The Parkfield Earthquake Series

Since the Astrology demands it and Monica at AstrologyMundo got me distracted by it, now I'm back to trying to look at Earthquakes and Astrology of California mostly. In preparation for the Shake Rattle n Roll. Wikipedia and USGS are an endless resources of fun. Unfortunately assembling the data without proper computer software probably makes this a useless study. Nevertheless, I think I have gleaned some pretty awesome information about earthquakes that have been hitting the Parkfield, California area with some regularity on an average of every 21-22 years. These earthquakes are great for a study of cycles. Someday I hope to be able to understand why they skip cycles.

Parkfield is located in Monterey Country, California sandwiched out in the middle of nowhere between Highway 101 and the 5. They have a bluegrass festival once a year, that's how remote it is. It can be read about here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkfield,_California.

21-22 years indicates a few different cycles. Jupiter and Saturn have a conjunction about every 20 years so I was wondering if that would play a role. A person's first Uranus square also hits at around Age 21 so this could be significant in the spacing of the earthquakes. These are interesting planets to look at in terms of Astrology. Uranus is very significant in Earthquakes as it represents big, sudden, shocking changes of any type. Jupiter and Saturn working together is an interesting aspect to look at as Jupiter rules Expansion and Saturn rules Contraction and it seems that this is what Earthquakes are all about. Parkfield is on the San Andreas Fault line which is one of the biggest fault lines in the world and is where two major continental plates meet up. Sounds like a social Jupiter-Saturn combination situation if nothing else. Wonder if Jupiter-Saturn combinations are responsible for Blue grass festivals ...

Another cyclic type of activity I thought to look at after taking a peek at the dates of the earthquakes was the progressed Sun passage. This is most of all because Sun Spot cycles are said to go through an 11 year and then a 22 year cycle. The people who study Financial cycles really like this cycle.

(Off the subject, I found a page out of a book on Google called Investigations in Currency and Finance by William Stanley and Herbert Foxwell. From the Chapter on Financial Crises, p. 226, there is discussion about the Sun Spot cycles and a big one in particular happened in 1857. The authors were writing in the 19th century and predicted the long depression through these cycles apparently. Book is costing around $500 bucks on Amazon. The Sun Spots stopped all through August last year and the Markets dropped their skirts the next month. I think it's time to ask Dover Editions to resurrect this book from the grave.) Anyway, I'm sure that Stanley and Foxwell could have predicted the Parkfield and Grand Tejon Earthquakes without batting an eyelash. Money and Tectonics, it's all the same material objects in the end.

At any rate, the Sun heats up anything it touches, so it makes sense that it could be linked in someway with earthquakes. Gold, a Solar ruled object, motivates man to do all kinds of stupid behaviors, why not be the motivator also for the earth to crack around a little.

So, I was curious about any cycles having to do with the Sun. I began by looking at Secondary Progressions because of the fact that the successive earthquakes follow the Progressed Sun movement closely at first and then sort of in an out-of whack kind of way. (a long time ago I wrote a blog about how men in the Bush family were born in succession on each other's progressed Sun placements. Sun also rules "Kings." Unfortunately it doesn't specify Good Kings or Bad Kings, that's why discerning Virgo follows Leo in the Wheel).

The Solar Arcs are based on the movement of the Progressed Sun. All the planets move about 1 degree forward per year. This is relevant for our modern Solar type of society (that's based on the Greeks who were really into Apollo the Sun God, etc.). Any way, unlike the progressed planetary chart, the Solar Arc chart keeps the basic integrity of the birth chart so that when a Solar Arc planet lines up with a natal planet or angle, or transiting planet, the potential of the natal chart is activated in some way.

I found that Solar Arc Progressions showed some really amazing stuff. The Solar Arc activity is just really crazy for reasons that I think I have partially figured out at least.

