Mercury on the Threshold: What Happened

It is time, now that the Moon has reached third-quarter, to review the Manila charts and what happened in the period between the 12th-19th of December. Here is the Full Moon chart we looked at:

Full Moon: Manila, 12 Dec. 2009, 4:36pm GMT

We originally looked for earthquake activity and then later included the development of typhoon activity. It would be too early to judge whether the list of questions used as orientation for prediction is valid. One set of charts is not enough, and then historical events need to be looked at more intensively. But we can make a few general observations of developments during this period. During this period most earthquake activity in the region was about 10 degrees latititude to the south and generally between 125-130 degrees longitude. At least three earthquakes of magnitude 4.6, 5.0 and 5.3 occured in the Moluccan Sea near the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. Interesting also, is the path that Typhoon Ulysses took. It seemed , if you look at the track of the typhoon, as if the 130th meridian formed a barrier which prevented landfall. This will have to be explored more intensely, but it seems to me that a 1 degree conjunction, and that outside of the 4th house, is not enough to bring focal activity. Both Mercury (and Pluto, if you will) are 1 degree outside of the 4th house and to the east. Had they been tucked just within the 4th house then Manila might have been a focus. Ulysses was a violent storm, if you read the BBC weather report from the 15th of December, the correspondant says:

Earlier this morning the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGSA) issued a typhoon warning for shipping in the area. The storm is already being laid partly to blame for the capsizing of a passenger ferry, which encountered heavy seas off the northern Philippines at the weekend

I set a chart for the full Moon of Ternate, Sulawesi, Indonesia, which is the closest town to the earthquake epicentres mentioned above. This is not conclusive but the antiscia of the T-Square between Saturn, Sun and Moon fall on the angles. The antiscia of the Sun and Moon are tucked just inside the 4th/10th house axis. The 5.3 magnitude earthquake on the 18th of December also has the antiscion of the Sun tucked just within the 4th house. When looking at the charts I asked myself what role Mars might have had and asked myself on which meridian the antiscion of Mars would have been if it were placed directly on the IC. Interestingly enough an IC at 10 Capricorn 52 (the antiscion of Mars) would have 130e03 as the meridian. This is more or less the meridian position that Ulysses had when it was upgraded from a tropical storm to a Typhoon on December 15. I will be paying more attention to antiscia in my further research into this theme. So another question has to be added to the list:

“What effect, if any, do the antisica have in weather and earthquake charts?”

Critical Earthquake Period, Update

Dear readers!

Just a short update. Most earthquake activity up to now has been along the 123rd meridian. But there is another development which we can carefully observe and that is the tropical storm “Ulysses” that is on the doorstep of the Philippines. “Ulysses” is slowly moving west, for latest updates you can check here:

Could the Mercury /IC conjunction be more an indicator of storm activity, strong winds, rather than earthquake (“winds” in the earth) activity? Here is a situation where Pluto is also on the IC. This would be indicative of violent and extreme activity. At the moment of writing no public storm warnings have been given as “Ulysses” might still verve towards the Northwest, depending on which forecast tracks you look at. We will have to wait for new developments.

Once the critical period is over, until the next third quarter Moon, I will review what has happened and examine the charts.

best wishes,
Thomas

Earthquake and Prediction: How do they Fit Together?

With all its refinements, modern seismology is not able to predict with absolute certainty the time and place of an earthquake. There are only probablities. But then, even after centuries, there is no generally accepted astrological method. If this were so, and if it were reliable then it would have been put to general practice long ago.

One problem is that astrology has been discredited. It is no longer considered a ‘serious’ science, and certainly anyone who wants to avoid the stigma of superstition avoids it. Astrology is no longer offered in the curriculum of renowned universities, where once it was considered respectable. And so it has been relegated to the private study and yes, also to the fairground both real and virtual. Because it has become a private interest it is more strongly influenced by whims and fashions, although even august scientific circles are not immune to this. This explains why there are so very many different schools, even within a particular tradition, and also explains why astrologers quite often are not in agreement as to which factors in reading a chart are relevant and critical.

