Will Christchurch Suffer Devastating Earthquakes in December 2011, 2012 and 2013?

As another lunar eclipse approached with the usual hype my attention was diverted to something far more interesting, the second earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, on June 13^th 2011. During my investigation I was surprised to hear that New Zealand experiences 20,000 earthquakes a year but only 200 are strong enough to be felt. However, Christchurch had not been at the epicentre of an earthquake until recently. In this blog I intend to cover the three main earthquakes in 2010 -2011 and suggest the possibility of potentially more devastating earthquakes in December 2011, 2012 and 2013 due to the transits of Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn. The first earthquake in Christchurch stuck on September 4^th 2010 with a magnitude of 7.1 with the epicentre 25 miles west of Christchurch. There were sixty three aftershocks with three being around the 5.2 magnitude. The second was the most devastating to the centre of Christchurch on 22^nd February 2011.  Although the magnitude was less at 6.3 it had a shallow depth and a vertical shaking estimated to three times greater than would be expected in a 1 in 500 year earthquake. With the epicentre only 6 miles from the centre of the town it is not surprising that this was the worst earthquake in New Zealand’s history with a death toll of 180 approx. The third earthquake was on 13^th June 2011 at 5.7 magnitude (1pm) followed by 6.3 (2pm) with a similar location to Februaries event.

Astrological Meaning

To provide meaning to events an astrologer looks for planetary patterns when the event occurred. Ok so what might be the pattern here? First we need to calculate the natal chart for when the town was named Christchurch.  It was named on 27^th March 1848 during an association meeting, however by not having the time when this event took place means that we are missing about 80% of the information. Although I have calculated the chart for 27^th March 1848 at 12.00am I will only focus on the position of Sun which at this time was 5°59” in Aries. Please note if the chart was calculated for 12.00pm noon then the Sun’s position would be 6°29” which is a significant difference when you looking for close planetary patterns. So you can see why astrologers place such an importance on the time of birth of any astrological chart.

So what was happening astrologically, bearing in mind we don’t have accurate astrological data? When we look at the first event on 4^th September 2010 we see Saturn 4°28” in Libra (Saturn ruler of Capricorn – status, authority, structures) was in a square aspect (tension) to the natal sun at 5°59” in Aries.  Pluto (crisis, transformation, death, birth) was at 2°48” in Capricorn (earth sign). We see a weak aspect from transiting Pluto with a 3°11” difference, although Saturn was just over 1°. What is probably interesting is that the earthquake epicentre was 25 miles away which might explain why the effects were less devastating in the centre of Christchurch than in February 2011.

On 22nd February 2011 Pluto was 6°57” in Capricorn and was again a square aspect to the sun – just under 1 degree of being exact. Pluto transit square to the Sun always brings a personal crisis in people’s lives, usually through specific challenging events that make us break away from the past. They may mean experiencing death or losing our home, job or heading for the divorce courts! What probably made things worse in this case was Jupiter (expansion) transit in Aries (action) in conjunction with the Sun at 6°10” Aries.  Jupiter is usually seen as a planet of good fortune in traditional astrology; however, when under a stressful planetary pattern (in this case square to the transit of Pluto) it tends to exaggerate a situation so it makes things much worse, hence such devastation. Note that the epicentre was only 6 miles from the centre of Christchurch. The Sun position could be actually nearer to Jupiter or Pluto if the meeting of association (birth of Christchurch) took place during the daytime e.g. 6°29” at noon.

Just with these couple of planetary patterns we have established that the city was going to go through a radical transformation. Usually you think lightening won’t strike twice but the third quake happened on 13^th June 2011 (the epicentre was only 6 miles away same area as in February 2011) when Pluto was moving retrograde (moving backwards) and was 6°33” minutes, again within a degree of the sun 5°59”. Transiting Uranus (Unpredictability, sudden change), in Aries (action) was at 4°16” only 1°43” from the natal Sun position. However, when Uranus eventually conjuncts the Sun in Aries we could see further devastation for Christchurch as it is a very powerful aspect – bringing sudden and unexpected change.

The Future

Ok so what will happen in the future? Will Pluto make more square aspects to the sun position? Well during November and December 2011 Pluto will again make a square pattern to the Sun for the last time so these will be significant months regarding any further earthquakes. However, Uranus is now in Aries and will eventually conjunct the sun position in April and May 2012 and again in September and October 2012 when Pluto is 6°57” Capricorn, 1° away from the Sun in Aries and Neptune returns to the same position 1°22” on 7^th September 2012. The Neptunium influence could mean a danger from water or in this case the sea or perhaps a request for massive humanitarian aid. There may also be financial issues due to Neptune (uncertainty) being in the 2^nd house (money, possessions).

Uranus makes its final impact on the Sun position in Aries in January-February 2013, with Neptune again playing its role for the last time. Based on the brief and inconclusive astrological data and if astrological patterns actually create events in the real world then we could see further devastation to the Christchurch area in late 2011, during 2012 and 2013. Other potential events that could happen during this time would be a change in political leaders (Uranus in Aries) and government (Pluto Capricorn) and also radical change (Uranus conjunct Sun).

The Past

We also have to take into consideration that Pluto has made similar aspects to its sun position for example in 1918 when the First World War ended - 16,688 New Zealand soldiers died in four years of fighting. It was also the time of the Influenza Epidemic (world-wide) with 8,000 deaths in New Zealand alone and with half of the position contracting the disease. But when Pluto was in opposition to the Sun in 1974 Christchurch held the commonwealth games which was a success!