Why is Thailand in such a mess? If you thought it was because the economy has been woefully mismanaged, you would be wrong. The nation's ill-fortune was actually caused by Rahu, the god of shadow, who descended upon the nation during a total solar eclipse in 1995 and has wreaked havoc ever since.
At least, that is apparently the view of Khunying Phankrua, the sometimes eccentric wife of Thai prime minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh. In June, she held a five-hour ceremony to placate Rahu at the Chavalits' new home in northern Bangkok.
Did it work? Hardly. To avert economic meltdown, Thailand has been forced to seek a multi-billion-dollar bail-out from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other lenders, including Hong Kong. Beset by political turmoil, the Chavalit administration still looks set to go down as one of the most corrupt and unpopular in recent Thai history.
One reason, say critics, is because the deeply superstitious Mr Chavalit and his fellow leaders are spending more time gazing at the stars than attending to the country.
According to his wife, Mr Chavalit consulted a Tibetan fortune-teller before resigning his army post to run as a politician. This admission was reminiscent of the unsettling 1988 revelation that American First Lady Nancy Reagan was consulting a San Francisco astrologer before arranging her husband Ronald's schedule.
Now prime minister, Mr Chavalit's stars apparently still dictate many of his political decisions. A recent cabinet reshuffle revolved entirely around multiples of the number five, which a Burmese numerologist once told Mr Chavalit was his lucky number. There were 15 changes in the new cabinet, announced at 1505 hours on August 15.
