Here’s the chart for the volcanic eruption in southern Iceland. As best I could discern from the published literature provided by readers, with some help from Kirsti Melto in Finland, the most likely time of the initial eruption in March seems to have been at 23:52 pm UTC/GMT. Kirsti says Iceland is on Greenwich Time this summer — not utilizing summer time. Here are the minor planets from Serennu.com, sorted on a 90-degree dial. Note that there are various reports of time and time ranges (please see first comment below). Here is a statement from Earthice.hi.is, the Institute of Earth Sciences in Iceland, which I tend to trust above a news report:
Eruption in Iceland at the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic system begins 20 March 2010
“An eruption began in South Iceland in late evening of 20 March 2010 at the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic system (also known as Eyjafjöll volcano – Global Volcanism Program Volcano number 1702-02=). The initial visual report of the eruption was at 23:52 GMT, when a red cloud was observed at the volcano, lightening up the sky above the eruptive site. The eruption was preceded with intense seismicity and high rates of deformation in the weeks before the eruption, in association with magma recharging of the volcano. Immediately prior to the eruption the depth of seismicity had become shallow, but was not significantly enhanced from what it had been in the previous weeks. Deformation was occurring at rates of up to a centimetre a day since March 4 at continuous GPS sites installed within 12 km from the eruptive site.” [End of quote.]
Straight away we are looking right at the Aries Point. The Sun is at 15 arc minutes of Aries, right there. The Sun is precisely square Ceres in Capricorn and in a very close opposition to Saturn in Libra. This is a Ceres chart, no matter what other bits and bobs may show up: the Sun is applying in a [just a shade over] two arc minute square to Ceres (1/30th of a degree), so that is the focal point of the chart. The Sun is also precisely trine Mars (the ruler of the ascendant), which is in the first degree of Leo — still in the degree where it stationed direct 10 days earlier. The Moon is void of course in Taurus, in the 8th house, still closely square Chiron and Neptune. The crucial last aspect was to Chiron. The Moon is also applying to the fixed star Alcyone in the first degree of Gemini.
Tracy — thank you. Gee whiz. I love that you’ve come up with a delineation of Pelion that resonates – the land itself, of course vital to the Earthy (but dreamy) centaurs. The Vesta setup is great. Thank you for diving into this and for your truly intuitive delineations. (To readers, Tracy helps me out significantly with just about every minor planet I delineate.)
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There is a TNP/Uranian point that is associated with this kind of thing called Vulcanus. I did not see it doing much at first blush. It may have come out under transit. Ok second blush. It’s square QB1. Now we have two hints of a QB1 connection, beginning with the Sun in the discovery degree/minute. That is interesting.
Some minor planet possibilities:
This was the day of Mercury’s exact conjunction with the centaur planet Pelion, and Pelion’s exact square to Pluto. Mount Pelion was the mountain where the centaurs lived. Ovid mentions it as, “the shadowy slopes of Pelion,” echoing the “shadow material” theme of the centaurs.
Its symbolism is rich. From Ovid’s Metamorphoses:
“… they say the giants attempted to take the Celestial kingdom, piling mountains up to the distant stars. Then the all-powerful father of the gods hurled his bolt of lightning, fractured Olympus and threw Mount Pelion down from Ossa below. Her sons’ dreadful bodies, buried by that mass, drenched Earth with streams of blood, and they say she warmed it to new life, so that a trace of her children might remain, transforming it into the shape of human beings. But these progeny also despising the gods were savage, violent, and eager for slaughter, so that you might know they were born from blood.”
Physically, we’re made of the Earth, the blood of the ancestors and all that has gone before, we are the land and it is us, we express its energy etc.
We also have the centaur Pholus (“small cause, big effect”) on the Great Attractor at the moment. Pholus opened the wine and the fumes spread so the centaurs became aware of this, the fight ensued where Chiron received his “accidental” wound as they all ran to him for protection.
There’s a conjunction of Vesta and the asteroid (431) Nephele at 21-22 Leo. Fire and a cloud. This is exactly opposite Damocles (hanging over you), exactly trine Eris, & exactly square Sedna & Isis in Taurus. Nephele being the cloud with which Ixion mated to father the centaurs (other than Chiron), in his attempt to rape Hera.
I can’t believe this. I had never heard of Dame Holle till three days ago, when a friend of mine saw a drawing I had made of a very low land under a colored sky, and she said that it reminded her of the fairy tale of Dame Holle. Then she read the tale to me, in which a young girl enters in a well and down, down the well she finds another world and Dame Holle. Holle is a good ‘person’ indeed.
This has no direct connection with the volcano, but it’s strange that Dame Holle comes up twice for the first time in these days, for me.
Thanks to all contributors to this interesting discussion, and thanks to Eric for the chart.
Simply, elemental forces.
Has the feeling of The Tower, which is a streak of liberation as well as disruption.
Hagaluz as a rune = ‘hailstone’ – hailstones, crisis and catastrophe, disruption, radical change, destructive elements of nature, severe weather, the uncontrollable, unavoidable unpleasantness, Jungian shadow, psychoanalysis, regression, acceptance of the unalterable.
Hx
Venus is conjunct Hella, associated with the dependable rune Halagaz.
Kirsti Melto writes:
This bit or bob Hella looks quite revealing in this chart 🙂
Venus (material values) square the nodes links the event with the loss caused to the airline companies due this event. It is not in the same degree with the nodes, but quite close. Someone on Linnunrata list after the Asian Tsunami wrote that a planet in any sign in the same degree with the lunar nodes in classical astrology can show a catastrophe. He quoted Anthony Louis:
“….a planet in the same numerical degree as the Moon´s nodes, regardless of sign,
symbolizes a fateful event…. and may even represent a catastrophe in the
matter.”
