Predicting Earthquakes

by Alison Chester-Lambert

What do the Moon, lunar gardening, snails, robins, the dawn chorus, predictable rainfall and the Nodes all have in common?

This article first appeared in the Astrological Journal as part of a series entitled The Astrological Wonders of the Solar System in 2011

At the end of December 2010, I stuck my foot out and predicted two earthquakes in the UK days before they happened. (I won’t be making a habit of it – the potential for egg-on-face is too risky!) The first earthquake in Cumbria coincided with a lunar eclipse which happened at dawn on 21st December 2010, and the second was the partial Solar eclipse two weeks later on the 4th Jan 2011, which coincided with an earthquake in Yorkshire a few hours before.

Why was I so confident? I’d been doing some research on the Moon’s nodes and then got a hunch…… Essentially, it was the triple whammy of a solstice and an eclipse happening exactly on the horizon during a lot of solar activity with a strong solar energy/wind. Let’s look at these things separately…..

First you have to understand what’s coming out of the Sun. (You can read about this on a different page) So that’s magnetic force lines carrying unimaginably huge flows of energy/radiation/electrical stuff/plasma - some of which bounces off the Earth’s protective bubble, but some of which passes through us or into the Earth’s bio-system.

Tidal flows of energy pass down these power transmission lines to the Earth’s surface. If you follow Percy Seymour’s work you will also be aware of magneto tidal resonance, which (put very simply) means that the weak tug from a planet gets amplified by the Sun’s magnetic canals and then thrown out again. He theorises that planetary effects are increased during periods of high solar activity, such as we had over the Christmas break of 2010.

So… now we understand the Sun… let’s look at our little old Moon. Ah bless! As it trots at our side, it happily disrupts all the Sun’s transmission lines and piles in with a few of its own. In fact there is a measurable effect that geo scientists have to take into account on a daily basis, called the lunar daily magnetic variation. And possibly, when the Sun, Moon and Earth get into an exact line, as they do in an eclipse, the stress can be a factor in causing physical earthly events.

Some Background Moon Stuff

According to one author, in the Vedic religion the worshippers of Soma (Moon) believed that life was in the blood and it was literally the life blood. The blood of the trees was the name for the sap and this was vitalised by Soma, the essence of life. Water, Soma and the Moon were believed to be the source of growth and moisture, the Water of Life. Echoes of this lore are to be found in Lunar gardening or bio-dynamics, where it is understood that the height of the Moon raises the sap in plants.

The Egyptians associated the mouse with the Moon and saw both as a source of fertility and growth as well as the measurer of the days of man. The Egyptian god Khonsu was the divine physician and the love-god for all fertility deities cured disease.

Interestingly, the Moon was considered to be a male god by many different races and religions in both ancient and more modern times and in that case the Sun was of feminine gender. I find that interesting because I am convinced the Sun manipulates and distributes the element of Water as well as Fire.

So How Come we Finished up with Our Moon?

It is theorised that the Moon formed about 4.5 billion years ago, when a Mars size planet hit the Earth and a large lump flew off to form our Moon. And although there are plenty of other moons round planets in our Solar System, compared to the size of the Earth our Moon is BIG.

In terms of influence, comparing size of moon to parent planet, our Earth and Moon come 2nd only to Pluto, whose moon Charon has a larger ratio, although they are both smaller than our Moon size-wise. This matters for life on Earth. Because the gravitational influence of the Moon on the Earth steadies it and this steadies our weather. Without it there would be wild changes to the weather which would never have allowed complex life to form.

Whilst the Sun has all sorts of energy that flows outwards and away from it, (masculine) there is another force that pulls stuff in and that is gravity (feminine). Now we don’t actually know what gravity is, we only experience its effects. It’s like a force of attraction between matter or objects and even tiny things have it. The bigger a thing is, the more gravity it has, but the effect lessens as it gets further away.

The Sun’s gravity keeps the Earth and all the other planets where they are, but the gravitational forces between the Moon and Earth are truly awesome too. They affect the body of the Moon and Earth as well as the water. So, not only the oceans, but the crust of the Earth itself is distorted by the lunar gravitational forces as the Moon moves around. Imagine then, how this gravitational pull works as the turn of the Earth puts the Moon onto the horizon and then into the 12th house.

