Heaven’s Above!

Your Alternative Winter 2012 Weather Forecast

For

East Devon

 

“Winter either bites with its teeth or lashes with its tail” Old English Proverb

 

Nothing changes, if nothing changes as they say! And with the 2012 winter weather still heavily under the influence of erratic Uranus, I can safely predict a continuation of the same ‘unpredictable’ weather patterns that we have been experiencing for the past two years; plus a tail lashing!

 

There will be much damage from some very severe storms, most probably in the last two weeks of January, the end of February, the first and last weeks of March, and the first week of April. But Jupiter can and will transform some of those cold descending dry air masses conjured by Uranus into brief but sparklingly fresh bright sunshiny periods, albeit some of them with frosticles on top! There will also be some unusually mild, pleasant and balmy spells, and even another out of season mini-heatwave to look forward to. Expect that in the middle fortnight of March.

 

 

Looking at the chart for the Cardinal Ingress above, the Moon in Scorpio sitting on our Ascendant at the Solstice only serves to emphasise the ‘extreme variability’ of the coming season which will contain volatile abrupt reversals of temperature, along with gusty winds, sporadic cold drizzles, gales and blizzards. There could also be ‘flash freezes’; although Mars scorching our Midheaven indicates a warmer drier albeit stormier winter than last year.

 

 

Frigid Pluto moving away from the ingress point, and the Sun trine benevolent Jupiter underlines that it won’t be quite so cold for quite so long as last winter. Uranus in fiery Aries and Mars parching us from his mini perigee (closest approach to Earth) means it won’t be so wet either, especially in the southern half of the country. In fact I am afraid the end of winter could find us suffering from drought. Mind you, when it does rain, it won’t just shower raindrops, it will spit razor blades!

 

With the Moon ruling the cyclical distribution of moisture in nature, it is not just the sap circulation in plants, the female menstrual cycle and the ocean tides she controls. The Moon orchestrates most of our weather because of her gravitational pull on the air. Which is why we study the weekly phases of the Moon in the ‘Lunation’ charts below to see just when those tail winds are likely to give us a lashing!

 

 

1st Quarter Moon: 1st January 2012: 11th degree of Aries

 

With Jupiter in the driving seat we should enjoy a very pleasant start to the New Year albeit a gusty one. Mercury is squaring up to Mars bringing ‘sharp energy’ with prevailing westerly winds whipping up spurts of sleet or hail. When Mercury goes from a warm planet to a cold one, as he does later this week, serious wind disturbances can ensue. But these short sharp showers could blow away by lunchtime leaving us with some crystal clear, albeit short, afternoons.

 

Full Moon: 9th January 2012: 19th degree of Cancer

A mixed week when temperatures could plummet and dark low hanging clouds drive everyone indoors. Unsettled conditions could produce electrical disturbances in the atmosphere and the icy kiss Venus receives from Neptune on 13th and 15th ensures that any precipitation will fall in the way of snow. Inside amusements thrive during such periods of foul weather; but it will feel bitterly cold outside so wrap up warm!

 

Third Quarter Moon: 16th January 2012: 26th degree Libra

With both the Sun and the Moon applying to Saturn I expect a pretty dismal start to the week with difficult conditions continuing. It may be troublesome underfoot, and there will be hindrances of all sorts. It will feel intensely cold, especially in the interior, with north and easterly winds. If it didn’t snow early in the week it certainly will around the 18th/ 19th when I expect the heavens to open!

 

New Moon: 7.39am 23rd January 2012; 3rd degree of Aquarius

A crisis week! Mars turns retrograde on 24th January, carving his way backwards along the ecliptic and acting as the trigger to a rather difficult combination of planetary aspects. Mercury lashes his windy tail whilst bleak Saturn turns his frigid gaze on Venus transforming raindrops into daggers of sleet. Sounds like the perfect recipe for a blizzard to me. This Lunation brings precipitation in the way of yet more snowfall. But bearing in mind that ten inches of snow equals only one inch of rain, the ground will remain thirsty despite what looks like a voluminous amount of precipitation! Uranus crosses the Equator on the 28th, so I will be interested to see if either volcanic or earthquake activity makes the world headlines now or at the end of March.

