Dear Fellow Star-gazers,

These are supposed to be light-hearted and chatty letters but presently this feels inappropriate. Yes, there does seem to be correlation between the natural disasters in Japan and Uranus' move into Aries but there's little satisfaction in having forecast upheaval and drama. Others will no doubt write much about this. I will content myself with likely effect on the markets in the next few weeks.

Saturday's Full Moon occurs just a few hours before the Equinox (one of the four most powerful days of the year) and at near right angle to the Galactic Centre. Markets may well react negatively on Friday(18th)  and show similar volatility next Monday (20th). Once Mars joins the Sun, Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto in Cardinal signs on April 2nd, the trend could be very negative indeed. 

As you know, I have a particular fascination with our special star, the Sun whose behaviour in the last few years has been unusual in that it broke with a pattern. It seemed to me that this strange behaviour was connected to natural events here on Earth (the Icelandic volcano, the Chilean Earthquake etc etc).

 Prior to the recent disasters in Japan, the Sun appeared to be waking up: offering  extraordinary auroras and magnetic storms (the latter thankfully not affecting power supplies as has occasionally occurred). And yet it is clear that normal service has not been resumed. Changes in solar behaviour may be affecting us in other ways:

As stated in ^~The Economist" earlier this year: 'there is a growing body of evidence that the Earth's magnetic field is about to disappear, at least for a while. The geological record shows that it flips from time to time, with the south pole becoming the north, and vice versa. On average, such reversals take place every 500,000 years, but there is no discernible pattern. Flips have happened as close together as 50,000 years, though the last one was 780,000 years ago. But, as discussed at the Greenland Space Science Symposium, held in Kangerlussuaq, the signs are that another flip is coming soon."

Discussing the magnetic polar shift and the impact on weather, the scholarly paper "Weather and the Earth's magnetic field" was published in the journal Nature. Scientists too are very concerned about the increasing danger of superstorms and the impact on humanity.

Superstorms will not only damage agriculture across the planet leading to famines and mass starvation, they will also change coastlines, destroy cities and create tens of millions of homeless.

The article goes on to say that 'Superstorms can also cause certain societies, cultures or whole countries to collapse. Others may go to war with each other.

A Danish study published in the scientific journal Geology, found strong correlation between climate change, weather patterns and the magnetic field.

"The earth's climate has been significantly affected by the planet's magnetic field, according to a Danish study published Monday that could challenge the notion that human emissions are responsible for global warming.

You may remember that for much of last year I was writing about a rare geocentric alignment of the planets in August 2010 (with a heliocentric variation apparent in December 2010). I felt that this alignment would coincide with change that would have economic as well as social and political impact. In the Financial Universe book (2204) I suggested that these alignments would coincide with war in the Middle East and elsewhere.

These planetary pictures are still with us. In fact, they will be apparent for at least the next five years. We will need to get used to instability and thinking differently.

As I write, Uranus and Neptune are no longer in the mutual reception position they have shared since the last day of 2003. In a couple of weeks Neptune too will change signs. In this short period before April 4^th it seems as though the cosmos is shocking us into considering the bigger picture. Presently it seems that half the world is dealing with natural calamity whilst the other half is desperately seeking democracy. All in all, there is a huge shift in values.

So what of the next few weeks? Well, certainly this is the time to hedge bets. Increased volatility will be the norm. The chart for the coming Equinox suggests chaos and angst. If the Equinox chart does indeed hold for the next three months as is normal, then trading is not for the faint hearted.

It is probable that disturbances in the Middle East will escalate and that the peace makers will once again be over-worked. The first weekend of April looks particularly troublesome.

And yes, the double-dip recession I was sure would occur now seems more likely. This summer (June 21^st to Aug 3^rd), we have Saturn in Libra, Jupiter in Taurus and Mars in Gemini â€" just as they were in 1953-54 (a recessionary period). Though this combination holds for only a few weeks, the effect could still be painful.

Inflation too is quite obviously with us and will surely gather pace once Saturn is direct again in June.

Obviously I will continue to advocate looking after your health and that of your family as priority. We each of us need to look after our mental health too. We need to keep worry to a minimum.

But what can you do with hard-earned cash and how best can you secure your financial future? I am not a financial advisor and cannot advise you where to invest. What I can say is that I fear equities are in for a hard time, that holding a wide-spread of currencies could be deemed wise and that precious metals should hold their value and indeed, increase.

It is clear that I need to give a special astro-investment seminar in London ahead of the NYSE birthday on May 17^th. The royal wedding and extra bank holidays have made date-finding difficult. Friday May 6^th is a distinct possibility. If this works for you do let me know.

This seminar will be in addition to the Summer Solstice seminar planned for Friday June 17^th  and for which there are already bookings.

Full details of both events will be given in the next Full Moon letter which should reach you by April 18^th.

For now,

Wishing you all well

Yours from the stars

Christeen