Feeling Blue? Thank the Moon, Astrologers Say

Observers Link Event to Negativity

Perhaps you're having communication problems with your spouse or can't figure out your next career move. Maybe you just have an eerie sense that something ominous is on the horizon.

That eclipse you saw last night -- or didn't -- could be to blame.

A full lunar eclipse is a fraught symbol in the astrological world. One local criminal lawyer turned astrologer warned that it would trigger feelings of frustration. Another astrologer said it could foreshadow a terrorist attack in April.

A skeptic would call that hogwash, but half a dozen astrologers invited nonbelievers to review their past predictions, saying their results have been too accurate to be simply coincidence.

The first total lunar eclipse in more than two years was visible in the D.C. region between 5:54 and 6:38 last night, casting a crimson glow over the full moon. Lunar eclipses occur when the moon is obscured by the Earth's shadow.

Although partial eclipses occur about twice a year, total eclipses are rare because the moon is usually above or below the plane of Earth's orbit.

The occasional event does not hold any particular scientific value, NASA researchers said, but amateur and professional astrologers beg to differ. Any time a major celestial body is completely blocked, several astrologers said, humans are bound to feel the effects.

Christopher Warnock, a former criminal lawyer who now practices Renaissance astrology in Northwest Washington, said an eclipse is a negative symbol, though it does not personally affect all people.

"Just like the sun is the light of the day, the moon is the light of the night," Warnock said. "Any time you have one of the lights blotted out, that's not a good thing."

Warnock, who scoffs at what he considers the simplistic nature of most modern astrology, uses complicated software programs and reference books to determine the effects of celestial movements on people based on their date, time and place of birth. Most of his clients pay between $55 and $120 to ask whether they will be promoted, find their soul mate and deal with other life issues, he said. His practice attracts a cross section of Washingtonians -- although he's still waiting to work with his first member of Congress.

"I'm giving people negative news all the time, unlike modern astrologers whose whole approach is very optimistic," he said. "I look at a question and then look at a chart of the question, and the question relates to the answer because everything fits so perfectly together."

Asked whether people would receive bad news based on the lunar eclipse, Warnock said it would depend on their personal birth chart. People who have Virgo rising, he said, will be the most likely to suffer ill effects.