by Christine Hall
A little over a year ago, I dusted off my astrology books to see what the stars would say about 2001 for this column. Looking back, the accuracy was downright frightening. The economy would be a roller coaster ride, I wrote, the situation in Israel would continue to deteriorate, there was a good chance of war or wars, and terrorism would escalate across the globe and possibly might hit within the boundaries of the United States.
All of this came true, of course, in ways that I never could’ve imagined. The economic situation has resembled an amusement park ride; one minute we’re in a recession, the next we’re on the brink of falling into a full blown depression, and just as soon we’re on the brink of a recovery – or so “they” say. The situation between Israel and the Palestinians seems to have grown into something resembling an all out war, terrorism has hit the United States in a way that was unimaginable this time last year, and has also been visited on places like India. Warfare hasn’t been contained to the Balkans, which I figured when writing my column, but has spread to Afghanistan and now threatens to break-out between India and Pakistan if cool heads don’t prevail.
The deterioration of the world situation over the last year is downright perplexing. Just a couple of years ago it seemed as if the planet was in danger of breaking-out into a lasting peace. As recently as a year and a half ago, economist were everywhere telling us that our economy had become recession proof and that astronomical economic growth would continue forever. Even the Israelis and Arabs seemed to finally be willing to work things out and end a feud that’d been going on since Old Testament times. This had left those of us who grew up on the Star Trek model of social evolution to believe that finally we were going to evolve into a humanity that acted and believed in the spirit of goodwill and cooperation.
But things have turned bad, and we are all fearful of the future. Do we dare look ahead to try to determine what 2002 might hold in store for us? Do we really want to know what the Indians and Pakistanis might do with their missiles armed with nuclear warheads? Or if the United States will expand the war on terrorism to places like the Sudan, Somalia or Iraq, or the consequences of that action if it happens?
Actually, a look at the numerology and astrology for 2002 is somewhat comforting, for all indications are that the new year will be better in nearly every way than the year we just experienced. In numerology, 2002 is a 4, the number of manifestation and the rule of law. Although old hippies like me are usually suspicious of the law, it would seem that a good dose of lawfulness would be in order right now. The year is born on 1/1/2002, which is a 6 – another good indicator, because six is the number of harmony, although the number’s association with the Tarot card “The Lovers” does imply that there are some choices to be made.
Astrologically speaking, the year begins on a note that would suggest that the war on terrorism is winding down – at least to a level that’s not apt to escalate into something bigger than we bargained for. Last year, warlike Mars was nearly always in opposition to the karmic enforcer, Saturn, which was retrograde for much of the year. As the new year begins, Mars is no longer positioned across from Saturn, and will spend the most of the year in relatively close proximity to the Sun, which would seem to indicate that we can expect some common sense to prevail in military matters.
The economic forecast looks even brighter. Although the year begins with business-like Mercury in opposition to retrograde Saturn and Jupiter, indicating some more negative adjustments on the economic front, that situation will begin to end around the middle of January, allowing common sense and market forces to carry the economy into positive territory. As always, Mercury will go retrograde numerous times during the year, always an indicator for market “adjustments,” but any setbacks should be only temporary.
As far as love is concerned, conditions will be favorable from the middle of April through about mid June, and again around December 1st, for romantic communications. Single folks looking for a change should be especially hopeful around those times.
Of course, an astrology study such as this is only an indicator of forces within the collective unconscious that will influence world events. With this tool we can only get a shadowy glimpse of what is likely to happen. However, it looks like we’re in for a pretty positive year – and after 2001, we could all use some good news.
In any event – Happy New Year!
Christine Hall has been working as a journalist since the 1970s. She currently hosts a weekly radio show of sixties music, The Sixties in 60 that can be heard every Sunday at 6 pm Eastern Time on The Barrel of Rock.
