In her exploration of the Great Lisbon Earthquake, 1^st Nov 1755 9:30am LMT, Richter possibly about 9.0, DKR discusses an eclipse 2 years and 6 days earlier.Perhaps not many astrologers would look back that far, [but remember how the Jan 2001 Indian earthquake was in the direct path of the Aug. ’99 solar eclipse - JS]; nevertheless, she presents a very convincing picture of the relevance of this eclipse, which passed directly over Lisbon.The angles in the eclipse chart were the same as the angles in the earthquake chart. DKR’s exploration of the eclipse employs many traditional methods, including the use of fixed stars and Arabian Parts, as well as more modern ones.

She notes the following factors, in addition to the ones already listed by Steve:

 Planetary aspects to Black Holes (e.g. Saturn at the eclipse conjunct Black Hole Sagittarius X-4, and the eclipse itself conjunct Black Hole Centaurus A).

 Solstice points(e.g. solstice points of Mars and Uranus at the eclipse were conjunct the Moon’s North Node and the Vertex respectively; she sees the Vertex as potentially indicative of “fated, uncontrollable events in the immediate environment”).

Aspects to the Aries Point (e.g. eclipse Uranus/S.Node midpoint at 0 degrees Aries, sesquiquadrate Jupiter).

 The most sensitive midpoints for earthquakes, according to DKR, are Sun/Jupiter, Mars/Saturn, Uranus/Neptune, and Admetos/Transpluto. 

 Later in the chapter, DKR says that when using charts more than 50 years old it is important to include precession corrected positions.

Pages 348 - 349 gives a list of traditionally supposed astrological “causes” of earthquakes quoted in Raphael’s Mundane Astrology and in Cornell’s Encyclopedia of Medical Astrology, but, as she observes, the list is very broad and not at all definitive; the factors cited are neither compelling nor comprehensive, e.g. planets transiting fixed signs, plus Virgo and Capricorn and “violent” signs.

 She then raises the question of WHERE an expected earthquake will occur, and describes the use of geodetics.This is the idea that major events occur where suitable configurations of the planets etc. lock into local angles calculated by treating (usually) Greenwich, London as 0^o Aries, with the longitude of any place in relation to Greenwich becoming its Mc.For example, Istanbul at 29 degrees east is attributed a geodetic Mc of 29 Aries (or, symmetrically, 1 Pisces).The geodetic Mc is then the basis for calculating the other geodetic angles and cusps, including the equatorial ascendant, vertex, and (pioneered by Munkasey) the co-ascendant and polar Ascendant.Geodetic angles cannot be used for events before 1884, when international time zones were established.DKR gives examples of earthquakes at which geodetic points were activated.

A 1989 Special Report by The Foundation for the Study of Cycles reviewed existing studies of seismic periodicities related to solar and lunar cycles.The main indications it found are listed below (note the interrelation of the first 3 points):

 1.- A link between solar cycles, the earth’s rotation rate and axis, its moment of inertia, its gravitational constant, and earthquakes.Quakes increase when solar activity is high.

 2.- One study noted an unusually high incidence of quakes near eclipses.Note that changes in the earth’s curvature, and relative extremes in the Earth’s acceleration and rotation rate, occur near eclipses - especially at the solstices and equinoxes.

3.- According to some opinions, seismic activity may be linked to the expansion of the Earth.The idea is that because the Northern, more continental hemisphere has greater inertia than the Southern, relatively oceanic hemisphere, expansion of the Earth makes the North slow down more than the South and the resulting torsion manifests in intermittent changes in the Earth’s rotation and in tidal bulges triggering earthquakes.

 4.- Six studies showed quake periodicities of 4.42 and 9.3 years, evidently linked to the cycle which brings lunar declination and consequent tidal bulges to North and South extremes every 18.6 years.

 5.- Seismic activity tends to increase at perigee lunations (along with highest tidal potential) and at quarter phase apogee moons (along with lowest tidal potential), and especially when apogee quarter phase Moons are at maximum declination.

 6.- Earthquake signatures can be specific to particular locales, e.g. some areas tend to have quakes at particular Sun-Moon alignments and / or levels of solar activity.

- A major statistical study of earthquakes & planetary positions related to geographic regions by Judith Hill and Mark Polit, published in the winter ’86 - ’87 NGGR Journal. [See Mary Downing’s post to Enceladus on 16^th June, headed Regional factors in earthquakes, for more details and for the URL where you can access this report in Acrobat Reader format.Thanks, Mary. - JS].

-   -  A report of statistically significant periodicities in large quakes in part of Southern California, by Knopoff & Kilston, published in Nature, July 7 1983.

- A study by Kokus & Ritter published in Cycles, March ’88.(Two thirds of their sample of ‘quakes in the southeastern US happened at the first or last lunar quarter, whilst other areas showed no correlation with lunar phase).

- Scott G. Vail in Kosmos winter ’84 - ’85 and Heliogram Aug. ’88.(Various findings, including Saturn often at the Gauquelin angles, aspects consistent with traditional meanings more prevalent in heliocentric than geocentric charts, more separating and less applying h8 aspects than would be expected on a random basis (especially involving Saturn or Mercury),90^o 60^o and 30^o aspects less significant than 45^o and fractions of 45^o, and minor aspects significant for timing.)

