Isaac Cline and the Galveston Hurricane, Sept. 8, 1900

We're having another Heat Wave here in California this week. Half the State is on fire and it's only June. Usually the really bad fire season starts in the Fall. I think we're literally running out of Fire Men because they're so exhausted.

So, I've picked up another book in the Library bookstore (which I haven't read yet, just can't resist looking at the astrology). It's called Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson. Larson is writing post Hurricane Katrina and has found a great angle from which to tell the story of this parallel but even more devastating Hurricane story. It's about the chief meteorologist, Isaac Cline, who kept denying that Galveston was due for a huge Hurricane. Apparently Cline had a major turning point moment on Sept. 8, 1900 when the ocean and the winds blew his pregnant wife away and devastated his town. FEMA trailors didn't even exist in those days. I read somewhere that they threatened to shoot any man who wouldn't help bury the rotting bodies and so the men all got stinking drunk in order to tolerate the carnage.

I had to look at Cline's chart. I mean, we all do stupid things but this guy got caught and on a big level. The book says that it is a story of great human arrogance being wiped out by the great forces of Nature. Yeah, whatever. In the end, the storm still would have hit. It's just a little disconcerting because people were expecting the storm, except the Weatherman.

Isaac Cline - hope I have correct birth date, found only one source and Wikipedia disagrees with the year
b. Oct. 13, 1861 Monroe Country, Tennessee (I used Nashville for town).

Sun 21 Libra; Moon Aquarius or Pisces; NN 9 Capricorn

I'm tending to associate Chiron with these kinds of intense moments where a person really has to question himself. Am tired of using the words "wounding" and "healer" for Chiron, but they certainly would apply here. Cline's Chiron is in Aquarius trining his Libra Sun so it is strongly aspected in his chart and works in shocking, inconsistent ways. Chiron may also be conjunct Cline's Moon in Aquarius but without a birth time, who knows? Either way, I'd expect the guy to be very intelligent and cerebral with the Air emphasis. If he had a Pisces Moon, then that's another story, he should have just become a poet. His Sun is also trining Uranus in Gemini. With all this air influence I can see how he would enjoy watching the clouds and the lightning. I might even expect him to be pretty intuitive as a forecaster.

So, what went wrong?

You always want Neptune to be strong too in a forecaster's chart, but in positive aspect. In Cline's chart Neptune is on the last degree of Pisces in Retrograde. This means that it is placed in its own sign and is also on the Aries Point. He came before the public as, well, the guy who didn't know. Well, Neptunian issues are really complicated that way... And this is the spot where the Astrological Wheel both ends and begins.

So, what went wrong?

The Outer Planets are figured very strongly with each other in Cline's chart showing perhaps that his life was to be connected with major events of his generation. Maybe it's unfortunate that Neptune isn't included, bound into the circuitry with these planets. Cline had a natal conjunction of Jupiter 17 Virgo conjunct Saturn 18 Virgo. This is a social aspect and shows that he may have been good with adminrataive duties and policies. The Jupiter-Saturn conjunction trines Pluto at 10 Taurus and squares Uranus at 17 Gemini Rx. I read that as just meaning that he was part of a generation that could really change the world. People can learn from your mistakes after all...

Here's what went wrong.... (my opinion, of course, take it for what it's worth)

The interesting influence to me is Cline's Progressed Mercury. Cline's natal Mercury was in Scorpio at 14 degrees. It was opposing Pluto which emphasizes the Plutonian side. His thinking was very sharp and shrewd and based on gut instinct generally. Too much Confidence in one's thinking can be a problem with this placement. He is said to have come across as a bit of a snob.

But Cline's Mercury was even more Plutonian due to the fact that his Secondary Progressed Mercury never left Scorpio. It went Rx just before entering Sagittarius. And, if I've calculated correctly, it was conjunct its natal position within a degree when the storm hit. That would indicate a turning point in the old cognition center of the horoscope (my opinion). This indicates that he was due for a change in his thinking. But, man o man, this was punishment. Pluto doesn't make it easy.

This is a Plutonian Mercury more than any Plutonian Mercury seen before on Earth. It seems to be a major trigger for why he would have to experience such a Crisis. Cline experienced the event on more layers than anyone else around him. He was the expert who was supposed to know more than anyone and protect them and he completely failed. He lost everything including his wife. His children I guess were saved. He lost his house and possessions. He lost his credibility but one wonders what happened on his insides. When they say that Scorpio is a deep sign, they aren't kidding. Other people don't have to exist on these levels all at once. (I seem to remember that the guy who got fired for the Katrina fiasco was a Scorpio Sun, don't remember his name)

The Astrology for the Day of the Galveston Hurricane was pretty nasty. Just as the Storm hit the town around 9 pm there was a Full Moon: Sun in Virgo opposite Moon in Pisces. These two were within wide orb of a square to the Nodes (Sagittarius North Node conjunct Uranus and Jupiter). They were also involved in a wide Grand Square to Uranus in Sagittarius and Pluto 18 Gemini.

A t-square between Sun and Moon squared by apex Pluto seems to bring big Crises. But, Pluto was close to the South Node and Uranus and Jupiter were conjunct the Sagittarius North Node. This could be expected to be huge. Hurricanes seem to follow astrology more clearly than earthquakes.

At 9 pm, Aries was Rising. Ruler Mars was a singleton in Water in the Sign of Cancer and in the 4th House approaching the IC representing turbulence in the home, environment. Guess the strong Mars to Cancer aspects translates out into "One if by Land; Armaggedon if by Sea?" No planets were Retrograde this day, Nature was just coming at em full force. Interesting how most of the planets were in Mutable Signs. There was absolutely nothing in place astrowise to put the breaks on at that point.

Pluto as I already said was squaring the Sun and Moon (event chart). It was placed in the 2d House (does that seem common in these devastating natural disasters) of the 9 pm chart and ruled the 8th House of Death and Destruction and really really big Insurance company crises. This square was layered right over Cline's chart. Pluto was conjunct his natal Uranus and the Sun & Mercury were conjunct his natal Jupiter-Saturn (reputation???) in Virgo.

(mmm, do we have a transit of these planets coming up?)

There were a couple of other big Progressions for Cline that might indicate that he was somehow due for a big change in his life as p.Sun and p.Mars were on the verge of changing signs. His Progressed Sun was at 30 Scorpio exactly conjunct his natal Venus. I know that Scorpio rules Death and Venus rules the Wife, but this is just a little too creepy for me because his pregnant wife didn't survive. I certainly never would allow that into a forecast myself. Cline's progressed Mars was also at 30 Libra about to move into Scorpio. I'd have to read the book to know how that turned out for him. Who can read all these books? This one looks extra interesting I have to admit. I'm very curious about what happens when prog. Mars moves over the Libra-Scorpio cusp. Oh wow, I've just flipped to page 267. Turns out they struck oil in Texas on Jan 10, 1901, just 4 months after this storm. (Beaumont, Texas).

This is what it says on the inside book jacket, which sounds very similar to the conditions today:

That August, a strange, prolonged heat wave gripped the nation and killed scores of people in New York and Chicago. Odd things seemed to happen everywhere: A plague of crickets engulfed Waco. The Bering Glacier began to shrink. Rain fell on Galveston with greater intensity than anyone could remember. Far away, in Africa, immense thunderstorms blossomed over the city of Dakar, and great currents of wind converged. A wave of atmospheric turbulence slipped from the coast of western Africa. Most such waves faded quickly. This one did not.