Supermoonby Lynn Hayes

Astrology is back in the mainstream news, with articles like this that have been circulating the internet lately:

The powerful tsunami that today slammed into Japan’s eastern coast comes just two days after warnings that the movement of the moon could trigger unpredictable events on Earth.

Astrologers predicted that on March 19 – a week tomorrow – the so-called ‘supermoon’ will be closer to Earth than at any time since 1992, just 221,567 miles away, and that its gravitational pull will bring chaos to Earth.

Others on the Internet have predicted it will cause further catastrophes such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

I’ve written quite a few times on this blog about the “Supermoon” phenomenon, which can be traced back to astrologer Richard Nolle who coined the term.  A “Supermoon” is said to occur when the Full Moon is at perigee, meaning it is closer to the Earth than any other time.  Is the March 19 Supermoon that different from any other Full Moon at perigee?

Now that Richard is being bombarded with questions on this topic he’s put up a special page to clarify the mystery:

There are 4-6 SuperMoons a year. The one on March 19, 2011 is in fact the closest SuperMoon of the year, but it’s not by any means the first one in 18 years, nor even the first extreme SuperMoon in 18 years. The truth is, March 19 will be the second SuperMoon this year, and we only have to go back to January 30, 2010 to find the last example of an extreme SuperMoon; as revealed in my tables published in the last century. There was a SuperMoon in effect February 12-21 this year in fact, which anyone who actually read my 2011 World Forecast Highlights would know. And I’m sure you’re aware of the Christchurch earthquake that practically destroyed that city on the last day of that interval. …

SuperMoons are noteworthy for their close association with extreme tidal forces working in what astrologers of old used to call the sublunary world: the atmosphere, crust and oceans of our home planet – including ourselves, of course. From extreme coastal tides to severe storms to powerful earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, the entire natural world surges and spasms under the sway of the SuperMoon alignment – within three days either way of the exact syzygy, as a general rule.

There are other astrological factors at work during this March 19th period, however.  The Full Moon on March 19th occurs just one day before the Spring Equinox which will feature the Sun in Aries in an exact conjunction with Uranus.  Because the charts for the Equinoxes and Solstices can be used in predicting weather and events for the upcoming season, that is a powerful alignment in Aries, a fire sign, signifying more weather changes and potentially more explosions and wildfires.

I’ll be writing more about the Equinox chart over the next week or so. Meanwhile keep up with daily planetary updates on my Facebook and Twitter pages.

More from Beliefnet and our partners
Close Ad