Eugene astrologer Johanna Mitchell has two keywords for the world in 2002: Confusion and uncertainty. But Mitchell hopes these mental states will cause people to re-evaluate and make room for peace.
Mitchell gave her predictions for the Eugene community and commented on some world events Wednesday night at Tsunami Books. She said 2002 will not be an easy year and people will certainly be glad when its over, but that doesn’t mean good things can’t happen.
“If you can offer to the world something to be optimistic about, this is a great year,” she said.
One of Mitchell’s optimistic predictions was for the University: funding will increase sometime in May or June. Mitchell said although the odds for the University receiving money may look slim right now, “it’s in the chart.”
The chart Mitchell reads contains the location of the planets at the time of a person’s birth. In the case of Eugene, it is the date the city was founded. Mitchell then uses the interplay between the cycle of the planets in the current year and the individual chart to predict events by noticing dominant forces created by the planets’ interaction.
The planets also have good fortune in store for Eugene, possibly in the form of a Hollywood film. After some fun suggestions from the audience, a consensus was reached that the subject matter of the movie would be the late Ken Kesey — to be played by Robert Redford.
This kind of specificity was said only in jest, as astrology is not an exact science. Mitchell said it is more like philosophy than anything else. Still, looking back on the events of Sept. 11, Mitchell expressed a certain regret about occasionally being right.
At last year’s reading, Mitchell predicted trouble late in the year. Eugene resident Rosanne Raymond recalled that Mitchell had specifically mentioned the strong possibility of war for October 2001.
“I thought she had really missed the mark. The country was doing so well that war seemed a long way away,” Raymond said.
Fellow astrologer Gary Rabideau, who was in attendance for “professional support,” said the predictions made during astrological readings should be taken as suggestions, like a weather report.
“You can tell someone it’s going to rain tomorrow, and they’ll still go out in a swimsuit,” he said.
Mitchell takes an active stance in the community, which is why she organizes this annual event as a fundraiser for Food for Lane County. Wednesday’s reading raised $700 for the charity.