If you were expecting some kind of sun sign nonsense, forget it. This is real astrology. See the section above. Please note: all forecasts and corresponding results are expressed in terms of Universal Time (UT). Current UT date and time appear at the top of this page. (To update display, use your browser's reload/refresh button.) 

BLUE MOON SPILLS OVER INTO FEBRUARY

I've already largely covered the outcome of the January 31 Blue Moon, which as noted in my forecast extended into February 3rd. Suffice it to say that this alignment delivered as advertised. (See the January forecast results for more on this.) Sometimes, of course, we don't get the real story until some time after the fact. And so it wasn't until February 5 that the Vatican announced Pope John Paul II had taken ill with the flu on January 31 - the day the eclipse struck his natal horoscope, you will remember. The Pope cut short his Sunday address that day, and cancelled all audiences until Friday the 5th.

SOLAR ECLIPSE, BY JOVE!

The "destructive storms, flooding, moderate to severe (Richter 5 or greater) earthquakes and volcanic eruptions" I predicted would be "much in the news between the 13th and 19th" came through as promised. As Jupiter entered Aries and the solar eclipse window opened, eastern Europe and central Europe (one of the target zones I identified) were in the vise-like grip of a monster blizzard. In Hungary, 40 people died and the military was pressed into rescue service as T-72 tanks were the only vehicles capable of getting through to the dozens of villages cut off by snow. Flights were canceled or delayed due to white-out conditions in Germany, and seven people lost their lives in weather-related traffic accidents on the 17th. That same day the Pacific Northwest states – another of the target zones I mentioned – got pelted with yet more snow, as much as a foot of the stuff falling the in Cascade and Sierra Nevada ranges.

On the seismic front, the USGS National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) recorded a total 13 Richter 5 or greater quakes between the 13th and 19th. Strongest of the lot was a 6.3 temblor in Papua New Guinea – again, one of the target zones mentioned in my forecast.

LUNAR PERIGEE HIGHLIGHTS

I didn't mention it in my online forecast for this month, but in my Lunar Apogees & Perigees 1999 (published February 13) I pointed out the February 20 lunar perigee as indicating a heightened potential ("within plus or minus 30 hours") for notable major "seismicity (Richter 5 or greater quakes, volcanic eruptions) and meteorological events (strong storms)." If you caught my January 28 appearance on Laura Gerking's Astrology Talk (on TalkSpot) or my February 13 post to ACT (the online Astrological Conference on Techniques), you got the same message. And if you watched the news on February 20th, you might have seen the CNN report on Sicily's Mt. Etna spewing forth a major new lava flow that day. Which should come as no surprise since I went so far as to specify "from the Middle East across to Italy" as one of the particularly vulnerable zones during this perigee in my February 15 ACT post. Things were rattling on the seismic front as well, with five Richter 5 or greater quakes in this 2-1/2 day period.

On the weather front, Europe took a beating during the February 19-21 lunar perigee. Five people died in weather-related accidents over the weekend, as snowstorms and heavy rain caused avalanches and flooding in Switzerland, France, Germany and Austria. More than a dozen people were still missing as of the 22nd. The stormy weather rolled in along with the solar eclipse of the 16th as predicted, but intensified further during the lunar perigee period.

As indicated in my February 15 ACT post, "picking specific locations at risk is a tricky business, especially since geocosmic factors like this are planetary in impact." But I did hazard a guess then that "a longitudinal zone from the Middle East across to Italy and from western British Columbia across the Bering Straits" would be as good a target as any during this particular lunar perigee. One of the strongest quakes during this period was the 5.2 Richter temblor that struck the eastern Caucasus region on the 21st (due north of the Middle East, hence like Sicily in the first longitudinal zone mentioned above).