The
Charts
We do not normally associate violent earthquakes with England,
especially not with quiet little villages. Yet the 1884 quake
at Wivenhoe, in England, shook half the country, the shock waves
reaching as far as Somerset in the south and Cheshire in the north,
a distance of well over two hundred miles. Waves from the earthquake
were registered as far away as France and Belgium.
The epicentre of the quake was around the villages of Peldon,
Abberton and Wivenhoe. Wivenhoe was, and is, a small fishing village,
lying a few miles from Colchester, Essex1. At the time
of the earthquake, well over a thousand buildings were shattered,
making almost the entire population homeless. In Colchester, churches
were badly shaken and two sturdy spires tumbled to the ground.
When I set the chart, the first thing I noticed was that the signs
on the angles are of earth and water. The Moon in the 10th house2 occupies the water sign of Pisces. As the gaping fissures in the
ground widened, huge waves engulfed tiny river boats causing fishermen
and sailors to fall headlong into the churning waters.
Peregrine Mercury in the earth sign of Taurus rules the hour.
The reputedly evil star Algol conjuncts Mercury who also rules
the 4th house of the ground and the 12th of sorrow. To compound
matters the fixed star Sharatan, associated with destruction by
earthquake3, conjuncts the Sun, giver of life.
The Moon separates from square Saturn, the planet associated with
death, and applies to a sextile with Mercury. Aldebaran, a star
associated with catastrophes caused by flood, storm, shipwreck
and drowning4 conjuncts Saturn. Jupiter rises, and
is strong, but is ruler of the unfortunate 6th house. However,
the protective qualities of Jupiter strong in the 1st house and
in mutual reception with the ascendant ruler, the Moon (representing
the people), probably accounts for the small number of deaths.
Surprisingly, only two were recorded at the time. Beneficial Venus
does not help much, being badly placed in the cadent 12th house5,
and squaring the Moon, and the IC of the land and village.
Mars, peregrine and slow in motion, is in the 2nd house of material
possessions to wreak havoc with the resources of the people. The
2nd house ruler, a horribly weak and peregrine Sun is afflicted
by an applying square to an almost equally weak Mars. Mars rules
the 5th house of the villagers' children – school had just started
at the time of the quake.
It is interesting to look at the chart for the previous lunar
eclipse which occurred only twelve days before the earthquake.
In this chart, a peregrine and malevolent Mars rises at Wivenhoe
and rules Scorpio intercepted in the 4th house of the earth. Mars
is the dispositor of the eclipse and rules the MC and makes an
opposition to Fortuna, right on the 7th cusp. The Sun, Lord of
the Eclipse (according to Ptolemy) is square the quake angles.
Note that the chart being set for Wivenhoe, the eclipse occurs
on the Wivenhoe MC/IC. I noticed that Saturn rules unfortunate
houses in both charts, the 8th in the earthquake chart and the
6th and 8th in the eclipse chart.
The 4th house has special signification in the charts of earthquakes
because of its association with the land, and in the eclipse chart
the peregrine Moon falls not only in the 4th house, but in the
Via Combusta, by reputation an evil area. The 4th house in this
chart is ruled by Venus, weakened by its peregrine state and closely
applying to a conjunction with malefic Saturn. The Moon rules
the unfortunate 12th house of sorrow. She applies to a square
with Jupiter, weakened by its occupation of the 12th. Jupiter
also rules the greater part of the 8th house of death because
of its rulership of Pisces therein. The fixed star Foramen conjuncts
the Moon – an indicator of peril6. The Sun is afflicted
by the fixed star Baten Kaitos, a star associated with shipwrecks7.
The wrecked boats were a prominent feature of this disaster.
It is noteworthy that the earthquake was reportedly predicted
by astrology, based upon a configuration on the 20th March 1884
when Saturn was in Gemini close to the 4th house cusp at the Vernal
Equinox. The London newspaper, the Daily Echo published a forecast
in its astrological column predicting that during April there
would be "an upheaval in Eastern England of a kind not before
experienced". Well, there have been many earthquakes recorded
in England, and in 1692 Colchester felt the effect of an earthquake
in Brabant, (now in Belgium) when the steeple of St. Peter's Church
was badly cracked, but none had afflicted eastern England like
the Wivenhoe quake.
References.
1. The oldest recorded
Roman town in England.
2. Within five degrees
of cusp.
3. Vivian E. Robson. The Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology.
(Ascella 1997 p.
208).
4. Ebertin-Hoffman. Fixed Stars and Their Interpretation. (AFA 1971 p. 31)
5. Within five degrees
of cusp.
6. Robson p. 167.
7. Ibid p. 145..
Acknowledgement.. The Great English Earthquake by Peter Haining.
