"Disaster" and "catastrophe" both mean "against the stars," tragedy due to failure to align with the message of astrology. By now, it is becoming increasingly obvious to the world that the continuing environmental debacle in the Gulf of Mexico is not a little "spill," but an unrelenting hemorrhage of Mother Earth. The fact that Mercury was then moving slowly and in retrograde in Taurus, it's taken a while for the reality to set in.
Although responsible astrological analysis is often complex, in this case one day, April 20, 2010, pretty much says it all.
First, on 4/20/2010, at 1:32 a.m. CDT, Chiron entered Pisces for the first time since its "discovery." Chiron was exactly sextile Sun in Taurus, and sextile to Chiron's discovery position in early Taurus. Meanwhile, Chiron was conjunct Neptune, mythologically "Earth Shaker" and Lord of the Seas. Uranus in Pisces (opposite Saturn retrograde in Virgo) was conjunct the place where Chiron was for the 1969 Santa Barbara Oil disaster that was the catalyst for the first Earth Day teach-ins, starting 4/22/70.
Second, according to an oil rig worker there, at about 2 a.m. on 4/20/2010, Haliburton employees began injecting minerals into the Deep Water Horizon oil well, purportedly precipitating the well's explosion.
Third, on 4/20/2010, at about 8:30 a.m. CDT in Bolivia, the first Indigenous leader of any modern nation, Evo Morales, addressed "The World's People's Conference On Climate Change and The Rights of Mother Earth." He said that we have come to a time when either Capitalism dies, or Mother Earth dies." Morales was named the U.N.'s "World Hero of Mother Earth"in 2009, the year of his Chiron return. On 4/20/2010, Evo went on to enumerate the "rights" of Mother Earth for the first time ever at an international gathering.
Fourth, on 4/20/2010, at or about 10 p.m. CDT, the Deep Water Horizon" explodes, causing human deaths and injury, fire, and an oil pipe rupture about a mile below the surface of the sea. (Time: via survivor; Coordinates: 28N12'39; 88W37'39" via oil rig locations website). The Sabian Symbol for the Descendant was "Workmen drilling for oil."
BP (British Petroleum), the oil company responsible, has had many more accidents than its competitors, known for its ruthless pursuit of share holder profits at the expense of marine, animal and human life worldwide. It's purported "clean-up" involves spreading extremely toxic petroleum-based chemical "dispersants" "Ch-ironically" outlawed for use in the (British) United Kingdom. Because of prevailing currents, migratory fish and bird habitat patterns, and just before the current hurricane season, this mess seemingly could not have come to a worse place at a worse time. Note that BP has hundreds of such rigs in the Gulf, including the much bigger and deeper Atlantis, which has already had its own problems.
Mythic Chiron was half mortal, half immortal, who lived close in Nature in his mountain cave, not far from the sea. He cared deeply and compassionately for animals, and alone defended against the attempted random destruction of nearby forest. Hence, astrological Chiron is a/the ecological issues indicator. When Chiron is in Water signs, especially Pisces, ecological issues center on the ecology of the physical element of Water. Mythological Chiron's wounding was accidental, reminding us of our human tendency, "to err is human." Whenever anything goes wrong, look to the astrological condition of Chiron in the relevant chart for human tragic flaws. When anything goes right when Chiron is involved, the little voice of wisdom is heard, and catastrophe is averted. Chiron turned retrograde 6/4/2010, and retrogrades out of Pisces in July 2010, returning again to Pisces in 2011 for a period of years, presuming that we finally hear Chiron's ecological wisdom before V.I.P. greed, hubris and folly do us all in, oceans, animals, fish, and imperfect humans.
DALE O'BRIEN
Eugene, Oregon
