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WEATHER FORECASTINGUnder the weather?
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On February 7th 2012 a Full Moon heralded a most unnerving development in this delayed winter weather: freezing rain. Snow falling into a layer of slightly warmer air melted and re-froze on contact with every icy surface across the UK. There were rather too many accidents on horribly slippery motorways. Guess who was on an angle again? Ceres. Setting. And also, in square, her son-in-law Pluto at a bitter and soggy Capricorn IC. The Aquarius Sun was very snug with Mercury ... but where was the wind? The Capricorn Ingress suggested balmy breezes, but for days on end there had been almost a dead calm with the inexorable cold. What about the Mercury Aquarius ingress on January 27th, then? Maybe the T-square of the wind planet to Saturn and Jupiter was keeping a a tight rein on any potential bluster... especially as the gas giants were picked up by the ingress’s Dwad horizon - where Sun, North Node and Ceres had just ‘risen’. Did this also contribute to the raw cold?
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We need to look at the charts for a few extreme winters to learn more about the kind of patterns we should expect. And some intense summers too. The winters of 2010 and 2011 were very much snowier and colder than any the UK had experienced for some years; and I for one was not surprised. Because Pluto was in the early degrees of Capricorn and therefore with the Sun at the winter Ingress. This in itself suggested challenging weather. December 21st 2009 foisted a cruel pattern on these islands! The Sun/Pluto conjunction was square Saturn, guaranteeing extreme cold; and in wet Cancer the Moon’s South Node was rising, delivering a knock-out blow to the nation and its economy. The Moon herself was in a chilly conspiracy with Jupiter, Neptune and Chiron - a potentially snowy picture if ever I saw one. I have kept the satellite picture of the British Isles trapped in its straight-jacket of snow and ice; very dramatic! A year later not much had changed: Sun still with Pluto, this time in a dissociate square with setting Uranus and Jupiter. The Moon was in her own sign but in her South Node ... it had been Full Moon day. So, another unusually cold winter that seemed to go on forever and even iced us up in balmy Llandudno.
Weird Weather
Going back a few years to winter 2006 there was another unusual event - a combination here on the North Wales coast of thunder and snow! It actually occurred on March 1st; there was a New Moon in Pisces the previous morning, February 28th, at the IC here and only a degree from Uranus. Jupiter was rising in Scorpio ... and Sedna, interestingly, setting. Therefore one might anticipate some unusual and maybe extreme weather involving lightning. Interesting that Zain fails to mention Jove’s predilection for hurling thunderbolts ..! Anyway, at 10 pm the next day there was a quite noisy electrical storm and the snow came down with a vengeance. Uranus was not on an angle - unusual in itself - but by 1º measure the New Moon had moved to conjoin it, and good old cold old Saturn was on the MC opposite ... wait for it ... Ceres! and Chiron. Now, these three hadn’t figured in the New Moon chart; however, go back again to the preceding winter Ingress on December 21st 2005 and you will find Ceres conjunct the Sun, and Chiron (with Venus, ruler of the IC) setting. The same culprits. Hmmm! C. C. Zain didn’t know about Chiron as it wasn’t discovered until 1977, and wouldn’t have appreciated the significance of an asteroid, even one time-twinned with the UK! So we have no guidance. The otherwise very thorough Riske (her ‘Astrometeorology’ should be on your shelf) hasn’t taken any risks here either; no Chiron and no Ceres appear in her charts to be tested. But these two keep turning up in sensitive places at awkward moments, so something must be going on. When you consider the maverick nature of the Chironian human, it is worth speculating that this little body at least may introduce some of the wackier climatic events. We shall see as we go on. |
Winter 1962-63
Another winter, another punishing freeze, nearly stranded me in London in 1963 when I - then a young drama student - should have been home for the holidays. The first snow fell on Boxing Day 1962. The last of the snow which turned Great Britain into a sea-girt Siberia didn’t start to melt until the 6th of March. This was to be a very famous winter! I’ve looked at fame in men and women, and found that the majority manage to be born on days when at least once the Sun and Moon are simultaneously on the angles. Here we have a winter that began at sunrise, cold old Capricorn rising, with an extremely unhappy Moon culminating in Scorpio. That’s a good start to the recipe for snow and ice! Further, Taurus was on the IC (wet) and its ruling Venus also up in detrimental Scorpio with Neptune, the latter promising complete white-outs as the blizzards raged. And there was freezing fog. Saturn, the Ascendant and Sun ruler, was cold in Aquarius, square the miserable Moon, and for good (?) measure conjunct the South Node.
Another winter, another punishing freeze, nearly stranded me in London in 1963 when I - then a young drama student - should have been home for the holidays. The first snow fell on Boxing Day 1962. The last of the snow which turned Great Britain into a sea-girt Siberia didn’t start to melt until the 6th of March. This was to be a very famous winter! I’ve looked at fame in men and women, and found that the majority manage to be born on days when at least once the Sun and Moon are simultaneously on the angles. Here we have a winter that began at sunrise, cold old Capricorn rising, with an extremely unhappy Moon culminating in Scorpio. That’s a good start to the recipe for snow and ice! Further, Taurus was on the IC (wet) and its ruling Venus also up in detrimental Scorpio with Neptune, the latter promising complete white-outs as the blizzards raged. And there was freezing fog. Saturn, the Ascendant and Sun ruler, was cold in Aquarius, square the miserable Moon, and for good (?) measure conjunct the South Node.
Two days later there was an astronomical event worth checking out: the Moon’s True Nodes changed signs. I have no idea whether this will prove to be a consistent weather indicator - time and study will tell - but just look at the pattern for London! Cold wet signs on the 1st and 4th cusps again; and the Scorpio Moon that ushered in the unforgiving winter is yet again angular - now on the Ascendant tucked right in between the Venus and Neptune. Jupiter and Chiron at the IC opposite Uranus, Pluto and Ceres in the Midheaven complete a picture of circumstantial woe. Well ... challenge, then! It all depends who is getting their fingers and toes and pipes frozen.
Now then! One thing we haven’t done yet is take a look at the other zodiacs. Think about it; extreme weather affects people. It has a historic, socio-cultural impact; it can act as part of a nation’s collective karma. What do we find in the winter Ingress of 1962?
Now then! One thing we haven’t done yet is take a look at the other zodiacs. Think about it; extreme weather affects people. It has a historic, socio-cultural impact; it can act as part of a nation’s collective karma. What do we find in the winter Ingress of 1962?
We find an angular Chiron. Yes, there he is, Draconic Chiron, bang on the Tropical MC with Uranus opposite. If that doesn’t spell major disruption and considerable human suffering I don’t know what does. (And Dwad Uranus is at 2SC56, next to the radix Moon/MC.) Added to this is the Draconic IC with the Sidereal South Node - a historic and fateful winter. The Draconic Moon/MC in Cancer is all about precipitation ... and hunkering down behind closed doors with the family with enough food and protective clothing to get by. The fact that the Moon is in trine and sextile to the Chiron-Uranus opposition is neither here nor there: they are configured, and this is another signal that the winter of ’62-63 is to be a remarkable one. Adding Sedna and Eris is intriguing: Draconic Sedna is close to the Tropical Ascendant, and the troublesome dwarf planet Eris is doubly angular - Tropically on the Sideeal IC, and Draconically on the Sidereal Ascendant and Sun.
The Boxing Day snow coincided with the Capricorn New Moon, significantly in the 4th house and configured closely with that opposition between Uranus and Chiron/Jupiter. The Moon had entered Capricorn in the early afternoon with Saturn in the Midheaven and the Capricorn Sun as ruler of the IC. The real blizzards began on December 29th when two things stand out: the Ingress MC had progressed to conjoin Neptune (and the Ascendant was now sextile the Moon), and the Moon by transit had entered Aquarius. Moon Ingresses are not mentioned by either Zain or Riske - but why not take account of these? They may be offering us another level of fine-tuning. This Moon-Aquarius Ingress the evening before the start of the blizzard has, at London, a conjunction of Neptune and Venus at the extreme Scorpio IC, and the ingressing Moon still very close to her cold, unfriendly South Node. The next day she was with Saturn and square Neptune.
The Boxing Day snow coincided with the Capricorn New Moon, significantly in the 4th house and configured closely with that opposition between Uranus and Chiron/Jupiter. The Moon had entered Capricorn in the early afternoon with Saturn in the Midheaven and the Capricorn Sun as ruler of the IC. The real blizzards began on December 29th when two things stand out: the Ingress MC had progressed to conjoin Neptune (and the Ascendant was now sextile the Moon), and the Moon by transit had entered Aquarius. Moon Ingresses are not mentioned by either Zain or Riske - but why not take account of these? They may be offering us another level of fine-tuning. This Moon-Aquarius Ingress the evening before the start of the blizzard has, at London, a conjunction of Neptune and Venus at the extreme Scorpio IC, and the ingressing Moon still very close to her cold, unfriendly South Node. The next day she was with Saturn and square Neptune.
There was more heavy snow in February accompanied by severe gales on the 5th of the month. This was the day that began with Sun and Saturn hand in hand at the IC, worst toward the East of the UK which was right in the firing-line of some horribly cold continental air on the edge of a deep depression. This nithering Sun was exactly square snowy Neptune; and Mars was doing just what Zain said it would do when strongly configured with Saturn (opposite, in the Midheaven), aiding and abetting a very nasty storm. What was the moist Moon up to? Powerful in her own sign and configuring all these within 2º of the direct Sun-Neptune midpoint, the solstice axis. So here again is something extra to look at - the pattern for the start of any given day. If there are to be dramas they will show up here!
The thaw set in from March 6th. What has happened in the sky? First, by 1º measure, the 74 days since winter began add 74º to all the Ingress positions; this brings the Sun and (London) Ascendant almost exactly opposite ... Ceres! Only two days/º previously the Descendant had touched Pluto at the same time as Mars met up with the Moon and (London) MC. The timing varied over the UK by a few days. The Mars/Moon/MC contact certainly suggests a warming-up, and Pluto on an angle can transform conditions. And Ceres? The goddess has a heart that can harden or soften, and maybe indicates a radical change in the weather for good or ill. We shall have to keep an eye on her, with this possibility in mind. Secondly, Mercury was reaching the end of Aquarius, which it had entered and re-entered on January 2nd and 20th, and February 15th. On March 9th Mercury moved definitively into Pisces.
This brings up another point: I know Mercury is supposed to be all about air movement, but so often I’ve noticed that its position and sign appear to be telling us something else about the weather. The current winter, 2011-2012, began with Mercury in the Fire sign Sagittarius; we had the mildest winter spell for years through December and January (I still have Geraniums in flower as I write in early February!), whereas the winters we have just been looking at began and continued with Mercury in the far colder signs of Capricorn and Aquarius. Many times in Spring I have observed that when Mercury is lagging behind the Sun the Spring is slow to start, and when racing away in front the season has been early. So it may well be that Mercury is also a Temperature planet; these phenomena may not prove to be consistent, but it needs to be watched.
Winter 1946-47
During that other notable twentieth-century winter of 1946-47, I was in Glasgow playing amid snowdrifts far bigger than me on our ‘back green’ behind the Hyndland flats. My husband-to-be was doggedly cycling to and from work along treacherous Lancashire highways. At the 1946 winter Ingress Mercury was not yet in Capricorn; and the record-breaking cold didn’t really begin until January 21st 1947 almost exactly at the Sun’s Aquarius Ingress on January 20th in opposition to Saturn. By 0h00 on February 1st, the start of the coldest month in the UK record-books, the Sun and Mars at the Aquarius IC were in conflict with culminating Saturn and Pluto. Another moment in the human calendar that mirrored the climatic drama. But unlike the winter of 1962-63 the indications are far from clear-cut. This is where astrological weather prediction becomes frustrating. At the winter Ingress Gemini was on the IC, and ruling Mercury on the Midheaven in Sagittarius with the Moon. Aquarius was rising; the traditional ruler Saturn conjoined Pluto in Leo, while Uranus held the Gemini IC. Right - we clearly have unusual weather this winter, with plenty of precipitation within sight! And it looks windy. All that was correct. But the prominence of Fire signs does not suggest the intense cold that ensued. However! ... if we do what we did earlier and add the other two main zodiacs, suddenly we have the picture we would have expected, with a Scorpio stellium in the Midheaven and bitter Capricorn rising, its ruling Saturn now with Pluto in wet Cancer. For the record, Tropical Eris is on the Draconic IC.
The thaw set in from March 6th. What has happened in the sky? First, by 1º measure, the 74 days since winter began add 74º to all the Ingress positions; this brings the Sun and (London) Ascendant almost exactly opposite ... Ceres! Only two days/º previously the Descendant had touched Pluto at the same time as Mars met up with the Moon and (London) MC. The timing varied over the UK by a few days. The Mars/Moon/MC contact certainly suggests a warming-up, and Pluto on an angle can transform conditions. And Ceres? The goddess has a heart that can harden or soften, and maybe indicates a radical change in the weather for good or ill. We shall have to keep an eye on her, with this possibility in mind. Secondly, Mercury was reaching the end of Aquarius, which it had entered and re-entered on January 2nd and 20th, and February 15th. On March 9th Mercury moved definitively into Pisces.
This brings up another point: I know Mercury is supposed to be all about air movement, but so often I’ve noticed that its position and sign appear to be telling us something else about the weather. The current winter, 2011-2012, began with Mercury in the Fire sign Sagittarius; we had the mildest winter spell for years through December and January (I still have Geraniums in flower as I write in early February!), whereas the winters we have just been looking at began and continued with Mercury in the far colder signs of Capricorn and Aquarius. Many times in Spring I have observed that when Mercury is lagging behind the Sun the Spring is slow to start, and when racing away in front the season has been early. So it may well be that Mercury is also a Temperature planet; these phenomena may not prove to be consistent, but it needs to be watched.
Winter 1946-47
During that other notable twentieth-century winter of 1946-47, I was in Glasgow playing amid snowdrifts far bigger than me on our ‘back green’ behind the Hyndland flats. My husband-to-be was doggedly cycling to and from work along treacherous Lancashire highways. At the 1946 winter Ingress Mercury was not yet in Capricorn; and the record-breaking cold didn’t really begin until January 21st 1947 almost exactly at the Sun’s Aquarius Ingress on January 20th in opposition to Saturn. By 0h00 on February 1st, the start of the coldest month in the UK record-books, the Sun and Mars at the Aquarius IC were in conflict with culminating Saturn and Pluto. Another moment in the human calendar that mirrored the climatic drama. But unlike the winter of 1962-63 the indications are far from clear-cut. This is where astrological weather prediction becomes frustrating. At the winter Ingress Gemini was on the IC, and ruling Mercury on the Midheaven in Sagittarius with the Moon. Aquarius was rising; the traditional ruler Saturn conjoined Pluto in Leo, while Uranus held the Gemini IC. Right - we clearly have unusual weather this winter, with plenty of precipitation within sight! And it looks windy. All that was correct. But the prominence of Fire signs does not suggest the intense cold that ensued. However! ... if we do what we did earlier and add the other two main zodiacs, suddenly we have the picture we would have expected, with a Scorpio stellium in the Midheaven and bitter Capricorn rising, its ruling Saturn now with Pluto in wet Cancer. For the record, Tropical Eris is on the Draconic IC.
