Astrological predictions for 2000:
YEAR 2000 FORECAST HIGHLIGHTS
¸1999 by Richard Nolle
last revised UT 22:29 DEC 23, 1999
If you were expecting some kind of sun sign nonsense, forget it. This is real astrology. See the section
above. Please note: this forecast is 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.)
If Jupiter and Saturn meet,
What a crop of mummy wheat!
W. B. Yeats, Supernatural Songs (1935)
Planetary alignments - termed conjunctions and oppositions in astrological tradition - are preeminent
among celestial configurations. When they form in the heavens, such alignments signify an unusual
confluence of cosmic power and meaning - literally a warp or ripple in the local fabric of space/time. The
year 2000 features alignments the likes of which have not been seen for generations. This means that the
true last year of the millennium - the 21st Century doesn't start until the year 2001 - will be a roller-coaster
ride to remember. If you think you saw millennial madness in 1999, wait 'til you see what 2000 has in store!
It won't be an Apocalypse, as the 5/5/2000 doomsayers proclaim. But it will be a year for the history books.
Foremost among the alignments ahead is the
conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, known from
ancient times as the Great Chronocator. The
astrologers of old so named it because they
had come to understand this conjunction as
signaling great watershed moments of history -
social, political and cultural turning points.
Hundreds of years before the fact, Persian
astrologers used just such an alignment to
predict the birth of a "King of the Jews", to
coincide with a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in
Pisces (from ancient times considered
symbolic of the Jewish nation). As it turned
out, there was a triple appearance of the Great
Chronocrator in that sign in the year 7 BCE
(aka BC), the period when most historians
believe Jesus of Nazareth was born. This
year's conjunction won't be a 'three-peat': it
happens only once as seen from our home
planet, on May 28. But these two giants of our
solar system remain just five degrees apart all
the way from April 12 through July 15 as seen from Earth. From a heliocentric - i.e. Sun-centered -
perspective, the exact conjunction occurs on June 22 and remains within five degrees for six months, from
March 21 to September 24. (Need help with the astrological symbols in the chart? See my Astroglyphs
guide!)
This time around the alignment is in Taurus, for the first time since the 1940-41 triple conjunction in that
sign. This means interest rate hikes and commodity price increases (especially in precious metals,
agricultural products and equipment, and all kinds of essential staples). It also points to a period of
economic instability practically worldwide, as over-valued companies and currencies get put through the
wringer. This won't happen all at once, but will be spread here and there throughout the year. And it
doesn't mean an economic collapse of the 1929 variety - that's still some years away. Rather, this will be a
period of adjustment followed by the resumption of a boom that takes the world economy higher still.
Investors who head for quality will do nicely, even as speculators who pursue the bubble de jour stocks
take a bath. (Look for companies that build equipment and infrastructure, particularly in the
communications field and the financial sector. But be aware that the Saturn-Uranus square will play havoc
in both these areas for a time - more about that later.) Remember: the Great Chronocrator sets up a
20-year cycle of expansion and adjustment - economically, culturally, politically. This won't happen all at
once, and it won't be over soon.
William Butler Yeats had a prophetic view of a
great many things, including the Jupiter-Saturn
conjunction. His reference to "mummy wheat"
in connection with the Great Chronocrator
hearkens back to the ancient Egyptian custom
of entombing wheat kernels with mummies, as a
provision for the afterlife. To get a lot of
mummy wheat, you need a lot of mummies. And
to get a lot of mummies, you need a lot of . . .
well, you know. (We say good-bye to the high
priest, and watch stupefied as the bridge-builder
fails to complete his appointed crossing.) Yeats'
Supernatural Songs was published just a few
years before the last Jupiter-Saturn conjunction
in Taurus, which formed in the heavens as
World War II was beginning in earnest. I don't
see a World War waiting in the wings this time
around, but you can bet that 2000 will present
us with plenty of mummy fodder nonetheless.
(Incidentally, Yeats was more than a casual
student of astrology. In a 1921 letter to his
sister Lily, Yeats remarked that he found his
son Michael's "horoscope . . . quite compatible
with a diplomatic career." As it turned out, Michael Yeats grew up to serve as Chairman of the Irish
Senate and as a member of the European Parliament.)
