World Astrology Network

7.1 Earthquake Levels Port Au Prince

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When reading any kind of chart, wise astrologers always start with the first house. The Ascending degree marks the ‘go’ point in any astrological map. After all, ours is the study of beginnings, and the Ascendant marks the symbolic  dawn, the first light of the new day. This is because, in order to properly evaluate any given situation,  we are constantly returning to this place. In a sense, it is the alpha and the omega of the charts.  This because it represents the one portion of the body we cannot live without, our head.

Just as a person cannot live without a head, so too, a country can hardly be called a country, were it not for the people who live there. Thus, in their wisdom,  the ancients designated the first house and all planets within its borders, and the Moon to represent the citizenry. Whenever we evaluate charts, especially charts for sorrowful events like this, we try to gauge at the strength of  people represented by first house, its ruler, and celestial markers placed within its borders, and the Moon. We then contrast the strength or weakness of  the people of Haiti, with those things that can kill or maim them. These are the rulers, and tenants of the 8th house, and the 4th.

With ultra sensitive Cancer rising on the cusp of this all important house,  the planet of mothers, Moon will be doubly emphasized. Like a vampire, the Dragon’s Tail in the first, sucks the verve of the people dry.  Placed in  Cancer, it brings helplessness to the people of Port Au Prince. Because the Moon rules the Ascendant, it is doubly emphasized. Placed in what the ancients called a cadent house, she has little or no ability to act on her own. If this were not enough, the  6th house is the place of illness and servitude. In addition to this, the Moon has just separated from a square to the planet of shock, Uranus. Even worse,  the Moon at 27 Sagittarius,   is smack dab on the antiscion of deadly, Pluto at 3 Capricorn. John Frawley says that planets on each others antiscions act as sort of ’shadow’ conjunctions.  It is this combination, that cements the pull of long finger of death, taking the people down into his earthly grave. The Moon does apply to one good planet,  Jupiter. However, the application by sextile is weak. In addition, located in the house of death, and without essential strength, and since Jupiter is in Aquarius, a sign ruled by the deadly Saturn, the benefic Jupiter  turns malefic, magnifying the horrors.

Looking by contrast at the harbingers of death (rulers of the 4th and the 8th) it becomes very clear that  death is much stronger than life.  At the time of Haiti’s Earthquake, the deadly 8th cusp had Aquarius on the cusp, as such, Saturn (for better precision, traditionalists stick to traditional rulerships) owns the death charge.   In this case, Saturn is in Libra, its sign of exaltation. When we think of strength, most revert to sign of rulership, such as Saturn ruling the signs, Capricorn, and Aquarius.  When a planet is in its own sign, we can say it is at home. Its comfortable in its own skin. On the other hand, when a planet is in the sign its exaltation, the function of the planet is charged. Its powers are so exaggerated that they pack a ‘whallop.’ Some ancients like the great, M’ashallah considered exaltations to be stronger than ownership.  Whether exaltation signs are stronger than rulership, is debatable. What we do know for certain, is that when the deadly Saturn, is in Libra and ruling the 8th house, he has a much bigger arsenal, and a more deadly aim. Already we are seeing problems. Death is strong, and the people are weak. If this were not enough, Saturn is stationing, and thus moving very slowly. When a planet moves slowly, for better or worse, the more it imprints upon us. In the case of malefics like Saturn, death becomes that much more deadly.

But it gets even worse, because Saturn is situated within the 5 degrees prior to the 4th of the grave. According to Ptolemy, planets so placed are already doing the work of the next house, in this case, the work of the grim reaper. This gives to death what the people do not have, the power to act.  The 4th house is the house of the ground beneath our feet.  We already mentioned that Saturn owns the 8th house but due to its strength in the sign of Libra, it is also the almuten or the most powerful and dominating influence at the cusp of the ground ruler, the 4th. Add all this together, and you have a formula for disaster of untold proportions.

By contrast, a mere 48 hours and six minutes earlier, another potentially deadly quake of 6.5 on the Richter Scale struck the Northern California cities of Eureka and Ferndale.