How come? We are simply focussing on the Sidereal pattern instead of the Tropical. In fact the debate over these two zodiacs in environmental astrology has been going on for decades. I generally take the view that ‘either-or’ may be a mistake, and ‘both-and’ is the more likely route to truth, with context prescribing the dominant zodiac. You see, we don’t actually know how the universe works. We don’t actually know how or why cosmic ‘choices’ are made. We don’t actually know whether or how God intervenes in His world’s weather to test the resilience and integrity of His children! So - maybe 1946-47 was a Sidereal winter, with maximum historic impact on the denizens of the British Isles.
Also frustrating is the apparent lack of directions from the Ingress to the start of the Big Freeze. Venus was going over Mercury and the MC by transit - not suggestive of ice. The very worst of the blizzards didn’t hit until March 5th, and even this day’s civil chart doesn’t shout ‘major snowfall’. It is a day that at 0h00 looks wet, certainly, with Sun, Ceres and Mercury in Pisces in the 4th house, Scorpio rising, and a Moon/Pluto conjunction. But this is in warm, dry Leo ... although it is conjoined from the dwad by both Sun and Pluto. The preceding lunation, First Quarter Moon on February 28th, although wet, windy and cold doesn’t look dramatic. Its Descendant directs to Scorpio Jupiter in five days, timing the snow, but where is ‘one of the worst blizzards of the 20th century’? One thing does stand out - Mercury was stationary in Pisces; maybe that has something to say. If we add the Dwad to this chart, though, it gets more interesting:
Also frustrating is the apparent lack of directions from the Ingress to the start of the Big Freeze. Venus was going over Mercury and the MC by transit - not suggestive of ice. The very worst of the blizzards didn’t hit until March 5th, and even this day’s civil chart doesn’t shout ‘major snowfall’. It is a day that at 0h00 looks wet, certainly, with Sun, Ceres and Mercury in Pisces in the 4th house, Scorpio rising, and a Moon/Pluto conjunction. But this is in warm, dry Leo ... although it is conjoined from the dwad by both Sun and Pluto. The preceding lunation, First Quarter Moon on February 28th, although wet, windy and cold doesn’t look dramatic. Its Descendant directs to Scorpio Jupiter in five days, timing the snow, but where is ‘one of the worst blizzards of the 20th century’? One thing does stand out - Mercury was stationary in Pisces; maybe that has something to say. If we add the Dwad to this chart, though, it gets more interesting:
The radix IC at London is in Cancer, but now the dwad MC is with radix Neptune and the Moon is not only conjunct squally Uranus and her North Node but also the dwad Sun ... and Eris! All this windy Gemini activity intensified by the dwad opposition of a Pluto/Mars conjunction. And of course it again begs the question - what is the role of Ceres ? Does the prominence of Ceres conjoined with the Sun indicate climatic impact on crops?
A look at the preceding New Moon may also be helpful, as it is the major lunation. Here the IC is in Pisces - and the dwad IC in London is conjunct the radix Pisces New Moon. The South Node rises; the dwad South Node is with that dwad IC/radix Sun and Moon. The dwad Descendant, Ceres and Venus are conjoined in Cancer. This is more like it! A lot of wet, and the fateful pattern of doubly angular Nodes. It must be stressed that over the UK the dwad angles will vary quite considerably. |
In mid-March the Ingress Descendant moved by 1º direction to the conjunction of Scorpio Jupiter, the dispositor of the Tropical Moon and MC. Directed Neptune met Ingress Mars. Heavy rain and gales brought that winter to an end with major and catastrophic flooding in many parts of the UK. The Last Quarter Moon on March 14th was emphatically a wet one, with a ‘famous’ chart of setting Pisces Sun square the Sagittarius Moon close to the IC, both configured by Chiron in the 8th harmonic. Jupiter ruling both Lights was still working its baleful way through the last degrees of Scorpio. I am personally with ‘Jupiter Pluvius’ in these weather charts! He is far from benign for much of the time. Here he even adds his Dwad to the radix Ascendant.
So we have a very mixed picture, sometimes a clear-cut temperature or moisture chart easy to read along traditional lines, sometimes confusing until other dimensions are brought into play. Civil charts can be helpful as well as astronomical patterns. And more than the traditional planets need to be taken into consideration, since we often find the more recently-discovered bodies in such prominent positions.
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The London Tornado of 1091
So far we have only been looking at the very cold and wet; how about something suddenly, shockingly destructive? The tornado is the favourite candidate, and London suffered a nasty one on October 17th (OS) 1091. I have no idea what time the storm struck; they often build up during the afternoon. But we can look at the very useful New Moon two days previously.
So far we have only been looking at the very cold and wet; how about something suddenly, shockingly destructive? The tornado is the favourite candidate, and London suffered a nasty one on October 17th (OS) 1091. I have no idea what time the storm struck; they often build up during the afternoon. But we can look at the very useful New Moon two days previously.
In the radix we find Aquarius at the IC, so electrical storms and/or squalls are likely. Scorpio rises, bringing the attendant possibility (but not guarantee) of extreme weather. Saturn, then the IC ruler, is in wet Cancer with Neptune; the potential for freak weather. Uranus, then unknown, is in hot Aries together with the other undiscovered planet Pluto, stirring things up nicely! Mars, at that time the only known ruler of a Scorpio Ascendant, is bringing brisk winds from Gemini. Not bad at all.
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But would the 11th century astrologer have forecast a catastrophe? Two days later the original wooden London Bridge was no more! And there was massive damage.
For the real drama we have to go again to the Dwad. It doesn’t disappoint!
The New Moon, repositioned in early Virgo, brings heat and moisture to the MC; a Dwad conjunction of Mars and Jupiter pours its energy into rising Scorpio while Uranus and Pluto conspire to add massive danger to the Dwad Aries Ascendant. Dwad Uranus in turn is close to radix Mars. Dwad Mercury lines up with radix Eris! ...The Dwad MC has come to radix Saturn/Neptune, which in itself bodes no good to the local citizens, and opposite at the Dwad IC is unknown Chiron with a promise of pain. Dwad Pluto opposes the radix New Moon. Here is all the energy of the storm; here is the trauma and destruction to England’s capital city. Bear in mind that the Dwad Ascendant contact with radix Uranus/Pluto and Jupiter is specific to that one locality, and so is the Dwad meridian pattern. Nowhere else that day to my knowledge suffered so grievously from a weather event so off the normal scale. Also, in the civil chart for October 17th, the Dwad MC at 0h00 was in Gemini conjunct Uranus.
The ‘Hurricane’ of 1987
A far, far bigger and utterly terrifying storm hit the south and east of the UK in the early hours of October 16th 1987. Our bedroom at Ospringe faced due south, and we experienced the full onslaught of a four-hour vicious wind that tore into us with the roar of an express train. Technically this was not a hurricane, but ‘The Hurricane’ is what we all still call that cruelly destructive wind. The warnings were all there in the autumn (Fall) Ingress chart, set here for London. The radix has a conjunction of Uranus and Ceres rising in Sagittarius - a combination of warmth, storminess and squally wind - with Jupiter in Aries at the cuspal IC. Too hot. And again, don’t under-estimate the king of the gods; here he is likely to throw a tantrum! You can see by the positions of Sun, Moon and Nodes that there has just been a solar eclipse, and Venus - ruling the IC east of the capital - conjoins this in windy Libra. West of London Mars rules the IC from its square to the rising Uranus, threatening temperature fluctuations and climatic surprises. Chiron sets. That doesn’t look too good.
