Shortly before last year’s presidential election, Jim Shawvan made a name for himself as one of the few astrologers who failed to predict a victory for either candidate. " Bush might be happy on election night, " he wrote, " but not so happy a few days later — and vice versa for Gore. "

At the beginning of 2001, the online astrology site StarIQ.com ran a series of predictions for the year ahead. " There will be high-profile marriages and affairs that completely upset the apple cart, " wrote one contributor. " An air of civility replaces 2000’s flamboyant displays, " wrote another. " [I]n response to anti-American violence, " wrote Shawvan, " [Bush] may judge it necessary to threaten or even use force in Afghanistan or Pakistan or both. "

Shawvan, 59, who has been practicing astrology for 32 years, describes himself as a " dabbler " in mundane astrology (which concentrates on societal events), and yet he had " seen " events that others in the field hadn’t. In an article on mountainastrologer.com, he went on to predict " a terrorist conflict, such as one involving Osama Bin Laden or similar characters, " which " might involve commandos on the ground. "

Despite the uncanny accuracy of his predictions, Shawvan insists that they are based on little more than know-how and common sense. " This is not intuitive, " he says. " This is purely an intellectual exercise. I check everything. I crosscheck all of my conclusions in more than a dozen different ways. "

The method Shawvan used to predict the recent conflicts, he explains, involved a combination of geodetic and astrolocality maps — astrological maps of the earth. " There was a Mars line going through Afghanistan, " he says. " If you know that in the past presidents tended to be involved in wars where Mars lines occur, and you look at the map and see a line going through Afghanistan and another going through the middle of the ocean and another going through Canberra, which one are you going to pick? You don’t have to be a genius to figure it out. You use your knowledge of the facts and then put things together. "

Though Shawvan insists that astrology has the potential for being an exact science ( " If you had enough accurate information and enough charts, you could predict when Uncle Fred is going to light his pipe " ), he says that no one could have foreseen the events of September 11 — the signs just weren’t there. He does, though, have a couple of dates next year that we should be on the alert for. " I think that the president is going to be in great personal danger around January 14 and July 18, " he says. " Those are very dangerous dates for George W. Bush. "

Well, thanks for cheering us up, Jim. Where are the unexpected windfalls? The tall dark strangers? " We all have a side of us that goes for wish fulfillment, that wants reality to be nice, " he says, " but I’ll leave that to the people who specialize in that kind of spiritual Pollyanna-ism. "

Shawvan goes on to add, though, that his recent successes — while terrific for his career — have left him with feelings of profound sorrow rather than professional pride. " I don’t think you want to be congratulating me on this one, " he says. " In this instance, I’m sorry I was right. "

Issue Date: October 11 - 18, 2001