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Astro-Meteorology of the Kedarnath disaster






Radha Mohan Soni and his friends and family members were in great spirit after offering their tributes to Lord Shiva at Kedarnath shrine, early morning on 16 June. They were a big group, consisting of thirty members who had come for pilgrimage from village Maholi (district: Karoli) in Rajasthan.  Most of the members were moving around the lodge where they had spent their night, after a tough 14 km trek to the famous Hindu temple located in district Rurarprayag. At about 6.30 am, Radha Mohan suddenly heard some women shouting 'run, run, save yourself.' Besides the warning, Soni also heard loud and strange sounds of rumbling. Radha Mohan and others entered their lodge and asking others to do the same, they climbed the stairs to reach the third floor. Within seconds they saw a massive mudslide sparked by a cloudburst causing mass destruction. The mudslide damaged all the buildings located on both sides of the Kedarnath shrine.[1]


Using Ingress chart the  rules for judging the weather are outlined in  ‘A Basic Guide to Astro-Meteorology’  by Kim Farnell [2].

 “Pay close attention to planets which are conjunct angles. These are very important and may override much of the sign descriptions”.




For the Cancer Ingress chart here we find Neptune conjunct the Descendant.

Neptune - cool, wet, fog, mist, erosion in an earth sign, peculiar, freakish weather events, flooding. Neptune's power lies in its ability to lower the barometer and provoke torrential downpours and flooding conditions.


Neptune [5pi19] is conjunct the star Fomalhaut [4pi03] in the constellation of the Southern Fish. This is an important, first magnitude star, the 17th brightest star in the sky and the most southerly star visible at 50°N. Fomalhaut, (from the Arabic Fum al Hut, 'the Fish's mouth'). The area in which it lies has an heavy emphasis upon constellations with watery imagery, the goat-fish (Capricorn), the whale (Cetus), the water-pourer (Aquarius), the fishes (Pisces), and the dolphin (Delphinus) all located nearby, obviously earmarking this region as one that related to the rainy season of the ancient year, by which many of its stars are associated with floods or troubles at sea. The Southern Fish is usually depicted on star maps at the feet of Aquarius, where it swallows up the water poured from his urn [3].


Kim Farnell then adds that lunation charts and the four phases of the moon each month - new, first quarter, full, and last quarter should be looked at for weekly trends.





The first quarter moon took place on   June 16 with the meridian axis square Neptune and Fomalhaut (reinforcing the Ingress indications). In addition the Moon [25vi43] was conjunct the star Benetnash (Alkaid) [27vi08].   

In an important position in a mundane map, Benetnash will claim human lives in calamities such as mine accidents, collapse of houses and bridges, mountain slides, earth tremors and catastrophes caused by weather. [Fixed Stars and Their Interpretation, Elsbeth Ebertin, 1928, no.46, p.57, under the name Benetnash]

Having dealt with hour hand (Ingress Chart) and minute hand (lunation chart), it only remains to look at the exact time the incident occurred (the second hand of the clock). 




The chart drawn for  June 16, 6:30 am  at Kedarnath has Pluto on the descendant with Uranus square it.  Richard Tarnas associates Uranus-Pluto with “the unleashing of the elemental forces of nature in various senses (the tangible increase in signs of extreme climate change, volcanoes and earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes, tsunamis and floods, undersea oil eruptions, mining disasters).” Finally note that the star Benetnash, associated with landslides, is on the IC of the event chart.


As to the possible spiritual meaning behind the Kedarnath disaster we can only speculate using Neptune in Pisces as an anchor for understanding what happened.


The  biblical deluge at the beginning of time is a  reminder of the connection between water and the processes of birth and rebirth.  Water can be healing when it dissolves  our belief systems that no longer work.  When Neptune entered into Pisces in 1520, the Catholic Church lost its efficiency due to Protestant reform. In Germany, Martin Luther threatened the hegemony of the Catholic Church.  A need for reform in our belief systems may be required to break down the artificial barriers that separate man from man.

[3] http://www.skyscript.co.uk/pis_aus.html#formalhaut

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