The very crust of the Earth is moved by as much as 5%, which has to be a contributing factor to an earthquake, because it could potentially trigger any pressure build up beneath the crust. I read in the PR literature that the instruments at the LHC had to take into account the Lunar gravity because as it went overhead it sucked all the water in the rock around the experiment centre quickly upwards. Wow!

So just to repeat ….magnetism and electricity (electromagnetism) are different forces to gravity. The Earth is itself a magnet and has it’s own magnetic field lines around it and these occur at the surface and out in space where they form a protective bubble. Naturally occurring electricity in the Earth atmosphere follows these lines hence `electromagnetic field lines`.

This bubble, or magnetosphere, sits inside the giant Sun one and accepts some of the Sun’s energy, as described earlier, passing the tidal flows of energy down the power transmission lines to the Earth’s surface.

Then along comes the Moon, which has gravity and some regional magnetic field lines of its own, and which alters/disturbs/stretches and pinches Earth’s lines as it moves around. NASA describes it thus:-

magnetic lunar daily variation (symbol L)

A periodic variation of the earth's magnetic field that is in phase with the transit of the moon.

This variation is essentially a tidal effect. The amplitude of this variation changes with the phase of the moon, the seasons, and the sunspot cycle.

When mapped out, this produces a four pronged pattern which looks similar to the pattern that the Gauquelin Plus Zones make on a horoscope. Interestingly a leading lunar gardening book also talks about the strength of the Moon on plants when it is in these positions, adding to the weight of the impotence of the Plus Zones.

We can also see the powerful effect of the Moon in this couple of examples:-

Research done on worms and snails in the 1960’s.

Yep……. worms and snails! In experiments, it has been demonstrated that marine mud snails are able to perceive small changes in the earth’s magnetic field and they distinguish between directions in the field. “The character of the response to magnetic field exhibits rhythmic changes that are regulated by the solar-day and lunar-day `clocks` of the snails, and by a synodic monthly one.” says the research.

They set up a false magnetic field which mimicked the natural one and the snails did same thing. They also recorded a 2-weekly rhythm with maximum activity 1 or 2 days before New and Full Moon, when there is a 10 fold increase in magnetic field strength, and reverse behaviour when the Moon is in first and last quarter. There is other research which proves a lunar influence too.

In 2010 a science website ran a story about some research that discovered that there are higher amounts of rainfall “a few days” before a quarter Moon, so presumably `a few days` after a Full or New Moon. The scientists involved `guess` that the Moon’s orbit could distort the magnetosphere. Yep… think so…..

Ok, this is proof enough that the Moon causes significant change in the electromagnetic field lines around the Earth. So now, hold all that in mind, for this effect is really increased during eclipses and gives a lot more strength to our triple whammy.

Explanation and Meaning of Eclipses

The path of the Moon is at a different angle to the Earth’s. When the 2 paths are at their most separate/extreme, the Moon path is 5 degrees higher or lower than the Earth path. This means that as you look at the daily position of the Sun and Moon in the sky, they appear at different `heights` and when the Moon crosses our view of the Sun, it passes higher or lower. See my diagram.

An eclipse happens because occasionally the Sun, Moon and Earth are all in dead straight line and the shadow of one covers another. This happens about twice a year when the Sun and Moon get to the position where the path of the Moon crosses the path of the Sun. This point is called the Moon’s nodes and it is where eclipses occur. `Nodes` are the intersection points or cross roads on the orbital path of any planet.

To keep it really simple, just imagine there are imaginary strings going from the centre of the Sun to the centre of the Earth, with more strings going from the Moon to the Earth. When the path of the Moon crosses the path of the Sun the lines get tangled and huge tidal and energy flows crash into each other, releasing some wild potentials, including the possibility of earthquakes.

In fact you only have to look at the importance ancient races placed on eclipses to understand the potentials involved. Indian mythology from the 6th century describes an eclipse dragon called Rahu who devoured the Sun or Moon during an eclipse and this had enormous significance as a predictor of national events.

In fact you’d be hard pressed to find an ancient race from the Chinese to the Celts that didn’t have a ferocious, dragon-type serpent with a knot in its tail that had its roots in the eclipse monster.