There is also another danger when one enters into the realm of prediction, and that is that prediction is given an almost supernatural flavour when it is correct, or when it is wrong is immediately exposed to ridicule. Who wouldn’t want to be able to make clear and accurate predictions that may genuinely be of some help to other human beings? And who is immune to renown? Which scientist would reject the Nobel Prize? Or which astologer would reject the general acclaim of his or her peers or the general public? Very few. But if acclaim is a central motive then objectivity will soon be lost and the only important thing is that one once got a prediction right overlooking those that were wrong or never even made.

I think that when approaching earthquake prediction there should be a certain measure of humility. This means that one speaks of critical periods and critical regions because there is no absolute reliable method which can be applied to all instances (or at least not yet!). If you click on the link to “latest earthquakes” you will find that there are worldwide more than 10 earthquakes a day, many 5 or 6 on the Richter Scale. No one person has the time and resources to cover this much spatial and temporal territory! The first step, and there we must be thankful there is such a thing as scientific method, is to examine our premises and then to set up a working framework with which to examine seismic phenomena from an astrological standpoint (any seismologist who reads this would probably roll his eyes at the mention of astrology, but then again he might also be asked to examine his premises).

In the past articles on the theme of earthquakes I have asked the following:

• Does a perigee Moon have an influence on seismic activity?
• What influence does Mercury, the traditional earthquake planet have?
• Can Mercury along with Mars and Saturn be used alone or should the modern ‘outer’ planets be included?
• Do the outer planets have an influence? And if so, what.
• How effective are the various mundane charts that belong to the traditional astrological repetoire? Are they all effective or are some more effective than others and which ones can be ignored?
• How long does it take for a celestial event to take effect? Is it immediate? For example when a Full Moon is perfected, or are there other factors that delay?
• How exact must a conjunction to the IC/MC axis be
• What effect do the Nodes of the Moon have?
• When can a technique or combination of techniques be considered consistently reliable?

This is my present working framework. It may have to be corrected, in fact it is more than likely it has to be corrected!

I would like to demonstrate some of these considerations based on three charts for another region that is more or less on the same meridian as Manila and where close to the last perigee Moon almost Full Moon (November 2008) an earthquake of the magnitude of 7.3 occured. So we have a Mars/Saturn Conjunction chart that is more or less similar to that of Manila, in that the Moon’s Nodes are on the IC/MC axis and the Mars/Saturn conjunction is in the 4th house. On the pre-quake Full Moon you will note that the IC/MC axis is at 29 Gemini/29 Sagittarius the postion of Mercury in the Mars/Saturn Conjunction. The earthquake itself occured 3 days later Mercury was at the midpoint between the Nodes (19 Scorpio) and IC/MC axis of the Mars/Saturn conjunction chart. Is this what gave the earthquake its timing? Here are the charts:

Mars/Saturn Conjunction near Palehleh, Indonesia: 10 July, 2008 6:03 pm GMT

near Paleleh, Indonesia: Full Moon, Nov 13, 2008 6:16 am GMT

Earthquake near Paleleh, Indonesia (122e09, 1n27) 16 Nov, 2008 5:44:02 pm GMT

Critical Earthquake Period this December?

In the last articles we focused on a critical period for next year and 2014. We focused our attention on California. But there are other parts of the world that are also seismically active. Now one of the planetary movements that occupy many astrologers at the moment is the ingress of Pluto into Capricorn. As an astrologer who usually excludes the outer planets, allowing in mundane charts only the conjunction or opposition within 1 degree, as for a fixed star, it interests me to see whether this ingress has a notable effect, or not. After all, it is possible to get a bit worked up when hearing the word ‘Pluto’, with its reference to the underworld.

If you recall we looked at the Mars/Saturn conjunction in the last charts, which in traditional mundane astrology should not be ignored. It just so happens that in the last Mars/Saturn conjunction Mercury was in opposition to Pluto, and that only within a few minutes of arc.

