• 
• 

Published on January 2, 2008

Many are hopeful of better times in the Year of the Rat, but they may be disappointed, if astrologers have come up with the right reading.

The Nation's astrology columnist, Eugenia Last, says the Year of the Rat is for the opportunist, the proactive, the profiteer and the politician. This will be a year to keep a watchful eye on the crafty titans who run the world financially, intellectually and dictatorially.

The Rat is also a year of change, reform and a chance to put into practice a well-thought-out strategy.

Worldwide, it is a time when security will count and when the political and financial giants will want to protect what's theirs.

As for the average person, the Year of the Rat can be an opportunity to turn losses into gains and instability into security.

That sounds good enough.

But Thai astrologer Sorajja, whose prediction of the September 11 tragedy pushed him into the limelight, has come up with a very pessimistic reading.

Sorajja calls 2008 a year of total disaster. He says that generally the situation is worrying. Mars is in a position that threatens the Kingdom. To the astrologer, this indicates that all the hopes for stability after the election are in vain. Dark clouds are still hanging over the Kingdom. Many stars are sliding into gloom, indicating that the country will fall into another round of confrontation and greater division among the public.

He also says the situation will teeter out of control, and there could be another election this year.

If any powerful figure takes a shortcut to rule the country, he predicts another bloodbath like that on October 14, 1976, and this could come in April, if powerful people are not reconciled.

Other predictions may delight some and frighten others. Sorajja foresees snow in Thailand's North and Northeast and late this year a big earthquake will strike the South.

The world economy will slump, and the unemployment rate in Thailand will skyrocket.

"This will be 'the year of the bloody economy'," he says.

Sorry if I've ruined your holiday mood with doomsday forecasts. Still, though astrology springs from reading the stars, the stars may not be responsible for what happens in our land: a gloomy outlook may induce everyone to compromise.

achara_d@nationgroup.com

The Nation