So far this year, investors have nothing to wail about, what with the market off to a rousing start that has seen some major averages streaking to multi-year highs.

It’s as if rising interest rates, the uncertain economy, the serious cracks in the housing market, the lack of signs of an end to the three-year Iraq war, the country’s skyrocketing debt, and the mounting geopolitical risks were the figment of someone’s wild imagination.

Bulls are everywhere, and grandiose predictions from the bullish camp seem to be swelling, prompting eager investors to pump billions more into stock mutual funds. One such bull was the subject of my Friday column: market guru Elaine Garzarelli, who predicted that stock prices would surge at least 20% over next 12 months.

Over the weekend, I got a strong dissenting note – not, as you might expect, from another guru, but from the stars.

It came from a fellow who has made some pretty remarkable calls over the years, Henry Weingarten, who heads of the Astrologers Fund, a 28-year-old New York-based private advisory service for professional investors that tracks planetary movements and also factors in fundamental and technical market trends.

His outlook is frightening: “Hell is just ahead!” Within the next 30 to 40 days, he says, stocks will start a significant decline that over the next 100 days will push the Dow below 10,000 (versus Friday’s close of 11,279) and the Nasdaq Composite under 2,000 (versus 2,306). Overall, Mr. Weingarten sees at least a 10% skid in each of these averages.

“Astrologically, we’re moving into an extremely high-risk period,” he says, adding that the readings he’s getting from the planets, three in particular, are quite ominous.

On March 29, he explains, there will be a total solar eclipse, which will set in motion a dramatic planetary shift. Likewise, Pluto, a power planet, is changing direction. Further, Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune have formed a T-square, representing a major alignment that’s coming at the same time as the eclipse. He also notes that the formation of Saturn opposite Neptune is reminiscent of the one that occurred during the 1989 real estate recession. Mr. Weingarten is already on record as having forecast a rash of real estate bankruptcies across the country over the next couple of years.

If you’re about to write all this off as gobbledygook, thinking our astrologist ought to be carted off by the men in the white suits, stop! His record clearly merits a respectful contemplation of his views. He accurately predicted, two years in advance, the crashes that took place in the Japanese and Hong Kong markets and has made innumerable super calls on gold, which he thinks is on the way to $800 an ounce.

Likewise, on March 7 of last year, with the Dow at around 10,950, he forecast a major market decline. He was right on the mark. About six weeks later, on April 21, the Dow tested the 10,000 level. On April 21, with the Dow hovering around 10,000, he predicted a sizable May rally. Bull’s-eye again. In May, the market boomed as the Dow rose about 500 points.

Aside from his astrological worries, Mr. Weingarten is concerned about the country’s debt problems, which he sees worsening given the swelling, out-of-control budget deficit and the rising costs to maintain an increasingly expensive Iraq war. He also looks for a dollar crisis over the next year, abetted by a probable mid-year end to the Fed’s current credit-tightening cycle and a likely upward revision of the Chinese yuan. Mr. Weingarten also points out that each of the last three Fed chairmen had to contend with a dollar crisis in the first three to six months of their terms.

His planetary readings also suggest a large likelihood of violence against American interests, either onshore or offshore, that could lead the country into an additional military conflict.

Mr. Weingarten further contends the American economy is not as strong as it’s cracked up to be, and he believes the high energy costs will cut more deeply into corporate profits and add to inflationary pressures.

His advice on how to cope with the next 100 days: Own a little gold, be more conservative, have more cash and less risky Nasdaq stocks, and focus on companies with low debt and lots of cash. “If you want to waltz on the Titanic,” he says, “you really have to know where the lifeboats are.”