First let me say that after living in North Carolina for many years I always take the hysteria over hurricane predictions with a grain of salt.  Predictive models have improved over the years, but like human behavior, nature has a way of being unpredictable.

That said, it appears fairly certain that the big storm heading towards the Atlantic coast over the next couple of days will bring widespread power outages and communication breakdowns.  As I wrote this summer:

In addition, Mercury stations retrograde on the day of the election which suggests that once again the results of the election will be unclear. Mercury stationed direct (meaning it had already been retrograde and then came to a standstill the day of the election before traveling forward again) on the day of the 2000 election which was hung up by voting machine failures and hanging chads.  During this 2012 election Mercury will be preparing to retrograde and go back over old issues and questions just as the election begins.  Mercury will be in Sagittarius which is associated with the entertainment industry and the court system, which suggests that once again election results could go back to court.  Mercury will be in a square to Neptune for a week or so before and after the election, indicating not only confusion over election localities and voter registration, but also suspected fraud and illegal wranglings.

This hurricane will combine with a cold front to bring snow and high winds that can knock down trees and power lines.  After a major storm it can take over a week to bring power to rural areas.  After Hurricane Fran we were out of power for over two weeks in our neck of the woods.  With the election hinging on Ohio voters, power failures that extend into that state WILL create the kind of Mercury retrograde havoc that astrologers have been predicting.

The Washington DC chart for the Full Moon that culminates this afternoon is very interesting.   Chiron (wounding and healing) and  Neptune (transcendent experience), both in Pisces, straddle the Pisces ascendant.  This is a very watery emphasis, suggesting fluidity and motion but also potential confusion.  Chiron and Neptune have been within five degrees of each other for several years now, working together to heal old wounds so that humanity can continue to move forward.   This conjunction trines the conjunction of the Sun and Saturn which is very positive for effective handling of the crisis.

However, Mars sits right on the Midheaven at the top of the chart with Jupiter at the IC, a configuration I wrote about a few days ago.  Loud arguing and conflict over the handling of a potential crisis caused by the storm is likely to overcome any potential working together to create healing and community that Chiron and Neptune would like to accomplish with the Sun/Saturn combination.

The Universe moves in mysterious ways, but always towards balance.  Sometimes the road we must take to achieve that balance is not the road we were expecting, and all we can do is watch and wait.