In December, December 12th, to be precise, there is a notable astronomical event. We have a perigee Full Moon. This is indeed a critical period with the possibility of extreme bad weather, volcanic activity and other seismic activity. The question is, which regions of the earth are most in danger? Now in order to try to pinpoint things down I have searched for a region which had a notable conjunction on the MC/IC axis during the Mars/Saturn Conjunction and also where the lunation chart for Dec. 12th also has prominent MC/IC activity. If you recall Mercury, traditionally the earthquake planet, in the Mars/Saturn Conjunction was at 29 Gemini 51. Mercury (as well as his antiscion at 0 Cancer 08) will be in opposition to this position at 0 Capricorn 25 (within 34 minutes of arc) during the December lunation. Another reason to view this time as being critical.

The major city that has prominent activity in both the Mars/Saturn Conjunction chart and the December 12 lunation and is in a seismically critical region is Manila in the Philippines. (any region near the 120th eastern meridian will also have a similar MC/IC configuration, such as Kaohsiung or Taipei). Consider the following charts:

Manila-Mars/Saturn 10 Jul, 2008 6:03 pm GMT

You will note that the Nodes of the Moon are directly on the MC/IC axis. The Mars/Saturn Conjunction is also in the 4th house and Algol is close to the Ascendant.

Full Moon: Manila, 12 Dec. 2008, 4:36pm GMT

In this chart we have Mercury (and Pluto) occupying the IC. Jupiter in the 4th house. He is in fall in Capricorn. He is in square to the Moon of the Mars/Saturn Conjunction. Saturn, Lord of the 4th house is in close square to the Sun and Moon. He forms a T-Cross to them from the 12th house. We can only hope that these particular testimonies are not enough.

Earthquake prediction: Area Location?

I was recently asked offline why I chose San Francisco and not Los Angeles, which seems to be even more endangered. This is correct. If you remember my initial timing focus was given by a horary question. The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 is the only one that I remembered from geology lessons, ages ago. It is set in my mind as the archtypical Californian earthquake.

We took the following steps in our search:

1. Perigee Moon for the end of May 2009
2. Sample time close to this position with Moon activating the Mercury position, by conjunction, in the 2008 Small Conjunction chart for San Francisco.

You will notice that all of the charts are calculated for GMT. This has one advantage, the chart can then easily be adjusted for another position. This will be demonstrated in the next charts. But first let us make another adjustment in our search for critical times. We have different possibilities, one of the most significant points in these charts is the IC. This has a symbolical reason. The IC is the lowest point of any chart, it is the foundation on which everything else rests, appropriate when looking at the stability of that foundation. Another is to adjust for the position of Mercury, the earthquake planet. One of the mundane charts can be used for this. I will be demonstrating this by using the position of Mercury at 29 Gemini 51 in the Small Conjunction chart. The Moon is brought into exact conjunction with this point. The town that has been chosen is San Bernadino, California.

San Bernadino sample: 6:44 am GMT, 26 May 2009

Quite often in these charts other significant factors can be prominant. In this chart you will find that Mercury conjuncts the IC. Mercury also in opposition to the antiscion of the 2009 Solar Eclipse position of the eclipsed Sun (Sun/Moon). You will also note that the Nodes are conjunct the Asc/Desc. axis. We could say that this chart shows even more critical factors than the San Francisco chart that we looked at.

Now let us jump to another part of the world, using the same Moon position (GMT time) as the San Bernadino chart. Chengdu, the scene of this years terrible earthquake. Would May 26th also be a critical time for this region?

Chengdu sample: 6:44 am GMT, 26 May 2009

In this particular chart the Moon/Mercury position of Small Conjunction is in opposition to the IC. We can consider this a critical factor, although I think by far not as critical as in the San Bernardino chart. Mercury in this chart is not angular. I would, dear reader, welcome your thoughts on this.

For those readers who would like to pursue this further. The charts for Indonesia might be looked into as Indonesia is at the end of the January annular solar eclipse path.

As in my last article I would like to repeat:

We can only await developments to see what happens and whether the last week of May 2009 will be a normal Californian earthquake week (they are constantly happening) or whether there is increased violent earthquake activity.