Now add the Dwad.
For the real drama we have to go again to the Dwad. It doesn’t disappoint!
The New Moon, repositioned in early Virgo, brings heat and moisture to the MC; a Dwad conjunction of Mars and Jupiter pours its energy into rising Scorpio while Uranus and Pluto conspire to add massive danger to the Dwad Aries Ascendant. Dwad Uranus in turn is close to radix Mars. Dwad Mercury lines up with radix Eris! ...The Dwad MC has come to radix Saturn/Neptune, which in itself bodes no good to the local citizens, and opposite at the Dwad IC is unknown Chiron with a promise of pain. Dwad Pluto opposes the radix New Moon. Here is all the energy of the storm; here is the trauma and destruction to England’s capital city. Bear in mind that the Dwad Ascendant contact with radix Uranus/Pluto and Jupiter is specific to that one locality, and so is the Dwad meridian pattern. Nowhere else that day to my knowledge suffered so grievously from a weather event so off the normal scale. Also, in the civil chart for October 17th, the Dwad MC at 0h00 was in Gemini conjunct Uranus.
The ‘Hurricane’ of 1987
A far, far bigger and utterly terrifying storm hit the south and east of the UK in the early hours of October 16th 1987. Our bedroom at Ospringe faced due south, and we experienced the full onslaught of a four-hour vicious wind that tore into us with the roar of an express train. Technically this was not a hurricane, but ‘The Hurricane’ is what we all still call that cruelly destructive wind. The warnings were all there in the autumn (Fall) Ingress chart, set here for London. The radix has a conjunction of Uranus and Ceres rising in Sagittarius - a combination of warmth, storminess and squally wind - with Jupiter in Aries at the cuspal IC. Too hot. And again, don’t under-estimate the king of the gods; here he is likely to throw a tantrum! You can see by the positions of Sun, Moon and Nodes that there has just been a solar eclipse, and Venus - ruling the IC east of the capital - conjoins this in windy Libra. West of London Mars rules the IC from its square to the rising Uranus, threatening temperature fluctuations and climatic surprises. Chiron sets. That doesn’t look too good.
Now add the Dwad.
Immediately it gets worse: here is a Mars/IC conjunction in the south-east, suggesting violent weather, and the radix Libra South Node stellium is accompanied by the Dwad Ascendant. The Dwad South Node, with Ceres close by, has moved onto the radix MC and Mercury. The Dwad chart is dominated by a mutable Grand Cross of Sagittarian Moon, Saturn, Jupiter/Neptune and Uranus. Nobody is going to forget this autumn.
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Does the Ingress direct to the storm? Well, we do find the Sun 23º/days later conjunct Mercury, also by transit of course, and Moon/Venus/South Node on or near the Midheaven. Mars by transit was pushing hard on the Ingress Moon. What is interesting is the Minor Progression of the Ingress chart. This, apart from directions, is one place we can always look for distinctive changes over a given time-frame to any radix pattern we choose. (Be warned, these too can be disappointing!) Here is quite a little eye-opener: Sun and South Node are with the Ascendant, the Moon has moved onto the Mercury-Jupiter oppsition, and Neptune is on the IC (Uranus with IC the day before, but on the same day if we take the pattern westward.) Here certainly is the possible picture of a big freak windstorm that wreaks havoc for a few hours on a single autumn day. It was within a day of the anniversary of the London Tornado.
We need in this instance to look at the solar eclipse chart, too. Once more I have set it for London. It’s another one with a powerful Dwad: gathered around the radix Ascendant - and dwad Ascendant in London - are the conjoined Sun and Moon with Uranus and Sedna, while Neptune and Jupiter set. Expect the unexpected! Minor progression of this eclipse is fruitful: the trio of Saturn, Uranus and Ceres is angular, on the Descendant. Mercury again cross-connects with Eris as well as Ceres, these in the dwad. And with Mercury being the windy planet, how about its first entry into Scorpio on September 28th? Here is another little nasty: up in the Midheaven are the planets bringing the storm warning - Uranus and (so it would seem) Ceres; opposite at the IC is long-suffering Chiron. Mars sets; the Moon is with Saturn. A very uncomfortable picture, full of atmospheric violence. We really need to start asking ourselves seriously, ‘What does Ceres have to do with these weather events?’ She can be an angry goddess when robbed of all she holds dear; maybe our mistreatment of her ecosystems has turned her against us, joining forces with her ruthless son-in-law to get her revenge.
We need in this instance to look at the solar eclipse chart, too. Once more I have set it for London. It’s another one with a powerful Dwad: gathered around the radix Ascendant - and dwad Ascendant in London - are the conjoined Sun and Moon with Uranus and Sedna, while Neptune and Jupiter set. Expect the unexpected! Minor progression of this eclipse is fruitful: the trio of Saturn, Uranus and Ceres is angular, on the Descendant. Mercury again cross-connects with Eris as well as Ceres, these in the dwad. And with Mercury being the windy planet, how about its first entry into Scorpio on September 28th? Here is another little nasty: up in the Midheaven are the planets bringing the storm warning - Uranus and (so it would seem) Ceres; opposite at the IC is long-suffering Chiron. Mars sets; the Moon is with Saturn. A very uncomfortable picture, full of atmospheric violence. We really need to start asking ourselves seriously, ‘What does Ceres have to do with these weather events?’ She can be an angry goddess when robbed of all she holds dear; maybe our mistreatment of her ecosystems has turned her against us, joining forces with her ruthless son-in-law to get her revenge.
The storm made landfall at about 2am BST on the Isle of Wight, wrecking Shanklin Pier. What a chart this is, too! At 2am not only was a conjunction of Mercury and Pluto on the Scorpio IC with Sedna on MC, but Dwad Pluto was on the radix Descendant (opposite Sedna), and in the Channel there the Dwad Descendant conjoined radix Pluto! Double trouble! There was also a Dwad Neptune/IC conjunction. This was freak weather with a vengeance.
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In winds of up to 120 mph we lost around 15 million trees ... and remarkably few people. The next morning under a glorious sun the roads were red with shattered roofs and all you could hear were chainsaws.
Sedna is a vengeful sea-goddess in all her myths - and is associated with mighty storms.
The Drought of 2003
We haven’t looked at a drought yet. The most severe in Europe since 1540 was only a few years ago in the summer of 2003. It had a catastrophic effect on crops and was responsible in Europe for much suffering and more than 40,000 deaths. The temperature records weren’t broken until August; in fact had we not moved to North Wales the year before, we would have spent our Wedding Anniversary in the hottest ever place in the UK. I am not sorry that we failed to be part of Britain’s climatic history; I think we might have expired at 101º03' Fahrenheit!
Sedna is a vengeful sea-goddess in all her myths - and is associated with mighty storms.
The Drought of 2003
We haven’t looked at a drought yet. The most severe in Europe since 1540 was only a few years ago in the summer of 2003. It had a catastrophic effect on crops and was responsible in Europe for much suffering and more than 40,000 deaths. The temperature records weren’t broken until August; in fact had we not moved to North Wales the year before, we would have spent our Wedding Anniversary in the hottest ever place in the UK. I am not sorry that we failed to be part of Britain’s climatic history; I think we might have expired at 101º03' Fahrenheit!
