I would like to identify the chart that could have forewarned this area as one that was susceptible to damage at this time

Atlantean's and Steve's observations regarding parans (relating to mundane matters such as earthquakes) are definitely thought provoking (and appreciated!)

Ideas and suggestions for investigation welcome.

Deb wrote:
I couldn't help noticing how big the Moon is tonight, and then I realized that it was at perigee on the day of the Chile earthquake. I have heard that the Moon at perigee is supposed to cause land slides and earthquakes, but has anyone done real research into this?

Deb wrote:

I couldn't help noticing how big the Moon is tonight, and then I realised that it was at perigee on the day of the Chile earthquake. I have heard that the Moon at perigee is supposed to cause land slides and earthquakes, but has anyone done real research into this?

Mars was also close to perigee. It was at perigee during the last days of January, but is very close to this position during the whole months of January and February.

Richard Nolle writes about these on his site Astropro.com, where he makes some very apt predictions on how and where these positions possibly will manifest.
Here is the link to his 2010 forecast:

http://www.astropro.com/homeIE45.html

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"We?ll have plenty of time to watch the headlines and observe the Mars Maximum correlates as they develop. Just remember that they don?t develop only ?out there? in the world at large. They?re also alive in us, in the people around us. This is a time to be safety conscious, to get a grip on the animal spirits within and channel them productively rather than letting them loose on anyone who gets your goat. If people are cranky, if you?re short tempered too, realize that this is just the nature of the time/space field for now, and do your best to ride it out with as little drama and damage as possible."

"I mentioned at the outset that this year?s extreme declination SuperMoons look like an important theme for 2010. SuperMoon is a word I coined in a 1979 article for Dell Publishing Company's HOROSCOPE magazine, describing what is technically termed a perigee-syzygy; i.e. a new or full moon (syzygy) which occurs with the Moon at or near (within 90% of) its closest approach to Earth (perigee) in a given orbit. In short, Earth, Moon and Sun are all in a line, with Moon in its nearest approach to Earth. (My most recent print article on this subject appeared in the October-November 2007 issue of The Mountain Astrologer.)"

2005 warned of severe storms within plus or minus three days of the day Hurricane Katrina formed, and even specified the Gulf of Mexico as one of the areas at risk in connection with that particular SuperMoon alignment. I've done this for some thirty years now, from articles in the astrology press to the online forecasts at my website, Astropro.

Examples of the SuperMoon connection with major storms and seismic events abound: the Mt. Pinatubo eruption, the largest volcanic event in the second half of the 20th Century, took place on June 15, 1991 (within three days of a SuperMoon); the October 6, 1948 Richter 7.3 earthquake that struck Ashgabat, Turkmenistan and took 110,000 lives, one of the deadliest earthquakes on record (again within three days of a SuperMoon, allowing for time zones); and the September 8, 1900 hurricane and tidal surge that struck Galveston, Texas on the day of a SuperMoon, which killed more people (8,000 dead) than any other Atlantic hurricane on record and remains the deadliest natural disaster yet to strike the United States. I'm just scratching the surface here, citing only a few historic instances in the past hundred years or so. Look a little deeper, and you'll run across literally hundreds more greater and lesser seismic and meteorological disturbances, from Hurricane Andrew in 1992 to the 1989 World Series (Loma Prieta) earthquake - just to name a couple contemporary notable examples.

Obviously it won't be the case that all hell will break loose all over the world within a few days either side of the SuperMoons of 2010. For most of us, the geocosmic risk raised by SuperMoon alignments will pass with little notice in our immediate vicinity. This is a rather roomy planet, after all. But the fact remains that a SuperMoon is planetary in scale, being a special alignment of Earth, Sun and Moon. It's likewise planetary in scope, in the sense that there's no place on Earth not subject to the tidal force of the perigee-syzygy. Of course, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions don't go wandering all over the planet. They happen in predictable locations, like the infamous "Ring of Fire" around the Pacific plate. If you're in (or plan to be in) a place that's subject to seismic upheaval during a SuperMoon stress window, it's not hard to figure out that being prepared to the extent that you can is not a bad idea. Likewise, people on the coast should be prepared for extreme tidal surges. Severe storms on the other hand can strike just about anywhere, so it behooves us all to be ready for rough weather when a SuperMoon alignment forms.

That said, there's no harm in making sensible preparations for this year?s SuperMoons. The worst that can happen, if the worst doesn't happen, is that you end up with a stock of fresh batteries and candles, some extra bottled water and canned goods, maybe a full tank of gas and an evacuation bag packed just in case. (The US Department of Homeland Security has a detailed evacuation kit inventory that, to quote them, "could mean the difference between life and death".) And maybe you'll think twice about being in transit and vulnerable to the weather hazards and delays that are so common during SuperMoon alignments. These are the kind of sensible precautions that can make a big difference if the worst does come to pass.

Like eclipses, there are typically four or five SuperMoons annually. We get five this year. (There?s not another year that gets short shrift in SuperMoons until 2013, which has only three.) All of the 2010 SuperMoons are closely associated with another extreme lunar factor: the Moon?s crossing of the celestial equator (the plane of Earth?s equator, projected out into space). This close association between the lunar perigee and the lunar equatorial crossing is something that slips in and out of synch. The two have been meshing within a couple days of each other from summer into fall of 2009, a period of notable storm and seismic activity.

SuperMoons are noteworthy for their close association with extreme tidal forces working in what astrologers of old used to call the sublunary world: the atmosphere, crust and oceans of our home planet - including ourselves, of course. From extreme coastal tides to severe storms to powerful earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, the entire natural world surges and spasms under the sway of the SuperMoon alignment - within three days either way of the exact syzygy, as a general rule. SuperMoon solar eclipses tend to have a wider sphere of impact, extending roughly a week before and after the actual event. And other lunar extremes (of declination, for example) can extend the geocosmic stress window by a day or two here and there in any case.

If you're interested in the history of SuperMoon alignments in connection with great storms, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, you'll find a sampling of them in my book Interpreting Astrology (published by the American Federation of Astrologers). But a simple review of the news over the past few years should serve to get you acquainted. Take Hurricane Katrina, for example; spawned from a tropical depression formed within three days of the August 19 SuperMoon. My forecast for

Regards, Steve

The February 28 SuperMoon full moon at 9? 59' Virgo is an exception to the Mars-Venus theme this year, but it?s in the midst of the Red Planet?s close approach to Earth nonetheless. Consequently, I?m still expecting more than the usual rasher of rash behavior in February ? just not tied so closely in time to this particular full moon. What I do expect is a newsworthy upsurge in moderate-to-severe seismic activity (including magnitude 5+ earthquakes and volcanic eruptions), plus strong storms with damaging winds and heavy precipitation; along with extreme high tides. In effect from February 25 through March 3, and happening within sixteen hours of the Moon?s southward crossing of the celestial equator, this looks mostly like a storm and flood indicator ? probably not on a par the January alignment, but noteworthy in its own right. It?s global in scope by definition, but astro-locality mapping suggests a few special risk zones for the February 28 SuperMoon alignment. These include longitudinal risk zones running from Hong Kong down through Perth in the eastern hemisphere, and from Newfoundland down through west-central South America in the western hemisphere. There?s also a Mars horizon arc of note, along the eastern coast of Australia from Brisbane to Melbourne; as well as a longitudinal Mars zone pretty much centered on Delhi.