Although it appears only once this time around, this year's
Jupiter-Saturn conjunction is a triple in its own right. As
Mars enters the sign Taurus - the constellation Aries, see
my article if you don't know the difference - late in March,
the Red Planet starts moving in on a triple conjunction
with Jupiter and Saturn. The trio will be aligned within not
more than five degrees from one another April 7-23. And
if you look to the western horizon in the evening twilight
on April 6, when Mars aligns with Jupiter, you'll see a real
wonder as the Moon joins these three planets all in a tight
celestial knot. Triple conjunctions of Mars, Jupiter and
Saturn are exceedingly rare. This will be only the third
such triple conjunction of the naked eye superior planets
this century. The last was in November 1921 (Libra), and
the one before that took place in December 1901
(Capricorn). There won't be another until the August 2040
triple alignment in Libra, so don't miss it this time around.
Among other things, this particular triple conjunction
points to a resurgence of collectivism and militarism; also a cycle high in air travel disasters (from about
March 23 though May 3). More ethnic cleansing and military conflict is on tap off and on all year, as
demagogues seek to blame minorities and foreign powers for all kinds of ills, in order to whip up the kind
of mob frenzy that leads to blind obedience. Not that it takes much whipping-up: with Mars crossing over
its own north node on March 25, people are pretty much on a hair trigger anyway. Watch for a resurgent
socialist movement - in reality, fascism with an ideological cover - in the old Soviet bloc. This is a year of
hysteria, which can always be exploited by the demagogues of the world.
For all life longs for the Last Day
And there's no man but cocks his ear
To know when Michael's trumpet cries
That flesh and bone may disappear,
And souls as if they were but sighs,
And there be nothing but God left.
W. B. Yeats, Running to Paradise (1913)
Speaking of hysteria, the 5-5-2000 crowd have followed a Pied
Piper prediction for years; namely that Earth's poles will flip and
most of humanity will perish in the process, when "for the first
time in 6,000 years all the planets of our solar system will be
arrayed in practically a straight line in space." Bullshit! As I
pointed out years ago when Richard Noone's book started this
particular piece of millennial madness, the May 5, 2000
alignment isn't especially tight in the first place. An even tighter
alignment occurred in 1962, and we all remember the world
ending then. Yes, 2000 will have more than its share of natural
disasters, but a pole-flip won't be among them. (Huge chunks of
polar ice breaking away, yes - but our home planet is not going
off its axis.) You can pretty well count on Saturn's transit through Taurus ushering in a period of heavy
earthquake activity, particularly when the Great Chronocrator occurs in this sign. Some of this Century's
worst earthquakes and most notable volcanic eruptions followed the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in Taurus
of 1940-41. The current Saturn transit through Taurus began in 1998, and has been accompanied by some
of the worst earthquakes of the 90s - including the terrible Turkish quake of 1999. Expect more of the
same this year, most notably in January-February, April-May, July and December.
The eclipses and SuperMoons of 2000 rank as prime suspects
among indicators regarding the timing of the year's worst
storms, floods and seismic activity. (A SuperMoon, in case you
don't know, is a perigee-syzygy: a new or full moon that occurs
with the Moon at or very near its closest approach to Earth.)
Major geophysical shock windows extend three days either side
of the year's only non-eclipse SuperMoon (June 2) as well as the
January 21 lunar eclipse (also a SuperMoon) and the July 16
lunar eclipse. The risk period extends seven days either side of
the year 2000 solar eclipses: February 5, July 1 (also a
SuperMoon), July 31 (another SuperMoon), and December 25.
Strong storms, flooding, extreme coastal tides and moderate to
severe seismic activity (Richter 5 or greater earthquakes and volcanic eruptions) are on tap during these
risk windows - not to mention a penchant for conflict, confrontation and general lunacy at the human level. I
have used such alignments since 1979 - when I predicted Hurricane David's strike on Savannah in a
national magazine published six weeks before the fact using a SuperMoon eclipse to guide me - and they
have timed some of the major natural upheavals to strike the world in that time. Because these alignments
are planetary in scale, the geophysical phenomena associated with them can strike virtually anywhere in
the world. But clues to areas of special risk can often be discerned from studying astro-locality maps
showing where the planets are most directly focused onto Earth: where they rise, set, or are directly
overhead or below at the moment of the event.
The geophysical shock windows for 2000 start off with the SuperMoon total lunar eclipse of January 21 (in
effect January 18-24). This one appears to be especially strong along a northwesterly arc that extends from
the southwest tip of Africa into the Middle East, curving from there across Russia and over to the
Aleutians, curving from there down to Hawaii; as well as on a north-south line extending from the west
coast of Australia straight up into eastern China and Mongolia, and last but not least along a north-south
line running from eastern Canada down through the eastern Caribbean into South America. (This latter
zone lies at the heart of the region where the entire eclipse will be visible.)
In effect January 29 - February 12, the February 5 partial solar eclipse focuses on east Africa and the
western British Isles, the US Midwest and eastern Canada, New Zealand and the far eastern stretches of
Russia; and along a northwesterly arc from west India through Pakistan, across Russia over to Scandinavia.
Watch for this one to wreak havoc with power and communications infrastructure. But don't bother looking
for this eclipse, unless you plan on being in Antarctica at the time.
The June 2 SuperMoon, in effect May 30 - June 5, zeroes in on a north-south zone that stretches from
Great Britain across the Channel to western Europe, southward down through west Africa. Another risk
zone curves in a northwesterly direction from the southern tip of South America, up to Mexico and through
the western US, and then out across the Bering Strait. The eastern end of this zone stretches
northeastward from the Indian Ocean across Indochina and China, joining up with its western counterpart
in the Bering Strait. The juncture of these two zones is itself crossed by a north-south risk zone that runs
from New Zealand up to Kamchatka. This is the first in a string of Sun-Moon alignments with a strong
Mars component: crime, violence, aggression and confrontation.
The July 1 partial solar eclipse - a SuperMoon, as well as the last New Anteblue Moon of the 20th Century
- is in effect from June 24 through July 8. (A New AnteBlue Moon is the first of a pair of two new moons to
occur in the same month of the Gregorian calendar.) The India-Pakistan border lies along a north-south
risk zone during this period - a zone mirrored half a world away along the Pacific coast of Mexico and
northward into the western US and Canada. Also in the bulls eye this time around is a sweeping arc that
runs across northwestern Africa into Europe, sweeping from there across northern Russia and then out
through the Korean Peninsula and Japan down to New Zealand. Southern Argentina and Chile, where the
eclipse is visible, may also be at risk of seismic and meteorological events during the June 24 - July 8
period. Mars is central to this eclipse: aggression abounds.
The total lunar eclipse of July 16 - in effect July 13-19 - is strong along a north-south line from the east
coast of Brazil through eastern Greenland. This zone is mirrored by another north-south swath from
eastern Australia through Papua New Guinea, northward from there through the Sea of Okhotsk between
Japan and Kamchatka: these are the regions where the entire eclipse will be visible. Alaska, India, eastern
China, Mongolia and the far eastern stretches of Russia round out the risk sectors during this lunar
eclipse. Mars being prominent at this eclipse, I'm reminded of the advice given by one of my Sifus to the
student who inquired about getting full-coverage headgear for sparring, in hopes of preventing another
broken nose: "Well, duck!"
The partial solar eclipse of July 31 - with a risk window extending from the 24th through August 7 - is both
a SuperMoon and the last New Blue Moon of the 20th Century. (A The New Blue Moon is the second of a
pair of two new moons to occur in the same month of the Gregorian calendar.) The western US lies in the
target zone for this one, as well as most of Europe, East Africa and the Middle East. (The eclipse will be
visible from northern Scandinavia, eastern Russia, Alaska, western Canada and the northwestern US.) A
pair of north-south swatches round out the risk sectors during this SuperMoon eclipse: one runs from
Greenland down through eastern South America, and the other from Japan down through eastern
Australia. Although still involved this time around, Mars isn't so central as it was in the other two July
eclipses: while still high as Sun and Moon align at the end of July, tension and conflict should ease up once
we get this one behind us.
Closing out the year is the December 25 partial solar eclipse, staking its claim to a storm and seismic risk
window that extends from the 18th all the way to January 1, 2001. Severe winter storms in Canada and the
eastern US look like part of this one, along with freaky weather and an earthquake watch for New Zealand,
the Indochina peninsula, and the central regions of China and Mongolia. This one will be visible
throughout most of North and Central America.
