When I arrived home on December 26, I went to the mailing `lists', which I consult regularly, to get a sense of what astrologers had to say about this momentous event. One obscure post caught my attention: it posed the question as to whether the event might somehow be the result of human activity (rather that just an arbitrary act of nature). Could it have been a sort of `nemesis', brought on by human `hubris', by humanity's maltreatment and arrogant disregard for nature?

Well, OK, if it were, how would be we be able to `know' this? Scientific method, based as it is on the empirical inquiry, makes no provision for consultation with nature. Aboriginal peoples claim to be aware of and respectful of nature. Many spokespeople for native peoples have claimed to understand nature by observing the behaviour patterns of other species. In fact, they even claim to learned through humility, by observing Earth's other creatures and thus becoming `attuned' to the intricate processes of nature. In one of my favourite books, entitled James Bay, Montreal journalist Boyce Richardson claims that aboriginals of northern Quebec were able to safely cross a river on its ice mere minutes before the spring ice break-up.

In my search for a human connection to the south Asian Tsunami of December 26, [1]I intuitively sought out data on the 1954 US Bikini Atoll nuclear test [2]. There is some interesting synastry between the charts for the two events. Primarily, the tsunami event represents a Chiron return of the Bikini Atoll chart, indicating, for me, a clear astrological link between the two events. This means that there is an astrological link even though the scientific link might be seen as tenuous, at best.

The reports of scientific analysis that I read [3] suggested that nuclear tests could have only minor impact on the behaviour of the continental plates and, besides, the Bikini Atoll test was in the Pacific, and the Tsunami, in the Indian Ocean.

Still the astrological links command our attention.
Firstly, as mentioned, the Tsunami occurred at a time of an applying Bikini-Atoll Chiron return. Transiting Saturn was opposing. Transiting Mars is on the (heliocentric) NN of Chiron for March 1954. Transiting Mercury-Venus was conjunct (elevated) Mars in the Castle-Bravo chart. Transiting lunar node (and Chiron SN) are square the Chiron position.

It is important to note that the areas around 10 degrees of Sagittarius (and of Gemini, its opposite sign ,as well) have been dubbed, particularly by astrologer Mark Lerner, as "the nuclear axis".[4] Mars is at 10+ degrees of Sagittarius in the 1954 chart, while Venus and Mercury are there in the Tsnami chart. Mars and Venus could even be interpreted as cause and effect in this case: the cause (Mars, the initiating energy) acted in 1954; the `end' (or result [Venus]) occurred on Boxing Day in 2004. And Mercury is also there to deliver a message. But does anyone hear it? It is only with the wisdom that Chiron brings that we can we can hear. High tech tsunami sensing devices will perhaps help us to flee in time, but it cannot help us to understand nature's message.
But what significance does Chiron have in this case? The Swiss astrologer, Claude Weiss, has extensively studied the significance of Chiron and the Black Moon in charts of events that have significant impact on the environment. He has observed that Chiron and Lillith (Black Moon) have shown up significantly in all the important charts of the Concorde supersonic transport (along with Jupiter and Pluto). He believes that these pertain to the issue of the backlash of nature against human environmental abuse.

The presence of Chiron in the Tsunami chart, by virtue of its return to its position in the Bikini-Atoll chart may suggest an element of natural backlash. This is the main astrological connection , in the absence of scientific data.

Chiron represents the beast in us all. It is a part of us that can be unruly, but also possesses a kind of wisdom. It represents the `knowledge' of the Shaman. It is the kind of understanding of the world of nature and the beast the `Jean' (in the film, "Greystoke: the legend of Tarzan") possessed.

A common question circulating through the media and over the internet in the days following the tsunami was, "Why were there no animal carcasses found on the beaches along with the human bodies? Did the animals know something that humans did not? In stead of fleeing from the shores when the waters receded, the humans walked to the beaches to observe the flopping fish, just minutes before the full force of the tsunami wave hit. Many of the native children, recalling what their grandparents had told them--to flee to high ground when the earth rumbled, to avoid the big wave that would follow--made their way to safety.

Saturn on the DSC of the Tsunami chart, squaring the nodal axis and opposing Chiron, seems to support the connection between the two charts. Saturn--who, according to astrologer Liz Hickey, keeps `a perfect set of books--at SN of the 1954 chart could be interpreted as collecting a `debt from the (distant) past'.  Neptune[of the 1954 chart] (the `god of the Sea') is, ominously, on the SN of the tsunami chart, perhaps meaning a debt administered by the seas. Chiron's heliocentric NN is, incidentally, in the 29th degree of Libra.

