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What the Stars Have in Store for NYC in 2013

By Mary Johnson | January 4, 2013 7:08am

NEW YORK — Just a few days into 2013, what the new year holds for the city remains a mystery. Will it be a good year or a bad one? What’s in store for the economy and for the city’s sports teams? Who will be the next mayor?

There’s no way to know for sure until the year gets rolling, but DNAinfo.com New York consulted an astrologer to find out what's in the stars for the next 12 months.

Shelley Ackerman, a professional astrologer for the past 21 years, consulted an astrological chart for the Big Apple based on the city’s birth time and date — midnight on Jan. 1, 1898, which was the moment the five boroughs were officially united under the umbrella of New York City. 

“That moment had Jupiter in Libra rising, which gives a certain ongoing cultural stamp to the city and ongoing luck,” said Ackerman, who lives in Turtle Bay and writes for TheAesthete.com. “That’s the big spiritual gift of New York, and that’s not ever going to change.”

But other aspects of the city will change in 2013, Ackerman said. Below, she doles out her predictions, based on the movement and alignment of the planets.

MAYORAL RACE

The biggest political change on New York’s horizon is the departure of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who will finish out his third term this fall.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is one prospective candidate for the Democratic ticket, and Ackerman said Quinn's birth during the cultural revolution of the 1960s — July 25, 1966, to be exact — gives her an edge over the competition.

“We’re in a similar energy as we were in the mid-'60s," she said. "It’s a revolutionary kind of energy. She’s very emblematic of the time.”

Jupiter will also move into the sign of Cancer around June, which typically bodes well for women, Ackerman added.

On the other hand, former MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota, who is mulling a run for mayor on the Republican ticket, is experiencing the second return of Saturn in his astrological chart, which Ackerman described as a time when karma kicks in.

“If we’ve earned it, we get it,” Ackerman explained. “It can be a very trying time, but it could also be a time when you reap what you’ve sown, good, bad and indifferent.”

So, should both Quinn and Lhota proceed further into the mayoral race, the question will be whether Lhota’s karma can overpower Quinn’s astrological strengths.

“With Lhota, he is more of a throwback, so the question will become on election day, are New Yorkers up for a throwback or are we up for something new?” Ackerman said. “In general, the trend is we’re going for something new.”

FOOD AND CULTURE

Jupiter’s transition into the sign of Cancer around June is not just good for women, but it’s also a positive shift for the food industry in New York.

Ackerman said the second half of 2013 will be an excellent time for city's culinary scene, and New Yorkers can expect a slew of new restaurant openings in the last six months of 2013 and moving into 2014.

That will help support the city’s economy, which Ackerman expects to do better in the later months of the year as well.

And some time in April, Ackerman said the city can also expect to move in a new direction culturally. An innovator or two should appear around that time and make a big difference in the city’s cultural conversation.

SPORTS

There’s good news for Yankees fans, too.

Although Ackerman declined to predict the success of the overall season, she said the Yankees’ season opener on April 1 at 1:05 p.m. against the Boston Red Sox looks like it will be “something joyful to celebrate.”

“The chart for the opening day is exhilarating,” she said. “And whether it means that the Yankees win that season or not, I have no idea, but it’s a very auspicious chart, and it bodes well for the season for New York’s oldest team.”

INFRASTRUCTURE

Although things are looking up for sports fans and foodies, the city should also use 2013 to shore up its infrastructure, which had its various weaknesses fully exposed during Hurricane Sandy, Ackerman said.

Pluto figures prominently in New York's chart for 2013, and that planet signifies all things underground, meaning the subways, electrical systems and structural foundations, Ackerman explained.

Its presence indicates that New York should be focusing on solidifying its roots before another disaster strikes, she added.

“There’s just too much activity on the angles of the chart to think in terms of the same old, same old. We’re being transformed,” Ackerman said. “That’s why it's so important to shore up infrastructure. [The city is] changing, whether we like it or not.”