You can read about the Parkfield Earthquake Series on Wikipedia. This particular spot has been studied intensely by seismologists. Astrologers that they really are deep down, they are fascinated by the regularity. The quakes have all been over 6.0 on the Richter scale which is big. The Scientists predicted that there would be an Earthquake by 1993 but nothing happened until 2004. But a 6.5'er went off in Coalinga on May 2, 1983 4:42pm Coalinga, CA which is thought to have distracted energies from Parkfield. Coalinga looks to be up NE of Parkfield maybe less than 100 miles away. At any rate, Uranus and Neptune were clowning around in control freaky Capricorn and there were a lot of other earthquakes happening that year. I think there was also some other major Eclipse or something. Down south there were major earthquakes in Big Bear in 1992 and in Northridge in 1994.

I don't have times for most of the earthquakes but that's just as well in studying them so far. All that extra information would have made the cycles more difficult to read. Here's the list:

1st of the recorded set is considered a foreshock (Uranus) of the biggest earthquake recorded in California, the Tejon Earthquake, which I listed in my 7.0 + blog entry a few days ago.

Jan. 9, 1857 - Full Moon, wonder if a time is available for this.
Sun 20 Capricorn; Moon Cancer maybe conjunct Saturn 11 Cancer Rx; NN 11 Aries
--(t-square: apex Jupiter-NN in Aries square Sun Cap opposing Saturn-Moon? Cancer)
--(Mars 27 Aquarius square Uranus 22 Taurus)

Feb. 2, 1881
Sun 15 Aquarius; Moon Aries; NN 25 Sagittarius
--(Jupiter-Saturn conjunction 16-24 Aries squaring Mars 15 Capricorn)
--(Mars 15 Capricorn trine Uranus 13 Virgo trine Neptune-Chiron 12-13 Taurus)

Mar. 3, 1901
Sun 13 Pisces; Moon Leo?; NN 27 Scorpio
--(Jupiter-Saturn-conjunct 9-15 Capricorn with Chiron at 5 Cap)

Mar. 10, 1922
Sun 20 Pisces; Moon Leo; NN 11 Libra
--(t-square: apex Pluto 8 Cancer squaring Jupiter-Saturn conjunction 6-17 Libra opposing Chiron 13 Aries)
--(Mars 10 Sagittarius squairng Uranus 11 Pisces)

June 8, 1934
Sun 18 Gemini; Moon Taurus; NN14 Aquarius
--(Jupiter 13 Libra trining NN 14 Aquarius).
--(Jupiter in minor aspect to Saturn 29 Aquarius)
--(Pluto 24 Cancer unaspected)

June 28, 1966 9:26 pm
Sun 7 Cancer; Moon 19 Scorpio; NN 24 Taurus
--(Sun 7 Cancer c. Jupiter 12 Cancer)
--(t-square: Mars 22 Gemini squaring Saturn-Chiron 30-27 Pisces opposite Uranus-Pluto 17 Virgo)
--(Moon-Neptune-SN conjunction 19-24 Scorpio opposing NN 24 Taurus)

Sept. 28, 2004 10:15 am - Full Moon
Sun 6 Libra; Moon Aries; NN 4 Taurus
--(Sun 6 Libra-Mars 2 Libra-Jupiter 1 Libra; Mercury 1 Libra opposing Moon Aries)

First thing I looked at were the Jupiter-Saturn relationships. What struck me was the popularity of these earthquakes among the Scientists. That sounds like a Jupiter-Saturn social thing. Sorry, but the National Enquirer effect is the only way to draw my interest in.

What I noticed was that Jupiter and Saturn were not only in relationship in a whole lot of these earthquakes but Jupiter is always in Cardinal Signs. Saturn is in Cardinal Signs for 4 out of the 6 quakes. And, one of the remaining 2 was 30 Pisces, right about to go into Aries (1966). Jupiter travels through one sign about every year so will be in a Cardinal Sign every 3 years. Saturn travels through one sign about every 2-21/2 years and will enter a Cardinal Sign about every 7-8 years (for 2 - 2 1/2 years). They have a conjunction about every 20 years. This has been said to have major political impacts on the world and is connected with shootings of U.S. Presidents and Tecumseh's curse. Obviously it didn't work because there was one when Bush became President and he lived.