The aforementioned eclipses and SuperMoons represent the bulk of the storm and seismic risk windows
for the year 2000. There are others, although they tend to be shorter in duration. Even ordinary
garden-variety new and full moons up the ante for disturbances of this sort. So do lunar declination
extremes, when the Moon attains its greatest distance above or below the celestial equator. Likewise
ordinary perigees - again, the Moon's closest approach to Earth. Although these risk windows are nowhere
near as wide as those associated with an eclipse or a SuperMoon - they tend to be effective only for a little
more than a day either side of the exact event - they're still too useful to ignore. But they're too numerous
to detail here. If you're interested, see my online lunar perigee and declination cycle tables for the year
2000.
I've only hit the highlights here, but can't close
without mentioning a couple more of the year's
most significant planetary configurations. One is
the Saturn-Uranus square, the Y2K aspect.
That's right, as I indicated in last year's
forecast, it won't disappear when 1999 is
history. As I've already pointed out, these two
planets haven't been more than five degrees
from an exact geocentric square since the end
of May '99, and won't get outside that range
until January 2000 - only to regenerate in
March on its way to becoming exact on May 13.
And the heliocentric square - exact on January
29, 2000 - has been within five degrees since
mid-July '99, remaining so until mid-August
2000. If you read last year's forecast, you know
what to expect: breakdowns in high-technology
infrastructure (principally computers and
communication) as well as criminal assaults on
that infrastructure. The latter will be of two
types: for financial gain, as well as to wreak
havoc either for sheer vandalistic gratification
or to make a political point. Computer viruses
and hacker attacks are bound to be a part of this, but some of the chaos will stem from inherently poor
system design. (Short-sightedness and the law of unintended consequences will always exact their toll.)
And then there's the Jupiter-Pluto opposition, which forms the first two phases of its triple-play series late
in the year (September 4 and October 13) and remains within a five degree orb all the way from late July to
mid-November. US-Cuban relations appear to be ripe for reaching a turning point during this alignment,
and paper assets for a sharp devaluation. Not a good time to be in highly speculative, liquidity-driven
stocks from companies that can't turn a profit, as the money supply undergoes some peculiar contortions.
(No, that doesn't include all the Internet high-fliers - but it applies to a lot of them in this, the year of a
huge shake-up on the World Wide Web.) Not a good time for Israel . . . China waxes strong militarily and
politically . . . a turning point in the Islamic world, where a concentration of geopolitical power is growing
amidst the most significant leadership changes in years.
In closing, and in recognition of a lot of interest
surrounding the upcoming November 7 US elections,
I have to say there's a whole raft of problems
involved in analyzing what lies ahead in that respect.
John McCain's birth time hasn't been made public as
of this writing, nor his exact place of birth
(somewhere in the Panama Canal Zone). From what I
can see of his chart, it may be the best of the lot in
terms of being Presidential come November 7. I do
have what appear to be reliable timed data for
George W. Bush: 7:26 AM EDT on July 6, 1946 in
New Haven CT. (Source: astrologer Kim Castilla
cites Bush's birth certificate.) At present, all I can
say is that George W. Bush's chart has better transits
than Al Gore's at election time. Even Bill Bradley's
chart looks better than Gore's for November 7. But
until all this comes down to the final nominated
candidates - hopefully with full and well-documented
birth data - I really can't be more specific. And
besides, Tecumseh's Curse could still toss a wild
card onto the table - and Al Gore into the White House before the inauguration.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS All astrological charts and astro-locality maps were calculated and produced
using Matrix Software's WinStar. (See the Astrology Software section of Astropro's NetSelect Directory.)
Sky map for the April 6 Moon-Mars-Jupiter-Saturn alignment was calculated and produced using Maris
Multimedia's RedShift2. Solar system maps for May 5, 2000 and February 5, 1962 were calculated and
produced using John Walker's Home Planet. (Details on and links to both programs are available under
the Software heading in the Astronomy section of Astropro's NetSelect Directory.)
Richard Nolle, Certified Professional Astrologer
phone or fax 480-753-6261 - email rnolle@astropro.com
Box 26599 - Tempe, AZ 85285-6599 - USA
on the World Wide Web at astropro.com
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