 

1st Quarter Moon: 31st January 2012; 11th degree of Taurus

There may be a bit of a respite this week, but with Venus opposing Mars (‘turbulent downfall’) I am not banking on it. I will also be interested to see if there is an increase in acute, inflammatory, feverish and eruptive ailments over the next three months. Mars is malefic and quarrelsome when retrograde, so there will also be quite a few contentious issues to cope with locally too. Don’t start litigation now; because you won’t win if you do!

Full Moon: 7th Feb 2012; 19th degree of Aquarius

Saturn pulls up short from his aspect to Neptune on the 7th. When planets make a station (when they stop and appear to go into reverse) their general characteristics make strong impressions on the weather and so we should experience dank, dull and misty conditions or low lying stratus cloud. Mercury crossing behind the Sun always disturbs the atmosphere and whips up the wind, but I think with a bit of luck we will be sheltered from the fall out down here in East Devon!

3rd Quarter Moon: 14th February 2012; 26th degree Scorpio

I am a tad perplexed about this week. On the one hand we have the Moon ruling moisture in malefic cold wet Scorpio returning to the Solstice Ascendant (‘acute, extremely wet and oppressive conditions’), and on the other Mars slicing backwards across our Solstice Meridian (mischief and destruction from heat and drought.) Mars always leaves a scar. Hmmmm! Assuming we have had deep snowfall over the past two weeks I wonder if the ‘water damage’ will be from a thaw? As in floods? It could also be unusually warm for the time of year. But of course, the classic clash of hot and cold could result in a massive thunder storm! Your guess is as good as mine this week!

 

New Moon: 21st February 2012; 3rd degree Pisces

Uh-oh! Saturn on our Ascendant! A rather bleak and dismal week ahead. It will be cold and wet as a Northerly blast crosses the UK bringing more snow to the high ground and the moors. Wrap up warm and stay indoors as although we may escape the worst of it on the coast, conditions underfoot will be very difficult!

 

First Quarter Moon: 1st March 2012; 11th degree Aries

Turbulently leaden grey skies and a penetratingly cold East wind as storms from the Atlantic move in and settle over Norway and we get the whiplash down here. It’s not all doom and gloom though, as we do have cheerful Sagittarius on the ascendant so the week should contain a couple of dry and pleasant days. Spring is just around the corner.

 

Full Moon: 8th March 2012; 19th degree Virgo

Phew! The clouds part, the skies clear and the Sun comes out to play again! Snow will be melting, buds will be budding, the river will be high and the sap starts a-running as gentle warm breezes wreathe everyone in smiles. A mild and settled few days as the first of the Spring anti-cyclones beams around us. Watch out for those hard night frosts and another drop of rain on the 13th though . Oh, and Mercury turns retrograde on the 12th so travel/correspondence/ communications are due to turn pear shaped! Don’t sign anything important for the next three weeks. You will only change your mind if you do!

 

Third Quarter Moon: 15th March 2012; 25th degree Sagittarius

Yes, it really is Spring! Apart from a hiccup when the Moon hits Pluto in the early hours of the 16th when we could have a spat of a rain, it should be a dry, pleasantly warm and week. The sort of bright and sunny weather which makes you itch to get outdoors and do something energetic. I am even cautiously optimistic we may get a repeat of last year with an out of season mini-heatwave! Don’t travel too far afield though with Mercury retrograde. I expect there will be strikes and the wrong sort of seagulls on the runways.

 

New Moon: 22nd March 2012; 3rd degree Aries

It is not only travel plans that will be disruptive this week. Mercury can be spiteful when retrograde, and with this weeks Lunation on the equator conjunct Uranus we should read of massive wind damage elsewhere in the world (Earthquakes were known as ‘wind in the earth’ in ancient times). I expect it to still be unseasonably warm down here in East Devon, but the downside is that this could result in a classic Spring thunderstorm when hot air meets cold! I don’t rule out one this week.

 

1st Quarter Moon: 30th March 2012; 11th degree Cancer

The barometer will have been leaping and plunging like a bucking bronco recently but now low pressure to the East of us sweeps in the traditional ‘April Showers’ ahead of schedule. A miserable cold and damp week with a reversal of temperatures and it is even possible that we could have sleet or snow on the higher ground of the moors! A dismal end to March, and more of the same at the beginning of April! Those keen gardeners who keep chanting ‘we need the rain’ will get what they asked for now!

See you in the stars!

