Ed Tamplin – Earthquakes and Astrology

Then there followed Krakatoa. It was a volcanic island also lying in the Sunda Strait, between Java and Sumatra. On the night of August 26, enormous explosions decimated the island, producing the loudest noise in recorded history. This ‘big bang’ was heard thousands of miles away, like a thousand Hiroshima bombs. This came from a submarine earthquake that produced waves of up to 120 feet and travelled halfway around the world. At over 100 feet, it crashed into Java and Sumatra, killing thirty-six thousand people. In 1927, the volcano produced a new island on the same spot, known as ‘son of Krakatoa’. It rose to sea level in 1928 and has now attained a height of 200 meters. (Editor’s Note: The largest of four explosions which destroyed most of the island was on August 27 1883 at 10:02 AM, LMT at the co-ordinates of 16S07 and 105E40. Source: “The Day the Earth Exploded-August 27 1883”, Simon Winchester.)

The Moon and the Tides 

Even with today’s sophisticated technology producing earth models and recording the minutest of signals, there are many theories. One is the tidal theory. The combined celestial mechanics of the Earth, Moon, and Sun relationship causes a bulge in the circumference of the equator and produces high tides at New and Full Moon. This may also affect the earth’s crust. The Earth tries to haul the tidal heights around in its daily rotation, and the Moon tries to impede it. The result is that the tidal bulge precedes the Moon.

“Earthquakes occur along designated fault lines. They are at least as much terrestrial as celestial.” 

The Indonesian earthquake preceded a Full Moon. Eyewitnesses were initially fascinated by the sea going back, and back, and back – until, of course, it returned, as a wall of water engulfing them. The 1964 Alaskan quake of March 28, 1964 – the second biggest of the last century – also occurred right on a Full Moon. But the Moon theory alone is not the proverbial straw that breaks the camels back – and neither are sunspots. Earthquakes occur along designated fault lines. They are at least as much terrestrial as celestial.

Another theory revolves around the centrifugal force of the earth’s rotation, possibly related to its equatorial bulge. The earth is 43 kilometres wider at the equator than at the poles. Planets like Saturn and Jupiter have an even larger bulge, making them an oblate spheroid, rather than a perfect sphere. Because of this, a planet’s gravitational force is weaker at its equator. One result of this phenomenon is that pendulum clocks sent to French Guiana run slightly slower than their Parisian counterparts.

As recently as 1998, NASA tracking satellites revealed that the equatorial bulge was increasing. This was reasoned on rising ocean levels. Controversial geologist William Hutton, a proponent of the continental drift and shifting of the poles theory, believes that due to an imbalance at one of the poles, the earth’s crust becomes subject to greater strain resulting initially in an increase of earthquake activity along the known fault lines. He agrees with the psychic Edgar Cayce, who relayed the message that ‘upheavals in the artic and Antarctic areas will make for the eruption of volcanoes in the torrid area, and there will be a shifting of the poles’.

This theory is at the basis of many of the ‘doom and disaster’ themes, such as tidal waves over the top of Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House. (Of course, if one would buy that, they would probably buy the bridge as well). The ‘Millennium Apocalypse’ may have to wait another thousand years, but some scholars in Britain and the US are stating the same, quite seriously, for the island of La Palma in the Canaries. It’s a volcanic island that, in time, must inevitably erupt and crash into the sea, creating tsunamis of the like the earth has not hosted for thousands of years. If it were to erupt at once, there would be a wall of water hundreds of feet high heading toward the US East Coast. Scientists are certain that it will – but at what time over the next few thousand years? With all our technology, that remains the corker.

What of the planets? 

I initially examined the top eleven quakes by magnitude, over the past hundred years, as recognised by the US Govt. Added to that were Krakatoa, Tambora and the world’s deadliest quake in China, back in 1556. Here were fourteen examples. Even if Krakatoa and Tambora may not strictly qualify as earthquakes, they certainly are massive geological cataclysms. Each year, the earth hosts twenty major earthquakes of above seven, (on the Richter scale) and one or two great quakes above eight. This logarithmic scale increases exponentially by tenfold with each ascending number. The examples we’ll be looking at are all above 8.5. That’s double the size of an 8, for starters.

For the giant eruption that was Krakatoa, all of the planets were in one half of the zodiac – in fact, contained within 126 degrees, which is effectively closer to a third. Tambora had all the planets in one half of the zodiac, with the exception of Jupiter. The Chinese quake of 1556 also contained eight planets in one half. Looking to more recent events, the same was also evident for the Rat Island’s 8.7 earthquake of February 4, 1962, when seven planets were positioned in the sign of Aquarius. Of course, the inner planets, Mercury and Venus, can never be too far away from the Sun. But even so, this was becoming an interesting pattern.

The 8.8 Ecuador earthquake, of Jan 31 1906, again had all the planets within one half of the zodiac’s circle. The Kamchatka quake of February 3, 1923, held seven planets within 180 degrees. The Banda Sea quake of Indonesia of Feb 1 1938 at 8.5, held four planets in Aquarius, including a New Moon, and seven tightly-banded, all within seventy degrees of the circle. The Assam Earthquake in Tibet, at 8.6

on August 15 1950, positioned all but Jupiter within a third of the zodiac. The Kuril Islands 8.5 quake of October 13 1963 also had seven of the planets within a quarter of the zodiacal circle.

The current Sumatran quake, 9.1 on December 26 2004, shows eight planets on one side of the zodiac, with only the Full Moon and Saturn opposing. So with ten of the fourteen examined, it was looking good to say that if there is a major imbalance of planets in one half of the zodiac, such a bias may precipitate or coincide with major natural disasters.

Not included was Tang-shan China, the most murderous fracture of the last century with over a quarter million fatalities, but only 7.5 on the scale. It certainly matched the pattern, though. So did the famous Mississippi quakes of December 16, 1811. They reverberated across the continent, changed the course of that mighty river, and, at an estimated 8.6, 8.4, and 8.8, were the largest series of earthquakes known in North America.

There were notable exceptions, when I examined the biggest of the last century. The 9.5 Chilean firecracker, of May 22, 1960, literally splattered the planets across my computer screen. The two major earthquakes at Prince William Sound – (3/28/1964) at 9.2 and Kamchatka, Alaska – (11/4/1952), was at 9.0, and the planets were spread. So, I might still be missing some of the ‘great quakes.’ Looking for a weighting, although useful, wasn’t going to pinpoint the vital date of an earthquake.