The San Andreas Fault is just outside my window.  As such, even though last Saturday’s 6.5 Ferndale/Eureka Quake was more than 200 miles away, I felt this earthquake, ever so slightly. I was on the phone with my friend, Helen when I felt this tiny little jag and thought, ‘earthquake.’  A few minutes later, my husband Alex came in and asked me if I felt the shock.

Having stuck at the same time of day, only 2 days apart, both earthquake charts, have striking similarities. Both earthquakes struck on days owned by malefic or nasty planets. This is one of the things I was recently reminded by the great astrologer, Linda Reid,  day of the week counts.  In this case, the 6.5 Ferndale/Eureka took place on  Saturday,  a day ruled by the slow killer, Saturn, while the 7.0 Port Au Prince quake took place on a Tuesday, a day ruled by violent and cruel, Mars.  It is interesting to note that the Great San Francisco Quake  also took place on a Tuesday, while Loma Prieta (with fewer deaths) took place on a Friday (a Venus day).

In both instances, the maternal sign, Cancer rises, thus making the Moon,  as rep. for the good or ill of the people,  doubly important.  Given the magnitude of both earthquakes, it should be no surprise that in both charts, the people (the Moon) is weak, while in both charts, death house, is strong and able to act, and act with awe inspiring force.

The Haitian Earthquake peoples positioning gives us graphic evidence of that environment is everything.  In this we can liken astrology  to  real estate, because so much depends upon,  ’location, location location.’   Poor placement, known to traditional astrologers as ‘accidental debility’ is  the astrological equivalent of growing up in a bad neighborhood. When you grow up in the projects. It is just plain harder for you to make a success in life. The same holds true for planets. When in a rotten house, there is less hope. On the bright side, if a planet or luminary is in a bad house, but associating or in aspect by a good or beneficent planet or luminary there is some hope of ‘pulling oneself up by the bootstrap’ and escaping the celestial ghetto, traditional astrologers call cadency. If on the other hand, the cadent planet or luminary,  is hanging out with a bunch of thugs,  in the form of malefic planets, as it is in Haiti’s Earthquake., the Moon will be able to produce only ill effects. The ancients called this  ’accidental’ placement. There is good placement, which is called ‘accidental dignity’ and there is bad, known as ‘accidental debility.

In addition to placement, what sign a planet or luminary is in, is very important.  Notice, the Ferndale/Eureka Quake’s ‘people’ designate, the Moon, there is no problem with location. Notice that the Moon is in the benign and bountiful, house of creativity, the 5th house. Just as there are good and bad places for a planet to hang out, there are also good and bad sign for the planet to be in. Looking at the Eureka/Ferndale Quake, we notice that the people are also weak, but this weakness had nothing to do with placement and everything to do with sign. In a nutshell,  certain signs are just plain no good for a planet.  The Ferndale Earthquake chart has the Moon in her fall, Scorpio. This is just about the worst place for the Moon to be.

The Moon can be likened to a celestial mother, who gives everything, including life to her children. When in the sign, Scorpio, the Moon becomes imprinted by the dark side of Mars, becomes like a vampire, sucking the very lifeblood ut of the host. When the Moon is here, she becomes the epitome of  ’essential debility. Thus, on Saturday, the people were weakened by the cruelty of Mars’ deadly force.  However, remember, the people are not in the cadent ghetto, but not just a good neighborhood, but a great one, the trinal and joyous 5th house. Not only that, this Moon has friends to help her out of her rotten sign, in the form of a beautiful grand trine to Uranus,  the planet of all things modern, and the South Node. We also notice that the people’s designate is still under the influence of the light and giver of life, the Sun, and Venus, in the  7th of laws. The Moon all by herself in the happy 5th, seems to indicate that laws in the form of strict building codes, coupled with the sparse population, probably saved the people from what could have been a much greater disaster. In addition, nothing pulls the Moon towards death. In other words, the 6.5  Northern California quake chart has nothing tying the people to death like the antiscion between the Moon and Pluto in the Haitian Earthquake.  As such, despite the violence of the quake, the residents of western Humbolt County, California only suffered minor damage in the way of broken glass, but there was no loss of life.

The people of Haiti need your support and prayers. Please donate to generously to Doctors without Borders http://www.msf.org