More on Earthquakes
Zip Dobyns
Since the January quake in Northridge, I have heard from several astrologers who think another one is likely. I was especially interested in Ben’s article because he does work with a lot of asteroids, including several I have not investigated such as Khryses, Chryseis, Waterman, and Incidentia. The danger with depending on the horoscope of a political leader is that the patterns may relate to Clinton’s personal problems (or to problems remaining from the previous quake like the freeway bridges which are still being repaired plus many which did not collapse but need expensive retrofitting to prepare for future quakes). The asteroid Waterman aspecting Karma would fit the Whitewater affair, which is certainly a major headache at present, maybe serious enough to be called a crisis, so several of the asteroids listed in Clinton’s chart could fit that investigation.
Though I think that everything in astrology (and life) is potentially meaningful, not all of the asteroids will have a direct or close relationship to every person or situation. Clinton could be worried about the political fall-out in southern California resulting from the Whitewater uproar. He has to hold on to his votes in California to have any chance to be re-elected in 1996, and the mid-term elections this fall could also be crucial for the Democrats who could, conceivably, lose their majority in the Senate. A former Texas millionaire may run against Diane Feinstein, and he has shown his willingness to spend millions of his own money to buy the election.
Floods are always possible in the hills around Los Angeles, and in areas where the vegetation was burned in last year’s fires, heavy rain can create mud slides. However, the current concern is more with the possibility of drought. This year’s rainfall is well below average so far, and we could face water rationing again.
I was intrigued by Ben’s reference to Efferin’s Ascendant for the U.S. chart since it is on the Descendant of my “new” chart for the Declaration of Independence. The fall 1993 issue of Asteroid-World was devoted to my Sagittarius rising chart which is working more effectively than any I have tested.
Astrology is fantastic in its ability to show timing and issues, but guessing details is always risky. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to guess. We learn by trying something and by revising our ideas if it doesn’t work consistently.
I have written previously about Ann Parker’s research on earthquakes. She has found Mars, Pluto, and/or Uranus on the angles of eclipses which occurred shortly before a big quake and were calculated for the quake area. She uses both the angles calculated for normal zodiacal longitude and the geodetic angles. The latter are a permanent association of a degree in geographic longitude with a degree in the zodiac. Several systems have been endorsed by different astrologers in the past. Most astrologers have associated zero Aries with zero longitude at Greenwich, England, though some began the zodiacal circle at the longitude of the great pyramid in Egypt. Some astrologers extend the zodiac east from Greenwich so Aries is over most of Europe, Taurus continues over Russia, etc. Others extend the zodiac to the west so Aries is over Ireland and continues into the Atlantic Ocean; Taurus continues over the ocean, Gemini covers a section of the United States, etc. I have always been a bit skeptical about starting such a system at Greenwich since it was a quite recent decision in the 1880s to use the Greenwich meridian as the starting point for geographic longitude. But since I believe that ultimate reality is mental rather than physical, that our beliefs create our personal reality, it is possible that whatever we believe in will “work” for us. We “notice” the times when the world matches our theories and ignore the other times.
An astrologer in the L.A. area thinks that aspects in the September lunation show the potential for another big quake. I have been looking at May 1994 when there will be several squares to the Uranus-Mars-Neptune conjunction at the time of the quake plus the Sun and the lunar nodes will aspect the Saturn-Pluto square in the quake chart. One of our problems is the sheer number of times when quakes are being predicted by both astrologers and psychics. When many possible dates have been offered, one of them could be right by chance but we would have a lot of what medicine calls “false positives,” when a diagnostic test indicates the presence of a disease but the person does not really have the illness. The patient is likely to worry a lot quite needlessly. It would be fantastic if we could learn to predict major quakes. It could save lives and push people into doing the reinforcing of structures that is needed, so I hope that astrologers will go on trying!
I am including the chart for the Northridge quake though most of our readers will probably have seen it already. Some of the most important asteroids for earthquakes do not seem sufficiently dramatic for me to have predicted it in advance. There were appropriate aspects to the angles at the time of the quake, but the angles move across every factor in the sky every 24 hours, so they do not help to select a date for an event. Asteroid Richter, the name of the man who developed the well-known scale for measuring earthquake magnitude, was conjunct Atlantis and opposite Vesta but it had just ended trines to Uranus-Neptune and was approaching a sextile to Pluto so even if I had been watching its aspects, I don’t think it would have rung any alarm bells for me. Gaea (the earth) is another asteroid I would expect to be featured in a quake, but its position in 17 Virgo 41 was almost unaspected though the Ascendant squared it some 10 to 20 minutes before the quake.
