Another Tragedy in India
Zip Dobyns
The earthquake in India struck at 3:56 A.M. India Standard Time on September 30, 1993 (UT 22:26 on September 29), with an epicenter near Latur; 18 N 24, 76 E 35. Though not a “great” quake, since its magnitude was estimated to be about 6.4, the toll in dead and injured was immense. 30,000 people were reported dead or missing. As I pointed out in a previous article about earthquakes, people are killed by buildings falling on them. A great many of the homes in the towns and villages of the Indian state of Maharashtra where this quake occurred were built of stones picked up from the fields and held together with mud. The construction of such a home was quick, cheap, and deadly when shaken by even a moderate, 15 second earthquake.
There were some appropriate aspects between the traditional planets if you use orbs up to 3 degrees. Saturn was square Pluto and the MC was conjunct the south lunar node and quincunx Mars while Mars was conjunct Mercury, ruler of the MC and Ascendant. Jupiter was square the Uranus-Neptune conjunction and octile- trioctile the lunar nodes and Venus in the first house was also octile-trioctile the nodes and Jupiter and Mercury. The Sun was octile Pluto and trioctile Saturn but sextile-trine the nodes. The Moon was quincunx Mercury but trine Pluto. However, the aspects are not really close. I think that if the chart were shown to most astrologers without the addition of the minor planets, it would not be considered especially threatening.
When we add the asteroids, we get additional insight. Chiron was on the Ascendant in Latur within 4 minutes of longitude. Though I do not find Chiron consistently associated with health problems, this chart supports Chiron’s potential as a key to health challenges. A cluster of asteroids surrounded the Latur Ascendant, connected to it by overlapping orbs so even though I limit orbs of the aspects to the new asteroids to one degree, they were connected. (Of course, the quake hit a large area, including most of the state of Maharashtra, so the angles would vary by as much as three or more degrees in some of the demolished villages.) Hel was a Norse goddess of the underworld associated with death and the source of our word “hell.” Atlantis is often associated with the abuse of power. Dike was a goddess of fate due to human actions in contrast to Themis for divine laws and consequences. Ate was a goddess considered the personification of evil. All of the preceding ranged from just under 2 degrees of Virgo to just over 4 Virgo. Panacea, healing or the need for it, was at five Virgo square the lunar nodes and octile Jupiter, Libitina (Roman goddess of death), and Lacrimosa (tears and sorrow). The latter two asteroids were at 21 Cancer. Karma, just under 2 Sagittarius, squared Hel so it was connected to the group in early Virgo. Astraea, a Virgo goddess, was on the Descendant.
However, even if we had noticed this cluster of asteroids forming a mutable T-square with octile-trioctile aspects to a cardinal square, I doubt that we could have said anything about possible events associated with the combination. There were other asteroid networks which more specifically pointed to the potential for an earthquake. Gaea (earth) and Richter (the name of a scale that measures the magnitude of quakes) had come together at 24 Leo to oppose Saturn and Pallas and to square Pluto! But if I had noticed in advance that T-square which only lasted a few days, I would have been concerned about a possible quake in California because at the same time, the asteroid California was on Saturn at 24 Aquarius.
What is the cosmos trying to tell us with this kind of picture? Is the sky really just picturing the “state of the cosmic mind?” Earthquakes are certainly “in the minds” of people in California and of psychics in many other areas of the U.S. who keep predicting the “big one” for us. The people in India had no inkling of the potential disaster. Initial reports from India said that their scientists did not even know there was a fault in the area of the quake. Do we have the option of manifesting the cosmic mind more or less constructively in our human minds or having it remain subconscious where it attracts us to times and places where it will manifest externally? I’m asking questions, not stating facts. I suspect that our understanding of the cosmos is probably pre-nursery school.
There is still more to make us question our theories. The quake was on the last day of the ten-day festival of Ganesh, a Hindu god who is associated with overcoming obstacles and is one of the most popular deities in Hinduism. Rituals are performed, prayers offered, special sweets eaten, with dancing as part of the celebration, throughout the ten days. Some celebrants were still outdoors praying when the quake hit just before 4 A.M., and they are still alive. The dead and injured are the people who were asleep in their homes. In 0 Capricorn were Themis, divine judgment and justice, and Niobe whose 13 children (one version of the myth says 20) were killed by an angry goddess, and both asteroids were octile Ganesa (Ganesh) which was just under 15 Aquarius. Siva, Hindu god of destruction, was also in the fourth house with Themis and Niobe, and it was octile Mars. Does a deep, subconscious belief in vindictive gods keep us subject to appropriate Karma?
Geocentric positions have been described for all of the asteroids listed above. When we check the Heliocentric positions, H Ganesa is on the Descendant in Latur within one degree! H Sisyphus is on the MC. He was the man who rolled the rock uphill, only to have it roll down again. The rocks in the Indian homes did not roll—they fell on sleeping families. And blowing my mind, as usual with the asteroids, H Angelina was on the IC. I am watching Angelina to see whether it will “work” for Los Angeles. Again, the implication of the chart is that potentials which are in the minds of people here were manifested physically somewhere else. Of course, the prophets who are still mentally wiping out California can interpret this chart as an additional warning of what is yet to come here. I still think that an individual’s best information about his/her character and consequent fate comes from the personal chart. If you like yourself and your life; if you and your subconscious are friends and work together; if you do what is within your own power and then trust the Infinite of which we are a personal expression; you will go on growing and can also enjoy the journey.