There has been an awful tragedy in the seas south of the South Korean mainland. A ferry travelling from Incheon to the island of Jeju sank just before reaching it’s destination, a distress call was given out just before 09.00 am local time. The ferry to all reports had 459 people on board, many of whom were young high school students. At the latest reports two people have died but a shocking 295 are still missing, indicating to me that this ferry capsized very quickly and without much warning.
The Astrology chart of the accident has the Moon still in an opposition to the Sun after the eclipse but it had moved around to make a trine to Neptune and Venus in the 10th house indicating that this was an public incident. The Moon obviously shows a connection to people, Neptune a connection to the seas and oceans and Venus also indicates a social element. Venus on this chart rules the 12th house of unseen events and suffering (via Taurus) and the 5th house via Libra, the house of children. This accident beyond all others will be remembered for the almost 300 children who were on board, many of whom may have perished.
Of course we had the cardinal cross in action at the time of the accident, Uranus the planet of accidents and shocks conjunct to Mercury the planet of transportation making aspect to Mars retrograde (action that is misdirected) thus the possibility of a transportation accident was higher than normal. Pluto the planet of destruction is in the mix in this cross and so is Jupiter which expands the scales of everything it touches and gives an international flavour too. Any matter or accident was going to be a big one that would reverberate around the world. This one with hundreds of children involved unfortunately falls into this category.
It is also very interesting to note that Saturn at the time of the eclipse and the accident was and still is unaspected. The only connection it made was a square to the Aquarian Midheaven of this chart. Is Saturn unaspected being unusually strong here, thus increasing the chance of a public tragedy or accident (Aquarius)?
I also notice one other thing about this chart. I don’t often use Black Moon Lilith, however because it’s position is determined by the Moon, it is interesting to see that the Moon was making an exact square to the position of BML - 4 degrees Scorpio to 4 degrees Leo. BML herself was making just one other aspect, a nasty inconjunct aspect to Neptune. Even I as a seasoned Astrologer have yet to fully work out the true mysteries of Black Moon Lilith, but her dark shadow does seem to hang over this tragedy quite profoundly.
This leads me to look at the tragedy against the South Korean natal chart (15/08/1948 – midnight – Seoul) and there the picture is most interesting. The South Korean natal chart has the Sun at 21 Leo, Mercury and Saturn in conjunction at 24 and 25 Leo trine to the Moon at 24 Sagittarius. All these planets received a sextile from the Lunar eclipse point at 25 Libra, the eclipse hit at the midpoint between these planets. Remember the Moon rules the people, Mercury rules transportation and Saturn rules loss and mourning. The effect of any eclipse is often detrimental and it has proven so again this time.
The triple conjunction of the Sun, Mercury and Saturn all in Leo in the SK 4th house have been under a square aspects from that currently unaspected Saturn in the past few weeks, so some tough situations were likely to occur to this nation. At the actual time of the accident, the Moon had moved around to 4 degrees Scorpio making an exact inconjunct aspect to the South Korean Ascendant which has been receiving a square from transiting Neptune for some time now. You will see that the grand cardinal cross still tightening as I write is impacting the natal SK Neptune and Mars, with retrograde Mars sitting right on top of the SK natal Mars. Mars, through Aries affects the SK 12th house, so unforeseen action here causes suffering and sacrifice. This aspect also highlights the tensions that have been apparent on the Korean peninsular in the past couple of weeks between the North and the South. The SK Neptune is being attacked by all the four planets in the cardinal cross, so it is not surprising that a maritime disaster has affected this nation.
All in all, this is an accident that may have affected so many families, and my heart goes out to all of those who have been affected…