Colima Mexico Earthquake

A serious earthquake struck today, 20 Jan, at 8:07 PM in Colima, Mexico (103W43'00, 19N14'00), magnitude 7.6 . I have seen people discuss such events before and wonder what sorts of astrological phenomena to look for here. I drew up a chart (Koch), Leo Rising with no detrimental aspects to the Aquarius sun in the 6th house. Earthquakes, I think, would be ruled by Uranus as a sudden phenomena, and possibly Pluto, for the devastation. Of course, Mars would be in the mix, too. Uranus (27° Aquarius 15') is in the 7th house, 20° Aquarius 52' cusp. The 4° Virgo 27' moon sits in the first house, and the most interesting aspects in the chart is the T-Square, Moon opposing Uranus, square Mars (2° Sag 31', 4th house.) Moon/Uranus 1st/7th house, are in fixed signs, and the squaring Mars is in Mutable Mars. Retrograde planets: Mercury (12° Cap 34', 5th house), Saturn (23° Gemini 05', 11th house) and Jupiter (14° Leo 43', 12th house, conjunct Asc.)

Any comments?

Hi Ophiel,

I don't think you will get anything from a 'Here & Now' look at the planets on its own.

What you need is the natal chart for Mexico (or even Mexico City) and look at the transits and progressions to that chart. I'm not really well up in Mundane Astrology - I'm just coming onto it in my course but you would need som significant date like the founding of Mexico City or possible the establishment of the Mexican Republic and then cast a chart for that date. That's the country's natal chart.

For example in the UK the natal chart for England is often taken as the Coronation of William the Conquereor in December 1066.

Years ago I read a number of books by Ivy Goldstein Jacobson and she filled the pages with interesting news events, like I did. She scoured the news and found stories, got birth data sometimes, and jumped right in. I understand what you are saying about relating it to the natal chart, but I do think there can be more to it than just that. An event as significant as a quake would have a life of it's own. There is no way to verify any natal chart for a country or event, and as you know, there exists quite a bit of controversy over what the 'true' chart is for say, the U.S.

I am unfamiliar with mundane and horary astrology, except for what I read in the IGJ books, though at some point, I'd like to check it out more. Magazines like "The Mountain Astrologer" publish charts for lunations, eclipses, etc. and even discuss them as charts themselves, not relating it to a particular natal chart. I know we must take that and plug it into our own charts to see what's what, but still...those stand-alone charts are interesting.

Hi Ophiel,

Well, yes Mags like TMA do indeed do lunation charts and indeed I've been known to have a go at these myself in these columns. However what you get from such charts is themes, rather than specifics. An aspect between two planets can manifest in different ways, not just in terms of the sign they are in and the houses they are in because they are acting within a complex structure and because different people or countries are differently attuned to the universe. Themes are as far as we can go in these circumstances.

At the time of the earthquake there were no exact aspects immediately apparant, though of course the Saturn/Pluto opposition is still in effect. Now you might argue that this aspect is a potentially violent one, Pluto represents the buried, hidden, deep, intense power and Saturn represents restriction, limitation, and of course fear. So we have repressed buried power - which could describe the situation before an earthquake but could just as easily represent something else and the Saturn Pluto aspect is separating.

Now if we find that this opposition has just been aspected by Mexico's progressed Moon, or has just aspected one of the Aspects in it's chart then this makes it far more likely that they will be affected. If it affected their IC, then it could be highly significant because amongst other things the fourth house rules land and real estate.


I come back to you can't say that this aspect or this relationship is an indicator of the earthquake unless you know the chart of the country/city/area where it happens. Yes Saturn/Pluto may well be a highly significant opposition at a general level and it may indicate changes in the way in which society operates but it can't be held responsible here, unless there is a clear link to the natal chart.

which natal chart?

Yeap, gotta go with your explanation. Perhaps my 'arguement' would have held more heat if there had been some exact aspects at the time.

So...as far as the natal chart goes, would you look for the chart for the country, or the formation of the state in which the quake occured?

I have a few rather expensive Lois Rodden books of charts. Aren't there any charts of countries and cities available? I know there was some years ago. I am unable to locate anything like that online.

Well now we've come to the difficult bit.

In principle it is just as easy to cast a chart for the birth of a country or a business or a city or a football team as it is to cast one for the birth of a person. All you need is date time and place.

But that's where the difficulty comes in - for example when was the United States born, was it at the Declaration of Independance, or the setting up of the Continental Congress, or when the Constitution of 1787 was signed or when it was ratified or when George Washington swore the oath as first President and brought the first administration into being - or some other time? I think most Astrologer seem to go for 4th July 1776 in Philadelphia around 5:10 pm but this isn't universal and I've seen charts for other dates.

So when was Mexico born? If you can find an agreed date, time and place its much the same as for natal. So start looking at the history books LOL

Yes, I know about country natal charts. Don't forget, Minderwiz, I'm not exactly new to this. I thought you would have picked that up. LOL.

Years ago I saw actual books of charts and could swear that one exists that lists countries. Besides Lois Rodden's book of charts, I recall one called the Circle Book of Charts. It was, in fact, published by the AFA in 1982, and is now out of print. I do recall one for countries and cities. I'll ask a professional astrologer I know about this.

Thanks again.
Ophiel

You are probably better asking a historian LOL

The best I can do is suggest the early hours of September 16th 1810 as a start point. However no one appears to know the exact time. Try say 2 or 3 am.

Try that in Winstar and see what you get. You might find it works well or that you might need to adjust the time a little to improve fit.

Then try the transits for Monday against the Mexican chart and see if there's anything visible.

I forgot to say that the location is Dolores Hidalgo in Guanajuato, where Father Hidalgo apparantly rang the church bell to announce their declaration of independence.

The book of country natal charts is:

"Accurate World Horoscopes"
by Doris Chase Doane
Hardcover: 353 pages
Publisher: American Federation of Astrologers; ; (October 1984)
ISBN: 0866902414