Following up Tom's reference to the 1926 hurricane in Miami, Florida above I have just been reading about the 1900 Hurricane in Galveston, Texas.

This was the deadliest hurricane in US history and claimed an estimated 6,000-12,000 lives:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900_Galveston_hurricane

We haven't really got into any astrology on this thread. However, studying these events, and more recent major hurricanes like Katrina, might be a good starting point for those researching this topic astrologically.

Mark

Tom wrote:Hurricane Gilbert (1988), while over the ocean had winds that hit 185 mph. There is no defense to that kind of power. All you can do is run.

This is very interesting, Tom. I have been looking at an old ephemeris of mine and was sat wondering why I had put a notch in the month of September. It took some figuring out, but of course it was because my Son was born at the same time...

The Hurrican Gilbert did according to sources (Link) start on September 3rd and last until September 19th. It seems to be driven first by the stations of Saturn on Aug 30. at 25SG55 and Uranus on September 5. at 27SG02. These occurred on the Galactic Centre at 26 Sagittarius. The second driving factor is the South node in the sign of Virgo. So the Galactic Centre is disposed by Jupiter and the South Node is disposed by Mercury, so I think you would be looking fopr something that looks liek an opening of gates. Ie. with the recent hurricane Irene Mercury and Jupiter are stationary not far apart and cast antiscia to one another.

Well, on September 3. 1988 Mercury and Jupiter were in trine. Mercury is 6Libra and Jipiter is 6 Gemini. It is a trine, but no need to underestimate the importance of that. Mercury is the dispositor of Jupiter.

Tom wrote:Let's hope this is it for the season.

That's rather early into the season, isn't it? I don't know too much about tropical storms, but looking through the ephemeris I would be watching the days around the station of Pluto on September 16. Maybe stationary planets could be a key - causing a stirr? Pluto is by antiscia not far of the Galactic Centre, if anyone wants to relate it to the conjunction of Saturn and Uranus with the Hurricane Gilbert. Additionally, I observe that Mars is entering the degree of of his fall and casting an inconjunct to Neptune that could off-set an atmospheric imbalance. There is a Yod there, if you look to Venus. Mercury comes to the 10th degree of Virgo where he casts an exact trine to Jupiter. The gates could open again?

The Moon in Aries comes off her opposition to Saturn who is placed in the middle of the Scales, and enters the 19th degree of Aries where she is in the degree of the nodes (by aspect) and aspects the recent 2nd station of Mercury.

The Mars and South node midpoint may whip up turmoil in the middle of the Mercury/Jupiter aspect.

Hello Andrew,

I will not quote all your points but you have suggested numerous different astrological explanations for this particular hurricane. What I am left wondering is if you think any of these astrological observations represent consistently recurrent patterns in tropical hurricanes?

From the point of astrological weather forecasting its obviously the repeating patterns that make weather predictable. I cannot claim to have done much study of the large volume of literature on both traditional and modern astro-meteorology.

Currently though I am very interested in starting from a more naturalistic explanation as the basic sketch from which we can fill in more astrological detail later. While later authors put a lot of focus on the planets its interesting that Ptolemy gives a lot of emphasis to the Solar seasons and lunar positions to calculate weather.

Starting from this angle we have several cycles we can examine:

1 The Soli-Lunar lunation cycle based the syzygy (ie New and Full Moon)
2 The Apogee and perigee of the Moon to the earth - the apsidal cycle
3 The Declination of the Moon in relation to the celestial equator
4 The latitude of the Moon in regards the ecliptic.
5 The transiting nodal cycle of 18.6 years and the Saros cycle of eclipses.

Because its orbit around the Earth is elliptical, the Moon is alternately closer to and further away from the Earth in its journey. This cycle takes around 27.2 days, and has a closest point known as the 'perigee' and a most distant point called 'apogee'. As seen from the Earth and due the Moon's stage in this cycle, the Moon is in front of different constellations for shorter and longer periods, with a variance of 30%. At perigee the Moon appears to be larger and move faster against the zodiac, and exerts a greater pull on the tides.

3 The Moon's Declination. Many students of astrology are unaware there is yet another lunar cycle in relation to the Moon regarding its declination range north or south of the celestial equator.

What I find interesting about these cycles is that they are not just astrological but astronomical too. I have done some initial research on tropical storms and these cycles and it is intriguing. I am sure I am stating nothing new under the Sun but this area looks very rewarding for any researcher. I may open a thread specifically devoted to the Moon as a predictive tool for weather forecasting, seismic activity etc. Its connection to other phenomena such as the fluctuations in stock markets is interests me too.

Other cycles we might consider examining is the apsis cycle referring to the earth's proximity to the Sun in its yearly orbit which is termed perihelion or aphelion to the Sun. Also the solar cycle, or the solar magnetic activity cycle which can generate sun spots and increased/decreased solar storms.

Mark