The ancients were fascinated by the perfect order of the heavens. They watched as the planets moved with impeccable precision along their predetermined tracks, and given such an orderly arrangement, it seemed to them but a small step to the idea that divine energy must be manifested in some way in this celestial synchronicity. In due course it was believed possible to forecast the destiny of a human individual by the aspect of the stars and planets at the hour and place of birth.
The most important part of the sky for a new-born infant was the ascendant, the part of the sky immediately below the eastern horizon. The planet or sign of the zodiac in the ascendant at the moment of its birth was reckoned to have a crucial effect upon its life.
The astrological planets, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the sun, Venus, Mercury and the moon, each had their own particular influence, Jupiter being the most propitious and Saturn the most unfavourable. Thus, depending on the celestial alignment at the time of birth, a person might be saturnine, or jovial, or of a mercurial disposition, words which have a familiar ring even to this very day.
But a famous 17th-century German cleric by the name of Moritz Knauer took this notion even further. He was of the view that the planets governed not just our lives, but all our weather, too, each of the known heavenly bodies taking its turn as the prime influence on the meteorological conditions for a year.
Thus there was the Venusjahr, the year of Venus, the Mondjahr, the year of the Moon, the Jupiterjahr, and so on, all beginning at the vernal equinox of the year in question, and each with weather conforming to an allegedly predetermined pattern.
1998, as it happens, is das Merkurjahr, the year of Mercury, as indeed was 1991, 1984 and so on back to Knauer's time itself. According to him, a Mercury year is characterised by a changeable summer with only a few days of really hot weather, which some might say describes conditions fairly well.
But what does Dr Knauer say about the rest of 1998? According to him, the autumn of a Mercury year begins with heavy rains, and the succeeding winter is severe and harsh. October, however, often ushers in a very dry period which may last until the middle of December, after which there is usually widespread snow and severe frosts well into February.
So there you have the latest long-range forecast. Remember that you saw it first in Weather Eye.