Iceland is on tenterhooks as volcanic activity has been shaking the coastal town of Grindavik, tearing homes and roads apart. Iceland’s Met Office has said that the ‘likelihood of a volcanic eruption is high’ and could happen at anytime in the coming days. The region has been rattled by more than 800 new earthquakes since midnight, with experts warning that magma is rising ever closer to the earth’s surface fueling fears of an imminent volcanic eruption. According to scientists it could be the beginning after 800 years inactivity of a new era of volcanic eruptions that will last for centuries. The seismic swarm started on October 25. There is not absolute certainty since certain indicators do not point to an eruption but the presence of sulphur dioxide is usually strongly suggestive.
If it erupts it is expected to result in a lava flow so won’t be a repeat of the chaotic aftermath of the 2010 Eyjafjallajokull eruption, which produced a huge ash cloud and led to the biggest shutdown of global aviation since the Second World War, with 50,000 flights cancelled and eight million passengers affected.
Iceland proclaimed independence from Denmark on June 17, 1944 at 2:00 pm and has a cool, chatty Gemini stellium of Sun, Venus Saturn conjunct in the last decan and Uranus Mercury in the first. There’s a determined Mars Pluto in Leo and a confident Jupiter Mars – so plenty of grit, self-assurance and courage. The 11th house Jupiter Mars square an 8th house Taurus Moon – emotionally secretive and friendly at the same time.
There is not much showing immediately though what is upcoming is tr Pluto trine Neptune on the Ascendant which in hard aspect is a classic natural disaster signature, picking up from late February 2024 running off and on till late 2025. Alongside that is an uncertain, worrisome tr Neptune square the Sun and then Saturn which picked up this September and runs off and on until January 2026. Which may or may not be volcano connected.
When the Eyjafjallajokull eruption took place ion 20 March 2010 tr Saturn was exactly conjunct the Iceland Neptune with Sun Uranus in opposition and tr Mars conjunct the Pluto in the days following.
Neither of the recent Lunar and Solar Eclipse had planets close to the axis which is usually the case for major incidents. But a thought struck me about the powerful 1999 August Solar Eclipse which triggered events two years later when Mars returned to its same position in Scorpio for the first time. Its return coincided with the devastating Gujarat earthquake in 2001 and the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the UK. Half a cycle of Mars later in Taurus a major earthquake in Afghanistan erupted. (details below). So Eclipse charts appear to have a validity on into the future – which is irksome for astrologers since you end up drowning in charts and would need to take up astro-quakes as a full time study.
Back to Iceland. The 19 November 2021 Lunar Eclipse set for Iceland had the explosive Mars in Scorpio opposition Uranus sitting on the Ascendant/Descendant axis with Neptune conjunct the IC. Mars has now come full circle back into Scorpio to oppose Uranus for this recent Lunar Eclipse. So it does appear to indicate heightened activity now.
Details: 1999 Solar Eclipse.
The path of the August 1999 total solar eclipse in the 1 North Saros cycle series (see below) which rose in the Eastern seaboard of the USA, then crossed the UK, curving down across Afghanistan, Pakistan to finish in southern India. It may seem too far back to connect this eclipse to events in 2001 OR 2002. Except there were major aspects to that 1999 Leo eclipse from Saturn in Taurus, Mars in Scorpio, Uranus & Neptune in Aquarius. At the time there was little outward sign of the kind of events such a powerhouse of influences might have suggested. But in January 2001 the same aspects recurred with Mars returning for the first time since 1999 to Scorpio, and along with the Aquarian Sun picking up the tale end of the waning, disruptive Saturn Uranus square.
At precisely the time those aspects repeated the devastating Gujarat earthquake in central western India on January 26 2001 – exactly on the 1999 eclipse path – occurred as these aspects all came together again. The catastrophic national foot & mouth epidemic in the UK, also started around this time. Both UK and India have very fixed charts with major planetary configurations in Taurus, Leo, Scorpio or Aquarius, which were especially triggered off by the eclipse and these transitting planets in fixed signs. Even later still in late March 2002, when Mars again in a fixed sign – Taurus – running into the square to Uranus, coincided with a major earthquake in Afghanistan, also on that 1999 eclipse
Hillary Clinton is scheduled to visit Iceland this weekend to promote her new novel, “State of Terror,” co-authored with Louise Penny.
Strange timing.
Haven’t had a chance to look at her chart today.
Quote…
“There is not much showing immediately though what is upcoming is tr Pluto square Neptune on the Ascendant which is a classic natural disaster signature, picking up from late February 2024 running off and on till late 2025.”
Hey Marjorie: I enjoyed your article. Thanks. One small correction though: transiting Pluto during this time frame is actually a trine to natal Neptune-Ascendant in the Iceland national chart. Not a square.
Be Well.
Thanks. I’m still stuck in Capricorn – sigh. Have altered.