Here is the 2003 Cancer Ingress at sweltering Faversham. The Sun/Saturn conjunction at the ingress squaring a hot Aries Moon will have been responsible for the Europe-wide drought, especially with weird Neptune and catastrophic Pluto joining the Sun in the Dwad.
But in hard-hit Kent Pluto is rising in hot Sagittarius ... and Eris at the Aries IC. That trouble-maker again. Also on the radix IC are the dwad Aries Moon and her North Node. Dispositor Mars is with Uranus in the sky, and dwad Uranus joins the radix Aries Moon. |
The development of this ingress chart is stunning. I have presented it above with the dwad at the centre of the bi-wheel. Daily progression of the 2003 Cancer Ingress at Faversham to the hottest day, August 10th 2003, brings the MC to 9 Sagittarius (with dwad Sedna) and the dpIC to Ceres. The Daily Ascendant has met Neptune for outlandish conditions. These are described in the dwad: the fast-moving Daily dwad Ascendant has collected that Ingress Sun/Saturn conjunction plus the dwad Sun/Neptune/Pluto! At its Midheaven is Mars and approaching Uranus.
This is the way to study local weather!
We were on holiday in the Lake District that day; even there the heat and brilliance of the Sun were pretty hard to cope with. When a year is remembered for its weather events (or any other, come to that) it is worth setting up the year’s civil chart, for 0h00 local zone time on January 1st. Do this for 2003, and the pattern is pretty descriptive. Firstly, Saturn - always the ruler of this IC - is in dry Gemini; in the northern hemisphere Libra always rises at this moment, and Venus the ruler is conjunct hot Mars in extreme Scorpio - which might produce a spot of drizzle at best. The Moon is also uncomfortably hot in Sagittarius with Pluto, and the Sun is (surprise, surprise) conjunct Chiron and square setting Ceres. Another punishing year. The Dwad adds to the stress by parking its Pluto and Ceres on the radix MC, and in London compounding the drought with Mars and Desc on radix Saturn. So when the heat arrived, it was always going to be a major event.
This is the way to study local weather!
We were on holiday in the Lake District that day; even there the heat and brilliance of the Sun were pretty hard to cope with. When a year is remembered for its weather events (or any other, come to that) it is worth setting up the year’s civil chart, for 0h00 local zone time on January 1st. Do this for 2003, and the pattern is pretty descriptive. Firstly, Saturn - always the ruler of this IC - is in dry Gemini; in the northern hemisphere Libra always rises at this moment, and Venus the ruler is conjunct hot Mars in extreme Scorpio - which might produce a spot of drizzle at best. The Moon is also uncomfortably hot in Sagittarius with Pluto, and the Sun is (surprise, surprise) conjunct Chiron and square setting Ceres. Another punishing year. The Dwad adds to the stress by parking its Pluto and Ceres on the radix MC, and in London compounding the drought with Mars and Desc on radix Saturn. So when the heat arrived, it was always going to be a major event.
The Drought of 1975-76
The previous drought which comes vividly to mind is the one with which we started the chapter. Ever since summer 1975 there had been months and months with hardly any rain, and by 1976 the UK was losing not only crops but trees whose roots were reaching in vain for moisture in deeply parched and cracking soils. Coping with extremes is, as we have seen over and over again, the territory of Pluto; and both 1975 and 1976 began with a Sun-Pluto square - tightest in 1975, and Pluto right on the Ascendant too. Now, that Pluto is the key to this long drought: because for the entire duration Pluto was moving to and fro over 9º-10º Libra, square not just the Sun at the start of the year but of course the UK and England Capricorn Sun as well! The eclipses are at times taxing, but overall it is the Pluto transit to the national charts that visited near-disaster on the British environment. There is more to weather charts than we have been led to believe. You may bear in mind, too, the impending direct transit of Pluto over 9º-10º Capricorn now that 2012 has arrived; heaven only knows what we are going to have to put up with. By the time you read this, you will know.
The previous drought which comes vividly to mind is the one with which we started the chapter. Ever since summer 1975 there had been months and months with hardly any rain, and by 1976 the UK was losing not only crops but trees whose roots were reaching in vain for moisture in deeply parched and cracking soils. Coping with extremes is, as we have seen over and over again, the territory of Pluto; and both 1975 and 1976 began with a Sun-Pluto square - tightest in 1975, and Pluto right on the Ascendant too. Now, that Pluto is the key to this long drought: because for the entire duration Pluto was moving to and fro over 9º-10º Libra, square not just the Sun at the start of the year but of course the UK and England Capricorn Sun as well! The eclipses are at times taxing, but overall it is the Pluto transit to the national charts that visited near-disaster on the British environment. There is more to weather charts than we have been led to believe. You may bear in mind, too, the impending direct transit of Pluto over 9º-10º Capricorn now that 2012 has arrived; heaven only knows what we are going to have to put up with. By the time you read this, you will know.
We do have to look at the solar ingresses of course, and it is the autumn Ingress of 1975 where we see the UK running into serious trouble. Here (above left, dwad at centre) there is a really destructive pattern of Saturn, traditional ruler of the 1st house, setting in Leo as the Dwad South Node joins the Aquarius Ascendant. In the south-east, the Dwad Ascendant is with Mars and Chiron. Dwad Moon is with radix Mars in dry, windy Gemini which is also the sign on the radix IC and holding the 4th house planet, Ceres. Mercury is in Libra opposite Aries Jupiter and Chiron. Uranus squares Ascendant in the radix. One of my abiding memories of that drought is the exotically hot wind that blew the hem of the coolest summer dress I could find. That autumn, I remember great swathes of beech-mast underfoot in the woods as the grand old trees desperately seeded themselves.
The Sun then went into Scorpio (above right, radix at centre) - and still the Nodes were angular, to the meridian this time, and Dwad Saturn met the Ascendant on the Leo/Virgo cusp. I do find it hard to think of Saturn as a wet planet! In coelo, the Scorpio Sun conjoined Uranus and squared the Leo Saturn. Challenging.
Both the Sagittarius and Capricorn solar Ingresses had Dwad/radix Moon-Saturn alignments in dry signs, and with both Saturn and Uranus resolutely hanging onto respectively the Cancer/Leo cusp and early Scorpio, the Sun’s Aquarius Ingress heralded another disruptive and unpleasant month. Pisces brought no outstanding patterns, but the entry of the Sun into Aries on March 20th 1976 came in the middle of the day when the Sun was in the Midheaven and Saturn rising (albeit in late Cancer.) Virgo was at the IC, Mercury in Pisces ... but Ceres in Gemini. The Moon, ruling the Ascendant and disposing Saturn, had just gone into Sagittarius, trine the Aries Sun. Any hope of useful rain evaporated.
On into Taurus, and Neptune rose in Sagittarius, unnervingly hot for April, with punishing Pluto angular to the MC. Venus and the IC were together in Aries square a Cancer Mars that didn’t stand a chance confronted by the dried-out Capricorn Moon. The Dwad Moon held the 7th house cusp, in Gemini. More hot breezes.
The Sun then went into Scorpio (above right, radix at centre) - and still the Nodes were angular, to the meridian this time, and Dwad Saturn met the Ascendant on the Leo/Virgo cusp. I do find it hard to think of Saturn as a wet planet! In coelo, the Scorpio Sun conjoined Uranus and squared the Leo Saturn. Challenging.