I learned, as the result of an interchange with another astrologer, that there is a very strong fixed star connection to both charts. [5] The `four horses' are present at the four angles of the Bikini-Atoll chart. Fomalhautt at the ASC [2PI44] [6] ; Antares (`watcher of the west'), at the MC [8SA39]; Regulus  on the DSC [28LE43] and Aldebaran on the IC [8GE40].

Other aspects in the tsunami chart to note:
Jupiter trine Neptune: accounts for the largeness of the waves and the fact that they were `unstoppable' and carried away all in their path.
The inconjuncts: Saturn inconjunct Pluto (indicating the stress on the Earth's crust), Moon inconjunct Mars (reinforces the Jupiter-Neptune trine); in fact, Moon and NN create a yod formation to Mars.
The quintiles: Mars quintile Neptune; Uranus quintile Pluto; and Neptune quintile NN. The quintiles are related to the number 5 and thus to humanity. More circumstantial evidence to a human involvement behind the event.
The noviles, associated with the number 9 are also notable, particularly Venus (at 10 Sagg, the point of the Bikini-Atoll Mars and on the `nuclear axis') bi-novile Asc; also Mercury is bi-novile Uranus, as it Jupiter to Saturn, and Mars to Neptune.

Some commentators have suggested that the comet Machholz was involved [7]: it was at exactly 0 Gem 00 at the 2004 Capricorn ingress , the longitude of the Pleiades cluster ("something to weep about"). Transiting Mars was opposite this point, at 00SA15 at the time of the tsunami.
The tsunami was a momentous event, as we are all aware. I feel that I have given only a few morsels of `food for thought'. The full significance of this (`of Biblical proportions') event , and what meaning it has for the future, is something that astrology has much to add, but still much also to explore!

[1] Tsunami Quake: December 26, 2004, 00:58:53 AM GMT, 95E46'44", 03N17'52" (Thailand).
Bikini Atoll Nuclear Test: February 28, 1954, 6:45 PM, GMT, 165E25, 11N30 (Bikini Atoll).

[2] See http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/radevents/1954USA1.html
for a brief description of the events of that day. I chose this event since it was the beginning of a series of weapons tests, with weapons that were 1000 times more powerful than the Fat Man and Little Boy bombs of August/45. The Indian and Pakistani bombs of the 1990s were still tiny by comparison.

[3] The following links may be useful to anyone looking to make the bomb/seismic activity connection.
http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/radevents/1954USA1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_testing
http://archive.greenpeace.org/comms/nukes/ctbt/read9.html

They are helpful in fixing the dates of nuclear weapons tests.

[4]This degree shows up (1) in the chart of the first nuclear reaction [Mercury, Sun, at 10 Sag, with Venus nearby] (December 2, 1942, 3:25 PM CST, Chicago) (2) the chart of the fist atomic explosion [Venus at 9 Gemini] (July 16, 1945, 12:29: 21 PM GMT, Alamogardo, NM) and the Hiroshimo bombing [Mars at 9 Gemini (and Uranus nearby at 16)] (August 6, 1945, Hiroshima, Japan).

[5]When I posted my message about a possible connection between the tsunami and Bikini-Atoll on the `Political_Astrology' group, one of the participants, Gerald Koenig (administrator of his own Yahoo group) responded as follows: "I ran your chart:and I feel your astrological intuitions are very on point. Note the position of the 4 Apocalypic stars of Revelations, Antares, Aldebaran, Regulus, and Fomalhaut. On StarSymbols I speculate at length that these stars physically helped trigger the event, and they are certainly symbolically apt." When Gerald posted this, he had already spotted the strong presence of these four stars in the tsunami event.
Gerald posted his graphic at
http://www.rexx.com/~glk/GRAPHICS/BIKINI.BMP

[6] Uranus is at this point in the Dec. 26, 2004 chart.

Some commentators believe that the `axis' of Fomalhautt-Regulus represents an axis which is perpendicular to a fault line, " a northwest-southeast subduction line on the ocean floor". Uranus on Famalhautt was then a significant element in the event.

[7] One writer, Alex Miller-Mignone, saw black hole involvement: