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).

I've been so busy with the 2006 World Forecast Highlights that I haven't had time to properly update this month's forecast results - a dilemma that's made more difficult because there are so many examples of the forecast being borne out by the news of the day. Until I can catch up, you're on your own. Heaven knows, there's plenty of validation in the news this month.

For example, the first two of the three major geocosmic stress windows I predicted for December are behind us now, and they delivered as promised: "strong storms as well as moderate to severe earthquakes (Richter 5 and up) and volcanic eruptions" have made headlines right on schedule. "The whole December 1-6 period" and "the 12th through the 18th" have seen a rare late season Atlantic hurricane (Epsilon, which reached hurricane status on the 2nd), plus a killer snowstorm in the Cascades and a Richter 6.4 in Japan on that very same day. Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano got into the act, stirring to life with a telltale plume of ash on the 1st. And then there was the magnitude 6.8 temblor centered beneath Lake Tanganyika on the 5th, which toppled dozens of homes and buried children in rubble in eastern Congo, killing at least two. The mid-month turbulence included an ice storm that hit the Carolinas on the 14th, leaving several hundred thousand people without power in the freezing cold. A strong (Richter 6.7) earthquake struck remote northeastern Afghanistan and shook neighboring Pakistan on the 12th.

We're just now entering a "brief period of elevated storm, flood and seismic potential, from the 22nd until early on the 25th." The grand finale is the period of "major turbulence, extending from the 28th on into early January - until early on the 7th." Watch the news, you'll see what I mean. And just to be on the safe side, watch the sky and keep your emergency kit handy as December winds down.

Mea culpa: eagle-eyed Dan C. kindly sent an email alerting me to a typo in the December forecast, where I wrote full moon when I meant new moon. The erroneous passage refers to "the full moon at 9° 32' Capricorn on the 31st," which is not only impossibly wrong but plainly contradicts my earlier correct statement regarding "the new moons at the beginning and end of December." I do my best to avoid snafus of this sort (or any other, for that matter). When I do screw up like this in a forecast, I leave it as a monument to my temporary lapses of attention. The fact is, I never change a forecast once published, because doing so undermines the whole premise of forecasting. I mean, if I'm going to change it after I publish it, why not just wait 'til after everything happens and then do the forecast? That way, there'd be no typos and everything would be exactly as 'predicted.' Instead, I give my best effort in advance every month, and ask you to indulge the occasional lapse on my part.