In the wake of the devastating impact of Hurricane Sandy upon the US NE Coast earlier this week I thought this would be an appropriate time to post up a link to an article which looks at the astrology of floods and hurricanes. It was written by Ken Gillman and appeared in Considerations magazine in November 2005:

http://issuu.com/considerations/docs/20-4

The article is entitled 'Bombs and Floods' and it starts on page 62 of that issue of Considerations magazine. Ken's discussion of floods and hurricanes begins on page 68.

I personally, would have preferred a more traditional approach to the delineation of the ingress charts discussed in the article but it is still a useful jumping off point for people to follow up with their own research in this area.

Mark

Interesting article, Mark. I personally have doubts about ingress charts for natural disasters, because they are so prone to the astrologer reading into them, post hoc, whatever she wants.

We can have a site very close to the scene of a disaster with virtually the identical chart, yet it remains untouched.

A natural disaster is a combination of earth science phenomena and the human factor. Hurricane Sandy devasted the New Jersey Shore in part because a large population has developed the barrier islands and beaches, which in a natural state are very low-lying sand dune-like formations, and apt to flood during storm surges and high tides. Sadly, ecologically informed zoning in a large part of the US is a dirty word. The electrical utilities came under a lot of criticism for not upgrading their systems in the years prior to the storm. An undeveloped barrier island would flood in a severe storm, but without millions of dollars of property loss if it is undeveloped as a wildlife refuge.

Maybe looking at nativity charts for communities would correct this problem, but I am not so sure. From New Jersey up through Long Island would give you a huge range of incorporation dates, none of which would account for differences in geology or zoning.

Ptolemy (Tetrabiblos book 2: 11-13) discusses astrological meteorology.

2:11. In using the constellations as months, he notes the type of weather typical of each portion. This isn't a bad job, because meteorologists today can tell you when to expect the hurricane season based on the previous years' records.

2: 12. For more specific weather events, Ptolemy gives two methods, based upon such observations as the positions of new and full moons, eclipses, the angles, planetary rulers of different countries and directions, and risings of major stars.

2: 13. Something that's dropped off of astrology is weather lore. In ancient times people looked at the colours and appearance of the sun, moon, and fixed stars. They noted whether the moon had a halo, whether the asterism Praesep looked dim or twinkly, and so on. "Red sky in morning, sailors take warning," sorts of predictions.

It would be interesting to take these three methods in combination and see whether they have predictive value today for "the perfect storm."

Just realised belatedly the article is also available as a pdf here on Skyscript!

http://skyscript.co.uk/bombs&floods.pdf

Mark

Good evening,

Indeed an interesting paper. Since neither the text nor the charts apparently contain indications, one presumes that the Placidus house system is used. This might seem anachronistic compared to the underlying astrological techniques that were written centuries before the publication of that system of domification. Asdie from the occasional questions concerning their general astrological utility, there also seems to be some controversy concerning the inclusion of new planets to analyse events that occurred before their discoveries, ex. gr. in 1703.

The last text reads:

[]"... the natural disasters of 1953 and 1703. In both of these North Sea disasters the information contained in the charts of prior total lunar eclipses is seen to be essential for their prediction."[/size]

The author of the paper was concerned with astrological hindsight and gave neither indications which astrologers, if any, had predicted the two events nor did he publish new predictions in it. Thus, it seems the text might better have read, 'essential for their hindsight astrological analyses'.

Understandably but regrettably, few contemporary astrologers dare publish mundane predictions.

Best regards,

lihin

Lithin wrote:

Indeed an interesting paper. Since neither the text nor the charts apparently contain indications, one presumes that the Placidus house system is used. This might seem anachronistic compared to the underlying astrological techniques that were written centuries before the publication of that system of domification. Asdie from the occasional questions concerning their general astrological utility, there also seems to be some controversy concerning the inclusion of new planets to analyse events that occurred before their discoveries, ex. gr. in 1703.

Ken Gillman is quite clearly a modern astrologer. He is obviously entitled to use whatever house system that works for him. Moreover, your notion that Placidus houses are 'anachronistic' is questionable. It appears that numerous house systems have been used for ingress charts over the centuries. Ptolemy is our first source for the ingress chart but we have no definitive information what house system he used in the Tetrabiblos. The most popular explanation amongst contemporary astrologers seems to be a variant of equal or whole sign houses (Dr Benjamin Dykes and Chris Brennan respectively).