 The next section of DKR’s article, Ancient Universes and Earthquakes, stresses the importance of the cardinal points.Later in the chapter she says it is vital to include antiscia in mundane charts.

The section, Using the 90^o Dial, extols the value of the 90^o dial in “laying bare the major and minor “bones” of a chart”, particularly using octiles and semi-octiles.She gives some results of her own studies using dials:

 Worldwide, 41 out of 44 earthquakes measuring at least Richter 8.5 had planets, lunar nodes or angles in hard aspect to the cardinal points (down to semi-octiles), within 1.5^o.

 At major mundane events, heliocentric planetary nodes are invariably transited (hard aspects down to semi-octiles) used with both heliocentric and geocentric planetary positions. The heliocentric planetary node positions are listed at the end of this summary.

 Studying 11 major Californian quakes, she found that 7 happened soon after or on the day of eclipses that aspected Uranus’s Nodes in h16.

The Richter Scale of earthquake magnitude: each increment of 1.0 represents a 60-fold increase of energy, and a ten-fold increase in the size (extent) of the seismic wave.The Mercalli, or Modified Mercalli (MM) scale of earthquake intensity (predating Richter) runs from one to 12 (shown in Roman Numerals) according to structural damage and effect on populace.XI = roughly Richter 8.0.

Much of the remainder of the article is presented via the following case study:
 
 
 

5:36:14 pm (28^th March 3:36:14 UT) at the head of Prince William Sound, 61n24, 147w44 -

Main points:

 The lunar nodes engaged the semi-octile axis of the nodes of Uranus, on the Asc-Dsc axis of an eclipse over Alaska in July 1963, and were squared by setting Sun and Full Moon, which semi-octiled the “death axis” - 0^o of the fixed signs. Earthquake angles close to cardinal axis and semi-octile Saturn’s nodes.Sun on asteroid Richter and eathquake Al Pharg.Jupiter square 1963 eclipse degree.

 The geodetic angles for the quake were variously hit by a number of July 1963 eclipse factors (Saturn, Venus, Chiron, eclipse degree, eclipse vertex), including helio Saturn on west geodetic Ic, and on axis of geo Ur/Ne, Transpluto/Admetos. DKR believes in combining helio & geo factors, arguing that “our universe is, apparently, a primarily cognitive construct”.

 The Jan 14 1964 solar eclipse similarly connected in a number of ways with the geodetic angles of the quake area.DKR sees enough good contacts using geodetics to warrant further research in this area.

Harmonic Clusters

 In a study of 103 major earthquakes in California from 1769 - 1980, DKR found an unexpectedly weak presence of traditional “hard” aspects, apart from the predominanceof conjunctions.(The strong showing of conjunctions may have been due to a wide orb, 10.8^o, being allowed for conjunctions).17^th and 19^th harmonic aspects were the next most common, followed by the 11^th, 13^th, 7^th, 5^th and 23^rd.Note that these are all prime numbers.

 9 x the 19^th harmonic and 8 x the 17^th harmonic coincide at 169.4^o and 170.5^orespectively.This being so, it’s easy to see instances of 17^th and 19^th harmonic aspects working simultaneously between 2 factors in a predictive chart, e.g. an eclipse or ingress chart, as one factor will be just 10^o away from opposition to the other factor.DKR gives 4 examples of these aspects at work in the astrology of the Alaskan earthquake, and recommends further research into their role.

 Locality charts- well worth using if available. Examples are given.

 Asteroids- DKR has found asteroids and their helio nodes to be a promising area of research, and considers the most useful for earthquake prediction to be: 0001 Ceres N Node 20 Gem 02, 3338 Richter N Node 5 Leo 42, 1184 Gaia N Node 25 Pis 31, 1198 Atlantis N Node 19 Sag 26, 1108 Demeter N Node 24 Sco 03, and 1866 Sisyphus N Node 3 Gem 05.Additionally, Juno can represent helplessness, Vesta has potentially indicates danger to a community and “for some undetermined reason, Pallas is often very prominent in these charts.”Atlantis, Gaea, Demeter, and the solstice point of the N. Node of Atlantis were suggestively configured at the Alaskan earthquake.

The helio node positions for the main planets given below are correct for 1990, and the same is probably true for the asteroid helio node positions given above, although in the case of the latter DKR doesn’t actually say so. These nodes move very very slowly.

Mercury 18Tau13, moves 42.66’’/yr; Venus 16Gem35, 32.39’’/yr; Mars 19Tau30, 27.75’’/yr; Jup 10Can20, 36.39’’/yr; Sat 23Can35, 31.43’’/yr; Ura 13Gem56, 18.38’’/yr; Nep 11Leo39, 39.66’’/yr; Pluto 20Can07, 48’’/yr.

[NB helio node of Uranus now conjoined by T Pluto, on the forthcoming Sat-opp-Plu axis.DKR has seen the helio nodes of Uranus particularly prominent for Californian quakes