In art and carvings throughout the Middle East there is a dragon with his tail in a knot, (often heart shaped) and it is credibly suggested that this became the precursors to the St George and the dragon motif of Christian iconography and perhaps the knot of Celtic art work. (See image of Angel Shamhurash fighting the dragon)

In Norwegian mythology, Thor battles with the serpent Jormungand, using a red hot hammer which is a symbol of creative and destructive power, fertility, death, renewal and good fortune. The myth values speed of thought, which is interesting since the North Node is exalted in Gemini. Anyway enough of the eclipse stuff….

How Did the Solstice Energy Add to the Effect?

On the Solstice, the Sun is at a stand still and the Sun’s energy stays in one place for 3 days. Otherwise, because the face the Earth presents to the Sun is forever creeping upwards or downwards, we are never receiving the Sun’s energy at exactly the same angle every day.

Just as it rises and sets in a slightly different place each day, it also gets to a different height each day – see Solargraphy image, which marks out the Sun’s path everyday. INSERT IMAGE JOHN On the solstice, however, the energy is concentrated in one place, or line, for 3 days.

That must be quite intense for the Earth. Like holding a magnifying glass over a bit of paper and focusing the Sun’s rays in one place until it burns. The Sun’s electromagnetic rays are stuck in a groove, as if it were a needle at the end of a vinyl record. (….yes, you DO remember…..)

An Eclipse Happening on the Horizon

This bit I don’t need to explain to you for you are an astrologer. You know the power of the Ascendant and Descendent, which are the actual horizon at the moment a chart is cast. So how about the Sun on the horizon? There are some other interesting facts about sunrise and sunset in my book and I’ll give you a couple here.

Migratory animals, insects and fish use the magnetic field lines to find their way around and have an apparent `software update` mechanism hard-wired into their clever little brains, which is triggered as the Sun approaches the horizon. According to a NewScientist report published in 2008, birds re-align their magnetic-line-reading capabilities when that special blue light of dusk and dawn appears .

Migratory garden warblers were found to re-orient their magnetic capabilities when the Sun’s light was about to rise, or had just set. That makes so much sense of the spiritual importance of dawn and dusk and also explains the dawn chorus. Since then, experiments have also proven that robin’s eyes induce and preserve a quantum state for longer than any artificial system can. (Perhaps an indication that they do indeed resonate with the invisible realm – the missing 96%)

It has also been found that all tuna fish the world over always dive for the ocean floor when the Sun is in that position compared to where they are. Meaning - they perform these `spike` dives when the Sun is 6° below the horizon. Apparently, “At this time of their day, magnetic interference created by solar wind is at its lowest”, so they will be able to `tune` into the Earth’s magnetic field lines under the best conditions.

This amazing capability to `update` their software is obviously hardwired into many species. Yet another NewScientist report in March 2010 speaks of an undersea dawn chorus that was recorded off the coast of England around sunrise and sunset in the summer. All this is Mother Nature’s way of ensuring that life on Earth can cope with changes in the magnetic field, but it proves the specialness and power of the Sun on the horizon.

So Putting All This Together, Doesn’t It Become Easy to Predict An Earthquake?

Well we might have a few big Eagles here, but you still need Bernadette Brady’s `tiny lark of intuition` and you have to `go by what feels right`. I went with it because it felt right too. For me, it seemed obvious that the triple whammy of a Sun standstill and an eclipse falling on the horizon would DO something.

The last time a total lunar eclipse occurred on the solstice was in 1638 and of course it is not possible to find out if an Earthquake accompanied it. There was a total solar eclipse on the Dec solstice in 1834, but again eclipse records aren’t complete.

The second earthquake in England in 2011 didn’t occur on a solstice of course, but I just felt that the first set of circumstances had been so intense, that the second eclipse might `piggy-back` on it, or `settle` any remaining energies with another earthquake. (Ok, bit vague, but that’s where the lark comes in!)

I didn’t know of any scientific research in this area when I made the prediction, but then when I started to write this article I discovered that the idea that the lunar-solar tidal force can cause earthquakes is not new. There was supportive research done in China in 2001, which states that there is an obvious correlation between lunar-solar tidal forces and earthquakes. In the same year, astrologer and mystic Brian T Johnston wrote his quantative research piece entitled `Planetary Aspects and Terrestrial Earthquakes`, which also positively affirms that planetary aspects indicate an increase in geoseismic activity.

So there we have it. Will I be predicting another one? Yes, I think so.....

This article first appeared in the Astrological Journal in 2011 as part of the series entitled The Astrological Wonders of the Solar System.  Copyright Alison Chester-Lambert 2011

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