Caroline Allen; December 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heaven’s Above!  Autumn 2011

Your Alternative Weather Forecast

For

East Devon

Sing a song of seasons!
Something bright in all,
Flowers in the summer
Fires in the fall! ”
-   Robert Louis Stevenson, Autumn Fires

And a fiery fall it should prove – but like the Curates egg, only in selected parts!

We get some kind of weather in East Devon nearly every day and even though I try to take it one day at a time, sometimes several days attack all at once.  And this autumn will be no exception! We will never know from one day to the next what to put on in the morning.  Cool and misty mornings bursting into flame at midday only to plunge down below freezing by nightfall.  Our normally mild and temperate climate will follow the pattern of last summer with even more abrupt swings in temperature.  Expect fluctuations between cool, moist, and freakishly wet conditions, and oppressive, unstable, record breaking warmth.  The classic mix of hot air meeting cold should give us some spectacular thunderstorms this autumn when there should be more than bonfires flaring. There is however, a distinct possibility of a rather warm, albeit brief, Indian summer!

 

1^st Quarter Moon: 4^th September 2011

Mercury arguing with Neptune makes him weep, but whether he will actually dump rather than ooze damply, I am not sure! Pollution is another possible manifestation of this noxious aspect.  Hmmmm……. I wonder if there will be more volcanic ash in the air?

 

Full Moon: 12^th September 2011

An ‘iffy’ sort of week.  It looks as though it could be dry, but I don’t trust it!  Not with Neptune still suppurating and receiving a quincunx from Venus I don’t!

 

 

3^rd Quarter Moon: 20^th September 2011

Wow!  We could be in for another out-of-season mini heat-wave (just like we had last April!)  Two fire signs on the angles, Mars trine Uranus and Jupiter in the 4^th house should give us a few glorious days although the Moon trine Neptune conjures up mist in the valleys and sea-haze around the coast.  This could be an Indian Summer for some – a second spring when every leaf is a flower.   If not quite that, it is certainly a week that favours outdoor work and play for the rest of us.  Enjoy!

 

New Moon: 27^th September 2011

Oh dear!  ‘Summer’s lease hath all too short a date’ as September goes downhill on roller skates taking our spirits and the barometer with it. I thought we had got the weather on the run, but it looks as though it regrouped and will make another attack. Those two cold and windy planets Mercury and Uranus beget what looks suspiciously like hail whilst Mars whips the wind into quite a squawl.

1^st Quarter Moon: 4^th October 2011

Sagittarius providing under floor heating should dry up the pavements; and Mars crossing the Equinox mid-heaven on the 9^th spurs us into activity.  A week to get outside and clear up all the broken branches left behind from last week!

Full Moon: 12^th October 2011

An intensely dismal, dank sort of week. The Full Moon opposing Saturn produces a stagnant atmosphere, with low pressure and depressing weather conditions.  Watch out for night frosts and close your greenhouse doors!

3^rd Quarter Moon: 20^th October 2011

Much more pleasant conditions; fine weather on the whole with only a bit of occasional  mizzle or drizzle.

New Moon: 26^th October 2011

Weird and wacky weather!  A critical week.  What looks initially like a warm spell could turn pear-shaped into a thunderstorm at worst, or stair-rods rain at best.  Either way, floods will be in the headlines.

1^st Quarter Moon: 2^nd November 2011

More rain around the 3^rd/4^th and 7^th but the Sun on the chart’s horizon should help to drain any excess water away.

Full Moon: 10^th November 2011

A much more gentle few days.  We may even get away with just a touch of damp humidity

3^rd Quarter Moon: 18^th November 2011

A very mixed bag of weather coming up though.  Jupiter tries hard to give us a nice time but party-pooping Saturn should wipe the smile off his face.  Disturbed atmospheric conditions herald bleak leaden skies and from the afternoon of 22^nd onwards more rain is probable.

New Moon (Partial Solar Eclipse) 25^th November 2011

Muggy and humid. Mars parallel to Jupiter brings unseasonable warmth but it is also damp; there should be quite a bit of rain about.

1^st Quarter Moon: 2^nd December 2011

A turbulent critical first quarter Moon;  Venus with  Pluto tends to violent storms and intense precipitation, and so I expect a couple of disagreeable dark days of cold drenching rain this week.  I hope it is over by the 6^th when I am taking an outdoor hike through the Axe Wetlands!     Fingers crossed!

Total Eclipse of the Full Moon: 10^th December 2011

Chilly and damp, but on the whole a quieter week; time to pause and  catch our breath.  We’ll need to.

