April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
(From The Wasteland by T S Eliot)
Revisiting some of the words I wrote last year and the year before in mid-April:
There's something about this time of year that feels a little unsettling. I don't know what astrological factor, if any, might be involved because no two years have the same celestial configurations, other than Sun in the last degrees of Aries and first degrees of Taurus. Was it some perverse "anniversary" syndrome by the perpetrators that directed so many tragedies into the same few days? Or is there a common astrological factor? Perhaps elements of both.
On April 19, 1993 74 men, women and children died in the inferno at Waco, Texas.
On 19 April 1995 the Oklahoma City bombing of a Federal building by home-grown terrorists killed 168 people, including 19 children under the age of 6.
On 20 April 1999 the shootings at Columbine High School, Colorado when 12 students and a teacher were killed by two senior students.
On April 16 2007 the Virginia Tech. massacre when 32 people were killed by a gunman, fellow student of those he murdered.
(On a very personal level, for me:
On 23rd April 1992 my father died.
On 21 April 1996 I and my late partner lost everything we owned, except the few clothes we were wearing, my purse and our car, in a fire which consumed the apartment in which we'd lived for 24 years.)
I'll not attempt to find astrological correlation. There is correlation enough in the devastation wrought upon the lives of so many. Motive, method, and root cause may differ in each case, but results do not. The result was then, and is now, pain and sorrow.
Men die, but sorrow never dies;(Susan Coolidge).
The crowding years divide in vain,
And the wide world is knit with ties
Of common brotherhood in pain.
Part of the Oklahoma City National Memorial The Gates of Time: Monumental twin bronze gates frame the moment of destruction - 9:02 - and mark the formal entrances to the Outdoor Memorial. 9:01, found on the eastern gate, represents the last moments of peace, while its opposite on the western gate, 9:03, represents the first moments of recovery. Both time stamps are inscribed on the interior of the monument, facing each other and the Reflecting Pool.
14 comments:
They're now reporting 1300 dead on the China earthquake on the 16th/17th with up to 100,000 to be evacuated. Some reports are saying the authorites are massively under-reporting the number of deaths and won't let the Dalai Lama into China. The earthquake has hit the area he was born and lived in with his family.
I've recently come across astrologer Richard Nolle and his geocosmic astrology which had this to say for April. Note China at the end of the 2nd paragraph just as the Moon reaches its max declination this weekend.
"There’s more in the way of storm and seismic shock windows opening up in the sky later this month. One of these is in effect from April 10 (in advance of the northward lunar crossing of the celestial equator on the 11th) through the new moon on the 14th to a day past the Moon’s maximum northern declination on the 18th: April 10-19, in other words. Expect the usual: an up-tick in newsworthy storms and seismic activity (including magnitude 5+ earthquakes and volcanic eruptions). While I’d be surprised if any of this rivals the SuperMoon and eclipse upheavals earlier in the year, the constructions of humankind are notoriously vulnerable to the ravages of nature. And since this occurs after the start of the Mercury Max cycle, it behooves us all to make arrangements as best we can for disruptions that play havoc with airline schedules, highway traffic, shipping and infrastructure (including power, water and communications). Solar and geomagnetic disturbances often figure into snafus of this sort.
As always, alignments of this type – even declination extremes and crossings are alignments – are planetary in scale and scope; so no place on Earth is invulnerable during this period. Some areas of special risk may be suggested by astro-locality mapping, but these are at best zones of special rather than exclusive vulnerability. They include the longitudinal meridian and anti-meridian Sun-Moon lines, running through western Europe and Africa and over the poles across Siberia and through the Pacific Ocean to cross New Zealand. There’s also a Sun-Moon horizon arc sweeping southeasterly through Alaska and the western US and Canada across central Mexico (almost directly through Mexico City), across the South Atlantic to turn northeasterly and across eastern India and western China."
http://www.astropro.com/homeNS45.html
It also covers Western Europe, where the volcanic eruption in Iceland has now erupted for a third time since mid-March. It's brought the UK to a standstill with no flights in or out. We know 3 people who are stranded abroad and 3 people who were just about to go away and have had to cancel.
On this occasion home is best for me!
Rossa ~~ More tragedy, yes! Mother Nature's doing, though, not fellow-inhabitants of her planet.
Richard Nolle seems to get close to correct quite often, as in your example - thanks for copying it for us.
The Volcano ash is causing chaos. It brings it home to us how fragile our way of life is when Ma Nature gets into gear for an upset. "No need for another earthquake - a bit of ash will sort 'em out this time"....she thought! ;-0
Sounds like April is for hatred and despair, doesn't it?
Very interesting this, T.
My mother died on April 16th, it is always a rough time for me this April-month - I had the computer crash and then a bad and very unlikely fall AND cancelled my flight to Toronto on 14th.
Something highly unsettling (for me) about it too, even though the blessing, my daughter was born on April 18th.
I had a long talk with her tonight on phone and she was saying she's feeling very unsettled too. It is like we're waiting for an unpleasant surprise of some kind.
I went out to look up at the stars later tonight, they are quite spectacular at the moment, but they did not answer my questions. ;^)
XO
WWW
I've never thought about the timing before. Some real tragedies there. I can't think of any in my life at this time. Infact, 4 of my children were born in April. I guess I must a counter-balance.
Ron Southern ~ It does. Spoils the poetic ideas about spring and the little lambs skipping around - new life everywhere.
anthonynorth ~~ Oh good - some balancing positive and happy news from April! Thank you!. :-)
WWW ~~~ Another birthday - that's a positive factor though.
Yes, there's "something in the air" during these few days I think.
Some remnant of the wrongs and pain inflicted echoes down the years.
The stars, at least, give us a sense of continuity in the face of tragedy.
Yes, I've been feeling most unsettled this April - and very homesick for Britain. Looking back, this is not specific to 2010. I've felt this way every spring since I arrived here, yet never considered it a gloomy month before emigrating; quite the opposite.
I think it may well be because summer in the Heartlands is so utterly abominable, and spring of course is the precursor.
RJ Adams ~ I get homesick every now and again and think of going back for a couple of months (with Himself of course). A look at the prices of air fares and hotels/vacation rentals and things in general jerks me back to reality. We could take 3 or more road trips here for the same price - so no contest. :-)
Yes, I dread the summers and tornado season coming up. It might be less of a problem this year because of the strange weather pattern we've had here this winter. Fingers crossed - for both of us.
I believe April ends on a quite happy note. It is the day my dad got married and he has been grinning ever since.
Thank you.
Kaleymorris ~ Hi! LOL! Yes indeedy - or is he gritting his teeth? ;-)
As I recall, the original date was to have been 4 May, until I found that an eclipse was due and chickened out in case it was a bad omen. (Can't be too careful!) The last day of April was an alternative offered by the Registrar. :-)
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