Both the Sagittarius and Capricorn solar Ingresses had Dwad/radix Moon-Saturn alignments in dry signs, and with both Saturn and Uranus resolutely hanging onto respectively the Cancer/Leo cusp and early Scorpio, the Sun’s Aquarius Ingress heralded another disruptive and unpleasant month. Pisces brought no outstanding patterns, but the entry of the Sun into Aries on March 20th 1976 came in the middle of the day when the Sun was in the Midheaven and Saturn rising (albeit in late Cancer.) Virgo was at the IC, Mercury in Pisces ... but Ceres in Gemini. The Moon, ruling the Ascendant and disposing Saturn, had just gone into Sagittarius, trine the Aries Sun. Any hope of useful rain evaporated.
On into Taurus, and Neptune rose in Sagittarius, unnervingly hot for April, with punishing Pluto angular to the MC. Venus and the IC were together in Aries square a Cancer Mars that didn’t stand a chance confronted by the dried-out Capricorn Moon. The Dwad Moon held the 7th house cusp, in Gemini. More hot breezes.
The Taurus Ingress had Fire signs on the angles again, freaky Neptune rising, and a drying Gemini Moon. When the Sun moved on into Gemini there must have been a stormy patch (I wish I could remember) as Uranus was right on the Midheaven in Scorpio, and the Moon was - for a change - in a Water sign, Pisces. But rising was the cusp of Sagittarius/Capricorn; maybe all we had was thunder and heat haze.
Then we come to summer, proper (below). Oh dear - now it really went from bad to worse! At the Libra IC on June 21st 1976 as the rising Sun hit 0º Cancer, was that afflicting Pluto, with Saturn scorching everything drier and drier on the Leo Ascendant, squared by Chiron. No help from the Moon - she was in Aries. No help from the Dwad - its Mars was burning up the radix MC. On the radix 7th cusp and opposed by the rising Saturn was Dwad Ceres. Crop yields were going to be well down. Oh, lovely dry weather for the harvest! But such impoverished grain. I think that maybe Chiron and Ceres may be ‘where the wild things are’ as well as the cultivated environment; Chiron, after all, is half man and half horse, and in our charts may represent God’s creatures as well as our relationships with them. Ceres, in creating the seasons and all their rhythms, is in herself intimately connected with weather. When she is angular or otherwise strong, perhaps it is our cue to keep an extra careful eye on the vagaries of our climate. Interesting, too, that it is at this period of anxiety about climate change that Ceres has been brought out of the asteroid chorus, so to speak, and given one of the planetary starring roles!
Then we come to summer, proper (below). Oh dear - now it really went from bad to worse! At the Libra IC on June 21st 1976 as the rising Sun hit 0º Cancer, was that afflicting Pluto, with Saturn scorching everything drier and drier on the Leo Ascendant, squared by Chiron. No help from the Moon - she was in Aries. No help from the Dwad - its Mars was burning up the radix MC. On the radix 7th cusp and opposed by the rising Saturn was Dwad Ceres. Crop yields were going to be well down. Oh, lovely dry weather for the harvest! But such impoverished grain. I think that maybe Chiron and Ceres may be ‘where the wild things are’ as well as the cultivated environment; Chiron, after all, is half man and half horse, and in our charts may represent God’s creatures as well as our relationships with them. Ceres, in creating the seasons and all their rhythms, is in herself intimately connected with weather. When she is angular or otherwise strong, perhaps it is our cue to keep an extra careful eye on the vagaries of our climate. Interesting, too, that it is at this period of anxiety about climate change that Ceres has been brought out of the asteroid chorus, so to speak, and given one of the planetary starring roles!
Leo 1976 (below, left; dwad at centre) began with the Sun and Ceres and Saturn and Mercury and Venus on fire together within the sign’s first decanate - square Chiron of course, and sextile a Gemini Moon. The drought was now at its most severe. Parts of south-west England went for 45 days without rain during July and August. There were forest and heath fires in the south, destroying tens of thousands of trees. The UK harvest failed to the tune of £500 million, and food prices inevitably rose. Water rationing was brought in.
Only in the last week of the month, after the Virgo Ingress of the Sun (above right, radix at centre) did the drought break with heavy thunderstorms - driving me hastily back from Cornwall to Kent - leading to a very wet autumn. The Ingress Sun was at the IC; you would think another parched month was on the way; but Cancer was rising, with the Dwad Nodes along the radix horizon, and the Moon was also at last in her own sign, sextile Jupiter (Pluvius!), and these factors must have been sufficient to turn the weather around. It may be the conjunction of Mercury, ruling Sun and IC, with Mars that generated the storms.
The North Sea Flood
One of the worst weather disasters to hit coastal communities along the northern English Channel, on the night of January 31st - February 1st, was the North Sea Flood of 1953. This is considered to be the worst natural disaster of the 20th century both in the Netherlands and the UK; over two thousand lives were lost as sea defences on both sides of the Channel were overwhelmed. Tens of thousands of animals drowned, and many thousands of homes and businesses ruined. A ferry was lost, drowning 133 people, and over a quarter of the Scottish fishing fleet was sunk. The catastrophe was caused by the lethal combination of a violent winter storm with an exceptionally high spring tide at the late January Full Moon.
The North Sea Flood
One of the worst weather disasters to hit coastal communities along the northern English Channel, on the night of January 31st - February 1st, was the North Sea Flood of 1953. This is considered to be the worst natural disaster of the 20th century both in the Netherlands and the UK; over two thousand lives were lost as sea defences on both sides of the Channel were overwhelmed. Tens of thousands of animals drowned, and many thousands of homes and businesses ruined. A ferry was lost, drowning 133 people, and over a quarter of the Scottish fishing fleet was sunk. The catastrophe was caused by the lethal combination of a violent winter storm with an exceptionally high spring tide at the late January Full Moon.
First of all, the warnings were there in the 1952 winter Ingress.Scorpio was at the IC at Canvey Island in Essex - one of the UK communities worst affected. In the 4th house was Mercury, opposite a windy Gemini Ceres and squaring the Virgo Ascendant. Setting was the Moon, in Pisces. Now, the description of Pisces early in this chapter hardly justifies what happened that winter, except maybe for freak weather.
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However, Pisces is Mutable Water, running every which way, and may well be associated with uncontrollable and chaotic flooding. On the Midheaven was Dwad Chiron - painful experiences again - and at the Dwad IC was the cold, wet, messy radix conjunction of Saturn and Neptune. Further up the coast this pattern also pulled in the Dwad Moon. Not the most pleasant winter to look forward to.
The ingress of the Sun into Aquarius brought the Nodes onto the horizon along the Channel coasts. This is usually another warning of trouble in store when it comes to the weather. At the windy Gemini IC was Ceres, and the Dwad Moon. Jupiter in the wet sign Taurus was picked up by the Dwad Ascendant. A lot of wind in this chart, plenty of water - and the potential for local destruction. Again we seem to be looking at the angry goddess.
The Full Moon - which forecasters would have known to pull up a spring tide - was due on January 29th just before midnight. It came angular all the way up the Channel with Mercury at the IC in Aquarius and the Saturn/Neptune conjunction in Libra rising, opposite Sedna. And of course this was no ordinary Full Moon - this was a South Node Total Lunar Eclipse hitting the Netherlands and the eastern UK head-on with a mass of wind and water. |
The violence of the storm is visible in the Dwad conjunction of Mercury/Pluto hitting the Descendant and furious Sedna of the radix chart. This set events in motion. The winds began to be felt in earnest by daytime on January 31st.
Here is the chart for 0h00 civil time at Felixstowe, Suffolk, one of the first communities to be hit by the storm: significantly Mercury is exactly at the IC here, joining radix Jupiter from the Dwad, and building up into a really big wind.
