Asian Tsunami: Mars and Saturn Cross The Ecliptic

The following article appeared in the February/March 2005 issue of The Mountain Astrologer.

[Author’s Note: I am indebted to Ashland, Oregon-based astrologer, Steven Stuckey, for first bringing the concept of ecliptic crossings (or parallels) to my attention.]

At the time of the tsunami on December 26, 2004, there was one interesting alignment in the sky that has gone largely unnoticed: Both Mars and Saturn were very close to crossing the ecliptic. The ecliptic is the flat plane of the solar system and marks the vertical position of the Sun with respect to the orbiting planets. Unlike declination, which is an Earth-centered vertical measurement as seen from the equator, latitudes measure the vertical distance of planets from the Sun-based ecliptic. The position of the Sun, therefore, is 0 degrees of latitude. Most of the planets stay within a few degrees of this 0° line.

Like horizontal motion, vertical motion also follows the orbital pattern. Saturn crosses the ecliptic (or 0° latitude) once every 14 years or so, or about half the time of its 29-year cycle. Similarly, Mars crosses the ecliptic about once every year. But it is very unusual to have both natural malefic planets crossing the ecliptic simultaneously. The last time they crossed this close together was about 100 years ago. And significantly, another major natural disaster took place then. On May 8, 1902, a massive volcanic eruption of Mt. Pelée on the Caribbean island of Martinique killed 30,000 residents of the town of St. Pierre in a matter of minutes.

Note that both disasters did not occur when the planets were closest to the ecliptic. At the time of the recent tsunami, Mars was positioned at 0°N13’08", and Saturn was even closer at 0°S01’27". What is important about this configuration is that both planets would be exactly parallel the ecliptic within just seven days of each other. When Saturn paralleled (or crossed) the ecliptic on January 8, 2005, Mars was just 4 minutes of arc from exact parallel. When Mars paralleled just a week later on January 15, 2005, Saturn was just 41 seconds from exact parallel. Other astrological factors may have triggered the energy contained within this simultaneous crossing of the ecliptic – slightly ahead of schedule.

This same near-simultaneity of ecliptic crossings, or parallels, by Mars and Saturn occurred for the 1902 Mt. Pelée volcano. At the time of the volcanic eruption on May 8, Mars was positioned at 0°S18’40", and Saturn was at 0°N01’18". Saturn actually paralleled the ecliptic two weeks later on May 24, while Mars was at 0°S08’24". Mars paralleled two weeks after that on June 6, while Saturn was located at 0°S01’07".

Although we can find other times in the 20th century when both Mars and Saturn crossed the ecliptic very near each other, these are the two closest. In October 1916 and October 1931, for example, when Mars crossed the ecliptic, Saturn was a little more than 2 minutes of arc away, which is about double the distance of the Mt. Pelée eruption and the tsunami. This slightly wider parallel orb suggests that any mundane events linked to that configuration would be weaker in their manifestations on Earth. And it is perhaps descriptive of the larger scale of the recent 2004 tsunami disaster that the Mars and Saturn crossings came closer together (seven days, or 4 minutes of vertical arc) than they did during the 1902 Mt. Pelée eruption when the crossings were two weeks apart, or 8 vertical minutes of arc.