Vulcanology is among the most useful forms of astrology because an exact prediction can save tens of thousands of lives. In the case of volcanoes of the magnitude of Krakatoa, the climate is effected radically for several years. In the case of the super volcano that erupted in what is now Indonesia, it came close to destroying all human life tens of thousands of years ago.

Volcanos belong to a  mercifully small group of geological phenomena with the capacity to life as we know it – or all human life for that matter.  Only a few thousand were estimated to have survived the last super volcano. Life couldn’t survive the years of winter caused by the ash clouds and toxic elements from the Earth’s core. Plankton, at the bottom of the food chain, requires sunlight, so the disaster was not limited to land. Happily, volcanos of that scale have been exceedingly rare.

Vulcanology is among the most interesting and difficult forms of astrology, in part because there are so many elements to consider; but we also have a very limited number of major volcanic eruptions with exact times preserved. Krakatoa, Mt St. Helen’s and a few more are what we have.  Most importantly you have to know where to look.

This article will serve as an overview in the hope of generating interest and exchanging ideas. The example I’m using is the eruption of Mt. Pelee on the Caribbean island of Martinique.

At about 7:50 a.m. on May 8 1902, the volcano erupted with a deafening roar. A large black cloud composed of superheated gas, ash and rock rolled headlong down the south flank of Mt. Pelee at more than 100 miles per hour, its path directed by the V-shaped notch at the summit.

In less than one minute it struck St. Pierre with unimaginable violence. The town was decimated. All but two of its 30,000 inhabitants were killed in what had only moments before been a paradise.

Virtually all volcanoes I’ve studied occur in Earth signs, most often in Taurus or Virgo. The Mt. Pelee chart is no exception.

First of all, there was a Partial Eclipse the previous day. In the chart for the eruption, the eclipse falls on the same degree as the Sun at 16.57° Taurus.

The Nodal axis is still in Scorpio – Taurus with the South Node within 3° of Mars as an unseen enemy in the twelfth house.. Jupiter the Earth Shaker is Parallel Sirius. Sirius is from the Greek meaning  searing or scorching. Manilus writes that “It barks forth flame and doubles the burning heat of the Sun.”

Spire of felsic lava generated in the waning stages of the 1902 eruption of Mt. Pelée. From Lacroix, A., 1904, La Montagne Pelee et ses eruptions: Paris, Masson et Cie, 622 p.

Jupiter is squared the Part of Fortune accompanied by Betelgeuse and the Arabic Part of Retribution.. The Sun and Mars are in applying square to Jupiter. The planetary part of Jupiter is in the same house.

As the fastest moving planet – luminary, the Moon is the trigger that sets off a chain of events. She’s conjunct Algol and in applying conjunction to Mercury the Messenger.

Algol is a nasty piece of work primarily meaning to lose one’s head … as in decapitation. The Chinese are less reticent and tell us it means “piled up corpses.”

This is all happening in the twelfth house so there is really no warning of the catastrophe at hand.

Jupiter is always an active player in charts of volcanic eruptions. Here, he is disposited by a Stationary / Retrograde  Saturn in the House of Death. Both are in Saturnine Houses.

Practically speaking, one needs to know geography as well as astrology because if the potential isn’t there it can’t happen. However, there are number of active volcanos, particularly in the Ring of Fire but also in Iceland.

This chart is almost unbelievably literal, but charts for potential volcanic activity are not difficult to draw up and use.