Here is the chart for 0h00 civil time at Felixstowe, Suffolk, one of the first communities to be hit by the storm: significantly Mercury is exactly at the IC here, joining radix Jupiter from the Dwad, and building up into a really big wind.
In this chart for the first day of the cataclysm the Moon has joined forces with Pluto. The storm and the tide together gathered strength over the hours, and by 0h00 on February 1st at Canvey Island the IC was coming onto Mercury, the Sun, and shortly afterwards the Nodal axis. The inhabitants of the coastal town, in bed and asleep, were unaware of the severity of their situation and overwhelmed by the waters shortly after midnight. Many drowned; many managed to escape with their lives but lost everything else. In the Dwad, slowly combining, is a trio of Ceres, Neptune and Chiron, all close to radix Uranus in Cancer ... was this also a pattern we should have been watching? In it, the sudden, destructive chaos of rushing waves is graphically pictured.
A Summer of Two Halves
The weather of 2012, so skewed from normal in the UK because of the southward trek of the jet stream, is proving the importance of the Dwad yet again as we reach August and a sudden shift from perpetual chill to tropical, humid heat. There is a very clear divide across the country between southeast and northwest. In the southeast temperatures are in the low 30s Celsius and the rain has beaten a retreat; in the northwest and Wales weather fronts continue to roll in and spoil the party with heavy and often thundery downpours.
This change was cued by the New Moon in Leo on August 17th. The radix chart is unrelievedly and unpleasantly hot, especially to the east where the Mars/Saturn conjunction - configuring the New Moon - exactly meets the Libra MC. Sagittarius rises. Jupiter is in Air. In London the Dwad chart has a dry Virgo Ascendant and the MC still with burning Mars; here in north Wales the Dwad Ascendant and MC both meet Uranus in early Cancer. Manchester with Cancer ‘rising’ and Dwad Saturn/MC fares no better. Showery and stormy. Even further to the West the Dwad New Moon for Penzance has Saturn ‘rising’ at the end of Cancer, and in rainy Belfast the New Moon itself soaks the Dwad Ascendant. Even places with early Leo on the Dwad Ascendant, such as Truro and Birmingham, are not exempt from the downpours as Dwad Saturn at the end of Cancer is still conjunct the angle. Northumberland in the northeast has had cooler and often dismal weather with Dwad Cancer MC on Saturn; the square of Neptune/Pluto to the Dwad Ascendant may be adding sea fog. Moving south, over in Norfolk the Dwad for King’s Lynn has a Leo Ascendant and MC. Hot and dry.
So there we are. We have found much support for the traditional system of astrological weather forecasting, but added to this is the undoubted importance yet again of including each chart’s Dwad in order to see a much fuller and more accurate picture. And we now need to take account of the other, smaller bodies in the Solar System, notably Ceres and Chiron. From the charts above, I am sure Sedna and Eris play their part as well, adding even more fine detail. Perhaps we can look more closely at that later.
A Summer of Two Halves
The weather of 2012, so skewed from normal in the UK because of the southward trek of the jet stream, is proving the importance of the Dwad yet again as we reach August and a sudden shift from perpetual chill to tropical, humid heat. There is a very clear divide across the country between southeast and northwest. In the southeast temperatures are in the low 30s Celsius and the rain has beaten a retreat; in the northwest and Wales weather fronts continue to roll in and spoil the party with heavy and often thundery downpours.
This change was cued by the New Moon in Leo on August 17th. The radix chart is unrelievedly and unpleasantly hot, especially to the east where the Mars/Saturn conjunction - configuring the New Moon - exactly meets the Libra MC. Sagittarius rises. Jupiter is in Air. In London the Dwad chart has a dry Virgo Ascendant and the MC still with burning Mars; here in north Wales the Dwad Ascendant and MC both meet Uranus in early Cancer. Manchester with Cancer ‘rising’ and Dwad Saturn/MC fares no better. Showery and stormy. Even further to the West the Dwad New Moon for Penzance has Saturn ‘rising’ at the end of Cancer, and in rainy Belfast the New Moon itself soaks the Dwad Ascendant. Even places with early Leo on the Dwad Ascendant, such as Truro and Birmingham, are not exempt from the downpours as Dwad Saturn at the end of Cancer is still conjunct the angle. Northumberland in the northeast has had cooler and often dismal weather with Dwad Cancer MC on Saturn; the square of Neptune/Pluto to the Dwad Ascendant may be adding sea fog. Moving south, over in Norfolk the Dwad for King’s Lynn has a Leo Ascendant and MC. Hot and dry.
So there we are. We have found much support for the traditional system of astrological weather forecasting, but added to this is the undoubted importance yet again of including each chart’s Dwad in order to see a much fuller and more accurate picture. And we now need to take account of the other, smaller bodies in the Solar System, notably Ceres and Chiron. From the charts above, I am sure Sedna and Eris play their part as well, adding even more fine detail. Perhaps we can look more closely at that later.
Weather People
You may like to cast a weather eye over the birth chart of a weatherman! Set for true noon, here is the nativity of Richard Piers Corbyn, an astro-physicist and professional forecaster. He became fascinated with climate in his childhood and predicts for weather-sensitive organisations using the impact of Solar activity on the Earth’s magnetic field. His actual method is undisclosed. Sun and Mercury are conjunct Ceres, square Uranus, and the ruler of the noon chart is the Moon, with maverick Chiron in secretive, investigative Scorpio! How about the BBC? The weather has become required listening and viewing over the decades, especially in this country, the United Kingdom, ‘born’ on exactly the same day as Ceres herself was discovered - January 1st 1801. No wonder we all love to talk about the weather! The first regular daily forecasts began in 1923 on March 26th. I have no idea what time the first one was broadcast, but the chart for true noon again puts Ceres firmly in the frame: as the Aries Sun crowns the Midheaven, she, in early Aquarius, enlightens her public from the 7th cusp.
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The Meteorological (‘Met’) Office itself can be charted, using the date of its first official forecast chart, on May 23rd 1867. Set for true noon, the pattern is dominated by the ongoing opposition of Sun, Mercury and Ceres at the meridian, and our thundery friend Jupiter setting at the same time - with Eris, interestingly. We have a direct midpoint that day of Sun-Mercury = Ceres, and an indirect midpoint of Sun-Saturn = Ceres. The well-organised conveying of weather data. Very satisfying. |
TV weather reports followed nearly twenty years later, beginning on January 11th. The noon chart is unremarkable; but the civil chart for the start of the day in London is a cracker! Sun at the IC of course, together with Mercury, Venus, Chiron and the North Node, all in organised, forward-looking Capricorn ... and Ceres rising opposite the Moon. Even better, in the Dwad of this chart we find a conjunction of Ceres with Saturn and the MC, all opposite Mercury, IC and Neptune - dispelling uncertainty around fog, water and wind!
One of the BBC’s best-known weather presenters a couple of decades ago was Bill Giles. Instead of Ceres on one of the associate angles with his culminating Sun it is Chiron that sets ... and asteroid Williwaw (squall of wind) that joins Uranus opposing the Sun from the IC. Stormy Sedna joins the Sun, and Mars meets the Ascendant from the dwad. Up and down the dwad MC are Pluto and Chiron.