Some of the asteroids which could help to flag coming quakes did have relevant aspects. California in 4 Aries was forming an exact T-square to Angelina in Capricorn and Ani in Cancer. Ani was named for an ancient town destroyed in a quake. Reseda was also relevant, forming a yod to Pluto and Sun-Venus but it also formed a grand trine to Saturn and America. Geologists originally located the epicenter of the quake under Northridge but later decided that it was actually just over the line and under the town of Reseda. It is still called the Northridge quake and much of the damage and most of the deaths occurred there.
A network of aspects involving many factors such as the ones just mentioned which are all in 27 degrees of different signs is often an indication of something important. (Saturn is at 28 Aquarius but within the one-degree orb to Reseda.) Pele is also part of the network at 27 Leo. Both harmonious and stress aspects are typically included in such an interconnected set of aspects, and the event can be either positive or painful.
Ceres, like Vesta, can be a key to health. In the quake chart, Ceres was square Sun-Venus and Libitina (goddess of death) was octile both at their midpoint. There was also an appropriate grand cross in cardinal signs with ARA (named for the American Relief Administration which provided help for a crisis in Europe) and Phaethon (who overreached and crashed) at 6 Aries; CalTech (named for the University in Pasadena which is a center for earthquake studies) at 7 Cancer; Hel (a Norse goddess associated with death) at 7 Libra; and Psyche (which I have often found associated with self-pity and helplessness) at 7 Capricorn. The earthquake MC at 6 Libra tied in to this set of asteroids with overlapping orbs connecting all of the factors into a network. Also part of the pattern was Poseidon (considered the source of earthquakes in the ancient world as Ben mentioned in his article) and Helio at 21 Aquarius so they were trioctile the MC. The quake West Point (opposite the East Point) was conjunct Ani within one degree and Ani was opposite Angelina (as already stated) within one degree, so another relevant network was formed.
The Moon was just approaching a square to Angelina which was at 3 Capricorn 42. In the hours following the quake, the Moon moved through stress aspects to the cardinal cross as people looked for help, tried to assess the damages and contact their relatives, looked for lost pets, etc.
Other asteroids included Pasadena which was conjunct Saturn along with Biela and West. Biela is one of our newest asteroids and it may, along with Gubbio and Tunguska, be a key to catastrophes. All three are connected to possible collisions of asteroids or comets with the earth. Gubbio was conjunct California within 6 minutes of longitude as well as square Angelina. Tunguska at 5 Pisces had mostly harmonious aspects though it was quincunx the MC. Asteroid Wilson, our state governor’s name, was at 25 Scorpio, lacking stress aspects except for a quincunx to Ceres. Asteroid Dunant, named for the founder of the Red Cross, which was very involved in relief efforts, had an appropriate square to Saturn from 28 Scorpio, just over one degree past Pluto. Asteroid Edison was also relevant at 22 Capricorn conjunct Mars and Uranus. The quake caused widespread outages of electric power.
Hindsight usually provides 20/20 vision, but unless someone is prepared to spend an enormous amount of time watching the constantly changing patterns in the sky, foresight is likely to remain elusive. Some day we may have a computer program which will alert us when networks of aspects are forming involving the potentially relevant ones. Until that time, work such as Ann Parker’s which uses eclipses and cardinal ingresses may be our best bet.
When the May 10, 1994 solar eclipse is calculated for Los Angeles, Neptune is just over one degree from the Descendant with Uranus just three degrees farther. The south node of Pluto is exactly on the Descendant. Mars and Pallas oppose Juno and they square the Ascendant within about two or three degrees. Saturn is octile Uranus exactly so it is connected widely to the rest of the cardinal cross. The lunar nodes are octile-trioctile the MC-IC. Among the potentially relevant asteroids are Libitina at 22 Aries square the Ascendant, Richter at 8 Virgo trioctile Neptune, and California conjunct Mercury (for media attention) and Ventura, a town north of L.A., as well as square Chiron which is sometimes associated with healing. Angelina at 5 Aquarius 57 is trine Ceres and the L.A. Antivertex, so it does not look threatening. However, Wilson in 10 Sagittarius is exactly square Saturn. Of course, this might just signify Governor Wilson’s struggle for re-election. America is trioctile Mercury and Washington(ia) is opposite Vesta. These aspects could simply refer to the continuing concern about jobs.
In summary, there are enough aspects to show the potential for a quake but not so many that I would want to predict one. I suspect we still have quite a lot of work to do before we will be able to pinpoint future quakes without a lot of scatter-gun false positives; that is, dates which look formidable but on which nothing happens, at least nothing which is earth-shaking.