3^rd Quarter Moon: 18^th December 2011

Back to square one again!  Cold drenching rain just when we don’t need it, and I wouldn’t be surprised at thunder and lightning.  Don’t drive over the moors this week, as you may meet snow!

New Moon: 24^th December 2011

A  raw damp Yuletide.  It should be cold but Venus comes crystallized with frosty sprinkles this week, so there should be fun to be had despite the arctic conditions.  It may even be a White Christmas.

1^st Quarter Moon: 1^st January 2011

And at least it will be a fine dry start to 2012, albeit a bit gusty.  Mercury and Mars whip up quite a wind, but our New Year chart has benevolent Jupiter in the driving seat, and he always brings pleasant weather, at least for most of the 1st week.  I do like a happy ending!!

Caroline Allen (August 2011)

 

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Heavens Above! Spring 2011

East Devon

21^st March  to 21^st June

 

“Summer makes me drowsy.  Autumn makes me sing.  Winter’s pretty lousy, but I hate Spring.”

(So said Dorothy Parker)

 

And well she might if she had to live through this coming one!

Because the UK has an unusual planetary configuration on the Vernal Equinox this spring; a tight conjunction of the Sun and Uranus sandwiched between Mars and Jupiter, with Jupiter himself opposing Saturn.  

By my reckoning this heralds a cold wet and stormy season, so don’t cast your clouts until I tell you to!  There will be a few weeks of bright, clear and pleasant weather in early May and again in early June, but because the Sun conjunct Uranus is a ‘cold but dry weather breeder’ it inclines to sudden reversals of temperature with unseasonably sharp cold snaps.  Jupiter opposing Saturn through March and April inclines to dismal low pressure and chronic damp but add Mars into the mix, and we are in for some record breaking thunderstorms in Britain this spring.  One of which could even rival the great hurricane of 1987.  So batten down the hatches!  You have been warned.

Full Moon at Perigee, 19^th March 2011

A blustery week, with possibly heavy precipitation after the 19^th when the Moon comes in tight to the Earth and her gravitational power increases seismic activity.  Low pressure builds up with clouds and rain mainly in the daytime but a watch out for a hard frost at night.

3^rd Quarter Moon, 26^th March 2011

An extremely cold, wet and stormy week with rain expected from early evening until around 2am the following morning. Gales and heavy downfall cover most of the country, with difficult travelling conditions, especially around 30th.  We may even get some late snow up on the high ground.

New Moon, 3^rd April 2011

A conjunction of Mars and Uranus at the New Moon brings ripping winds for East Devon and tornados elsewhere.  Destructive, stormy conditions prevail as this New Moon opposes Saturn; rain will only add to our misery, but count your blessings because we will be luckier than most.  Destructive weather patterns following seismic or volcanic activity experienced elsewhere in the world will fill the media headlines over the coming month.

First Quarter Moon, 11^th April 2011

A mixed week with more of the same I am afraid. But I think the Sun should poke his head out for a couple of  days, if only to lull us into a false state of security!

Full Moon, 18^th April 2011

Watch out for violent wind damage this week.  Mars clashing with Saturn bites hard. Storm damage could whip up media frenzy in the UK but expect to read about yet more extreme weather patterns and other natural phenomena  around the Pacific rim.

3^rd Quarter Moon, 25^th April 2011

A miserably damp and dismal sort of week, with a spiteful east wind. Hang on in there!

New Moon, 3^rd May 2011

Aaaaah!  At last, a burst of sunshine!  Pleasant,  warm and balmy weather with early morning humidity dispersed by gentle afternoon breezes; cast off your winter woollies and wear a smile instead -   Spring is here! 

1^st Quarter Moon, 10^th May 2011

High pressure moves in bringing bright skies with cold nights, but rising temperatures pull in some warm, dry and sunny days

Full Moon, 17^th May 2011

I thought it was too good to last! The rising temperatures could produce stormy day-time conditions with short staccato bursts of rain from the 20^th.

3^rd Quarter Moon, 24^th May 2011

If it didn’t rain last week, it will this!  Steady ‘farmers rain’ should be the forecast.  At least it will fill the reservoirs up!

New Moon, 1^st June 2011

A lovely warm, dry, clear and sunny week.  Enjoy!

