Tragic Loss of Firefighters

 On June 30, 2013, 19 firefighters were lost while fighting a wildfire in Yarnell, Arizona.  They were an elite squad from the Granite Mountain Hotshots in Flagstaff, AZ.  The fire was ignited by a lightning strike and was 100 percent contained by July 10, 2013 (source is Yarnell website). 

A lightning strike is an act of God and in Astrology is ruled by the planet Uranus.  The firefighters found themselves trapped within the flames at around 3:00 pm.  This puts the sign ruled by Uranus at the bottom of the chart, Aquarius rules the IC of the chart.  Uranus himself is in conjunction with the Moon and the H6 cusp in the sign of Aries.  The 6th house is the house which rules service jobs which is appropriate for firefighters.  These people were working as a team, which is also ruled by Uranus.  Addition of the Moon shows caring and protection. The firefighters had protective metallic blankets which didn't protect them from the fumes.  Moon in connected with the lungs and Uranus is connected with circulatory systems. Cause of death was said to be from asphixiation.  The winds became extremely erratic (Uranus) and changed dramatically within an hour before the incident.  Of course, this conjunction being in the fire sign Aries could ignite at any moment without prediction.

Scorpio is rising at the time of the deaths and Saturn and the North Node are both in conjunction from the 12th and 1st houses respectively.  This was supposed to be a routine fire (SAturn).  The North Node is thought by some astrologers that many significant events occur when the Nodal Axis is crossing the Angles of the chart. The conjunction to Saturn is getting tighter and will be exact at the end of August so it might prove useful to be extra careful and alert at this point.  The Nodal Axis passes over the angles of the chart 4 x a day so is not a rare event.  However, right now there are multiple points pounding on it.  Saturn is in mutual reception with the chart ruler of Scorpio, which is Pluto. This is a sign of loss and great force.  Pluto is the natural ruler of killers.  He is also ruler of the Phoenix, the bird of ancient mythology which burns down and then rises again.  The Yarnell Fire Department has posted a page where people can donate to help the families of the firefighters who were lost and I will post it here:

http://www.yarnellhillrecoverygroup.org/

There were 3 planets in Pluto's house in the chart.  All 3 planets rule the fire signs of the chart.  They strongly emphasized in some way.  The Sun is in conjunction with Jupiter and is opposing Pluto (chart ruler).  Sun rules the Midheaven of the chart (Hot and firey).  Sun is conjunct Jupiter which is in the sign of its exaltation.  Jupiter has an expansive influence and i suspect a fire would rage out of control under his influence. 

Mars here is out of bounds at 23 degree 32 seconds and is a singleton in Air.  Singletons run around doing their own thing in the chart, not working with the other planets, and this doubles the natrually tendencies of Mars.  Mars is the ignition planet and in the sign of Gemini here.  Gemini rules winds.  

What really sets this chart off in a weird way is the fact that a predominance of planets are in Water Signs.  Water destroys Fire, or it's supposed to.  What is further weird here is that most of these planets in water signs are bound together in a Grand Trine with each other.  Like this:  ASC, Saturn, NN in Scorpio.  Neptune-Chiron in Pisces (H4).  Sun-Jupiter in Cancer (H8). 

Astrologer Noel Tyl has a good explanation for the negative side of Grand Trines in relation to psychological issues which can be problematic.  Often they show a self entrapment. A person can feel so lucky that they can't really get themselves out of a problematic situation.  This is very insightful.  Most astrologers just think of Grand Trines as being very lucky. A fire trap here is interesting, i just still don't understand how firefighters could be trapped within a grand water trine.

Here's a list of the worst firefighting losses in the United States recorded history.  The Yarnell fire is on this list:

http://abcnews.go.com/news/t/blogEntry?id=19549390&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fabcnews.go.com%2FUS%2Fbodies-19-firefighters-killed-arizona-wildfire-recovered-medical%2Ft%2Fstory%3Fid%3D19540133
http://my.chicagotribune.com/#story/sns-rt-us-usa-fires-arizona-factbox-20130701/

Just a month before Houston suffered its largest loss ever with 4 firefighters were killed while battling a fire in a motel.

When there is large loss of life one looks to outer planet activity because these will show Act of God influence. The outer planets move slowly, as seen from the earth and are thought to embrace larger groups of people at a time. In this case, The two planets most associated with large scale crises, Uranus and Pluto, are in a difficult square aspect with each other. This square is currently lasting for several years so can be blamed for a higher incidence of stressful events overall. It began in an even bigger t-square figure with Saturn and Jupiter over the past couple of years.

Uranus rules crises that occur quickly and are meant to shock people. Uranus in Aries might be accident prone and might show impulsiveness and not being prepared. Pluto rules crises which have been brewing underneath for a while and which erupt. Pluto is currently in a heavy mutual reception with Saturn right now which can show loss through aging and being too cautious and controlled and of being overly prepared.

Surprisingly, there's another large scale transit which might also be connected with large loss of life among firefighters. This is the Saturn-Neptune trine which is currently happening in the sky. These planets seem to be in aspect with each other in a high percentage of the most catastrophic losses of firefighters listed in the Chicago tribune article although I'm not going to type them all out. This also surprised me.  The reason for this connection could be that these 2 planets working together can often indicate Tragedy. One knows that fighting fires is extremely dangerous and of great risk.  

Neptune rules sacrifice. Saturn rules a sense of responsibility and duty. Together they can bring about beautiful works of art as they try to combine form and chaos together. Emotionally they both rule depression. Art is often made as a response to sorrow so their connection in that way makes sense. I once heard a great poet, W.S. Merwin, say that the first poems were of grief and sorrow, that these emotions are the first reasons that man began to create.  At any rate, making art requires huge sacrifices. Fighting fires goes a zillion steps further in the sacrifices.

Some more observations:

Both fires occurred while mars, planet of sparks and ignition was in Gemini, sign of wind.
Both fires occurred during sun-moon squares which included conjunctions of the moon to the outer planets.
Both fires had grand water trines. Really weird. Grand trines are aspects which show ease. That can help to indicate being trapped in a situation. Perhaps there was a feeling of laxness. Grand trines can work like vortices. The element of water makes no sense to me.
Yarnell, Arizona fire, 19 firefighters died

Sun 10 cancer (h9) cusp, moon 18 Aries (h6 cusp), Asc 9 Scorpio, nn Scorpio

I couldn't find a date for the town of Yarnell. The firefighters were from Flagstaff, I believe, so maybe that town's chart could provide clues.

The Arizona chart is connected in with this tragedy.  Arizona is an Aquarius sun with Capricorn moon. It's currently going through a Chiron return in Pisces and I believe a nodal return in Scorpio. This represents the water element in the chart maybe.
Arizonans progressed sun is at 5 Gemini conjunct natal mars at 6 Gemini opposing natal Jupiter at 13 Sagittarius. That explains the fire element for sure.

I did a lot of work also on another fire which occurred at a motel in Houston, Texas a few weeks before. I can't find my notes right now. The date I believe was May 31, 2013. Four firefighters were killed which is a record setting figure for Houston.  Pluto is the planet probably most connected with setting records for doing anything because he acts in extreme ways.

There was a set of 3 Eclipses which may indicate problems but I didn't look closely at the charts. 

Partial Lunar:  Apr. 25, 2013.  Solar Annular May 10, 2013.  Appulse Lunar May 25, 2013. 

The Sun is in conjunction with Mars in all 3 Eclipses.  

I send my condolences to the families and friends who lost a Hero in these blazes.