In 1999 the eclipse peaked over Romania, a little unknown country in the Eastern Europe often confused with Hungary in terms of capital cities. At the time I had very little knowledge in astrology, but I was playing around with charts. Back then I was wondering what role is my country going to play to be of such great importance on that axis that covered a corridor from London to Afghanistan. 1999 was the year Romania took a bold stance against Russia forbidding the planes to cross to Yugoslavia (there was a full serbian war next to our borders) and allowed NATO planes and military transports to freely travel cross country. In our Union Chart the Leo-Aq axis (2h-8h) has Saturn 8 Leo and Sun 17Aq directly impacted by the eclipse with Uranus at 29 Ta but Pluto at 5 Ta. For the august 1999 eclipse, there were 2 grand crosses, one in the middle degrees of the fixed signs and the other in the first degrees. Everything remained unclear until the september 11 attacks happened (the event happened when Venus was 18 Leo – the degree of the 1999 eclipse opp Uranus 21 Aq). That was probably the catalyst in the decision for Romania to join NATO in 2004 as USA needed to isolate the islamic threat. The eclipses tend to hide rather than reveal things, so I expect to find out more about the country’s role in the following years. Probably decades.
On a personal note, to answer Pearl’s comment, I got divorced in 2001, the eclipse in 1999 impacted my 7th house, with Neptune conjunct my Mars-Mercury at 1Aq on my descendant 1 Aq, Uranus transit in 7H and North Node conjunct my natal Saturn at 12 Leo, I also have Uranus in the 4th, 11 Scorpio and 22 Ta Jupiter. As a ‘coincidence’, yesterday evening some comment on a blog I usually read brought back the epiphany I had when I decided to go solo forever in life (the eclipse in 1999 was the catalyst): nobody pays my pension and I’ll die alone anyway, so if there isn’t too much honest and caring companionship for me in this life (venus 8 Aries 9H – trine Saturn in Leo 1H and Neptune in Sag 5H) and I have to put up with slavery in the form of a marriage, I’d rather die of hunger in trenches than put myself in such a situation again. I have the moon in Sc 27 and to quote another commenter here “I was born asking why”, never found too much joy in dealing with others, I’m better alone, licking my wounds in peace. Didn’t have any events yet to restate that in front of others but as Pluto approaches the exact conjunction with my devilish Mars-Mercury natal setup and with this last eclipse, I expect some revisiting of the old issues.
On a funnier note, I’ll never forget the day the attacks happened: I was strolling in the evening back from work and I saw the news in the window of a TV shop, that moment I decided I really need the biggest, oldest TV in that shop (I had one but it was small), bought it and took it home where we all stood in front of it all that evening watching mesmerized what seemed to be a scene from a surreal movie. I just couldn’t believe anythig like this could ever happen in America. The feeling that the world is falling without me noticing was so strong that I never lost touch with news again. Up until then we were using the TV just to listen music and pass the time with movies we already saw at the cinema. A week later I bought my first computer. Now, I’m a converted software engineer.
Thank you ria, it’s really helpful to read how this 1999 eclipse has impacted on others. I echo your sentiment “I’d rather die of hunger in trenches than put myself in such a situation again” with regards to being with another that oppresses or harms.
You have also reminded me that my 0 degree Taurus North Node was impacted by this eclipse & the Leo north node at the time of the August eclipse had reached my 4th house – absolutely everything connected to home & roots was destroyed & obliterated, with no prior warning!
Thanks Marjorie, so interesting to look at this rumbling in Iceland. And they are being very sensible about it too. I think some eclipses do seem to resonate later on, and the 1999 one was powerful. It lasted 2 minutes 23 seconds at totality, so possibly that could translate into two years or so? The Octon subseries of eclipses is 3.8 years, and then there’s the Metonic, 19 years, and Saros, 18 years. Somewhere in all this might be a rule or something we could follow! Just throwing ideas around really, looking for patterns.
Also worth noting the August 17th 1999 Izmit earthquake in Turkey, which I think was on the eclipse path. It was devastating.
This is very fascinating Marjorie.
I’m a person who firmly believes that the August 11th 1999 eclipse is still being felt on certain charts, including my own. With 2 of my Leo planets (including my Leo sun on the IC) and 2 of my Scorpio planets & an Aquarius midheaven all being hit by the eclipse, my life has never been the same & still has ‘eruptions’ every now & then.
I’ve kept a copy of Elle magazine from January 1999, where the late Bernard Fitzwalter did a 1999 astrology special. His prediction for Leo’s for the year was that this was going to be the most important year of the decade for them. He wrote “…. the great eclipse of August 11th is of course right in the middle of the Leo birthday period. If your birthday is on the 11th or a couple of days each side of it, then the events which the eclipse triggers will be among the most significant of your life” and said “Twenty or 30 years from now, you will be able to see the pivotal events were those which followed the eclipse of 1999.”
We know that you don’t have to be a Leo sun for this eclipse to have hit, but rather have sensitive points/planets that could be triggered by the eclipse.
Because of my own life trajectory since this eclipse, I’m also interested to read of how this eclipse may still be impacting on any charts that have also been hit.