In terms of medieval astrology it was the Persian astrologers that really developed the ingress chart as a mundane tool. Arguably, Abu Ma'Shar used whole sign houses while Massah'Allah seems to have used both whole sign and Alcabitius. As we go in to medieval period further Alcabitius replaces whole sign and Porphyry. However, we also we also see the appearance of other systems such as Campanus and Placidus (Ibn Ezra).Ibn Ezra appears to have used Placidus houses so I dont share your view that Placidus is anachronistic here. Later in the early modern period Regiomontanus houses largely replace the use of the Alcabitius house system.

Ingress charts have been calculated with all these system in the astrological tradition. I therefore dont think there is such a thing as a traditional house system for ingress charts.

There is really no controversy about the use of outer planets here. As I explained this is a modern astrologer who works in this way. Its true medieval astrologers made no use of these invisible points like outer planets. However, they were unaware of their existence. Many authorities in traditional astrology today work with outer planets ie Robert Hand, Lee Lehman, Deborah Houlding, Chris Brennan etc. Others do not such as Robert Zoller, Dr Benjamin Dykes, and John Frawley. This is really a personal choice.

To my more traditional taste Gillman's delineations rely far too heavily on outer planets. While I utilise them I think they should be used sparingly. However, in the first ingress chart displayed for flooding (1927) Gillman is typical of modern astrologers in delineating Neptune on the IC as the primary indicator. From a more traditional outlook I would instead focus on a Rx Mercury (Lord 4 by WS) in Pisces conjunct Jupiter in the 10th house. An out of sect, peregrine Mars on the ASC and Moon in fall in Scorpio indicate great hardship for the people.

The author of the paper was concerned with astrological hindsight and gave neither indications which astrologers, if any, had predicted the two events nor did he publish new predictions in it. Thus, it seems the text might better have read, 'essential for their hindsight astrological analyses'.

I think that bit of the paper was really following the impact of hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans in 2005. While I agree mundane astrology can be too focused on hindsight I assume many readers of that publication were interested in seeing hurricane Katrina in some sort of historical context. In that that respect the piece had to focus on hindsight.

You obviously missed the fact that Ken Gillman did predict 'danger to London in 2005' which was the year of the Jihadist London bombings. This was in an earlier issue of considerations that year. He was presumably invited back following his successful prediction.

I promoted this article because I believe hindsight analysis can have some uses. I think detailed astrological research of past events can assist making more accurate predictions. The only problem is when it becomes our exclusive focus.

There is also another viewpoint proposed by members here like Andrew Bevan that believe mundane astrology is not just about prognostication. It also has a role he believes in recording events around us from an astrological perspective.

Understandably but regrettably, few contemporary astrologers dare publish mundane predictions.

You have a generally fair point but this seems a poor time to make it.

Are you unaware of the US Presidential elections predictions being made by astrologers across the world?

http://politicalastrologyblog.com/2012/ ... n-roundup/

Good afternoon,

Of course anyone is free to use whatever astrological approaches, zodiacs, house systems, etc. they like. It is useful, however, to see such information on the published charts. The author's prediction concerning London in 2005 was not the subject of the paper. He also attempted to be coherent, a quality alas often lacking, so it seems, with many if not most contemporary astrological authors.

At the beginning of his Tetrabiblos, Claudius Ptolemy freely conceded that astrological predictions will tend to be less accurate than ephemerides. In keeping with Aristotelian practice, he employed a top-town approach to mundane and natal astrologies, the former phenomena being much more likely to determine the latter than vice versa.

Best regards,

lihin

For those people interested in the ancient Nakshatras I might mention the
role of Nakshatra/Lunarmansion Ardra.
Ardra have it's deity Rudra the good of storm as ruler. It is a Nakshatra that is often associated with destruction.

In the 1776 US chart we have venus and jupiter both in ardra. These ardra planets are triggered by the UR/PL square now. (More closer with transiting precessed positions).

Also looking at hurricane Katrina where The transiting Moon was placed in Ardra at that day with south node (ketu).
Also the 2004 storm Howard had transing moon in lunar mansion Ardra.

Just for fun I checked the 2004 tsunami. Although not a hurricane, it is in the ballpark of Ardra nakshatra with natural destruction I feel.

There was at the Tsunami at 26 december 2004 a fullmoon in Ardra nakshatra.
10 degree sidereal gemini.
Ardra spans from 6'GE40'-20'GE00' Sidereal.

Stefan

Thanks Stefan,

Interesting. I am intrigued by the use of the Nakshatras in mundane astrology.

I have had to remove the link to google books you provided as it was distorting the size of the thread. However, for anyone interested the source was The Nakshatras: The Lunar Mansions of Vedic Astrology, by Dennis Harness, page 23

Mark