1^st Quarter Moon, 9^th June 2011

Unsettled, with the chance of a shower, but otherwise very pleasant.

Eclipse of the Full Moon, 15^th June 2011

Warm, and dry for the most part if perhaps a bit sultry.

3^rd Quarter Moon, 23^rd June 2011

A mixed week with turbulent conditions, and possibly a thunderstorm.  Downfall most likely during the evening through to early the following day.  There should be some sunshine to dry up all the rain though. According to some astronomers, this week Wednesday will occur twice. They say such a thing happens only once every 60,000 years, and, although they don’t know why it occurs, they’re glad they have an extra day to figure it out.

Enjoy the weather!

Caroline Allen

 

 January, February, March 2011

 Dirty days hath September
 April June and November
 From January up to May
 The rain it raineth every day
 All the rest have thirty-one
 Without a blessed gleam of sun
 And if any of them had two-and-thirty
 They’d be just as wet and twice as dirty

No, it’s not déjà vu all over again! 

If you remember, this time last year we spent a month shovelling four inches of what the pundits forecast as “partly cloudy” from our pavements.  But although we are in for more bleakly cold weather with high velocity winds, and above average precipitation, it will not be quite so penetratingly cold for quite so long this winter, and the dirty wet days that do occur will alternate with quieter spells of sparkling brilliance.  The bad news is that these days only sparkle squeaky clean because they follow a scrub-a-dub-dubbing by sleet, storms, gales, blizzards and just possibly, a hurricane!  It is going to be a very turbulent and invigorating few months, with alternating hot and cold fronts colliding like dodgems causing the heavens above to ignite and burst, thus giving us lot down below a right scouring. 

January

A kaleidoscopic pattern of weather awaits us at the turn of the year.  Power lines blow down as time-tables screw up caused no doubt by the wrong type of snow on the lines (for travellers searching for missing suitcases the astronomical theory is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage).   We could see some really weird and wacky kinds of weather in the first two weeks of the year with heavy snowfall early on interspersed with sparklingly bright periods of brilliant sunshine.   A sharp rise in temperature around the 11^th – 13^th is a classic recipe for a thunderstorm when an ebullient hot front meets a cold wet one.  This complex pattern of shifting conditions smoothes out after the Full Moon of the 19^th, and the latter part of January should be much drier than the first.  There will be a few gloomy grey days of glowering skies and biting east winds but these will be punctuated with just the right sort of  bright sunshiny days which make us itch to get out and plunge into the countryside.  

February

Turbulent skies threaten hail at the start of the month, but I think the clouds could be all mouth and no trousers.  In fact the first three weeks of February appear to be very much drier and sunnier than usual as Jupiter blows away the clouds and brings delightful weather of the kind that makes being outdoors so agreeable.  Things may go pear shaped from 24^th however.  We might escape the battering that the Northern part of the country will get in the last week, but we won’t get off scot free. I anticipate a tail-end swipe from a squall at most, and a disturbed atmosphere at the least.  

March

Liquorice allsorts weather patterns at the start of March, with sporadic cold severe conditions alternating with what looks to be downright glorious weather!  There could indeed be a very pleasant few days in the second week once we have mopped up a few localized difficulties.  Dry from the 12^th onwards, but the ground will still be wet.  Mud or landslides and such like could be in the news, and a rise in temperature could make the atmosphere feel rather humid and claggy.   The dark clouds slither back after the 19^th as a low pressure system works its way into the Equinox bringing dank and dismal conditions in its wake.  Downpours could be quite intense at the end of the month.  Expect a deluge just as soon as they put a ban on hosepipes.  Roll on Summer!  Which brings me to a point of etiquette I have been puzzling over: if you see  a heat wave, should you wave back? 

Caroline Allen

 Caroline Allen  Dip. LSA; M.A.P.A.I. has been studying astrology since she was 11 years old  but gained her professional qualifications with the internationally acclaimed Faculty of Astrological Studies and the London School of Astrology in 1995 and 2002. She started to teach and give professional consultations in 1995, and recognizing a growing need for predictive synthesis for her clients Caroline then went on to a further study of ‘traditional’ astrology and received her  “Horary Craftsman Diploma” in 2003 from English Master Astrologer, John Frawley.

Caroline has currently set aside her teaching commitments and now has a professional practice offering predictive astrological advice to her worldwide clientele.  She is currently studying Astrometeorology,  the art of Long Range Weather Forecasting.