3 out of six of these quakes occurred during a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction (1881, 1901, 1922). 1 out of six happened during a square of Jupiter-Saturn (1857). One happened during a minor aspect, sorry I think it's a semi-square, can't read those damn symbols (1934). The others were out-of-orb. Actually, it looks like only one doesn't show an aspect between the two planets. Jupiter has been in Libra for 3 times, in Aries for 2 times, and in Capricorn and Cancer one time each. This is interesting because in Northern California the big earthquakes tend to happen while the Sun is in a Cardinal Sign, namely in Aries and Libra. That's just weather and time of year stuff, I know, but still...

The Parkfield quakes seem to have a real Jupiter-Saturn networking ability. First off they are attracting the Scientists. Next off, they seem related to other earthquakes. The first recorded Parkfield quake was in relation to the Grand Tejon quake. The 2004 quake is said to have been delayed by the Coalinga quake in 1983. Parkfield's placement is in Central California so perhaps this quake is balancing the stresses between Northern and Southern California.

At any rate, Jupiter-Saturn. Expand-Contract. Good to remember.

Next thing I noticed were the progressed Sun phases. For the first 3 quakes, the progressed Sun of the previous earthquake would be within conjunction of when the next one would happen. The progressed Sun of the Jan. 1857 quake is conjunct the event Sun of the Feb. 1881 quake to the degree. The degrees start getting more and more off after that. Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, but within close orb. The Pisces Sun Earthquake of 1922 was followed by a 2nd Pisces Sun earthquake in 1934. Both possibly had Leo Moons. Pisces/Leo combinations are drama queens and need a lot of attention, what can I say? Both of these earthquakes happened while Jupiter was in Libra (17 Libra in 1922 and 14 Libra in 1934). The 1934 earthquake, of course, was the first to happen out of the 21-22 year phase and knocked the whole rhythm whacky. That must have been when they brought in the Bluegrass Festival as Pisces/Leo loves music and has bad taste. The 2004 earthquake also had Jupiter in Libra.

The Earthquakes skipped Aries Sun (April) and Taurus Sun (May) and then had two June earthquakes in a row. 18 Gemini in 1934 and 7 Cancer in 1966. Parkfield didn't have an earthquake in the early 1990s as predicted but it would be nice to think that it would have been while the Sun was either in Leo or in Virgo. The next and most recent quake was in 2004, 38 years later. It was with a 6 Libra Sun.

And the 38 years difference between 1966 makes close to a Nodal Return in Taurus. This is interesting because in Astrology the rulers of earthquakes are generally considered Uranus (sudden, shocking events) and Pluto (big crises, underground). These points tie in with the original 1857 earthquake chart. The North Node of the 1966 earthquake was at 24 Taurus conjunct the 1857 Uranus 22 Taurus. The 2004 earthquake was at 4 Taurus conjunct the 1857 Pluto 4 Taurus. Taurus is an earth sign so it seems that having these two planets that rules earthquakes in an earth sign would somehow lead to something significant. Banking certainly has been going through big changes since these planets plowed through Taurus together.

At any rate, this led to a closer look at the Solar Arc Progressions. I began to notice that the spacing between Uranus and Pluto in the chart is set up with a distance of about 18 degrees. This means that in the series, the Solar Arc Pluto was within orb of conjunction with the event Uranus for the first 3 earthquakes in the set. Their going out of sync sort of lines up with why the phases started going out of sync.

But it gets more interesting than this. The chart for the 1857 quake is a Bowl Shape possibly held within boundaries between a Capricorn Sun and a conjunction of Moon-Saturn in Cancer. This means that all the planets are held within one side of the circle by an opposition. In this case the opposition would have been extra strong as it was between the Sun and Saturn, and possibly included a Full Moon opposition.

There are strong conjunctions spaced out within this bowl which shift in time through the Solar Arc Progressions to line up with each other about every 20 years. (In a Solar Arc chart all the planets progress one degree per year following the progression of the Sun). The Progressed Sun has been hitting these conjunctions and setting off the earthquakes. At the same time the Moon would have been opposing them. This is major Full Moon bombardment aspects.

The conjunctions are as follows:

Sun 20 Capricorn. Chiron-Mercury 5-6 Aquarius (p.Sun 1881). Mars-Venus (p.Sun 1901) Aquarius-Pisces. Jupiter-NN Aries (p.Sun 1934). Pluto 4 Taurus (p.Sun 1966). Uranus 22 Taurus. Saturn-Moon? Cancer. The orbs aren't exact for the progressed Sun conjunctions to the natal chart but are fortified by other conjunctions of the Solar Arc charts to the beginning charts and to the following event charts. What I don't understand is the lack of an earthquake in the series as Progressed Sun hit the 1857 event chart Uranus. That should have been a doozy. The Progressed Sun will hit natal Saturn, possibly Moon sometime around 2030 at which time the Solar Arc chart will perfectly oppose the 1857 earthquake chart.

This means, of course, that the chart is constantly bombarding itself. Pluto is bombarding Uranus. The t-square of apex Jupiter-NN are always squaring Saturn-Moon? opposing Sun.

I also progressed the 1857 earthquake which shows interesting stuff which is sort of difficult to make sense of. Wish I had the time of that earthquake to understand placement of the moon. Right now p.Sun is conjunct p.Mars in that chart and prog. Mercury is about to come out of Retrograde. If Secondary Progressed Charts affect earthquakes this looks sort of nasty. Jupiter next hits a Cardinal Sign in Jan. 2011 in the sign of Aries. There's this t-square thingee coming up involving Saturn-Uranus-Pluto as well.

L.A. had its shake rattle n'roll day in which it informed the public about how to act during such an emergency but Northern California has done nothing.

Having lived through an earthquake and the aftermath I have some recommendations. Keep in mind that I'm being silly here but these are very useful to know about beforehand.

• Hang Ikea chandeliers from the ceilings in every room in your house. The first thing people do is to look at the ceiling to figure out if it's an earthquake. Chandeliers are very pretty and will tell you because they swing. Ikea chandeliers are flimsy and won't kill you when they fall.
  
• Next, keep a 12 pack of beer in the refrigerator. The electricity will go out and everyone will be thirsty and you will need to make friends with your neighbors.
  
• Keep a loaded camera and fresh batteries available for taking pictures. CNN will buy them. CNN will buy anything. And this will later buy you a bus ticket out of town. This is your moment to tell people that you're an artist.
  
• Stay away from Windows, they break. If you go outside where there are tall buildings you will get cut into tiny pieces.
• Likewise, if you're on the bottom floor of a building realize that you may very well squash. Find out if you're living on bedrock or landfill. Landfill is remarkably unreliable.
  
• Call the Fire Department to get information on how to get people out of elevators once the power goes out. Do this before the earthquake and post it next to the doors of the elevator. People panic in elevators. Okay, so they might not scream but they will have to pee soon. And no matter how many people you know who can make all kinds of cool crafty crap with duct tape and rope these supplies are never around when you need them for getting people out of elevators.
  
• It's also really cool to know where to shut off the gas and water mains. The electricity will go out on its own, it always does.
  
• Keep a full set of clothes in the bathroom at all times. Every damn earthquake I've ever been in the news has covered a story about some poor schmoe who got stuck naked in the shower. It's embarrassing.
• Those are my suggestions. You can tell I'm useless in an emergency. I tend to have laughing attacks.