these was the 6.4 temblor in the Fox Islands on the 28th, closely followed by the 6.2 quake that rattled the Tonga Islands on February 3rd. Mexico's Popocatepetl Volcano erupted on the 29th, sending a two-mile high column of ash and steam into the air some 45 miles southeast of Mexico City.

Rain and snow were widespread during this particular Blue Moon period. Seven people died in floods triggered by torrential monsoon rains in Indonesia on the 28th and 29th, and more than 800 homes were destroyed. Snowstorms and 60-mph winds ravaged Europe over the weekend of the 30th-31st. Thirteen people died in weather-related highway accidents in Romania, and more than 2,000 motorists were trapped on the snow-clogged roads. Five people died elsewhere in Europe, some losing their lives to exposure and others to auto crashes in the blizzard conditions. Over three feet of snow fell in the central Umbria region of Italy. In Africa, Algiers was blanketed with snow on the day of the Blue Moon eclipse, for the first time in 20 years.

Here in the states the winter storm that made the news was the one that froze Alaska solid, with temperatures in the minus 70s on the 28th. In the lower 48, heavy rain stretched from the Plains states into the Midwest and down into the South starting on the 29th, with flash flood watches posted from Mississippi up to Tennessee. Northwestern Louisiana had flash floods that day, forcing hundreds of people out of their homes. Meanwhile parts of Texas were under tornado warnings, and the Houston area got quite soggy with more than six inches of rain. On the last day of the Blue Moon eclipse storm window (February 3rd), snow and sleet and freezing rain were falling from the Dakotas through the Great Lakes; while in New England up to seven inches of the white stuff was piling up. Colorado got blasted with hellish winds on the 3rd: gusts to 119 mph were reported in the Denver area, where there were power outages due to downed utility lines.

As I predicted, there was more to this Blue Moon eclipse than storms of the seismic and meteorological variety. Watching the eclipse's focus on Boris Yeltsin's natal chart, I told you to "expect yet another leadership crisis in the Kremlin as January draws to a close." Sure enough, the Russian Parliament started proceedings to impeach Yeltsin as January wrapped up. Opinion polls put Mr. Yeltsin's public support at zilch. The other impeachment sputtered along as well. Despite polls showing that about two-thirds of the American public don't want him tossed from the White House, President Clinton remained "under siege" under the Blue Moon eclipse as I predicted. Speaking of sieges, also as predicted, the US military was in action against Iraq: every day brought new reports of missile and bomb attacks in the waning days of January, continuing the latest round of strikes that began with Mars and Saturn barely a degree apart on the 23rd. How fitting that Saddam Hussein should be the target, what with the Blue Moon eclipse so strongly configured to his natal chart as noted.