Full Moon Earthquake in Southeast Asia, Sunday, Dec. 26, 2004, 6:OO pm CET

By Eric Francis
with BBC reports and reader contributions

Charts at: http://planetwaves.net/astrology/sumatra.html
Data from: US Geological Service http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqinthenews/2004/usslav/

Just before 7 this morning local time, an 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit the west coast of northern Sumatra, an Indonesian island. Coastal regions of Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, the Andaman Islands and the low-lying Maldives Islands were devastated by tsunamis, or powerful waves -- more like walls of water -- generated when earthquakes occur under the ocean floor. Thousands are dead or missing and millions affected. By current reports, the death toll is likely to exceed 10,000. Communication to many areas, particularly the Maldives, is cut off.

The quake was followed by as many as nine aftershocks. Witnesses said the sea receded by a kilometer from the normal coastline before a series of tsunamis, some as high as 10 meters, struck.

A reader just wrote in, quoting Enzo Boschi, the head of Italy's National Geophysics Institute, speaking on on SKY TG 24 TV. "All the planet is vibrating" from the quake, said Boschi, who added that the quake even disturbed the Earth's rotation.

Simply put, the world is a different place after this event.

It is true that we tend to think of events such as earthquakes as local incidents, even though they may affect a wide area. Yet thinking of the world holistically, as one physical object or one living system, it is easy to consider how the whole structure of the planet could be affected -- a condition well portrayed in the nearly exact opposition of Saturn and Chiron that was angular at the moment of the quake (across the 1st and 7th houses, very close to the horizon, please see chart, as well as further discussion below).

Earthquakes are massive releases of energy and tension, often on the scale of thousands of nuclear bombs. They build for years or decades. Given that we are living in extremely tense times on the planet with little relief in sight, and for the most part in ignorance of the fact that we are on a planet that supports us with its own life, both the release of tension and the call to awareness can be put to work for global healing. However, given the scenes of devastation and human suffering throughout what is truly an impoverished region of the world, this is hardly consoling.

Tourist resort areas in high season were among the worst hit. A crowded marketplace, fishing areas, homes, vehicles, cottages, hotels and beaches were washed out to sea with no warning. Most places that were affected had no way of knowing that the waves would hit, because they were too far from the epicenter of the earthquake to even feel it. Musson said that tsunamis can travel five hundred kilometers per hour, so some affected areas were hit by waves hours after the actual quake. This occurred during daylight hours, when many people had flocked to the shore. Many of the worst affected places are extremely isolated and difficult to reach with relief or rescue aid.

In the Maldives, the capital city, Mali, was reported to be two-thirds under water. The Maldives are about one meter above sea level. In Sri Lanka, one of the most devastated areas, BBC is reporting that land mines planted during that country's civil war have been washed out of the ground and are floating on the ocean.

In truth, today's was one of the most massive earthquakes ever recorded, and the second most powerful ever recorded in the Northern Hemisphere. Most of the worst hit areas had never experienced anything vaguely resembling this kind of disaster -- or at least not since 1833.

The tsunamis are believed to have been created by a 1,000 kilometer long rupture in the floor of the Indian Ocean. Roger Musson, a British seismologist interviewed by BBC, said that the displacement, or height difference, between two colliding geological plates beneath the Indian Ocean was as many as 10 to 30 meters. This shift, in turn, displaced vast amounts of water, which in turn created the waves that spread throughout the entire basin as far as 2,000 kilometers across. As these waves reached the shallower water near the shore, the distance between the waves shortened and the height increased as they crashed into the coast.

Today's is being reported as the worst earthquake since the 9.2 magnitude quake that struck Alaska in 1964, and the 5th most powerful since 1900. Musson said that a comparable quake hit the region just south of the current one in 1833, but commented that that nobody remembers it except for a few historians. The Alaskan quake that devastated Anchorage, and was felt as far away as Salt Lake City, Utah, picked up rail cars and threw them hundreds of feet. People were killed by tsunamis as far away as the Oregon coast, where there are still prominent signs warning beachgoers to evacuate the area in the event of a tremor.

The Richter scale, developed in the 1930s, measures the energy of earthquakes. Each whole number value on the scale represents an increase of 31 times the value of the previous whole number increase. The increases are exponential.

Looking at today's chart, one physical factor stands out before any of the symbolic ones: this occurred with the Sun and Moon at nearly full opposition, that is, just before the Full Moon. The Moon's position at the time of the quake was 28 degrees of Gemini and 11 minutes. The Sun's position was 4 degrees of Capricorn and 35 minutes. This is just several hours short of the exact Full Moon. In essence, the Earth was suspended between the Sun and the Moon, creating an intense gravitational pull in either direction.

During the Alaska quake of 1964, there was also a Full Moon, though that quake happened the day after the exact opposition. The Alaska and Sumatra charts are strikingly similar in a number of ways. The Full Moon today occurred exactly -- just over one degree -- on the lunar nodal axis of the Anchorage chart, making the two events virtually inseparable.

However, earthquakes can happen at any time. The infamous May 22, 1960 Chilean earthquake, measuring 8.6 on the Richter scale, occurred just before the New Moon.

In the Sumatra chart, notice as well that the Saturn-Chiron opposition across Cancer and Capricorn is close to the ascendant and the descendent, the two most sensitive angles in a chart; that is, it is looming on the horizon. Saturn in Cancer on the 7th house cusp has the image of a 'wall of water'.

Chiron in aspect to Saturn, particularly on the 90-degree harmonic (square or opposition) presents the energy of Chiron penetrating, unlocking or shifting the nature of the seemintly unmovable structure of Saturn.

In addition, Varuna, a newly discovered planet who is the 'lord of waters', is also in Cancer, and the Part of Fortune is conjunct this planet -- suggesting to me that the loss of life could have been much greater.

The Moon was void of course in the exact degree of the Sept. 11 attacks, in late Gemini. The Moon in the Sept. 11 chart and the Moon in today's earthquake chart were aligned to within five minutes of arc, or less than one-tenth of a degree. This deeply symbolic synchronicity is enough to rate the region of late Gemini as a potential danger zone for major world changes.

This being said, earthquakes are extremely difficult to predict astrologically -- a problem that geologists also face. One of the most reliable factors are the Uranian points, Witte points or Uranians -- hypothetical planets with no physical existence, but whose cycles are nonetheless influential. The most prominent aspect today was a close trine between the Full Moon in Cancer, developing at the time of the earthquake, and the Uranian point Poseidon, another aspect in the chart that says 'great wave'. In addition, the Sun was conjunct the Uranian point Kronos to within about four degrees.

Neither of these would have been reasonable grounds for a prediction of the earthquake or floods. But the exact opposition of Chiron in Capricorn and Saturn in Cancer, which perfects on Dec. 28 could qualify. This opposition moves next to the Leo-Aquarius axis and will again be exact on July 21, 2005.

Later this week, there is an conjunction of Mercury and Venus exactly on the Great Attractor, the same day as the Saturn-Chiron opposition is exact, which involves a direct conjunction with the Moon in Capricorn.

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Reader contributions to updates are welcome. Updates to follow in the blog on http://planetwaves.net/ including information about minor planets as this becomes available, in part based on discussion on the Centaur discussion group.