Venus conjunct Hella:
Hella is the goddess which rules rune Hagalaz. Hagalaz means disruption and delay.
Freyja Aswynn writes:
“The name Hel derives from the primitive Germanic halja, meaning “covering,” and has none of the connotations evoked by the Christian concept of “hell,” which has been translated from the Hebrew “Gehenna.” …Hel is ruled by the goddess of Hella. Although the description given of this place in the Eddas seems grim, it is by no means a place of tornment.”
and
“The goddess Hella is a later Scandinavian development of the friendly Germanic goddess Holda, also known in folklore as Dame Holle. Incidentally, Holland was named after her. Large parts of this country are below sea level and Holland is nowadays called the Netherlands, meaning “low countries” or “underworld. Holland is a very foggy and misty country and the images of Hel and Nifelhel do correspond to it.”
and
“From modern sources we now come to understand her [Hella] as a kin and wise goddess.”
Love,
k
“It’s not about sex, it’s about self.”
Im happy (ish), Libra Asc when i did it felt wrong, very much with you on the consistant approach to chart times.The human observation element reminds me of the quantum physics Schrödinger’s cat.
So if we were not here to observe it would the universe still exist? 😉
There cannot be anarchy, if you want to trust your chart. It’s best to work with internally consistent guidelines in timing these events; it’s necessary to be judicial, weigh the evidence, and as best possible, be consistent from chart to chart.
With a birth, the “birth” and the “first breath” are rarely more than one minute apart. Usually it’s a matter of seconds.
With an event like this, my theory is to use something tangible; an actual event in the human realm, if it’s available, and we do have a “first sighting” time that is now confirmed by a couple of sources and is also not disputed.
The 1030 to 1130 range are speculative estimates. There seems to be no question that someone first saw the eruption at 11:52, but since it’s not me who saw it, we are relying on witnesses. At least we have multiple sources and the key concept of first sighting.
Eric,
Thank you for all the work you put into this. Many thanks to the others who participated as well. Agreed, a Ceres Chart. This fits the meditation i had while shaving last week, especially given the applying conjunction of Ceres with Pluto. However, the position of the Sun is quite provocative. 15 Arc minutes into Aries is the exact point where Eris was when it was discovered.
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Len — That would be QB1 — you mentioned that position last week, and I have not forgot that this is a to the arc minute conjunction of the first Kuiper object beyond Pluto.
Eris was much later in Aries. efc
Well, apparently scientists in Iceland answer their email. Here is another note that just came in, which clarifies the 11:52 time as the first visual report.
=======
Dear Eric Francis,
On the 20th of March, the first visual report of an eruption was made at
23:52 GMT, but there are uncertainties on the exact timing as the eruption
started slowly.
Iceland is in the GMT like England, but we don’t change time in summer and
winter as they do.
Hope this helps.
Best regards,
Amandine
> Dear Amandine
>
> I am sure you’re busy…if you have a moment could you please tell me the
> initial time of the eruption on March 20? The times I am getting conflict
> between 1030 pm local time and 1130 pm local time. A friend in Finland
> says
> that Iceland is not on Daylight time.
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> ef
>
Sorry pluto is not in the 8th house its in MY 8th house ;D
Do you take a birth chart from the moment of birth or the moment first breath is taken, do you take a volcanic event chart from the moment it breaks through the surface or as it is building up and causing seismic activity? chicken. egg.
I would lean toward an initial observation: a real event in human awareness.
Sorry was doing the garden!
I much prefer the look of this chart to mine, everywhere i checked i could only get a 10.30 to 11.30 approximate time, i wonder though if this time is really that precise, it sounds like just one observation ( and all other reports put the eruption 20 minutes to an hour earlier), that said im sure that sort of thing happens all the time and one observation is better than none.
The Scorpio ascendant feels ‘right’ Ive also heard that a fixed star called Scheat is also sitting very close to aries point at Pisces 29′ it doesnt have great press but is a slow mover and im unfamiliar with fixed stars do they come into play with world events?
Ceres as far as i can recall is very much tied up with food, as i mentioned before this has had a very dramatic effect of transporting food around the world, its also applying to Pluto ( in 8th house of shared resourses) which is widely square the aries point sun.
Please note the following addition to the time data. This scientist at the Nordic Volcanological Center said in an email to me this morning the initial eruption it was between 1030 and 1130 local time; my chart above is about 20 minutes later. Between 11:30 and 11:52 does not significantly change important chart factors.
The question is, do we have a Libra rising chart or a Scorpio rising chart? If before approx 11:15 pm, it would be Libra rising. This should be an easy call. I am inclined to think that Scorpio is the ascendant, given the power of Mars in this chart, and the Mars factor in general.
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The eruption started very slowly so it is difficult to get a better estimate than sometime within this hour – that is 22.30 to 23.30
Rikke
Den 18/04/2010 kl. 16.05 skrev Eric Francis:
Dear Rikke
I am sure you’re busy…if you have a moment could you please tell me the initial time of the eruption on March 20? The times I am getting conflict between 1030 pm local time and 1130 pm local time. A friend in Finland says that Iceland is not on Daylight time.
Thanks for your help.
ef
Rikke Pedersen
Nordic Volcanological Center
Institute of Earth Sciences
University of Iceland
************************************
Rikke@hi.is
+354 525 5483