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But! ... if we turn his chart over to true midnight, Ceres is in the Ascendant, and, joyously, asteroid Sunshine is exactly rising. Sun and Ceres did have some good news that day! Looking at this, it seems that ‘parans’/associate angles between Sun or Moon and any other body, as well as the now familiar ‘Fame’ pattern of Sun and Moon on angles, may have special significance for the person in question and mark out an appropriate career path. Clearly, not everyone born on the same day as Bill Giles will work in meteorology, but the potential for involvement with Ceres’ seasonal affairs will always be there, and may indeed work out in different ways. We haven’t finished with Bill Giles; add the now essential Dwad to his chart for true noon, and we find Sun plus MC and Pluto conjunct the radix Ceres. Ceres is really turning out to be our Weather Girl!
Currently perhaps the most familiar face of the BBC weather among several welcome visitors to our living-rooms, is the cheery Carol Kirkwood. Her asteroids are amazing. First of all she has the Fame pattern - ie, as already indicated, there is one moment during the day she was born (not necessarily her own time of birth, which I don’t know) when Sun and Moon are simultaneously on angles, ‘parans’ to each other.
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Carol’s ‘fame’ comes at sunset, when the Aries Moon meets the IC. This in itself may have significance: images (Moon) of her come into the home, as she reaches out (Gemini Sun on 7th cusp) to inform the nation. And guess what? At that moment, in their positions opposite that setting Sun, asteroid Kirkwood and Dwad asteroid Carol conjoin the Ascendant from 10º and 11º Sagittarius. Didn’t I just write, ‘cheery Carol Kirkwood’? That was before I found the asteroid positions! The icing on this particular cake is that asteroid Weathers at 16º28' Libra is on the MC of this chart opposite her Moon, and its Dwad at 17º Aries is conjunct! But we were hunting for Ceres - and we have found her, too. Carol is a female member of Met Office trained BBC staff; so, besides its closeness to 7th - house Mercury in Gemini, Ceres conjoins the Aries Moon from the Dwad ... so is also with Dwad Weathers, and the Dwad MC. Sedna is prominent again, with the dwad Pisces Ascendant and that happy, wacky radix Jupiter/Chiron. You can spend a lot of time on the wonderful planetary palette of this double chart, so I shall leave you to enjoy it at leisure, and move on.
Michael Fish MBE is now semi-retired as a weather forecaster; although he was a very well-known face on BBC TV, he was in fact employed by the Met Office. He will always be remembered for one forecast, in October 1987, when he announced to the television audience,
"Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way... well, if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't!" |
That was the night of the Great Storm discussed earlier (the worst to hit south and east England since 1703), which caused unparalleled damage and but remarkably killed only 18 people. You might think that this infamy / running joke (call it what you will, and which isn’t entirely deserved as he is always quoted out of the context of that day’s forecast for very strong winds coming up from the south) would be reflected somewhere in his chart. Well, like Carol Kirkwood, he also has the ‘Fame’ pattern, in his case when the Sun is at the IC and the Moon is setting on the cusp of Gemini/Cancer. Ceres at 10º Cancer is the first planet in the 7th house. At Sunrise, Ceres is conjunct the IC. So she is quite strong. But wait! Just look what happens when the Dwad is added! Everywhere the Sun goes, so does Ceres: at noon, her dwad is at the radix IC because her Dwad position in 6º-8º Scorpio near Dwad Mercury is almost exactly opposite the radix Sun and radix asteroids Storm (Taurus 7º) and Aeolia (winds - Taurus 9º). In the Sun/IC chart, asteroid Weathers is between Saturn and the Moon; and as a sweetener, as well as Jupiter the thunderer, Michael Fish’s true noon chart (above) has - like Bill Giles’ true midnight chart - asteroid Sunshine rising.
I have looked at several more, mostly working with the BBC, but one familiar to ITV. RobMcElwee - until his enforced withdrawal behind the scenes some months ago - has been a very familiar and friendly face in front of the weather map. He has a lovely ‘Fame’ pattern at sunset with Moon on MC, and at that time a communicative trio in the Dwad of Ceres, Moon and Mercury in Gemini. It isn’t in the Dwad that Ceres connects with an angle, but this time from her Draconic position of 3º Libra, placing her on the Tropical IC. She isn’t just integral to Rob McElwee’s identity, but also to his spiritual mission in life. This is emphasised by Ceres’ radix position conjunct his Pisces South Node: she represents work already done, ground already covered, something to be selflessly given - and let go when no longer required.
Another weatherman with a strong Draconic Ceres is Darren Bett (no chart shown). In his case a wide conjunction of Sun and Ceres closes up in the Draconic, bringing Ceres not only within a degree of the noon Sun, but of course at that moment also onto the Tropical MC.
Helen Willetts, another cheery young woman who grew up very near where I now live in North Wales, joined the BBC the year after her initial training at the Met Office. She has the ‘Fame’ pattern at true noon, with Jupiter and a Sagittarius Moon setting, and Ceres near the IC opposite the Sun. At 0º Cancer, the Dwad of asteroid Weathers aligns nicely with the Moon/Jupiter from the chart’s radix Ascendant. Just like Carol Kirkwood, she has a dwad Sedna/Ascendant conjunction in the noon chart! Her career is going from strength to strength as she has moved from BBC Wales to the flagship news programmes.
Conclusions
I think we can safely say, on the evidence above, that Ceres’ domain includes not only the seasons but their ever-changing weather. This is also suggested by the patterns in early 2012 under which, quite unaware, I chose to write this chapter! Not only has my own Ceres been moving back over the natal Descendant by converse progression, but transiting Ceres has recently been radix, and the transit of Uranus is still conjunct her natal place in early Aries. I have even found myself accidentally in email contact with a retired meteorologist! It occurred to me too that my eldest son, who has Aspergers Syndrome, has always had a particular interest in the weather, and one of his peculiar gifts has been to recall the precise weather conditions on any day you care to mention since he became sufficiently aware. Revisiting his already unusual chart, I find Sun conjunct Ceres/Venus, also conjoined by the Dwad MC and Descendant. Draconic Ceres and Venus are exactly on his Moon. I rest my case!
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Another weatherman with a strong Draconic Ceres is Darren Bett (no chart shown). In his case a wide conjunction of Sun and Ceres closes up in the Draconic, bringing Ceres not only within a degree of the noon Sun, but of course at that moment also onto the Tropical MC.
Helen Willetts, another cheery young woman who grew up very near where I now live in North Wales, joined the BBC the year after her initial training at the Met Office. She has the ‘Fame’ pattern at true noon, with Jupiter and a Sagittarius Moon setting, and Ceres near the IC opposite the Sun. At 0º Cancer, the Dwad of asteroid Weathers aligns nicely with the Moon/Jupiter from the chart’s radix Ascendant. Just like Carol Kirkwood, she has a dwad Sedna/Ascendant conjunction in the noon chart! Her career is going from strength to strength as she has moved from BBC Wales to the flagship news programmes.
Conclusions
I think we can safely say, on the evidence above, that Ceres’ domain includes not only the seasons but their ever-changing weather. This is also suggested by the patterns in early 2012 under which, quite unaware, I chose to write this chapter! Not only has my own Ceres been moving back over the natal Descendant by converse progression, but transiting Ceres has recently been radix, and the transit of Uranus is still conjunct her natal place in early Aries. I have even found myself accidentally in email contact with a retired meteorologist! It occurred to me too that my eldest son, who has Aspergers Syndrome, has always had a particular interest in the weather, and one of his peculiar gifts has been to recall the precise weather conditions on any day you care to mention since he became sufficiently aware. Revisiting his already unusual chart, I find Sun conjunct Ceres/Venus, also conjoined by the Dwad MC and Descendant. Draconic Ceres and Venus are exactly on his Moon. I rest my case!
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